《Reincarnation of a living god》 Chapter 1 Hardmode reincarnation [Erasure of unnecessary memory complete, starting host wake up] "huh...where is this?" dazed and a little groggy he woke up in an unknown place, sunlight shone though the glass blinding him, while he attempted to look around he found out he was forced in place immobile from the neck down, he was about to examine the place where he woke up in grater detail when an cold unemotional voice spoke startling him completely awake. [Cheeking host compatibility with new vessel 50% completed...] upon hearing the voice he discovered he had a spiting headache. "shit my head hurts" grumbling in pain and closing his eyes to block the blinding light he was completely still for a little more then 5 seconds he discovered an even more important part of his memory missing "wait before that who am i? or what am i?" [Cheeking compatibility of new vessel complete, compatibility 98,7% below acceptable levels] "That voice again, who are you?" [Forcing compatibility, host please brace] "host is that my name maybe? and brace? for wha-" [pain.] he only just manged to comprehend what the cold voice said when pain folded his nervous system, pain like getting his bones powdered, his flesh shredded, his organs destroyed. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH--" he was unable to understand pain blocked his sense, he felt like he was drowning while his whole body was getting electrocuted at the same time, like all of his nerves felt like they where being tron one by one all the way from his toes to the top of his head again and again. [pain resist skill obtained congratulations host! to activate this skill plea---] the voice said something again but his mind was busy trying to escape the pain for him to understand. after what felt like days of excruciating pain he finely passed out. when he woke up after an unknown amount of time he happily discovered that the pain had stopped, but now he was covered in a thin layer of frost and the sunlight that had blinded him when he woke last was gone replaced by total darkness, the voice seemingly having discovered he was awake greeted him. [Good morning host, reporting forced compatibility program has successfully raised vessel compatibility to 100%] "who are you!? where is this!?" having been subjected to excruciating pain and maybe more then a little sarcasm by what he could only assume was the voices he was now more on guard against the cold and mysterious voice. [I am Info and this is Alfan] "Info...? Alfan...?" some what stunned by the voice or rather Info''s cold and cut response to his outburst he calmed down a little, and started to observe his surroundings while once asking Info. "so your name is Info?" [yes] "where are you i can''t see you" [i am in your head] ".... great so now there is a voice more in my head" quickly deeming Info as a unreliable source of information for now he focused on his surroundings insisted, he was suspended in the middle of a hollow somewhat block like sphere that was covered in frost made of some kind of transparent material. "well how am i s-" he stooped middle of his sentence stunned by what he saw on the other side of the transparent sphere there he saw a new much higher hurdle then the new inhabitant in his head. "INFO WHAT THE **** IS THAT" his new source of anger and profanity was caused by a problem, a very big problem, but it was not the strange transparent sphere he was trapped in, nor was it the spikes that extended for the sphere and impaled his body all over keeping him suspended in the middle of the sphere, no this he could somewhat handle what he could not handle was [That is Alfan] "are you ****ing kidding me?" [no that is Alfan] "SHIT **** ****ING BULL SHIT HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!" [host please calm down] "NO I WILL NOT ****ING CALM DOWN SHIT ****---" [host hysteria confined administering shock treatment lv 1] "AWWWWWW WHAT THE ****" [are you calm now host?] "NO I AM NOT ****ING CALM WHAT THE **** WAS THAT" [host are still in hysteria moving to shock treatment lv2] "**** AWWWWWW **** THAT HUUUUURTS!" [are you calm now host?] "NO" [host are still in hysteria moving to shock tr--] "no no no please no i am calm now i am calm no more shock please!" [host please confirm are you calm?] "yes yes yes i am clam what ever you say Info just no more shook please!" [host clam confirmed interning standby mode] "pheew.... still this is some pretty hardmode shit" he tried to sooth his head while he looked through the transparent sphere. he could see almost half of what he amused was Alfan. Alfan the planet he currently was orbiting impaled and almost completely immobilized by spikes in a transparent sphere. Chapter 2 How to terminate a stable orbit 1 "so... what now?" as he had been made to calm down by the mighty Info, he stated to ponder his current ''hurdle'' as he looked out, though the somewhat frozen transparent sphere at the currently dark side of Alfan. he could not see much, but there where definitely small clusters of light on the surface. "there is definitely cities down there" by focusing the new eyes (which he was almost sure he only had 2 of) on the transparent sphere he tried to find a refection on the transparent material, his own refection "i wonder what my face looks like?" he had almost seen the rest he had 2 arms, 2 legs and 1 head, this felt normal so he amused that this amount of limbs was the same as his past life. around his neck was a thick metal collar that blocked most of his neck moments, the rest of his body was clad in a whole body suit made of some kind of hard and non flexible fabric, whit spaced metal rings where the spikes from the sphere impaled him making the spikes and the suit seem as a predesignate pair. what was the most strange was there was mo pain from the spikes that was impaling him, making the whole thing seem like some sort of eerie dream or simulation, if not from the cold of the thin layer frost covering him he would not believe he was really here. but there was one thing he was almost sure of "this is definitely a prison, and a super ultra max one at that" he stated to wonder just what kind of person inhabited his body or as Info called it his ''vessel'' before him, and who would go though the the pain of making this ''sphere prison'' and then sending it all the way to space i a stable orbit around Alfan. "why not just kill him instead? would it not be easier to cut off his head than to put him in stableorbit?" as he pondered over this for some time when it dawned on him "wait then the former owner of this body, was properly a super bad guy right? then if i somehow get down on the surface, and start walking around then would who ever put this body here in the first place not just catch me put me back?" he felt a chill up his spine as he came upon that line of thought but quickly denied it "no if i land on another continent then the country and or people that put this body here, how would they know, in the first place are they even still around? maybe their county collapsed or their race died out?" now feeling happy and a more then a little exited at his own genius he kept trying to escape realty whit an even more absurd theori "in the first place maybe the former owner of this body was not a super bad guy maybe he was framed! maybe he was a good guy that tried to overthrow a corrupt government! yes i am sure someone will find out i am awake and save me! and then they will worship me a hero! hahaha HAHAHAHA---" [host hysteria confined administering shock treat---] "nonono! Info i am calm! i am clam! please stop please i got carried away i am sorry i am so sorry!" [host please confirm are you calm?] "yes yes yes i am calm i am clam so please no shock please" [host normal terminating shock treatment program] "phew..." still feeling more then a little afraid that he would tick off the mighty Info, he stated to think again, only this time he triedconsidered things in a clam and logical manner and after some time he noticed something weird "assuming that who ever put this body here was able to do so in a somewhat efficient manner why are there not more ''sphere prisons''?... maybe there was only 1 super bad guy so they only had to put one prison up here?... no wait if they where able to put this giant thing in stable orbit why are there not satellites of some kind? and in the first place ---" he was starting to get somewhere in his theory when he was interrupted by Info''s cold voice [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] "wait Info what do you mean i took lethal damage?" momentarily blanked out from getting interrupted in a rant and the brutality of Info''s words, made him think, no wish he had misheard Info sadly the cold voice confirmed his fears [host has just died once] "what do you mean i feel fine?... i am fine right Info?" [no host has just taken lethal damage from source: asphyxiation] stating to doubt his whole mental concept of dying he asked the million dollars question "...so why am i alive?" [host current vessel is a living god and host is thus semi-immortal] somewhat in awe at the mention of awesome sounding words such as gods and immortality, while at the same time somewhat comprehending he was both of thees things at the same time he asked the 2nd million dollar question whit the blankest look on the face he himself had not seen yet "...what?" [host current vessel is a livi--] "no no wait Info i heard you the first time... just what is a living god?" still feeling awed and exited at the most epic sounding words Info had ever spoken he mentally held his breath (as he was already somewhat holding it for real whenever he was not speaking, since Info had told him he had died of asphyxiation) [a living god is a semi-immortal being] once more feeling marveled at Info inflexibility he asked a follow up question "...thanks for clearing that up Info... then why can''t living god''s die?" [living god''s can only die when all their status points becomes 0] processing this new and wonderful information took him a few seconds as he got more and more exited and the finely asked the all might Info whit a shaking voice "so basically i am immortal right?" [yes] "sweet! that means i just have to crash this thing on the surface of Alfan and then i am free right?" feeling more then a little excited about his new genius master plan for survival, he quickly asked Info to confirm his master plan [no host, that action is not recommended] if he was not suspended in place by spikes then this is the exact moment he would have dramaticallyfallen to his knees like an award wining actor to start cursing the gods (Info) for their unfairness , anyway he certainly did so he only just in his head, until he bravely asked the 3rd million dollar question full of hope "...why not?" [host''s reaming status points is: 3400 the approximate status points needed to survive reentry of Alfan atmosphere is: 2000 and the impact of the surface Alfan depending of terrain should be between 2500 and 3000 status point therefore this action is deemed suicidal and can thus not be recommend] "...shit" hit by the unexpected hard by the demise of his master plan as well as his hope, he was feeling a little depressed but still asked the merciless Info to get more information "what is status points?" [status points is definite in 6 categories: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma and are used to define living god''s where 1 point of any one of the 6 categories is representing of the vessels race average persons capability] "... so if i have 5 Strength i am as strong as 5 average people combined?" [yes] "can i view my status points?" [yes] waiting in excitement for exactly 5 seconds without anything happening he remembered how inflexible Info was "...how do i view my status points?" [by viewing your status] "...how do i view my status?" [by chanting: Status] ".....how do i chant status?" [by focusing your mana at specific points in host vessel and saying status] "....how do i focus my mana?" [host inability to focus mana confirmed stating forced mana circulation program] "SHIT **** STOP---" already traumatized by the forced vessel comparability program and the shock treatment program he started to panic the moment he herd the word ''stating'' [forced mana circulation program start up 50% complete] "STOP PLEASE ST---" crying and screaming like a baby trowing a tantrum, he begged the mighty but mercilessInfo to stop the program in an almost comically but very sad fashion [forced mana circulation program start up 90% complete, host please brace] "please Info no lord Info please stop please!" at this point in time he had stooped screaming as he noticed it had no effect on the merciless Info he shamelessly started to beg, and if not because he was impaled by over 100 spikes holding him i place he would already been on his knees begging slamming his head in to the walls of the sphere hopping the voice in his head would stop. but much like bad karma piled up over years and customer support if you try to get a refund, Info is both a cold mistress and deaf the moment he singed the verbal contract "please Info stop okay?" [starting forced mana circulation] "NOOOOOOO---" [forced mana circulation program 2% complete] "... wait, why does it not hurt?" noticing the pain he had expected to be there missing he stared to notice a warm current of flowing though his body "is this mana?" [forced mana circulation program 3% complete] "this feels kind of nice like taking a warm bath..." focusing on his new found almost pleasant situation he stated to lose track of time as he entered a meditative state. Chapter 3 How to terminate a stable orbit 2 "...huh it''s not cold anymore" waking from his meditative state and opening his eyes, he was quickly made aware of the blinding sunlight that was shining though the transparent sphere he was trapped inside, warming his body ''this is kind of nice.'' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes again to feel the heat of the sun for a few seconds before he was greeted by Info [good morning host, forced mana circulation program complete, host ability to use mana increased by 38%] a little annoyed by the interruption of his morning sunbathing he greeted Info "... well good morning to you too Info" momentary forgetting his current situation he tried the stretch his now no longer covered in frost warm body ''oh right...'' feeling his body still immobilized by spikes impaling him his mood sank once more, until he remembered why he had fallen asleep in the first place and asked Info in a very exited voice "so, Info can i use mana now?" [yes] waiting in even more excitement for Info to continue for exactly 5 seconds, he remembered how inflexible Info was "...how do i use mana?" [host only need to circulate your mana like the forced mana circulation program did] "okay..." closing his eyes to focus, he started to feel his body while trying to remember the feeling of the warm current moving in his body for a few minutes until he felt something and asked Info with his eyes still closed "...like this?" [yes] "so what now?" [please focus the mana in your lungs] "sure..." slowly moving and gathering what he amused was his mana from all over his body, he slowly felt his lungs getting warmer [now exhale the gathered mana while saying status] "status" as soon as the word left his mouth, some kind of mist followed out of his mouth and nose soon forming words he could understand Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Former living god of war] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [living god] Class: none Status points: Strength [900/1000] Constitution [600/1200] Dexterity [800/1500] Intelligence [550/600] Wisdom [548/900]Charisma [2/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 3] looking at the half transparent text that formed from the mist-like white mana he breathed out, he no Mars mumbled "...so my name is Mars?" [yes, host name is Mars] ignoring Info''s cold as usual voice he focused on his own name, as to burn it into his memory so he would never forget it again. a few minutes later feeling greatly relived and reassured by the confirmation of his own identity Mars started to ask Info "...well there is a lot of things i want to ask, but first Info what the **** is a half-dragon human?" [half-dragon human is the result of a female ancient dragon and a human male mating] "...so my dad did it with a dragon" [yes] feeling half in awed and half dumbstruck, Mars started to doubt his own knowledge but most of all his own understanding of the word: dragon "...just to be sure an ancient dragon is one of those giant lizard things, with sharp claws 4 limbs and wings, that spew fire right?" [yes] "...well done dad" mentally saluting his dad for his extraordinary heroism (desperate) and brave (stupid) will to do the impossible (get ''some'') , Mars shred a manly tear before moving to his next question "... so Info, what is a title?" [a title is an reward, or a cures given to living gods by the administrator of Alfan for completing a certain epic accomplishment that is often specified in the title] "so does the [Former living god of war] title have an effect?" [yes the title [Former living god of war] makes the skills [Swordsmanship] and [Commanding] unable to degrade over time, from a curse or from injury] "so those 2 skill can only increase in level?" [yes] "sweet! then what about the [Conquer of Salen] title?" [the [Conquer of Salen] title is given all that have manged to conquer the continent of Salen and raises the ability to learn war and combat related skills such as [Swordsmanship] and [Commanding] by a large margin] marveling at the too first title''s positive bonuses Mars look at his 3rd title and momentary felt all his excitement disperse "...so what dose the [Tyrant King] title do?" [the [Tyrant King] title is a cures give to all of Alfan''s worst Kings, giving an major increase to all damage received form all inhabitants of the country the holder of the title is ruling over, and deceasing to holders Charisma status point cap by a large margin] "... that is bad right? i mean the damage and the status point cap thing that is really bad right Info?" [yes, it is a curse after all] "...shit, well then i can almost guess the next one, but i will ask anyway Info what is the [5000 year prisoner] title?" [the [5000 year prisoner] title is the confirmation of the time the host vessel have been imprisoned, and gives the [Mental reinforcement lv 5] passive skill] "...so is the [Mental reinforcement lv 5] skill why i am so oddly calm despite the fact that i am slowly dying from asphyxiation?" [yes] feeling a little disturbed by a skills that had control of his own mind Mars stayed silent for a few seconds before he accepted it "...well that clears up that, then what is the finale title the [living god] title?" [the [living god] title is given to all living gods and has no effects] "okay..." feeling underwhelmed by the missing effects of the 2nd most epic sounding title he had Mars looked on the next item on his status and asked Info "Info what is a class?" [a class used do define a living god for example: a living god of harvest will have the farming class and get a major boost to skills and status points related the framing] "so can i select a class now?" [yes, does host wish to see the class list now?] feeling somewhat tempted to see what kind of classes he could chose from he hesitated a bit before he eventually decided to keep gathering more information before deciding on his class "...no let''s do that later, tell me about status point''s now what is the [900/1000] right after my Strength points?" [the first number refers to number of points in the Strength status: 900 while the later refers to the Strength status point cap] "you said that before right Info? what is a status point cap and how is it determined?" [a status point cap is the cap of the amount of status points the current vessel can sustain, the cap is determined by various factors such as: injury, titles, training, race and more] "...well that clears that up, then what is the difference between active and passive skills?" [active skills take energy or mana and time to activate while passive skills are always active] "oh... then what does the lv after the skill name mean?" [an active skills lv or level, shows how practiced and proficient a person is in a skill, shown like this: lv 1 beginner, lv 2 well trained, lv 3 expert, lv 4 master and finally the last level, that hardly any mortal can reach in their lifetime: lv 5 grand master also defined as when the skill becomes as natural as breathing, while a passive skill in theory has no cap and only rise in effect the higher the level] "..okay" processing the large amount of information hejust got from Info Mars started to ponder on how to overcome his current hurdle once more until a few hours later when his prison slowly got covered by the shadow of Alfan he finely had an idea "well the first i should do is break theses spikes right?" Chapter 4 How to terminate a stable orbit 3 having decided on his next cause of action Mars asked Info "Info how do i use the [Dragon-flame magic] skill?" fearing his only method of escape as well as his only currently useful active skill Mars asked Info "please don''t tell me that the skill [Dragon-flame magic] needs a breathable atmosphere?" [no the skill [Dragon-flame magic] only need an oxygen supply at or below level 3, to use this skill host just needs to imagine a flame] "don''t i need to gather and move my mana or something?" [no, as [Dragon-flame magic] is level 5 it no longer needs mana] "sweet!... but why is this skill not degraded like the other skills this vessel had before i reincarnated?" [the skills [Dragon-flame magic] and [Fire resist] are race skills all Half-dragons have from birth and therefore do nigher of thees skills degrade] "okay then lets do this" closing his eyes to focus Mars started to imagine a flame, and only just a few seconds latter a might sphere like red flame started to burn 2 meters in front of his face about the size of a watermelon "WOW!" surprised at his easy success Mars started to get exited like a child at his own birthday party "this is AMAZING!" only to get put down by the mighty Info''s cold voice [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] once again remembering the gravity of his current situation Mars started to focus on the red flame burning completely silently in front of his face and asked Info "Info what are thees spikes made of?" [the 224 spikes that are currently impaling the host is made of a mythril-titanium alloy] "how hot does a flame need to be to melt them?" [approximately 2000 ˇăC] "... and how hot is the flame i made?" [approximately 500 ˇăC] "... is there anyway to make my flame hotter?" [yes] ".... how?" [host needs to compress the flame and imagine the flame getting hotter] "...okay then" Mars started to focus on the red flame in front of him slowly trying to control it, after some time it started to shrink and get brighter slowly changing color from red to yellow then eventually changing to white, Mars gazing at the flame that was now the size of a closed fist asked Info "how hot is it now?" [host flame is now approximately 2400 ˇăC] "good then lets start whit this one" focusing on the spike piercing his left hand pinky he slowly moved the white flame to the spike before stopping half way there to ask Info "....wont a flame this hot melt my skin before it melts the spike?" [no] not entirely convinced by Info''s cold response Mars asked a follow up question "...why not?" [host has the [Fire resist] skill at level 15 furthermore host is also a half-dragon human so flames at this level will not hurt host] "well if you say so" reassured by Info he moved the flame to left pinky and sure enough the flame only felt slightly hot on his skin "amazing..." in a dazed state Mars watched how the metal spike started to melt while his own skin was completely fine, a few minutes latter the spike had melted completely and the hole in his pinky started to close "does wounds normally close this quickly?" [no, this is very fast even for a half-dragon] still looking at the hole that now almost had closed on his finger Mars asked Info again "then why did it heal this fast?" [host Constitution status is at 600, so host is 600 times more healthy and then an average half-dragon] "... is that why i only suffocate once every 12 hours" [yes] "...nice" once again feeling amazed at his new body Mars slowly moved the flame to free his left ring finger from it''s impalement and asked Info "so how long before i run out of status points and die fore real?" [unable to precisely calculate] "well can you give me an time estimate?" [anywhere between 2 weeks at the most to a minimum of 5 days] feeling a chill up his spine and now feeling panicked at his soon to be demise Mars asked Info "wait i thought i had more time? why only 5 days, i thought i had 3600 status points left?" [a decrease in status points is random from 1 to 50 per lethal damage depending on the damage, and as there is 6 status point categories the chance for Constitution, the status stopping host from asphyxiating as often as a mortal would is 1/6 the estimate of 5 days to 2 weeks can not get more precise] "...shit" now feeling that panic would not help his current situation Mars gritted his teeth and moved the flame from his now free ring finger to the still impaled middle finger on his left hand and asked Info "how long will it take to melt all the spikes?" [3 days at the most] feeling the most desperate he had been since his reincarnation Mars asked Info "... is there anyway to speed it up?" [yes, if host selects a fire type class] having only just remembered that classes was a thing for living gods Mars asked Info "a class huh... Info how do i select a class?" [host need to open his status first] "okay" while moving the flame to free his left index finger Mars started to gather and circulate his mana, a few moments later he opened his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Former living god of war] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [living god] Class: none Status points: Strength [864/1000] Constitution [600/1200] Dexterity [800/1500] Intelligence [550/600] Wisdom [548/900]Charisma [2/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 3] looking at his status formed by half transparent mist, Mars noticed his Strength status points had decreased with a whole 36 points, feeling even more impatient he quickly asked Info "what now?" [please chant: select class, to view available classes] quickly gathering some more mana in his lungs Mars chanted "select class" when those words left his mouth the mist making up his status slowly changed in to new words Available classes: [Air] [Fire] [Dragon] [New war] [Magic] [Sound] [Cooking] [Mining] [Energy] [Greed] [Rock] [Lava] [Sword] [Wolf] [Drama] [Heal] [Speed] [Light] [Wrath] [Metal] [Blacksmith] [Plants] [Ruling] [Time] [Water] [Carpeting] [Lust] [Bear] [Forrest] [Mana] [Mind] [Crafting] [Gold] [Shopping] [Lightning] [Pride] [Music] [Math] [Sleeping] feeling overwhelmed by the number of classes Mars remained dazed for some time before asking Info "how do i select a the [Fire] class?" [simply chant: select fire] "well i that case select... wait a second" his instincts screaming he might have missed something Mars stopped his class selection and asked Info while moveing the flame to melt the spike in the center of his left palm "Info what is the rules for classes?" [classes are the living god alternative to mortals jobs, only they are more powerful furthermore a mortal can change his/hers job to new one or a more advanced version of the same job once it levels up to 10, where as living gods only get to chose one class in their lifetime for the trade that is has no level cap] mentally thanking his obviously superior Mars asked Info again to confirm "so i can only ever have one class?" [yes] feeling maybe he should consider what class he should take for a little more time Mars looked over his options once more Chapter 5 How to terminate a stable orbit 4 Available classes: [Air] [Fire] [Dragon] [New war] [Magic] [Sound] [Cooking] [Mining] [Energy] [Greed] [Rock] [Lava] [Sword] [Wolf] [Drama] [Heal] [Speed] [Light] [Wrath] [Metal] [Blacksmith] [Plants] [Ruling] [Time] [Water] [Carpeting] [Lust] [Bear] [Forrest] [Mana] [Mind] [Crafting] [Gold] [Shopping] [Lightning] [Pride] [Music] [Math] [Sleeping] still looking over his options Mars asked Info "can you tell me about the specific effects of the [Fire] class?" [no] "...why not" [all specific class information goes beyond host current privilege, only basic information is available] Mars feeling Info might be sarcastic about the whole ''privilege'' considering he might die in less then a week he asked again while working on freeing his lover left arm "what is my current privilege Info?" [i am] "...you?" [yes as the administrator had deemed the hosts change of survival to be unlikely at best, i Info the one of the 13 sub-administrators of Alfan was chosen to assist the host, the normal reincarnation processes is not like this] learning Info might be even more mighty then he already had assumed Mars asked in a slightly more respectful tone "...just for reference what is the normal reincarnation process?" [normal reincarnation processe only include the [erasure of unnecessary memory] program and if needed the [Forcing compatibility] program] still feeling traumatized by those 2 programs Mars asked Info "why run those 2 programs?" [the [erasure of unnecessary memory] dose as it says. it deletes memory''s deemed unnecessary or dangerous by the administrator while preserving the personalty of the previous incarnation, In the host case it was memory of torture, mental breakdown, a violet demise and information on building advanced weapons deemed unnecessary and removed] wondering what kind of person he was in his last life Mars asked Info about the source of his trauma and [Pain resist lv 3] skill "okay i can accept that, but what about the [Forcing compatibility] program? that thing ***ing hurt!" [the [Forcing compatibility] program ensures the host or the soul, is compatible to the new body or vessel that is the target of incarnation, if it is not 100% compatible it will adjust the soul and the vessel simultaneously, often leading to pain in the host] "then just for arguments sake what would happen if there was an incompatibility with the soul and the body?" [any rating below comparability rating at below or below 99,99% would cause an amount of the soul to not protected by the new vessel and to be ''chipped'', leading to extreme pain, dizziness, mental and physical disorder and eventually it would cause the soul to be ''creaked'', witch in the best cases would cause the soul to parish completely, never to be reincarnated again] feeling the words ''parish completely'' not being his metal image of ''best case'' Mars asked "...and in the worst case?" [in the worst case it would cause the soul to ''split'' and ''mutate'' growing to infect other souls causing a complete collapse of Alfan''s recantation system in less then a minute causing newborns from all races to be still born] "...that sound apocalyptic" [yes i would be, therefor the best case of a ''cracked soul'' would be complete annihilation of set soul] pondering over the new information while working his flame on freeing his upper left arm Mars looked at the mist-like text i front of him again "i see... well then let us get back on topic, can you tell me the basic information of the [Fire] class?" [the [Fire] class improves all fire type ability''s by a major margin] "then what about the [Dragon] class?" [the [Dragon] class improves all dragon ability''s and makes the vessel more dragon-like] "in that case would the [Dragon] class not also improve my [Dragon-flame magic] skill?" [yes] "okay... in that case what about the [Metal] class?" [the [Metal] class improves affinity with all metal, providing a boost to production and magic skills that are related to metal] "what dose the [Energy] class do then?" [the [Energy] class gives the ability to absorb, store and use energy] "all energy?" [that information exceeds host current privilege] thinking over his options Mars mentally ranked the 3 most useful sounding classes "the [Fire] class will definitely be useful for melting these spikes, but so will the [Dragon] class witch frankly sound more awesome but i am sure turning in to a dragon will be a lengthy endeavor even if i already am a half dragon, and then there is the [Energy] class witch if and only if it can absorb all energy it would be a great help during reentry of Alfan by working as a heat-shield, and absorbing the impact when i hit the ground, but that is only if my understanding of the class is right. so basically the [Fire] class will give me help with melting the spikes but not much more, the [Dragon] class sounds like a growth type class with lot of potential, and the [Energy] class is a total gamble" Mars kept pondering over his options for a few hours until he was interrupted by Info [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] "shit... looks like i can not afford to delay any longer" looking at the 3 class choices he had chosen as most useful, Mars finely decided "well it is not like i am that devoted to this life being less then a week old and all... so **** it! Info how do i select the [Energy] class?" [to select any class host needs to chant: select Class, then the name of the class] felling the excitement and terror of gambling his own possibility of survival Mars chanted with a racing heartbeat "select: class [Energy]!" [host class selection confirmed, granting class [Energy] to host] felling a new power bedside mana slowly being moved inside his soul Mars tensed up for a second before discovering that the new ''part'' of him perfectly fit, now feeling like a puzzle that had just been completed by fitting the last and most important piece, Mars let out a comfortable sigh before Info spoke [host class instillation complete, host please confirm] not wasting any time Mars quickly chanted "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Former living god of war] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [living god of energy] Class: [Energy] Class level: 1 Status points: Strength [864/1000] Constitution [573/1200] Dexterity [800/1500] Intelligence [550/600] Wisdom [548/900]Charisma [2/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 0/100] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 3] looking over his status Mars confirmed his new class and that his Constitution status had dropped by 27 points, feeling his own demise creeping ever closer he asked Info "can you tell me about class skills?" [class skills are unique to their own classes, and are therefore impossible for mortals to obtain as they have jobs instead of classes, furthermore class skills get stronger by the class level going up] "...then can you tell me about the [Energy: absorption] class skill?" [the [Energy: absorption] class skill absorbs energy from all sources with an efficiency that goes up with class level, and stores it in the [Energy storage] class skill shown by a number. but if the amount of energy absorbed exceeds the cap of the [Energy: storage] class skill then the host will lose an amount of status points equal the amount of excessive energy] "you said class skills improves with class level, then dose the cap of the [Energy: absorption] go up as my class level dose?" [yes] deeming the [Energy: absorption] really powerful but also slightly dangerous Mars asked about the next class skill "then what dose the [Energy: discharge] class skill do?" [the [Energy: discharge] class skill discharges energy from the [Energy: storage] class skill in forms of kinetic, thermal and electromagnetic energy from any point on the host body to a target the host is in physically contact with] "then can i use the [Energy: discharge] class skill to melt these spikes?" [yes, but the amount of energy needed to completely melt the mythril-titanium alloy spikes exceeds the current cap of the [Energy: storage] class skill by a large margin] "...can i at least use it to propel me from this prison to the atmosphere of Alfan?" [yes] "...well that is one use for that class skill, what about the [Energy: upgrade shop] class skill?" [the [Energy: upgrade shop] class skill functions like a shop where energy stored in the [Energy: storage] class skill is the currency, offering new class skills and the only way to level up the class level of the [Energy] class] "how do i activate a class skill?" [by chanting or simply by willing it] "well then lets see what''s up for offer" as soon as he willed it the mist like text forming his status transformed before his eyes Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 100 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: information] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000 "...guess i can only afford to level up for now" [yes] "then i guess my current is to melt the spikes and absorb energy from sunlight during the day... wait Info can i use the [Energy: absorption] class skill to harvest thermal energy from my [Dragon-flame magic] skill?" [no] his master plan being shot down by Info as quickly as he made it Mars asked Info like a kid being denied candy "...why not" [creating energy form nothing goes against the will of the administrator] "...okay then sunlight it is then" Chapter 6 How to terminate a stable orbit 5 3 days later loud cracking sounded out in the sphere prison as Mars stretched his entire body amidst the broken and half melted spikes that floated around him in the low gravity while he confirmed his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] Class: [Energy] Class level: 1 Status points: Strength [195/1000] Constitution [376/1200] Dexterity [354/1500] Intelligence [432/600] Wisdom [394/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 72/100] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 3] looking at his total status points having doped to 1752 Mars felt some pressure as it now took less then 9 hours for him to ''die'' due to his lower constitution status, he looked at the currently dark side of Alfan "well i guess making a total shot in the dark would be a bad idea, as i could land in the middle of an ocean" deciding to delay his prison break until he could see the surface Mars asked Info to pass some time "Info what kind of races are there in Alfan?" [the most common intelligent race of Alfan is the race of humans known to inhabit giant empires, republics and kingdoms all over Alfan, flowed closely by the race of beastmen that looks like humans mixed various animal parts such as ears, tails, fur and or claws, in some places of Alfan is beastmen considered a ''lower'' race by humans and hunted down, while in other places they coexist with the human race peacefully. the forests of Alfan are mostly home to elfs of different kinds known for their long eras and slender builds they have a vastly lower overall population than humans and beastmen while being blessed with a long lifespan, as they are mostly isolationist they have very little friendly contact with humans and beastmen.] [the wast wasteland and desserts of Alfan are mostly home to the demon race, known for their dark almost ash-grey skin color, horns and red eyes they live in spars tribes and is often in a hostile relationship with all other races.] "what about my race, the half dragon race?" [half dragon are the result of a dragon and an other race mating, resulting in a offspring looking most like the non dragon parents race, having a long lifespan as well as the ability to undergo a half dragon transformation dramatically increasing combat effectiveness by growing claws, horns and scale spikes on elbows and knees as well as raising sensitivity of all senses, but as the total population of the half dragon race is under 1 thousand in the entirety of Alfan they are mostly accepted as a myth among the other races] getting exited by the epic description given by Info Mars asked in a slightly shaking voice "...so i can transform?" [no] falling over in disappointment Mars stated to spin admits the debris in the low gravity and asked by reflex after a few seconds "...why not?" [the metal collar sealed around the host neck is engraved with a dragon sealing formation and a metabolism suppression formation] "well if ''they'' went though all the headache of sealing this vessel in orbit, then this collar seems like a minor thing... is there also a magic formation on the sphere?" [yes] "what dose that do?" [the magic formation on the sphere coverts sunlight from the outside and carbon dioxide from the inside of the sphere to oxygen creating a breathable atmosphere inside the sphere, but this formation seems to have burnt out or malfunctioned sometime during the last 100 years] feeling amazement at all the trouble ''they'' went through to torture the former living god of war Mars asked Info after a moment "...could i repair the formation somehow?" [no, even if host had the materials to repair it the information on this kind of ancient transmutation formation have been sealed by the administrator so i would be unable to help] "well that was a long shot anyway so don''t mind it" noticing the sun starting to peek out behind Alfan Mars stated to melt a hole in his prison with his flame while he asked Info "any reconfirmations on where i should land on Alfan?" [no, as long as host survives the reentry and impact with Alfan anywhere should be fine] "...okay then" less than 3 hours later a hole had been melted in the sphere and Mars was currently holding the edge of the newly made hole while kneeling down on the outside of the sphere looking down on Alfan looking for a target to aim at "at least the view is nice... how are my chances of survival Info?" [no more then 30%] "...well i guess i get to try something no as never done before" [yes] having set his sights on a central continent Mars tried to clam down while asking Info "how do i use the [Energy: discharge] skill?" [host needs to mentally specify what kind of energy to use, where on the body to discharge it and how many units of energy to use] "...well then lets do this, if i die it has been nice to know you Info" trying his best to keep clam Mars activated the [Energy: discharge] class skill for the first time, deciding to use 50 units of kinetic energy on the bottom of his feet "GO!" being launched of the sphere prison he quickly regretted underestimating the power of his own class skill as he felt the backlash of the skill breaking all the bones in his legs and lower body, pain flooding his senses Mars girted his teeth [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] "yeah i felt that one too!" being hurled though space Mars stated to spin due to his uneven set off point, catching a gimps of his former prison while he span around him self Mars was astonished of the power of his class skill seeing as the sphere was almost completely crushed flat and being hurled off in the opposite direction "shit that is some power" after spinning around himself for a few more seconds Mars stated to feel the gravity of Alfan pull him down towards the surface, as he quickly entered the upper atmosphere relaxing a bit seeing as he didn''t completely miss Alfan Mars was a little relived "this is going better then expected" [host please don''t lose focus the worst is still to come] "...you are right" regaining focus thanks to Info Mars gradually stopped spinning as his clothes stated to burn and his metal collar started to melt because of friction with the air until he felt a major pain in his neck "**** that hurts!" the formation on the collar detecting an attempt at removal responded with sending blades into his neck [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] "shit GET OFF!" Mars feeling as he would be decapitated by the collar stated desperately try to tear it off his neck [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] reminded by Info that he had ''died'' once more Mars turned to drastic measures "****! I AM NOT GOING TO DIE TO YOU PIECE OF SHIT SCARP METAL!" putting both hands on the collar Mars activated the [Energy: discharge] skill with the last of his stored energy, less then a second latter a loud bang was heard as the collar exploded, feeling the pain of the kinetic energy also breaking his skull and fracturing most of his spine Mars blacked out for a few seconds [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing] wakening up to clouds rapidly passing by him Mars spreed out his body as much as possible to stop spinning and to decrees his speed while he looked down at the rapidly approaching green terrain girting his teeth he confirmed his landing zone "looks like forest" a few seconds later he hit one of the highest trees slowing his speed a bit before he crashed into the ground sending out a loud shock wave that toppled all trees within 100 meters [host lethal damage detected random status point decreasing, [Energy storage] class skill over capacity decreasing all status points] pain flooded his senses as all the bones and organs in his body was crushed Mars still barely alive passed out from pain as Info spoke [message form the administrator, title [Man that fell form the sky] received] Chapter 7 Almost alone in the forest 1 as the sun was setting Mars finely woke up, lying on his back completely naked in the middle of a crater [good morning host] "yeah good morning Info" responding to Info''s greeting Mars discovered his entire body was almost completely immobile, finding nothing else to do he admired the sky turning red for some time before he asked Info "i am still alive right?" [yes] "this is Alfan right?" [yes] feeling relief that his one man space mission was a success, Mars remained dazed while looking at the sky until the sun completely set before he confirmed his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 1 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 100/100] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] looking over his pitiful remaining status points Mars felt some despair before he decided to remain positive he noticed his [Pain resist] had leveled up 2 times "...well at least i am still alive" Mars remained dazed a few minutes before Info spoke [message from administrator: living god number 5 chance of survival increased to ''likely'' preparing reassignment of sub-administrator 13 Info...] panicking when he herd Info would be leaving him Mars yelled out "wait! Info please tell me one thing before you leave" [request approved] "...what is my purpose? why did you reincarnate me?" [the purpose of any living god is keep Alfan from stagnating, so host please do as you wish with the new life granted to you] feeling the presence of Info leaving his mind Mars looked at the countless stars in the sky while he mumbled while feeling lonely "do as i wish huh..." the night passed before he noticed it was only when sun started to rise was Mars finely able to move his aching body, sitting up he observed the silent dense forest beyond the creator, it looked like a temperate forest where the tallest tress stood a little under 50 meters tall "maybe the shockwave scared off all the animals?" feeling happy something had not come to chew his face off while he was immobile Mars stood up and looked around as he decided his cause of action "first comes water, and then food and shelter, form there i guess exploring the forest to find people?" starting to walk he felt a breeze that made him change his priorities "...definitely need some clothes at some point too" walking a random direction though the dense undergrowth while keeping a look out for some animal tracks to help him find water he remembered his [Energy storage] class skill was at full capacity and willed to activate his [Energy: upgrade shop] class skill, within a few seconds the half transparent words appeared before him Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 100 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: information] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000 "level up my class" commanding his class skill he felt the accumulated energy leave him before a warm feeling spreed over his entire body "i guess i leveled up?" not entirely sure what happened he was confused for a second before remembering he could cheek his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 2 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 0/200] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "so the storage goes up by 100 units per level huh... well considering the backlash of 50 units broke all the bones in my lower body and ''killed'' me once that feels like a lot" walking further away from the crater for some time Mars stated to gradually hear birds singing in the trees as well as other signs of life from animals in the distance, he somewhat casually walk a little more before finding some animal tracks that only had one problem "...this is some kind of wolf tracks right? but what is up with this?" the problem was not that it was a predator, no Mars had expected this the problem was the size of the paw print "that one heck of a wolf" the paw print was more then half a meter long and from the amount of prints Mars estimated that there was more then 10 wolfs in this pack "how the **** is this fine Info" grumbling a little at the no longer present Info that had assured he would be ''fine'' anywhere, Mars held his breath and adjusted his posture by bending his knees a little lowering his center of gravity while he cautiously looked around for a few seconds before breathing out "...looks like i am fine for the time being" Mars decided to move along swiftly before the pack of wolfs returned to eat him and play with his bones, not long after he reached a clearing with a small lake in the middle, now on alert for big fury friends he observed the clearing and the opposite forest edge for dangers for some time "...looks like it is clear" only seeing some small white and blue birds moving on the edge of the lake he decided the cost was clear and moved closer to the lake, scared off the birds when he got within a few meters he keeled down to drink some water, after satisfying his thirst he looked at his own reflection in the water "i am kind of handsome" in the water was a refection of a youth with short black hair, deep blue eyes, pure white teeth and a overall sharply defined face, well satisfied by his own face Mars nodded with a slightly arrogant expression, before inspecting the rest of his body "...some how i feel like this is an upgrade from my last life" his whole body was covered by slender but densely packed muscles giving his overall body a lean and powerful look, feeling even more satisfied by his new body he looked down to cheek his most important ''asset'' before uttering in amazement "...well this is certainly something" admiring his ''asset'' for some time Mars remembered what Info had told him about half dragon race and quickly tried to transform to his combat form for some time before he felt something "is it like this?" with the feeling of a invisible muscle slowly moving inside his body Mars stated to notice his senses sharpen, he looked at his own refection again "this feels weird, weird but awesome" his nails had grown to sharp claws, scale like spikes had grown from his elbows and knees, less then 5 centimeters long curved horns had grown form his head and his eyes had turned to that of a reptile with yellow vertical slit pupils, his transformation had given him a over all sinister look, but he still felt joy like a childhood wish form his past life had been achieved but his joy was short lived as his sharpened senses picked up rapid movement towards the clearing form the forest behind him, turning around he saw twelve giant giant wolfs that was taller then him rushing out of the forest quickly surrounding and watching him with bold thirsty and hungry eyes "****... well i geese this could solve my food problem if i survive" falling in to a combat stance by slightly bending as knees and holding out his left hand towards the wolfs looking at the biggest wolf he shouted to boost his own courage "COME AT ME FLUFFY, YOU DUMB LOOKING DOG LETS PLAY!" Chapter 8 Almost alone in the forest 2 the pack of wolfs had surrounded him in a half circle, Mars with his back to the lake felt like he was driven into a corner but still silently observed the hungry pack, there was 12 wolfs in the pack the biggest standing a little under 2 meters tall with jet black fur it''s sinister red eyes showed a glint of cunning intelligence while it growled at Mars showing it sharp long teeth "come on fluffy! whats wrong are you scared!?" feeling the puny man i front of it was mocking it, the black alpha wolf (fluffy) let out a short low growl commanding one of it''s underlings to end Mars, a slightly smaller but still giant black wolf shout out from the encirclement towards Mars "that right come at me!" the wolf rapidly charged at him before leaping with an open maw tying to bite his head off, Mars felt little happy that he manged to provoke the wolfs to come at him one on one, but still kept his focus while he felt like time around him slow down as he waited for the perfect moment ''just a little closer...NOW!'' when to wolf was less the half a meter from his face Mars started to move, kicking off the ground he dived under the leaping wolf while swiping his claws along the soft belly of the wolf as it passed over him with blistering speed resulting in the wolfs entire lower body being cut open, not even turning to look at the wolf he just passed under Mars charged at the encirclement with his body low like a shadow gliding across the ground, only when he was about 6 meters form his original position was the load splash of the wolf hitting the lake heard "ROAAR!" the alpha and the rest of the pack was understandably enraged that this puny human had killed one of their pack roared while 2 of them broke the encirclement and charged at Mars from both sides, having learned from the first wolf they did not leap but tried to ram and bite him to death "that''s right come!" Mars now wearing a bloodthirsty smile roared back while he changed direction towards the wolf on his left, now within 2 meter of the wolf he dramatically slowed down while he dodged around to the right side of the wolf and trusted his claws at the side of the wolfs head aiming at its eye "HOOOOWWWWLLL!" his claws easily penetrated the eye of the wolf all the way into it''s skull while it let out a deafening howl of pain, but soon slumped over when Mars pushed his arm into it''s head burying his left arm all the way up to his elbow ''that is 2'' pulling out his left arm that was covered in blood he quickly jumped just before the second wolf that had charged at him that had tried to ram him with it''s giant body chased into it''s now dead pack mate, landing elegant the back of the wolf Mars trust his claws into the neck of the wolf aiming at it''s spine "HOOOWW---" and equally loud and pain filled howl as the last followed, but soon abruptly stooped as Mars pulled out a section of the poor wolfs spine, standing on the back of the of the wolf while it was slowly falling over Mars looked at the encirclement and roared at the rest of the wolfs "COME ON NOW I DON''T HAVE ALL DAY" the alpha no longer considering Mars as an easy target as he already had killed 3 wolfs without taking a single hit ordered the rest of the pack to tighten the encirclement while it stated to gather it''s mana ''9 left'' Mars still standing on the back of the dead wolf looked to the lake out of the corner of his eye and saw the first wolf that had charged at him was slumped over on the edge of the lake while the surrounding water had turned red from blood, confirming that i was dead he stated to taunt the rest of the wolfs "is that all you got fluffy?" the words barely left his mouth before the alpha (fluffy) opened it''s maw and spew out what looked like an orb of pure darkness "oh shi-" before he had at chance to doge Mars was hit by the orb in his stomach and blasted backwards by the impact lunching him several meters into the air before he hit the ground rolling almost 10 meters more before he stooped by the shore of the lake, when he raised his head he saw the alpha looking at him with a mocking expression, slowly standing up like a zombie out of the grave Mars glared at the alpha and asked in a low tone "so you like to play with magic?" as soon as the words where out of his mouth 10 small flames formed around him quickly growing bigger into 10 giant red flame arrows, looking at the wolfs that was now slowly backing off Mars roared "COME ON I THOUGHT YOU LIKED MAGIC!" as soon as he launched the flame arrows towards the alpha wolf the pack off wolfs started the flee but still 4 out off the 10 flame arrows hit their mark, nailing the alpha to the ground while roasting it alive "HOOOOWWWWWLLL!!!" after howling out for the last time the alpha collapsed while the remaining 8 wolfs ran off into the forest Mars monetarily considered giving chase before he felt large amount of pain i his stomach where the orb of darkness had hit, looking down he saw that almost all of his stomach had turned a blackish blue color he decide to not to run after the pack that had now disappeared into the forest "**** this hurts" sitting down on the grass his half dragon transformation started to wear off, only after a few minutes was he able to stand up again, looking at the bloody scene of carnage around him Mars sighed and mumbled to himself "looks like the half dragon transformation not only changes my body but also my mind" remembering how he felt getting covered in blood pleasant a few minutes ago while he rampaged around Mars shuddered and decided to keep the amount of time he transformed to a minimum, walking to the lake he started to wash the blood off his body, when he suddenly started to feel something strange in his stomach other then pain, after being confused for a second he remembered what this feeling was "i am hungry, that is what this feeling is right?" looking at the still burning remains of the alpha wolf mars decide on his meal "i wonder how wolf meat tastes?" walking over to the body of the wolf Mars reached into the fire and ripped of some charred meat and stunk it in his mouth after a few second of chewing that sounded like rocks getting crushed in a rock grinder he swallowed and evaluated "...yep can''t eat this" having decided to to some proper cooking he waked back to the lake, grabbing it''s hind leg he pulled the several ton dead wolf out from the water and onto the shore, after palatially transforming his arm mars used his claws to skin and butcher the wolf, but as he was at no means an expert in either one of those fields it took him a long time before he was done, looking at the half ruined black wolf pelt Mars felt some regret but as the sun had long set he was way to hungry to care and quickly started to roast some wolf meat over his flame, after having burnt some meat he started to get the trick to roasting meat over his own flame and started to eat "this is way better" while he ate he looked at the half transparent black bead he had found near the heart when he disassembled the wolf, playing with it in the palm of his hand for some time under the moonlight he started to have a strange urge to eat it "...**** it" trowing cation to the wind he put the bead into his mouth and swallowed it, after a few seconds he felt like he had just absorbed a large amount of energy and quickly opened his status to confirm "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 2 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 105/200] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "105 energy points... so 5 points from when the orb of darkness hit me and 100 from the bead?" looking over at the 3 remaining wolf carcasses Mars had a feeling that he would soon level up his class Chapter 9 Almost alone in the forest 3 feeling tired Mars decided to wait with disassembling the rest of the wolfs, he climbed a tree at the edge of the clearing with the half ruined wolf pelt and went to sleep on a branch, after being woken up a few times by animal howls in the distance he finally decided to wake up for real when the sun was slowly rising "a new day... i need to make some clothes today" feeling slightly cold in the morning dew Mars jumped down from the tree and waked towards the lake to wash his face, but he stooped and looked at the other side of the lake "are those horses? no a horse do not have horns" on the other side of the lake where a herd of nearly 50 horned horses, Mars knelled down and observed them the biggest of them stood 3 meters tall with 5 pale horns coming out in the middle of its head while the smallest was a little under 1 meter tall with no horns, they all had a ash grey color short fur and pure white eyes, Mars having decided that they where herbivores stood up and waked a little closer to lake before feeling a chill down his spine, looking across the lake the biggest horse had spotted him and where starring him down with its withe eyes "...are you telling me not to come any closer? as he had no intentions of hunting down the herd of horned horses as he still had over 5 tons of wolf meat so he stooped waking and looked a the horses that was staring at him, after a few tense minutes of steering the horse perhaps having decided that Mars was no threat to its herd it let down its guard "...can i come closer now?" the horses seemingly understanding him let out a nigh of approval and went back to drinking water from the lake, Mars still a little on guard walked to the lake and stated washing his face and drinking some water while still looking at the heard on the other side of the lake "it dose not look like they will attack me, unless i come closer or trow magic at them" Mars having deemed the herd harmless for now walked over to the charred remains of the alpha wolf, lifting open its upper jaw he inspected its teeth before deciding on a corner canine tooth that he quickly grabbed and pulled out "having a knife would be for the best" transforming his hand Mars stated to shape the tooth into a knife with his claws, and after an hour of sharpening he looked over his new knife, pure withe and with a approximately 60 centimeter long triangle shaped blade and an 30 centimeter grip it looked more like a bone machete then a tooth knife satisfied with his own work Mars nodded with a slightly proud face while he praised himself "this will certainly make it easy to disassemble the rest of the wolfs" Mars walked over to the 2 wolf corpses that still wasnext to each other and started to skin them before being interrupted by a loud nigh from the other side of the lake, looking up from his work Mars was stunned by what he saw, the leader of the herd was ''walking'' up into the air quickly followed by the rest of the herd that also ''walked'' up into the air before ''running'' away admits the top of the trees, still dazed Mars looked at the diapering herd of horned horses Mars mumbled "... i guess anything goes in Alfan" still feeling a little dazed by what he just saw Mars quickly finished disassembling the remaining 3 wolf corpses with the help of his new knife the skinning process was much smoother, after using his flame to clean the reaming flesh and fat off the pelts Mars was left with 2 somewhat nice looking pelts 1 he had messed up by skinning it with his claws and the pelt of the alpha that was somewhat burned, as the sun was past its highest point he decide to eat some roasted wolf after eating Mars took the messed up pelt and cut approximately 1 centimeter wide line out all the way around the edge of the pelt "good now to sewing some shorts" having gained some makeshift thread Mars spent the rest of the day making some makeshift shorts out of wolf pelt, after wearing them he felt much better with himself and looked at the 3 half transparent black beads he had found when he disassembled the rest if the wolfs, 2 of them looked like the first he had eaten but the one he had removed from the alpha was less transparent and slightly bigger then the others "...so the stronger the beast the bigger the amount of energy in the bead?" Mars decided the wait with using the bead from the alpha and was about to eat one of the smaller beads before he remembered that he had 105 units out of 200 units max in his [Energy: storage] class skill "lets experiment with the excess 5 units of energy" waking up to a random tree Mars snapped of one of the lower branches to use as a test subject "hmm let go with 3 units of thermal energy to start" Mars holding the branch with one hand while he covered his eyes and face with the other hand before he activated his [Energy: discharge] class skill "BANG!" a short bang was heard as the water inside to branch turned to steam and expanded rapidly causing the middle of the branch to explode and splinter where Mars had transferred his energy "hmm pretty much as i expected" having confirmed his own theory Mars picked up a rock and held it in his left hand while he extend out his arm towards a tree that was almost 10 meters away "lets see what 2 units of kinetic energy does" letting go of the rock and then quickly activating his [Energy: discharge] class skill while it still was in contact with his palm, the rock exploded in the general direction of the tree, moving closer to inspect the damage Mars discovered that large fragments of rock was deeply impeded into the targeted tree as well as the surrounding area "this looks useful as a short range weapon" satisfied with his experiments Mars ate one of the 3 beads and after he felt like he had absorbed the energy he opened his status to confirm "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 2 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 200/200] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] seeing that his [Energy: storage] class skill was at capacity Mars willed his [Energy: upgrade shop] to open and a second later the half transparent mist making up his status changed Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class level up price: 200 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: information] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000 "level up my class" a second later a warm feeling spreed over his body and Mars felt the accumulated energy leave his body getting sucked into his soul and after a few second he was sure that his energy capacity had gone up, hesitating for a moment he ate the 2 reaming beads and waited until the energy was absorbed, and then upend his status one more time "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 3 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 300/300] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] seeing that his energy storage was full again Mars leveled up his class to level 4, before he ate some wolf meat, climbed a tree and went to sleep Chapter 10 Almost alone in the forest 4 as the sun rose the next day Mars looked up at the gray sky while he stretched "looks like rain... it might be time to find permanent shelter" having learned from the day before Mars still up in his tree looked down at the clearing to check for things that might want to eat his face off "...seems like the coast is clear" jumping down from the tree Mars walked to the shore of the lake and washed his face and drank some water as he looked over at the hill of wolf meat that had been left in the open for 2 days "i might not be able to eat this anymore... but **** it having decided to put his faith in his body Mars stuffed his face with wolf meat for one last time before he packed up the best parts of his harvested pelts and burned the rest of the meat to ashes with his flame "now where to go?" Mars agilely climbed the highest tree in the vicinity of the lake to look around for a general direction to follow in one direction he sported a mountain range some 20 kilometers away "...a cave might be good" deciding to go for the caveman lifestyle Mars jumped down and picked up his knife and the pelts and started to move towards the mountain range though the forest while being somewhat on alert for wildlife, after waking for a few hours it started to rain "this sucks" Mars quickly noticed that while his body had excellent fire and heat residence it was not as good with the cold and since he was only wearing some makeshift shorts his body temperature started to drop "...i was fine when i was in space in subzero temperatures... is this maybe because my constitution status dropped?" after fighting the cold for a few more hours Mars decided to stop and take shelter under a giant fallen tree trunk while warming up with his flame he decided to make a simple rain jacked by cutting out a square of pelt and making a hole in the middle to stick his head though "this should do for now... are you coming out yet?" while he was working Mars felt like he was being watched by something but the only answer he got was the loud sound of the rain still pouring down, staying on guard he sat down on the muddy ground and closed his eyes while making his flame disappear grasping his knife tightly while he waited for ''it'' to make a move "...come on now" straining his ears Mars could hear some light footsteps moving in the trees over his head, it was moving from tree to tree gradually moving behind him until it stopped a few meters behind him "...any second now" tensing up Mars tightly grasped his knife with his right hand and put his left hand down on the ground while he waited for it to attack him "...NOW!" hearing it set off in a jump Mars jumped to the side spun around and was confused as he saw noting was there until ''something'' clearly landed where he had just been sitting, casting his doubts away Mars threw his knife at it, and after hurling though the rain for a moment the knife hit something "KIIISSSAAAA!!!" green blood spew out where his knife landed along with a load scream Mars looked in wonder while ''it'' gradually faded into existence, as Mars saw what it was he let out a very comically feminine scream while he instinctively summoned and hurled his flame at it, a giant blue spider nearly 2 meters high "KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!" as commanded by his panic his dragon flame resounded like a dutiful solider spreading out to a fire net covering the entire spider almost instantly reducing it to ash, after pulling himself together for a few second Mars walked over to pick up his knife when he discovered a blue bead among the ashes "...so it is not only the wolfs that have theses beads?" picking up his now compleatly black knife along with the bead Mars hesitated for a second before he ate the bead, after absorbing the energy for a few seconds he opened his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 4 Status points: Strength [6/1000] Constitution [3/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 200/400] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "so that spider was at the same level as the alpha wolf... it gave the same amount of energy anyway" after a few seconds Mars decided to stay put until the rain stopped and in fear off getting ambushed by another invisible spider he kept up his guard until the rain finally stopped a few houses later, Mars stood up and stretched "time to move" after climbing a tree to confirm his that he was still moving in the right direction Mars started waking though the forest to the mountain range still hurling his pelts, as the sun was going down Mars finally reached the foot of the first mountain "...this is kind of big" looking up at the mountain that was half covered in trees and peeked above the clouds standing approximately 10 kilometers tall but still the smallest in the mountain range Mars had a vague feeling that Alfan was bigger than his past world. after searching around in the night for a cave to call home for some time Mars found some prime real estate, close to a river with pure water with a lot of fish and made from a pure white stone the cave made him want to claim it for himself the only problem was that it seemed to be occupied, so Mars did as any sane half dragon would and yelled into the cave "ANYBODY HOME?" "ROOOOAAAAARRR!!!!" getting an almost instant reply from the owner of the cave Mars backed off a little while he listened to thundering footsteps coming out of the cave, looking up at the giant bear that came out from the cave Mars felt that he might have been a little to cocky but still asked "...so how about moving out and letting me live here?" the bear walked out the cave and stood up on its hind legs, now standing over 10 meters tall and 6 meters wide it gave its response "ROOOOAAAARR!!!!" Mars rushed out dodging a lightning fast paw strike form the bear he jumped its arm and ran up to the head of the bear "i did ask nicely" activating his [Energy: discharge] class skill with 20 units of kinetic energy while resting his palm on the forehead of the bear Mars braced himself "BOOOOM" Mars got blasted off backwards into the air as the bears skull imploded splashing blood and brain matter onto the surroundings, landing in a tree Mars grasped his aching arm while looking at the headless bear falling over right in front of the cave "timber!" "BOOM" it felt like a small earthquake when the giant headless bear fell over and hit the ground, after jumping down from the tree he had landed in Mars walked past the bear corpse and stopped in front of the cave "...god that smell" Mars felt like he hit a wall of animal smell when he got close to the cave, wondering what to do for a second Mars summoned his flame and hurdled it into the cave to burn the source of smell away, while the fire burned Mars mumbled "that is permanent shelter... next on the list is building up supplies and then searching for some sort of civilization" Chapter 11 Caveman life 1 the next day when Mars woke up he walked a few minutes to the nearby river to wash up and drink some water, while looking at the river that was less than 10 meters across and less than 2 meters deep he could see a lot of colorful fishes swimming around "fish might be good for breakfast... no i have a literally tons of bear meat to eat first" while walking back to his new home he checked the nearby plants and trees for sources of food, finding some small wild berries with a yellow color that looked poisonous at first glace but when he picked one and split it open a sweet smell spread out, tempted by the first source of sugar he had found Mars quickly stuffed his face with a handful of the yellow berries with a sweet taste almost like honey Mars named the small yellow berries honey barriers "this should be enough exploration for now" walking back to his cave Mars began the epic task of disassembling the giant bear while he thought of what he needed to do to make his caveman lifestyle more comfortable "i need some furniture so i need a hatchet of some sort... maybe a bone hatchet?" after working on skinning the bear until the sun went down Mars was only a little over half done, while chewing on some roasted bear meat he looked at his his tooth knife that had almost no blade left after he had sharpened it so many times during the day "i need a new knife to huh... while i am at it i might as well make a sword" just when he thought about making a sword he stated to fell uneasy and restless "...what is this feeling?" still feeling restless Mars look over at the half disassembled bear and walked over to the pile of bones he had made when he disassembled the bear while still feeling weird "...i need a sword?" as soon as he said it again he became even more restless "is this a effect of the [Swordsmanship] skill?" still a little puzzled Mars transformed his hand and picked up a bone, then stated to sharpen it into the shape of a sword, after half an hour of working Mars now held a bone sword in his hand "...this will not do the blade is uneven, the balance is off and it is to light" tossing the bone sword to the side he began working on the next one and soon stood with a new bone sword in his hands "...this is no good either the grip is uneven" beginning work on the next bone sword Mars entered a trance where only him and the swords he was making existed not even noticing time was passing by, even when the sun rose and set again he was only focused on making a perfect sword, until after an unknown amount of time passed and Mars again stood with a newly made sword "... i suppose this will do for now" in his hand was a single edged sword with a straight blade approximately 80 centimeters long, Mars stood and admired his work for some time before he started to get dizzy and after almost losing his balance he felt a banging headache "why am i so thirsty?... and it feels like a could eat a horse too, how long was i making swords for?" looking around Mars quickly saw that the pile of bear bones had turned into a small hill of bone swords, after being stunned for some Mars took a lot of bear meat with him down to the river where he drank a lot of water and roasted the meat to eat, after eating he went back to his cave and passed out only waking up after sleeping for an entire day. when Mars woke up the next day he grabbed his bone sword and went to the river to wash while he was drinking some water he discovered some movement on the opposite side of the river, tightening the grip on his sword Mars watched as a big panther nearly 2 meter high with smooth fur black as night, a long fluffy tail and 2 straight black horns that grew out form its head walked out from the undergrowth, Mars froze as he felt a sort of majestic air around the beast right until a glint of surprise passed though its blue eyes as it made eye contact with Mars on the other side of the river and froze up mid walk as it was clearly not expecting him to be there, Mars feeling a little awkward greeted the cat "...hello" not sensing any hostility from Mars the big cat still a little cautions unfroze and slowly walked over to the riverside while it gave Mars a curious look "...i am not going to hurt you as long as you don''t hurt me" with no need for more meat as it would likely spoil before he ate the rest of the bear meat and dreading to kill such a beautiful beast Mars tried to communicate his intentions to the cat and after a few moments of silent eye contact the cat stated to dirk some water as it had understood that this man was no mere prey but also had no intentions of hurting it, Mars also went back to washing his face, a few minutes latter the panther stood and gave Mars a last look of wonder before it walked back into the forrest "...that was kind of tense, well i guess that might be one of my new neighbors" sightly loosening the grip on his sword Mars went back to the cave and worked on disassembling the rest of the bear for the rest of the day only finishing when the sun had set and his knife was almost useless while roasting some meat Mars rolled the brown transparent bead he had found when he disassembled the bear around in his hand "it feels like this has the same amount of energy as the big wolf but there is something else in there..." Mars played around with the bead while he though for some time before he ate it, feeling the usual feeling of energy being absorbed he also had the feeling that his body was being reinforced at the same time, a few minutes after he opened his status to confirm "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 4 Status points: Strength [7/1000] Constitution [4/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 380/400] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] looking over his status Mars was both surprised and happy to find that his strength and constitution status had been increased by 1 point "so it looks like beads from stronger beasts also increases my status points" feeling happy Mars went to sleep on the newly skinned bear hide Chapter 12 Caveman life 2 the next day after Mars came back form the river and ate some bear meat breakfast he looked over the rest of the bear materials he had left "so 100 kilograms of bones, 900 kilograms of hide and about 3 tons of meat huh... as i eat 10 kilograms of meat a day that is some 300 days of food assuming i can persevere it somehow" after moving the meat further into the cave Mars wondered what he should do with the rest of the materials "i could use the hide for making a somewhat proper bed... after that i guess i can use the rest to practice making some better clothes and some armor" quickly folding and moving the hide into the cave Mars looked at the pile of bones and the even bigger pile failed bone swords "...i wasted so many bones making a sword, but i might be able to use the best of them as knifes and recycle the rest for something else" still feeling a little down from the waste of top quality bones Mars looked over the pitiful amount of whole bones he had left "i can use the small bones to make some needles to sew with, the medium size ones to make a hatchet and some of the bigger ones to make a lumber ax and i guess there is no harm in storing the rest for now" after moving the bones and the failed bone swords Mars picked one of the larger bones and after transforming his hand started to slowly shape it into a hatchet with his claws, while he was working Mars felt like his experience with shaping bones had reached a tipping point, almost like his experience was water that had slowly dripped down and finely flied a bucket up completely "...what is this?" after feeling puzzled for a moment Mars suddenly felt like it got easier and faster to shape the bone as he pleased "did i just gain a skill?" deciding to wait on cheeking his status until he was done with the bone hatchet witch he shaped to have a 30 centimeter wide triangle blade and 50 centimeter long handle, after admiring his work Mars opened his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 4 Status points: Strength [7/1000] Constitution [4/2000] Dexterity [5/1500] Intelligence [3/600] Wisdom [3/900]Charisma [1/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 380/400] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "bone crafting huh, so it is a passive skill for crafting with bones... well i did use a lot of bones making swords" deciding to try out his new skill Mars started to work on the lumber ax and picked up a large bone suitable for the task, as he was sharpening it with his claws Mars felt that working with the bone was both easier and faster, it took him only half the time took to make the hatchet "so this is the effect of a skill..." looking over the lumber ax that had a 1,5 meter long handle and a 60 centimeter wide triangular blade Mars was more then a little amazed "so now i can chop up some lumber for some furniture... wait... can i maybe absorb the energy from a fire made by burning wood?" as soon as the thought passed Mars ran out to find some fire wood, and as he was in a forest find some dry wood was an easy task as he found a dry piece of lumber lying on the forest floor he quickly chopped it into smaller pieces and brought it back to the entrance of his cave where he made a fireplace by gathering some rocks "now to light it... there" Mars lit the wood with his own flame before he put out his own flame and waited for a sign that he was absorbing energy from the flame, after waiting for a little while he felt like he had started to absorb a little energy from the fire "this is kinda slow..." feeling that this would not be an effective source of energy Mars was about to give up when he got an idea, quickly sticking his arm into the fire "... this feels faster" as he looked at his arm that common sense said should be roasting but was completely fine thanks to his [Fire resist] skill as well as his race Mars got an even crazier idea "well i do have the [Fire resist] skill anyway, so lets scale this up... a lot, later" after watching his [Energy: storage] skill fill up by 5 points before the fire burned out Mars was very satisfied by the firewood to energy ratio that was about 1 kilogram of firewood to 1 point of energy with a small fire Mars decided to go big as he started to clear the area around the cave for trees and other flammable materials while processing the trees by cutting of the branches and trunks into smaller more manageable sections and neatly stacking them in his cave "this should do for now" looking at the now clear 15 by 15 meter area around the cave Mars was nodding to himself for the good work and after a quirk midday meal he started to gather all the firewood he could find in a 3 kilometer area around his cave, and by sundown he was looking at a small mountain of firewood pilled up in the middle of the newly created fire safe area in front of his cave "hmm that should be 2500 kilograms of firewood so even assuming the firewood to energy ratio drops by 50% that is still 1200 units of energy... if the ratio even drops at all" feeling excited by the prospect of getting stronger Mars striped and jumped on top of the big pile of firewood and sat down "...as they say: go big or go home" lighting the fire with his own flame Mars opened his status to keep an eye on his [Energy: storage] skill while he felt the heat go up as the fire was starting and less then 30 seconds later the value started to climb rapidly "388...390...394..." a minute later the value reached 399 and Mars quickly jumped off the fire fearing that he would overshoot the cap on his [Energy: storage] skill and opened his [Energy: upgrade shop] skill while still close to the fire, and as soon as his [energy: storage] skill hit the energy cap he commanded "level up my class" while feeling the warmth of leveling up his class up Mars jumped back on the fire and cheeked his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 5 Status points: Strength [12/1000] Constitution [9/2000] Dexterity [10/1500] Intelligence [8/600] Wisdom [8/900]Charisma [6/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1/500] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "all my status points went up by 5... is this for reaching class level 5?" feeling more happy then confused by his increase in stats Mars quickly pulled himself together to watch the cap on his [Energy: storage] and jumping off the fire to breathe when he felt like he was suffocating he power leveled until sunrise the next day when the fire finally burned out "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 7 Status points: Strength [11/1000] Constitution [8/2000] Dexterity [10/1500] Intelligence [8/600] Wisdom [8/900]Charisma [6/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 354/700] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "so 1549 units of energy in total from 2500 kilograms of firewood that is an firewood to energy ratio close to 62%... not bad at all ha haha AHAHAHA---" Mars was currently standing on a big pile of ash butt naked and completely black from sot laughing like a maniac looking a little funny, but an arrogant dragon-like pride could still be felt from him even as he was slightly high from a nice mix of slight Carbon monoxide poisoning, lack of sleep and the pleasure dragons-like races gets form bathing in flames all night "...lets go to the river and wash up" calming down slightly Mars picked up his wolf skin shorts from the ground and went down to the river to wash the sot off his body Chapter 13 Caveman life 3 when Mars arrived at the river to wash off the sot that was covering his entire body he was once again face to face with his new neighbor but now they where on the same side of the river "...hello" as Mars locked eyes with the big cat from less then 10 meters away he awkwardly greeted it, the cat looked at the wired man that was butt naked and completely black from sot as it slowly backed off some distance while looking at him with cold eyes that clearly asked ''what kind of pervert is this?'' while Mars felt like he had just been pinned by a label he would not be able to get rid off again he quickly tried to explain himself "no, you see this is the result of getting stronger, training if you will... so please don''t look at me like i am some kind of pervert" the harsh eyes of the cat soften somewhat seemingly understanding his exponentiation, but it still turned around and ran off, only stopping at the edge of the forest turning its head back while its horns flashed with a glint off black light, Mars fearing an attack tensed for a second before a cold and smooth feminine voice appeared in his head "human... weird" "what..." stunned by the telepathic message from the big cat Mars remained dazed while looking at the it as it ran off into the forest only waking up from his daze several minutes later while convincing himself "well there is flying horned horses so a telepathic cat is not so weird.... well lets just wash up" spending almost an hour scrubbing and washing sot and ash off his body Mars eventually became somewhat clean but he still fleet like he had gotten a shade darker from sot, but decided to stop trying to get clean as he would use his new ''giant fire power leveling'' method more later so he put on his shorts and went back to his cave while he gathered a little more firewood on the way "...well the bath woke me up a little but it might be best to eat some meat and then take a nap" after eating and roasting some of the still not spoiled bear meat Mars napped for a few hours before he woke up around noon "what to do now... starting work on some new clothes might be good but i would rather tire myself out so i can sleep tonight, so lets gather some more firewood for now" grabbing his lumber ax and hatchet Mars walk into the forest to gather some fuel for his class advancement, but after he got some way into the forest he started to feel like he was being watched by something hungry "this feels like its a spider again... no there is more then one this time" acting like he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary Mars went on with his task while he felt the presence of his starkers closing in "two... five... seven in total huh" feeling the hungry spiders might pounce on him soon Mars slowly transformed fully into his more dragon-like from for the second time in his life, knowing that it would have an effect on his mind he tried to remain as calm as possible while he waited to act "just a little closer..." having his sense sharped Mars felt like he could almost ''see'' the spiders when he heard the creepy sounds of 42 spider legs softly moving to surround him on all sides "...NOW" as he heard the leg mussels of the spider right behind him tensing up to jump him Mars yelled out and jumped straight up at the same time as the spider jumped at him while spreading his legs out to the sides as a gymnastic and swung his lumber ax down between his spreed legs straight into the face of the still invisible spider *SPLAT!!!* as the beautiful sound of spider face meeting ax entered his ears Mars threw his hatchet at another spider while he used his legs to set off the spider mid air jumping further into the air as he pulled out his lumber ax, landing on a branch in a nearby tree at the exactly same time as first spider hit the ground and his hatchet pierced the brain of the second spider "KISSSHAAA!!!" the remaining 5 spiders clearly understood that they had been ambushed by their pray let out a loud scream that sounded like a rusty nail being driven across glass "HAHAHA how is it to be ambushed? it sucks right!" Mars taunted the spiders while he jumped down from the tree as he rushed at the closest one while wearing a bloodthirsty smile before feeling his dragon sense tingle and quickly dodged rolled to the side before something shoot over his head and hit a tree close to him, not having time to observe what it was as he now was close enough to his target that it attempted to nail him with one of its front legs he jumped while bending his legs backwards and rising his ax over his head with both hands on the handle as he felt the spider leg gaze his right knee "this little spider went BOINK!" *SPLAT!!!* using all his power Mars smashed his ax down on the spider almost splitting it in half, feeling his dragon senses tingle once more he let go of his ax that was deeply embedded into the spider and the ground under it and rolled off to the side while something passed him and landed where he just where, looking at his lumber ax and the corpse of the spider that was now covered in some kind of green goo and slowly melting while giving off smoke he looked to the biggest spider presence and yelled "don''t you know its considered rude to spit acid at your own goons!?" getting more acid spit in return for his remark Mars dodged to the side and ran to the spider corpse with his hatched embedded in its skull, 3 of the remaining spiders rushed at him while the bigger spider continued to spit invisible acid at him as he ran zigzag from tree to tree dodging the spit while he loaded his right hand with 5 units of kinetic energy "now we are having fun, right fellers?" as he neared a spider that was charging at him from the front blocking his route to the hatchet Mars got as close as he could before the still invisible spider stabbed at him with his front legs, avoiding the first leg while the second leg gazed him on the shoulder he slipped to the side off the spider and put his loaded hand onto the side of its body "and this little spider went BANG!" *SPLAT!!!* as he activated his [Energy: discharge] with the loaded amount of kinetic energy the spider was blasted off to the side like it had just be hit by a trunk, while saying a silent prayer for the spider Mars used the rebound form his energy discharge to roll the the side dodging more acid spit "you are not very good at this whole spitting thing are you?" arriving at the spider corpse with his hatchet while taunting the spiders Mars did a front flip over the corpse while pulling his hatched out for extra style points when he landed he bent his body to the side almost dodging a spider leg that scarped his back, steeping forward to restore his balance he chopped at the leg cutting it cleanly off while dodging the second front leg as he stepped in he planted his hatched right in the face of the spider spewing green blood all over his face "...you could at least have taken me to diner first" as he now was covered in spider blood Mars decided to load his [Energy: discharge] with 5 units of thermal energy in his left hand while he closed in on the last spider that was charging at him and after easily dodging the front leg attacks he was use to by now he set his left hand onto the body of the spider "and this little spider went KABOOM!" *SPLAT!!!* unloading thermal energy into the body of the spider its body fluids expanded as they where rapidly heated up causing almost half of the body to explode spraying pieces of spider flesh and green blood into the surroundings and onto Mars covering his entire left side in hot spider blood while he stood still with his hatchet in his right hand looking at the still invisible spiting spider "...looks like we have ourselves a stand off, so come on my hatched vs your spit" slightly bending his knees Mars waited for the spider to spit its acid and after a few tense seconds the spider spat its acid, reacting almost instantly Mars threw his hatchet and quickly jumped to the side imitating a cretin renegade DEA agent during bullet-time, as he landed on the ground his hatchet went through the brain of the spitting spider "...looks like that''s it for now" standing up and walking over to the spitting spider Mars saw that it was almost 2 times as big as the other spiders almost 3 meters high "that is a really big spider" looking after his hatched Mars discovered that it had hit the spiders acid mid air and was starting to melt "...well that sucks" undoing his dragon transformation Mars used his flame to burn all 7 spider corpses to ashes as he had no intention of eating spider meat he only picked up the 7 beads form the ashes "jackpot" as he picked up the bead from the spitting spider he felt that he would gain status points form it and felt a little happy until he remembered that he was covered in green spider blood "...and right back to the river i go" Chapter 14 Caveman life 4 as Mars was washing off for the second time today he noticed that the skin around the wound on his knee was turning black "shit poison!" knowing he had a even larger wound on his back Mars jumped out of the water and summoned his dragon flame at the highest temperature and covered his entire body in flames that was so hot the ground instantly dyed out and creaked while setting fire to everything that could burn in a almost 5 meter radius "...please work" hoping the temperature from his flame would destroy the poison in his body Mars remained sitting as a burning man while praying his idea worked while the nearby water from the river started boiling and the random fires started to spreed until a few minutes later when he stopped the flame and inspected his wounds "...looks like it worked, damn spiders almost got me from beyond the grave" finally relived Mars looked around and discovered that he had started a forest fire "....****" jumping up he quickly started to put out the flames before even more forest burned down "...seems like that was the last fire" after having stopped a forest fire of his own making Mars went back to his cave and spent the rest of the day making a new lumber ax and hatchet before eating some meat and going to sleep early exhausted from staying up all night and fighting the spiders waking up late morning the next day Mars inspected his wounds and found they had almost healed an then he looked at yesterdays battle spoils consisting of 7 half transparent green beads "this should be 1400 units of energy... but how much energy do i have stored right now?" "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 7 Status points: Strength [12/1000] Constitution [9/2000] Dexterity [10/1500] Intelligence [8/600] Wisdom [8/900]Charisma [6/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 344/700] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "...so i can only eat one of thees right now or i will go over the cap" having confirmed his energy storage Mars ate one bead bringing his stored energy to 544 units and deiced to use firewood to get the remaining 156 units of energy need to level his class up to level 8, so acting to get stronger Mars grabbed his newly made bone lumber ax and went into the forest to get some more firewood "this should do for now" having gathered almost 260 kilograms of firewood Mars stripped and jumped on to the pile of firewood and lit the fire while keeping a close eye on his stored energy having calculated the amount of firewood correctly his [Energy: storage] skill reached its cap as the fire was almost had burned out so he activated his [Energy: upgrade shop] skill and looked over the options [Energy: upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 700 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: information] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000] "hmm i can afford the all the available skills except [Energy: reactive shield]... but first level up my class" after feeling his stored energy being drained completely Mars ate 3 more beads giving him a total of 600 energy units and looked at his upgrade shop again [Energy: upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 800 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: information] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000] "hmm the [Energy: information] skill feels like the one i should unlock first... purchase the [Energy: information] skill" feeling his stored energy being drained once more Mars wondered what his new skill was for before some text appeared in the corner of his filed of vision [Energy: information] use cost: 0 status: unlocked function: displays information of [Energy] class skills and energy in objects and magic beasts "well this is useful" instantly satisfied with his purchase Mars was about to eat the last 4 beads when the text changed [class 6 magic beast core] stored energy: 200 stored status points: none source: male stealth acid spider "so theses are magic beast cores?... but what is with the ''class 6''?... maybe its the rank of a magic beast? amusing so, is there also class 1-5?" tilting his head in slight confusion while also feeling enlightened by his new skill Mars looked a the core that was slightly larger the rest and as expended the text changed [class 6 magic beast core] stored energy: 200 stored status points: 2 source: female stealth acid spider "so the bigger spider that spat acid at me was a female stealth acid spider?... well never mind what it was, it tired to kill me and now its energy units and status points" not feeling very interested in any of the information other then energy units and status points Mars ate the remaining 3 of the reaming magic beast cores and sat on a fire a little more filling his [Energy: storage] completely and opened his [Energy: upgrade shop] skill [Energy: upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 800 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800, [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000] as Mars looked over the available skills once more his new skill gave him information on them one by one [Energy: restoration] use cost: 10-100 status: locked function: restores and repairs targeted objects at a rate dependent on the amount of energy units used [Energy: healing] use cost: 25-100 status: locked function: heals user or target living organism by a rate dependent on the amount of energy units used [Energy: absorb shield] use cost: 60 status: locked function: creates a shield around the user that lasts for 60 seconds and absorbs all energy from attacks hitting the shield converting them to energy units with a max absorption of 100 energy units [Energy: reactive shield] use cost: 100 status: locked function: creates a shield around the user that lasts for 30 seconds and automatically counters all attacks that hit the shield with double the amount of energy they hit the shield with "...well all the skills seems very useful but just level up my class for now" commanding his skill Mars felt his energy storage drain once more as well as himself getting stronger, after eating the last core Mars waited a few seconds before he opened his status to confirm "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell form the sky] Class: [Energy] Class level: 10 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [19/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [18/900]Charisma [10/10] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 200/1000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "looks like my status points all went up by 10 except charisma that hit the cap and strength, intelligence that got an extra point each from the magic beast core... so every 5 levels my status point raises with the same number as my level?" feeling invigorated by his newly attained level Mars went to celebrate by eating some bear meat when he discovered that the meat was starting to turn stale "...well it have been some time since i disassembled the bear and it not like i can''t eat it if its a little stale" after munching on some stale bear meat Mars went down to the river to get some water when he ran into his neighbor "hello there neighbor" "..." as Mars looked at the big black cat his [Energy: information] skill displayed its information [Shadow death panther cub female class: 9 known as the terror of a large forest, an enraged adult shadow death panther is able to ruin a medium sized kingdom in less then a night] as Mars looked over the information he felt a chill down his spine and deiced to get on the good side of the shadow death panther cub and asked with a slightly shaking voice "...do you like bear meat?" Chapter 15 Caveman life 5 "do you like bear meat?" looking a the cub shadow death panther in front of him Mars decided to try and bribe it with food first "..." but the panther just stared at him with its usual cold cat eyes, Mars assuming it was suspicious of him tried to explain further "you know the giant bear that was living in a cave near here?" as Mars mentioned the place the bear was living a light of murderess hostility flashed in the eyes of the panther before its horns flashed sending a telepathic message to him "know... bear" Mars sensing the hostility of the panther captiously explained further "i killed that bear a few days ago, and now the meat is starting to go bad so i want to share the meat with you" the panther look at him confused for a few seconds before its horns flashed again "human... why lying?" "i am not lying, i killed it" "..." seeing that the panther still didn''t believe him Mars got an idea and asked the panther "you have a good nose right? do i not have the smell of that bear?" a little after he asked the panther moved a little closer and gave him a sniff and quickly jumped back as its horns flashed again "smell fire... but also bear" "yes as i have been living in the cave after i killed the bear and sleeping on its hide so naturally i smell a little like the bear" "..." the panther still had a confused look in its eyes a few seconds before it changed to hostility as its horns flashed "human... friends with bear... try to cheat me" as soon as the words entered his head Mars knew the situation was deteriorating and quickly tried to explain as he saw that the surroundings of the panther was being covered in some sort of dark shadow that was oozing out from its body "no i am not friends with the bear! even if i where why would i cheat you?" "..." seeing his exponentiation had some effect as the dark shadow that was speeding out from the panther had stopped getting bigger Mars continued explaining as he appealed to the cats intelligence "you are obviously smart so think about it, if the bear was alive would it allow me a human to be inside its territory let alone its cave" after a few seconds the panther sent a new message "no... bear would eat human" "yes! then the fact that i have been living in its territory means?" as Mars asked that, the darkness around the panther was slowly absorbed back into the pelt of the panther as it steered at Mars for a few seconds before asking "then bear... is dead?" "yes" believing Mars this time some happiness passed through the eyes of the panther before it asked him another question "then... why share meat" faced with the still suspicious eyes of the panther Mars decided to come clean "because you are the strongest i know in this forest and..." finely acknowledging his own feelings Mars continued "i want a friend i can talk to" the panther was still a little confused but obviously a little that Mars had called it strong for a few seconds before its horns flashed "why... does human want friend?" as the panther asked it moved a little closer while slowly swaying its fluffy tail from side to side and its horns flashed again "is human... lonely?" seeing concern from the panthers eyes Mars felt something inside him tearing "yeah i am lonely and... i am afraid" the panther walked up to Mars stopping a few meters in front of him and asked as it tilted its head slightly "why afraid... human strong" not knowing if it was against the rules Mars still decided to tell the panther about himself "i was born... no taken to this world not long ago with parts of my memories missing" as he was speaking the panther sat down in front of him a looked Mars in his eyes when its horn flashed again while it tilted its head to the side "human... not remember anything?" "no i remember somethings like the place i was living and where i was working but... i do not remember any of the details or what my name was" seemingly understanding what he was talking about the panther leaned its head closer as its horns flashed again "then human... is like me?" "like you?" as Mars asked the panther moved even closer to him stopping when its head almost torched him as its horns flashed "i... also just here... suddenly... without knowing anything" as the panthers voice appeared in his head Mars was confused for a little while until he asked "then you don''t have a parent?" "no... a winter ago... i was just... here in the forest" after being confused by the new information given to him by the panther Mars was about to ask for more details as the panthers horn flashed again as it move its head even closer to his face almost touching his face with its nose "then human... want to from a contract" feeling a little overwhelmed by the sudden proximity to the panther as well as the excitement in to voice he received from the panther Mars was slightly stunned but still managed to ask "what kind of contract?" sensing that Mars was not against forming a contract the panther stood up and started the walk around him excitedly as its horns flashed again "don''t know... just know... contract good for getting stronger" seeing how excited the panther was Mars believed it but still asked it "then how do you know how to form this contract?" still pacing around him in a circle the horns on the panther flashed again "just know... since i was here" while weighing the pros and cons of making a unknown contract with a immature shadow death panther cub that seemingly had appeared out of thin air less then a year ago for a few seconds Mars decided "...**** it might as well, yes then lets make this contract" after walking circle more around Mars the panther sat down right in front of Mars and looked at him with very happy eyes as its horns flashed again "then... human want contract?" "...yes" as soon as Mars confirmed the panther leaned its face down touching its horns to his head, as it closed its eyes and its body started to glow slightly, still a little confused he soon felt like his mana was being drawn out of his body into the panther while he felt the mana from the panther being drawn into his body and mixing with his own mana, closing his eyes to feel the changes to his body Mars gradually lost track of time "...where?" waking from a trance like state Mars was monumentally dazed before he remembered the contract, looking around he discovered he was alone by the river and it was in the middle of the night, wondering where the panther had gone off too he felt a strange feeling and turned to look into the nearby forest "she is over there and... she knows i am awake and is coming here now?... is this an effect of the contract?" suddenly being able to feel where the panther was and what it was doing confused Mars a little bit but as he sat down and started to feel his connection to the panther it felt more and more natural like gaining a new sense or perhaps like opening an eye that had been closed his whole life he sat and marveled until the panther walked out of the undergrowth and up to him while purring loudly as its horns flashed with a soft light "you awake... happy" looking at the completely new attitude of the panther Mars was slightly overwhelmed before he felt warm inside and smiled as he greeted the happy panther that was acting like a big kitten "yeah... good morning or rather good night" as he was greeting the panther Mars raised his hand and patted it on the head while feeling its surprisingly soft and smooth fur as the panther closed its eyes enjoying its head patting for a few minutes before he asked the panther "do you have a name?" with its eyes still closed and purring the panthers horns flashed as it sent its voice to Mars "no... does human have name?" "yes i do, my name is Mars" "then... Mars name me" feeling a little overwhelmed by the sudden request Mars stopped moving the hand that was petting the panther on the head "err... but i am bad at giving names" "don''t care... Mars name me" "but---" as Mars was about to complain more the panther stopped purring and opened its eyes and steered into his eyes while its horns flashed again as it commanded him in a slightly cold voice "Mars... name me" looking into the blue eyes of the panther Mars shut his mouth and started to think of a name for a few minutes before he asked "...then what about Victoria" "why... Victoria?" seeing the panther not entirely convinced of the name he had suggested Mars explained further "well Victoria is the name of a big lake from my past life, and seeing after looking into your blue eyes i just thought i would be a good name for you" staring into the panthers eyes hoping it would like the name Mars waited for a few seconds before its horns flashed "Victoria... like name" as Mars revived the telepathic slightly spoiled voice the panther or rather Victoria started purring again he smiled and patted her head for a few moments before he remembered something and asked "so Victoria do you like bear meat?" Chapter 16 The advantages of being friends with a panther 1 as Mars woke up the next day he walked out of his cave and looked up at the sky "...rain huh" as he stood and looked up at the gray sky Victoria ran up to him from behind and rubbed her face against him while purring "good morning to you too Victoria" as Mars greeted the big panther that was acting more and more as a spoiled kitten he instinctively moved his hand up to pet her on the head while feeling to soft fur he discovered Victoria''s soft black fur now had a pattern of orange-red mix in that covered all of her body like a thin spider web "wait Victoria what happened with your fur?" as Mars was panicking slightly over the unexpected change, Victoria kept purring seemingly unconcerned by the change in the color of her fur as her horns flashed "got... stronger" unable to connect the change in fur color to getting stronger in his head Mars asked Victoria "you got stronger?" "yes... stronger because contract... with Mars" Mars still confused remembered that he had exchanged mana with Victoria during the contract forming "so because of my mana your fur changed color?" "yes... also got new magic" as Mars was still a little confused he asked Victoria "new magic huh... can you show me?" "sure" Victoria stopped rubbing her face against Mars and walked a little in front of him as her fur seemed to start to melt into pure shadow covering the area around her in darkness for a few seconds before suddenly a black fire spear shoot out from the darkness hitting a tree a little over 30 meters away in an instance creating a head sized hole in the tree while passing straight through the 5 meters wide trunk and piercing deeply into a rock behind the tree before exploding with a loud bang blasting pieces of rock all over "..." looking at the devastation from a single spell Mars was dazed as he watched the black fire slowly eating away at the tree while pieces of hot rock still rained down from the sky until Victoria ran up to him again purring even louder than before with excited eyes as her horns flashed "strong magic... praise me" Mars was still a little dazed but still patted Victoria for some time before he pulled himself together and remembered that a contract was a two way road and opened his status to cheek "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted](new) Class: [Energy] Class level: 10 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [19/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [18/900]Charisma [10/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2](new) Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 200/1000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] "so i got a new title that seems to have raised the cap on charisma and a new skill... but how do i use [Shadow magic]?" as Mars was petting Victoria with one hand he held the other up while he started to circulate his mana around inside his body while he tried to activate his new skill for a few minutes with Victoria''s purring as background sound but after trying for a few seconds without success he decided to ask the master on the subject of [Shadow magic] for a little help "Victoria how do you usually use [Shadow magic]?" in response to his question Victoria tilted her head a near perfect 30 degrees to the right side and gave Mars a blank look as her horns flash "Mars... what is [Shadow magic]?" looking at the shadow death panther or rather Victoria that was giving him a blank look Mars almost fell over before answering weakly "...never mind" after find his companion to be no help at all in his quest for new magic Mars practised for a few hours almost succeeding a few times only to have his magic fail and explode in his hands before he finally managed to make a small ball of darkness appear on top of his palm "**** YEAH!!!" as he celebrated his victory over the art of [Shadow magic] Mars yelled loudly while taking a victory pose startling Victoria that had fallen asleep a few minutes in to his training, as Victoria was sending him a slightly resentful look for interrupting her afternoon nap Mars was jumping around like a caveman after just having discovered the wonders of fire not at all noticing her resentful look as he admired the little ball of darkness for some time before calming down slightly as the rational part of his brain took over "...well this does not look very useful" looking at the pitiful ball of darkness in his hand Mars felt like the effort he put in not being equal to the results "might as well test it" deciding to test the power of his newly obtained magic Mars grabbed the ball of darkness that was floating a few centimeters over the palm of his hand as he felt the smooth and squishy surface of the ball he was a little surprised before he picked out a target tree and took aim "...lets see what this puppy can do" performing a near perfect overhand throw the ball rapidly accelerated as it left his hand and flew through the air towards the tree before hitting the trunk exploding like a water balloon covering the surrounding area in some sort of liquid darkness as Mars walked up and inspected the damage "...well this is interesting" as Mars was inspecting the liquid darkness by poking it with a random stick he discovered that the ''darkness liquid'' was acting like some super adhesive glue sticking to the surface of the tree as well as the stick he had poked it with while it was giving of a little smoke as the parts in direct sunlight was slowly melting "well it certainly is not better than [Dragon-flame magic] in terms of offensive and destructive power... but it might be useful in certain situations" after Mars finished absentmindedly poking the liquid with a stick he sat down to see how long it would take for the darkness liquid that was exposed to sunlight to melt "about 5 minutes and... it looks like the surface of the tree is mostly undamaged as well, this might be good for hunting and taking down a target in a non-lethal way... overall a valuable addition to my arsenal" feeling somewhat satisfied with the test of his new magic Mars remembered another part of his arsenal that he had not used yet "hmm [Swordsmanship]..." remembering the whole incident with making a sword out of bones Mars felt somewhat reluctant to use this skill as it seemed to have a negative effect on his mind "screw it what''s the worst that can happen?" walking into his cave Mars took garbed the only bone sword he had deemed usable and walked out again with sword in hand and stood out in the area he had cleared of trees in front of the cave as he felt the sword in his hands "...the question now is how do i use [Swordsmanship]? or rather how do i use a sword in the first place?" as Mars felt the smooth 80 centimeter long single edged blade of the sword with his hands he gradually started to feel like he knew how to handle this sword as he grabbed the handle with his right hand he lowed the sword to just before the tip of the blade touched the ground and closed his eyes to feel the sword in his hand "...this is?" as Mars stood still with sword in hand he felt like a voice or maybe the will of the sword was flowing into him from his right hand that was grasping the handle, like it was saying to how to use it "...like this?" mumbling Mars seamlessly like water flowing slipped into a stance holding the sword over his head preparing to strike with his right hand while also lightly gripping the handle with his left hand "...this almost seems like cheating" as he stood still with sword raised and his eyes still closed he felt like the sword was an extension of his arm and that it slowly was becoming part of him "HA!" yelling out and swinging down with the bone sword with blinding speed the tip of the blade once again stopped right over the ground almost like the sword and the ground was two magnets repelling each other before they could met "...this is awesome" as Mars opened his eyes now wearing a ferocious smile as he quickly turned into a blur as his sword struck out from all manner of stances and all kinds of angels sticking the empty air sometimes creating strong winds and other times soundlessly passing through the air like a ghost "this is ****ing AWESOME!" as Mars struck out with his sword he gradually got more and more excited and unconsciously transformed thereby increasing his speed even more as he turned into a blur moving all over the place with expert looking footwork over the uneven ground and tree stumps that got even faster as time passed "THIS IS THE BEST!" losing himself in practicing Mars only stopped after the sun had gone down as the sweet purred down from his lean body and he lightly panted completely exhausted as his arms and legs trembled but still a ferocious smile was still planted on his face and his eyes was sparkling from excitement as Victoria walked up to him "Mars... also have horns?" looking blankly at Victoria for a few seconds Mars torched his forehead and discovered he had transformed at some point during his sword practices "yeah i am not human i am a half-dragon human, so sometimes i have horns and claws awesome right?" "yes... Mars strong" receiving the simple praise from Victoria Mars felt a little happy and petted her on the head as she lightly purred for some time before he pulled his hand back "let''s head down to the river, i need to wash up" Chapter 17 The advantages of being friends with a panther 2 the next day as the sun was rising Mars was chewing on some stale roasted bear meat as he made the decision to burn the remaining bear meat to ash and looked over at Victoria that was lazing around on the bear hide that functioned as their bed "lets go hunting today Victoria" as soon as Mars said ''hunting'' Victoria shoot up from the bear hide as her horns flashed while she looked at him with sparkling eyes "hunting... fun" looking at the excited panther Mars also got a little fired up "then lets go... or not, give me a minute i need to make something first" with Victoria impatiently pacing in front of him as her horns flashed telling him to get a move on Mars made a simple belt out of bear hide to sheath his sword, after securing his bone sword in his new belt he looked over at the impatient Victoria and gave her a teasing smile "now we can go" as Mars was walking out of the cave Victoria shoot past him like a black missile into the undergrowth of the forest seeing this Mars also broke into a run after her as he transformed into his half dragon from to gain more speed "hey wait for me!" agilely running through the forest Mars quickly got tired of jumping over roots from old trees that looked more like 1 meter tall wood fences than roots and avoiding brushes with thorns that was hard as metal, he sat off from the ground and landed on a branch quickly jumping to the next tree using his claws to climb up to the crown of the tree where the branches was denser Mars began to jump from tree to tree as he followed the presence of Victoria he could feel though their contract "...where is she going?" after moving in the top of the almost 50 meter tall trees with breakneck speed while fulfilling a childhood dream of imitating a certain man that was raised by gorillas for more than 15 kilometers he still had not caught op with Victoria "oh she stopped moving" sensing that the panther had stopped Mars started to move down from the top of the trees while he got closer to Victoria, until he saw her sitting neatly with her tail rolled around he feet on a giant tree root with a slightly smug expression while she was licking her paw "yes yes i know i am slow" as Mars landed in front of Victoria while admitting defeat he reached his hand op to pat her on the head to praise her "but how are you so f---" as his hand reached Victoria''s head to pat her Mars felt something wrong as his hand passed through her head as her body turned into a dark mist as soon as he touched her "what the ****!?" Mars understandably more than a little confused stumbled backwards and almost feel over but he did not notice a shadow separated from the others and moved from the side of the root slowly crawling up behind him "hey where are you Victoria?" as Mars was still confused and looked around as the shadow that was now less than 3 meters behind him seemed to open op as Victoria jumped out of the shadow landing silently on the tree root before she pounced on him from behind pushing him down to the ground with her front paws as she landed on his back and bit at his neck "ouch!" "caught... Mars" being pushed down to the ground and landing on his face Mars momentarily panicked before hearing the usual cold feminine voice in his head now sounded a little playful he realized that he had been had by Victoria as he felt her teeth lightly around his neck he raised his hands "you got me" as soon as he admitted defeat Victoria let go off his neck and jumped off his back while purring happily as she walked around him with a proud face as Mars raised himself off the root and sat op and looked at her while rubbing the back of his neck "well you got me good... but how did you do that?" as she was still walking around proudly while purring happily Victoria sat down in front of Mars as her fur seemed to start glowing softly with a dark light as a dark mist came out from her fur and formed a lifelike copy of her that sat down right next to her "...that''s amazing" standing up Mars walked over to the life like clone Victoria had made in less than 5 seconds and studied it closely, finding that it looked completely like Victoria except for the eyes that had turned from a bright blue color into a slightly darker blue, finished inspecting the shadow decoy Mars petted the real Victoria on the head "well this certainly is something, but how did you get behind me?" "like... this" as Mars asked Victoria she seemed to start shrinking slowly into her on shadow until she had completely disappeared into her own shadow that quickly moved around him in a circle before stopping in front of Mars as the shadow opened up and she jumped out from it again and landed right in front of him with a expedition that said ''praise me'' "well you certainly are amazing Victoria" as Mars was praising Victoria while smiling and petting her on the top of the head he was secretly terrified by the stealth powers she had, as he imagined him pissing her off before they made a contract and getting hunted down by an enemy he could neither see nor outrun while slowly getting withered down by mid range shadow magic as he was using all his strength on shadow decoys until he was pounced from behind without warning and getting his neck snapped by this fearsome shadow death panther "well the name of your kind was given certainly fits perfectly" as Mars came to this conclusion Victoria was still purring with her eyes closed sitting in front of him enjoying having her head patted "Victoria do you know any good hunting spots around here?" "yes... a little away is a lake... with lots of prey" "then let''s go" having played enough Victoria seemed to enter hunting mode as she led the way cautiously sometimes stopping and listening with her ears twitching cutely as Mars did his best to follow while making as little noise as possible as man and beast moved towards the lake Victoria knew about, after a few minutes they arrived at the edge of a clearing with a lake in the middle, as Mars was peeking from behind some bushes at the lake he spotted the prey Victoria was talking about "...that seems a little big" on the edge of the lake was a wild boar the size of a mini van with 2 sharp 3 meter long tusks that was dipping into the lake as it was drinking water while it was staying alert of its surroundings, Mars marveled at the size of the boar before his [Energy: information] skill activated and information popped up in the edge of his vision [adult earth boar male class: 5 an adult earth boar or ''tank boar'' as they are known as by members of the hunters guild have the ability to use earth magic to manipulate surrounding rock and dirt to create a thick armor around their body when threatened] "we need to take this one by surprise, Victoria circle around to the side and try to hit it''s throat with magic while i distract it" "okay..." as soon as Mars gave the command Victoria melted into her shadow and moved into the clearing, while Mars unsheathed his bone sword and waited a few seconds before standing up and walking out in the open as he yelled at the boar "HEY OVER HERE!" the earth boar was instantly enraged as it turned around a saw a puny human with a tiny sword was yelling at it, not even bothering to use its earth magic to make armor it roared at Mars while it charged at him "ROOOAAA---" only in the next moment a spear of darkness flew out from its flank and priced it throat cutting its roar short and almost decapitating it as it fell over and slid forward on the ground while bleeding from its throat as its eyes gradually dulled and it stopped moving completely "phew... well all went as planned" as Mars walked up to the dead minivan sized boar Victoria ran up to him while purring happily "you did well Victoria" after patting Victoria on the head Mars transformed and grabbed one of the front legs of the dead boar and begun to drag into the forest towards his cave creating a trail while Victoria followed after him "what do you say Victoria, how many days do you think we can live off this boar?" "boar... taste good... so a few?" as Mars was dragging the boar through the forest and talking with Victoria he started to notice a group of familiar presences closing in on him "...looks like they are here again" letting go of the boar leg he looked over at Victoria that also was alert and looking around "let''s kill all of these ****ing spiders" Chapter 18 The advantages of being friends with a panther 3 as Mars was counting the spiders that was closing in on him and Victoria or rather the smell of blood from the dead earth boar he was dragging through the forest Victoria lightly bit his hand and started to pull him while her horns flashed "Mars... we need... to run away" hearing Victoria''s voice low and shaking Mars looked down at Victoria he saw the panic in her eyes and reached down with his free hand and slowly patted her head to try and calm her down as he asked in a gentle tone "why do we need to run Victoria?" "enemies... a lot is coming" as Mars looked at Victoria he noticed that her fur was standing strait and she was slightly shaking "but Victoria... why do we need to run from weak enemies?" after asking Victoria she looked like she calmed down a little and after a few seconds her horns flashed again "enemies... weak?" "yeah they are weak, those spider are masters of ambushing so they never expect to be ambushed themselves" as Mars answered Victoria he looked straight into her blue cat eyes for a few seconds "and besides if we ran, we would not be able to eat boar meat tonight" perhaps remembering the taste of boar meat Victoria stopped shaking and let go of his hand as she looked at Mars for a few seconds before her horns flashed again "then... what should i do?" still petting Victoria Mars counted the spiders that was moving ever closer in an almost perfect encirclement "...well let''s do it like this, Victoria can you leave a shadow decoy here and then slip out of the encirclement without the spiders noticing?" looking at Mars being completely calm Victoria licked his hand where she had bit him as her horns flashed "yes... spiders dumb" hearing that the strength had returned to her voice Mars smiled and gave her head one last pat before separating his hand "then do that and when i spring their ambush early keep your distance and hit them with magic while prioritizing the slightly bigger spitting spiders, they should be the ones in the back of their encirclement" "okay" "and assume all of them have deadly poison all over their bodies, while i can heal it if it get on me i can''t heal the poison if it gets on you so avoid as much as possible, if they go after you too much then just run away, then i can hit them from behind if they chase you" "okay" "then let''s do this, you go ahead i will draw their ambush" as Mars looked Victoria melted into her shadow and almost instantly a shadow decoy appeared in beside him to replace her "...now then" as Victoria had left his side Mars drew his bone sword and held it in his right hand with the tip of the blade hovering right over the ground as he closed his eyes and focused on counting the spiders "5...12...21...27...34 in total" as he confirmed the number of invisible spiders that was slowly moving closer to him Mars got a little scared but quickly shook his head as he opened his eyes and prepared while motivating himself "...if it was just me i would have run away, but with Victoria here i should be a easy, besides i have a good enough grasp on all of my powers to use them all at once now" as he was listening to the spiders moving in Mars started to circulate his mana and made a shadow orb he grabbed in his left hand and stood still and waited a few seconds for the spiders to get a little closer "just a little closer..." listing to the spider legs moving softly all around him Mars focused on the closest spider that was preparing to jump him and sink its fangs into him "NOW!" as the spider jumped Mars moved, throwing the dark orb at another spider that was preparing to jump at him while he moved as a ghost under the first spider in the air and slashed his bone sword slicing the spider in half as he started to summon his dragon flame while calmly walking towards to next spider "what''s wrong...? COME AT ME!" using his dragon flame Mars made a shield of fire that covered his back like a cloak quickly shooting some fire arrows at another spider he dodged a acid shoots from a spitting spider by tilting his body while he ignored the acid being shoot at him from behind as it hit his fire shield and evaporated he charged at the next spider on the chopping block as a spitting spider was hit by a spear made of darkness and nailed to a tree "yes, just like that Victoria!" as Mars yelled out to his companion he moved in on a spider dodging the first leg by tilting his body slightly to the side it hit the fire shield behind him and was quickly set aflame as the spider let out a scream that was cut short by Mars stabbing his bone sword though its brain ending its scram as he moved to the next spider gliding over the forest floor like a reaper "come on COME ON!" while wearing a ferocious smile Mars looked like he was gliding over the uneven forest floor as he moved with near perfect footwork and shoot out fire arrows only stopping briefly while he was stabbing a spider in the head only to quickly turn into blur again as he became faster and faster while he was killing spiders "just a little more!" having stabbed, chopped and sliced more than 20 spiders while moving like a blur Mars was a little out of steam, as he was unfamiliar with live combat with a sword he was making a lot of unnecessary moves but was still unhurt if only because of Victoria covering him when made a otherwise fetal mistake with some well placed sears of darkness and relieving pressure by rapidly killing the spitting spiders "4 spiders left, lets wipe them out!" yelling out to motivate Victoria as well as himself Mars shoot some fire arrows at a spider setting it on fire as it screamed in agony while being burned alive he stabbed another spider in the head piercing his sword though its brain ending its life as it collapsed on the ground "You got the rest right?" Mars got no verbal response however 2 darkness spears shoot out and hit the 2 last spiders killing one instantly and nailing the last one to a tree as it quickly bleed out and stopped moving "phew... good job Victoria" sitting down on the grund Mars put out his dragon flame while breathing heavily and sweat was pouring down his body Victoria jumped out from her shadow and ran up to him while purring happily as her horns flashed "spiders... weak and dumb" "yeah just like i told you" while he was catching his breath Mars made another orb of darkness and threw it at the same spider as the last orb of darkness, the spider that was still alive was covered in darkness liquid and still struggled attempting break free from the glue-like darkness liquid, as Victoria noticed a spider was still alive she tilted her head as her horns flashed "Mars... why mean to spider?" "...well i am not mean just to be mean i am testing something" as Victoria heard his explanation she tilted her head to the other side as her horns flashed again "testing... something?" looking at the confused Victoria act even more cute then usual Mars petted her head as he explained "i know my new spell makes a orb of darkness that explodes into a thick glue-like liquid that evaporates if it is exposed to light, but i want to know more about it" "like... what?" "well for example if its poisons or if it has other effects like a numbing or calming effect after prolonged exposure" as Mars was saying some advanced words Victoria took a little time to process what he was saying before her horns flashed again "but... why need to know?" "because... sometimes knowledge is power" as Victoria absorbed his slightly philosophical words she closed her cat eyes for a few seconds, before opening her eyes and giving Mars her blankest look as her horns flashed again "why?" looking at the blank look Victoria was giving him Mars let out healthy laughter as he petted her on the head for a few minutes before he gave her a gentle simile "well if you don''t get it it''s fine, but think about it sometimes" standing up Mars stabbed the last spider putting it out of its misery and used his flame to burn the corpses and quickly gathered the 34 magic beast cores from the ashes before he grabbed the leg of the boar and called out to the still slightly confused Victoria "come on let''s go home and eat some roasted boar meat" Chapter 19 The advantages of being friends with a panther 4 as Mars finally managed to drag the several ton dead earth boar back to his cave the sun had long set and the only light was the countless stars and the blue moon shining overhead, and even though he was exhausted from dragging the minivan sized earth boar through the forest excitement was still visible on his face as he calculated while rubbing his sore muscles "34 class 6 magic beast cores... that''s 6800 units of energy, plus some of them have 2 status point on them too" Mars was quite satisfied by today''s hunt not only had they secured a supply of food he had also gotten a lot of energy units and status points for him to get whenever he wanted to eat the cores "...i have definitely gotten stronger, but i have no idea about the general strength of people in this world" as Mars was contemplating his own level of strength Victoria looked at him not moving and the earth boar on the ground behind him and gradually got more and more impatient as before she pounced him from behind and pushed him down on the ground face first as her horns flashed "Mars... think later... eat now" hearing Victoria''s slightly angry voice in his head Mars remembered he had promised her they would eat boar meat when they got back to the cave and as Victoria jumped off his back he sat up and gave her a slightly apologetic smile as he brushed dirt off his face "yeah you''re right, let''s eat" with Victoria impatiently nagging him Mars quickly disassembled some of the earth boar and roasted some meat for them to eat, as he bit down on the tender roasted boar meat and felt the juices spread out in his mouth Mars quickly wolfed down a few more pieces with sparkling eyes before praising Victoria that was eating her own serving of roasted boar meat "you are right Victoria, this is some really good meat" while Victoria was eating the roasted boar meat with vigor that reviled a starving teenager her horns flashed "yes... boar second most tasty... in all the forest a little surprised by this delicious boar meat only being second best in the forest Mars almost choked on the meat he was eating before quickly chewing and swallowing he asked Victoria with almost religious passion in his voice "you mean there is even better tasting meat out there?" "yes... lizard is better... then comes boar... then fire bird... and then alligator" as Mars was chewing he tried to imagination what kind of beast Victoria meant when she said ''lizard'' as he had not seen any cold blooded animals since he came to the forest, but as he slowed he concluded "well we have lots of boar meat to eat before we have to hunt again, but let''s try to get a lizard next hunt" after eating Mars and Victoria where huddle up together right outside the cave as they both where to stuffed to sleep right away, as Mars was focused on examining the cores form the spider to check how many of them had status points on them Victoria''s horns flashed as she was lazing around laying in his lap "Mars... what are those cores... for?" as Mars was too focused on the cores he was a little started by Victoria''s voice suddenly appearing in his head but after a second he started explaining while he petted her on the head "i am going to eat them later, or rather tomorrow to get stronger. can you eat cores too?" Victoria enjoying getting her head patted by Mars closed her eyes and started lightly purring as her horns flashed "not those... but some cores i can... to get stronger" Mars was not surprised to hear she could eat cores as he suspected wild magic beast could eat them too, but having been informed that Victoria could get stronger by eating specific cores he got a little curious and asked her while he moved his hand up to pet her fluffy ears "then what kind can you eat?" as Victoria felt her ears getting petted softly the volume of her purring went up a notch as her horns flashed again "the dark kind... and maybe fire too... after contract with Mars" hearing Victoria''s voice in his head Mars confirmed another thing that had been bugging him ever since he killed the alpha wolf and found its core and mumbled "then the color of a magic beast core is determined by the magic a magic beast is able to use...? if that is true then the stealth acid spiders use water to become invisible, the wolf used darkness magic like Victoria but because it is a lower class magic beast the power was allowed according to its class" hearing Mars mumble and feeling the hand that was petting her ears stopped she opened her eyes and looked up at him while her horns flashed "Mars... what''s wrong?" "no it''s nothing i am just thinking out loud... let''s go to bed it''s getting late" "okay" the next morning the sun had only just peeked over the horizon as Mars walked out of the cave into the slightly chilly morning air leaving the still sleeping Victoria behind in dreamland as he stood and enjoyed the morning sun for a few seconds with a experion of joy plastered on his still sleepy face looking like a child early christmas morning as he admired the 34 blue and a single brown half transparent magic beast cores he could barely hold in his hands "so 8 of the cores form the spiders had 2 status points on them each and with the core from the earth boar the total amount of energy units is up to 6900 units" as he was looking at the cores in his hands sparkling in the morning sun Mars had the urge to see how many he could stuff in his mouth at once but was held back by reason as he cheeked his status first "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 10 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [19/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [18/900]Charisma [10/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 200/1000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] as he confirmed the amount of energy in his [Energy: storage] he quickly ate 4 blue magic beats cores, filling his storage up completely before he willed his [Energy: upgrade shop] to open as he watched the transparent text making up his status changing into his upgrade shop [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 1000 Class skills currently available: [Energy: restoration] price: 500, [Energy: healing] price: 500 [Energy: absorb shield] price: 800 [Energy: reactive shield] price: 1000 [Energy: basic reinforced storage] (new) price: 1500 [Energy: basic drain touch] (new) price: 1500 "oh there are 2 new skills... maybe they got unlocked when i reached level 10?" as Mars focused on the 2 new skills his [Energy: information] skill activated and showed information on the new skills [Energy: basic reinforced storage] use cost: none status: locked function: reinforces [Energy: storage] enabling the stored amount of energy to go 10% over the cap without harming the user [Energy: basic drain touch] use cost: none status: locked function: upon activation [Energy: basic drain touch] will slowly drain mana and thermal energy from a target in direct contact with the users hands, converting the drained energy and mana to energy units "well first off i absolutely need [Energy: basic reinforced storage] and [Energy: basic drain touch] seem quite useful too, but first buy [Energy: restoration] and [Energy: healing] commanding his skill Mars quickly felt his stored energy drain as he unlocked the 2 skills and a few seconds later information appeared in his head on how to activate them "...now i don''t have to worry to much about Victoria getting hurt and i can maintain my sword" eating another 4 cores and waiting a few seconds for his storage to fill up again Mars commanded his skill again "buy [Energy: absorb shield]" once again feeling his stored energy being drained and new information appearing in his head Mars became slightly dizzy but still pressed on as he ate another 5 cores and commanded his skill once more "buy [Energy: reactive shield]" unlocking another skill Mars felt a headache appear along with information appear as he sat down and ate 5 cores more pressing on as he commanded his skill again "level up my class" feeling a refreshing warm current speeding over his body as his energy was drained his headache let up somewhat as Mars pressed on and ate 5 acid spider cores and the earth boar core and commanded "level up my class" feeling a refreshing warm speeding over his body again as his energy drained Mars felt his headache disappear completely as he quickly ate another 6 cores and commanded his skill "level up my class" feeling a refreshing warmth speeding over his body again Mars began to feel dizzy again as he currently felt like he had just come out from a 90 minute 35 degrees warm bath he laid down on his back enjoying the morning air and looked up at the sky while taking a break from power leveling while he watched the sky turn more and more blue as the sun gradually rose higher in the sky as he clenched the remaining 10 cores in his hands Chapter 20 An eleven patrol 4 figures was moving cautiously moving though the morning forest in a line, with a near constant distance to each other of 2 meter and each one of them covering a direction and all clad in a similar looking leather armor and armed with a bow, quiver, long sword and dagger each of these 4 where obviously soldiers form the same nation, and highly trained elite soldiers at that but not from any human, beastman or even demon nation as they slender builds and long ears identified them as elvers the last elf in the formation, that was the youngest looking in the group looked like she was only late in her teens with short bob cut blonde hair that swayed over her watchful green eyes as she moved over the uneven forest floor with experience that made it clear she was older then she looked as she easily walked backwards covering the back of the group she spoke up breaking silence of the forest with her slightly youthful voice "hey Alvin are we there yet?" "no we are still some hours away, also call me squad leader or captain when we are on patrol Chloe" the elf Alvin looked like he was late in his thirties had short blonde hair and green eyes lead the formation responded too Chloe in a hushed voice without looking back and quickly added "also keep quiet you know we entered the territory of a stealth acid spider nest a few days ago right?" "geh" Chloe being reprimanded by Alvin let out a unladylike sound and looked like she just had kicked her little toe against the leg of a marble table as her pretty face contrasted in slight fear while she pictured the magic beast she hated the most in the entire forest before she puffed her cheeks and replied with a slightly stubborn voice "don''t say that Alvi- i mean captain, you know i hate those creepy spiders the most, besides we haven''t been attacked by a single spider all week" feeling irritated by Chloe''s whining Alvin almost snapped back at her before he realized that she was right, they had indeed not seen a single spider since they entered the vicinity of a known acid spider nest a few days ago and after thinking for a few seconds he felt a chill and signaled the squad to stop with a hand signal and spoke up while still keeping watch in the front "Isabel how many magic beast have we killed since we left the safe forest around Green river?" Isabel the elf behind Alvin looked like she was early in her forties had long golden blond hair that showed signs of graying slightly witch only added to her mature beauty thought for a second before something flashed in her green eyes, as she was his second in command and had worked with Alvin for over 40 years quickly understood what he meant and asked him back understanding his line of thought "captain do you think it has something to do with that giant smoke column we saw a few days ago?" they had indeed seen a weird smoke column a few days ago, normally a smoke column that big would mean a forest fire but they had not been able to confirm with the sprites of the forest as they all seemed to have been spooked by something and the fire had seemingly stopped out of nowhere after burning an entire night witch confused them even more therefor Alvin changed they patrol to get closer to the source of the mysterious fire "yes i think it has" as Alvin responded to Isabel happy that she knew what he was thinking he turned around and looked her lovingly into her eyes before he heard a low voice from Chloe in the back "siscon" as Alvin heard what Chloe said he instantly blushed from equal parts fury and embarrassment and was about to snap back at her before a hand descended on Chloe''s head like a iron vise by the so far silent member of the group as he spoke up "don''t be mean to Alvin you know he loves his older sister very much, besides the elders will punish you if you speak out of line too much while on a patrol, even if you are the daughter of the chief" "ouch! ouch!! old man Rex let go let go please!" the elf that had grabbed Chloe''s head was the least elf and oldest looking in the group with grey hair and with and eye patch covering his missing eye and part of his scared and slightly wrinkled face that always had a typical old man smile, but still Rex gave the impression that he was a old mercenary, or in bad lighting a bandit living off eating raw meat as he had big muscles all over his battle scarred body and he had a powerful build one could be forgiven for thinking he was an ogre instead of an elf "besides you know he can''t help it with such a beautiful elder sister, besides when i was your age---" "ouch my head! help me Isabel please!" Chloe having sensed Rex was taking a trip down memory lane while his hand was still firmly grasped on her head slowly crushing it, pleaded to Isabel to help her with teary eyes while sending desperate pounces and kicks to try and wake up Rex form ''the good old days'' that was still mumbling with a gentle old man smile on his face about seemingly unconcerned while punches and kicks that could bend steel landed on his vitals as his muscles absorbed the impacts "i guess it can''t be helped sigh..." as Isabel let out a sigh that seemed to enhance her mature beauty she held out her hand gasping empty air as the earth below seemed to rise from the ground defying gravity and quickly forming a heavy looking hammer made of compressed soil "ei!" letting out a cute sound she effortlessly swung the hammer ruthlessly down on the senile looking old man''s head *BANG* with a loud bang dirt and dust scattered in the air as the earth hammer exploded on impact with Rex and fragmented "...you know that''s rude to interrupt an old man while he''s is talking about the past" a carefree voice sounded out and as the dust cleared Rex stood completely unharmed with one hand lifted over his head in a defensive stand as his remaining green eye let out a cold glare that seemed to lower the surrounding temperature several degrees for a few seconds before he returned to a harmless old elf "well i guess i went a little to far, are you okay little lady?" Looking down at Chloe lying on the ground face first twitching lightly Rex semmensed a little concerned as he kneeled down and poked her for a few seconds before she shoot up from the ground into the arms of Isabel rubbing her teary face on her slightly hard leather armor "thank you Isabel, that senile old elf almost killed me!" looking at the chaotic scene he had seen so many times before Alvin recovered from his embarrassment had a weary smile for a few seconds before he put on a stern face commanded his squad "Attention squad" hearing the command from the captain Chloe, Isabel and Rex all shut up immediately and kneeled down on the ground with one knee and waiting in silence before Alvin spoke again "Rex why do you think we haven''t run into any stealth acid spiders despite being in their territory for so long?" hearing his captain''s question Rex pondered for a few seconds before answering in a serious tone "well there are several possible explanations but i think the most likely is that either they have been wiped out by another magic beast, or they have moved their nest or..." looking at the old elf kneeling in front of him going silent Alvin got a little impatient for an answer before he had a thought and said the at the exact same time as Rex "the entire nest is hunting another prey" also looking up Isabel seemed to catch what they were talking about and nodded with a smile that showed how proud she was of her little brothers wit, while Chloe on the side felt a little left out and asked with a slightly confused expression "captain what does that mean?" "well it means that the humans might be trying to invade the forest again that would match the smoke column we saw, if an entire army of humans have invaded the forest they might have caused a fire like that" hearing the name off the race that was most hated in the entire Green river village Chloe showed a detrimend expression as something cold flashed in her green eyes and asked "then what are your orders captain" "if an army have invaded the forest we need to know how many they are... even if there is no human army the missing stealth acid spiders i enough to warrant further scouting" as they heard the captain''s orders all 3 elf stood up and gave him a resolute answer "yes captain!" Chapter 21 The advantages of being friends with a panther 5 As Victoria woke the sunlight was peaking into the cave telling her it was already almost midday as she lazily stretched while she wondered why Mars hadn''t woken her earlier ''is Mars still sleeping?'' finishing her morning stretchers she looked around in the cave for Mars she cleaned her fur licking it with her cat-like tongue admiring the new orange red spider web pattern that had appeared on her smooth black fur for a few minutes ''is he not in the cave?'' having looked around the cave while doing her morning clean up she closed her eyes and focused her constantly moving mana into the 2 pale horns on the top of her head, and after a few seconds she knew where Mars was ''he is outside the cave? maybe he wants to play?'' as Victoria came to the conclusion that Mars had laid an ambush outside of the cave waiting for her, she stopped using mana to sense his position and swung her fluffy tail slightly from side to side ''then let''s play'' moving slowly and silently with her body close to the ground she approached the entrance to the cave and stopped just before she walked into the sunlight that was shining into the cave while her ears was twitching slightly not missing the slightest sound ''Mars is not hiding besides the cave entrance'' not having heard the heartbeat she had become so familiar with over the last 3 days, she slipped into her own shadow before it swiftly moved up the side of the cave wall and onto the ceiling of the cave towards the entrance of the cave stopping just before it hit the light form the outside as Victoria peaked her head out form the shadow and looked outside scanning the numerous tree stubs outside the cave with sharp eyes that had a hit of childlike playfulness in them ''i don''t see him just outside either'' not having spotted Mars she jumped out from her shadow elegantly turning her body mid air before she landed both silently and elegantly on the ground ''maybe he is hiding behind the stumps?'' as Victoria stepped out of the cave she moved in between the stumps while fully alert with her surroundings as her ears twitched and she sniffed the air a few times before she caught the smell of the prey was hunting and moved towards the smell ''there he is'' she sppoted her prey lying a little away from the edge of the cleared area on his back with histowards her ''...that''s not a very good ambush'' feeling dispirited by Mars that seemed like he had fallen asleep outside after having done whatever Victoria was a little annoyed and almost gave up her hunt before she remembered ''wait Mars is smart... so maybe this is a plan to get me to let down my guard'' convincing herself that Mars had a master plan she could not even begin to imagine Victoria observed her prey for some time while swing her fluffy tail from side to side before she felt the time was right to move ''slowly...'' the closer she got to him the lower her body got to the ground until she stopped a few meters in front of his head and observed him ''...is he really sleeping?'' now less than 5 meter away could see his chest slowly raising and lowering at a steady rate while he was laying with his eyes closed slightly snoring ''...'' feeling like a idiot Victoria directed her rage at Mars while giving up her hunt and standing up she walked up to him and focused for a second on sending mana into her horns as she sent him a telepathic message "Mars... wake up" being able to hear her own message Victoria got in an even fouler mood because she was bad at using her horns for telepathic messages resulting at slightly broken speech with long pauses between words *snore* *snap* hearing the response to her carefully crafted message was his snoring only getting louder Victoria''s eyes turned cold and she gave him a good whack on the side of his face with her paw after being roughly woken up by Victoria a slightly confused Mars sat on a stump while he rubbed his sore cheek "...i wonder what that was about" tilting his head Mars though for a some time if he did something wrong and eventually decided to leave the sulking Victoria alone in the cave to cool down for some time "...well the question now is what use theses puppies for" looking at the 10 remaining stealth acid spider cores that glinted softly in the sunlight Mars thought for some time before deciding on a plan and ate 6 of the cores before commanding his skill "level up my class" feeling the energy drain and the warm current spreading he adjusted his condition for a little while before eating the last 4 cores and opening his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 14 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [29/2000] (up) Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [22/900] (up)Charisma [12/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 800/1200] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] (new) [Energy: healing] (new) [Energy: absorb shield] (new) [Energy: reactive shield] (new) Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] [Bone crafting lv 1] looking over his status Mars saw the 16 increased status points and the new skills he had unlocked with energy units "...i think it would be best to test them all at least once each" unable to suppress his thirst for information Mars decided to test his new skill, starting with [Energy: restoration] and [Energy: healing] "well the first one should be straight forward" picking up the bone ax that was standing outside the cave Mars walked over to a random rock and smashed it against the rock with all his strength *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* "...how sturdy is this bone even?" looking at the smashed rock and the ax that had only been chipped slightly despite destroying a rock that was 3 times bigger than him in 3 hits with the side of the blade Mars was a little confused but decided to give up on hitting rocks and transformed his hand using his claws to destroy the blade of the ax instead "...now how did this skill work again?" scratching the side of his head for a second Mars used his [Energy: information] skill [Energy: restoration] use cost: 10-100 status: unlocked function: restores and repairs targeted objects at a rate dependent on the amount of energy units used "so i need to load the energy units flowing the pattern that appeared in my memory when i unlocked the skill?" closing his eyes to focus Mars loaded 20 energy units into his new skill and activated it as he opened his eyes "...this is nice" watching the bone ax in his hands being covered in a soft light and quickly being restored Mars was quite satisfied with his new skill "...i wonder what would happen if it got snapped in half and i used [Energy: restoration] on it?" thinking for a while Mars decided to test it out and picked up one of the numerous failed bone swords and snapped it in half, putting down the half of the blade he had snapped of the sword Mars stabbed it in a stump and took some steps backward before he activated [Energy: restoration] with 20 energy units "...well this is certainly something" after the light had disappeared the failed bone sword was whole again and the the blade he had stabbed into the tree stump had appeared attached to the rest of the sword leaving a mark in the tree stump "but it''s not perfect" looking closely at the reattached part of the blade Mars could see it was only loosely attached and likely would not hold more than a few slashes in a fight "well i did only use 20 energy units... maybe if i had used 100 energy unites it would have been perfect?" not feeling like using 100 of his precious energy units on a test Mars moved on to the next skill and used his [Energy: information] skill to get its info [Energy: healing] use cost: 25-100 status: unlocked function: heals user or target living organism by a rate dependent on the amount of energy units used "...well seems like i am in for some pain if i have to test this on myself" thinking on how to test a healing ability Mars got several ideas on how to catch some wildlife to test it on but desired against it as it should be evil to the animals and a pain for himself to catch them and unsheathed his bone sword and held the blade up against his lower left arm "...for science" gritting his teeth Mars strapped himself in the arm in the space between his Radius and Ulna bone, the 2 bones in his lower left arm and pushed the sword upwards towards his left hand creating a long and nasty wound on himself before pulling out the blade and sitting down on the ground as blood poured out from his arm forming a red puddle on the ground "**** this hurts... well not as much as i thought, my [Pain resist] skill must be taking the worst of it" looking down on his left arm and hand that was covered in blood Mars grasped the wound with his right hand to slow down the blood loss and loaded his [Energy: healing] skill with 50 energy units and gave a little prayer as he activated the skill "please work" as the skill activated the wound on his lower left arm was covered in a thin membrane of clear liquid that stopped the bleeding immediately and slowly pulled the sides of the wound together closing the wound slowly while Mars watched the process closely while counting the seconds it took as his wound healed completely "so less then a minute to heal a wound this size but..." flexing his newly healed arm Mars still felt some pangs of pain "it''s not healed completely, but i guess i can leave the rest to my self regeneration" Mars stood up and mentally noted that the blood still on the ground and his sword had not disappeared and that his [Energy: healing] skill likely did not replace his lost blood "well now to the 2 shield skills... but i likely need help from someone to test them" as Mars walked over to the cave he thought of ways to cheer up the sulking Victoria Chapter 22 The advantages of being friends with a panther 6 Mars walked up to the entrance to the cave and found the entrance blocked by a solid shadow that stretched like rubber when he poked it, preventing him from entering the cave while Mars would be able to tear this feeble shadow barrier down with a few slashes of his bone sword he decided against it and called out to Victoria that had barricaded herself in the cave "...Victoria can you hear me?" receiving only silence as his answer Mars still assumed she could hear him and sat down in front of the barrier and waited a bit before speaking in the most gentle tone he could "...are you still angry?" in response to his question the shadow forming the barrier trembled slightly taking this as confirmation that she could hear him Mars asked another question "did i do something wrong?" again the shadow trembled a little more than last time before it stopped and the shadow making up the barrier seemed to pull itself together before it disappeared and Mars could see Victoria lying on the side with her back to him a little into the cave with her ears flopped over on her head, seeing Victoria looking sad Mars asked her "what''s wrong?" "Mars... not mad?" hearing Victoria''s voice in his head Mars was a little confused before he remembered that she whacked him in the face "no i am not mad" "really?" as Mars said he wasn''t mad Victoria peeked up and turned her head to look at him with sparkling eyes as her ears raised and her horns flashed "then... can we... play?" as Victoria asked she ran over to Mars and stopped right in front of his face with sparkling eyes that only gave Mars one choice "sure let''s play... but first you can help me with testing my new skills" after petting Victoria on the head they both walked out of the cave into the cleared area "what was the information on those 2 skill again?" activating his [Energy: information] skill words appeared in his field of vision [Energy: absorb shield] use cost: 60 status: unlocked function: creates a shield around the user that lasts for 60 seconds and absorbs all energy from attacks hitting the shield converting them to energy units with a max absorption of 100 energy units [Energy: reactive shield] use cost: 100 status: unlocked function: creates a shield around the user that lasts for 30 seconds and automatically counters all attacks that hit the shield with double the amount of energy they hit the shield with "well let''s start with the [Energy: absorb shield]... but first i should check my [Energy: storage] having gotten in the habit to always check the amount of energy he had stored before absorbing more Mars opened his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 14 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [29/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [22/900] Charisma [12/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 710/1400] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "...Victoria can you hit me with some non-lethal magic when i say?" "okay" having confirmed with Victoria Mars focused on activating the [Energy: absorb shield] for the first time by following the instructions that had appeared in his heard when he had unlocked the skill, and a moment later he felt energy being drained and a transparent membrane that was covered with small unconscionable runes that formed a neat pattern "...this must be it, Victoria you can fire now" "okay... here it comes" Victoria that was standing 20 meters from Mars began to from small shadow bullets by pulling them up from her shadow before quickly launching them rapidly through the air at Mars that was saying a small prayer "...please work" his small prayer turned out to be meaningless as the shield work as promised when the shadow bullets hit the soft looking membrane the seemed to slow down before they got sucked into the shield as the runes on the shield lit up a little and mentally gave Mars an exact amount of energy units that was now stored in the shield "2 energy units... Victoria try something a little more deadly this time" taking his words as a challenge Victoria let loose as her black fur seemed to melt into the surroundings creating a domain of darkness before 4 spears of darkness shot out from the shadows and hurled towards Mars with high speed before being absorbed into the shield as the runes on the shield lit up a little more "20 energy units... Victoria try the magic you showed me a couple of days ago" receiving no answer Mars knew Victoria was preparing to shoot out the spell that had pieced though a tree before exploding "...this might be bad" Mars felt a little insecure about being hit with a spell that deadly but was given no time to regret as a thick spear of darkness shot out from Victoria''s shadow domain and almost instantly reached him hitting the shield without a single sound before being slowly absorbed as the runes on the transparent membrane lit up even more "...60 energy units" feeling the energy being absorbed by the shield Mars was a little stunned before he pulled himself together and felt even more respect towards Victoria "Victoria let''s stop here" not feeling the need to know what would happen if the shield went over capacity Mars decided to end the test of the first shield skill and a few seconds later the transparent membrane making up the shield disappeared and he felt energy being added to his [Energy: storage] "can... we play... now?" as Mars was absorbed in the felling of gaining energy Victoria had unknowingly to him appeared right in front of him and was looking up at Mars with sparkling eyes, looking at Victoria Mars felt a little conflicted but eventually decided to test the final skill before playing with her "...well we could play for a few hours right now, but if you help me test one more thing we can play until sunset" as Victoria visible struggled with the question of playing some right now and helping a bit the playing for the rest of the day Mars felt a little bad about tricking her as she was only a big kitten born a little under a year ago but still felt that knowing his own strength should be the top priority as he mumbled "...it''s been a few days since i lit that giant fire if anyone at all comes to check it, they should be here soon" "who... will be here?" hearing Victoria''s voice in his head Mars remembered what he was doing and petted her on the head "i don''t know who, but hopefully someone we can reason with... never mind that have you decided if you want to play now or later?" "play... later" as Victoria''s voice entered his head sounding a little sad Mars started to feel bad but gave her a smile "okay then let''s get this over with quickly, so we can play for the rest of the day" seeing her cheer up somewhat Mars decided to set some time aside everyday to play with her as she took some distance and waited for him to give a signal "...okay Victoria just like last time, only this time you need to keep moving as there likely will be some sort of counter attack" "okay" as Mars saw Victoria was ready he activated his [Energy: reactive shield] for the first time and quickly felt energy units being drained as a transparent round shield appeared in front of him it was 2 meters across with the same inconceivable runes following along the edge of the shield "...so it doesn''t cover me entirely but it feels like i can move it" testing the movement of the transparent shield Mars quickly got the hang of it and found out he could move freely but no longer then 3 meters away from himself "okay Victoria fire some magic at me, but start off light and keep moving" hearing his instructions Victoria began running around him in a circle and quickly formed 3 shadow bullets before firing them at Mars, hitting his shield almost instantly "...this feels a little weird" as the shadow bullets hit the transparent shield they were absorbed into the shield as the runes lit up before the shield formed 3 similar looking bullets made of bright pure energy and launched them towards Victoria and landed right behind her as she ran nearly hitting her fluffy tail "okay that good for now" not expecting Victoria being in danger Mars called off the test and together with Victoria walked up to where the counter attack bullets had hit a tree stump "...this seem like i would have pieced though you if it hit" looking at the 3 big holes in the tree stump that went all the way to the other side of the stump Mars felt a chill down his spine and decided not to test potentially dangerous skill on Victoria anymore as he petted her on the head "let''s go bring some boar meat down to the river and eat before we play" hearing it was finally time to play Victoria lit up in excitement before her horns flashed "play... finally time to play" Chapter 23 Visitors from the forest 1 late afternoon the eleven patrol led by Alvin was close to reaching the foot of a mountain all the members of the patrol had slightly tense as they all knew they were getting close to the source of the mysterious smoke column but still hadn''t seen any signs of a human or beastman army in the area as Alvin held up his hand and sent 3 quick hand signals meaning ''target close'', ''500 meters'' and ''prepare for combat'' stopping the group as they all quickly gathered with their backs against each other as they all prepared for combat while keeping watch over the forest, they all had tense expression though the most relaxed looking elf was Rex that still carried a old man smile on his face with but they one''s that had known him for some time would notice his remaining eye had turned somewhat cold Alvin was running battle simulations of the upcoming confickit in his head while he looked over the blade on his sword and dagger with a tense expression as he knew this might be the toughest battle in his short career before he gave a look at the young daughter of the village chief Chloe that was the most tense and was even trembling slightly, as he had known her almost all his life and he knew why she was so tense and lightly scratched his head before he sighed and spoke up in a low voice "worst case scenario Chloe most return to the village alive" hearing his words Isabel and Rex nodded silently but Chloe was not so understanding and asked "so you mean i am the only one not allowed to die?" "yes that''s right" hearing Alvin''s dry cut response Chloe was about to argue further before Rex put a hand on one of her shoulder calming her down before he spoke "you know what it would do to your dad if he lost you too, especially if he lost you to the humans" hearing Rex Chloe calmed down but was still unsatisfied to still get treated differently even while she on a mission and sulked slightly before Isabel spoke up "it makes perfect sense Chloe, so don''t make that face" "what do you mean it makes perfect sense? i am sick of always getting treated like some fragile piece of glass" hearing Chloe''s outburst Isabel gave a gentle smile and spoke slowly to sooth her "it does make sense, Alvin is the captain so he has responsibility for us, Rex is an old elf that should have retired long ago and i am a widow past her prime with no kids" listening to Isabel''s words Chloe calmed down and regained her calm with a sigh and spoke up again with a slight smile on her face "so Alvin what is the best case scenario?" hearing Chloe''s usual confident voice Alvin gave a smile before he spoke up "best case scenario all of us return to the village safe and i get a new shiny medal" hearing Alvin usual talk all the members of the 6th barrier forest patrol squad laughed quietly before Alvin gave the command to move on "let''s go" the tense and professional atmosphere instantly returned to the group as they continued to move in formation for a couple of minutes until they reached the target and Alvin gave a command more as he silently drew his sword "Isabel draw sword with me, Rex and Chloe cover" hearing the command Rex and Chloe took their bows of their backs and went to the right and left side both agilely climbing trees quickly disappearing from view and Isabel drew her sword and moved up to the side of Alvin and gave him a quick nod "let''s go" Alvin waited 20 seconds in the edge of the forest for Rex and Chloe to get in position and moved with Isabel out into a area that had been cleared off trees, moving a little forward Isabel crocheted down and torched a stump with her free hand "...Alvin there is tool marks on theses stumps" after Alvin looked around confirming there was no threats in the cleared area he spotted a cave entrance with logs piled up beside it putting on a stern face he came to a conclusion "...humans or maybe a single human did this" Isabel looked up at Alvin and gave a little smile before asking him even though she fully knew the answer to her own question "what makes you say a single human did this, it is a lot of work to fel this many trees is it not?" "...i might be wrong but" as Alvin spoke he pointed his sword to a pale white ax that stood leaning against the log pile while giving a slight smile "if there were more than one there would most likely be more tools, besides i don''t see any claw marks so we can rule out the beastmen" while feeling proud of her little brothers growth Isabel gave a smile and stood up as she asked him "then what is our next action captain?" Alvin did not give an immediate answer but instead raised his hand a gave a signal to Rex and Chloe to join up and waited for them to arrive before he spoke again "first of all we need to clear that cave, Rex with me, Isabel and Chloe cover" """yes captain""" receiving the order Rex put his bow on his back and unsheathed his sword and moved up next to Alvin while Isabel sheathed her sword and took her bow and nooked a arrow before moving behind Alvin as she pulled the bow and aimed over his shoulder while Chloe took a similar potion behind Rex as all 4 of them moved closer to the cave silently while keeping formation stopping in front of the cave before Alvin yelled out "This is the captain of the 6th barrier forest patrol team, you are in violation of the treaty come out immediately or we will consider you hostile!" after waiting for 10 seconds without receiving an answer Alvin looked at Rex and gave a nod as all 4 began to move into the cave before stopping less than 5 meters in when they saw the corpse of a earth boar that was just lying there on the cave floor half dismantled stunning all of the elvers sightly before Alvin regained his calm and gave a order "clear the cave first then we can look around afterwards" """yes captain""" moving further into the cave they saw piles of bones and bones that looked like they had been sharpened by something, before they reached the end of the cave were a giant hide was spread out seemingly serving as a bed for the occupants of this cave, Alvin was slightly stunned as he recognized the hide had belonged to a class 6 giant berserk bear but still gave a command "clear, Isabel cheek for hidden areas with earth magic" "yes captain" receiving his command Isabel lowed her bow and closed her eyes for a few seconds before giving a light stump with her leg and after waiting for a few seconds she opened her eyes again before reporting "no hidden areas detected" breathing out a sigh that seemed to lower the tension of the patrol Alvin thought for a few seconds before giving his next commands "Chloe go watch the perimeter of the clearing make sure we don''t get ambushed by the occupants of this cave when they return" "yes captain" receiving his command Chloe turned around and ran out of the cave with bow ready "Rex cheek the inside of the cave for things we may have missed" "yes captain" after sheathing his sword Rex walked over to the bear hide and crouched down as he inspected it with a thoughtful expression "Isabel with me, we are going to cheek the clearing for clues" "yes captain" lowering her bow Isabel walked out of the cave with Alvin into the clearing as Alvin was looking lost i thought he jumped up on a tree stump and stood still as he overlooked the clearing while Isabel walked around until Rex walked out of the cave and joined them he gave a whistle to signaling Chloe and Isabel to join them and waited for them before he spoke up still looking a little lost in thought "Rex what did you find?" "first of the hide in the back of the cave is defiantly from a class 6 berserk bear, and from its size it was a most 2 years away from reaching class 7 before it was killed, the 2 piles of bones was both from the same bear though one of the piles seemed to have been processed to make swords though the most likely the pile of swords was failures, and finally the half dismantled earth boar corpse seemed to have been killed a few days ago and is missing its core" still looking lost in thought Alvin touched his chin and was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again "Isabel what about the clearing?" "the clearing seemed to have been made a little over a week ago judging from the marks on the tree stumps, most of the cut trees have been cut into similar pieces and been piled by the entrance of the cave where i also found a hatched and ax that seemed to have been made from bone, there also seem to have been a giant fire in the clearing from around the same time we saw the smoke column" Alvin stood still in thought for a few seconds before Chloe slowly raised her hand afraid she would interrupt his train of thought by speaking up and stood with her arm raised for a few minutes before Alvin spoke up "...what is it Chloe?" "as i was keeping watch over the perimeter i spotted a trail that looked a few days old that seemed like something big was dragged through the forest here to the clearing, and i also saw a pair of fresh foot prints, one pair belonging to a human and one pair belonging to some sort of big cat that was leading away from the clearing into the forest" still looking lost in thought Alvin nodded slightly before he he seemed to wake up from his thoughts and looked at his team members before he spoke again "we are going to wait here for them to return, so make preparations for fighting someone that can kill a near class 7 magic beast, Isabel send a tectonic pulse reporting our station to the village, then join Chloe and Rex to make perforations for a tough fight" """yes captain""" Chapter 24 Visitors from the forest 2 "...i never knew hide and seek could be so... intense" as he mumbled Mars thought back to the most intense round of hide and seek he had ever played, when he was looking for Victoria she would make shadow decoys that would explode if he touched them and randomly fire non-lethal magic at him while hiding in her shadow leading to the innocent game to become hell like training for Mars, nevertheless Victoria looked very satisfied as she stepped even lighter on her feet than usual and purred happily while walking right next to Mars as both of them walked back to the cave form the river, as Mars was looking at her he thought his day of torture was worth it and patted her on the head "let''s play some again tomorrow" hearing Mars say they could play again tomorrow Victoria looked up at him with sparkling eyes as her horns flashed and a joyful voice appeared in his head "play... more... promise?" "yeah i promise" being promised even more time to play Victoria''s eyes lit up even more and she began to rub her face against him while purring even louder as they walked back, that is until they were about 500 meters from the clearing around the cave she stopped purring and sniffed the air before looking around cautiously "what''s wrong Victoria?" seeing Victoria act like this Mars knew something was near and slowly drew his sword and lowered his center of gravity by kneeling down slightly as he observed the surroundings for some time before Victoria''s horns flashed and a voice so cold that it lowered the temperature slightly appeared in his head as her fur seemed to begin to melt into the surrounding air spreading a shadow dark as night "enemy... no intruders... in the cave... in our home" seeing Victoria like this shocked Mars a bit but he also got a little happy that she said ''our home'' and patted her on the head to calm her down slightly while he thought for a moment and spoke up with a cold voice while a slightly blood thirsty smile spread on his face "in that case we have to entertain our guests to the best of our abilities... Victoria move around to the other side and wait for my call, we may not want to kill them instantly" "okay" sending off Victoria in her shadow Mars waited a few seconds before he stood up and sheathed his sword and move as natural as he should while still being aware of his surroundings and after walking for 100 meters he felt a pair of slightly hostile eyes on him watching his every move as he walked through the forest with a slight smile on his face before stopping and giving a wave in the direction he felt he was being watched from as he spoke up "come on now i am not a wild animal, and i don''t remember doing anything to you so how about you turn down the hostility a little?" a few seconds later the eyes on him disappeared and he continued walking while lightly mumbling with slight disdain "...amateur" arriving at the edge of the clearing he saw a figure sitting on a tree stump and as Mars calmly walked into the clear area he saw that it was a handsome man, no a elf clad in some kind of leather armor with a sheathed sword in his hand, and short blond hair and green eyes that was locked on to him inspecting him as he carried a slight smile, stopping 15 meters from the elf Mars gave a short yawn before he spoke up a little rudely "well hello there elf i was wondering when someone was coming here to visit my humble home but i am a little tired today so would you mind to come back sometime tomorrow?" hearing his rude words the eyes of the elf flashed with a cold light before he responded still carrying a slight smile that seemed to stem from his apparent control over the situation "that is awfully rude way to great your guest don''t you think human? well never mind it is not like i expected anything less from a human, let me ask you this do you know where you are right now human?" being called human no less than 3 times Mars felt that this elf had some sort of grudge towards humans which he somewhat understood form the information he was given by Info, but still felt his half dragon pride being rubbed the wrong way be repeatedly being compared to the puny humans and gave a short laugh as his smile widened showing his teeth before speaking back to the elf "this place? sure i know where it is, it''s my home, i thought it was a somewhat safe neighborhood but it looks like i need to install a sturdy door with a lock i case some more rude elvers come to poke around when i''m not home" provoked by Mars the face of the handsome elf began to twitch slightly and Mars felt hostility from his left and right and guessed some more elvers had him flanked as his smile widened even more as his tactic to get them to reveal themselves had worked while the elf in front of him had lost his temper and grabbed to hilt of his sword as he stood up "human don''t test my patience! i will ask one last time are you aware where you are!?" as Mars had succeeded in provoking the elf in front of him his smile widened even more as he slowly sat down on a tree stump and yelled out in a loud voice while keeping his eyes locked with the elf "hey Victoria where is this anyway? do you know the name of the forest?" the elf was startled by his yell and put on a slightly confused expression for a few seconds before it changed into a slightly mocking look as he spoke up "who are you talking to human? have your feeble mind broken, there is only us here" hearing the elf bluff Mars still kept his wide smile while his eyes turned cold and pointed out towards the source of hostility he had felt moments earlier and asked the elf in a cold voice that didn''t match his wide smile "then the elvers over there and over there is not with you? then i suppose you don''t mind if i kill them real quick so we can continue our talk in peace without those rude peepers?" hearing Mars point out his his team members the smile of the elf stiffened somewhat and looked at Mars for a few seconds before giving a hand signal and 2 female elvers jumped down from their hides with bows drawn and looked on to Mars as Mars looked first to his left and inspected the first of the elvers that was a woman with slightly graying blonde hair that was giving him a cold look and then to his right to the other elf that was looking rather young steering him down like he had killed her parents, but as Mars only felt like a small kitten was glaring at him so he only narrowed his eyes and gave a light wave in response "thanks for not shooting me earlier" ignoring Mars the elf asked without moving her eyes from him "captain can i shoot this human now?" hearing the hostility from the young looking elf as well as once again being called human the smile vanished from his face and his eyes turned cold and locked eyes with the ''captain'' elf "yes why can''t we just get this over with elf?" "we can if you just answer my question human! do you know where you are right now!?" seeing he had pushed the elvers to the breaking point Mars answered straight as he put a hand on the hilt of his bone sword "no" hearing his response the captain let out a sigh before he drew his sword from the sheath and took a step closer to Mars and asked "do you have any knowledge of the treaty signed between Green river village and the human kingdom Destra?" "no" as Mars gave his response the captain elf gave a slime and took a step closer and gave a look to the young elf "see Chloe he doesn''t know of the treaty, then we can''t kill him even if we want to" "but---" "captain!" as Chloe was about to speak up the so far silent female elf spoke up "what is it Isabel?" "we have no time to escort this human to the outer forest with a whole nest of stealth acid spiders missing, we would only endanger the squad" "i see in that case..." hearing talk between the elvers Mars felt a slight chill and gripped the hilt of his sword even harder as he yell out to stop a imminent massacre "don''t kill them Victoria! we need all of them alive" resulting in the elvers looking at him like he had lost his mind before the captain took a step closer to Mars while grinning "things have changed human, don''t resist or you will be in for even more pain" as Mars looked into the eyes of the elf that gave the impression that the elf was looking at him like he was a insect Mars finally drew his bone sword preparing to engage the elvers before a arrow hit his right shoulder from behind penetrating all the way though so the head of the arrow peaked out from the front "nice shoot Rex, we got it from here" feeling the pain from his shoulder Mars dropped his sword as he realized that a squad of only 3 elvers seemed weird in the first place as the blood oozed from his shoulder and the captain elf walked closer with his sword "i told you not to resist human" "heh...ha... haha.... HAHAHAHA---" feeling the elvers where really going to kill him at this rate Mars suddenly began laughing loudly before stopping as abruptly as he began as he grabbed the head of the arrow sticking out of his shoulder as a fousius smile appeared on his face, causing the captain elf to quickly jump back "you know elf, you are wrong about one thing" slowly pulling out the arrow his eyes turned blood red as Mars began to transform to his half dragon from "i''m not a weak human" Chapter 25 Visitors from the forest 3 as soon as Mars pulled out the arrow stuck in his shoulder he activated his [Energy: absorb shield] while his body was transforming and the elvers looked at him in horror, until the captain managed to pull himself together and asked Mars with a slightly shaking voice "...what are you?" in response Mars only gave a smile before he yelled out "just like we did with the spiders Victoria!" almost simultaneously 3 shadow bullets hit Isabel, and turned into dark smoke that entered her nose and moth before her green eyes turned completely black and she weakly fell over "ISABEL!!!" seeing his squad mate take a hit the captain yelled out her name loudly before he turned and looked at Mars and yelled hysterically "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?" "nothing, that was Victoria" "KILL HIM!" as the captain elf yelled out a arrow hit Mars from behind again only this time it was aimed at his neck but as it hit the [Energy: absorb shield] it only hang in the air for a second before it fell down as it had been deprived of all its kinetic energy "that must be some sort of air magic spell, Chloe, Rex use magic!" as the captain elf gave his command he kicked the ground and changed Mars with his sword, and gave a overhand slash aiming for his neck that was parried by a set of claws "...have your mother never told you it rude to slash at random people" as Mars parried the flurry of slashes and stabs with his left hand he weakly grabbed his bone sword with his injured right hand and activated [Energy: healing] with 100 units of energy, that quickly closed the wound on his shoulder as he tightened the grip on the handle of his bone sword the [Energy: absorb shield] wore off as he began to counter attack "Alvin!" as Chloe yelled out to Alvin that had locked swords with Mars, he quickly jumped back just before a fire spear hit Mars and exploded covering the surroundings in smoke "...good job Chloe i guess that''s---" as Alvin let down his guard thinking Mars was dead or at least mortally injured a figure shoot out from the smoke and before he could react a pale sword stabbed through his shoulder before a kick landed on his stomach that launched him into the air before he landed roughly on the ground rolling a few times before stopping not looking like he wouldn''t get up anytime soon "ALVIN!" Chloe yelled out but Alvin was in no condition to answer as he was knocked out, before she looked at Mars with hatred in her eyes and drew her sword preparing to engage him in close combat "that was a pretty good flame, but using fire on a half dragon is not really such a good idea" as Mars was talking in a calm tone he shook the blood off his sword and walked towards Chloe with a slight smile before a figure jumped in front of him with sword drawn "Chloe run!" the figure was Rex that quickly slashed at Mars drawing him into a fast paced sword fight that made the fight between Mars and Alvin look like children fighting with sticks as sparks flew out and the sounds of swords hitting sword sounded out loudly "but if we---!" "no but, just run Chloe!" as Chloe tried to argue with Rex he quickly shoot her down as he yelled at her while slashing at Mars with his sword before he yelled out again "remember what we talked about, just run!" Chloe stood and watched Rex fighting desperately with Mars before she glanced at Alvin and Isabel that showed not signs of moving with tears in her eyes before she turned and ran into the forest quickly disappearing from sight as Rex jumped back and took some distance from Mars as he gave him a good look with his remaining eye before he spoke "never in my 800 years of traveling outside the forest have i ever seen someone like you... if you don''t mind me asking what race are you?" as Mars looked at the aged elf he knew he was trying to stall so Chloe could escape, but knowing Victoria was lurking in the forest and that even himself had no hope of out running Victoria he lowered his sword slightly before he asked "what''s your name elf? i''m Mars by the way" "my name is Rex... so Mars would you mind satisfying an old elf curiosity?" Mars raised his sword and rested it on his shoulder before he answered Rex with a wide smile "i am a half dragon human, but i''m also the living god of energy" as Rex heard Mars he trembled lightly before a defeated smile spread on his aged face and he spoke again "not only one of the elusive half dragons, but also a living god... would you accept my surrender?" as Mars heard Rex would surrender he was slightly puzzled and asked "why would you surrender, you have no guarantee that i won''t kill you and your squad afterwards?" Rex sheathed his sword and sat down on a tree stump and gave a sigh before he spoke "your are right i don''t know what you will do, but i know i can''t kill a living god" "...in that case i accept your surrender, even though i had no intention of killing you in the first place... but there is a few conditions" as Mars and Rex was negotiating Chloe was feeling through the forest that was gradually turning dark as the sun was slowly setting with tears running down her face while grief filled her eyes as she thought about her squad that was most likely dead by now before her eyes turned to hate as she thought about the one responsible "...i must get dad to kill that man" thinking about getting her dad the current head of green river village to mobiles all of the army to hunt down that man a twisted smile spread on her face as she ran at full spread through the forest for almost 30 minutes before she slowed down and stopped to catch her breath as a cold feminine voice entered her head "not going... to run... more?" "who''s there!" as Chloe yelled out she grabbed her bow off her back and nocked an arrow before she scanned her surroundings, after not seeing anything she relaxed the string on her bow slightly and gave a sigh before mumbling "...am i hearing voices now?" "no... i''m... real" as Chloe heard the same voice again she felt a chill down her spine and quickly pulled the string on the bow and turned around and let a arrow fly that hit a nearby tree as Chloe quickly pulled another arrow from her quiver and looked around again as her breath speed up before the voice entered her head again "Mars said... not to kill... but you where.... mean" hearing the voice was turning even more cold Chloe felt another chill up her spine and quickly jumped the side as a spear of darkness hit where she was just standing a second ago and the voice sounded out in her head again "so... i can... be a little... mean too" as soon as Chloe heard the voice she kicked the ground and began to run again before quickly stopping as she came face to face with a horned black panther the was sitting on a breach looking down on her with cold dark eyes and the voice sounded in her head again "are you... going to run... more?" felling the voice had turned even more cold Chloe quickly fired a arrow at the black panther quickly hit the target but just passed right though as the panther turned into black smoke stunning Chloe "what?" as Chloe was stunned a shadow arrow shoot out from the side and hit her bow destroying it as it snapped like a twig waking Chloe from her daze as her legs gave out from under her and she sat down on the ground as the voice sounded out in her head again "done... running?... then let''s... get back" as tears streamed down Chloe''s cheeks as she had given up escaping a shadow bullet hit her head from behind and quickly turned into dark smoke that entered her nose and mouth as she felt her vision darken she saw a glimpse of a horned panther with black fur that had a orange red spider web pattern before she lost consciousness and fell over to the side Chapter 26 Visitors from the forest 4 Mars was sitting under the star filled sky while roasting some boar meat while waiting for Victoria to return with the last elver Chloe that had tried to run away meanwhile Rex was treating Alvin by dripping a couple of drops of some sort of liquid form a small vile and then after bandaging him Rex put him next to Isabel that still hadn''t woken up before he walked over to Mars "can you spare some of that boar meat?" "...sure" Mars found no harm in sharing a little meat so he gave Rex a couple of newly roasted boar chunks while he roasted some more while looking at the dark forest before he asked Rex "what''s in the vile?" "it''s a potion, it speeds up the healing process and prevents infections" after Rex spoke he reached into a small belt pouch and pulled out the potion and handed it to Mars before he ate some boar meat as Mars was inspecting the potion that was in a small glass vile that was about 5 centimeters tall with fine lines on the glass "...how do you make a potion like this?" hearing Mars ask a question Rex quickly chewed and swallowed the boar meat before speaking "that potion is made with a few ordinary herbs and then processed in a Magic formation by a alchemist to increase its healing properties... the lines on the glass is a formation that keeps it from spoiling" "...i see" after looking over the potion Mars handed it back to Rex that was stuffing his face with roasted boar meat and asked "what do you normally eat when you are on patrol?" as Rex had stuffed his mouth with boar meat he reached into his pouch and took out a small brown bar that was 10 centimeters long and 7 centimeters across Mars gave it a sniff and discovered it had no smell "it''s called a nutrient bar, it contains 1 day of energy an adult elf needs while on a patrol, but we usually hunt some magic beast to eat while on patrol" Mars handed the nutrient bar back to Rex before he looked out into the forest and mumbled "...she almost here" Mars felt Victoria getting closer and stood up and looked towards the forest while Rex looked a little confused and asked "who is almost here?" Mars gave Rex a teasing smile before he spoke "Victoria is almost here i sent her to pick up the last member of your squad, i think her name was Chloe?" hearing Chloe had been captured Rex gave a sigh and stopped eating as he also looked into the dark forest waiting for them in silence before Victoria showed up in the edge of the clearing while purring loudly clearly proud of the prey she was dragging in her mouth before she spotted Rex sitting next to Mars and instantly stopped purring and dropped her prey (poor Chloe) on the ground as her horns flashed and a slightly grumpy sounding voice appeared in Mars''s head "why elvers... still... alive?" hearing the dangerous sounding words from Victoria Mars gave Rex a glance with a slightly stiff smile before he answered Victoria "because i made a deal with him... never mind that bring Chloe, your prey over here so Rex can take a look at her" hearing Mars, Victoria picked up her prey and walked over in front of Rex that was slightly dazed and dropped Chloe at his feet gave him a cold look before she walked over to Mars and jumped into his lap and laid down clearly in a bad mood "...well sorry about that Rex" Mars began to pet Victoria on the head as usual while feeding her small pieces of roasted boar meat hoping to improve her mood while Rex was still slightly dazed before he woke from his daze and asked Mars while he looked over Chloe "...is she a shadow death panther?" "yeah she is, she is hella cute right" as Rex looked at Mars that was spoiling Victoria that was rapidly getting in a better mood he gave a sigh before he asked "...why does her fur look like that?" "that pattern? it appeared after i made a contract with her" Rex stopped looking over Chloe after having discovered she only had some light scratches from being dragged through the forest and received some more roasted boar meat from Mars before asking "what kind of contract?" "i don''t know i just mixed my mana with her" hearing Mars Rex froze for a few seconds before he gave another sigh and mumbled "your mana huh..." "is that weird?" as Rex was finished with looking over Chloe he laid her on the ground before he turned to Mars and asked him "you know what is mana right?" "...the stuff you use for magic?" hearing Mars''s answer Rex gave another sigh and massaged his temples slight before he spoke "mana is more than just the stuff you use for magic, while nobody really know what mana is, it''s the theory that mana is a protection layer or maybe the aura of the soul, mana also have different attributes for person to person like fire, water, earth and air but also in some rare cases a person is born with more than one attribute such as fire and water or a even rare attribute like space, time or lightning" after silently listening to Rex Mars thought for some time while he was petting Victoria in a daze before he asked Rex "then mixing mana and being able to use another attribute of magic is weird?" "...it''s more the weird, it''s like tearing off your own arm to trade with another arm that you sew that arm on your back and then being able to use the sword skills of the previous owner of the arm perfectly" hearing Rex''s example Mars felt that it certainly was weird or even abnormal and remembered that it was Victoriathat knew how to make the contract and asked her "Victoria who told you about that contract we made?" "no... one i... always knew" "i see..." Mars sat and thought a little more before he asked Rex another question "how do one normally use magic?" "well first one needs to activate or circulate ones mana" as Rex spoke he started to use his mana "then determine what kind of spell to use" then the mana gathered in his hand and formed a small water orb in his hand "and then you activate the magic" as Rex spoke he fired the water orb into the dark forest "and that''s how you use magic" listening to Rex Mars thought back on when he was experimenting with [Shadow magic] and asked Rex "how do you learn new spells?" "well there is 3 ways to learn a new spell, first is to have someone to teach you, this is the most common way to learn new spells and depending on talent and the teacher a new spell can be learned in a couple of weeks" Mars gave a quick nod to Rex confirming he understood "second way is to make a spell yourself, this can take years or days depending on talent but mostly luck but it i also dangerous as one rick''s to destabilize their own mana in the process and cause expositions and permanent mana dispersion that''s one of the most painful ways to die" Hearing what Rex was talking about he remembered what info had told him about soul compatibility and opened his mouth to ask Rex about it but quickly changed his mind as telling a mortal the words of one of the 13 subadministratie could be bad for his health "the third way is to read a kind of magic book called a grimoire that implants the spell directly in memory but grimoire are often unstable and can cause large mental damage or even insanity, while stable grimoire that have no side effects are often owned by powerful empires and rarely appear on the market" listening to Rex''s explanation Mars felt he had gotten rather lucky with his [Shadow magic] experiment and thought for some time before he noticed Victoria was nodding off and stood up and stretched before turning to Rex "i see... well then me and Victoria are going to bed, what about you?" "i''m going to watch over my squad" "well then good night Rex, come on Victoria" flowed by a sleepy Victoria Mars walked into the cave and vent to bed leaving Rex alone with his squad outside that stroked his chin while he mumbled "...a half dragon living god with a shadow death panther cub at his side... i need to get on friendly terms with him for the sake of my home" Chapter 27 Visitors from the forest 5 as the sky was slowly turning red as dawn was breaking Rex whose body was covered by morning dew opened his remaining eye and activated a spell that made all the dew on his body collect in the air before he stretched before he checked over his squad "...looks like they will wake soon" after determining their condition he gave a glance towards the cave where Mars and Victoria was sleeping "...i might need to wake them now to explain the situation" having decided his cause of action Rex activated another water spell and made it hover over Isabel''s head as water slowly dripped down on her face and less than 30 seconds she showed signs of waking as her eyelids trembled slightly as gave a groan and sat up and looked at Rex with some annoyance in her slightly groggy green eyes "you know i hate it when you use that spell---" "shh" as Isabel was speaking loudly Rex quickly shushed her before he spoke quietly in a serious tone "...do you remember what happened?" listening to Rex Isabel''s eyes cleared and she looked around before she quickly reached for her dagger only to have Rex stop her by grabbing her arm before he signaled towards the cave "i will explain, just wake up Alvin and do it quietly" Rex pointed to Alvin that was lying on the ground with his right shoulder and stomach warped in bandages when Isabel saw him a hint of grief flashed through her eyes before it was replaced with furry seeing her own little brother in such a state she let out silent killing intent but as she trusted Rex she did as he said and sat down beside him before she put his head on her lap and pulled her hand over his mouth and nose and soon unable to breathe his eyelids began to show movement she let go of his nose, and within a few seconds he woke up and called out to her only to discover her hand was covering his mouth "...quiet" looking up into his elder sisters eyes Alvin gave a small nod before she removed her hand and helped him to sit up, just as Rex brought over Chloe that seemed to be trembling slightly obviously a little traumatised after being hunted down by Victoria as Rex slowly spoke out after the squad formed a small circle "...i believe all of us remember what happened yesterday?" upon Rex asking the other 3 elvers eyes flashed with all sorts of emotions from Isabel that was a little confused since she was the first to be taken down, Alvin that remembered how he had fought Mars and lost wondered why they were all still alive and then there were Chloe the most unfortunate elf here that been hunted down by Victoria and was slightly trembling, Rex looked at all 3 of them before he gave a sigh and Alvin asked Rex with a slightly confused expression "...why did he not just kill us all?" seeing Alvin go right for the question Isabel and Chloe was thinking Rex scratched his head and spoke "because he wants us alive" "...why?" "...i''m not quite sure myself but i think he needs information" hearing the mention of information Alvin stood up and paced around for a few seconds before he asked Rex "...what kind of information?" "all kinds of information how we measure time, what kinds of seasons there is in the forest, what countries border the forest, how many villages are in the forest... most likely he was born not to long ago" hearing Rex suggest that the monster they all had fought yesterday was newborn 3 pairs of confused eyes rested on Rex before Alvin spoke up again "...what do you mean he is newly born?" Rex gave a sigh before he slowly spoke again "...the elder did forbid talking about it, but i guess this situation requires it... he is a living god, i think he said he was the living god of energy" hearing the new epic sounding term ''living god'' Alvin rubbed his temples and sat down before he looked at Rex his expedition saying ''go on'' "... i don''t know much about it either only a couple of things, there is more than one living god... this is the second one i have seen in my life" hearing Rex talk about living gods that apparently forbidden by the elders the 3 other elvers quieted down and waited for Rex to continue "the first one i saw came to the village about 1100 years ago, back then we were even more isolated then now we would even kill humans and the beastmen if they set foot in the forest... well anyway this one day, a human figure appeared over the village, she had long black hair and wore a rope that looked like it was sewn with pure gold that glistened in the sun... she was just standing there mid air looking down on us, of course after the confusion settled we fired arrows and spells after her but... she just stood there mid air as all the projectiles bunced harmlessly of her, she looked like she was existing in another higher plane like a angel... well after about an hour of being fired apron she apparently lost her patience and slightly waved her hand, causing the barrier around the village to shatter instantly, and sending a shock wave that destroyed most of the village killing almost half of all the people in the village while wounding the rest... then among the chaos she descended down over the river and made a grabbing motion as a stone flew up in her hand before she floated up again and waved her hand again causing all the damage she had just done to come undone, restoring the barrier and the village completely and all the people she had killed were healed and came back to life instantly turning all the chaos quiet in a single instance... the village chief at the time understood that she never intended to harm anyone and kneeled down and loudly thanked her for her kindness and asked her for her name... she responded with a crystal clear voice that i still remember to this day... she was Tatiana, the living god of mana" after Rex finished telling his story the other 3 elvers sat in a daze for some time before Alvin asked Rex "why did the elders forbid speaking of this?" "...i believe it was on Tatiana''s request, but i''m not entirely sure" Alvin fell in deep thought for a while before he asked Rex "do you think we have a chance to beat him if we have all of the forest patrol squads together?" Rex gave another sigh and asked Alvin in return "...why do you even want to fight him?" "you said he was newly born, so even if he is a living god he should be much weaker than Tatiana... it might be a good idea to kill him before he gains more power" Rex looked at Alvin and saw he had a strong will to fight and a young hot blooded fire seemed to burn in his eyes, Rex gave a deep sigh before he spoke again "even if we had all 20 squads, we might only be able to wound him... not to make you feel bad Alvin but i don''t believe that was his full strength he showed yesterday" hearing Rex put him down Alvin stood up as his face showed his anger before he asked Rex only just managing to keep his cool and not yell "why?" seeing Alvin get like this woke Isabel and Chloe form their daze and as they both had known Alvin they knew his bad habit was showing and was about to try and calm him down before Rex spoke "...do you know what race he said he was?" hearing Rex ask him this Alvin got slightly confused and calmed down a little "no, at least he''s not human" "he is a half dragon... do you remember him using any fire magic?" hearing Rex Alvin calmed down and sat down again "no" Rex gave another sigh and looked at Chloe "do you know what hunted you down in the forest?" suddenly being asked by Rex Chloe''s eyes flashed with a hint of fear as she quickly shook her head "that was a mutated shadow death panther cub... as far as i know it''s fully loyal to him, and he has somehow mixed his own mana with it and formed a contract with it" as Chloe had a slightly stunned exposition Rex turned to Alvin again and asked him "so to sum it up he, Mars is not only a half dragon capable of using high level fire magic without needing Mana, he is also a semi immortal living god and to top it of he has a mutated shadow death panther on his side... Alvin, no captain do you really want to fight again and make an enemy out of him?" Alvin sat in silence for a little while before he bowed his head towards Rex and spoke "thank you for calming me down... and to answer your question no i believe fighting him is a stupid idea" seeing Alvin still bowed down Rex and Isabel showed a slight smile before Rex put his hand on Alvin''s uninjured shoulder and spoke "don''t worry about Alvin, you are already brilliant at the age of 252 given more time and experience you will be able to lead the village in the future" Chapter 28 learning from the elvers 1 as Mars woke up and went outside the cave the sun had just risen and he was also slightly surprised seeing all of the elvers was up and about, they seemed to be working on making a hut, that was about 100 square meters, out of the wood Mars had stacked next to the cave and the floor was already mostly done and they were working on the walls of the hut when Rex saw Mars and signaled to the other elvers that walked over and lined up in front of Mars before Alvin stepped out and introduced himself with smile on his face "i''m Alvin captain of the 6th barrier forest patrol team, i have heard from Rex that your name is Mars?" Mars was slightly taken back from the energy Alvin was showing despite it being just after sunrise on him being injured but still managed to give a slight nod "yes my name is Mars, i''m the living god of energy" hearing Mars Alvin lit up a little more before he "i see i that case, Mars i am very sorry about calling you a human attacking you i hope you can forgive us this mistake" as Alvin spoke he bowed down along with the rest of the elvers and stood in silence as Mars was little dazed by the change in his attitude from yesterday, and a little influenced by his dragon instincts Mars felt some joy in having people bow for him but pulled himself together as he gave a smile and spoke in a light tone "it''s fine i forgive you... have you heard from Rex about my conditions? as Mars forgave him Alvin and the rest of the elvers raised there heads before Alvin spoke again with a slightly apologetic smile "...no not yet" "i see... in that case i will restate my terms for your surrender" Alvin, Chloe and Isabel looked a little tense so Mars pointed to a tree stump and had them sit down while he stood "fist term you or your people will not intensively harm me or Victoria, second term you all will provide me with knowledge and answer my questions, third term you will all help me in crafting, hunting and building some things if i should request it" hearing Mars sate his 3 terms Alvin felt like it was a little light pries for their lives and asked Mars after thinking for a little while "...what happens if we break those terms or run away?" hearing Alvin''s question Mars gave a wide smile and opened his arms while he started to transform shocking the elvers as they quickly pulled back and reached for their swords before Mars spoke loudly almost yelling at them with a smile that showed his teeth that grew sharper from transforming "sure you can try to harm me or Victoria, the all mighty administrator forbid you succeed for if any of you hurt Victoria i will cleanse this continent for your ENTIRE RACE!" as Mars yelled out he slipped into a battle stance and prepared for a fight before he spotted something made him fall over and roll on the ground in laughter "hahahaHAHAHAHA---" looking at Mars''s erratic behavior the elvers was slightly confused as he went from treating genocide to rolling on the ground laughing loudly less than 5 seconds before Chloe got a little angry and yelled at Mars "what''s so funny!?" hearing Chloe''s angry voice Mars laughed even harder and for almost a full minute the elvers looked at him rolling on the ground before he finally stopped and sat up while he dried the tears in the corner of his eyes as he looked at Chloe holding back laughter "sorry sorry, it''s just you talk about running away when you don''t even realize your have already been trapped, the other have an excuse but you there young elf i thought you would have learned something from yesterday''s hunt" as Chloe heard Mars talking about the hunt from yesterday she froze and started to tremble as her face paled as Alvin noticed Chloe''s situation he yelled at Mars "what do you mean yesterday''s hunt!?" seeing Alvin fume Mars gave a teasing smile while his transformation was coming undone before he spoke "why don''t you turn around and find out?" Alvin fist gave a slight glance behind him before turned around as what he saw captured his attention completely, sitting in the trees and on the ground where more than 10 black panthers they all looked alike and all had cold dark eyes that was emitting formless pressure watching the elvers every move as Mars spoke again with a lightly teasing tone "you are free to try and outrun Victoria, if one of you manage to escape i will let all of you go as a sign of respect" now not only Chloe but also Alvin and Isabel was turning slightly pale only Rex looked mostly calm as he knew Mars the best but there still was a slight layer of cold sweat on his face, all of the elvers looked before Mars spoke out in a light tone and released the tension "okay that''s enough Victoria, i don''t want them to pass out" a few seconds after Mars spoke the formless pressure that was pressing down on the elvers disappeared like the morning dew as the shadow decoys all dissolved into dark smoke and disappeared and Chloe''s legs gave out as she sat down on the ground still slightly trembling, Mars clapped his hands and woke Alvin from his daze before he spoke again with a slight smile "sorry about that, now have you decided if you want to follow my terms?" Alvin looked at Chloe that was sitting on the ground then to Isabel that was slightly pale but still gave a slight nod, then he gave a glance to Rex and also confirmed with him before he gave a sigh and spoke looking slightly defeated "...okay we accept your terms" hearing Alvin accept Rex gave an approving nod before he mumbled in a praising tone "...a good commander knows when to surrender" as Isabel stood closest to Rex she heard what he mumbled and showed a proud smile as Mars walked op to Alvin and spoke again while he reached out his right hand "no reason to look like a soldier being taken to a prison camp, i believe this is the start to a worthwhile cooperation between me and your village, what is your village called?" seeing Mars had switched his murder mode off Alvin gave a sigh and reached out hand to Mars as he gave a him a firm handshake with a light smile on his face "it''s called Green River village" as Mars and Alvin was shaking hands Victoria''s shadow appeared behind Mars as she jumped out from it and sat down behind Mars and started cleaning her paw while she looked at the elvers with curiosity "oh there you are Victoria" as Mars saw Victoria had decided to appear he turned to her and gave her some head petting before he turned back to the elvers and spoke "me and Victoria are going down to the river but..." Mars paused and looked at elvers seeing Chloe was still sitting on the ground nervelessly looking at Victoria with a pale face, then a Alvin that was still injured, then to Rex that had gone back to building the hut before his eyes finally rested on Isabel that looked somewhat calm as he asked "what''s your name?" having Mars talking directly to her for the first time Isabel was a little confused before she gave a slight smile "my name is Isabel" Mars engraved her name in his memory for a few seconds before he asked her "Isabel would you mind joining us on a little trip?" Isabel gave a glance to Alvin that gave a small nod before he walked over to help Chloe up "sure, why not" after confirming Isabel was following after him Mars walked towards the river with Victoria and Isabel and after walking a for a little while in silence Mars started to ask some question "can you tell me about that treaty Alvin spoke about yesterday?" Isabel gave a slight sigh before she gave a nod "sure, but do you mind if i talk about some other things first?" seeing Mars nod all 3 of them stopped as Isabel collected her thoughts for a few seconds before she spoke "fist is the forest, it''s called the mother forest and is surrounded by ocean to the west and the south and to the east is a inseparable mountain range leaving the north were it borders the human kingdom of Destra, it''s divided into 4 zones, zone 1 is the village and the closely surrounding area, zone 2 or the safe forest is the forest around zone 1 and is regularly cleared of magic beast and other dangerous by patrols, it''s also were we grow most of the food that is consumed in green river" Mars gave a nod as he started to draw a map in his head of the area around the elven village, but never having seen the village it was rather vague "zone 3 or the barrier forest is where we are now and it runs like a belt between the first 2 zones and the last zone, the barrier forest have a 20 magic formation in hidden spots that sends an alert to the village if a large group of people enter, zone 4 or the outer forest is the forest area to the north and borders Destra it''s also the only zone where outsiders are allowed by the treaty, and outsiders found in the barrier forest is when not killed on sight escorted to the outer forest" listening to Isabel''s smooth voice Mars was a little dazed but still continued to draw a map in his head showing Destra to the north, Green river village to the south and the mountain range were his cave was to the east and slowly nodded as his eyes rested on Isabel that took it a sign to continue "400 or so years ago Green river village and the mother forest was hit with a heat wave that failed our crops and starved our people, it was decided after much debate among the elders and the village chief that trading with Destra was the best way out of the crises, and so for the first time in the 20 thousand year old history of Green river village we started to trade with anyone, it went well profiting both sides greatly and the trade also brought new farming techniques to the village" as Isabel took a break a trace of nostalgia flashed in her eyes before she continued talking "the trade went so well that a trade town was made here in the barrier forest 200 years ago, it was called Mother town after the forest and it quickly grew with elvers, humans and beastmen living in the town together, while it was not always in harmony the town was mostly peaceful... or at least as peaceful a busy trade town can be" looking at Isabel that seemed to indulging in her memory Mars kept quiet as he waited for her to continue talking, and suddenly anger and hate seemed to pass through her eyes before she took a breath to calm down before she spoke again "about 80 years ago elvers started to disappear from Mother town, the missing were mostly women in their prime and all of them vanished like smoke, never to be seen again... after some investigation we found out that they had been kidnapped and sold as slaves after a retaining magic formation had been carved and then been filled with molten magic beast cores directly on their back" seeing the pain in Isabel''s eyes Mars also felt some rage towards the scum that kidnapped and enslaved those elvers as he waited for Isabel to continue talking "after we found out about the elvers that had been enslaved there were many including myself that called for war against Destra, but the village chief decided to negotiate with Destra seeking to free the enslaved elvers, but unable to leave the village he sent his wife Jade to handle talks with Destra in Mother town" as Isabel stopped talking heavy grief and anger passed through her green eyes before she clenched her fists and spoke with a cold voice "the negotiations with Destra never happened because Jade was caught hours after she reached Mother town and was raped and killed by nobles from Destra that fled Mother town after they released who she was... when she was found the next day dumped in a alley like some piece of trash with her body mangled almost beyond recognition our rage boiled over and a massacre found place as Mother town was cleansed from all outsiders while the 200 or so prisoners was sent out of the forest each one with the some words carved into their backs" as Isabel stopped talking she took a breath and looked Mars directly in his eyes before she spoke again "the words on their backs read:Mother town have been disbanded and any outsider brave enough to set foot in the forest for the next 50 years will be killed without question" Chapter 29 learning from the elvers 2 listening to Isabel Mars felt a slight chill in his heart but decided to ask her to better understand the scale of the massacre that happened in Mother town "...how many people, outsiders lived in Mother town?" hearing Mars ask Isabel gave a weak sigh and sat down leaning her back against a tree before she spoke with a quiet voice that was equal part shame and guilt "...about 5000" hearing the number Mars closed his eyes and tried to picture it, 5000 people, properly families of men women and children that had lived their whole life in Mother town being dragged from their home and then slaughter like livestock in the streets, and the surviving people having their backs carved with a warning, as Isabel noticed Mars had not said anything for some time she looked up and saw him standing with eyes closed and a bloodthirsty smile on his face that made all the blood drain from her face as the atmosphere around Mars changing, like he drew out the bloody smell of the massacre in Mother town from the past into the present purely with his imagination, and for the next few seconds Isabel felt like she was sitting in front of a ancient predator as her body was being covered in cold sweat, until finely the pressure lifted as Mars opened his eyes and looked at her with cold eyes and a blank face, feeling like she had to say something Isabel asked Mars in a unspirited voice "...do you hate us now?" "no" Isabel was slightly stunned at Mars''s blunt answer, but still managed to calm down a little thanks to it, but still asked to confirm "why don''t you? what we did in Mother town is unforgivable" Mars gave a slight sigh before he also sat down on the ground as Victoria walked over and laid in his lap, after giving Victoria some attention by patting her head he looked Isabel straight in the eyes "while i may be a living god i have no right, nor need to judge if you or your village did was right or wrong, besides..." as Mars fell silent a complicated light flashed in his eyes before he gave a sigh and the spoke in a low voice "i would have done worse.... i properly wasn''t a good person in my last life" as Isabel was close to him she heard was he said, but found no need to comment on it as she stood up and leaned on a tree and watched Mars that still seemed lost in thought for some time before he woke up "...sorry about that, could you continue your story now?" "sure where did i let off... oh right, after Mother town was disbanded Destra sent diplomats for the first weeks but after they all were killed no matter how many soldiers were escorting them they stopped... 10 years after the incident, so 70 years ago the village finely stabilized after having grieved and expanded the safe forest to compensate for the loss of Mother town and a big influx of trade, it was decided by the elders that Green river village need a bigger army so the forest patrol squads was established and we began to expanded on the knowledge in spells and military tactics as there had been a very big increased in the number of outsiders in the outer forest we feared a attack from Destra and prepared for war" when Mars listened to Isabel he once again found himself slightly daze by her voice but still kept his focus as she spoke again after a brief break "as the outsider kept coming into the forest and we started to see losses on our side the discontent in the village raised and war seemed unavoidable the chief suggested diplomacy and when the elders refused he left the village alone and went to Destra" Mars sucked in a breath of cold air as he felt his intelligence evaluation of the chief of Green river village fall drastically, but still felt the balls on this particular elver had to be something as he went alone to a potential hostile nation to negotiate, but as Mars was imagining an elf with watermelon sized balls Isabel continued talking unaware of how Mars was depicting the village chief in his mind "as the village was in a panic the village chief returned after a month looking like he went just came back from the working the field... he refused to tell what had happened, only that he had signed a treaty with Destra that allowed outsider in the outer forest, and if they crossed into the barrier forest we would be allowed to kill them, but only if they knew nothing of the treaty" hearing the end of this story Mars felt his respect of the village chief growing while he sat in silence for a little while before Isabel interrupted his train of thought "do you have any questions?" Mars thought for a little while before he looked at Isabel a little inappropriately before asked with a slightly teasing smile and a oddly serious look in his eyes "...are all elvers as beautiful as you?" hearing Mars''s question Isabel lightly blushed with a stunned look on her face and after opening and closing her mouth a few times she finally managed to squeezes out a sound as she backed away from Mars slightly "wha---" "i mean, i can kind of see why greedy scum slave merchants would want to kidnap elvers if that is the case" hearing what Mars was saying made Isabel angry as she had known some of the elvers that got kidnapped from Mother town and she nearly snapped at him before she noticed the serious look in his eyes that strongly contrast his teasing smile, and after taking a few deep breaths she managed to answer him, though her face was still slightly red "...i don''t believe i''m that attractive---" "come on now, you don''t believe that... give me a straight answer" as Mars didn''t seem like he was going to back down from this slightly inappropriate question Isabel felt her impression of him slightly falling as she gave a sigh "i think so, at least in Green river village i''m about average even if i''m 935 years old..." Mars gave a light nod as he admired her slender curves that still had some meat in the right places especially in the skin tight leather armor she was wearing before he gave a sigh as he mumbled "...going to Green river village might be a bad idea" as Isabel once again heard his mumble she gave a slightly puzzled look "...why?" "well, even if i look like this i''m have only been alive over here for about 1 month, so i''m still getting used to this body, vessel and let''s just say that half dragons at least male half dragons seem like they have a hard time controlling their instincts..." Isabel was a little confused before she understood what he was talking about and her entire face blushed even her long ears turned slight red as she covered her modest chest with one arm while he other hand grasped the hilt of her sword while she backed off slowly away from Mars, and while Mars felt like Isabel''s reaction was more maiden like then he expected he still quickly explained himself "it''s not like i can''t control it, i just don''t want to push my limits before i have fully adopted to this vessel... besides i can promise you this, i have no interest in ****, i find it to be the most disgusting thing a living being can do" as Mars cleared his intentions Isabel lowed her guard slightly, but she was still slightly wary of him even if he said he could control his urges she still didn''t want to risk herself to test the waters "...well then i don''t think i have any more questions for now let''s get down to the river" after quickly waking Victoria that had long since fallen asleep on his lap from all the ''boring'' talk Mars stood up and lightly stretched before he looked at Isabel that was still visible on guard towards him he scratched his head before he asked her "...do you know how living gods are born?" Isabel was still on guard and showed slight confusing on her face but she still lightly shook her head as Mars answered his own question "...well i don''t really know how much i can talk about but, **** it... living gods aren''t born, they or at least i was chosen and reincarnated from another world into a vessel by... something, that might be all powerful" Isabel still looked slight confused, as she had no idea were Mars was going with his rant but still gave a nod "well anyway, my point is if you had the power to drag a soul from another world, and put it into a body would you pick a soul with low will power?" "no" as Isabel answered as he had expected Mars gave a slight smile before he turned his back to her and started to walk to the river "then you have nothing to worry about" Chapter 30 learning from the elvers 3 after arriving at the river with Isabel and Victoria Mars spent some time bathing and drinking some water before he played with Victoria in the water, or rather he splashed her with water "come on, come on!" until she fought back, and as Mars learned from dogging lethal spells for the next 5 minuter Victoria doesn''t like to be splashed with water, nor does she hold back when she''s angry "time out!" as Mars yelled out to Victoria he set off from the riverbed and twisted his body as he jumped over a darkness spear that just missed him and landed on the opposite shore taking down a couple of trees, while Mars and Victoria was ''playing'' Isabel watched slightly stunned not only by Victoria''s show of force but also from the way Mars effortlessly jumped 4 meters into the air from standing in knee high water to doge and could not help to ask out loud "...where you even serious when you fought us?" of cause Mars was otherwise occupied so he didn''t hear her mumble nor would he have time to answer her as Victoria had started to use her shadow decoys to launch spells too after Victoria calmed down and left the river to cool off still slightly mad at Mars and the river turned peaceful again Mars dragged himself to shore and laid down on the grass while he slightly panted as he caught his breath while Isabel gave him a glance with a slightly red face before she gave a cough "...would you please put your shorts back on" as Mars had been jumping around without shorts for some time Isabel had seen more then she would likely ever admit "sure" Mars was unfazed by her glances but he still quickly put on his shorts before he laid down on the grass again and enjoyed the midday sun that was drying him off before he remembered something "...yesterday you said something about a stealth acid spider nest right?" at Mars''s question Isabel paled slightly and swallowed nervelessly before she gave a nod as she replayed in a quiet voice "...yes i did" Mars was slightly puzzled by her attitude but then he remembered that it was Isabel''s comment about the nest that made Alvin decide to attack him, aware of what she likely was thinking about Mars gave a sigh before he gave a slight smile "i''m not angry about that, besides if you didn''t convince Alvin i would had found another excuse to beat you all up" a little color returned to Isabel''s face and she gave a sigh before she explained "we know there is a stealth acid spider nest about 10 kilometers form here, but as we didn''t run into a single spider on the way here we amused that the nest was hunting something and took extra caution..." hearing what Isabel said Mars felt a little funny as he knew what caused the missing spiders but still kept a calm face and waited for Isabel to explain more "i think it''s been 15 years since a stealth acid spider queen took over a small lake and made it it''s nest... since then we have lost 4 patrol teams to that nest, it was suggested to clear out the nest meany times but the elders stubbornly have forbidden it since it helps reinforce the barrier forest against outsiders..." Mars thought for a little bit before he asked "...what class is the stealth acid spider queen?" "...i think it was class 7 when it made it''s nest, but it might be class 8 now" "i see" Mars thought about how much energy would be in a class 8 magic beast core and felt more and more greedy after the core but managed to calm down slightly when Victoria sent him a telepathic message "Mars... the spiders... are here again" Mars abruptly stood up and looked over at Isabel with a teasing smile as he picked his bone sword up off the ground "speak of the devil... and he shall appear" Isabel didn''t know what he was talking about and was slightly confused but garbed the hilt of her own sword when she saw him pick up his and looked at Mars with caution before he turned towards the forest where Victoria appeared a few seconds later, and as he kneeled down to pet her on the head Mars asked her "how many of them are there this time?" "about... 30 this time... heading here... what should we... do?" Isabel had no idea what was going on as she didn''t hear Victoria''s message so she just stood and watched them for a few seconds before she asked Mars "what is it?" Mars started to transform and looked over at Isabel with a slightly ferocious smile, and as his horns started to grow out from his head he answered her with a slightly excited voice "stealth acid spiders, about 30 of them" at fist Isabel thought Mars was joking but as she saw his eyes where serious her face paled as her legs began to shake slightly before she asked "...about 30?" "yeah that''s what Victoria told me" Isabel face turned a shade paler before she gritted her teeth and grabbed the sword hilt hard until her knockers also paled before she asked Mars with a determined expression "...what should we do?" as Mars saw how firgeneted she was he had a slight urge to tease her a little but he held back as he also could hear the spiders approaching and looked towards the forest while he answered her "well me and Victoria are going to kill them all... but what will you do? run away?" Isabel saw Mars''s indifferent attitude and felt like he was mocking her and she gritted her teeth even harder before she yelled back at "i''m a soldier of Green river, i would rather die then run from some spiders!" Mars was a little surprised by her yell and looked at her but his surprise quickly turned to admiration as he saw her detriment expedition, and gave an approving nod "then back me up with magic and don''t get close to them... that is unless you want Victoria to hit you by accident" Isabel gave a nod and let go of her sword as she fell back to the river shore and circulated her mana as she prepared a spell, Mars gave a final pet to Victoria before she melted into her shadow and stood up with eyes closed and waited for the spiders to get closer while he counted them and as he opened his eyes a few seconds later he yelled "32 of them! in a half circular formation with spiteres in the back.... Isabel can you detect them?" "no, not unless they come out off stealth" Mars gave a quick nod and thought for a second before he yelled out a command "Victoria! focus on the spiters and the ones closing on Isabel, Isabel i will protect you and line up some targets for you to shoot... but keep moving i don''t want your pretty face to get melted off!" hearing Mars call her pretty Isabel''s tension lessened somewhat, and as she knew about the hunting habits of stealth acid spiders she was slightly impressed by Mars as she knew he had acutely given the best strategy in a short amount of time, of cause Mars had no idea that his stock just had gone up as he was focused on the sounds of 192 spider legs rapidly moving across trees and the forest floor quickly closing in "30 seconds! Victoria move behind them" as Mars yelled he summoned his dragon flame that formed a shield behind him with red-orange flames, and after a few seconds Mars started rapidly firing fire arrows into the forest to trip the spiders ambush, and to bait some of them to come at him before they set up formation *SCREAM* 4 of the 10 fire arrows hit their mark as told by loud spider screams that sounded like someone rapidly rubbing rusted metal against glass while 4 spider sized fires suddenly appeared "28 left! here comes some targets" Mars yelled out to Isabel behind him as he kicked off the ground and rushed towards the still invisible spiders that rushed out from the forest edge, reaching the first spider he slashed off a leg while twisting his body to avoid another one of it''s legs "this one''s all yours!" yelling to Isabel Mars jumped back from the now 5 legged spider that was rapidly becoming viable and just as he stabbed another spider in the head the 5 legged spider had it''s head smashed by a football sized rock that hit it like a truck sending spider blood all over the place as it was launched back into the forest "nice one, here comes two more!" as Mars yelled out he slid on his knees slashing 3 legs off a spider then quickly jumping up and slashing another in the side before he kicked off again towards the next one while Isabel was slightly overwhelmed she still managed to use a spell that formed a spiked pitfall in the ground under the spider with a cut in its side before she quickly shot the 3 legged spider in the head with a football sized rock "Victoria one got passed me!" as Mars was forced to doge one spider managed to get past him and changed Isabel that reacted quickly to Mars''s call out and used a spell that scattered pepels like a shotgun, only just gazing the spider as it jumped her before a spear off darkness hit the spider from behind nailing it to the ground in front of Isabel that quickly pulled out her sword and stabbed it in the head before she yelled out to Mars that was glancing behind him "i got it, focus on the front!" Mars gave a approving smile before he stabbed a spider in the head while he manipulated the fire shield on his back to bash another spider, instantly turning it into a spider sized bonfire as he quickly jumped to the side dodging a acid shoot from the last spider "...Victoria do you mind?" Mars got no answer but 3 darkness spears hit the spider nailing it to the tree it was sitting in "thank you" as Mars shook the blue spider blood off his bone sword he looked around checking if any of the spider where still alive "...looks like that''s all of them, are you okay Isabel?" Mars saw Isabel was bent over forwards with her hands on her knees with a slightly pale face, but she still raised her head with a exhausted smile on her face "i''m fine, just a little low on mana" Chapter 31 learning from the elvers 4 Mars gave a nod to her and walked over to the river side next to Isabel and kneeled down and washed the spider blood off his bone sword while Isabel sat down on the grass with exhaustion clearly viable on her almost perfect face "doesn''t living gods run out of mana? i mean i''m so low on mana because i didn''t have time to properly form my spells, but it didn''t look like you used any spells?" Mars gave a smile while he washed off his bone sword "i''m sure they do, even i might if i use [Shadow magic] but my [Dragon flame magic] is level 5, so i don''t need mana to use it" Isabel widened her eyes and looked disbelieving at Mars for a little while before she gave a sigh "and to think i was proud of my level 4 [Earth magic]..." Mars smiled slightly while he washed his sword clean before he remembered something Info had told him about and looked at Isabel before asking "what kinds of jobs have you had?" Isabel paused slightly before she showed a smile "well i started as a [Elf villager] like all the elvers born in the village, from there i leaned under a hunter until i maxed my [Novice hunter], [Apprentice hunter] and [Adept hunter] jobs... from there i became interested in joining the patrol teams so i powered though [Novice swordswoman] and [Apprentice swordswoman] in basic training before i found out my talent in magic is higher than my talent in sword wielding, so i changed from [Apprentice swordswoman] at level 7 to [Novice earth mage]... and now some 300 years later i''m a level 9 [Expert earth mage] one of the best in the village" listening to Isabel Mars made a metal job ladder in his head, going from novice to apprentice, and then adapt to expert before he asked her for more information "...what effects does changing to a higher ranked job have?" Isabel sat down and looked out over the river before she explained "well for one thing it helps with gaining and leveling skills, for example a person with the [Novice swordsman] job has a higher chance of obtaining the [Swordsman] skill" "...i see" Mars in thought for a little while before Isabel suddenly asked him "why are you asking about jobs? don''t living gods have jobs too?" as Mars was finished with washing his sword he stood up and shook the water off his sword before he answered Isabel "no they don''t, they have classes" Isabel was slightly confused but refrained from asking more and as her mana had somewhat recovered she also stood up and looked at the spider corpses that littered the river side, before Mars walked up to a corpse and burned it to ashes and took the magic beast core from the ashes and turned to Isabel "do you mind if i take all the magic beast cores?" Isabel became a little confused but since Mars and Victoria had saved her from harm she gave a sigh "...well normally all cores we collect goes to power the barrier around the village, but sure if you can use the cores then take them all" Mars made a fist pump in excitement before he walked over to the next corpse and reduced it to ashes with his flame too with a excited smile on his face as Victoria walked out from the forest edge purring loudly and walked up to Mars that quickly patted her on the head "Victoria do you mind dragging the corpses in the forest out here?" "okay" Victoria was in a good mood and quickly walked back into the forest before Mars yelled out to her "be sure not to get any blood or acid on you!" Isabel also joined them and worked on getting the cores out and half an hour later Mars stood with with 32 magic beast cores in his hands and admired them with sparkling eyes while he mumbled "32 class 6 cores that''s 6400 energy units... and there is 14 status points on them too..." Isabel didn''t know what he was going to use the magic beast cores for but she judge from his excited expression that it was something important and kept quiet while she observed before Mars snapped out of his daze and looked at her "let''s get back to the cave" the trip back to the cave was quick as Mars didn''t have any questions for the time being, so when they reached the cave it was afternoon Alvin, Rex and Chloe was working on building the hut when Mars, Victoria and Isabel returned, Mars was a little impressed by the progress they had made and he judge that if they kept up the tempo the hut should be done in about a week, seeing Isabel return Alvin gave her a wave before asking "how was the river?" "it''s not as close as i would like but---" as Alvin and Isabel began talking Mars tuned them out as he had more important things to do, so after quickly greeting Rex with a wave he walked into the cave along with Victoria before he cheeked his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 14 Status points: Strength [23/1000] Constitution [29/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [22/900] Charisma [12/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 497/1200] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "...looks like i need to start a fire" after confirming his stored energy Mars quickly ate 3 cores bringing his total stored energy to 1097, before he walked out of the cave again and started to gather some firewood before he heard Alvin yelling "what!!! 32 stealth acid spiders!!!" Mars looked over and saw Alvin''s panicked expression as he grabbed Isabel while yelling and showed a slightly mean smile before he grabbed his bone ax and went into the forest to look for some firewood along with Victoria, when he returned half an hour late with a load of firewood he saw the elvers had all stopped working and was talking with each other "what... are they... doing?" Mars looked down at Victoria that had followed him and after putting the firewood down he kneeled down and patted her head "...well i suppose they are talking about something they don''t want us to hear... but never mind that, what do you think about them?" Victoria turned to look at the elvers for some time before she looked back at Mars as her horns flashed "i... don''t like them... they look... at me... with weird... eyes... but..." Mars had noticed the way the elvers looked at Victoria, but as he didn''t think he could do anything about they wiriness he had ignored it, after all Victoria was a class 9 magic beast so some fear was expected "...i like... Chloe... she played... with me" Mars gave a helpless smile and thought ''she properly doesn''t like you very much'' as he petted Victoria on the head and gave a sadistic smile "well let''s ask her to play some time" hearing she could play with Chloe again Victoria purred loudly as she nuzzled up against Mars and enjoyed being petted until Alvin walked up to them and looked at Mars before asking politely "...do you have some time?" Mars was a little annoyed that Alvin interrupted his petting time with Victoria but he still gave a nod while he still petted Victoria on the head "first i have to thank you for protecting Isabel" Mars looked up and saw Alvin was bowing his head to him "thank you for protecting my elder sister" Mars stayed silent, until Alvin raised his head and gave him detriment look "now that''s out of the way, i have to ask you as the captain of the 6thbarrier forest patrol team to hand over the magic beast cores or at least give me a good reason as to why you kept them" Mars looked into Alvin''s eyes and saw his determination and stood up and put a hand on the grip of his sword "what if i refuse?" Alvin gave a sigh before he hardened his expression and matched Mars by gripping his own sword "then for the sake of the village, i will have to take them from you by force" "even when you know you have no chance against me?" "yes, this is for the sake of the village" "you sure have some balls..." Mars and Alvin stood and faced off in silence for a few tense seconds before Mars gave a wide smile and walked up and gave Alvin a pat on his shoulder "i like it, very well i will tell you why i need them, but first..." Mars closed his eyes briefly focusing on loading his [Energy: healing] skill with 50 units of energy, before activating it and healing Alvin''s shoulder and other minor wounds completely "help me gather some more firewood" Alvin looked dazed, with cold sweat on covering his forehead as he felt the wound in his shoulder close quickly he instinctively moved his shoulder a little, finding no pain he gave Mars a puzzled look "well i can''t have you working while injured" Chapter 32 learning from the elvers 5 half an hour after Alvin and the other elvers joined Mars in his quest for firewood and Mars stood in front of a small hill made of dry firewood and turned to look at Alvin with a somewhat disbelieving look, as he himself had combed the nearby forest for firewood before he expected that it would take much longer to find this amount of firewood, until Alvin urged him on with a somewhat impatient voice "...you got your firewood, what now?" Mars pulled himself together with a sigh and turned towards Alvin and asked him a somewhat weird question "do you know what energy is?" Alvin frowned slightly in thought before he answered with a little uncertainty in his voice "...is it mana? what does this have to do with anything?" Mars gave a sigh as Alvin answer weren''t to his satisfaction and looked at Isabel instead that was standing behind Alvin with Chloe and Rex, but like Alvin she and the other 2 also showed puzzled expressions, before Mars gave another sigh before he spoke "in the world i come from there was many different kinds of energy, some of witch was somewhat understood and used to make life easier, this includes among others... thermal energy" the elvers still looked somewhat confused but they didn''t interrupt Mars as he continued talking "thermal energy or heat energy, is the energy that is released when---" as Mars talked about thermal energy for the next hour and then other kinds of energy for the next 2 hours the elvers faces turned more and more funny to look at, from Alvin that tried to follow along in the beginning bu became completely lostwhen Mars started to talk about how energy can be transformed to another from but never destroyed nor created he lost him, to Isabel and Rex witch faces showed ''i''m clearly too old for this shit'' and then Chloe witch had fallen asleep resting her head on a tree stump 5 minutes into Mars''s lecture "--- these building blocks are called neutrons, protons and electrons, and when they split for any number of reasons mass amounts of binding energy called---" seeing Mars continue on and on with a near fanatic expression on his face as the sky was turning dark Alvin finally decidedto snap Mars out of his trance "okay okay, stop talking!" Mars snapped out of his trance when Alvin yelled at him, and after quickly looking around he discovered how long he had been talking as it was almost dark "...sorry about that" Alvin gave a sigh before he asked again "so what''s the firewood for?" Mars was still a little dazed and turned around and looked at the hill of firewood one more time before it clicked for him and spoke with a blank look on his face "for a fire obviously" not only Alvin but also Isabel felt an urge to slap Mars in the face, but was stopped by Chloe waking up and asking still half asleep while rubbing her eyes "what are we cooking?" Mars gave a slight smile and jumped on top of the firewood hill and sat down before answering Chloe "me, i am the living god of energy i get stronger from absorbing energy" the elvers was still somewhat confused but it looked like something clicked for Alvin before he asked Mars with a little uncertainty "...so is that why you need the cores? because there is energy in them?" Mars gave a nod, Alvin gave a sigh as he felt his headache from Mars'' preaching increase a level and gave his approval while rubbing his temples "...i see, well in that case knock yourself out" Alvin sat down on a tree stump and took out a nutrient bar from his pouch and began to eat with the other elvers while he watched, Mars about to light the fire remembered he still had his wolf skin shorts on and quickly striped, turning the faces of Isabel and Chloe bright red as they turned away as he tossed them towards the cave before sitting down again "...well then let''s do this" Mars used his flame to light the fire before quickly putting it out as the flames spread and covered the entire hill he was sitting on while he watched his stored energy climb steadily as the sky had turned completely dark and the countless stars shone in the sky along with the 2 moons Mars jumped off the fire and opened his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 14 Status points: Strength [24/1000] (up) Constitution [29/2000] Dexterity [20/1500] Intelligence [19/600] Wisdom [22/900] Charisma [13/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1400/1400] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] Mentally willing his [Energy: upgrade shop] to open the mist making up his status changed into the upgrade shop [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 1400 [Energy: basic reinforced storage] price: 1500 [Energy: basic drain touch] price: 1500 seeing that [Energy: basic reinforced storage] and [Energy: basic drain touch] was the only skill he could unlock Mars felt a little disappointed that there wasn''t any new skills but still commanded his skill "level up my class" feeling the stored energy drain followed by the usual warm current speeding in his body Mars gave sigh and was about to jump back on the still burning fire when he felt a gaze and turned around to see the elvers was eating some blue apple sized fruits, while Alvin and Rex gave him a somewhat awkward look and Isabel and Chloe looked away from him, before Rex held out one of the fruits towards him "do you want a one?" "sure" Mars walked a few steps towards the elvers before Victoria ran up to him from behind and gave him a nudge with her head, when Mars looked down at her he saw she had his shorts in her mouth "...oh" Mars hurriedly put on his shorts before giving Victoria a pat on the head he walked with her over to the elvers and took the fruit, and after smelling it, Mars bit into the blue fruit and was surprised by the mint like sweet taste but also by the texture that felt somewhat solid, after chewing and swallowing he asked Rex "this is good, what''s this fruit called?" Rex didn''t answer but looked over at Chloe that was fully immersed in stuffing her face with the blue fruit in a very unladylike way with her sparkling emerald green eyes and puffed cheeks Mars found that she looked somewhat cute, until Rex gave her a poke she saw Mars was looking at her with a questioning look she swallowed the fruit with some difficulty before she spoke with some hostility clearly displeased with Mars''s presence "...what?" Rex gave a fake cough looking somewhat embarrassed over her attitude as he originally asked her to explain hoping to improve their relation before he looked at at her with a stern ''be nice'' look on his face and repeated his question "Mars asked what the name of this fruit is" Chloe began to frown but seeing Rex''s face turn to ''be nice or else'' as he prepared his iron claw she finally answered Mars "...it''s called a mint fruit, i found a tree nearby" Mars gave a nod before he bit into the mint fruit again and remembered he still had 28 cores left to consume and given his total energy storage was 1500 and each core gives 200 he still needed the fire for 100 units of energy and walked back towards the fire for a few meters before he stopped and turned around towards the elvers "feel free to eat the boar meat from the cave" Mars didn''t wait for their response and after quickly striping he jumped back onto the fire and watched his energy storage until about 30 minutes later it climbed to 100 and he jumped off the fire, having learned from last time he quickly put on his shorts before he looked around and discovered the elvers had gone to sleep, still Victoria came running up to him a few seconds after he jumped off the fire and after her horns flashed Mars heard a somewhat grumpy voice in his head "Mars... i''m hungry" Mars also felt somewhat hungry and knelled down and patted her on the head with a smile "me too let''s eat something, before we go to sleep" Chapter 33 learning from the elvers 6 as the sun was rising Mars once again left behind Victoria in dream land and went outside the cave with the 28 remaining class 6 magic beast cores, with a stupid grin on his face he admired the half transparent blue core glisten in the morning sunlight until finely a equally stupid sounding chuckle sounded out from him "heh...heh...heh...he---" "...what the fuck are you doing?" Mars was a little started as he turned towards the one that had called out to him and found out it was Chloe that was standing her water skin raised about to drink, her blonde hair was slightly messy and there was slight dark half curicles under her eyes, a testament to her poor sleep ever since she was hunted down by Victoria "...i don''t know, maybe it''s.... a dragon instinct?" Mars truly had no idea what he was doing so he just blamed it on his new instincts, but on further thought the dragons he had herd about in stories all seemed like they were pure embodiment of the seven deadly sins, he even remembered a dragon from a old movie that was voiced by a British actor, had stolen an entire mountain of gold from Dwarves "sure..." Chloe seemed to accept his explanation rather easily, she just drank some water from the water skin and walked over to where the other elvers was sleeping and laid down to sleep without further comment, leaving Mars a little dazed as he had half expected her to snap at him like yesterday evening "...maybe she''s weak in the morning?" Mars was still a little puzzled but quickly went back to admiring the cores with a stupid grin on his face before he pulled himself together and cheeked his status "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 15 Status points: Strength [39/1000] (up)Constitution [44/2000] (up) Dexterity [35/1500] (up) Intelligence [34/600] (up) Wisdom [37/900] (up) Charisma [28/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 100/1500] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] Mars confirmed all his status points had increased with 15 points each as he had hit class level 15, andafter quickly eating eating 7 cores bringing his total stored energy units to 1500 he willed his [Energy: upgrade shop] to open [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 1500 [Energy: basic reinforced storage] price: 1500 [Energy: basic drain touch] price: 1500 Mars was about to level up his class when he noticed he could afford one of the skills available "...what did [Energy: basic reinforced storage] do again?" faithful to it''s master his [Energy: information] skill activated and showed information on the skill [Energy: basic reinforced storage] use cost: none status: locked function: reinforces [Energy: storage] enabling the stored amount of energy to go 10% over the cap without harming the user "...so 10% of 1500 is 150 energy units... maybe i should unlock this skill now?" Mars thought it over for a few minutes and eventually decided to unlock this skill "well it seems like it would be a conviount skill to have, but 1500 energy units is a lot... fuck it, unlock [Energy: basic reinforced storage]" feeling his stored energy units being depleted being drained completely and not much else changing Mars was a little confused and cheeked his status again "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 15 Status points: Strength [39/1000] Constitution [44/2000]Dexterity [35/1500] Intelligence [34/600]Wisdom [37/900]Charisma [28/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 0/1500] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] (new) Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "...well i guess it''s there" putting his trust in his new skill Mars ate 8 of the 21 reaming cores bringing his total stored energy to 1600, 100 over his cap "...i guess it works?... well open the upgrade shop" [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 1500 [Energy: basic drain touch] price: 1500 "level up my class" once again feeling the stored energy drain and the warm current spreed in his body Mars wasted no time and another 8 cores before he commanded his skill again "level up my class" feeling a little dizzy from another level up Mars looked at his reaming 5 core and wasted no time in eating them to before he sat down on the ground and watched to sun rise, until he remembered how Victoria had reacted last time he gone out of the cave to level up and decided to go back into the cave and watched to sunrise from the cave entrance instead about 30 minutes later the elvers showed sighs of waking, the fist to wake was Rex that had seemed to have spent the entire night sitting upright meditating on a tree stump, Mars observed how he used a water spell to gather the morning dew on himself and the other elvers, this seemed to be a wake up call to the others since the 3 other also woke up, of cause Mars''s eyes unconsciously landed on Isabel and Chloe, just awake the both of them stcreded and rubbed various sore places on their body''s "...this is bad" catching himself in the act Mars felt a little ashamed of what he felt was no better then peeping and abruptly stood up and went back into the cave and laid down on his back next to the still sleeping Victoria and gazed at the cave ceiling "...i need to find a solution to this" closing his eyes Mars tried to calm down as he adjusted his breathing to try and slow down his racing heart, until his ears picked up slight moment before he felt a pair of soft paws resting on his chest, giving a slight slime Mars reached up with his hand without opening his eyes, the fist thing his hand found was a pair of horns then following them down until he felt soft and warm fur Mars knew his hand had landed on the usual spot in between the horns, and started to pat her while he greeted her "good morning Victoria" in return to his greeting Mars felt his chest slightly vibrate as Victoria started to purr causing his smile to naturally widen "good... morning Mars" Mars open his eyes and looked at Victoria that was lying on his chest, and felt he had become completely calm, and after enjoying some time with Victoria in silence Mars broke the rhythm of purring that sounded out in the cave "let''s get some breakfast" Victoria didn''t get off him like Mars had expected, instead Mars heard her slightly consernd voice "Mars... are you... okay?" Mars was a little stunned for a moment before he answered "yeah i''m fine... or i will be once i get used to this vessel" Victoria seemed a little confused and tilted her head to the side before her horns flashed "what''s... a vessel?" "well..." Mars was also a little confused when he thought about it but he still tried to explain it "...i guess it''s this body? i had another life before this one, and when my old body died my soul ended in this body, or vessel" Victoria still seemed a little confused as shown by the tilt that got a little deeper, now nearing 45 degrees to the right, and after a little time her horns flashed again "then this... is your... second... life?" Mars felt confused hearing her question and tried to remember his last life but other then some brief flashes non of witch he could really make sense off, the only thing he could somewhat make sense off was the inside of a closed prison cell like room and a courtroom, shaking his head to clear it Mars answered Victoria "...maybe, i don''t really remember enough to be able to say for sure" Victoria remained silent a steered into Mars''s eyes for a moment before she got off him and her horns flashed "i want... 5 pieces... off roasted... meat" Mars was a little dazed before he gave a wide slime and also stood up and picked up his bone sword that was leaning against the cave wall next to the bear hide "sure thing, coming right up!" Chapter 34 Living with elvers 1 after Mars and Victoria had eaten, Mars went over to the elvers that was still working on building the hut, they had already made the floor and was building the walls by stacking logs, Mars could saw how they first cut a logs into appropriate lengths using Alvin''s wind magic before cutting out a square piece in one end that fit with the periviuos log before going on to the next, Alvin was cutting a log when Mars walked over and stopped his work before he asked Mars with some vigilance still visible on his face "do you need anything?" Mars gave a nod and looked over at Chloe that was closing the ends of the logs by burning them with a weak flame "can i borrow Chloe for a bit?, i want her to teach me some fire spells" Mars had thought a lot about this like ''was there even a need to learn fire magic spells?'' but eventually decided that there was no harm in learning some spells, the only thing he doubted was if Chloe would even borther teach him "...sure, hey Chloe come over here" Alvin agreed without much thought and called over Chloe, after she walked over and saw Mars a frown appeared on her pretty face "...what?" Alvin gave a sigh as he saw her displeasure with Mars''s perence but still asked her in place of Mars "Mars want to learn some fire spells, so teach him for a bit" Chloe fist gave a look of disbelief before she clenched her fist with rage as her face turned furious as she looked at Alvin in silence for some time before she looked down and asked "...is that an order?" Alvin remained silent before he gave a nod as he affirmed "yes, you can take it as a order" Chloe looked away as her fist tightened even more as her face turned red from furry and she manged to give Alvin a look of disbelief before she looked at Mars "...you, follow me" Alvin gave another sigh as he watched the two of them walk away before he mumbled "please don''t piss him off" Mars followed after Chloe as they walked over to the other end of the clearing while wondering what he should do to get her to teach him, or in the first place look at him without all the hate and anger viable in her eyes, Chloe stooped walking as they had reached the opposite ending of the clearing and asked Mars without turning around "...your not human right?" Mars was a little puzzled over her sudden question but still answered without much thought "no i''m not" Chloe still stood with her back turned to Mars and her fist chleched tightly shut and after a few seconds of silence she asked him again with hate and disgust in her voice "then why do you have to look like one?" Mars became even more puzzled and remained silent for a few minutes before Chloe spoke again with her back still turned "...if you want me to teach you, then don''t look like a disgusting human" it suddenly clicked for Mars, Chloe was the youngest member of the patrol team so the Mother town massacre must still be pretty fresh in her mind, she might even have lost some of her family to the humans no wounder she hated them so much, Mars closed his eyes and focused his transformation, and after a few seconds 2 pale bone horns rapidly grew out of his forehead, stopping when they where about 15 centimeters long and curved a little opwereds "...is this better?" Chloe turned around and saw his horns causing the hate in her eyes to lessen somewhat and opened her mouth to speak right as Mars opened his eyes causing her to stop as she looked into his vertical slit red pupais, instantly sending a chill up her spine causing her face to slightly pale before she pulled herself together and spoke while averting her eyes from his "yeah that''s a little better..." Mars having transformed had his senses heightened so he could sense her fear, from his ears picking up her heartbeat to his eyes and nose picking up tiny beads of sweat forming on her slightly pale face, but he pretended not to notice and asked her "then what''s first?" "first...?" Chloe looked back at Mars, briefly at his eyes before she lowered her gaze slightly, she looked slightly puzzled, causing Mars to give a sigh as he massaged his temple as he deiced to teas her a little "you are here to teach me fire spells, not to gaze at my handsome face" "...handsome?" Chloe was still a little stunned by fear and didn''t understand what Mars said, but after a moment her face flushed with equal shame and anger, before she angrily yelled out "who''s handsome! you shameless half human!!!" Mars gave a smile and deiced to press a little more "then why where you giving me such a passionate look?" Chloe''s blush turned even more red, even spreading all the way to her long ears and was about to yell at him again before she gave a huff and turned away reaming silent causing Mars''s teasing smile to widen as he gave a slight bow "then please tell me what''s first, oh esteemed fire magic teacher" Chloe turned even more red in the face and was about to blow up, but a teasing smile equaling Mars''s soon showed on her face as she excitedly yelled while pointing at his face "that''s right i''m your teacher so you better show some respect!" Mars discovered his mistake and was about to speak up when Chloe yelled at him aging "where''s your answer, dear student!?" Mars became slightly overwhelmed at her shouting and saw a strong glint in her eyes as it clicked for him ''shit she''s a hard S'' and tried to calm her down "Chloe plea---" "not Chloe i''m your teacher, TEACHER!" Mars looked at her flushed face with disbelief, as her face was now devoid of fear completely, now showing 2 parts shame, 8 parts pleasure from sadistic domination and gave a sigh ''well if it motivates her to teach me...'' before he bowed down and lowered his head "teacher please bestow me your wisdom!" "very good, now first is---" what followed was 2 hours of Chloe yelling at him with an exited look on her face as her eyes practically glowed with happiness "come on now focus your mana!" "no not like that, how stupid are you!" "how meany times do i have to show you, you stupid student!" Mars only manged to remain subservient doing the lecture by self hypnotizing himself by repeating''for science, for growing stronger'' in his head and manged to struggle though, even learning some basic spells, showing him for the fist time the advantage of using spells as he succeed in using the spell fire arrow, witch was a lot like how he had been using his [Dragon flame magic] by forming arrows of fire, then shooting them at a target ''this is more then double the fire power even the speed is increased somewhat, the only drawback is the casting time is increased'' as Mars was marveling at the power of spells Chloe had finely calmed down and was regretting her outburst and deiced to stealthily leave Mars alone as she ran back to the other elvers with her face and long ears blushed red "what''s next teacher...?" Mars turned around and only saw Chloe''s back as she ran away and gave a sigh before he sat down on a tree stump as his half dragon transformation slowly undid it self while he wondered out loud "maybe i can get her to teach me again some time?" as Mars sat in thought Chloe had returned to the other elvers that all looked at her with warm kind eyes causing her face to turn even more red with shame Mars still sat in thought as he digested the things he had learned when Victoria showed up beside him and rubbed her ace on his arm while her horns flashed "Mars... finished playing?... i''m hungry" Mars snapped out of his train of thought and gave Victoria some head pats before he asked her a question "do you want to play with Chloe some time?" Victoria looked over at the elvers as her horns flashed again "i do... she''s fun... to play with" Mars gave a wide smile as he petted Victoria on the head "then let''s play with her sometime soon" "okay... but let''s eat... now" Mars gave a nod and stood up and thought with a slightly teasing smile on his face ''a little payback is fine right'' while both of them walked back to the cave Chapter 35 Living with elvers 2 2 months had now passed since the 4 elvers Alvin, Rex, Isabel and Chloe had begun living with Mars, the wooden hut had long been completed and the elvers was using it as a sleeping place while Mars and Victoria still slept in the cave together on the bear hide, Mars had grown closer with the elvers and even Victoria had begun sending telepathic messages to the other elvers espatialy to Chloe, as after Chloe had gotten over her fear had taken quite a liking to the death panther cub, even causing Mars to be slightly jealous Mars spent the 2 mounts hunting together with the elvers when they where low on food, and spearing with Rex and Alvin training and helping him get used to his [Swordsmanship] skill, even learning a little hand to hand combat from Isabel that was even better than Rex at hand to hand combat, he also learned some more spells from Chloe and even though she was more restrained compared to the now infamous first lecture Mars could still see a hint of joy in her eyes when he called her teacher "....and done!" Mars was currently inside the cave, left alone as Victoria was playing with Chloe, he had just finished making a shirt and a new pair of shorts out of some newly hunted wind deer hide, the hide was a light brown color and pretty though so it made for some good materiel, most of the leather armor the elvers wore was also made from wind deer "...i wonder what the others are doing" as Mars had spent more time... well being alive he had discovered he had a tendency to lose sight of all other things when he was working on something, just like now he had no idea how long he had been working on his new project and after quickly changing into his new clothes he walked out off the cave and looked around the clearing spotting Rex that was practicing with his sword sending out sharp slashes that even seemed to cut the air as the fallen leaves on the ground seemed laid completely still while Rex send out even more cut and stabs into the air, Mars gave a slight smile and picked up his bone sword that was leaning against the cave wall at the entrance of the cave and walked over to Rex and suddenly slashed at him "let me join in on the fun!" Rex effortlessly blocked Mars''s slash with his own sword and fell back a little as he opened his eye and saw Mars "...oh it''s just you Mars" Mars gave a sigh, even though he knew Rex''s [Swordsmanship] was a level lower than him at level 3 he still had not manegred to best him in a pure sword fight witch irritated him somewhat as he slashed at Rex again with a wide smile on his face "let''s train a little!" Rex blocked again and also gave a smile as he counter attacked with a stab "your on!" what followed was intense sword fight, with slashes so fast it was hard to see them just using your eyes, as Mars and Rex even began to laugh as Rex gave a sudden kick that landed solidly on Mars''s stomach sending him back a few meters as Mars showed a even wider smile while his horns started to grow out of his forehead while his eyes turned red before he launched at Rex again as the sword fight picked up speed, and the only thing heard the next few minutes was laughter and swords clashing until Mars pulled back slightly out of breath and lowered his sword "...i still can''t beat you" Rex was not out of breath and looked perfectly fine showing the difference actual experience made over a higher skill level as he gave also smile as he praised Mars "your getting better fast, in another 5 years i might not be able to keep up in pure speed" Rex also lowered his sword before throwing it to Mars that caught it easily before he activated his [Energy: restoration] skill restoring and repairing the 2 sword at the same time with 10 energy units each before he threw the sword back to Rex that caught it and inspected the blade before he gave an approving nod "no matter how many time i see it, it''s still amazing, that skill of yours" Mars started to undo his transformation as he wiped the sweat off his forehead when his ears picked up movement in the forest moving towards the clearing and tensed up for a moment before he recognized the footsteps and gave Rex a quick look before he sat down on a tree stump and waited for a few seconds until suddenly a blur shot out from the forest and jumped into Mars''s lap and began purring "Mars... i''m back" Mars began to give Victoria her usual head pates while he looked her over, she was still about 1,5 meters tall from paw to shoulder when she stood up so there was not much change there, but what had changed since he made a contract with her was red orange spider web pattern on her smooth black fur had grown more and more pronounced that now it looked more like stripes, Mars even felt like a unknowing hunter might not be able to identify her species anymore "yeah, welcome back Victoria" Mars was about to ask what she had been doing when Alvin, Chloe and Isabel walked out of the tree line into the clearing, they all had stern faces and Chloe looked a little pale and was leaning on Isabel when she walked and Mars noticed her lower leg had been bandaged but was still bleeding as Mars could smell fresh blood and burned flesh from her leg was about to ask what had happened when Rex beat him to it "what happened?" Alvin put on a even more bitter face looking like he just ate a bitter bug before he looked away as he answered Rex "...it was the damn spiders again" Rex also made a stern face and looked at Chloe as his face paled slightly before he gave a sigh and asked with a heavy tone in his voice "how is Chloe''s leg, can it be saved?" hear what Rex was saying Mars suddenly got the gravity of the situation as he also had been infected by the spider poison once, so he knew how nasty it was "it''s fine, she acted quickly and burned it clear but..." Rex clenched his fists and stood in silence for a bit before he turned to Mars and suddenly bowed down to him "please let us return to the village so Chloe can get proper treatment!" Mars was a little overwhelmed by his sudden requested and looked at Alvin and also a strong will in his eyes as he also wanted the same thing for Chloe, Mars gave a sigh and stood up before he gave his answer "no" Rex raised his head and looked at Mars in disbelief and was about to argue further when Mars raised his hand signaling him to remain quiet as he gave a slight smile as he repeated himself "no, i can treat her here" not only Rex but also Isabel and Alvin let out a sigh of relief, Chloe showed a little more complicated look on her face and opened her mouth to say something when Mars interrupted her "Isabel, Alvin bring her over here and lay her down" Alvin gave a nod and walked over to Isabel and Chloe to help her walking over to Mars, before they helped her lay down on a tree stump as Rex also walked over with concern clearly visible on his face as he looked at Chloe "Isabel help me get the bandage off" "okay" Mars quickly gave a command to Isabel as he reached down to Chloe''s injured leg and carefully garbed her foot and raised it, while Chloe clenched her teeth clearly in pain as she looked down on her leg while Isabel carefully unwrapped the bandage that started off being pure white but as more and more was unwrapped the bandage turned more and more dark red "...shit" Alvin cursed as he saw the wound that was revealed under the bandage, most of Chloe''s lower right leg was gone from the right side all the way to the bone looked like it had melted away, likely from a strong acid and what was left was badly charred by a flame, the wound looked horrible but smelled even worse as the smell of burnt flesh and blood mixed together was freed when Isabel finely unwrapped the bandage completely, Mars inspected the wound briefly before he looked up and Chloe''s pale face and gave her a reassuring smile "don''t worry, you will be as good as new in no time" Chloe didn''t answer but gave a quick nod as the look in her eyes became a little lighter as she looked at Mars "...now to work my magic" Mars focused on her leg and put his hand lightly on the wound, casing Chloe to give a muffled gasp of pain as she laid down on her back not daring to look at her wound anymore, Mars closed his eyes and focused on loading his [Energy: healing] skill with 100 units of energy and opened his eyes as he activated it "...here i go" as Mars activated his skill a clear fluid appeared on Chloe''s injured leg, first covering the wound completely before the charred parts of the wound began to melt off and dissolve and less than 5 seconds later the wound had changed completely as it now was a red pink color showing a neat cross look at the inside of her leg for a moment before it rapidly began to regrow as new flesh and muscle regrew until finely it was covered by a fine layer off smooth skin, and just as Mars had said good as new "this is..." Rex was in complete disbelief, he had seen more wounds then he could count, and from his first look at the wound he judged that Chloe would likely have her leg amputated even if she returned to the village for treatment, so he like the other 2 elvers was in complete disbelief, Mars however gave a approving nod as he thought that this was how a treatment should look when he used 100 energy units and gave Chloe a quick pat on the leg where her injury was just moments ago "there you go, see as good as new right?" Chloe raised her head as she sat op again and looked at her leg, before she looked at Mars''s face then at her leg again she was clearly in disbelief as she lightly touched her leg before she looked at Mars again, and slowly tears began to form in to corner of her green eyes before she suddenly rushed forwards and hugged Mars while she silently began crying, leaving Mars competently dazed as he suddenly had no idea what to do with his arms, not knowing if he should hug her back he just sat there awkwardly with his hands in the air as he gave a questioning look to Isabel that also had tears in her eyes as he sent her a question only using his eyes ''err... what should i do?'' Isabel gave a sigh and with stern eyes she replied to him ''hug her you idiot!'' Mars clearly got the message and softly laid his arms around her while he lightly patted her back, while gradually a thought formed in his head as he mumbled silently while a sharp killing intent could be felt from his red eyes "...looks like i need to kill all these fucking spiders" Chapter 36 Living with elvers 3 after Chloe calmed down and stopped crying she peeled herself off Mars and quickly took some distance from him before she mumbled in a quiet voice with a completely red face, even her long elver ears had tuned red and was even trembling slightly "...thank you" after thanking Mars she quickly turned away and ran into the log cabin, shutting the door after her with a slam leaving Mars and the other elvers slightly stunned, the first to recover was Isabel that had a warm expression on her face as she turned to Mars and gave a bow "thank you for healing Chloe" this became a signal to the other 2 elvers that also quickly gave a bow to Mars and also gave their thanks in a loud voice ""thank you for healing Chloe!"" Mars woke up from his daze and shook his head clearing it of the soft body and nice smell that lingered in his senses before he replied still somewhat in a daze "...please don''t mind it, it was the least i could do" after hearing Mars the elvers showed happy smiles as Mars finally managed to pull himself together and quickly remembered something "Isabel would you mind checking on her, while my skill have healed her she is likely still a little low on blood" "okay" Isabel became a little concerned and quickly followed after Chloe into the cabin while Rex walked up to Mars and slapped Mars on the back while he laughed loudly while he praised him "HAHA! in all my years this is the first time i have seen such a healing spell well done Mars!" Alvin also gave a approving nod from the sideline as he clearly agreed on what Rex was saying, but Mars quickly purred cold water on their excitement as he asked Alvin "what happened in the forest?" Rex sensed Mars''s mode and stopped slapping his back and also put on a serious face as he also looked at Alvin "it was a group of stealth acid spiders... if not for Victoria spotting them and warning us we would have all likely have turned into spider food" Mars gave a nod and stroked Victoria that still lay beside him purring slightly, before he asked Alvin "how many of them were there?" Alvin gave a sigh and sat down on a stump before he continued talking with a clearly exhausted tone "...i don''t know, we just followed Victoria''s instruction and ran when she told us, that''s when Chloe got hit... if not for her fast reaction burning the wound she might have lost her entire leg or even her life..." Mars saw how exhausted Alvin was and didn''t press him further instead he asked Victoria while he stroked her smooth fur "Victoria how many spiders did you kill?" Victoria still laid curled up in a ball lightly purring with her eyes closed seeming like she was asleep but her horns still flashed as she answered Mars "i don''t... know... about... 8?" Mars gave a nod and thought for a moment before he looked over at Rex and asked him "Rex do you know where the spider nest is?" Rex gave a quick nod "sure i do, it''s about 8 kilometers from here" Mars''s eyes sharpened as he while he Victoria''s head he asked Rex "then do you mind taking a quick walk with me?" Rex''s eye sharpened and looked at Mars before he gave a wide slightly ferocious smile as he stood up "sure, i could use a little walk anyways" Alvin saw what they where doing and suddenly got a headache, at one hand he wanted to kill those anointing spiders too, and at the other the elders had forbidden clearing this nest in the name of strengthening the barrier forest against outsiders, Mars having heard the story about the nest once before knew what Alvin was thinking and spoke up as he made eye contact with Rex "it''s just a walk, but if we get attacked by something then..." Rex''s smile widen even more as he also gave a feigned sigh before he spoke again with in a very sarcastic tone "yeah as Mars says, then we won''t have a choice in the matter if we are attacked first" Mars''s smile also widened as he covered half his face with his hand and spoke loudly in a sad voice "yeah i would rather not hurt any wildlife in this forest, but if it''s self defense..." Alvin speechlessly looked at the two of them and wondered when they had gotten so close as he gave a sigh "...fine, go on your ''walk'' i won''t say anything to the elders" only when Alvin turned and walked towards the cabin did Mars remove the hand from his face, and gave Rex a wide smile as both of them quickly prepared for the ''walk'', then Mars remembered that there might be more spider groups out there and called out to Victoria that was still curled up "Victoria do you mind looking after the other while me and Rex go out to play for a bit?" Victoria raised her head and gave Mars a cold look before she stood up and stretched as her horns flashed "you... better be.... back soon" then she turned around and also walked towards the cabin leaving Mars and Rex alone "...then let''s go" Mars was a little sad seeing Victoria sulking but he put it in the back of his mind, as this was not the first time they had been attacked by the stealth acid spiders and he was getting rather annoyed by them he had now decided to end them once for all, Rex had quickly prepared and gave Mars a pat on the shoulder "if we are fast we might make it there just before sunset, then we might be able to make it back just before midnight" Mars gave a nod and secured his leather belt on his new shorts and sheathed his bone sword before he followed Rex into the forest, as he decided to cheek his status before the upcoming fight "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 (up) Status points: Strength [41/1000] (up) Constitution [44/2000]Dexterity [38/1500] (up) Intelligence [39/600] (up)Wisdom [37/900]Charisma [28/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 856/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] Mars confirmed his level witch he had raised by hunting magic beast and sitting on a fire over the last 2 mouths and gave a nod as he cheeked his stored energy "...this should do for a spider hunt" Mars followed after Rex that was leading the way through the forest in silence for a few kilometers until he broke the silence as he asked him a question "how long have you known Chloe?" Rex didn''t answer him right away as he kept walking and cheeking the surroundings "ever since she was born... 121 years ago" Mars gave a nod as the 2 of them kept walking in silence for a little more time before he asked another question "her standing is higher than the rest of you right?" Rex remand silent as he walked through the forest as Mars continued talking "i mean you told her to run away when we first met" Rex gave a sigh but still kept his mouth shut while Mars talked on "she also don''t seem used to sleeping outside, and her combat experience seems like it''s lacking in comparison to the rest of you" Rex finally decided to spill the beans and after a sigh he started talking "she''s the Village chiefs only daughter" Mars stopped walking when he heard what Rex said as his head went to work ''the Mother town massacre was tricked by the murder of the village chief''s wife 80 years ago... that would have made Chloe 41 years old at the time, while i don''t know how elvers mature judging by her current temperament, she might just have become of age...no wonder she hates humans so much'' Mars decided to remain silent as the two of them walked on through the forest until Rex raised his hand giving Mars a signal to be silent and come closer, Mars followed Rex''s lead and walked up to him and looked in front ''...this is?'' first Mars didn''t know what he was looking at, through the trees he saw a clearing with a lake in the middle, the lake was silent with some old trees that was uprooted laying in the water covered in moss, but then he spotted movement in the water as something invisible seemed to emerged from the lake and his ears picked up some familiar sounding 6 legged footsteps Chapter 37 Living with elvers 4 Staring at the at the still invisible spider that had just jumped out of the lake Mars focused and was able to see a hazy outline of the spider causing his [Energy: information] skill to activate [adolescent stealth acid spider male class: 4 unlike it''s older brothers and sisters this spider is still learning the the water spell that gives name to it''s species, and is unable to become completely invisible. they are often found near a nests] ''well that makes sense... well, at least a little'' Mars decided not to question the logic off Alfan anymore and gave a quick look at Rex before he pointed to the spider then dragged his finger across neck, Rex gave a nod and nocked an arrow on his bow before shooting it at the spider hitting it right in the head killing it instantly as it turned visible as it fell down on the spot ''nice shoot'' Mars gave Rex a thumbs up before he drew his sword as he transformed to his half dragon form while he slowly walked out into the clearing completely alert looking around before he lowered his guard and called out to Rex "it''s clear" Rex also walked out into the clearing, although he looked more alert than Mars that was looking at the lake before he asked Rex "...so how should we destroy this nest?" Rex was still looking around the clearing as he explained "well, the village''s plan was to use some 50 fire mages to boil the water, but you can mange on your own right?" Mars gave a confident smile and sheathed his sword and closed his eyes and focused on using a spell Chloe had taught him ''what was it she called it again?'' as Mars stood in silence and focused his mana Rex felt the heat raising around Mars as he stood there and backed up a little giving him some more space while he still focused on the surroundings ''...ohh that''s right'' Mars raised his hands over his head and soon a small flame appeared over his head causing Rex to back off even more as this flame was even hotter then it looked, Mars opened his eyes as the flame rapidly grew bigger almost instantly turning into a small sun with a 5 meter diameter as heat suddenly spread across the clearing while Mars excitedly yelled out "FIRE BOMB!!!" as Mars yelled he threw the small sun towards to lake casing the water in the lake to heat up turning into mist almost instantly as a explosion sounded out *BOOOOOOM* Mars covered his face as steam and boiling water spew out all over the clearing, but he could still see the fire bomb burning and sinking into the lake getting smaller and smaller until it finely burned out and silence returned to the clearing "did i over do it?" "you sure did" Rex returned from the forest as he had cleverly fallen back when Mars threw the fire bomb "...by the way why did you yell out the name of the spell?" Mars looked a little embarrassed and scratched his the back of his head "...just take it as a little childhood fulfillment, never mind that let''s head back" Mars and Rex turned away from the lake and began to walk, just when Mars felt all the hairs on his body stand up and quickly kicked Rex asides "shi--" pain, pain was the next thing Mars felt, then he felt cold and looked down and found most off his upper body was missing, there was a giant round hole through his chest and the trees in front of him "----" Mars opened his mouth to cures, but was reminded that his lungs had been removed from his body, causing him to be unable to talk or even curse as he felt his legs go weak as he fell over and collapsed on the ground face down only catching a glimpse of a giant spider that was emerging from the lake as his [Energy: information] skill activated [Queen acid spider female class: 9 spoken off in legends and horror story''s alike the leader of any acid spider nest is the queen. one legend spoke off a queen that turned a small kingdom into graveyard in less then a week with it''s water magic and countless children] ''of cause there''s a queen...'' Mars really wanted to activate his [Energy: healing] skill but his entire body had become numb and cold ''shit i really want to sleep'' as Mars''s gradually lost their focus he heard a familiar voice in his head [death is no longer a option for you host, or should i call you Mars now?] Mars suddenly felt power return to his body as a scolding hot feeling spread from the corners of his wound as it rapidly closed together, Mars felt a large amount of pain and really wanted to scream but was unable to move as he heard the voice again [wait a little, i''m almost done.... there, now be sure to visit a temple soon i will be waiting] Mars suddenly felt like his blood and been replaced with stimulant as his body heated up like it was on fire and he finally got control back and screamed out as he jumped off the ground "AHHHHHHHH!!!!" fire then cold then rage, he felt like is body was burning and freezing at the same time and then rage took him over as he saw the spider queen had walked out off the lake, it stood about 5 meters tall and was light blue in color, or rather it was almost transparent it was it''s blood that was blue giving its body it''s color, 3 of it''s legs was badly burned likely by Mars''s fire spell but he was in no condition to notice a small detail like this "YOU KILLED ME YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!" Mars kicked off the ground turning into a blur as the claws on his hands grew even larger than they used to be, only stopping when they were 10 centimeters long each as he reached the spider queen and cut right through one off its legs with his claws causing the spider to let out a scream that sounded like a rusty nail being dragged across glass as it''s counter attacked with another leg *SCREEEEM* Mars sidestepped the leg before he grabbed it and kicked off the ground landing on the back off the spider as he went down on his knees nailing the scale spikes on his knees into it''s back while he quickly opened a wound on the back off the spider causing his claws to be covered in blue spider blood as the queen spider screamed again and tried to shake him off *SCREEEEEEEM* "oh no you don''t, i''m not done yet!" Mars pieced his claws deeply into the back off the spider as the queen spider began to run wild, quickly running into the forest on it''s 6 legs smashing into trees as it desperately tried to shake Mars off it''s back while he loaded his [Energy: discharge] skill with 80 units of kinetic "DIE YOU ROYAL BITCH!!!" Mars unloaded his skill though his left arm that was instantly shattered by the recoil and tuned into a bloody mess, but still he was better off then the spider queen that looked like a normal sized spider being smashed by a boot as it flattened completely *BOOOOM* Mars landed in a crater filled with mashed spider and blue blood, but as grossed out as he felt he was completely immobile and could only lay and watch the starts as he healed his arm with 100 units of energy until Rex walked over and peeked into the crater "Mars are you alive?" "...mostly, wait for just a second" Mars managed to raise his body off the ground and eventual stand up before he spotted a blue-ish transparent bead in the mess that once was a giant spider and picked it up as his [Energy: Information] skill activated class 9 magic beast core stored energy:1000 stored status points:15 source: queen acid spider ''well this might cover some of my lost status points form dying...'' Mars kept the core and jumped out off the crater and saw Rex standing with his bow ready "ohh you really are alive Mars!, i thought you died when you got hit by that water spell" Rex walked over and was about to hug Mars when he saw he was covered in blue spider blood and stopped with his arms open and eventual decided to just give him a pat on the shoulder, Mars gave a smile "i really did die Rex" Rex froze a little but still managed to smile back at Mars with a slightly stiff smile before he awkwardly asked him "well, how was dying then?" Mars only smiled and walked towards the lake to wash off the spider blood "it sucked... really, really bad" Chapter 38 Living with elvers 5 Mars walked over to the lake, that was still giving off steam from the earlier explosion while he rubbed the area in the middle off his chest where he had so vividly felt a high pressure beam of water piece though, the sneak attack from the acid spider queen that had hollowed out his chest when it hit him from behind, although luckily it had also taken out his spine so he didn''t really feel it happen... it still hurt like hell though, but the most painful experience about it was when he laid on the ground feelinghis body go cold as he had bled out, Mars shook his head to try and clear his head as he keeled down by the lake and reached out his hands towards the water when he noticed that they were shaking slightly ''...i might have nightmares about this for a while'' Mars took a deep breath and closed his eye for a few seconds to readjust his mental state ''i still live, that why i''m afraid... i should hold on to to this fear, it might help me remain... sane, at least somewhat'' Mars opened his eyes again and started to wash his hands in the lake, but only for a few seconds before he discovered that the lake was filled with the same blue spider blood he was trying to wash of his hands and pulled them out off the water "...gross, well i guess i did throw a firebomb into their nest" Mars quickly lit his flame and had it hover in the air as he used it to clean his hands instead off the water when he spotted something glinting in the lake from the moonlight ''is that..?'' as Mars was wondering what it was his skill activated and answered his question for him class 3 magic beast core stored energy: 10 stored status points: none source: acid spider hatching ''sure is'' Mars weren''t about to jump into a lake filled with blue spider blood for a mere 10 energy points, but he wondered if there was more magic beast corers in the area around the lake, he had after all dropped a bomb into the lake so Mars found it likely some cores might have been blown out off the water and started to look around, and sure enough he easily found 2 class 3 cores ''might only be 10 energy units, but if i''m here anyway...'' a slightly greedy expression showed on Mars''s face as he started to look for some more cores, all the while Rex was keeping a watch on the surroundings, in the end Mars found 5 more class 3 cores and even a class 4 core bringing his total loot up to 1 class 9 core, 1 class 4 core and 8 class 3 cores "this should be good... Rex let''s head back" "...okay" Mars saw that the old elf was slightly lost in thought and decided not to disturb him as the 2 of them walked in silence though the dark quiet forest back to the camp, when they arrived it was slightly past midnight and in the moonlit clearing Mars saw 6 spider corpses lined up neatly, they were all mangled with holes all over them them, that was still leaking blue blood down on the ground ''...looks like she took out her anger on them'' Mars suspected Victoria had kill these spiders and after saying good night to Rex that heeded into the wood cabin Mars quickly burned the spider corpses to ashes and picked up 6 class 6 magic beast cores from the ashes before he also decided to retire for the night and walked into his cave a laid down on the bear hide beside Victoria who was so deep in dreamland she didn''t notice him ''or rather she knows it''s me and therefore doesn''t wake up...'' Mars gave a sigh as he closed his eyes to sleep but found it hard to fall asleep and rolled around on the wide bear hide for some time before he finally fell asleep and started to dream. Mars felt like he was moving up and looked around and found himself in dark room, a elevator he looked down and saw he was clad in a orange body suit, his hands and feet was cuffed and heavy looking chains led from the cuffs and was linked to a solid metal pole in the middle of the elevator limiting his mobility so he couldn''t reach the walls of the elevator, he vaguely felt like he was a dog tied to a pole which caused him large amount of shame and anger "after all, it''s all their fault... wait who are they?" Mars felt a headache when he tried to remember who exactly ''they'' were, and didn''t have time to think about it as the elevator he was in slowed down a little as it reached its destination and a bright light shone through the glass walls of the elevator blinding him as he shut his eyes and heard a emotionless fragmented voice "---order please, we will now begin the sentencing off ** for crimes against humanity---" as Mars opened his eyes again he discovered he had left his dream as a pair off clear blue cat eye was peering into his eyes, staring at his face from close proximity "...good morning" Mars greeted Victoria that was laying on his chest, but she just stared unblinking into his eyes for a few long seconds before her horns flashed as she tilted her head slightly to the side "are you...okay?" Mars was about to brush her off, saying he was fine but when he looked into her clear blue cat eyes he decided to come clean "well i died once, so i''m not really okay" Mars reached his hand up and started to brush Victoria''s big fluffy ears, causing her to close her eyes and start purring "but i''m a little better now" Mars spent a few minutes getting healed by Victoria''s fluffy ears before he was finally able to get up and went out of the cave with her and took in the morning air as they watched to sun rise "....i really should check my status" Mars hadn''t cheeked his status since he died yesterday and unable to find any excuse to stall any further he gathered his mana for a second before he chanted "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [21/1000] (down) Constitution [41/2000] (down)Dexterity [32/1500] (down) Intelligence [19/600] (down)Wisdom [32/900] (down)Charisma [23/50] (down) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 776/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "that harsh... well it beats actually... being dead" as Mars looked over his status he didn''t really know how to feel, on one hand he was sad over the loss off points and on the other he was happy to be alive "...well it''s not that bad" the only reason Mars wasn''t more upset about losing status points was he simply wasn''t able to use them, one example was his strength that had fallen to 21 points "21 points is 21 half-dragons worth of strength... i don''t even think i''m using half of that number at the moment..." Mars still hadn''t gotten used to his body if he where to give an example of his current situation it would be ''it''s like being given a top off the line quantum computer for free, only to find out that the firmware on it is horribly optimized leaving you to having to learn 56 coding languages to optimize it yourself'' "well anyway... let''s eat something Victoria" "okay..." Mars went back into the cave and grabbed a butchered piece off wind deer that was approximately 30 kilograms "this should do for the 2 off us" 30 kilograms of meat might seem like a heavy breakfast for Mars and Victoria, but if one considered Victoria was still a growing cub and Mars had i didn''t seem that much and it was in fact less than they usually ate for breakfast "...even looking at the raw meat i still don''t feel hungry" Mars was usually woken up by his hunger so his lack of appetite puzzled him a little, so thinking there might be something wrong with his stomach he toned down his breakfast a little, on the way out he grabbed his bone sword and walked out of the cave to start roasting meat when he noticed Alvin, Chloe and Isabel had woken up and was sitting outside, Victoria had also joined them and was sticking to Chloe as usual casing Mars to get a little jealous before he let out a sigh and walked over to join them as he greeted them "good morning" Isabel turned towards Mars and greeted him still looking half asleep "oh good morning Mars, wait what happened!?" Isabel''s yelling caused Chloe and Alvin to look at Mars for half a second before Chloe abruptly stood up with wide eyes, shock and disable clearly visible on her face as she ran over to Mars while she yelled at Alvin "Alvin get the potions now!" "on it!" Mars stood completely dumbfounded, raw meat and sword in hand as he watched the elvers panic seemingly out off concern for him as Chloe finally reached him and to his complete surprise started gently touching his chest with a grave face "just hold on a little longer Alvin will be here with the potions soon!" Mars became even more puzzled as looked into Chloe''s face while she pressed her hands softly on his chest ''so soft... wait now is not the time'' "err... what''s the problem?" Chloe looked finely looked away from his chest and looked up at him face filled with anxiety "what do you mean, what''s the problem! this right here!" Mars looked down at his own chest and saw that the newly made vest he had spent over 5 hours making was torn up, or more like half off it was missing in the center were a circle had been hollowed out with dried blood on the edges, his own dried blood causing him to finally get what they were so panicked about ''so that''s what it is'' Mars looked into Chloe''s green eyes as he gave a sigh and bluntly told her "this is nothing, i''m fine" "what do you mean your fine! this is clearly a fetal wound!" Mars was a little shocked as Chloe yelled at him from such close range, and even more so when he saw tears was forming in the corners off her green eyes, even as they showed fierce determination Mars was even a little touched by her concern for him "it might have closed but who knows what kind of damage it caused! i know your healing is amazing but ---" "Chloe, i''m fine" Mars interrupted her as he raised his hand and stroked her cheek causing her to turn a little red as she stood in silence for a few seconds before she asked him in a quiet voice "...really?" "yeah, i''m perfectly fine" Chloe looked down as the blush on her face deepened while Mars stroked her cheek for a little while until they were rudely interrupted "Chloe i brought the potion how is Mar--guh!" Alvin ran out off the cabin while he yelled, but he didn''t make it more than 3 steps before he revived a punch to the stomach from Isabel "quiet can''t you see they are finely making some progress" Chapter 39 Green rivers response 1 as Chloe heard what Isabel said she instantly pulled back from Mars while her face turned even more red, the blush even spread to her long ear that started to tremble slightly, but to Mars''s surprise she didn''t run away like the time he healed her she just stood there, beat red face while she looked down for a few seconds before she looked over at Isabel and Alvin that where looking at her with warm eyes before she finally couldn''t take it any more and ran off into the forest leaving Mars in a daze before he pulled himself together and looked over at Victoria that seemed unconcerned with the whole situation "...Victoria do you mind capturing her before she runs into danger" Victoria looked up at Mars then at the forest were Chloe had ran off then finely she looked at the piece off raw meat Mars was carrying seemingly having made her decision as Mars spotted a little droll in the corner off her mouth causing Mars to let out a sigh as Isabel spoke "i''ll go after her" Isabel stood up and ran after Chloe into the forest leaving Mars, Victoria and Alvin that was still on the ground keeled over clutching his stomach, behind Mars shifted his gaze to Alvin and asked "...Alvin are you still alive?" "...yeah, just give me a second" Mars gave a shrug and sat down as he began to roast some meat for himself and Victoria and after the first 3 pieces was roasted Alvin finely raised himself off the ground as Mars casually asked him "did it really hurt that much?" Alvin sat down on a tree stump as he rubbed his stomach before he answered still sounding a little in pain "she usually holds back but she still is the best martial expert in the village... even her [Hand to hand combat] skill is level 5..." Mars stopped roasting meat and looked over at Alvin with disbelief "...seriously" "yeah seriously, she usually hides her skills saying it''s ''unladylike'' but she still practices with fanatic fervor when no one''s watching... even her [Grapple] and [Open-hand strike]skills are level 4..." Mars became a little dazed as he thought back to when Isabel had thought him basic hand to hand combat, back then he had pridefully thought the only reason he couldn''t best her was his own lack of training and control of his body "but when she fight for real... i once saw her blow up a tree with a hit off her fist, it was so beautiful..." "wait what?" Mars looked over at Alvin and saw a he had a almost fanatic expression on his face as he looked off into the distance, meanwhile Rex walked out off the cabin still looking sleepy as he yawned "first she took a perfect stance that made her seem like she was sculpted by on off the 13 archangels, then she burst forwards with all to power contained in her pretty frame and struck ---" as Rex heard Alvin he gave a sigh and walked over behind him before he ruthlessly struck down on his head "Alvin your habit is showing again" "OUCH! what! is it wrong to praise your elder sisters beauty?!" "yes it is when you keep doing it for hours without end" "...fine" "maybe i should tell this to Teresa" Alvin instantly paled before he bowed deeply to Rex "i was wrong please don''t tell Teresa!" Mars watched their exchange with fascination before he asked Rex "who''s Teresa?" "it''s Alvin''s wife" Mars looked over at Alvin and stared at him for a few seconds "well i guess that''s no surprise, what''s she like?" both Rex and Alvin looked away for a few seconds, before finely Alvin answered "well she''s slightly... possessive, not that i don''t love her it''s just..." "she sticks to him whenever he''s in the village so he ran away to become member of the barrier patrol team" "Rex!" "well it''s true right?" "..." Alvin went silent before he gave a sigh and looked over at Mars with a oddly serious look on his face "Mars you should be careful with the princess too, elven woman are often like that" Mars gave a nod as he knew Alvin meant Chloe when he said the princess and fell into thought, one on hand not only himself but also his half dragon instincts really wanted to... ''taste'' the cute young elver but on the other hand he knew that once he gave into his lust he might fall into a really deep hole, or simply turn him into a beast and as a person that valued his intelligence that was a fate worse than death, also if he didn''t know what stance the village chief would take if he got into a intimate relationship with his only daughter even if it was consensual ''at worst it might make all the effort i have put into getting the elvers to like me for naught, or worse they might hunt me down... if that happened i''m not sure i would be able leave the forest alive'' "plus i don''t really want to be tied down yet" "Mars... i''m hungry" Mars looked down at Victoria that was lightly tugging his arm with her teeth and gave a smile as he patted her on the head and went back to roasting meat for Victoria and himself, and while they were eating Chloe and Isabel returned "welcome back" Mars greeted them while he was roasting the last of the meat, his focus was most on roasting meat as he knew Victoria would sulk if he burned it again so he didn''t notice something had changed about Chloe as she walked directly over to him and sat down besides him while Isabel gave her a thumbs up after witch she quickly dragged Rex and Alvin away with her, leaving Mars and Chloe alone, well almost alone as Victoria was taking her post meal nap on a tree stump a few meters away from them as Chloe took some peaks at Mars from the side before she asked him in a quiet almost inaudible voice "...what was your old world like?" as Mars had super hearing he had no problem in hearing what she said but as most of his memory had been deleted or maybe altered he didn''t know what to say for a moment before he started speaking about what he remembered "well there was only humans there, i was one too.... there wasn''t any mana or magic either and most of the people lived in comfort and spread to other worlds far away while they lived without war...most of the time" Chloe sat in silence and waited for Mars to continue while she looked at his face "when there were war it was terrible...tens of thousands could die in an instance, but i don''t think it happened were i lived...but i could be wrong as i don''t remember much" "i see..." Mars feel silent as he ate the last piece off the roasted meat before he suddenly turned to Chloe and asked her "what did Isabel tell you?" Chloe looked away as she blushed until she finally whispered "...that if i keep running away nothing will change" when she finished her blush spread all the way to her ears and Mars half expected her to run away, only she didn''t she just sat there with a red face while her eyes darted everywhere except him as she played with her hair while her long elven ears trembled slightly, causing Mars to all in all have a hard time holding himself back from jumping on her ''maybe just a little ''taste'' would be fine... no, i must hold back... at least for now'' Mars looked away from Chloe, fearing she would wear down the last of his defenses as his brain worked in overdrive to find a topic to talk about, until Alvin, Isabel and Rex returned saving Mars from the silence although Chloe gave them a not-so-pleased look while she pouted but Alvin seemingly ignoring her walked over to Mars "do you have some time?" Mars looked up at Alvin and saw he had a oddly serious look on his face and gave a nod, Alvin''s expression eased a little and gave a glance to Chloe before he gave a wave signaling him to follow before he turned and away, leaving Mars a little puzzled but he still stood up and followed after him all the way to the other end of the clearing "so what is it?" Alvin gave a sigh before he went straight to the point "we need to return to the village" "...why?" "well..." Alvin scratch the back off his head looking a little embarrassed "we have revived orders to return from the village, or at least to head to a nearby outpost" Mars became even more puzzled and could not help but ask "...how did you revive that order?" "we revived it by eagle just now" "...how did that eagle even find you?" "that''s... well, Isabel know''s a spell called earth pulse" Mars narrowed his eye and gave Alvin a glare before he continued asking "and how does this ''earth pulse'' spell work" "it''s a one-way communication to the village, under my orders she have been sending 3 messages to the village everyday for the past 2 months..." "and what are dose?" "...''status normal'', ''unable to move'' and ''don''t come near''" Mars went silent and stroked his chin for a few seconds before he gave a sigh "okay then let''s go tomorrow, i need to prepare for the rest of the day so don''t disturb me" finished saying what he wanted Mars turned around and walked back to the cave leaving Alvin behind ''it''s a little earlier then expected but that fine i guess'' Mars had long since expected that his 4 ''captives'' was in contact with Green river village in some way so he wasn''t all that surprised so he quickly made a packing list in his head as went into the cave ''first i need to make a backpack and some kind off bedroll... i also need a new vest'' Mars quickly began sewing with a bone needle and the ample supply off leather and hide he had piled op in the cave from hunting while he thought about how Green river village would be ''the first piece of civilization i will see in this world... can''t say i''m not excited'' Chapter 40 Green rivers response 2 "...this should do" Mars looked down on the 2 item he had just finished, one was a bedroll made from a large piece of the same bear skin he had been sleeping on for the last 2 months, and the other a backpack was made from a wind deer leather and reinforced with pieces off random bone Mars had made it to look like a 45L backpack from his last life and even when he had stuffed the newly made bedroll into the pack the was still a little room left, he had also fitted his bone hatchet on the outside of the pack, so overall he was very satisfied with his work "next is the vest" Mars was about to begin working on repairing the vest that had been destroyed in his battle with the acid spider queen and reached out for a piece of hide when his hand stopped as he felt his body complain as his stomach growled "...maybe i should eat something first" Mars stood up and walked out off the cave grabbing a large piece of meat on the way out and was a little shocked when he saw it was already night "maybe i was a little too focused on crafting" shaking his head Mars walked over to the elvers that was gathered around a fire, halfway there Victoria jumped off Chloe and ran over to him while her horn flashed "Mars... I''m hungry" Mars gave a smile to the glutenous panther and raised the about 55 kilogram piece off meat he was caring "yeah i thought so, don''t worry i brought your portion too" in response to Mars''s arrival or rather the meat he brought with him Victoria''s eyes began to shine meanwhile Rex turned away from the fire when he heard Mars''s had arrived "ohh there you are Mars, we were just talking about you" "Rex!" "what? Chloe weren''t you just saying how you would like to show Mars around Green river?" "y-yeah that''s right" "hmm? weren''t we talking about how people form different races can make chi--" "Alvin!" "--guh!...why... sister?" "because your an idiot" Mars had a slight idea of what they were talking about, but as he looked at the elvers from Chloe''s bright red face and to Alvin clutching his stomach after receiving a lightning speed jab from Isabel he decided to play along as he sat down next to Chloe and asked her while he tried his best to look interested "so what''s Green river like?" "well... the name comes from the river that runs through the village, it looks normal during the day but when it''s bathed in moonlight the stones on the bottom of the river gives off a green glow" "so that''s why... to be honest i thought the name was strange but now it makes sense, so do theses stones only glow when the moons shine?" "i think so at least i don''t remember them shining during the new moon, but never mind that you have to see it, it looks really beautiful when the whole river is lit up..." Chloe almost looked like she was seeing it while she talked about it, Mars tried to imagine it for a moment "i see, in that case you have to show me sometime" "that''s..." in response to Mars''s casual remark Chloe turned even more red as she looked down, leaving Mars with a clueless expression on his face as he gave a glance to Isabel that also had a slight blush on her face ''is there some sort of hidden meaning to watching the river at night?'' Mars spent a few seconds thinking hard about this but received a little help from Alvin''s careless remark "i remember the first time i watched the river at night with Teresa..." Mars blanked out for a second before he quickly put 2 and 2 together and decided to change the subject "so... who governance Green river? i have heard mention of a village chief, but 1 person can''t run the entire village alone right?" Chloe pulled herself together and quickly answered his question "that right dad, i mean the village chief administrates most of the normal tasks with a handful of subordinates... but the most important tasks and the military is handled by the elders" "elders..." Mars looked over at Rex, that was the oldest elf Mars had met and briefly imaged a group off elvers at his age sitting in a room talking politics until Rex showed a slight smile and spoke up "I sort of know what your thinking Mars... Chloe you might need to explain a little more" Mars tilted his head a little before he looked over at Chloe and waited for her to explain further "well... the 5 elders are the same 5 that founded Green river over 500.000 years ago, they have traded most of their body''s away for immortality so they can help guiding the village" "i see... then what about--" "Mars... I''m... hungry" Mars was about to ask more when Victoria interrupted him with a telepathic message while her blue eyes was glued to the piece of meat Mars still hadn''t begun to roast "oh sorry Victoria... Chloe do you mind if we talk more about this tomorrow?" Chloe gave a small nod and reached her hand out and patted Victoria softly on the head "sorry about that Victoria" Victoria closed her eyes and enjoyed being patted, while Mars began to roast some of the meat he had brought out with him as Alvin stood up and stifled a yawn "well then we should get to bed now, Mars are you ready to head out tomorrow morning?" "hmm... i didn''t finish repairing my vest but i can finish that later... sure then let''s leave tomorrow morning" "okay then, then we will head to a outpost tomorrow... it should be a little less than 3 day walk so be sure to get some proper rest" "i will, good night" Alvin walked into the hut followed by Rex and Isabel only Chloe didn''t follow after them she still sat next to Mars while he roasted meat for the next 15 minutes in silence, only when she had held back the 6th yawn did Mars speak op "why don''t you go to bed too?" "but..." Mars gave a sigh and shifted his focus back on roasting meat while before he spoke again "it''s not like we can''t speak again tomorrow... or when we reach Green river for that matter" "that''s right..." Chloe gave a sweet smile as she stood up "good night Mars" "yeah good night Chloe" Chloe went into the hut and closed the door after her leaving Mars alone with Victoria that climbed up on Mars''s lap as soon Chloe had left while her horns flashed "Mars... are we... going to live... with Chloe?" Mars gave a slight smile as he began to pat Victoria on the head "maybe, it depends on a lot of things but... it doesn''t sound bad does it" "I... like Chloe... she''s nice" "yeah she is, that is as long as she doesn''t teach me magic..." Mars briefly thought back to when Chloe fist thought him fire spells, he especially remembered the glow in her eyes that got brighter and brighter as she yelled at him... ''well i guess all people show different sides of themselves at different times'' "never mind that, let''s head to bed we have a long day ahead off us tomorrow" "...okay" Mars stood up and after cleaning his teeth with his flame he walked into the cave and laid down on his back next to Victoria that had already fallen asleep and after a few minutes he also fell asleep and once again began to dream... ''this place again...'' Mars once again found himself in the closed off elevator like room chained to the pole in the middle of the room and still wearing the orange bodysuit, the only change was this time he could see out off the glass ''I guess this is the same courtroom'' though the glass Mars could see a large courtroom with no less than 15 judges sitting on a elevated potions in front of him, looking behind he could see rows after rows off people and even some cameras that was filming him ''what is this...'' the more he looked at the people that was sitting and looking at him like he was a animal in a zoo, the more angry he got ''what is...'' they were laughing, at least most off them were although he was unable to hear them he could see they were laughing at him while they eye held heavy disdain and contempt ''what...'' Mars turned towards the judges and saw that they also had the same look in their eyes even though they were hiding it a little he could still see it in their eyes ''...'' Mars didn''t know why, but the more he looked around him the more he felt a dark, heavy and scolding hot emotion building in the pit of his stomach until it finally erupted out off him as he yelled "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT WITH ME!!!" Chapter 41 Green rivers response 3 Mars jumped awake breathing heavily and covered in cold sweat ''that dream....is that my past'' Mars weren''t quite sure, but it felt like it might be the case ''...this is the second i have had this dream... whatever it is i don''t like it'' Mars reached down and touched his stomach he could still feel the the burning rage inside himself and after calming down a little he decide to brave the forest night and go down to the river and wash off grabbing his bone sword on the way out off the cave ''it''s really clear out...'' he felt a little better when he vent out off the cave and looked up at the countless stars and the 2 pale moons that was shining in the sky, lighting up the clearing making easy to see even if it was the middle of the night ''maybe i should just watch the stars for a bit... nah, i really need to wash this sweat off...'' even if he could somewhat see in the starlit night Mars still decided to transform his eyes giving him significantly better night vision ''there that''s better'' after spending a little time getting used to the change in brightness Mars vent into the forest while keeping somewhat alert ''now that I''m actually listening there sure is a lot of animals around'' straining his ears a little Mars could hear insects chipping away and small animals moving around in the bushes and the surrounding trees as he moved towards the river until he suddenly stopped and tightened the grip on his sword ''what''s is it this time... it''s not a spider... but it sure moves quietly...'' he closed his eyes and focused on the thing that was moving closer ''it''s in the trees... it might be a snake... but where is it'' faced with a potential venomous animal Mars raised his alert slightly while he lowed his stance ready to doge at a moment notice while narrowed down the exact location off the snake ''...just a little closer... now!'' Mars opened his eyes and kicked off the ground and jumped to the side while he slashed at the place he had just been standing and felt his sword pass though the snake that had pounced at him from a tree above slicing it in half, and quickly stabbing it in the head with his sword ending it''s suffering "well that was easy... it''s not even a magic beast" feeling a little disappointed by the lack off a core Mars continued walking towards the river after he cleaned his sword with his flame, and after walking for a few minutes he arrived at the river and quickly found he wasn''t the only one that had decided to visit the river at night ''is this the same heard from back then?'' Mars saw a heard off about 50 horned horses and observed them for a few seconds before his skill activated while he looked at the horse with 3 horns tricorn male class: unknown a mythical creature only spoken about in legends about the age off gods ''that''s the first time it''s ever shown unknown...'' Mars was a little surprised by the response from his skill but pulled himself together when one off the unicorns spotted him and alerted the rest of the heard as the leader that had 3 horns jumped into the air and floated mid air as it flew over the river stopping as it was halfway over as it watched Mars with cautious eyes "okay let''s play this cool" Mars stabbed his sword into the ground and raised his hands up as he stepped out off the brushes "i don''t mean any harm I''m just here to wash off..." the unicorn watched Mars for a few tense seconds while he did his best to look harmless, until it gave a nigh and lost interest and went back to the rest off the heard as Mars let out a sigh off relief ''looks like i can finely wash off...'' Mars was more than a little relieved that the unicorns didn''t attack him as he had no confidence in fleeing from, much less fighting a herd of flying unicorns ''well let''s not push it to far and get done with this quickly'' Mars threw off his shorts and slowly vent into the cold river and quickly washed off while a little wary of the heard off unicorns and after he finished he quickly put on his shorts and quickly left the river after he picked up his sword, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw they weren''t following him as he vent back to the clearing and into the cave while he was careful not to wake up Victoria that was still sleeping and laid down on the bear hide and closed his eyes and vent to sleep... Mars opened his eyes and once again found himself dreaming once again "this is starting to get annoying..." he looked around the cell like room and discovered there was a few changes from last time he dreamed, most noticeably his arms and legs weren''t in chains anymore and the pillar in the middle of the room had disappeared, but that was the less important details Mars''s attention was caught by something else "...well this seems rather ominous... or rather excessive" on one of the walls was a a digital clock that was showing 156 days, 18 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds, furthermore it was counting down as he stood and watched it "...this can only be for one thing, the time until my execution..." Mars stood in a daze for nearly a minute as he watched the clock counting down before he mentally began to curse the sadistic piece of human garbage that got the idea not only to put death row inmates in isolation but to also blatantly display the countdown until their death on one off the only 4 walls they could look at ''well nothing is going to change form looking at this... besides this is a memory I have already been killed and reincarnated'' Mars lost interest in watching the clock on thewall and began to look around the small cell, but quickly got bored as bides the clock on the one wall and himself that was nothing in the cell at first glance "the walls feel... wait this is new" as Mars reached out to touch the wall he discovered his hands and fingers was covered in a mitten like extension off his orange bodysuit "what''s this for?" Mars examined is hands or rather the gloves for a little time, but didn''t find any apparent use for them besides making it harder for him to use his hands "well whatever...wait it feels like there''s something on my face too" Mars reached up and touched his face and found his mouth and chin was covered with some sort off gag that sealed his mouth "but i can still speak... so why the gag?" he was once again puzzled, but decided not to think to hard about it and looked around the cell again for something he might have missed "there really isn''t anything in here... well besides the obnoxious clock" just as Mars wondered what to do a light in the roof of the cell suddenly turned on and a robotic voice sounded out in the cell [FEEDING TIME, PRISONER MOVE THE INDICATED LOCATION OR STAVE FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS. BE ADVISED THAT SUICIDE BY STARVATION IS NOT POSSIBLE AS ALL VITALS ARE MONITORED CLOSELY] Mars saw a footprint like spot on the ground lit up clearly showing were he should stand if he didn''t want to starve, after hesitating for a few seconds he moved over and steeped on the indicated spot, and as soon he stepped on the spot he felt the floor sink slightly "wha---" the moment the floor sank other parts of it move up around his feet as it was liquid keeping his feet firmly in place meanwhile the roof of the cell opened up as metallic arms reached out and restrained his arms gripping them so tightly that he felt his bones cracking slightly [PRISONER CONFIRMED, PREPARING MEAL CELL... 2% COMPLETE, ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING 134 MINUTES] "your kidding me right!?" Mars gritted his teeth while he endured the pain from the cold metal arms that held him in place while cold sweat formed on his forehead "this is just plain torture!" while he knew that this was a dream, that didn''t make the pain he felt any less "you know what FUCK THIS" Mars started to struggle trying to get out off the bindings, but quickly found it futile as the robotic arms didn''t move a inch, but that wasn''t even the worst part [PRISONER STRUGGLE CONFIRMED, STARTING PACIFICATION...] "SHI---" Mars really wanted to curse however the gag on his mouth suddenly tightened shutting his mouth, while the body suit he was wearing tighten, now sticking to his skin tightly ''...is nothing going to happen?'' he was tense for a few seconds, but since nothing seemed to happen he lower his guard slightly, until suddenly the color on his neck started to beep *BEEP* ''what now---'' as Mars was about to question the strange beep a high electric current suddenly shot though his his body, tensing every muscle in his body as the electric current raged his body making him nearly pass out from the pain as his jerked from the electric shock for nearly a minute before the electricity finely stopped leaving him in a daze or sometime before the robotic voice spoke up again [PACIFICATION COMPLETE, RESUMING MEAL CELL PRODUCTION...] as time passed Mars lost track of time as the clock had disappeared when he was restrained, until finely after what felt like days or even weeks in mind numbing pain the robotic voice sounded out again [MEAL CELL PRODUCTION COMPLETE, INSTALLING...] 2 robotic arms reached out from the ceiling one of them carried a metal cylinder the size of a finger while the other opened up a spot in the color that was locked around Mars''s neck, while the other quickly inserted the metal cylinder in the color [MEAL CELL INSTALLATION COMPLETE] Mars just barely registered when the retains let go of him as he felt down on the floor drenched in cold sweat but he barely had any time the catch his breath when suddenly the pain he felt form his arms intensified making him finely pass out from pain Chapter 42 Green rivers response 4 "Mars... Mars... wake up" Mars vaguely felt like someone was calling him, but he was way to tired to care and turned around to the other side and tried to fall asleep again "Mars... wake up... Chloe says... we need to... get going" "yeah, yeah just give me a few more minutes..." he tried to fall asleep again but Victoria weren''t as kind to let him and began to push him around with her paws "wake... up..." Mars curled into a ball and stubbornly tried to stay asleep "wake... up now!" "OUCH! SHIT, what''s with the claws!?" seeing as Victoria was so detriment to wake him up Mars finely opened his eyes and got out off bed and remembered that they needed to leave and start the trip to Green river and got a little exited and grabbed his backpack and his sword as he went out of the cave and saw it was a little before midday ''i really did over sleep...'' "your finely up Mars, er wait what happened to your arms!?" hearing Isabel yelling Mars woke up a little more and looked down at his arms and saw 2 giant dark blue buries on his arms instantly sending his mind into overwork ''isn''t that were I was grabbed in my dream... how is this even possible?'' as Mars stood in a daze the other elvers also came over, all of them looked at him with concern, especially Chloe but they stayed silent when they noticed Mars was lost in thought ''if it weren''t a dream then what was it... maybe it''s an after effect from when Info deleted my memory... in any case visiting a temple and asking Info should be the fastest way to know for sure'' having decided his cause of action Mars left his daze and saw the concerned looks from the elvers and gave a reassuring smile "don''t worry about that, while I don''t know for sure it probably has to do with my status as a living god" as Mars spoke he activated his [Energy: healing] skill with 20 units of energy on himself, causing the bruises to shrink in size and almost disappear, causing Alvin to give a sigh of relief "oh... if that''s the case then we won''t ask about it, anyway are you ready to go?" Mars put down his backpack and cheeked it, it contained a small skin bag with all his magic beast cores, his bed roll and his bone hatched was strapped to the side of the pack "yeah I have all the things I want to bring with me so I''m ready to go" "good, then Rex you''re on scout duty, Isabel with me and Chloe bring up the rear with Mars" """yes captain""" "good, then let''s go" Mars was a little surprised by the sudden professional attitude the elvers showed ''well I guess they are soldiers in the fist place'' as Mars followed after Chloe he turned around and took one last look at cave and clearing he had spent the last 2 months, he had left a lot of perfectly good magic beast meat, skin and bone in the cave but he couldn''t really be bothered with hauling it all the way to Green river ''well I can always come back for the skin and the bones later'' "come on Mars, let''s go" "yeah I''m coming now" Mars followed after Chloe into the forest and for a few hours he walked in silence while he observed the ancient forest around him and noticed the trees looked older and taller the further they were moving south, while the sign of life got more plentiful from the sounds of birds singing and the other small animals in the brushes, to the amount of fruits and barriers, and when it was about midday got the impression that he had stepped into a whole different forest an decided to ask Chloe about it "hey Chloe, is it just me or dose the forest seem different somehow?" Chloe didn''t answer him right away, only after looking around for half a minute did she speak up in a quiet voice "that''s because we are nearing the middle off the barrier forest, the magic beasts here are also higher classes then at the boarder of the outer forest were the cave is" "...I see" Mars silently raised his alertness and refrained asking more questions, while he welcomed higher class magic beast he didn''t want to recklessly attract them, while he was half immortal his travel companions wasn''t and while he chould probably kill most of what the forest chould throw at him, he didn''t want to take the risk so he reached down and patted Victoria on the head "tell me if anything comes to close to avoid" "okay..." while Mars''s senses was about as sharp as Victoria''s I he transformed he still trusted more in her then himself, besides he wasn''t able to stay transformed for long periods of time as it placed a mental burden on him, and effected his emotions ''well if it''s something Victoria can''t sense then we probably don''t have a fighting chance anyway...'' Mars gave a shrug and continued following after Chloe for a few more minutes before he noticed Victoria was acting oddly "what''s wrong Victoria?" the panther cub certainty was acting a little odd, she seemed fixated on something as her ears twitched slightly while her eyes darted around for a while before her horns flashed "Mars... there''s prey... over there..." "so?" "I think... they think... we''re prey" "oh is that so... Chloe hold up, Victoria thinks something''s starking us" chloe stopped and took a whistle made of wood out her pouch and blew it 2 times, when Mars heard it he found the sound very familiar it sounded almost like a bird cry he had been hearing for the last few houres ''well that''s neat'' a few seconds later the rest of the elver that had been walking almost 50 meters in front showed up, and after Rex showed as the last, Alvin spoke up in a hushed voice "what is it Chloe?" "Victoria says something''s stalking us" Alvin put his hand on his chin as he thought for a few seconds "...in that case let''s avoid, Rex find us a river were we can lose our---" "why don''t we just kill it instead?" "...Mars it''s way to risky to flight, we don''t even know what''s after us and we might even atract more magic beast by fighting" while Mars agreed with Alvin''s logically statement and likely would have agreed with him in his last life, he didn''t want to run for several reasons first he might obtain some high class cores but most importantly "Victoria says that whatever is stalking us thinks we''re prey and that rubs my pride the wrong way" Alvin was a little taken back by Mars''s arrogant statement but after a few seconds he gave a sigh before he asked "do you think we can win?" "sure, Victoria even says that it''s ''prey that thinks we''re prey'' so there should be no problems even if it''s just the 2 of us" "in that case we will leave it to you 2... let''s forage a bit in the meantime and then i suppose we can make camp for the night here, Rex see if you can find some water, Chloe your on forage duty and Isabel flatten the terrain a bit" """yes captain""" "good then Mars and Victoria, good hunting" Mars gave a nod and kneeled down and patted Victoria on the head while he asked her "can you tell how meany there is?" "I''m... not sure... but not... a lot?" "okay then..." Mars unsheathed his sword while he transformed and after a few seconds when his horns had fully grown he opened his now blood red eyes "...let''s go" "okay...follow me" Victoria set off with Mars after her and gradually speed up until they both ran at full speed though the forest for about a minute before Victoria slowed down and began to lower her body a little as she moved forwarded "is it those?" Mars also began to sense the ''prey'' they were hunting and after moving somewhat stealthily for about 2 minutes Victoria jumped up into a tree and entered her shadow, Mars also jumped into a tree and slowed his breath, hiding his presence until a few minutes later a pack off about 20 black wolfs passed by underneath were Mars and Victoria was hiding, and after a few seconds Mars''s skill activated when he looked at the biggest wolf in the pack that was about 3 meters tall greater shadow wolf male class: 6 a dangerous magic beast, not only because of it high individual combat power but also because of it''s ability to command other shadow wolf''s in combat "this might be a challenge... but as long as we take out the commander it should be fine, let''s do this Victoria" Chapter 43 Green rivers response 5 as Mars looked down on the greater shadow wolf he had set as his target he measured the distance and after a few seconds he silently jumped of the breach he was sitting on ''please don''t notice me'' his worries ended up being in vain as the greater shadow wolf being the alpha of it''s pack was the boss of the local area and even in it''s wildest dreams had it thought someone would ambush it, witch ended up being it''s doom as Mars landed his sword on the crown of it''s head with all his weight behind it easily piercing it''s skull and with a quick twist he ended it''s life without it ever even knowing what had happened ''that''s one!'' Mars jumped off the wolf and while he was in the air his sword slashed through the necks of another 2 darkness wolfs before the alphas lifeless body even hit the ground ''that''s 3'' when Mars landed on the ground the rest of the darkness wolfs intimately discovered him and surrounded him but as they had not noticed Mars had killed the alpha they just stood there waiting for a command, giving Victoria ample time to aim the 5 darkness lances that descend from above and instantly killed another 5 members of the pack, at this point the surviving wolfs finely discovered something was wrong and "...really?" turned and ran with their tail between their legs "well... i guess that''s it" Mars was a little disappointed by the short fight, but also quickly decided not to chase after the 12 wolfs that had escaped and promptly began to gather the 8 wolf corpses in a pile after he removed their cores and stood before the small hill made of dead wolves for a second before he gave a sigh "yeah no way I''m hauling all that meat back... let''s just take the 2 biggest corpses" Mars picked out the 2 biggest corpses and took a leg in each hand and began to drag them back to the camp while Victoria followed after him and after almost 2 hours of dragging over 1 metric ton of wolf though the forest he returned to the camping spot were the elvers were resting "we''re back" "how was the hunt... don''t you think that''s a little too much?" Alvin looked at the 2 wolf corpses Mars was dragging after him and was a little taken back "well... we kind of killed 8 in total so it felt like a waste to leave anymore behind then we already did" "well in that case i guess it''s fine" "besides i think me and Victoria should be able to eat half a wolf by tomorrow, then we can harvest the best meat and carry it and eat it for dinner tomorrow" "...i had almost forgotten about your absurd appetite" Mars gave a slight smile and began to disassemble the 2 wolf corpses to make the most of the remain sunlight only when Chloe walked over to him and had watched him for 2 minutes looking like she had something to say but didn''t want to disturb him did he put down his bone sword and stopped working "what''s up?" "do you have some time Mars?" "yeah sure" Chloe look visibly relieved and gave a sweet smile "then i want to show you something" "...okay" Mars followed after Chloe and walked out of the camp and after walking for a few minutes they reached a particular tall tree "it''s up here" Chloe jumped up and grabbed a low branch and swung herself up further into the tree before she looked down at Mars with a slightly teasing smile "don''t tell me that the great living god of energy can''t climb a little tree?" "oh you''re on" Mars backed up a little before he kicked off the ground and jumped a little before he reached the tree before he stretched out his leg and kicked off the tree propelling him further up past Chloe just reaching a breach with one hand before he looked down a Chloe with a wide smile as he hang with one hand "what are you waiting for?" Mars saw he had ignited her competitive sprite as she quickly began to agilely climb with well practiced technique that was as smooth as flowing water rapidly climbing further up the tree quickly passing him, while Mars didn''t have any climbing technique he made up for his lack of skill by pure strength as he, with the one arm he was hanging in launched himself almost 5 meters up where he grabbed another branch and launched himself further giving Chloe quite the challenge but still she managed to stay in the lead for the first 60 meters until Mars managed to build up a lead by a few meters that lasted until they reached the top of the tree that was about 160 meters of the ground "what took you so long?" Mars had sat himself on the highest branch and looked quite relaxed when Chloe made it to the top, looking a little frustrated over her loss "I... was... just... admiring... the... view" Mars reached her his hand a pulled her up to the branch he was sitting on were she sat down next to him ''well it sure is a nice view...'' Mars looked out over the forest, a near endless carpet of green spread out in front of him while the sun was dipping down over the horizon bathing the sky in a orange glow, as Mars admired the view Chloe had caught her breath and asked "...you are having bad dreams right?" Mars kept his eyes on the setting sun for a while before he answered "yeah... but they don''t feel like dreams, to tell the truth the bruises i had this morning also came from my dream" Chloe gave a small nod and also looked out at the sunset for a while before she spoke again "my mom once told me that last light of the day have special powers..." Mars looked over at Chloe and saw she had a dissent, slightly nostalgic look in her green eyes and kept silent while he watched her face "she told me that the last light of the day was the purest, and that it could burn away evil demons and... nightmares" "i see" Mars stopped watching her and also looked at the setting sun until it disappears behind the horizon, dying the forest black in only a couple of minutes "should we head back?" Chloe still had her eyes on the horizon gazing after the sun that had just set for a little while before she gave a nod and began to climb down while Mars summoned his flame to light op their descended down into the dark forest, when the 2 of them returned to the camp they both received warm looks from the other elvers causing Chloe to turn a little red, however Mars was move interested in Victoria that had her head stuffed into his bag, seemingly trying to get something inside it "Victoria what are you doing?" "I... want... the cores..." "the cores? you mean the ones we got earlier?" "yeah... to get... stronger..." Mars was a little confused for a second before he remembered Victoria had told him she could eat cores of the darkness and fire element to get stronger some time ago "sure... but you need to get your head out of my bag first" Victoria stopped moving for a second before she raised her head, with the pack still attached and started to shake her head for a few seconds before she began to move backwards a few steps before she stopped again "Mars... help I''m... stuck..." "yeah I can see that... hold still for a second" Mars spent a couple of minutes getting Victoria''s head out of his pack, witch was hardener then it seemed as her sharp horns was stuck inside the bag "and there... now did you learn something just now?" after Victoria was freed from the pack she shakes her head a few times before she tilted her head and looked at Mars while her horns flashed "lean... something?" "yeah like not sticking your head into tight spaces?" "okay... but the cores... can i have... them now?" "...sure" seeing Victoria was so fixated on the cores Mars gave up teaching her and took out the small pouch that contained all his cores from his bag and took out the 8 newly obtained cores and showed them to Victoria "you mean theses?" Victoria looked quite agitated when he showed the cores to her, like someone had dangled a nice treat just outside her range "yes... can I... have them... please..." Mars considered teasing her for a second but changed his mind when he felt the need she had for the cores form the contract that bonded them together and simply gave them to her and watched her quickly eat the 8 cores before she laid down on the spot as her horns flashed again "thanks.... now... I''m.... sleepy...." Mars was a little amazed at how quickly she had fallen asleep and walked over to her and poked her ears to cheek and was a little surprised by her lack of response ''she really is in deep sleep... i just hope she''s awake by tomorrow'' Chapter 44 Green rivers response 6 when Mars opened his eyes he once again found himself in the small cell, only this time he was strapped to a table ''this really is starting to get annoying'' before Mars could even take in the situation around him the robotic voice spoke up [SUBJECT SECURED, PREPARING PHYSIOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT...] as soon as the voice was done speaking robotic hands shot out from all over the cell, 2 of them covered his face with a piece of fabric while Mars just managed to spot a water hose being put in position before his face was covered and felt his mind go blank ''you''re kidding right?'' [PREPARATIONS COMPLETE, STARTING PHYSIOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT...] unfortunately Mars''s hunch was right as the water hose began spraying water on the fabric that was covering his face causing Mars to feel like he was drowning as the covered his nose and mouth ''i can''t... anymore...'' about 3 minutes after the ''physiological adjustment'' had started Mars felt his lunges being filled with water as his mind became blurred as he was about to pass out [SUBJECT LIMIT REACHED, STARTING 2ND PHASE...] Mars felt the fabric that covered his face being removed and immediately began to cough up water when his blurred mind register a beep coming from his color *BEEP* as soon as Mars heard the beep he felt a large electricity current pass though his body that made his lunges contract and forced out a large amount of water [2ND PHASE COMPLETE, RESTARTING 1ST PHASE...] before Mars had a chance to catch his breath the fabric covered his mouth and nose again ''what is this... why is...'' but he had no change to think as the water began purring again forcing him to concentrate on trying to stay alive as the process repeated hundreds of times more ... .. . when Mars woke up again he was overjoyed to find himself in the forest and even though he was more tired now then when he had fallen asleep yesterday and he also had a pulsing headache, he was still happy that his dream had ended and he was released form the endless torture ''i need to find a way to make those dreams stop... preferably before i lose my mind'' Mars crawled out of his bedroll and stretched while he enjoyed the morning sunlight that managed to penetrate through the dense forest "Mars... look at... me I... got stronger" Mars turned around when he heard Victoria''s voice and saw Victoria was sitting on the ground looking more proud than usual but he quickly noticed her horns seemed to have changed a little, they had turned a shade or 2 darker, Mars could also feel though his contract that her mana seemed to have increased somewhat and quickly walked up to her and patted her on the head while he praised her "that''s amazing you really did get stronger, how about you eat all the darkness cores we obtain in the future?" Victoria closed her eyes and began purring while her horns flashed again "hehe... I''m amazing... right?" "yeah that''s right~" while Mars was parsing Victoria the elvers began to wake up, and after stretching Alvin walked over to Victoria and Mars "good morning... or not, Mars you look terrible" "do I?" "yeah, you have dark circles around your eyes" "oh... well it shouldn''t be a big deal" "if you say so... well then let''s quickly eat we have a lots of ground to cover today" after eating the group set off into the forest and after a long uneventful day they made camp again, where time passed until night were Mars sat and stared at his bedroll with a blank look on his face ''I really don''t want to sleep... but maybe i won''t dream tonight?'' even if he had the same dream for the past 3 nights Mars still held hope that he could sleep this night, but the next morning his face told a different story as the dark circles under his eyes had gotten even deeper he even looked a little pale, as a night of being tortured in his dreams had worn down his spirit to the point were he even started to wonder ''do i even need to sleep in the first place?'' the other members of the group also showed concern for him when they were eating breakfast, not to mention Chloe even the normally dense Victoria seemed to stick a little closer to him, but after he assured the group he was fine they all continued on the way through the seemingly endless forest for another day and again at night Mars was the last one awake as he once again sat and stared down his bedroll with a blank look on his face ''staying awake for one night should be fine... besides Alvin says we''re only half a day away from the outpost... maybe they have a temple there?'' Mars still had not told them about how he had been summoned by one of the 13 sub-administrators ,or archangels as the mortals called them nor did he have any intention to do so as he felt he might be punished by Info if he began to mouth off about how he was antiquated with a archangel ''Info might even smite me out of existence if i mess up...'' Mars having decided not to sleep for tonight stood up and walked out of the temporary camp and found a relatively tall tree to climb where he sat down on a branch and watched the stars until the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon ''I should get back to the camp before they leave me behind...'' after letting out a yawn and doing some morning stretches did Mars climb down from the tree and went back to the camp were he sat down on his bedroll and waited for the others to wake up, the fist one up was of course Victoria that walked over and claimed his lap before she seemed to fall asleep again while she purred lightly while her horns flashed "Mars... are you... okay?" Mars began healing himself with the soft feeling of her ears for a little while as he collected his thoughts before he spoke "well, not really...? but it''s not like i will die form some nightmares" "I know... Mars is... strong but... are you.... really fine?" Mars didn''t answer he simply sat and patted Victoria ears until eventually the elvers woke up "good morning" "oh, morning Mars how did you sleep?... looks like you didn''t" "yeah, but i should be fine" Rex looked at Mars''s tired face for a few seconds before he gave a sigh "well if you say so, but first thing when we reach Green river is getting you going to a doctor" "...sure" Mars had gradually felt himself go crazy over the last few days, as any person would if they were tortured everyday and kept from sleeping properly, the only reason he could still somewhat keep himself together was the support he revived from Victoria and the elvers, if he had been alone he would have gone off into the deep end a long time ago ''I really am lucky...'' Alvin had also woken up and after stretching and giving a concerned look at Mars he spoke "okay if nothing goes wrong we should reach the outpost today, form there it''s only a 4 day walk though the safe forest until we reach Green river, so let do our best and stay vigilant today" """yes captain""" "good then let''s eat" while Mars was roasting some meat for breakfast Chloe walked over and sat down next to him "...good morning Mars" "yeah, good morning Chloe" for a time the both of them said nothing while Mars roasted meat for him and Victoria until Chloe spoke up with a almost inaudible voice "so my mom once told me... that you sleep better... if you sleep together with someone..." Mars doubted his ears for the first time this life but after a quick glance at Chloe were he saw she was bright red all the way to her long ears, he knew he hadn''t heard wrong "so if you want... when we reach the outpost... we could you know... sleep together, but only if you want to" Mars''s brain went into overdrive for a few seconds before he gave a sigh and simply said "sure, I would very much like that" now that Chloe had proposed to move their relationship forwards he, as a man could no keep stalling ''well I''m sure it will be fine in the end...'' after their short exchange both of them simply sat in silence and enjoyed each others company until the group eventually moved on towards the outpost witch they reached when it was about midday "okay stop, we''re here" in front of Mars was a seemingly empty clearing ''no there''s something there'' as Mars narrowed his eyes he could just see that the air was little blurred almost like a mirage, and decided to ask Rex about it "hey Rex is that a barrier?" "yeah it keeps nasty things and people that don''t have a barrier key out" "what''s a barrier key?" "this is" Rex reached into his pouch and pulled out a small silver metal cube that was covered with a complex pattern of inscribed lines in different colors, Mars could faintly feel some sort of energy from the middle of the cube "that''s neat" "yeah it''s the product of a Green rivers genius, it''s also bound by blood to one person so even if a outsider gets there hands on one they can''t use it" "that''s smart... but wait then what about me and Victoria?" "don''t worry there''s a plenty of unbound barrier keys in the outpost, you just have to wait here with Victoria for a bit then we will come with two unbound keys for you in a few minutes" "okay then" Mars sat down against a tree in the outside of the clearing and watched the elvers disappear when they walked into the barrier ''well might as well get a little rest while i wait'' Mars called over Victoria that laid down on his lap and closed his eyes while he waited inside the barrier was about 8 wooden huts, that looked much like the one the elvers had built in the clearing outside of Mars''s cave at the sight of the familiar building Isabel let out a sigh "it really is good to be back... i can''t wait until we get back to the village" "yeah i want to take a long warm bath when we get back..." "along with Mars right?" "yeah... wait no!" "focus you too we''re not home yet" ""yes captain"" when the group of 4 walked closer to the building a group of another 8 elvers that was clad in similar leather armor walked out of the building, among them was a elver with blond short hair that looked like he was in his mid 30''s that look very relieved when he saw Chloe and ran op to her "oh, Chloe it''s good to see your okay" "it''s good to see you too eldest brother Cooper" he was the eldest son of the current village chief, and also the elders top pick for the next village chief and while Chloe was happy to see him Alvin gave a slight frown as he looked around at the other 7 elvers and asked "why is the 2nd outer forest patrol team here?" the outer forest patrol teams was different form the barrier forest patrol teams, while the barrier patrol teams specialized in stealth and taking down magic beast if they had to, the outer forest patrol teams were different as they was i frequent contact with outsiders they specialized in one thing and only one thing, killing outsiders "well Alvin we really don''t want to be here either, but elders pulled back almost all of the outer patrols when your team was captured" "...I see, so what are you here for?" "first we''re here to deliver orders to you guys, the 6th barrier forest patrol team is to head back to Green river as soon as possible and report to the elders" Alvin''s frown deepened as he got a bad feeling, after all there was no reason for on of the best outer forest patrol teams to simply act as messengers "...what else are you here for" Cooper gave a wide smile "the elders have given us the order to kill or banish the outsider that captured you" Chapter 45 out of the forest 1 "what..? no, Cooper you can''t kill Mars!" "sure i can he''s just another outsider" "no your wrong Mars is---" "don''t tell me he has charmed you Chloe?" "that''s..." instantly the air around Cooper changed, it felt like the temperature fell servel degrees in a instant as he grabbed Chloe''s shoulder and lean in before he asked in a low tone "sister... have you forgotten what happened to our mother?" "no, it''s just---" "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN!?" "no..." ''there it is again'' watching from the side Alvin gave a sigh, he of cause knew about Cooper''s hate of all outsiders as well as the 2nd outer forest patrols high monthly kill count but he was helpless against him ''he''s the one the elders favor... this is going to be a pain'' just as Alvin was thinking of what to do Rex stepped forwards "that''s enough Cooper" Cooper gave a dismissive look at Rex but did let go of Chloe shoulder and stepped away before he gave a annoyed look at Alvin "what are you still standing there for? hurry back to the village" after having ordered Alvin he turned away and began walking towards the edge of the barrier with the other 7 members of the patrol "let me give you one word of advise" Copper stopped but didn''t turn around when Rex called him "what?" "don''t fight Mars" Cooper didn''t answer he just waved his hand as he walked out of the barrier, Rex gave a sigh as his advice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears and walked over to Isabel that was hugging Chloe as she tried to calm her down "have you calmed down?" "yes thank you Isabel... but what do we do now captain?" Alvin closed his eyes and began to stroke his chin for sometime before he opened his eyes and spoke "we go back to the village and report to the elders, if we tell them what exactly Mars is and that he has purposed to corporate with the village they should change their mind" "but what about Mars?" Alvin gave a sigh "well... let''s just hope he doesn''t kill them... in any case the faster we return the better, so let''s get going at once" ""yes captain"" Chloe didn''t answer she just looked at the blurred edge of the barrier with tears in her eyes before she wiped her face and followed after the others as they walked towards the other side of the barrier ''please be safe...'' outside of the barrier Mars sat with his back against a tree and meditated while Victoria lay on his lap and purred lightly ''there sure is a lot of birds around'' he sat and listened to the birds sing and the other small animals move around in the forest around him ''it sure is peaceful...'' birds chipping, leather boots stepping lightly, a small rodent chewing on berries, bowstrings slowly being drawn, and a deer fleeing in the distance, all kinds of sounds entered Mars''s ears as he sat and meditated ''the question now is what to do with theses guys...'' even if Mars had closed his eyes he, and Victoria for that matter was still fully aware of what happened around them, Mars even felt like if he also covered his ears he would still be able to feel the group of elvers that was silently surrounding him just from the smell of newly maintained metal and the clear killing intent they gave of, especially one of them seemed to want to kill him so bad he had trouble holding his bow still ''easy now...'' while he did his best to calm down Victoria by petting her but her mana still circulated faster and faster as she prepared for a fight ''well i guess this is as long i can draw it out...'' Mars gave a slight sigh as he had originally wanted to draw the elves a little closer, but Victoria was at her limit so he decided to speak up while still keeping his eyes closed "don''t you think it''s rude to sneak up on people?" the air froze while Mars waited patiently for someone to answer him, and before long one of the elvers spoke up "you sure have sharp ears, no wonder Rex told us to be careful" Mars opened his eyes and looked around at the elvers that had him surrounded before his eyes stopped on the one in the middle ''he looks a little like Chloe...'' Mars looked a little more a the elver before he asked in a calm tone "so what do you want?" "we have received orders form the elders to exile you form the forest, but i think we will just kill you instead" as the elf spoke Mars noticed his eyes was cold, like he wasn''t looking at a person but a ant instead, also there was something else about the way the 8 elvers looked at him "so if you could just kill yourself right now and spear me from cleaning my sword later that would be nice" ''what is it with their eyes...'' "hey are you listening?" "captain maybe he froze from fear" ''where have i seen those eyes before...'' "you might be right, hey Jeff didn''t you say you were looking for a new carpet?" "yeah i have been looking for some time, but you know my wife is picky about that sort of ting" ''it''s almost like...'' "tell you what how about we skin his pet, that might make a nice carpet" ''they''re the same as... in my dream'' "ohh that a nice idea captain!" while the elvers was talking about how they would skin Victoria Mars''s mind went blank as he felt a ringing in his ears get louder while he felt his body get hotter ''why..? i thought i escaped it when i died'' while Mars was thinking a change started to happen in the depth of his mind that was simulated by his last few nights of torture and finely triggered by the disdain and contempt he felt from the elvers eyes ''are they the same... if they are the same are there others like them here?'' as he thought Mars unknowingly started to transform to his half dragon form, claws grew from his hands, scale spikes grew from his knees and elbows "hey captain something''s happening!" his eyes turned crimson red and horns grew out form his forehead ''if they are the same then... what if there''s more like them, will it end like last time?'' scales began to grow out around the spikes and around his eyes ''no, i don''t want that to happen again...then what should i do?'' his breath began to get hotter and hotter until flames began to appear when he breathed out ''oh it''s simple... i just need to kill them all'' "NOW!" just as Mars reached a conclusion a shout woke him form his daze and before he had any time to react 8 arrows struck him, while 6 of them hit his chest and stomach that only manged to piece the layer of dense tightly packed mussel that covered his body and thus rendered them mostly harmless 2 of them hit his neck and pieced deeply in to his weak point only stopping a few centimeters away form a few major arteries, instantly sending Mars into a rage "he''s still alive give him another voll---" *SNAP* "--ey?" Mars had suddenly appeared in front of one of the elvers and crushed his arm in hit a iron grip, turning all the bones where he had grabbed into tiny pieces before he swung the elver into another with lightning speed and let go of the broken arm "you''re annoying" before the elvers had time to react Mars disappeared again and reappeared in front of another elver and sent a kick at the side of the elvers knee, easily crippling his leg as he knee shattered *SNAP* "AAARRRGGGHHH---" "shut up" *STAB" Mars quickly silenced the elver by stabbing his Claws though his neck before he looked over at another elver "you''re next" when Mars came back to himself he was surrounded by a strong smell of blood, severed limbs and moans of pain from the 5 elvers that were lucky to still be alive "you... will... pay... for... this..." when Mars heard a voice he turned his head and saw he had his hand around the neck of the captain that he had raised in the air, his right arm was missing from the elbow down and one of his legs was bent in the wrong direction "...oh your still alive" Mars looked up at the elf and saw a burning hatred in his bloodshot eyes and gave a sigh before he began to pull out the arrows that was still stuck in him as he loosened to grip on the elver slightly before he asked with a light smile "you are related to Chloe right?" the elver didn''t answer him but Mars didn''t care as he kept talking "this situation really is unfortunate... oh well" after Mars pulled out the last arrow he took another look around the carnage around him with a slight smile on his face before he activated his [energy: healing] skill on himself with 20 units of energy, swiftly closing his minor wounds "you''re... not... going... to... get... away.. with... this" Mars gave a sigh "you know normally when one tries to kill another person one should be prepared to be killed instead, i simply acted in self defense" the hate in the elvers eyes grew stronger before he spat Mars in the face "...you do realize you''re only alive because i want you alive right...? oh well..." Mars wiped the spit from his face before he momentarily let go of the elver only to quickly grab his jaw, covering his mouth with his hand "maybe this will teach you some respect?" *STAB* Mars stabbed his claws into the stomach causing the elver to cough up fresh blood into his hand before he passed out, Mars gave another sigh and activated his [energy: healing] skill with 50 units of energy on the elver before he threw his aside and glanced at the blurred barrier in the middle of the clearing as he mumbled "...consider this a thanks for the time we had together" "Mars... are you... done?" Mars turned around and saw Victoria sitting in the edge of the forest and gave a smile "yeah i just finished, let''s find a river i need to wash off" "okay..." Mars picked up his sword and backpack before walked into the forest with Victoria at his side "are... we not... going... to see... Chloe again?" Mars stopped when he heard Victoria''s question and kneeled down and patted her on the head with his less bloody hand "no i don''t think we are... are you sad?" Victoria began purring and closed her eyes as her horns flashed "no I''m... fine... as long... as we''re... together" "that''s good, well then what do you say we head to Destra?" "okay..." Chapter 46 out of the forest 2 2 days after the 6th barrier patrol team consisting of Alvin, Isabel, Rex and Chloe had left the outpost they arrived at the at edge of wide deforested area deep within Mother forest, all 4 elvers looked tired but they still kept a steady pace as all of them ran in a straight line with Alvin in the front while firm determination shone in their eyes ''we''re almost there...'' Alvin that was in front squinted his eye a little as he felt the surrounding mana grow denser and denser until suddenly it felt like he hit a thin layer of water face first and the wide clearing suddenly revealed 8 meter tall walls that looked like they where grown out of trees on top of theses walls he could see patrols of eleven soldiers that carried great bows that was taller than themselves ''we actually made it in 2 days... that has to be some sort of record'' Alvin briefly thought back at the the hardship they all had gone though the last 48 hours, first of all they had not slept for over 30 hours, and even now they had been running for 13 hours straight without break but it had been well worth it as they had cut the estimated travel time down by half, normally it would take a patrol squad 4 days to travel from the outpost to Green river and this was even a optimistic time limit that assumed they didn''t run into trouble on the way such as a stray magic beast as they were required to kill any magic beast that entered the safe inner forest if they ran into one ''maybe it''s just our luck that''s good'' the group didn''t run towards the nearest gate, they simply ran straight towards nearest section of the wall as they took out their barrier keys and suddenly the wall opened op a passage which they swiftly passed though and arrived at a street on the other side of the wall "okay stop" as soon as Alvin gave the command he sat down on the ground and rested "so... tired..." Alvin looked over and saw Chloe was sprawled on the ground in the middle of the street as she complained "and... so hungry, Isabel do you have any nutrient pills left?" Isabel also sat on the ground, and even though she looked less exhausted then Chloe she still looked pretty tired "no sorry I ate my last one a couple of hours ago, what about you Rex?" Isabel looked over at Rex that was the only one that was still standing, even though he was leaning against the wall "sure i still have some left... here you go Chloe catch" "thanks Rex" after resting for 2 minutes Alvin stood up "okay let''s get the report over with, then we can sleep afterwards" """yes captain""" Alvin helped Chloe of the ground and then he led them further into Green river, as they walked they soon passed the desolate outskirts of the village and soon the road turned from a dirt road to a stone paved road that was surrounded by 3 story buildings made out of wood and stone that served as stores and apartments, the amount of elvers on the street going about their daily lives also became more and more as they walked towards the center of the village, as they walked they greeted most of the elvers that walked past, even if the total population of Green river was almost half a million most of the elvers that lived in Green river knew each other at least by name, in particular the oldest elvers in the village all either treated each other as old friends or old enemies or rivals, soon the group reached the center of the village were a ancient stone bridge that was 50 meters wide spanned a great river that was almost 200 meters wide, in the middle of the river stood a giant ancient tree that was about 2 kilometers tall, with a crown that covered more than half of the village in shade, this was the tree the forest was named after the Mother tree "we''re almost there... remember leave the talking to Rex" Chloe gave a small nod, she was slightly nerves as this was only the second time she had met the elders, as they reached the middle of the bridge the group walked towards a opened gate that was covered in elegant carvings that led into the Mother tree, as they stepped into the tree they arrived in a giant hall that had all 4 walls carved with the story of Green river all the way from when the 5 elders founded the village almost 1 million years ago, and after Alvin spoke with a receptionist they were led into a waiting room and soon a old elf with wrinkles and gray hair came and led them further into the Mother tree, and after walking through a long complex route the elf gestured towards a closed door before he left them "well then let''s get this over with" Alvin opened the door and led his team into a dimly lit hall with 5 elevated wooden thrones that looked like they had grown out of the floor in the middle that was surrounded with a half transparent golden fabric and keeled down with the others before he spoke out "the 6th barrier patrol team have arrived to report" "then let us hear what you have to say for yourselves" when one of the elders spoke out the 4 of them shuddered slightly as their expression hardened ''this is bad...'' Alvin could clearly hear the power and underling furry the elders voice carried and tightened his fists while Rex began speaking "2 months ago, we the 6th barrier patrol team was on a standard patrol in the barrier forest when we observed a smoke column to the north and decided to change our route to investigate" "your reasoning?" "first we suspected a forest fire but later the fire went out without spreading, form there we assumed it was a outsider invasion and proceeded to scout out their numbers" "continue" "yes, after arriving at the source of the fire we found a recently cleared area and a cave which we investigated and found empty besides the hide, bones and meat from a class 6 giant berserk bear that was sorted and stacked up in piles, we also found another pile of bones that seemed to be failed crafting attempts" after a few seconds of silence another voice spoke up from behind the golden fabric "are you sure it was a class 6 berserk bear?" "yes, and judging from the size of remaining intact bones it had almost evolved into class 7" "...continue" "from there we assumed that one or more outsider had set up camp in the cave and decided to wait for them to return while we set and ambush, after about 2 hours one outsider showed up which we assumed was human, and after confirming he didn''t know of the treaty we assumed he was lying and engaged him in combat" "what happened then, how did one outsider mange to overpower all of you?" "well... after being wounded the outsider turned out to be a half dragon, he also kept a class 9 Shadow death panther cub which he had made a contract with by somehow merging his mana with it" after Rex finished speaking the elders remained silent for almost a minute before one of them spoke up again "...continue" "after Isabel and Alvin was incapacitated I instructed Chloe to escape while I engaged him hoping to buy some time for her to escape, but after fighting I discovered no way to win so I surrendered to the outsider" "...why were you sure you had no way to win?" "the outsider had me matched in swordsmanship and had yet to use any fire magic so i amused he was holding back to make me surrender" "continue" "yes, after I surrendered I found out he is named Mars and... that he was a living god" "a living god!? are you sure?" "yes i''m sure, not only did he say so himself he also showed ability that matched his claim... and after talking with him I found out he was newly born, not only that he also showed willingness to corporate with the village" after Rex finished speaking the elders fell silent for a long time until one of them gave a long sigh and spoke up "do any of you have a idea where this outsider, no where Mars is now?" "no but after he fought the 2nd outer forest patrol team I don''t think he will remain in the forest for long" after another period of silence one of the elvers spoke up "...that is all you may leave" the group of 4 stood up and gave a deep bow before they turned and walked towards the gate "wait... Chloe if i recall your father is the current village chief right?" Chloe was a little flustered by the sudden question but still keeled down and answered "yes" "good, tell him we have a task for him" "a task?" "we need him to head to Destra and find Mars" "yes, i will tell him at once" ... .. . while the 6th barrier patrol team were reporting to the elders Mars stood in the outer forest surrounded by green humanoid corpses "...this sucks" Mars looked down at the 2 pitiful class 1 magic beast cores he had obtained from slaughtering almost 30 goblins class 1 magic beast core stored energy: 1 stored status points: 0 source: goblin wizard even though Mars had literally been able to kick around the goblins that was only the size of a 10 year old malnourished child and only armed with crude clubs and spears he still felt a little cheated as he had only been awarded with a mere 2 energy units for his efforts "maybe i should head back into the barrier forest? no that''s a bad idea" after all Mars had just wiped the floor with the 2nd outer forest patrol team only 2 days ago and didn''t really want to feel the fury of the entire Green river village "looks like i need to find other ways to get energy units... maybe i can buy some high class cores in Destra?" as Mars thought about his energy shortage Victoria jumped down from a nearby tree and walked up to him while her horns flashed "Mars... someone''s... coming" "i see... perfect timing, maybe they can show us the way to the nearest town?" Chapter 47 out of the forest 3 Mars decided to wait and soon his sharp ears picked up some movement ''5 people... but one of them walks kind of...weird'' Mars looked in the direction where the group was coming from and soon he could hear them talking "how much longer?" "not much longer now, my detection spell picked up a group of goblins over there" "good, rest assured as long as I officially become a hunter all of you will receive your payment in full" "we are very thankful for your generosity young master" soon a group of 5 humans arrived, 3 of them carried swords and was clad in leather armor, while the last 2 had staffs and wore robes, only one of them a youth around 15 years old carried a staff that looked many times more expensive than the other, the robe he wore also looked like it was made of fine silk, when Mars saw the group he found out why one of them walked weirdly ''...i had almost forgot there was people like this'' Mars looked at the youths well... round figure before he gave a sigh, the reason he was walking weirdly was he was very out of shape and seemed to be out of breath, Mars could not only see but also smell the layer of sweat the covered the youth and frowned slightly "to think guild test would be so easy, I actually found a group of dead goblins" "yes young master luck truly is good" while the one that carries the staff flatted the youth one of the ones that was armed with a sword walked over towards Mars and with a hand on his sword and a slightly arrogant look on his face he spoke to Mars while he waved his hand "hey brat those goblin copses belong to us now, also hand over all your coins and cores then we might let you go" Mars looked around and filed to discover this ''brat'' the rough looking man was referring to before it finally clicked for him ''so he means me...?'' "oi brat are you deaf? hurry up!" "oh sure..." Mars took off his backpack and pulled out the small pouch were he kept all his magic beast cores and took out the class 9 core he got from the queen acid spider and asked with a innocent look on his face "you mean cores like this one?" the man''s eyes turned round when he saw the core before he suddenly yelled while thick greed showed in his eyes while he quickly spoke in a hushed voice "that''s right brat, hand it over and i will let you live!" when Mars saw the greed in the man''s eyes as well as how he didn''t seem to want his companions to know of the class 9 magic beast core he knew the value of the core was high enough for the man to betray his companions and gave a smile before he put the core back into the pouch "then why don''t you come and take it?" the man turned red in the face from fury and drew his sword "don''t tell me i didn''t warn you brat!" the man stepped forwards and swung his sword down towards Mars ''are you for real?'' as Mars looked at the sword that was swing down towards his face he questioned if the man was really trying to kill him as compared to Rex''s swordsmanship witch he was used to the man in front of him that was attacking him looked more like a child waving around a stick ''maybe he''s joking? well he kind of looks like he''s trying to kill me'' Mars effortlessly sidestepped the sword that was swung down at him before he stepped in and grabbed the man''s chin and hair before he--- *SNAP* ---twisted his face about 180 degrees to the side before he let go as the man fell down on the ground, deader than dead alerting the rest of the remaining 4 in the group "you! what the fuck did you do to John!?" "well... i killed him?" Mars looked a little confused, obviously he killed him in self defense so why were they so confused? "you''re going to pay for that! young master please back us op with your magic" "you guys sure are useless, but oh well I have been wanting to test my new spell" the group of 4 quickly got into a formation that protected the 2 that were wielding staffs while Mars stood and watched them without doing anything in particular until Victoria that was sitting of the side in a tree watching sent him a telepathic message "why... don''t you... kill them?" "because i want to see what they can do" "who''s he talking to?" "i don''t know, this brat is obviously crazy let''s kill him!" "i got this..." the mage with the shoddy robe started to focus his mana into his staff, drawing Mars''s attention as the mana seemed flow though some rather complex paths before it ended in the gem that sat a the top off the staff were it seemed to be slightly amplified before it was finally releasedin the form of a bright flame "...fireball!" "...really?" Mars watched the fireball fly over with a amazed look on his face for a second before he reached out and caught it with his hand and snuffed out the flame "impossible!" Mars watched to poor mage''s flustered expression and decided he had seen enough of their ability to end this farce and waved his hand, instantly summoning 3 fire arrows before he pointed towards the group and shot the fire arrows "this is real fire" the fire arrows shot out and before any of the humans could react they had pieced their targets leaving behind a charred fist sized hole in each of the swordsmen and mage''s throats only leaving the ''young master'' alive that had turned pale a sheet of paper "y-you..." Mars gave a wide smile and took a step forwards while he grabbed the hilt of his sword casing the young master to start shaking as he tried to back op "w-wait! I can give you money!" "oh really?" "y-yes just please spare me!" Mars put on a thoughtful expression for a second before his eyes turned cold as he took another step forwards "nah I will just take it from you corpse" "HIIIIII!!! please my father can give you more money then you can imagine if you just let me live!" "i that case maybe i should kill and rob him too?" "you dream! my father is---" Mars suddenly disappeared from the young masters view before he appeared right in front of him "i don''t care" Mars sent out a lightning fast punch to the young master jaw and knocked him out as he fell over like a sack of potatoes "well then... let''s take their stuff" Mars walked over to the corpses and began to search them for things he could use "what''s this?" around the neck of one of the corpses Mars found a necklace and pulled it off to inspect it further, the chain seemed to be made of iron but what caught Mars''s attention was the main part of the necklace that was a hollow rectangle made of some sort of metal at the edge and in the middle was 2 tags that took up a equal part of the tag, one made off wood with a engraved bow and one made of iron with a engraved sword "...maybe it''s some sort of dog tag?" Mars decided to leave the tags behind and continued his search when Victoria walked up to him as her horns flashed "why... didn''t you... kill the... last... one?" "because there still is uses for that one, also based on how the others referred to him that one might be a little special..." "special... how..?" "well the human society''s i know of aren''t based on strength alone... that one there should have a high standing" "really..?" "yeah really, besides based on his stamina there should be a town or a form of transportation nearby..." Victoria looked over at the young master that was still out cold for a while before her horns flashed again "humans... are weird..." "yep they sure are" after Mars was done searching the corpses he found some small coins that was made from copper, some there was slightly bigger but also made from copper and a few small coins that was made from silver "this should do, now for the weapons..." fist Mars picked up a sword and gave it a few swings before he frowned and threw It over his shoulder and picked up the next sword and also gave it a try before his frown got deeper and he also threw the sword away and looked over to the first swordsman he had killed and his sword before he gave a sigh "...well that was disappointing" not having found any of the swords any use Mars picked up the staff from the dead mage and looked it over "this at least interesting..." the staff was made of wood and had a small dull gem embedded in the top, but Mars didn''t really care about how it looked he was more interested in the staff''s ability to amplify mana "...well let''s just give it a try" Mars started to inject his mana into the staff while he felt how it was let around in small channels until it reached to gem at the top and started to amplify before the gem suddenly cracked and turned to dust "...looks like it vent over capacity" Mars felt a little sad about how his experiment ended before he could get any data and threw the staff aside "well then, Victoria let''s go" "okay..." Mars picked up his backpack and walked over to the young master that still was out cold and grabbed his staff before he took a firm hold on his color and began to drag him across the forest floor "let''s see... they came from over there" Mars and Victoria began walking in the direction the group of humans had come from and after walking for about 10 minutes Mars could see the edge of the forest and got a little excited when they finally left the forest and out into grassland and stretched as he took in the midday sunlight for a little while before he gave a sigh "it''s nice to finally be out of that forest... oh looks like there''s a town over there" Mars spotted some walls in the distance and began to walk towards them with Victoria and soon he reached a gate that was manned by 2 guards that gave Mars and Victoria pretty cautions looks before they spotted the young master Mars was dragging along and raised their spears before they pointed them at Mars "halt!" "before that... are you guys guards of this town?" the 2 guards gave a puzzled look at Mars before one of them gave a nod "good, in that case i would like to report a crime..." Mars raised the young master that now looked even more pitiful after he had been dragged on the ground for the last few kilometers into the air "this load of lard here assaulted me with a squad of goons in the forest" "...what?" Chapter 48 out of the forest 4 Mars looked at the dumbfounded look on the 2 guards faces and gave a slight smile before he put on a slightly disappointed look as he shook his head "yeah i know... honestly people theses days, luckily i managed to fend off his goons and survive to arrest him" Mars noticed the corner of one of the guards eyes began to twitch and was about to tell them more about the horrible experience he had just had when a older guard walked out of the gate and yelled "what''s going on here!?" "captain, this young man claimed young master Orbrage assaulted him in the forest with a group of other people" the older guard captain put a hand on the hilt of his sword and looked at Mars, then at Victoria and the young master Mars was holding into the air and gave a sigh before he let go of his sword as he gave a sigh "I see... so how long ago was it and how many people attacked you?" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the guard captain before he lowered the young master slightly and spoke "5 people in total... and I think it was about 30 minutes ago" "...what happened to the rest?" "well... you surely can''t expect any random person to capture 5 armed criminals that are trying to kill them can you?" the guard captain narrowed his eyes slightly and gave a glance to the pale sword Mars carried on his hip before he gave a sigh "you''re right... well then hand him over we''ll take it from here" Mars saw the 2 guards eyes widen in shock before they looked at their captain and half expected them to protest, but eventually they closed their mouths and steeped back "okay then, here you are" Mars sat down the young master on the ground "okay then, with that out of the way is this your first visit to Malrton?" "yes it is" "...then i need your name for the record, and a toll... you''re not a member of the hunters or mercenary guild are you?" "no" "okay... then you need to pay 5 cel" Mars sat down his backpack and fished out 5 small copper coins and gave them to the guard captain that counted them and gave a nod before he looked at Victoria and asked "i will ask just to be sure, it that your magic beast?" "yeah, isn''t she cute?" "...is it tame?" "well... as long as she isn''t annoyed, angry or hungry she won''t hurt anyone" "okay.. one last thing, what''s your name?" "Mars" "...good, then Mars welcome to Malrton" Mars gave a nod to the guard captain and walked past the open gate before he stopped and turned around "...could you tell me the way to the closest temple?" "sure, it''s down this road on you left after you pass the guilds" "okay, thanks" Mars walked through the gate with Victoria and left the guards behind "captain, was it really a good idea to let him go?" "... then would you rather threaten him while he had his hand around the young master''s neck?" the young guard turned pale and shut his mouth "well anyway, he''s in the town now surrounded by walls that are guarded by us so he''s not getting away with this... you go inform the baron and you... help me carry the young master to the infirmary" ""yes sir"" while the guard began moving Mars and Victoria walked down the stone paved street that had carriages pulled by horses and other creatures while he observed his surrounding ''there sure are a lot of people here... that must be beastmen... and there are couple of demons around too'' as Mars looked around he focused most on the beastmen and the few demons that was on the street, some of the beastmen looked mostly human with animal ears and tails while some of them looked like bears, wolves and even tigers that walked on their hind legs and wore clothes, while the demons had goat like horns on their head and black and red eyes, Mars also noticed that the 3 races seemed to live in harmony with no obvious racism around, at least on the surface "hey look at that kid" "wow, he looks... wild, and that''s a magic beast!" "yeah... and it''s not a low class one" while Mars was looking at his surroundings the other people on the street also looked at him and Victoria with curiosity, first off Mars was only wearing a pair of black shorts that left most of his body uncovered showing off his near perfect build to the crowds on the street, but also Victoria caught the attention off the people on the street as a tame magic beast was rare "why are... they... looking at... us?" "...maybe becase we''re new in town?" Mars shrugged his shoulders and decided to ignore the looks he was getting and began to look at the buildings that lined the paved street, most were made of stone bricks and wood but there were some that was made entirely of stone bricks, there was various shops around inns, blacksmiths, armor shops, cafes and tailors all line the busy street giving the town a lively feel as all sorts of people vent in and out of the shops, Mars also noticed a lot of armed people of all races that carried spears, swords, bow, staffs and maces, most of them were men but there were also some women around and all of them had a rectangular necklace that was similar to the ones the thugs he had killed in the forest wore with 2 different plates inserted in the center of the necklace, most of the ones Mars spotted had either wood, stone or iron but there were also some that had steel or silver and the ones that had steel or silver seemed better armed then the ones that had wood, stone or iron ''maybe it''s some sort of ranking on top of identification?'' Mars felt that his decision not to take the necklaces the thugs wore was right, as caring them might have landed him some sort of bounty and continued walking down the street until he saw 2 building that lay on the opposite sides of the street were a lot of armed people gathered, the one on the left side of the street had sign with a sword on it, while the one on the left had a sign with a bow on it, the 2 symbols looked like bigger versions of the ones that were on the necklaces ''those must be the guilds... then it should be on the left side of the street... there maybe?'' Mars looked past the 2 guilds and saw a building that seemed kind of odd on the left side of the street and walked close to inspect, the building seemed to only have one floor and looked like a concert bunker with a 13 pointed silver star above the only visible entrance, outside there was a priest like person that wore a gray priest gown and had a necklace with the same 13 pointed silver star that was one the building, he sat on a wooden chair by a table with his head buried in a thick book that also had the silver star on its cover ''that must be it'' Mars walked over to the temple and stopped in front of the priest "...is this the temple?" the priest looked up from his book and gave a glance at Mars before he put his focus back on the book in his hands "yes it is, are you here to seek guidance?" "...sure?" "100 cel please" Mars sat down his backpack and took out some coins, and after thinking a little he put down one of the silver coins on the table "here" the priest looked at the silver coin on the table briefly before a glint of greed flashed in his eyes as he put his focus back to the book "did i say 100 cel? I meant 200" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly and put his hand on the hilt of his sword before he asked in a low tone "...really now?" the priest looked up from his book again and noticed Mars was ready to pull his sword before he gave a confident smile "yes, the price is 200 cel for guidance" Mars steered down the priest for a few more seconds before he put down another silver coin on the table which the priest quickly pocketed before he pointed to the door "just put your mana into the crystal ball in the center of the room and be sure not to touch the avatar or the alter unless you want to be turned to dust" Mars gave a nod and walked over the door to the temple and opened it before he walked inside and looked around the small dimly lit room after he closed the door after himself ''that must be the crystal ball and alter... it that the avatar?'' inside the dim room was a softly glowing crystal ball that sat on a polished stone pedestal in the middle of the room, past the crystal ball was a silver alter with the 13 pointed star on and on top of the altar lay a 1 meter high doll that was clad in pure white nun clothes and had long flowing hair and porcelain skin "well whatever..." Mars lost interest in the doll and walked up to the crystal ball while Victoria followed after him as she looked around the room with catlike curiosity in her blue eyes "I just need to put my mana into this?" Mars reached up and put his hand one the crystal ball before he put in some of his mana [SUBJECT NUMBER 5 CONFIRMED] "what!" Mars jumped back from the crystal ball and grabbed the hilt of his sword as he looked at the avatar that had suddenly sat up on the altar and gazed at him with empty eyes that seemed to be made of black obsidian glass [SCANNING ROOM FOR PRESENCE OF MORTALS... COMPLETE, NO MORTALS DETECTED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER...] suddenly the glow from the crystal ball got a lot brighter and began to spread, first down the stone pedestal and then unto the floor were it followed complex lines that seemed to be carved in the floor at random until it reached the walls and roof of the small room as the outside world seemed to be completely severed form the small room [ISOLATION BARRIER DEPLOYED, SENDING REQUEST FOR DESCEND... REQUEST APPROVED, STARTING DESCEND] the air inside the room got heavy as a invisible pressure appeared before it condensed and flowed into the avatar and lit up the previously empty black eyes with a strong cyan glow "oh you''re finally here Mars" the avatar spoke in a slightly more human voice as it jumped off the altar and walked towards Mars and Victoria "are you... Info?" the avatar turned solemn as it gave a elegant bow "indeed it is I, one of the 13 archangels of Alfan the mighty Info that governs over all mortal information!" Mars felt the air freeze from the formless pressure the avatar, or rather Info let out and took a steep back right before Info gave a cheeky smile like a child that had just pulled off a prank before she asked with her eyes glowing a little brighter "did you miss me?" Chapter 49 out of the forest 5 "... well of cause i missed you, you did save my life after all Info" "that''s good then... but you sure did find a old avatar, where is this even?" Mars was about to answer Info''s question when the cyan glow that came from her eyes flashed brighter for a second before she gave a few nods "I see... Destra, the border town of Malrton with a population of 3437 and a flowing population of about 2000 hunters and mercenary''s, but weren''t you going to Green river?" "well... i kinda killed and/or crippled a elite squad of elvers" "well no need to cry over spilled milk" Mars felt a little weird when he saw Info''s casual attitude as he had expected some sort of punishment "do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?" "I don''t, the official business can always wait a bit" Info waved her hand and a table and 2 chairs made of pure white stone appeared in the middle of the room which she pointed at "please sit" Mars sat down on the chair and looked at Info on the other side of the table and gave a sigh before he asked "what did the former living god of war do to earn the [Tyrant king] title? and what does it take to earn a curse title?" the cyan glow in Info''s eyes got a little brighter before she answered "the former living god of war Drekriz conquered this continent after 56 years of bloody war, witch raised his class level to 318 from there his class level stagnated and he began to send out expositions to find new land for him to conquer but after 14 years and 5467 ships lost he lost his patients and began to anomalously support rebels in his own empire witch he then after they rose up annihilated with his army''s, this worked for a time and his class level raised to 342 but after some 30 years of failed rebellion after failed rebellion his subjects no longer had the faintest thought of raising against him anymore... then he started to wage war against his own subjects on false claims, it was then the curse was bestowed and after 34 years he was finally sealed" Mars gave a nod as he fell into thought for a bit until Info continued "as for your second question I can''t answer that, but know the bottom line for a curse to be bestowed is genocide or betrayal on a massive scale" "i see... then is it normal for a living god to have nightmares?" Info narrowed her eyes slightly "what kind of nightmares?" "well... i think they have something to do with my past life" Info gave a deep frown and remained quiet for a few seconds before she floated into the air and landed on the table and walked over to Mars and touched his forehead "hold still for a second" Mars did as she asked and sat still while he felt some sort of force invade his mind like flowing water it spread though his mind for a few seconds before Info removed her hand and walked back to her chair and sat down and remained silent for a couple of minutes before she shook her head "no it''s not normal for living gods to have nightmares of their pasts... unless their souls are well... abnormal" "so my soul is abnormal?" "well i could be wrong... only the administrator knows for sure, and even it is like a child playing with rocket science when it comes to the true nature of the soul..." Mars fell silent, he had really hoped Info could help him with his nightmares as they continued to wear down his mind night after night "well don''t look so glum I can teach you a spell that should suppress you nightmares somewhat and help you understand them" "really?" Info gave a smile and waved her hand again and Mars suddenly felt a spell appear in his mind "it''s a spell originally made by a small tribe of dream demons that perished many thousands of years ago after they began to use their dream spell to assassinate people by destroying their minds though their dreams" "that sounds.... scary" "yeah, even as i processed to information of the deceased I felt slightly cold" Mars gave a small nod, if it could scare a archangel it would definitely be a frightening experience "but enough about that, why don''t introduce this cute child?" Mars looked up and found Info had disappeared from her seat and looked around and spotted her in a corner where she was petting Victoria on the head with sparkling eyes and walked over "oh... that''s Victoria, shes a shadow death panther cub I formed a contract with about 2 months ago" Info focused on patting Victoria while the panther seemed to be frozen from fear of the aura the avatar let out "Mars... help..." "don''t worry she''s not going to hurt you Victoria shes like my, well.... mother?" when the last word left Mars''s mouth Info froze and Mars felt the temperature in the room fall by several degrees "...you make it sound like i''m some old woman" Mars felt a chill go down his spine and sent his brain into overwork to quickly try and save himself "sorry that was a poor joke, Info is like an elder sister to me that helped me when a was born" "then... is she... a nice... person?" Mars walked over and knelled down next to Info and also gave Victoria some pats on the head "yeah Info is a nice person" "that''s right i''m a very nice person, I also have a gift for you Victoria..." Info collected some mana in her hand before she waved it and ripped a hole in space creating a dark rift where she pulled out a pure white collar witch she handed to Mars that inspected it ''it looks like there''s some sort of formation in this collar... it feels like a mama amplification formation like the one in the mages staff, just a lot more powerful...'' Mars looked at Info that had a smug ''i''m amazing right'' expression on her face and gave a sigh before he showed the collar to Victoria "what do you think Victoria, it might also make your magic stronger" "if... I can get... stronger then... I want... it" "okay then" Mars opened the collar and set it around Victoria''s neck before he closed it and watched as it adjusted it''s size to fit her perfectly "what do you think it''s amazing right, not only is it self cleaning and able to adjust its size to fit the ware it also have a high tier mana amplification formation along with a self repair formation" Victoria gave a blank look and after blinking a few times her horns flashed while she tilted her head to the side "so... is it... strong?" Info crossed her arms and pointed her nose to the sky as she gave a few nods "yes it''s very strong!" Victoria''s eyes began to sparkle while she began purring loudly before her horns flashed again "then... are you... also very.... strong Info?" "yes of cause!" "then... are you st---" Mars stood and watched the 2 of them go on and on for a few minutes until he noticed a small crack in Info''s so far perfect smile and decided to intervene before Victoria praised her to death with a question "hey Info you seem a lot more... animated why is that?" "that''s because I have tasked more of my copiousness this time" "I see... and for reference how much is it you have tasked?" "hmm about 0,7% this time" Mars was monumentally stunned "really?" "yeah really, if it was a better quality avatar i would be able to do a more complete decent, but the max would still be about 10%" Mars walked back to the table and sat down on a chair and he collected his thoughts while Info played more with Victoria ''that should be most of my questions... wait there is one more thing" "hey Info, is there any punishment for talking about living gods with mortals?" "no, but i would not advise it anyway, at least not before you have hit class level 100" "why?" Info gave a sigh and stopped playing with Victoria and walked over and sat down at the table and looked into empty air while the cyan glow in her eyes glowed brighter for a few seconds before her eyes focused again and she half laid down on the table "let me tell you a story" "...sure" "about 220.000 years ago i reincarnated a living god of art, he was a bright child that joined a empire as a royal painter... his only passion was his brush and whatever medium he could use to express his art, but after 200 years people started to question how he still was alive so he told the current emperor he was a living god and the emperor spread word of it to raise his own prestige... less than 10 days later the empire was destroyed and the living god of art was killed more than 100.000 times before he finally died for real, now Mars do you know why?" "...no" Info gave a sigh before she sprawled down further on the table with her cheek against the cold stone she began speaking again "the older living gods killed him for spreading information about them to the mortals..." Mars didn''t know what to say, as looking at Info''s expression it was clear that the ling god of art and her had been quit close so he simply remained silent until Info raised herself of the table and gave a sigh before she locked eyes with him and said in a stern tone "...do you understand" "yes" "good then, oh that''s right..." Info gathered mana in her hand again before she waved it slightly and tore space making another black rift where she pulled out a necklace with a 13 pointed silver star "this is for you, it''s called a necklace of the apostle and will help you with the mob of angry mortals outside of the temple" "oh, thanks... that should spear me the time it takes to kick them around" Info narrowed her eyes slightly before she asked "why did you piss off the son of the baron anyway?" "well after the whole Green river situation I decided on another ''dealing with mortals'' tactic" "witch is?" "kick them in the shin, if they fight back then kick them in the balls" "...seriously?" "yep" Info closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples "...well in that case i will leave you too it, be sure to visit another temple soon" "sure, bye Info" Info gave a wave to Mars before the cyan light disappeared in her eyes as the avatar returned back to a empty husk [DECENT TERMINATED, RESETTING TEMPLE...] Mars stood up from the chair and watched it and the other furniture Info had summoned disappeared before the avatar jumped back onto the altar and laid down [RESET COMPLETE, POWERING DOWN ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE] the avatar fell silent and the sounds of the outside world returned "well then, Victoria let''s go kick around some mortals" "that... sounds... fun" Chapter 50 out of the forest 6 Mars took the necklace of the apostle he had just revived from Info and wore it around his neck and took a deep breath as he tightened the grip he had on the hilt of his sword "okay... let''s see if they want a fight" Mars thought briefly about transforming when he looked at the still closed door to the temple but decided against it for a couple of reasons, first it would show one of his cards to early and if they knew he was a half dragon they could plan against it with anti dragon magic and tools like the collar he had worn when he was reincarnated but the most important reason was ''...I don''t really feel like it'' he really found it a pain to transform, not only would it hurt but it also massively increased his appetite witch was something he could not afford right now "oh right, Victoria follow my lead... don''t start killing them before I do" "okay..." Mars opened the door to the temple and half expected to have arrows fired at him the moment he did but no arrows came flying instead he saw a formation of guards that all had their spears pointed at him as they stood in a half circle preventing him from running away, not that Mars ever would turn tail and run with his dragon sized ego, besides them there was also a peanut gallery of civilians and armed people that had stopped to watch the show ''3...9...15...20 something? oh are those...'' Mars was to lazy to count all the guards and had his attention captured by 4 people that wore full plate mail and stood behind the guard formation and protected a man in the center that wore slightly expensive looking clothes and looked around 40 years old with slightly gray hair and had a old scar that ran along his face from his left eyebrow across his nose and all the way down to the right side of his chin, he stood with a 2 bladed sword stabbed into the ground in front of him and let out a small amount of formless pressure just by standing there ''his aura is kind of like Rex''s...'' Mars looked around on the people that surrounded him and gave a sigh before he spoke up "...so what do you guys want?" Mars expected a response by the 4 knights or the important person in the middle but realized they all remained silent ''what...?'' Mars followed their eyes and saw they all stared at his necklace in silence until a little while later when someone yelled out "father, that''s him!" Mars looked over and saw the young master he had beaten earlier in the day, only this time his slightly chubby face was warped in bandages leaving out small puff of his unkempt blond hair though the gaps in the bandages on the top of his head, Mars followed him with his eyes as he walked through the crowd that gave way for him until he reached the 4 knights and the person in the middle where he stopped and began laughing arrogantly and pointed at Mars "hehe, brat I''m sure you regret your actions now!" Mars suppressed his urge to break through the encirclement just to break the fat finger that pointed at his face and gave a slight smile as he waved his hand in a ''come here'' motion "why don''t you come over here and find out, oh right be sure to bring more then 4 goons this time" "you sure are arrogant kid!" Mars shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the doorway to the temple and stopped in the middle of the encirclement and looked at the middle aged man "...so are we going to do this or have you changed your mind?" the middle aged man gave a sigh before he spoke up "I will ask just to be sure, are you Mars?" "sure am, what''s your name old man?" the middle aged man gave a sigh and was about to speak up when one of the knights yelled out "arrogant little shit! you are standing in front of the lord of Malrton and you actually have the shamelessness to ask his name, know your place commoner!" Mars''s eyes turned cold and started to circulate his mana as the temperature around him raised by several degrees and was wondering whether to slow cook the knight in his armor or instantly turn him into a puddle of molten metal when the middle aged man gave another sigh and suddenly smacked to knight on the back of his head with some much force that fell over and slammed his helmet covered face into the stone paved road "shut up Gil" Mars was a little dazed as he looked at the knight witch face had hit the road so hard that his helmet was dented, but the peanut gallery seemed calm and the other knights also made no other movements so he came to a conclusion relatively quickly ''this must be a common occurrence then...'' "I''m sorry about that Mars, my name is Reimund Orbrage I''m the lord of this town" "oh i see... nice to meet you" Mars gave a nod to Reimund before he looked around at the encirclement again "so Reimund, what''s all this about?" "well, i received a report form a guard captain that someone had shown up at the south gate dragging my beat up useless son" Mars gave a understanding nod "oh i see... did that so called useless son or guard captain say why he had been beaten?" "well, the guard captain claimed that the person that had dragged my useless son said it was self defense but I was to enraged to care at that point to listen" Mars gave another understanding nod and praised "you sure are a good father, to act so quickly" "thanks for you praise Mars, but now I feel like I have taken action to soon... I wonder if you have time to discuss what actually happened over a cup of tea?" Mars stroked his chin for a little while until he let go of the hilt of his sword and gave a nod "sure... when it''s lord Reimund''s personal invitation, I can''t possibly refuse" "okay, what do you say we head to my mansion?" "sure" Reimund gave 2 claps and the guard uniformly pulled their spears back split into groups of 4 and went back to patrolling the town "Annabel I leave Gill to you" "yes sir" one of the knights picked up the fallen knight first by the neck before she hoisted him up on her shoulder and walked towards the north, Reimund pulled his sword out of the ground and handed it to a knight and gave a smile as he turned to Mars "this way please" Mars gave a nod and followed after the lord to the north and soon Mars reached a firm metal gate behind witch was a elegant western styled 4 story mansion where a old man with white hair and wore a black butler outfit stood and bowed down when Reimund came close "welcome back master Reimund and young master Stephen" "I''m back, please prepare tea for 3 in the tea room" "as you wish master Reimund" Mars looked at the old butler that walked into the mansion and faintly felt the he had the same aura as Reimund ''wait is he still here?'' Mars looked around and quickly spotted the pale faced young master that had followed after them in silence, he was also flanked by the 2 knights ''...he is so quiet I almost forgot about him'' the group stepped through the gate and into a well kept garden where Mars noticed Victoria was looking around anxiously "what''s wrong?" Victoria looked around the neatly trimmed bushes and flower beds a bit more before her horns flashed "Mars... the plants... are weird... is this... also a... forest?" "no it''s not a forest Victoria, it''s a garden" "a... garden?" "yes" Reimund and the knights looked a little weirdly at Mars that sounded like he was talking to himself, only Reimund saw Victoria''s horns flash slightly as his eyes gave a glint of wonder as they walked into the mansion, into a grand hall that was elegantly decorated by paintings and furniture Mars found it hard to touch out of fear of breaking it "Elsa could you show our 2 guests to the tea room while I fetch my wife" "at once master Reimund, this way please" Mars stopped looking at the art and turned to the clear voice that had called out to him and was slightly dazed by what he saw ''a real... maid'' it was indeed a maid she was about the same height as Mars and had clear brown eyes and shoulder long brown hair, but most of all Mars attention was caught by the 2 fluffy dog ears that was on top of her head along with the bushy tail that stuck out from her gray uniform at her waist "dear guest?" "oh sorry, I was just captivated for a moment there" the maid maintained her poker face but Mars noticed her cheeks turned slightly red and her tail also swayed slightly from side to side "this way please" "sure" Mars followed after the maid though the mansion while being careful not to touch any of the expensive furniture and art that decorated the halls of the mansion "right this way" the maid passed through a door into west facing room with a wide window that overlooked the garden and a elegant wooden table with 4 chairs "please sit, dear guest" "sure" Mars walked past the chair the maid gestured to and put down his backpack and took out his sword out of the belt and leaned it against the table and sat down on the other side of the table with his back to the window causing the maid to frown slightly, to witch Mars gave a slight smile as his eyes narrowed slightly "sorry, I don''t like to sit with my back to anyone... especially not someone that carries daggers concealed in their skirt" the maid broke her poker face and gave a sweet smile but remained silent while a cold glint flashed in her eyes "Victoria come here" Mars pulled the adjacent chair closer to himself and gave it a couple of pats "okay..." Victoria stopped looking around the room and jumped up on the chair and laid her upper body on Mars''s lap where she received her usual head pats ''now i wonder what they want to talk about..?'' Chapter 51 the barons hospitality 1 Mars in the tea room and petted Victoria that was laying on his lap purring loudly while he waited for Reimund to arrive, and decided to meditate as he closed his eyes while he felt the purring vibrations that shook his core slightly and moved on the pet Victoria''s ears causing her to purr even louder "...how did you know?" "hmm?" Mars still sat with his eyes closed but he knew it was the beastwoman Elsa that had asked him with her crystal clear voice "...about my daggers" "oh that... they are old right?" "yes... they are about 10 years old" "that''s how i knew" "...how?" Mars took a deep breath before he began explaining "first it''s the smell of polished metal, while you could have been polishing some silverware before I arrived the slight sound the 2 daggers make when they hit the lightly lose sheaths while you walk gave it away" "...you sure have good ears... for a human youth" Mars gave a sigh and shifted his hand to patting Victoria on the edge of her ears "well I''m not exactly human" "...what does that mean?" "it means what that I''m not completely human" Elsa remained silent, Mars didn''t know if she belied him or not but he didn''t care enough to open his eyes to cheek, nor to explain any further so for a time the only sound in the room was Victoria''s purring and a few minutes later Mars''s eyes snapped open ''here he comes'' Mars picked up Reimund''s footsteps through the wall and a few moments later Elsa''s ears also seemed to pick up the movement as they twitched slightly and went over and opened the door when Reimund was about to and gave a bow "master, madam" "oh thanks Elsa" Reimund walked through the door followed by a mature lady that had flowing blond-yellow hair that reached her hips, and with cures in the right places Mars found himself staring a bit to long at her until he looked a her face and saw yellow eyes and a bright smile that reminded him of the sun and praised "Reimund i thought you were going to get your wife, but this beautiful young lady can''t possibly be form the same generation as you" "oh my, Reimund I like him already" Reimund gave a sigh and sat down, deciding to ignore his wife as he started his back and asked Mars while the old butler from earlier served the tea along with some small cookies "so Mars can you tell me what happened in the forest?" "sure..." Mars stopped petting Victoria and put on a serious face "I was on my way out of the forest, where I have been living most of my life by the way when I ran into a group of about 15 goblins witch I swiftly took care off, when I ran into you son" of cause ''most of his life'' was only 2 months but Mars felt no need to mention this as it would make the whole situation more complicated "I see... you certainly look like someone that have lived far from civilization but the Mother forest huh... didn''t the elvers trouble you?" "yeah that is also the reason I left the forest, I had a run in with a squad of elvers a few days ago and decided to leave the forest before they hunted me and Victoria down" lady Orbrage gave a sigh and looked at Mars with concern in her eyes "that certainly most have been hard... do you have any idea where your parents are?" "no, but my dad is long dead" "I see..." Mars felt a little touched by the lady but decided to move on with his story "well anyway, your son showed up with 5 armed people he seemed to have hired for some sort of hunter test and commanded one of them to chase me away so he could claim the goblin corpses" Reimund gave a sigh and began to rub his forehead while lady Orbrage narrowed her eyes and sent out a lightly concealed pressure "that person then demanded I hand over all the magic cores and coins in my possession if I wanted to keep my life, which I of cause refused and then he attacked me" "fortunately for me he was an armature with the sword so i quickly... took care off him, then the rest took up a formation to attack me but I made a preemptive strike and killed them with my fire magic and then i knocked out your son and dragged him to the gates were i turned him in to the guards" Reimund gave another sigh and lady Orbrage remained silent but Mars noticed her hair was lightly flowing around like the wind was blowing it while small electric currents jumped between her hair, her eyes had also turned even colder "...Reimund" "I know Irene... I agree, Sebastian please make perpetration for sending Stephen off to the knight school in the capital" "at once master" the old butler gave a bow and walked out off the room and Irene seemed to clam down a bit as she gave a sweet smile to Mars "thank you for telling us this... hopefully this will build some character on that useless son of mine..." "no problem, but why don''t you doubt what I say?" Reimund gave a slightly defeated smile "well because it matches with what we have heard of our son before... also I don''t think a apostle would lie about something like this" "oh right..." Mars looked down and saw the necklace of the apostle he was wearing and mentally thanked Info for making his life way more simple while Irene spoke up "so Mars, you have been living in the Mother forest, what was it like?" "well... it was nice, I had my very own cave and all... for a time it was just me, Victoria and whatever thing we decided to hunt, well I had some problems with some stealth acid spiders, but then i wiped out their nest" "...you wiped out... a nest of stealth acid spiders?" "yeah? they were annoying... the queen even destroyed my vest... it was such a nice vest, I spent a whole 5 days on that vest... wait why are you looking at me like that?" not only Reimund and his wife Irene looked at him funny also the poker faced maid Elsa looked at him funny, and they did so for a whole minute until Reimund broke the silence "you... killed a stealth acid spider queen...?" "yeah? it cost me a reaaalllly nice vest... 5 whole days of work and the finest pieces of wind deer hide" "...do you have the core?" Mars looked over at Elsa and saw the disbelief in her eyes, but was pleasantly surprised when he saw her brown eyes was pure with no sign of disdain and gave a slight smile "yeah I should have it here somewhere..." Mars reached into his backpack and pulled out a small leather pouch witch he opened and pulled out a blue magic core the size of a tennis ball and laid it on the table and picked up his cup and took a sip "oh, this is some good tea" "Irene... is it... real?" "I don''t know for sure unless I get a [appraiser] to look at it but... it certainly is the biggest magic core I have ever seen" Reimund looked at Mars in disbelief and asked "who... are you?" Mars gave a slight smile and closed his eyes "that''s the wrong question...''what are you'' would be better here I think" Mars opened his eyes again only now they were transformed from his usual deep blue eyes into a eerie pair of blood red vertical slits eyes that quickly turned back to normal again when he blinked leaving Reimund, Irene and Elsa with truly funny faces while Mars calmly sipped his tea "I have a question if you don''t mind" Reimund snapped out of his daze and gave a slight smile "...sure Mars ask away" Mars reached into his pack again and pulled out a small wooden plate with 2 small symbols etched into it, on of them was a sword and the other was a bow "can you tell me what these symbols mean?" Mars had made a couple of these wooden plates over the time he was living with the elvers and had used this one to copy the symbols on the necklaces that the 5 goons wore "oh that''s simple, the bow symbol is for the hunters guild and the sword is for the mercenaries guild" "then what does the material the symbols are on mean?" Reimund looked over at Irene that answered after she took a sip of tea "the material of the tag represents the rank of the person wearing it, for example if it''s a wooden hunter tag and a iron mercenary tag then the person wearing it is a rank 0 hunter and a rank 2 mercenary" "...okay, then how many ranks are there?" "there are 9 ranks in total form lowest to highest is wood, stone, iron, steel, silver, gold, platinum, mythril and then adamantite" "...I see, then what rank of hunter would one need to be to kill a stealth acid spider queen?" Irene looked at Reimund that gave a shrug in return before she answered "probably a squad of gold''s? I have no idea honestly I was only silver rank hunter when I retired" "okay... now for my last question, you don''t have to answer this if you don''t want to" Reimund gave a slight frown before he gave a nod, Irene also narrowed her eyes slightly while they both waited on Mars to continue, but he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose "this smell... it''s medicine, pure alcohol and brunt flesh right?" "that''s...right, but how can you smell that form here?" Irene looked a little dazed as she asked Mars, but before he answer the maid Elsa spoke "Mars has very good senses... he also found out about my daggers though his hearing" Irene and Reimund''s expressions dimed slightly and after a little while Irene spoke in a sorrowful tone "it''s our daughter... she had an accident at school and now she''s in... a coma" "I see... well that should be good enough payment for the tea and information I have received, would you mind showing me the way to her?" "...why?" Mars emptied his cup of tea and stood up before he gave a pure smile "well so I can heal her of cause" Chapter 52 the barons hospitality 2 "...you''re are not kidding right Mars?" Reimund stood up and gave Mars a hard glare "because that would be a seriously bad joke to make... might even be fatal" Mars kept calm and admired Reimund''s resolve while he kept a calm face "dear calm down" "but---" "I said, calm down" "...okay" Reimund having suffered a defeat only married men can suffer sat down on his chair again while Irene kept a calm smiling face as she asked "...are you sure you can heal Hanna, our daughter?" Mars gave a nod while keeping a serious face "sure, as long as she lives I can heal her completely" looking into Mars''s face for a few seconds Irene gave a sigh and stood up "then please follow after me" "sure" Reimund and the maid Elsa also followed after Mars as he was lead up to the 3''rd floor where Irene stopped in front of a closed door where a Maid stood outside and greeted her with a light bow "madam" "...how is she Jean?" "....i''m afraid there has been no changes" "I see... well hopefully that is about to change" while Irene was talking to the maid Jean Mars had more concerning matters to attend to, checking out Jean ''she''s a demon right?'' on Jean''s head was 2 goat like dark horns that grew out form either side of her head, her skin tone was a light gray almost ash color, she had red flowing hair and black and red eyes ''yep looks demon to me'' "is there a problem?" Mars stopped checking her out when Jean called out to him, having detected his glance she was less then happy and would likely have asked ''is there a problem with me being a demon'' if her madam Irene had not stood in front of her "no, I was just admiring your horns... of course mine look better but yours have a certain charm to them, you should be proud" "....you have horns?" Jean looked a little suspicious and narrowed her eyes slightly and was about to question Mars further when Irene spoke "jean that can wait for later Mars is our guest and has offered to heal Hanna" "healing the young lady... in that case please make haste!" Jean''s so far icy exterior cracked as she rushed up to Mars and grabbed his hand and dragged him into the room she was standing in front of ''this is worse than it smelled form the first floor'' as Jean opened the door Mars was hit in the face by the smell of medicine, alcohol and brunt flesh. the room itself was lovely decorated in a cute style fit to the girl the laid on the bed that was in the corner of the room, Mars felt that if not for the badges that covered the burns over most of her body she might even be cute ''well that can wait until later'' Mars decided to wait with checking her out until he had healed her and gently shook off Jean''s hand before he walked over next to the bed and kneeled down next to the patient "how is it, do you think you can heal her?" "sure, just let me focus for a second" Mars reassured Irene before he reached out and softly grabbed Hanna''s left hand, that wasn''t covered by bandages and started to load his [Energy: healing] skill ''let''s go with 80 unites for now'' Mars loaded the energy and activated his skill after a few seconds, immediately a clear fluid began appearing on Hanna''s body covering her wounds under her bandages making them slightly see-through as the fluid began breaking down the damaged scar tissue "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" when Jean saw the wounds on Hanna open up again she drew 2 curved daggers form her skirt and slashed out at Mars, aiming for his neck *CLANG* the sound of metal hitting metal sounded out as Jeans daggers was deflected by Mars''s claws that he had only just managed to transform in time to block "...bad maid, DOWN" Mars kicked the floor and disappeared from view before he reappeared behind Jean and grabbed her neck before he threw her out through a open window "...well then" Mars''s claws transformed back into normal hands as he walked back to the bedside and observed Hanna completely ignoring the rest of the stunned people in the room including Elsa that had run up to the window and was looking after Jean "...you, what did you just---" "quiet, just watch" Mars shushed Reimund and watched the clear liquid that now had broken down all the scar tissue and after pausing for a second before new pink flesh and muscle began growing at a speed visible to the naked eye, even her right eye that had been burned began regrowing and after less than 10 seconds the wounded girl on the bed was turned into a young girl around 16-18 years old that had long yellow hair that reached the middle of her back, she had healthy white skin but where her burn wounds had been was slightly paler than the rest of her skin showing a clear lightning pattern that extended form her right hand and cover most of her body expect her left arm and leg "hmm...." she gave a slight morn and turned slightly causing Reimund and Irene to run over to her bedside "Hanna!" her eyelids fluttered slightly before she opened her eyes, the left eye was yellow while the newly regrown one was slightly paler shade of yellow ''yep, she sure is a beauty... slightly cute even, well not as cute as Chloe...... shit'' Mars gave a slight frown as he thought of Chloe, his deep blue eyes even showed a glint of sadness before he turned and left the room with Victoria and surprisingly Elsa following after him and on the stairs down to the first floor Mars ran into the maid jean he had thrown out of the 3rd floor window a few minutes earlier "prepare yourself!" Jean unsurprisingly not happy and slightly worn out looking stabbed at Mars with her daggers again, only to have Mars grabbing her wrists and after a good squeezes the daggers dropped down on the stairs before Mars lifted her up in the air and asked Elsa with a sweet smile on his face "Elsa would you mind opening that window?" "...sure" "wait Elsa you traitor when I---" "and out you go again" Mars once again threw Jean out of a window before he walked down the stairs and stopped "oh Elsa can you pick up her daggers, someone might get hurt if they lay there all day" Elsa gave a small nod and picked up the 2 daggers of the floor before she followed after Mars again and asked "where are you even going?" "hmm? oh I was thinking of kicking around the priest that scammed me, then buy some clothes and find a inn somewhere to sleep for the night" Elsa stopped walking and showed a confused exertion as she watched Mars walk onwards before she showed almost cute determination and ran up and grabbed Mars''s arm "no you''re the guest of the baron Orbrage house so you can stay" "oh... in that case do you guys have some spare clothes somewhere?" "that''s... hmm we might have some in the store room, this way please" Mars followed after Elsa until they reached the front door where they ran into Jean that looked like she had flame in her eyes when she looked at Mars as she panted slightly "YOU! do you have a habit of throwing people out of windows!?" Mars gave a sigh while his ears twitched sightly "you know she''s awake right?" "what...?" Jean looked over at Elsa that also gave a slight nod before she rushed past Mars and up the stairs "... is she always so... moody?" "well... Jean have been taking care of Hanna ever since she was born" "I see..." Mars remained silent as he followed Elsa out of the front door and around to the back of the mansion to a kind-of-nice-as-can-be-shack where Elsa steeped though and when Mars was about to follow after she yelled out to him from the inside of the shack "wait out there please, it''s kind of cramped in here" "okay" Mars walked up to the shack and sat down against the wall and quickly Victoria came over and took her usual place on his lap where she laid down while her horns flashed "this... garden is... nice" Mars began petting Victoria''s head while he looked around the garden that had neat flower beds that covered the garden, but also noticed a training yard that was next to the shack "yeah it''s kind of nice" Victoria purred slightly as her head was patted and leaned into Mars''s hand while her horns flashed again "then... are we... going... to... stay here?" "yeah sure, for the time being" Mars sat with Victoria for a little while until Elsa walked out with some clothes stacked up in her hands witch she sat down in front of Mars "here, please find something you like" "sure" Mars went through the the pile of clothes and eventually found a pair of plain leather pants and a thick wool shirt that didn''t itch witch he quickly put on and pulled down his shorts down 5 centimeters before he felt danger from behind and stopped mid action and look behind him and saw Elsa had sparkling eyes "...err Elsa could you please turn around?" "please continue dear guest" "..." "please" "..." Mars walked into the shack and closed the door after him "wait! please let me---" Mars ignored Elsa''s yelling and banging on the door and quickly changed his shorts to the plain leather pants and opened the door again where he saw the disappointed Elsa "...meanie" "..." Chapter 53 the barons hospitality 3 Mars ignored Elsa that was looking at him with sad eyes and asked Victoria that was laying off to the side "how do I look?" Victoria raised her head and looked at Mars before she stood up and walked around him a few times and sat down and tilted her head to the side while her horns flashed "...normal?" "I guess it''s better than bad..." "tch... you have such nice muscles so why cover them up..." Mars ignored the side comment from Elsa and asked her "just to be sure does it normally cost money to visit the temple?" Elsa tilted her head slightly "no, it''s free" "I see... in that case I will be right back" Mars picked up his sword while his eyes turned cold "wait! Mars your eyes are dead!" Mars ignored Elsa and walked towards the gate to the mansion, on his way he passed some servants and ganders that all froze when they looked him in the eyes, one older gardener even fell and landed on his butt "don''t just look at him, stop him he''s is about to murder the priest!" "y-yes!" some of the stronger servants grabbed Mars and tried to stop him, unfortunately it had no effect as Mars kept walking only now he was dragging a group of people after him that desperately tired to stop him, which made Elsa panic slightly "just try to hold him I will get the baron!" Mars ignored Elsa that ran into the mansion and walked through the gate out into the street where he quickly gathered the attention of the crowd while the servants got more and more desperate "hold him!" "damn what is this guy made off!?" "get more people!" Mars kept walking and when he was about to reach the temple Reimund and his wife Irene showed up and tried to get in contact with him "Mars!" "Mars please listen!" Mars ignored them and finally when he was about 15 meters form the temple where the priest was sitting outside with his head buried in a book he finally spoke in a low chilly voice "...annoying" one of the servants noticed something was starting to get hot and looked up before he screamed "everyone let go and run!" a small sun had appeared and was hovering over Mars''s head that made him look like a avatar of fire as he was bathed in the light of the yellow and orange flames, which made the crowd that had been following after Mars back up quickly this also finely drew the attention of the priest that finely looked up from his book "what''s all the fuzz abo--- HIIIIII!!!" the priest screamed like a pig and tried to run away when he looked Mars in the eyes but a wall of fire appeared and blocked his path "...don''t run" Mars waved his hand and the ball of fire above his head formed a fire cage that trapped the priest and himself inside, it also blocked off the crowds view "now... what to do with you" "please don''t kill me!" the priest bowed down on the ground and begged Mars, he obviously knew that scamming Mars out of 200 cel was wrong and would probably faint if he knew Mars had no idea what 200 cel was worth and he did this for the heck of it "wait...." the priest stopped begging for his life as he seemed to have realized something and stood up with a smug look on his face "you can''t kill me, if you lay a finger on me the 13 will curse you!" Mars paused and was about the retort that he had just had a friendly talk with one of the 13 just earlier today and instead asked the priest "why is that?" "why? well obviously because i''m a acolyte of the temple and is protected by the 13 above for serving them!" "oh..." "that''s right, so if you want to beg for forgiveness now is the time! before I decide to---" Mars tuned out the arrogant priest and pulled out his necklace from under his shirt and asked the priest "then what rank do I have in the temple, when I have one of theses?" the priest choked and while his face turned white as a sheet "t-that''s... necklace of the apostle" "hmm? yeah it''s nice right, I got it form Info earlier today" "Info... you mean Information, one of the 13!?" "yeah I call her Info" "her!? I see..." the priest stood up again and pointed at Mars "that''s a fake, no way some kid barbarian got a necklace of the apostle from one of the most powerful archangels, hand it over!" Mars gave a slight smile while his eyes turned even colder "sure... here you go" Mars took off the necklace and handed it to the priest "good, now admit your sins and beg for for...give...ness? h...e....l....p" Mars watched the priest being turned into pure black stone and gave a sigh "well then...that just happened" Mars turned his focus to the table the priest was sitting at and walked over and picked up the book, before he gave it a few shakes from side to side "not there... then..." Mars put the book down again and knocked softly on the table before he gave a smile "bingo" Mars searched around on the table and when he pressed a spot a soft click was heard and a small drawer popped out "now what do we have here?" Mars took out a emblem with 8 skulls that he threw aside before he picked up a small pouch which he gave a shake and heard the clings of coins "jackpot" Mars stuffed the pouch in his pocket, closed the drawer and walked away from the table before he waved his hand and made the fire wall disappear "Mars!" Reimud rushed though as the first followed by some guards but they all paused when they saw the priest had been turned into black stone "what happened?" Mars gave a shrug and explained "he said my necklace was fake, so I handed it to him" "that''s... I see so he was cursed" Reimund gave a sigh before he gave 2 claps that made the guards stop the encirclement before he gave a glance the the priest''s hand "we need to get you necklace back... wait here I will send for a stonemason" "no need" Mars gripped his sword and walked up to the statue and breathed out before he took a stance and sent out a lightning quick chop which severed the hand of the statue which he picked up and crushed with his bare hands "there, see easy right?" "whatever you say..." Reimund''s eyelid twitches slightly and the crowd gave a applause as Mars put on the necklace on again "good job kid!" "that priest got what he deserved!" "damn right, he scammed me out off 300 cel over the last 3 months!" Mars gave a slight bow to the crowd, while doing his best to look righteous even as he had pocketed most of the stole money himself and had no plans to give any of it back "do you mind coming back to the mansion? Hanna would like to thank you for healing her" "sure, but do you mind if i register at the guild first?" "no problem, let me show you the way Mars" Reimund gave a smile, he had also been annoyed by the priest which he received numerous complaints for over the last half year, but he could only pass the word on to the main temple in the capital and had yet to hear back from the main temple so he was at a loss about what to do, but now had Mars not only healed his daughter but also gotten rid of the priest, so to say he was happy was a understatement "let''s go" Reimund, Irene and Mars walked towards the guilds and soon arrived, but when Mars saw them head into the hunters guild he stopped the couple "no not the hunters guild, i''m going to the mercenary''s guild" Irene gave a look of surprise "really? but you''re such a good hunter?" "yeah... let''s just say I have other uses for magic cores" "okay then" Irene and Reimund let the way into the mercenary''s guild where Mars took a quick look around ''this certainly looks the part...'' the inside of the guild was split in 3 parts, the guild counters, a guild board with requests and the guild restaurant/bar where most of the non-staff people in the guild was either celebrating a completed request or drinking for a lost comrade, making the overall atmosphere lively to say the least, while most of the people in here was men Mars also spotted some women in the crowd "over here Mars" Mars stopped looking around and walked over to the counter where Reimund and Irene stood and talked with a big rough looking man that stood behind the counter that sized up Mars with a stern but slightly wary gaze "so your Mars?" "yep that''s me" the man looked over Mars once more and gave a slight nod of approval when he saw his pure white bone sword and asked "is that bone?" "yeah, form a class 6 magic beast" "...you''re shitting me right?" "nope, hunted it myself" the man gave a glance to Victoria that followed after Mars before he gave a nod "so, I hear you want to register?" "yeah that''s what i''m here for" the man gave a nod "then follow me, it was nice talking to you Reimund" "you too Alex" Mars and Victoria followed after the man up the stairsthat was behind the counter and into a room on the 2nd floor with a long table with over 50 chairs around it "this is the briefing room, you don''t mind we do the interview here right?" "no problem" the man sat down and gestured to Mars to sit down "then let''s get started" Chapter 54 the barons hospitality 4 Mars pulled another chair closer and patted his lap, then Victoria jumped up and took her usual spot with half her body on his lap and the rest on the other chair "sure, ask away" "okay, first off my name is Alex i''m the guild master here" Mars gave a nod, he had figured that anyone that called Reimund by name could not be simple so he was not to surprised by Alex high standing, but when Alex saw Mars''s lack of reaction he mental added a few points for being calm "then let''s start... have you ever killed anyone?" "sure" "then what did you feel when you did it?" "hmm..." Mars stocked his chin as he thought for some time before he answered "besides the breaking off bone though my hands and the smell of burnt flesh, nothing at all" Alex gave a slight frown but asked the next question "how do you feel about following orders?" "no problem, as long as I like the one that''s giving them or they pay me... or if they are a good looking women then I have no problem" "okay... then what kind of combat capability do you have?" "hmm... sword, bare hands, fire magic and shadow magic... also Victoria here I guess" "oh right you magic beast... if you mind can I ask what type she is?" "no I don''t mind, Victoria will you tell him or should I?" Victoria purred on Mars''s lap until her horns flashed and Alex''s expression changed drastically before he calmed down by letting out a sigh "okay then... moving on, I need your race for the record... you''re not human right?" "nope, well half human at least " "what do you mean?" "I mean i''m half dragon" "....well that explains what I heard about a small sun appearing at the temple earlier" Mars scratched the back of his head but also looked a little proud "yeah that was me" "okay... that''s was it, now it''s just what rank to put you... I don''t really think you want to start at wood right?" Mars went over the ranks in his head form and found wood was the lowest of the 9 ranks "no, that would hurt my pride" "yeah... well the highest rank I can assign you is iron, but that''s only after a live combat test" Mars gave a smile, after all skipping wood and stone before going straight to iron was about the bottom line for his dragon like pride "sure no problem" "good, then let''s go find someone for you to fight against" Alex stood up and walked downstairs again while Mars and Victoria followed him and when he reached the first floor again he yelled out into the crowd "I need 3 iron''s for a combat test, 50 cel per person" "a combat test?" "looks like it" "sure i''m game" "me too!" "look it''s that kid again" "that''s him, the one that blocked the street with fire magic?" "yeah... well i''m going to skip this one I don''t want my face burnt" soon 9 people gathered and Alex chose 3 which he led along with Mars through the backdoor out to a training field that could easily fit 100 people, although only 40 or so was on the field at this moment Mars also noticed that a back door form the hunters guild let here and there was also a bow range off to the side "hey Mars, how did it go?" Mars looked over and saw Reimund, Irene and Elsa was sitting on a blanket off to the side of the field while drinking tea which Elsa poured for the 3 of them "it went fine, i''m going to take a combat test now" Irene gave a smile and waved him closer before she whispered "be sure to hold back a little and don''t injure them to much" "...sure" Mars gave a nod and went back to the group just as Alex yelled "clear the field" the people on the field stopped training and looked over before they cleared the field and formed a crowd that looked at Mars and the 3 other mercenary''s with interest "okay here''s the rules Mars, as long as you beat 2 of the 3 you get to be ranked iron" "...sure" "good, then Fred you''re up first" "on it boss" a mercenary walked out, he was human and held a spear and wore leather armor "good, ready.... START!" Fred took a stance and trusted out with his spear towards Mars which dodged the tip of the spear by leaning slightly to the side while he had his hands down to the side of his body and a bored look on his face "how about this!" the speed of Fred''s thrusts sped up but still all his spear hit was air as Mars dodged with millimeter to to spare, before he stepped in and grabbed Fred''s arm before he threw him into the air and back onto the ground, only braking his fall at the last moment before he mounted him holding his arms down with his knees "...I admit defeat" Mars stood up again and helped Freed up before he looked over at Alex and bluntly said "next" "okay... Mike you''re up" "got it" a man caring a sword and clad in plain clothes like Mars and took a stance bare handed which confused Mars "are you not going to draw your sword?" the man gave a smug smile "not if you don''t?" Mars felt silent as his eyes turned slightly cold before he drew his sword "ready... START!" a gust of wind passed and Mars appeared behind the man and a thin red line appeared on the man''s neck before he turned pale and grabbed his neck "...I admit defeat" the crowd turned silent before it exploded into cheered "wow did you see that!" "no i didn''t, I only saw a blur!" "...me too i guess" Alex gave a nod and looked at Mars with respect before he looked over to the last mercenary and asked "do you want to have a go at the newbie too Jack?" "why not" "Mars what do you say?" "sure" Mars watched Jack walked out, he was a wolf beastman that looked like a wolf walking on hind legs and carried a 2 handed longswords on his back, he was clad in leather armor with a metal plate that covered his chest, Jack''s ears peaked up and asked Mars "is this the first time you have seen a greater beastman?" "is that what you are?" "...I guess that answers my question... anyway I know i''m not your match so can you lower your level to mine and give me some pointers?" "...sure" Mars had no reason to refuse and besides he had been used to sparring with Rex everyday for the past 2 months so he need to find a new sparring partner soon, so Mars lowered his sword and closed his eyes before he gave a wave with his free hand "come at me when your ready" "....are sure?" "yeah, even if you hit me it''s fine as long as I don''t die instantly... besides---" suddenly a formless pressure formed around Mars making Jack and even Alex that was the closest to him after Jack take a step back by instinct "---this seems more fun" "o-okay here i come!" Jack seemed a little nervous but still came forwards as he drew his 2 handed long sword out form his back and slashed down at Mars, only to be sidestepped before Mars sent out a somewhat slow slash which Jack just barely dodged "slow! keep something to dodge, don''t put all into your offence" "y-yes!" "come on! keep moving a slow swordsman is a dead swordsman!" "yes!" Mars slashed at Jack again which the later tried to block with his sword *CLANG* the sword flew out off Jack''s hands and landed a few meters away "keep a firm grip on your sword or this happens!" "yes, master!" "who''s your master!?" Mars slashed out a Jack and forced him back "I don''t remember having such a bad student!" "y-yes!" "good now pick up your sword!" the sound of Mars yelling at Jack could be heard over the next 40 minutes until Jack sat down on the ground panting like a dog with his tongue out his mouth, but still a bright light could be seen in his eyes as he had gained a lot from this training session with Mars, it was not only him some of the swordsmen that had been watching also looked like they had learned something as they went to train with new renewed vigor "well that''s it" Mars opened his eyes, even if it wasn''t much he had also gained a bit by teaching Jack ''maybe i should train some more in the future'' Mars though briefly about this before Alex walked up to him and clapped him on the shoulder "well done Mars" "thanks, is this it?" "yeah all done let''s go get your tag" Mars gave a nod and followed after Alex into the guild while Victoria followed after him like always, the baron couple also followed into the building, and soon Mars and Alex arrived at the counters where Alex took out a necklace and slipped a iron tag into it before he set it into the bottom of a crystal ball which he put his hand on and gestured for Mars to do the same, and after 5 seconds the crystal ball glowed slightly and Alex removed his hand and pulled out the tag and gave it to Mars with a wide smile on his face "here you go Mars, you''re a member of the mercenary''s guild now" Chapter 55 the barons hospitality 5 "thanks" Mars revived the necklace with the iron tag in it from Alex and wore it around his neck with a proud exposition on his face before a though appeared in his head and he spoke it out loud "wait... what does a mercenary even do?" "..." the whole guild fell silent as Mars''s voice wasn''t quiet and Alex almost fell over but Mars had an innocent look on his face and continued "well maybe I should ask the person that recruited me to the guild without telling me anything about it or it''s rules?" "..." this time the silence turned cold as numerous gazes focused on Alex "well... Julia I just remembered I have some paperwork to do, so I leave this to you" Alex showed the work on one of the receptionists and made a tactical retreat up to his office "that fucking muscle head..." Mars turned the receptionist and saw a mature human woman that had a perfect businesses smile while her brown eyes was icy cold, she had short shoulder cut black hair and turned to Mars which made him feel a slight chill before she gave a sigh and the coldness disappeared "well then, let me tell you about the mercenary guild and its rules" "okay" "first off the guild exist to connect people with requests and people who can complete those requests, while protecting both party''s from fraud" "...that makes sense" "a little over 3000 years ago the guild split up forming the hunters and the mercenary guild to better help with getting the right people for the right jobs" Mars gave a nod while Julia continued "the guild have a few rules don''t kill random unrelated people, follow the laws of the country you are working in and once one have accepted a request if you can''t complete it consequence will follow" "what kind of consequence?" Julie''s eyes turned cold for a second before she answered "worst case we hand the party a fault to the country''s authorities, on light offences the guild rank will be revoked or lowered" "I see..." "the mercenary''s guild exists to help the clients with request where people are likely to be the problem such as, escorting, guarding or even long term bodyguards" "then if the problem is magic beast it''s the hunters guild that handles it?" "that right" "then what if the problem is both?" "in that case the client will hire double tags, people that are members of both guilds or just people form both guilds" "okay..." "then do you have any questions?" "hmm... how do one rank up?" "that''s decided by the amount and difficulty of the request one takes, there is also a interview every second rank to check for faults of character" "okay" "anymore questions?" "nope i''m good, thanks Julia" Julia''s businesses smile widen slightly while she gestured to the request board "please let me know if you find a request you would like to take" "I will, see you" Mars said farewell to the Julia and walked over to the baron couple with Victoria in tow "that''s that, i''m a mercenary now" Mars showed them his iron tag that had a small sword on it with a slightly proud expression on his face "congratulations Mars" "thanks Irene" "then do you have anything else to do?" "no, nothing at the moment" "then let''s head back, i''m sure Hanna have been looking forwards to meeting you" Mars, Victoria, the baron couple and their maid Elsa began walking back to the mansion but on the way there Mars detected a well hidden cold gaze that was on him ''feels like a snake... maybe he has something to do with the priest...? meh, whatever'' Mars decide to ignore the gaze and walked back while he talked with the baron couple, where Reimund eagerly asked him to train some of his personal knight and guards which Mars agreed to do next the morning and soon they reached the mansion where Mars and the baron couple went upstairs to Hanna''s room ''talking... most be Jean and Hanna'' Mars could hear talking from outside of the room along with laughter and put a slight smile on his face as he opened the door without knocking and walked in like he owned the pleads with the baron couple following after him "who might you be?" one the bed sat a young adult girl about 16-18 years old that had long yellow hair like her mother which reached her lower back, both her eyes was yellow although her right eye was a few shades paler then the other which slightly enhanced her charm along with the pale lightning ''tattoo'' which spared out over her fair skin form her right hand "Hanna dear, this is Mars he''s the one that healed you" "oh..." Hanna looked Mars over and gave a slight frown form confusion before her face clear up and she gave a sweet slime and bowed while still sitting in her bed "i''m sorry I had expected someone older looking, my name is Hanna Orgrage thank you very much for healing me" "no problem Hanna, I feel no shame in admitting healing such a lovely young lady such as yourself is my pleasure... and also even if I look like this, i''m probably still the oldest person in this room" Hanna gave a slightly confused look before her eyes cleared up and she gave a nod before she asked "you''re not human right?" "nope, well half human, half dragon" Hanna''s eyes sparked "wow... I have only heard about your kind in class, but the professor said half-dragons are extinct... and look more dragon like" Mars gave a smile and sat down on a chair next to the bed and explained "well this is my ''human'' form, because my dad was human i look like this normally, but if I will it I can transform... like this" Mars transformed his hand and long sharp claws rapidly grew out from his fingertips before he showed his hand to Hanna which looked on with sparkling eyes "wow... can I touch them?" "sure go ahead, just be careful they''re sharp" while Hanna carefully touched Mars''s claws Reimund and Irene exchanged a glance and gave a signal to the other servants which left the room along with them "wow, they are really hard and al---" "Hanna do you mind if I ask you a question?" Mars cut off Hanna and looked into her eyes with a serious look on his face which made her a little stunned before she gave a small nod "you have the same mana attribute of lightning, like your mom right?" "that''s... yes mine is the same as mama" Mars gave a nod and carefully took a hold off Hanna''s right hand and lightly traced where her wound had been with his finger "these wounds... were caused by lightning right?" Hanna''s smile disappeared from her face and she cast her eyes down while Mars continued "now if you caused them yourself I have nothing to say about it, but if someone did this to you, then you should tell your parents about it" Hanna remained silent and tried to pull her hand away but found it impossible to remove it from Mars''s grip "or if you want I can tell them, you just have to give a nod" Mars kept his grip on Hanna''s hand and for a while nothing was said in the room until Hanna let out a small whisper which Mars''s ears picked up "...they can''t do anything about it anyway" Mars gave a caring smile, he didn''t know why he cared so much about this but his gut feeling told him that if he let her go now she would die the next time and that would be a waste "I see... I that case it''s even more simple to do something about it" Mars released her hand and with lightning speed he grabbed her by the neck and lifted Hanna up into the air as he stood up from the chair and looked up at her while she struggled to get free as tears formed in her eyes while she squeezed out a word "why....?" Mars gave a ferocious grin as his deep blue eye transformed into blood red vertical slit dragon eyes "they think your weak, and so do I.... so what are you going to do about it?" Hanna''s eyes lit up and tears began to form in the corner of her eyes before she weakly kicked Mars in the chest "that''s right! THAT''S RIGHT! HAHAHHA---" Mars lightly threw Hanna over into her bed while he laughed like a insane person before he turned to Hanna "YOU ONLY HAVE TO FIGHT BACK! HAHAHA---" Hanna looked at Mars with wary eyes but soon remembered he had grabbed her with the hand that wasn''t transformed until Mars''s laughter stopped and he sat down on the chair again and continued with a ferocious smile on his face while his blood red eyes shone with killing intent "now how you fight back is up to you... but if you want to learn, then i''m willing to teach" Chapter 56 the barons hospitality 6 Hanna''s eyes went cold flashed with a strong killing intent that she had hidden deeply when she was talking with her parents before she gave a nod which made Mars''s smile widen "good rest for today and meet me tomorrow morning for training" "okay..." Mars undid his transformation and stood up from the chair and gave a last look at Hanna before he walked out and shut the door behind him and suddenly felt a cold killing intent form the side that seemed to be barely contained and gave a smile before he turned and asked "what can I do for you miss Jean?" it was the demon maid Jean that was glaring at Mars, he had also felt a flash of killing intent form her when he ''lifted'' Hanna up earlier "...if you ever treat the young lady like that again I will kill you" Mars gave a smug smile and asked her "oh yeah? how did that go for you last time?" Mars kept his smug smile on his face and even gestured towards the nearby window which earn him a cold ''hmph'' from Jean before she walked into Hanna''s room and shut the door after herself with a slam "well... if she got me by surprise she might be able to kill me once..." Mars shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the window and half leaned out of it while his elbows rested in the window and looked over the town that was dyed orange in the setting sun for awhile before Elsa called out to him "Mars dinner have been served, this way please" Mars gave a nod and followed after the maid while admiring her back profile with ''pure and righteous'' eyes which earned him a cold remark form Elsa as she looked at him form over her shoulder "...what are you looking at?" Mars gave a slightly embarrassed laugh "well I wonder that myself, it might be a angel for all I know?" "...cheap flattery will get you nowhere" Elsa turned her head forwards again hiding her face from Mars but he still caught sight ofher bushy brown tail slightly swaying, wagging form side to side while she let him the rest of the way and stopped and gestured to a closed door "in there Mars" "...your not going to join?" "no, the servants eat in another room" Mars put on a sad face "oh..." before he got an idea and lit up while he took a step closer to Elsa "then what if it was you day off and outside of the mansion?" Elsa lightly blushed before she put on a smile "maybe if I was invited out by a handsome half dragon?" Mars''s smile widened and took a step closer "that could be arranged" Elsa gave a even sweeter smile "then I will see you in two days time for dinner?" "...sure" Mars watched Elsa walk away and gave a fist pump before he opened the door and stepped into a grand dining room where Reimund stood up from his chair and gave a smile to Mars "there you are Mars, we were just waiting for you please take a seat" Reimund gestured to a seat next to hi, no doubt the seat a seat normally for important guests which surprised Mars a little before he gave a warm smile "in that case i''m sorry for keeping you all" "tch..." Mars gave a slight bow ignoring the man that sat a little ways from Reimund that had his face covered in bandages and sat down nextto Reimund before he remembered Victoria that had been missing for the past few hours "oh by the way Reimund, have you seen Victoria around?" "hmm... I don''t think so, what about you dear?" ".... I think I saw her in the garden sleeping between some of the flowerbeds" Mars gave a nod "that''s good... I thought she had gotten into some trouble, but should I buy some raw meat from you? I would like to feed her after this" "no I can''t let you buy it, please take what you need form the storeroom" "thanks" "umm... do you mind if I ask you a question, Mars was it?" Mars looked over and saw a young woman that was around 25 years old, her smooth black hair was fashioned in a long ponytail that reached the middle of her back, she had sharp light blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with excitement, besides her and the man covered in bandages there was also 2 other men Mars didn''t know in the room, but he could not be bothered and focused on the beauty that had asked him a question "yes my name is Mars, what is your question?" "is it true you cut though the cursed obsidian with one slash?" Mars gave a puzzled look at the woman before he looked over at Reimund that quickly explained what cursed obsidian was "cursed obsidian is what people and objects cursed by the 13 turn into" "oh, in that case yes it''s true" the sparkle in the eyes of the ponytail woman grew stronger before she gave a sigh and a resentful look at the man with bandages on his face "if only I could have seen it, but SOMEONE had to get knocked out which I then had to carry all the way back" "hey, it''s not my fault that commoner had to speak out of line" Mars suddenly felt like he had seen the bandage covered man before put still could not put his finger on where he had seen him until Reimund spoke up and intruded the 4 people "Mars this is my 4 knights, Annabel, Gill, Jeff and Oliver" "oh... nice to meet you guys" "nice to meet you too Mars!" Annabel gave a energetic response, while Jeff and Oliver that looked alike with short brown hair and brown eyes and a similar buff build both gave a nod to Mars "oh don''t worry about Jeff and Oliver they are twins and men of few words" "okay" "well then now that everyone knows each other let''s get the food served" "wait, lord Orbage where is the young master?" Reimund looked over at Gill that had his face bandaged and plainly said "we sent him to the capital, off to the knights academy earlier today after he admitted he had assaulted Mars with 5 mercenary''s... hopefully he can build some character before he comes back home" "I see..." Jeff and Oliver both crossed their arms and gave a few nods, while Annabel gave what looked like a sigh of relief "well with that over, let''s eat" Reimund ringed a small bell and soon servants entered and served the food "oh this looks good" Mars looked over the pies, bread, stakes and even delicious looking salads that was placed on the table with glee while he robbed his hands together, which made Irene give a sweet smile "don''t worry Mars, you eat as much as can here" "don''t worry, that''s what I plan to do" the next 45 minutes was a blur for Mars as he ate what he could while being surprise over how good all of it tasted, even though it wasn''t amazing Mars sure felt so after having lived off fruit and roasted meat for the past 2 months "that''s it.... can''t eat anymore" Mars put down his cutlery after having emptied his plate for food and learned back in the dining chair "well then, now that everyone is done eating I have an announcement to make" Mars looked over at Reimund that stood up from his chair along with the 4 knights while Irene had her usual smile on her face on the side, Reimund looked over the 4 knights and spoke with a wide smile on his face "Hanna have woken up, not only that but the doctor said there nothing wrong with her anymore, she''s perfectly healthy" the 4 knights lit up, this was clearly the first they had heard of it and for a while no one said anything until Gill asked "but... how did the young lady get healed, I saw those wounds and can say for sure that the best healer of the kingdom would not be able to heal her... did you invite someone from the empire lord Orbarge?" when Gill mentioned the empire the other 3 knights expressions dimmed slightly, even the twins Jeff and Oliver had their poker faces go a shade or two darker "no the heal was not form the empire or Destra, but the Mother forest" this time it was Annabel that spoke up "...how did you get the elvers help?" Reimunds smile grew wider "the healer was not a elf, but a half dragon" "a half dragon!" Gill exclaimed and the other 3 also took in a cold breath "dear don''t you think you have teased them enough?" "okay okay, if you say so dear" Reimund sat down again "the one that healed Hanna was... Mars" """"WHAT!?"""" Chapter 57 the barons hospitality 7 not only Annabel and Gill yelled up in surprise also Jeff and Oliver the so far silent twins also yelled out in disbelief as suddenly 4 pairs of eyes filled with gratitude and respect was gathered on Mars ''this feels kind of nice but...'' Mars gave a slight smile before he spoke with a tone that contained slight killing intent "I would prefer if all of you kept silent about this" the nearby servants shook, but the knights and the baron couple kept their cool in the face of Mars''s killing intent ''I would be annoying if people from all over came running, begging me to heal them after all...'' Mars looked around at the people in the room just to drive the point home before he let up onthe killing intent "oh, also Reimund have asked me to train you guys tomorrow so see you then" Mars, not feeling social stood up and walked out off the room and into the hall ''now to find the store room...'' Mars asked some servants and found the way to the store room where he picked out some 10 kilograms of raw meat which he carried out into the garden "Victoria are you here?" "I''m... over here" Mars looked around and saw Victoria was laying in between some flowerbeds like Irene had said and walked over to her "you hungry?" Victoria''s eyes snapped open and she looked at the meat Mars had brought with hungry eyes before her horns flashed "yes... very hungry" "that''s good, this is all for you" Mars and the eager Victoria walked over to a tree where Mars sat down leaning his back against the trunk before he summoned his flame and began to roast some meat for Victoria "Mars..." "hmm...?" "are... we not... going to... do... anything about... that?" "oh ''that''.... hmm, not for the time being I want to see what they do first" "okay..." Mars took a peek in the direction where he felt the cold glance form earlier in the day that still seemed to be following him ''but Victoria is right, it''s starting to get annoying... should I kill them real quick?'' Mars sat for a time and thought about whether it was worth it to hunt down the source of the cold glance when Elsa showed up "I have come to guide you to your room" Mars looked up at her and saw that even though she was working there was a glint off happiness in her eyes that made him show a playful smile "sure lead the way" Elsa also gave a smile before she gave a light bow and gestured "right this way dear guest" Mars and Victoria followed after Elsa into the mansion and up to the 2nd floor where she opened a door and went into a room "this is... nice" Mars looked around in the room, besides the comfy looking bed there was also a writing table with a chair, the room also had a big window overlooking town, his sword and backpack had also been brought to the room "yes dear guest is after all a guest of a baron" Mars gave a smile and asked with a ''pure and righteous'' look on his face "does the barons hospitality come with a personal maid?" Elsa gave a slime and turned around and left the room with her tail slightly wagging "oh well, it was worth a shot" "what...was?" Mars looked over and saw Victoria was standing on the bed frame and pressing down on the mattress with her paws, seemingly in wonder of the softness she felt "I will tell you when your older" "okay..." "well then... status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [21/1000]Constitution [41/2000]Dexterity [32/1500] Intelligence [19/600]Wisdom [32/900]Charisma [23/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] (new) Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 656/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "well not much have changed here... well besides the [Demon dreaming] skill... this must be the skill Info mentioned " Mars looked over his status and saw his energy was running a little low and walked over to his backpack and pulled out the leather pouch with all his cores and coins inside "now let''s see, 1 class 9 core,6 class 6 cores, 1 class 4 core, 8 class 3 cores and 2 class 1 core... for a total off 2532 energy units..." Mars gave a nod satisfied with his current stash of cores and decided to level up his class to level 20 and ate the 6 class 6 cores and the one class 4 core which brought his total energy units up to 1906 energy units "open the upgrade shop" as Mars willed it the half transparent words making up his status changed to the upgrade shop [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 1900 [Energy: basic drain touch] price: 1500 "what did the drain touch do again?" as Mars willed it his [Energy: information] skill activated and showed the information about the skill [Energy: basic drain touch] use cost: none status: locked function: upon activation [Energy: basic drain touch] will slowly drain mana and thermal energy from a target in direct contact with the users hands, converting the drained energy and mana to energy units "hmm... unlock [Energy: basic drain touch]" there was only 1 reason Mars unlocked the drain touch, he was to dependent on magic beast cores so he felt like it was an good investment to unlock the [Energy: basic drain touch] and soon felt the energy units being drained from his body leaving 406 units in his storage as the skill got implanted in his brain "okay, now to level up..." Mars quickly ate the remaining cores "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [25/1000] (up)Constitution [51/2000] (up)Dexterity [36/1500] (up) Intelligence [27/600] (up) Wisdom [40/900] (up)Charisma [27/50] (up) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1738/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "wait a second..." Mars stared at his 1738 energy units and fell silent before calculating and found that the number was right "well then.... never mind leveling up" Mars laid down on the bed and felt a little defeated but also hopeful towards his new skills potential before he reached up and pressed a switch that turned off the lights in the room "...wait a second" Mars sat back up in his bed and flicked the switch again and sure enough the lights turned back on "is this magic...?" Mars stood up from his bed again and walked over to a the small light that stood on the table and turned it on by flicking a small switch and closed his eyes to feel ''there is some kind of energy moving in the lamp... but it''s not mana, even though it feels much like it...well whatever'' Mars opened his eyes again and turned off the lamp and sat back down on the bed where Victoria was already snoring slightly ''let''s just ask about it tomorrow...'' Mars quickly stripped and laid down under the blankets where he quietly circulated his mana accounting to the [Demon dreaming] and soon feel asleep and started to dream "Mars..... Mars wake up" "just a few more minutes...." "oh no you don''t young man!" "oh shit!" Mars feeling danger quickly jumped out off the bed and heard a ''thump'' behind him and opened his sleepy eyes and saw a man with short black hair had just delivered a heel kick to his pillow, the man was about 2 meters high and had a near perfect build with big, but not too big muscles covering his entire body, he wore casual clothes and a homely white ''worlds best dad'' apron "what the fuck dad!?" "HA-HA-HA just as I would expect from my son, you sure dodge well!" Mars was speechless but gave a sigh before he greeted his dad "good morning dad" "and a good morning it is! you remember the old server I brought home yesterday?" Mars lit up, his sleepiness disappeared "did you find something good?" "I sure did my son and it''s old, way back form the early information age I think" "that''s amazing dad!" "HA-HA-HA you can praise me more son! you kno---" "DEAR! cut the crap or you will make Mars late!" "y-yes dear..." Mars''s dad looked slightly defeated but still whispered to his son "I will show it to you later" "okay dad... wait what is this?" Mars finely discovered something wrong as his consciousness started to blur before he blacked out Chapter 58 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 1 Mars woke up and after being confused for a second he remembered where he was ''that dream... it was properly my past life'' Mars spent a few minutes making sure he burnt the contents of the dream into his mind before he gently pushed Victoria that was lying on top of him off and got up and stretched before he put on his clothes and went over to the window and opened it to let in some of the morning air while he woke up a little more he watched to sunrise ''well then, let''s get on with it'' Mars grabbed his sword and left behind the still sleeping Victoria and went out of his room and after navigating the halls like a sailor lost at sea for some time he finally found a exit and went outside and walked over to the empty training yard and sat down before he closed his eyes with his sword in lap ready for use and began to meditate while he listened to the mansion but also the town of Malrton wake up from its slumber. After a while Mars picked up some light footsteps that stopped in front of him "umm... Mars?" Mars heard the voice of a young lady, of Hanna and gave a slight smile but still kept his eyes closed "sit down Hanna we will start when the others get here" "okay..." Hanna sat down and waited along with Mars for some time until the 4 knights Annabel, Gill, Jeff and Oliver also arrived and greeted Hanna with respect and happiness in their voices "well then..." Mars open his eyes and stood up and looked at Hanna and the 4 knights that all was clad in some tightly fitting training clothes "first off I would like to say a few words is that okay?" Mars asked and revived nods form all around, even Gill that had spoken down to him when they first met seemed to have changed his ways and was obedient "good.... there is 3 things in this world people truly respect money, status and personal strength, if your lucky you can earn enough money to live your life in luxury, if you lucky you can earn status to stand above the crowd..." Mars looked at the 5 people in front of him one more time before he continued "if you work hard enough you can become strong! personal strength have nothing to do with luck or birth, it has to do with hard training! and that is what I''m here for, not to train you but to help you get personal strength, to help you get ahead in life" the eyes of the 5 people sparkled, especially Hanna''s eyes seemed to light up "but while I train weak people I don''t train weak willed people..." Mars raised is sword and pointed it at the 5 before he continued "know that the only way to surpass your limits is to surpass them, the only way to break down you mental walls is to run through them!" Mars put his sword up on his shoulder and continued "if you choose to accept my training know that I will push you beyond your limits and injure you badly... well as long as you don''t die instantly I can heal you so it fine" Mars waved his hand with a casual attitude and continued "so if anyone of chose to leave do it now or I will hunt you down and drag your ass back to training" Mars looked at the 5 and saw firm resolution in their eyes and gave a smile as he sat down again "good then as a test run along the edge of the training field" the 4 knights gave a nod and began running only Hanna remained behind and asked Mars a question "umm... how long are we supposed to run?" Mars gave a smile "until you collapse and/or puke" the color drained slightly form Hanna''s face before she clenched her fists and began running after the 4 knights ''good resolve'' Mars silently praised Hanna and closed his eyes again to meditate and for the next few hours all that entered Mars''s ears was the sound of running, at first fast but late slower and slower until he heard a ''thump'' and opened his eyes ''well it makes sense that Hanna is the first one to go'' Mars stood up and walked over to where Hanna was lying on the ground covered in sweat panting but still barely conscious and keeled down next to her and asked "does it hurt?" "yes... it.... does" Mars gave a slight smile and asked "does it hurt more than what they did to you?" Hanna grit her teeth as a cold glint flashed in her eyes "no...." "then what do you prefer?" Hanna clenched her fist and began struggling to slowly get up again "that''s good, you can do this" Mars encouraged her form the side and sure enough after a few attempts she managed to get up right where she slowly began running again "good, very good!" Mars charged his [Energy: healing] skill with 5 units of energy and jogged up besides her and gave her a clap on the shoulder healing her torn muscles slightly and giving her new energy before he went back to his spot and sat down again and looked up at the sun ''let''s give it another hour'' Mars closed his eyes again and went back to meditating, a few minutes later Victoria showed up and took her usual spot on his lap and an hour later Mars finely opened his eyes and lightly said "that''s enough for today" as soon as he said ''today'' 5 people fell down and laid on the ground "good work" Mars went around and gave them all 5 units of [Energy: healing] to help recover before he walked off out into the town with Victoria "where... are... we going?" "hmm... let''s go down to the guild, but first let me get my coin pouch" Mars quickly went back and brought his coin pouch form his room and after checking the contents he counted 18 copper coins and 26 small silver coins ''so assuming 1 silver coin is 100 cel and 1 copper coin is 1 cel, I have 2618 cel...'' Mars still didn''t have any idea if 2618 cel was a lot but judging from the tax for entering town was only 5 cel it sure seemed like a lot of money ''well there''s only one way to find out... but that can wait'' Mars walked out into town with Victoria along the way to the guild he received some looks but most of them was focused on Victoria which seemed to ignore the looks she was getting until her horns flashed "why... are they... looking... at me?" "well, maybe they are admiring your smooth fur?" Mars gave stopped and gave a glance around which made the curious looks fade a bit before he walked onward towards the guild where they arrived a couple of minutes later ''sure is busy...'' Mars looked around the busy guild and saw most people was gathering around the request board and the receptions desks ''let''s try the requests first...'' Mars decided to line up to the request board and soon he could see out some off the request which was mostly bandit subjugation and guard request for merchant caravans going to various cities and towns, but it was another kind of request that caught Mars''s attention mostly because they had his name on them and took a closer look ''what have we here?'' ---Training request--- place: the guild training yard time/duration: not set subject: I humbly ask for guidance in swordsmanship form the master named Mars reward: 500 cel requester: Jack "well would you look at that..." Mars gave a slight smile as he felt his dragon like pride being rubbed the right way for once by being called ''master'' and walked away form the request board and scanned the the guild for Jack and soon found him sitting with his back to him in the cafeteria with some other iron ranks and walked over, on the way he could pick up some of their conversation "I tell you Jim, it''s true just ask anyone there was here yesterday" "I don''t know Jack..." "come on man, when have I ever lied to you?" "that''s right Jim, Jack is as honest as they get these days" "not you too Lina... fine if this so called sword master shows up we can ask him, but i''m not paying 500 cel just for some training" "heh... that''s your loss then Jim" Mars got the gist of what they were talking about and walked up and gave Jack a clap on the shoulder with a smile on his face "hey Jack" "oh there you are Mars, we were just talking about you! this is Jim and Lina" Jim was a human man while Lina was a demon woman, both greeted Mars with some awe and doubt in their eyes "nice to meet you... by the way Jack?" "y-yes?" Mars put some force into the grip he had on Jack''s shoulder "when did I tell you it was okay to plaster my name all over the guild request board?" "...sorry" Chapter 59 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 2 Jack''s ears dropped slightly and Mars removed the hand on his shoulder before he gave a smile "well I don''t really case, just be sure to praise me more next time" "...seriously?" Mars put on a super serious face and gave a nod "seriously" Jim and Lina''s opinion of Mars dropped slightly when they saw Mars''s arrogant behavior but Mars simply glanced over them before he ignored them and gave Jack a pat on the shoulder "well then what are you waiting for?" Jack lit up and stood up before he asked Mars "have you accepted my request?" "no" "but---" "Jack I see you as a friend, and friends don''t take money to beat up friends" "...thanks Mars" "don''t thank me now, do it when we''re done with training" Mars walked towards the training yard with Jack eagerly following after him "... did Jack just leave us behind?" "he sure did... let''s follow and see if this ''sword master'' is as good as Jack says" "... I bet you 200 cel he is Jim" "you''re on Lina" Jim and Line quickly followed after Mars and Jack out to the training yard where they already had gathered a small crowd that made Jim''s face stiffen slightly "go easy on me Mars" "sure, start when you are ready" Mars lifted his bone sword in a casual manner as he readied himself for the training session while Jack put on a serious face as he raised his 2-handed iron sword and inched closer and closer to Mars before he suddenly stepped in and swung the sword down towards Mars "too slow!" Mars easily sidestepped the sword and struck out with his own sword which landed on Jack''s back leaving a mark on his armor, luckily for Jack Mars had struck with the back on his sword or else Jack would have been cut in two "ouch!" "come on, be sure to keep something for dodging the counter attack" "y-yes!" "good then here I come" Mars kicked off the ground and momentarily disappeared before he reappeared in front of Jack and sent a slash towards his 2-handed iron sword sending it flying with a clang before he kicked Jack in the chest "come on! keep a even grip on your sword!" "y-yes Mars!" "good, now pick it up and attack again!" "yes!" while Mars kicked around Jack for the 2nd day in a row the crowd, mostly made of swordsmen looked at the display with sparkling eyes, but not all of the people watching was happy among them Jim had a truly funny face to look at as he watched Jack getting kicked around while Lina next to him had a happy face as she poked him from the side "hey I think you lost the bet" Jim''s face twisted even more, before he took his bow and nocked a arrow and took aim at Mars "if he really is a swords master then he should have no problem dodging this!" "Jim no!" time seemed to slow down for Lina as she watched the arrow fly towards Mars from behind, Jim had not held back as it was aimed at his spine, but when the arrow was only half a meter form it''s target Mars''s arm suddenly blurred and the next moment he had caught the arrow in his hand and turned around yelled "WHO DARE!!!" Mars was truly pissed off, not only was it a sneak attack it would also had been fatal if the arrow had hit it''s mark. the crowd turned silent and quickly took some distance from Jim and Lina pointing out a target for Mars "WAS IT YOU!?" Mars took a steep forwards when he saw the bow in Jim''s hand and instantly the temperature around Mars raised with several degrees as his [Dragon flame magic] was activated by his rage and small flames began to form mid air while Jim went pale and tried to explain "i-it was just a joke" "a joke!?" the flames hovering in the air got slightly bigger "y-yes just a joke!" "I see... A JOKE!?" "HIIII---" Jim continued to back off while he scammed like a pig "YOU CALL THAT A JOKE!?" Mars condensed the flames into spears and made them spin before he fired them at Jim "Mars stop!" Jack yelled out in vain as the fire spears pierced through the air only to pause right before they hit him and disappear into to thin air leaving Jim in a short daze before he pissed himself and passed out forming from the mouth with the whites off his eyes showing "just a prank bruh" "prank?" "it means joke in a ancient dialect, anyway let''s continue Jack... Jack?" Jack looked dazed at Mars for some time before he pulled himself together and asked Mars with awe clear in his voice "you know fire magic Mars?" "hmm? yeah I do, better than the sword in fact" "better than the sword....." Jack fell into a daze again, Mars thinking he was acting weird looked around and saw most of the mercenary''s and hunters on the field looked at him with wary eyes "what?" most people looked away and whispered among each other "is that guy even human?" "no he''s a monster in human skin" "yeah, no way anyone can learn the sword like that and still have time and coins to learn magic" Mars suddenly knew what was wrong and turned to the ones that was whispering and plainly said "guys i''m not human" "so what, you look human?" "yeah for now at least" "yeah, why don''t you prove it!" "sure" Mars pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to his elbow and raised his hand over his head before he transformed it "see?" Mars waved his transformed arm around the guy that had demanded he prove he wasn''t human looked with wide eyes at his claws and the scale spike that grew from his elbow "what...?" "oh hey Jack welcome back" Jack looked at Mars with wide eyes and asked "Mars... what are you?" Mars looked around at the crowd and undid the transformation on his arm "let''s talk somewhere else" "sure, I know a restaurant where we can get a room... Lina your coming too right?" "yeah the usual place right?" "yeah" "sure let''s go" Mars and Victoria that had been sleeping off to the side in the training yard followed after Jack and Lina back though the guild and out on the other side "wait what about your friend... Jim was it?" Lina''s eyes showed a glint of anger before she spoke "that guy is no friend of us anymore, plus when Alex finds out what he did he will skin him alive and then trow him out of the guild" Mars gave a nod and made a mental note not to piss off Alex as the 4 of them arrived at a restaurant/bar and walked inside where Jack greeted the guy behind the counter "hey Zack, you got a room?" Zack looked up from the glass he was polishing and showed a smile when he saw Jack and Lina "sure take the usual room, I will send up Camilla in a second" "thanks Zack" led by Jack and Lina followed by Mars and Victoria vent up the stairs to the first floor and into a private room that was a little small but cosy with a table and 6 chairs there was room enough from Mars and Victoria to take place on one side off the table while Jack and Lina sat down on the other side and looked at Mars with expectant eyes "okay I get it, but first don''t go talking about my race to everybody as only a few amount of people know in town" "I swear on my ancestors" Jack swore while Lina simply gave a serious nod "okay then here goes..." Mars closed his eyes and less then a second later 2 pale horns quickly grew from his forehead while the skin around his eyes suddenly looked scaled and a few seconds later Mars opened his now blood red eyes and looked at Jack and Lina with a slightly smug smile "you may praise my horns now" Jack and Lina was stunned for some time until Lina complemented Mars "yeah your horns sure are... nice" "I know right, not that your horns are bad they are just... you know demon horns" "I knoooooow... what I would give for shiny horns like that, how do you keep them so shiny?" Lina sprawled forwards onto the table and looked enviously at Mars''s horns "well i make sure to bathe in fire a couple of times a months" "would that not make them shoddy?" "no it makes them more shiny, but I don''t think that would work for you, are you using some kind of polish?" "polish for horns?" "yeah i think you should be able to use what craftsmen use for treating bone and scale" "really?" "maybe... just don''t blame me if your horns melt off or something" while Mars and Lina were talking about horns Jack finally woke from his daze "umm Mars?" "yes what is it Jack?" "what race are you?" "oh that, i''m a half dragon" Chapter 60 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 3 "a half dragon..." Jack seemed a little lost in thought before he asked Mars "then are you related to that flaming rose general from the empire?" Lina also lit up "oh yeah I was also wondering about that" Mars looked at them confused and asked "is she also a half dragon?" "yeah she''s super famous... or rather she was..." "was?" Mars became even more confused but Lina soon explained "yeah she they say she died in the rebellion the empire had a last year..." Mars was slightly disappointed that the flaming rose general was dead, this was after all the first he had ever heard off another half dragon "oh... well I''m not related" "I see..." just as the mood in the room got slightly awkward the was a knock on the door which made Mars quickly undo his transformation before Jack stood up and answered the door where a young human girl around 12-14 years old stood, she was clad in a cute waitress uniform that had a smile on her face but instantly became shy when she saw Mars which she didn''t know and hid behind Jack and asked him with a slightly shaking voice "u-uncle Jack who''s that?" Jack gave a smile and keeled down to match the girls height "that''s Mars, you remember the one I told you about yesterday Camilla?" the girl, Camilla gave a nod as her eyes lit up and looked at Mars with a childish smile on her face "WOW then your super strong right Mars?" Mars gave a slightly stiff smile as he got almost blinded by the Innocent child smile''s shine and answered "yeah that''s right i''m super strong" "WOW amazing!" Lina grinned when she saw Mars''s stiff smile and asked Camilla "Camilla can you tell your mom to make us the usual?" "sure big sister Lina, but where is uncle Jim?" Lina put on a serious face and said "Jim is not our friend anymore" "why?" "because he did a bad thing" "okay" Camilla gave a cute nod before she gave a hug to Jack and walked out off the room and closed the door, as soon as the door closed Lina gave a grin to Mars "I didn''t know you were so bad with kids" "well... they are just so... pure that it''s kind of blinding, but don''t get me wrong I like cute things as much as the next person" "speaking of cute, Mars why don''t you introduce us to your friend?" Lina pointed down at Mars''s lap at Victoria that was asleep again "oh, this is Victoria... Victoria say hello to my new friends Jack and Lina" Jack and Lina look at Mars with puzzled faces but when Victoria''s horns flashed their puzzlement turned into amazement and shock it was only a few seconds later Lina spoke with amazement clearly visible on her face "she sure is smart... what kind of magic beast is she?" Mars gave Victoria a few pets on the head before he answered Lina "she''s a shadow death panther" Lina had a blank look on her face and gave a nod but Jack looked more shocked and asked Mars with a slightly shaking voice "i-isn''t that a class 9 magic beast!?" "yeah, but she''s only a cub so don''t worry so much about it" "sure..." Mars suddenly remembered something and asked Jack "hey Jack do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" "no, ask away" "well... your a beastman right?" Jack looked confused but still gave a nod before Mars continued "it''s just, I know another beastman that don''t look nearly as... well beast like" Jack suddenly had a understanding look on his face "that''s because the one you know is a lesser beastman while i''m a greater beastman" Mars still looked slightly confused but still gave a nod before Jack continued "greater beastmen look more beast like then lesser beastmen, and sometimes they also have more beast like instincts then lesser beastmen but not always" "I see..." "there is also rare cases where a beastman is born without any rational will and is completely beast like, but cases like that is one in a million" just as Jack was done talking there was a knock on the door before it was opened and a mature woman walked in carrying a tray with food and drinks with Camilla in tow, Mars saw she looked like Camilla and guessed she was her mother "here is your food and drink" she wore a warm smile on her face as she placed the tray on the table before she asked Lina "what did Jim do this time?" Lina gave a sigh and explained how he had shot an arrow at Mars''s back because of a 200 cel bet with a angry expressions on her face "so that''s why... don''t worry I will tell Zack that he''s no longer welcome here" Mars gave a slight frown and asked the woman "won''t that be dangerous if he causes trouble for your shop?" the woman gave a reassuring smile "don''t worry, both me and my husband is ex-silver mercenary''s we can take care of ourselves... you must be Mars, I''m Ann by the way" "nice to meet you Ann" Ann gave a warm smile "nice to meet you too Mars, be sure to visit us in the future" "I will" Mars watched Ann and Camilla walked out and shut the door after them before Jack picked up a glass with beer and raised it into the air with a toothy grin on his face "here''s to friendship, new and old alike!" Mars and Lina also picked up a glass and clanged it against Jack''s glass """cheers!""" the next few hours was filled with laughter and a lot off beer as the 3 of them drank and talked until the sun was about setting and the party ended "are you sure I don''t have to pay?" Mars asked Jack and Lina on the street outside of the restaurant as they had paid the entire 300 cel bill "no it''s fine Mars, think of it as a welcome feast" "okay, but let me pay next time Jack" Jack gave a toothy grin "sure, until next time Mars" "yeah see you Mars, oh and you too Victoria" Mars waved goodbye to Jack and Lina that walked off into the night and began to walk back with Victoria in a happy mood ''friends huh....'' Mars briefly scanned the scattered memory of his last life and failed to find anyone he could call friends and gave a sigh ''well I guess it''s fine now...'' Mars and Victoria walked through the near empty streets until suddenly the smile disappeared from Mars''s face as he stopped while 6 masked men armed with daggers that gave off a strong smell of poison suddenly surrounded him and Victoria which made Mars give a sigh before he casually gave Victoria a stroke on the head before he spoke "you take the 3 behind" "okay..." the 6 masked men felt like they were being underestimated and attacked with near perfect teamwork as they closed in on Mars and Victoria with their daggers raised, clearly looking for blood "fools..." Mars pulled his sword from his belt and parried a thrown dagger before he kicked off the ground and sent a lightning fast slash which decapitated one off the men, meanwhile Victoria had near instant killed 3 men with 6 darkness spears, only one off the men was barely breathing while he screamed in pain, nailed to a nearby wall by 2 spears "shit! how the fuck is this a iron level mercenary!?" the 2 remaining men, horrified by the display of slaughter turned tail and ran for their life "not so fast" Mars easily caught up to the first one and cut him in two before he threw the upper part off the dead assassin and knocked over the last one and immobilized him by putting him face down on the street with a knee each on his arms "i''m only going to ask once... who sent you" the assassin showed unwillingness in his eyes and kept silent "oh well..." Mars was about to finish off the assassin when he remembered his newly unlocked skill [Energy: basic drain touch] "let''s try this then..." Mars grabbed the neck off the assassin and activated the skill and instantly the helpless assassin started to struggle, but within 5 seconds he stopped struggling as his face got blue before it turned into a dried up husk stunning Mars slightly as he felt 10 energy units flow into him "how is this only the basic drain touch... oh well" Mars got off the dead assassin and after a quick pat down he found a familiar emblem with 8 skulls on it "wait, didn''t the priest have one of these too?" Mars pocketed the emblem and quickly burned the corpses of the dead assassins before he continued his walk back to the baron''s mansion with Victoria Chapter 61 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 4 Mars arrived at the mansion and vent to see Reimund, only there was one problem "I still don''t know the layout off the mansion..." Mars looked around the endless corridors and finely swallowed his pride and asked directions for Reimund''s office and soon found it with the help off some helpful servants and knocked on the door "come in" Mars opened the door and was hit by the smell of old paper as he stepped into Reimund''s study, 2 off the walls was lined with bookshelf and the last wall had a big window that let in the evening sun, Reimund himself was sitting behind a desk and was filling out some documents when Mars walked in "oh Mars, what do you need?" Mars took out the emblem and laid it on the table were Reimund picked it up and inspected it with a deep frown on his face before he looked up and asked Mars "where did you find this?" "I picked it up form a assassin that tried to kill me just now" "that''s... I see..." Reimund leaned back in his chair and massaged his temples for some time before he gave Mars a serious look "it''s better if you stay in the mansion for awhile" "why?" Reimund gave a sigh and picked up the emblem and played around with it for awhile before he spoke with a heavy tone "i''m a new noble so I don''t know the details but it''s said that the 1st prince pissed off some people with this exact same emblem right before he died" "so that means they even kill royalty... that''s perfect" Mars gave a wide smile which made Reimund''s frown deeper before he asked "why is that perfect, didn''t you hear what I just said?" Mars showed a toothy grin as he picked up the emblem again "well that means there''s a giant bounty on anyone that has one off theses right?" Reimund gave a sigh and after a long time he spoke again "they are called the 8 heads, if you find a outpost in my town you are free to burn it to the ground" "will do" Mars gave Reimund a wave and walked out off his office and closed the door after him and turned to Victoria and asked with a ferocious grin on his face while he clutched the hilt of his sword "what do you say we go hunting?" Victoria''s eyes lit up as she started purring while her horns flashed "hunting... fun... let''s go" "yeah but let''s bring one more person..." "who...?" Mars gave a smile and walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor and knocked on Hanna''s door "who is it?" "it''s me, and Victoria" "...please come in" Mars opened the door and walked into Hanna''s room where he saw Hanna and Jean, Hanna had her long yellow hair braided and wore a pajamas while Jean wore he usual maid dress and frowned slightly when she saw Mars "hey Hanna, your up for some extra training?" Hanna''s face paled slightly, she was still sore from the mornings running and feared what kind off training this demonic half dragon had for her "don''t worry you don''t have to run" Hanna gave a sigh and after a little while she gave a nod "in that case i''m ready for training" "good then change into some combat capable clothes and meet me at the front gate... bring Jean too" "okay...see you there" Mars walked back out off the room and vent downstairs and out to the gate and sat down to wait and a few minutes late Hanna and Jean showed up, Hanna was clad in a mage like robe and carried a staff with a small gem on the tip while Jean had her dagger on the outside off her skirt "so what kind off training is this?" Mars gave a smile and gave Hanna his left arm while slightly bowing "it''s my honor to escort you young lady" Hanna showed a puzzled expression but still took Mars''s arm as they both walked into the night town "...what kind off training is th---" "how are you with blood?" Mars cut off Hanna that had asked him again "well... bad?" "hmm... in that case it''s image training tonight" "image training?" "yes image training" "okay...?" the group off 4 walked into the night and soon Mars felt a cool gaze and gave a slight smile while he gave a glance at Jean and mentally rated her performance ''2 outta 5 stars... she has noticed the gaze but doesn''t know where it is... plus it shows on her face'' the night was quiet, besides the noise that sometimes came form inns and pubs it was dead quiet on the street ''there here...'' Mars suddenly stopped and looked at Jean "whatever you do, don''t touch the blades" Jean showed a confused expression but soon began to look around before she suddenly showed a hint off panic and grabbed Hanna''s hand and tried to run away with her "young lady this way, quickly!" "what are you doing Jean?" Hanna was confused but still sensed the unease Jean gave off and became slightly nervous and began took look around which made Mars give a sigh before he explained "today''s training is image training, basically i''m going to get you used too seeing blood" "blood? what do you mean Mar---" "young lady watch out!" Jean suddenly pulled Hanna extra hard and freed her from Mars''s grasp *CLANG* "eh...?" Hanna looked back and saw a dagger was laying on the street where she had just been standing "what is...?" Hanna paled slightly while Mars drew his sword with a sigh "it''s too early to go pale..." Jean suddenly flared up when she realized they were surround "you asshole! if the young lady gets as much as a bruise I will carve you a new one!" Mars gave a relaxed smile and looked out into the darkness while he raised his left hand with a light frown on his face while he circulated his mana "let''s see... it was like this?" soon a ball off darkness appeared like it was condensed by pure darkness, it was the size of an apple and floated above his hand before he lightly grasped it in his hand as his ears peaked slightly and kneeled down and whispered something to Victoria "okay..." Victoria turned into a shadow and disappeared form where she stood "well then, COME ON WE DON''T HAVE ALL NIGHT!" as if provoked by Mars''s yell figures clad in black cloths carrying daggers stepped out of the darkness, this time there was 12 in total and they all had cold eyes that carried thick killing intent when they looked at Mars "I don''t suppose you want to surrender?" the assassins remained silent as they closed the encirclement and drew closer to the 3 people "well didn''t think so" Mars brought up his sword and summoned 2 fire spears which hovered over his shoulders while a cape made off fire appeared behind his back as he kicked off the ground and momentarily disappeared from mortal eyes before he reappeared silently like a reaper outside off the encirclement and slashed the first assassin in half by the waist while the 2 fire spears pierced through the back off the head off another 2 assassins "that''s 3!" the group off assassins was instantly spit up as the remaining 3 on Mars''s side charged at him while the other 6 attacked Jean and Hanna where one off them had his neck cut off by Jeans swift dagger as her face and dress was splattered in blood "young lady, just stay behind me!" on the other side Mars was sitting on the drained husk of a assassin while the other was plastered on the wall held up with his darkness glue and struggling as Mars gave a yawn and watched the show as he yelled to Hanna "Hanna, Jean isn''t going to hold up if you drag her down" Hanna shook slightly, she was clutching her staff so hard her hands had turned pale like her face before she pulled herself together slightly and yelled out to Mars "i-i can''t, Mars help!" Mars gave a sigh but didn''t stand up from his ''seat'' as he watched Jean take down another assassin bringing the total she was facing down to 4 "young lady you can do it, I believe in you!" "b-but!" Mars gave another sigh ''looks like she frozen... sorry about this'' "then are you going to let them go?" "n-no Mars you can take them down!" "i''m not talking about them... are you going to let them go, the ones that did ''that'' to you?" "...no" Mars gave a slight smile as some resistance finally showed on Hanna''s face "THEN FIGHT FOR FUCK SAKE!" Hanna closed her eyes and a few seconds later small amount off electricity began to jump around in her hair in form off small bolts off lightning while the gem at the tip off her staff lit up sightly before she opened her eye and yelled "chain lightning!" *BANG* with a thunderclap a lightning bolt shot out off her staff and hit a assassin and roasted him thoroughly before it shot out off him and hit another that suddenly gave off smoke and fell to the ground dead "...well done" Mars appeared behind the last 2 assassins and relieved them off their heads with a slash off his pure white bone sword Chapter 62 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 5 Mars finished cleaning up the corpses with his flame and looked over at Jean that was rubbing Hanna on the back and holding her hair while she was puking at the side off the road with a pale face "good job Hanna" Mars walked over and gave her a pat on the shoulder while Jean shoot her a glare from the side which he ignored and gave a glance at the only assassin that was still alive stuck to the wall ''hurry up dude...'' "d-did I do well Mars?" Mars gave her another pat on the shoulder "yeah you did well, way better than expected" a little collar returned to Hanna''s face as she gave a weak smile and passed out as Mars quickly caught her "got you, sleep well" Mars pulled her up in and carried her in his arms and gave a look to Jean that was still glaring at him "what?" Jean gave a sigh and looked away before she spotted something at make her grin and gave Mars a poke as she spoke in a sarcastic voice "oh no! looks like you prisoner escaped" Mars looked over and gave a sigh before he looked at Jean and spoke in a equally sarcastic voice "oh no! whatever will we do, if only we had someone to follow him back to his hiding hole" "you... nice one" "did you just praise me?" "nope" Jean gave a huff and turned away "well then let''s put the princess back to her castle" Mars carried Hanna back to the mansion while Jean followed and soon they reached the mansion where Mars handed Hanna to Jean as a thought popped up in his head as he called out to Jean "hey Jean, come over here for a second" "what?" "just come here" Jean walked closer to Mars while she carried Hanna in her arms where Mars reached up and patted her on the head "good work" Instantly a blush spread on Jean''s face "w-w-what are you doing!?" "hmm? i''m praising you" "s-stop that!" "ouch, ouch! don''t kick me!" "...humph!" Mars rubbed his sore shin while he watched Jean walk into the mansion and sat down next to the gate and waited for some time before Victoria appeared in front off him as she jumped out of a shadow "did you find them?" "yeah... but there''s... a lot" "a lot huh... well we need to hunt them down tonight since they saw Hanna and Jean... bedsides I have a date tomorrow... yeah let''s do this now, lead the way" Victoria stopped, sat down and tilted her head to the side before her horns flashed "what''s... a date?" Mars paused "well... it''s when 2 people that might be romantically involved go out and have fun?" "2 people... then... who are... you going... out with?" "Elsa" "...okay, follow... me" Victoria ran off into the night while Mars followed after her though complex routes that gradually led out off the town center towards the wall and soon they arrived in area with a lot off storage buildings "over...there" Victoria pointed with her paw towards a storage building that looked kind off shoddy "okay, let''s go get this over with..." Mars sneaked up to the door and found it unlocked and went into the building where a maze was formed by stacked wooden boxes "be careful there might be traps..." Mars drew his sword and led the way forwards down the path that had the most ware on the floor and soon spotted a thin wire that crossed the pathway ''that''s one...'' Mars stopped and looked around the wooden boxes and crates before he looked up and saw a net filled with metal junk was suspended above the trigger to the trap "watch out Victoria... see this wire?" "yeah...?" "it''s a trap" "...why did... you... do a... strange voice?" "...never mind" Mars steeped over the wire and walked continued on his way until he reached a seemingly dead end and sheathed around before he stopped and looked at the wooden crate in front off him and walked over to it "...surely it''s not so simple?" Mars lifted the top off the crate and saw a ladder that led down to the basement inside the crate "sure was... it''s down here Victoria" Mars vent down the ladder as silently he could and looked around a empty narrow corridor with a reinforced iron door at the end "bingo..." deciding he had been silent long enough Mars walked up and kicked the door with almost all his strength *BANG* the door flew off the wall and clashed into a wall with a loud clang "HONEY I''M HOME!" Mars walked through the now empty doorway and saw a man that seemed to have nearly fallen over form shook sitting in a chair near the door "who the fuck are you!?" the man reached for a loaded crossbow as he yelled at Mars with fury in his eyes "I wonder that myself sometimes!" not feeling like talking a crossbow bolt to the face Mars kicked off the ground and delivered a stab to the man''s neck with his sword and after the light disappeared in his eyes Mars picked up the crossbow with a sparkle in his eyes "neat..." Mars wanted to admire the crossbow some more but picked up some hurried footsteps and soon more men with swords this time burst through a door and after they saw the dead man on the floor they slashed at Mars with their swords, their swordsmanship was even half decent not that it mattered for long as they were almost instantly nailed to the wall by some well placed shadow spears "nice shot!" Mars ran through the door they had come form and came face to face with another 3 men which he quickly kill with his sword before he scanned the room and saw 2 doors, one was a normal wooden door and most likely led to a barracks of some sort while the other was reinforced like the entrance door "I leave the other way to you!" "okay..." Victoria shot a few shadow spears and broke down the wooden door before she ran through it and soon some anguished screams sounded out form the broken door as Mars faced the other door and took a deep breath before he took a stance and raised his sword "BREAK!" Mars slashed down and cut though the iron door and the hinges on the other side before he kicked the door in and stepped through the now empty doorway into a office like room and looked around before he gave a sigh and turned around with a grin on his face "looks like this is empty!" Mars took a few steps back into the other room before he suddenly turned and fired the crossbow "ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!" Mars raised the crossbow and gave it a quick kiss before he turned around and saw a fat man clad in expensive clothes that had been hiding under the desk clutching his shoulder where a bolt had hit him a second earlier "you really should get better at hiding dude..." Mars stepped back into the office room with a grin on his face as the fat man half collapsed down on the chair that stood behind the desk while he glared at Mars and yelled "do you even know you''re fucking with!?" "nope---" Mars walked up to the desk and stabbed his sword though the head off the fat man that looked at him with wide eyes "---sure don''t" Mars pulled out his sword and walked back out the room and yelled "Victoria, you done?" half a second later another anguished scream sounded out from the behind the broken down door before Mars received a telepathic message "now... I... am" about 30 seconds later Victoria jumped back though the broken door where Mars kneeled down and gave her a few pets on the head "good job, Victoria... now let''s loot the place" "okay..." Mars walked back into the office and cut the expensive looking carpet into a makeshift sack before he decapitated the fat man and stuffed his head into the sack and kicked his headless body off the chair and sat down "now if I were a 150 some lard ass where would I hide my coins... in here for sure..." Mars doubted the fat man would hide valuables outside off his office and opened one off the drawers "now what do we have here?" Mars digger through the drawers but besides a couple off important looking documents which he rolled up there was nothing in the drawers "well that was disappointing... I''m sure Reimund can use theses documents though..." not having satisfied his greed for loot Mars looked around the office one more time and stopped his glance on a painting that hung on the wall and walked up to it "please be a safe.... YES!" Mars did a fist pump as soon as he removed the painting where a steel safe was hidden behind "now to crack this big boy open..." Mars took a couple of steps back before he raised his sword and took a deep breath ".....HA!" Mars gave a low shout as he slashed down and though the safe with his sword before he quickly walked up and opened the safe "...jackpot" Chapter 63 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 6 Mars''s eyes sparkled like the inside of the safe, there where 2 red gemstones and a fat sack of coins along with what looked like a raw piece off blue colored glass that was somewhat transparent "...well finders keepers" Mars quickly emptied the safe but when he picked up the piece of raw glass he felt a jolt coming form it and let it go "...wait a minute" Mars poked the raw glass piece again and felt the same jolt only this time a smile spread on his face "this seems like pure mana... but how is that possible?" Mars''s understanding of mana came from the elvers of the Mother forest, that had told him mana was the aura of the soul, but this piece off raw glass seemed to be made of pure mana "well whatever" Mars cut up more of the carpet and made another sack which he used to pick up the piece of raw glass "well then... let''s get back to the mansion" "okay..." Mars and Victoria left the underground area and when they passed the trap in the storage building Mars set it off and sure enough the net filled with junk metal fell down on the path with a loud clang "just for safety''s sake..." On the way out off the storage building Mars picked up a empty crate and placed it in the middle off the road before he lit it on fire and sat down and waited and within a few minutes a few guards showed up, one of them gave Mars a questioning look while the other began to put out the fire "what happened here? and who are you?" "my name is Mars, I''m a guest of the barons and I have just wiped out a outpost belonging to the 8 heads by orders of the baron" The guard widened his eye slightly before he asked "...and how do I know you are telling the truth?" "well you could ask Reimund yourself, but this will be faster..." Mars pulled out his necklace of the apostle and showed it to the guard "s-s-sorry for doubting you sir apostle!" The guard clearly panicked and gave a deep bow "I don''t mind, you are just doing your job... the outpost is through that door, take the middle path and after the net with metal junk is a fake crate where the underground entrance is located... how are you with blood?" "blood sir?" Mars gave a sigh "let''s just say they didn''t surrender..." The guard took a glance at Mars''s sword before he gave a nod "understood, we will take it from here... hey you call after reinforcements, I will stand guard here" "yes sir" Mars stood up and gave a wave too the guard before he and Victoria began walking back to the Mansion when Mars gave a sigh as he looked up at the stars "what''s...wrong?" "hmm? oh I''m just a little tired that''s all..." "okay..." Mars and Victoria both remained silent until both off them returned back to the mansion where Mars left the bloody sack outside on the training field and went up to his room with Victoria where he put the sack with coins, the 2 red gemstones and the sack with the raw piece off glass on the table and sat down on the chair "okay first off the coins..." First he began to take out the coins one by one and stacked them on the table to count but quickly ran into a problem as most off the coins in the sack was small gold coins which he had no idea how much was worth "well there''s 4.000 cell just in silver coins so that''s something... as for the gems and the piece of raw mana glass I have no idea... let''s just go to sleep" Mars took off his clothes and laid down on the bed and quickly fell asleep while he used the [Demon sleep magic] "Mars... Mars wake up we''re almost there" Mars opened his eyes and looked out the window and saw high rise building zooming past along with a constant stream off flying cars like the one he was riding with his dad and asked while rubbing his eyes "why do we have to live so far away form grandpa anyway?" His dad remained silent clearly in a sour mood form having to visit his dad whom he was in a bad relationship with since he had married his current wife that was Mars''s mom "what does grandpa even want anyway dad?" Mars''s dad gave a sigh "he wants the contract fulfilled" "what contract?" "the one i sighed when I married your mom and left the family" Mars became even more confused, but seeing his dad''s sour mood he refrained from asking as the flying car flew into a parking loot halfway up a building where both off them stepped out and saw a man in a military uniform waiting on them that gave a salute to Mars''s dad "this way please, the general is waiting" "lead the way" Mars looked up at his dad and saw he had a stern face while both of them followed after the man into the building and after a while both off them ended up in front off a door where the Man gave another salute and left "dad?" Mars''s dad broke his stern face and keeled down and rubbed his son on the head and said in a calm tone "don''t worry son, both me and your mother will always love you" Mars sprung up in the bed, outside the first signs off the morning sun could be seen as the sky gradually turned bright "I see, so my parents loved me..." Mars felt happy and sad at the same time and wiped his face where a tears had been streaming down before he got out of bed and put on his clothes and grabbed his sword, the documents he had obtained yesterday and went down to the training field where he sat down next to the sack which had made a small bloody lake around it and started to meditate while he waited for the 4 knights and Hanna to show up, and soon Mars heard one set off footsteps that stopped at the edge off the field and sat down "good morning Mars" "''morning Hanna..." "erm... what''s in the sack... the one that''s bleeding?" "it''s a gift for your dad, could you go get him for me?" "sure..." Hanna stood up and left the field and a few minutes later Mars noticed 2 sets off footsteps approached the field one off them gave a yawn "what is it Mars, Hanna said you had a gift for me?" Mars''s eyes snapped open before he stood up and picked up the sack that was still dripping blood in one hand and the documents in the other and faced Reimund "yes I do, I have in fact 2 gifts for you" Reimund narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the sack dripping blood, but he remained silent as Mars continued "last night I was on a outing when a group off the 8 head assassins attacked me, afterwards I sought out you for permission to wipe out the outpost off the 8 heads in town which you gave me right?" "yeah I did..." Reimund still looked puzzled but Mars gave a wide smile and raised the bleeding sack slightly "what you don''t know is that after I revived permission I attacked and wiped out the outpost here in Malrton and now I bring you 2 gifts... one is the ''head'' of the outpost and the other is the documents that was in his office" Shock appeared on Reimund''s face as he looked first at the sack then at Mars and then at the documents before he calmed down with a sigh "...good job Mars, I will see if I can get a bounty for you... also if you endanger my daughter again I will throw you out" "what?" "you heard me" "SIR, YES SIR!" "very good" Reimund took both the documents and the sack and left Mars and Hanna alone on the field where Hanna asked "what are today''s training?" Mars gave a smile and went over to a rack with training equipment where he picked out 2 wooden swords and threw one off them too Hanna while he asked "how''s your swordsmanship?" "...this is the first time I''m holding a sword" "oh... don''t they have sword training at the academy?" Hanna gave a look of disbelief before she gave a sigh "no, it''s called Destra''s magic academy for a reason..." "oh... I see, then do you have any interest?" "no, not really..." "okay, then hit me with your sword as a start" "...really?" "really" "okay then here I go" Hanna raised her wooden sword and brought it down on Mars with clumsily movements that Mars quickly sidestepped "slow and clumsy, grab the hilt properly!" "y-yes!" Hanna brought the sword up again and gave a slow slash at Mars which he effortlessly dodged again "slow! again" "yes!" Hanna''s sword continued to hit air for the next few minutes but Mars was astonished as her speed off improvement was fast ''she''s gripping it nicely now, her stance is better and her sword is almost double the speed...'' Mars looked at Hanna and decided to put a lot more sword training in the future training program Chapter 64 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 7 While Mars and Hanna spared the 4 knights showed up and watched form the edge of the field as Mars trained Hanna "that''s good, but keep a even grip on the hilt!" "yes!" As the 4 knights watched Annabel asked Gill "hey Gill" "what?" "since when did the young lady train with a sword?" "since... wait, she doesn''t right?" "no... but those aren''t the moves of an amateur, her [Swordsmanship] is at least level 1... maybe she trained in secret?" "maybe..." As the knights were confused but Hanna''s show off skill Mars sent her wooden sword flying with a slash and looked over at the 4 knights "good you''re all here, go pick up a wooden sword" after the 5 people was ready and lined up on the field Mars spotted Elsa of to the side, she was dressed in casual clothes and looked ready for their date as she gave Mars a wave "okay let''s see.... I''m in a good mood today so training is going to be quick" Annabel gave a light frown "what do you mean quick?" Mars gave a smile "it''s simple, I''m going to beat you up with this wooden sword" "how''s that training..?" "I''m going to hit the weak points in your defense, so try to adjust or don''t it''s up to you guys" The 4 knights gave a nod and slipped into a stance while Hanna followed suit "okay then, here I come!" Mars''s figure turned into a blur and almost instantly 5 smacks sounded out as he appeared behind the 5 with a grin on his face "what, was that too fast?" Annabel keeled down, Mars had hit the side of her thigh which had made her lose feeling in her leg while Gill took himself to his arm and the twins both felt pain in their sides, only Hanna gritted her teeth and turned to face Mars without covering her side where a bruise was slowly forming "damn he''s fast... and cheeky too, Gill let''s get him!" "on it!" Gill and Annabel went on the offence and coordinated a attack on Mars witch he easily dodged while delivering new smacks with his sword at them "you guys sure are lively, well then let''s step it up!" What followed for the next 30 minutes was Mars beating or rather training the group off 5 until they were covered in bruises, but still they were happy as all of them had managed to improve their defenses somewhat even though no of them had managed to block a single strike from Mars "well then, that''s that..." Mars healed all off them with 10 units of energy each and put away his wooden sword before he walked over to Elsa that was waiting for him, she wore a rather cute but slightly plain light blue dress which made Mars''s eyes sparkle slightly "sorry to keep you waiting Elsa" "I don''t mind, besides I got to see how strong you are, or at least how fast" "I see... well then, let me go get something real quick and then let''s go" Elsa gave a sweet smile as she grabbed Mars''s arm, making Mars feel a piece of heaven though the softness on his arm "okay" The 2 of them went up too Mars''s room where Mars quickly grabbed the coins off the table and stuffed some into his pocket before he turned around and saw Elsa was stunned "what''s wrong Elsa?" Elsa remained in a daze a second longer before she looked at Mars and gave a sigh "I didn''t know you were so rich..." "rich?" Mars looked puzzled before he looked at the gold coins and asked "how much are theses worth? 10.000 cel?" Elsa gave a sigh before she spoke "no, they are 100.000 cel each... that''s 3 times my yearly salary..." Mars looked at Elsa for a second before he walked over to the table and picked out the piece off raw glass and asked "then how about this?" Elsa became stunned again and after a few seconds she gave a sigh "that''s a mana stone and looking at the size it''s worth at least 250.000 cel..." "a mana stone?" Seeing Mars was still confused Elsa continued "right, you came from the forest..." Elsa reached out and turned on the lights by hitting the switch on the wall "all the lights in the mansion is powered by a mana stone in the basement, also the one in the basement is the size off a egg and is expected to last for 5 years, where did you even get one so big?" Mars looked at the coconut sized mana stone and gave a sigh "from the local outpost off the 8 heads, when I cleared them out last night... the gold coins are also from there" "the 8 heads... well that makes sense..." Mars looked at Elsa that still was slightly dazed and quickly stuffed some gold coins in his pocketbefore he gave a smile "well then since I''m now filthy rich let me treat you today" "really?" "sure, I mean I don''t even know what I would spend all this cel on" Elsa''s eye lit up as she gave a smile "then let me introduce you to a nice place I know" Elsa grabbed Mars''s arm and dragged him out off the mansion and into the town and after a few turns the 2 off them stood in front off a old looking smithy ''is this what she means by a ''nice place''?'' Mars was slightly dazed as he had expected some clothing shop or a pastry with cakes ''well she is weapon trained with her daggers, so I guess it makes sense...?'' Elsa, oblivious to Mars''s mental state dragged him into the smithy the had swords and armor on stands all over but no signs off any people as the counter was empty "old man, you here?" Elsa yelled out in the empty shop and soon a old man with gray hair showed up form the door behind the counter and greeted Elsa "hey there Elsa" The old but robust man greeted Elsa before he looked at Mars and how Elsa was hugging his arm and asked with a smile on his face "who''s this?" "this is Mars, Mars this is the old man that runs the shop" "oh so you Mars, nice to meat you... so are you here to have your daggers serviced again Elsa?" "no we''re here to find some armor for Mars" Mars looked a little confused "we are?" "yeah you''re a mercenary so you need some armor at some point right?" "well... yeah sure, but it needs to be custom" the old man gave a nod as he took out some paper, a piece off charcoal and a piece of string "come here Mars, I need some measurements if you want custom armor" "sure" Elsa let go off Mars and followed him over to the counter where the old man stepped out and started to measure Mars while he asked "what kind of armor do you want?" Mars remained silent for a few seconds before he answered "well first off I need to be able to have full mobility and be able to put it on myself... besides that you can make it as heavy as you want" "hmm... okay, anything else?" "oh yeah I want a sheath for my sword here" Mars drew his sword and handed it to the old man that widened his eyes slightly "good sword... it''s magic beast bone, while the craftsmanship is mediocre at best it seems to have been reinforced by some sort off energy or mana..." Mars widened his eye slightly, while he also had noticed a change in his sword he didn''t expect a mortal smith to notice it "well it''s a good sword... sure I''ll make a sheath for it" The old Man quickly took some measurements and gave a nod before he looked at Mars and asked "how''s your budget?" Mars smiled and pulled out 3 small gold coins and laid them on the counter "that''s the advance" The old man''s eyes lit up and he could not help but take another look at Mars before he gave a sigh and showed a determined expression "in that case I will make the best armor I have ever made" "oh right, one more thing..." Mars pulled up the sleeve on his shirt while he asked "think you can make it so some parts of the armor will pop out if you press them from within?" "...sure, but why?" Mars gave a smile and transformed his arm and showed off his claws and the scale spike that grew from his Elbow "that''s why" "oh... okay then" "besides on both elbow there should also be some spots on the knees and 2 spots on the forehead if you make a helmet" The old man stroked his beard "I can do it on the knees but no way on a helmet sorry, it would make it too weak" "well then skip the helmet please, it would just get in the way of my horns" "okay... give me 2 days and I will have it done" Mars gave a nod and presented his arm to Elsa again with a grin on his face "where to now my lady?" Elsa grabbed Mars''s arm again as the 2 off them walked out of the smithy "hmm... it''s a little early but let''s get some food and then shop for some clothes" "sure" Chapter 65 daily life and the hunt in Malrton 8 After eating a light meal at a cafe Mars and Elsa continued shopping around, mostly for clothes for Mars since he only had his self made pair of shorts, a damaged vest and the set he got form the mansions storage room and after visiting several shops Mars''s left arm, the one Elsa wasn''t cling on to was filled with shopping bags while the 2 of them were chatting "wait... really?" "yeah really, it was about 8 meters tall" Elsa tilted her head and stared into Mars''s face, scanning it before she gave a amazed look at his bone sword "a class 6 earth bear... that most have been something" "yeah and the meat was good too... I might show you what''s left of the hide someday, that is if it''s still where I left it" Elsa''s eyes lightly sparkled "I would love to" as the 2 of them talked Mars spotted a shop out off the corner off his eye and got interested "let''s go check out that shop" Elsa looked over and after a moment she gave a nod and dragged Mars after her into the shop, her grip had gotten even tighter over the day but as Mars was no mere mortal he could handle it... somewhat ''feels like my hand has lost all it''s blood... oh well it''s a fair price'' Mars once again put on a ''pure and righteous'' face as he enjoyed the soft feeling that his right arm was enjoying, that is besides the dead man''s grip that kept it in place "hey Mars look at that..." Mars snapped out of his daze and focused on the thing Elsa was pointing at, it was a piece of jewelry made from what looked like silver with a small cut gemstone, overall it was a elegant looking ring with a expensive look to it "yeah... it sure is nice..." Mars became a little more drawn in until he felt a small amount of energy coming from the ring "wait is that a mana stone?" "indeed it is dear customer, or to be precise it''s a spent mana stone" Mars looked up and saw a elegant old man standing behind the counter that had a slight smile on his face, but Mars gave a slight frown as he felt something was wrong with his eyes and looked at another piece of jewelry, putting his focus on a gold ring with a red gemstone Mars made another guess "and that gold ring has a cut garnet, no a low quality ruby right?" "indeed, that one is a little under the standard of this store but it was made by the owners son" "I see... Elsa let''s go" "huh... okay Mars" Mars led Elsa out off the store and gave sigh which made Elsa slightly concerned "what''s wrong Mars?" "something was wrong with that guys eyes... it gave me the creeps" Elsa tilted her head slightly while her ears peaked up a little causing Mars to give a sigh and a rub on the head as he looked up at the orange sky and asked "what do you say we go get some food?" "sure" Mars led Elsa to the restaurant where he had eaten with Jack and Lina "hey Zack" Zack that stood behind the counter looked up form the plate he was polishing and saw Mars and Elsa "oh hey there Mars and who might this young lady be?" Elsa gave a smile "my name is Elsa, I work as a maid in the baron''s mansion" Zack scanned Elsa with his eyes before he gave a nod "nice to meet you Elsa, you can use the usual room I will send up Camellia in a moment" Mars nodded and lead Elsa up the stairs too the room he used last time and pulled out a chair for Elsa and gave a slight bow "please sit down young lady" "oh my, how sweet of you Mars" Mars gave a smile and sat down across from Elsa "so... you do you mind if I ask you about something?" Elsa gave a nod and leaned in over the table slightly with her elbows resting on the table "sure, ask away" "well... you don''t have to answer, but why are you so... clingy?" Elsa gave a slight frown as a hint of pain flashed in her eyes before she let out a quiet whisper "do you hate me now..?" Mars having good hearing picked up that he had touched on a bad subject and quickly said "no, in fact I don''t mind I''m just slightly curious" "really?" "really, you have given me no reason to hate you, in fact I like you more after spending the day with you" Staring into Mars''s face Elsa saw that he was speaking the truth and let out a sigh before she explained "well... you know how beastmen have beast like instincts?" Mars thought back on his talk with Jack and gave a nod "well... I was... marking you... because I like you..." Mars looked at Elsa''s face that was in full bloom and gave a teasing grin "so your where worried some other woman would steal me away?" Elsa blushed even more and looked down on the table and gave a slight nod, which made Mars almost jump on her if not for the knock that sounded out from the door which made him calm down before he answered "yes?" The door opened and in walked Camilla that looked at Mars with sparkling eyes "it really is uncle Mars!" Camilla walked over when she saw Elsa and froze as her shy nature showed again before she ran over and hid behind Mars and peaked her head out and looked at Elsa "Mars, who''s that lady?" Mars gave a smile "this is Elsa, she''s my friend and she''s also strong" Knowing Camilla held admiration for anyone that is ''strong'' Mars used this to bait her out from behind him and sure enough it worked as she rushed over the Elsa and looked at her with shining eyes "WOW, are you really strong Elsa?" Elsa was a little taken back by the quick switch of attitude but quickly adjusted and gave a sweet smile to the little girl "yes it''s true that i''m strong, not as strong as Mars though" "WOW, then you''re like SUPER strong right Elsa!" "not quite, but i''m strong enough to handle my self also---" Mars slightly tuned out as he watched the 2 of them talk for some time before another knock sounded form the door "yes?" This time it was Zack that walked in and gave a sigh as he saw Camilla was to caught up in her talk with Elsa to even notice him "well I knew this is what would happen... anyways what would you like this time Mars?" "well, just bring the usual..." "...is something wrong Mars?" Mars peaked up a little when Zack asked him, he felt like something which was about to be uncovered disappeared again ''this is weird... it''s like I was remembering something... well whatever'' "no i''m fine" "okay then, hey Camilla let''s go" "ehh, but I was just talking with big sister Elsa... bye bye Elsa, bye Mars" Elsa and Mars waved goodbye to Camilla before they looked at each other and gave a smile "she really is cute..." "yeah she is..." After a while Zack showed up with their food and drink the menu was pies, stake, soup and various salads with some light wine to drink and after a hour Elsa and Mars was done eating and left the restaurant after Mars payed 200 cel for the whole dinner "that really was good... it was a nice pick Mars" Mars walked along with Elsa that had take his arm again, the sun had set and they were on the way back to the mansion "well I have only been there once before but my friend Jack recommend it" "is he also a mercenary?" "yeah I have been training him in the art of the sword..." "you mean you have been beating him up?" "well, yes but I also give pointers" Elsa gave a light laugh before she hugged his arm even tighter causing Mars to once again feel the 2 pieces of heaven clearly as they pressed against his arm as both of them reached the mansion where Elsa let go off his arm and turned to face him with a wide smile on her face "thanks for today Mars, it was a lot of fun" "your welcome, I also had fun" Elsa stared into Mars''s face for a bit before she blushed before she spoke up slightly nervously "...Mars could you close your eyes for a second?" "sure?" Mars was a little puzzled but still closed his eyes and waited "then... here I go..." Mars felt a light and soft touch on his chin and opened his eyes where he saw a close up off Elsa''s face and realized what had happens and slightly widened his eyes "hehe... goodnight Mars" Elsa gave a lovely smile and ran off into the mansion with her face in full bloom before Mars had a chance to say anything back Chapter 66 The first contract 1 *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* BE--- Hearing his alarm clock Mars quickly opened his eyes and looked around with drowsy eyes and found it floating not to far from his bed "come here you little shit" *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BE--- Slightly grumpy and with no other target Mars blamed the poor alarm clock and waved his hand after it but found that it was just out of reach "oh for the love of all that is holy... I will kill you when I catch you!" Mars pressed the release on the side off his bed that turned off the magnets that held him to the bed in the zero G environment and pushed off the bed with one hand "got you, now DIE!" *BEEP* With a harder then necessarily click Mars turned off the alarm clock and garbed it before he pushed off the ceiling and landed near his bed where he grabbed the edge off the bed for stability as he floated around and put on his boots and flicked on the magnets boots before he stepped down on the floor "there we go..." Mars locked the alarm clock to his bedside table and grabbed his jumpsuit that was floating around and after putting it on he took a glance at earth though the window in his cabin and left the go wake up his squad "captain on deck!" One of the more alert grunts spotted him and yelled out to the others that quickly lined up and saluted Mars "very good!" Mars gave a smile as he watched the 30 elite soldiers that he had trained himself lined up in front off him "at ease, today is a very special day" He scanned over the soldiers one by one as he spoke with a grin on his face "today is the day of the dreaded power armor orbit drop, so be sure to suit up probably! I don''t want to send you asses back to mama in a bottle!" """YES CAPTAIN""" Mars opened his eyes again and came face to face with cute, or rather Victoria that was lining on his chest and was staring into his face at close proximity with her big blue eyes "...good morning Victoria" Victoria lay still and continued to stare into his face for a while more before he horns flashed "good... morning... Mars" Mars gave her some pets on the head before she finally released him by getting up and jumping down from the bed and stretched while Mars raised his upper body and looked out the window ''looks like sunshine again today...'' Mars gave a yawn and swung his feet over the edge of the bed before he began to put on his clothes "wait..." Mars stopped and took his pants off again before he walked over to the shopping bags he had carried up to his room yesterday and began to dig through the contented before he found a new pair off light leather pants and put them on "...yeah this is better than the old clothes" Mars quickly dug out a new shirt and put it on before he stood for a few seconds and just enjoyed the feeling of new clothes and asked Victoria "how do I look?" Victoria looked at him for a few seconds before she walked around him a couple of times and sat down as he horns flashed "...normal?" "...yeah I figured" He felt a little down but quickly recovered before he picking up his sword and started to walk down to the field where he sat down and started to meditate as he waited for the others to show up ''but that dream.... it sure was something...'' Mars thought back on the dream he had and felt like he started to remembered something but soon it disappeared like mist in sunlight ''oh well...'' Mars wasn''t so put down after all the could just try with the next dream and soon he emptied his head of thoughts and started to meditate while Victoria climbed into his lap and settled down as she stated lightly purring while the morning sun shone on her black and orange red fur "...Mars" "hmm?" Mars peaked up a little and suddenly detected Hanna was standing in front of him and opened his eyes to look at her "what is it Hanna?" Hanna wore her yellow hair in a ponytail and was clad in a tight fitting outfit that showed off her growing curves "the others have something to do today so it''s only us 2" "really?" Hanna gave a sigh "yeah they are training the guards for the whole day today" "I see... well then let''s get started" Mars gave Victoria a few pokes to get her to move but found she was strangely stubborn and lay still on his lap "...what''s wrong Victoria?" Victoria raised her head and looked at Mars before her horns flashed "you... smell bad" "..." Leaving Mars with those words Victoria jumped off his lap and ran off "what''s wrong Mars?" "...it''s nothing" "okay?" Hanna tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at the strangely depressed Mars that walked over and took 2 wooden swords before he handed one off them to her "let''s start, come at me however you like" "yes!" This time Hanna was more cautious with her movements as she edged closer to Mars before she suddenly speed up and sent out a slash at Mars''s upper body that changed mid swing to target his neck "not bad, but!" Mars leaned his body back slightly and the wooden sword pas by his neck before he gave a slow slash at Hanna that was out off balance which she just barely dodge by falling forwards and rolling before she quickly sprung up and slashed at Mars again "good!" Next followed another hour of training where Mars once again found that Hanna improved at a frightening rate and he guessed that at this rate she would be able to get the level 1 [Swordsmanship] within a few days at most, but there was one problem "...come here for a second Hanna" Mars waved over Hanna that stood up form the ground and walked over with slightly shaking legs "I''m going to touch you now" "...okay" Mars carefully poked the mussels on her arms and confirmed his hunch before he activated his [Energy: healing] with 10 units of energy and healed her "you need to do more or else your body won''t be able to keep up with your technique" "really..? well if you say so, then what should I do?" "well it rather simple..." Mars picked up a 2 handed wooden sword and gave it a few swing before he gave a nod and handed it to Hanna "do 30 overhead swings and stop before it hits the ground" "now?" "yes, now" Hanna gave a nod and raised the wooden sword over her head and slowly swung it down and right before the tip of the sword hit the ground she pulled it up over her head again and looked at Mars "like this?" "yeah just like that, but be sure to keep your back straight" "okay..." Hanna continued with the practice swings and did rather well even towards the end she kept her form proper even as the sweat was pouring down her face "good job, do 2 sets of 30 after breakfast and after dinner" "every day?" "yep" "...okay" Mars could sense slight unwillingness form Hanna and gave a sigh before he spoke "remembered this is to get stronger, you still want that right?" Hanna gritted her teeth and eventually gave a nod which caused Mars to give a sigh "you are doing well and that''s why I steep up my expectations of you, you know that right?" Hanna loosened up a little when she heard Mars''s praise and looked at him with resolute eyes "I will do my best" Mars gave her a pat on the shoulder "and that''s all that I ask... well then we''re done for today" Mars gave Hanna a last encouraging look before he walked off into the town with Victoria following after him ''what to do now... let''s head to the guild first I suppose'' Mars and Victoria walked through the busy streets and soon they reached the guilds where they walked into the mercenary''s guild where Mars spotted Jack and called out to him "hey Jack" "oh hey there Mars" "hey don''t forget about me" "yes yes sorry Lina, how are you today?" "well thanks for asking, I tried some polish for my horns" "oh I see that, looks nice" Lina''s horns looked a bit more shiny today compared to the last time Mars had seen her "well what are you guys up too?" "mot much, well we just found a decent contract so we were talking about taking it" "oh, mind if I see it?" "sure, Lina you know where it is right?" "sure do right there Mars, the one with the Relt merchant company" Mars followed Lina''s finger and saw a contract ---escort request--- place: the nearby Glaenarm village time/duration: 3 days round trip subject: bandits have been more active on the roads lately, more details upon meeting reward: 2500 cel requester: Relt merchant company "...seems interesting" What interested Mars wasn''t the merchant company nor was it the cel, it was the energy units he could drain from the bandits Chapter 67 The first contract 2 "if you''re interested then why not join us?" "hmm... sure why not" as Mars agreed both Jack and Lina became excited "nice then take the token quick" "token?" Mars looked at the request and found a small wooden token hanging on the wall under the request "this one?" Mars picked up the token and inspected it, it was a small tag with a hole where a metal hook on the wall had held it, it also had the number 103 inscribed on it "sorry this is your fist request right?" "hmm? yeah, so what do I do now?" Lina pointed over to the receptionist "you need to go and show it to the receptionist and then she will register that you have taken on the contract" "oh... okay then" Mars walked over to the receptionist and showed the wooden tag "I would like to take this contract" "one moment please" the receptionist took the tag and flipped through a book before she found the matching number and looked up at Mars with a smile "a 3 day escort request, I need to see your tag please" Mars fished his iron tag out form his shirt and showed it to the receptionist "iron, and your name is?" "Mars" "good, then Mars the contract starts today at noon at the north gate, don''t be late" "okay" Mars gave a nod and walked back to Jack and Lina "that''s that" "okay then, me and Lina need to go pick up our stuff what about you Mars?" Mars stroked his chin, he had his backpack packed with his bedroll in his room but he figured he might as well visit the smithy on the way to cheek up on the progress of his new armor "yeah I need to go get some things too" "okay then see you in a hour, don''t be late" "I won''t" Mars and Victoria walked out of the guild and after walking down the busy streets for some time Victoria''s horns flashed "are... we leaving... town?" "yeah, but just for a few days" "okay" Mars and Victoria soon arrived at the smithy where Mars opened the door and stepped into the empty store and called out "old man, you here?" after a few seconds the old man walked out from behind the counter Mars noticed he had black lines under his eyes, but his eyes also seemed to glow with excitement "oh, it''s you Mars the armor isn''t ready yet" "I''m just here for the sheath if it''s done?" "oh sure... give me a second" the old man vent back through the door and a moment later he showed up again with a leather sheath in his hands "here it is" Mars took the sheath and inspected it, apart from the gray tough leather it was made form it also had some iron fitting that reinforced the edges "nice..." Mars drew his sword from his belt and sheathed it in the new sheath "fits like a glove... thanks old man, how much do I owe you?" the old man gave a smile and shook his head "it''s fine, you have payed me so much for the armor so let''s just say the sheath is included in the price" "...are you sure?" the old man gave a nod "yeah, besides i''m having so much fun with making the armor without having to think about the cost" "okay if you say so" Mars fitted the sheath to his belt and said goodbye to the old man before he and Victoria vent back to the mansion where Mars found Reimund and Irene sitting outside in the sun drinking tea with Elsa standing ready to serve behind Irene, after Mars greeted them he told them that he would leave town for 3 days "for 3 days... is it a contract?" "yeah, I just took it and I need to be at the north gate in 40 minutes" "I see... Elsa" "yes madam" "go fetch some preserved food for Mars and Victoria" "at once madam" seeing Elsa walk away Mars stared at Irene for some time before he gave a sigh "thank you" Irene simply gave a warm smile before Reimund chimed in "don''t you need to go pack?" "oh... yeah I''ll be right back" Mars vent into the mansion and grabbed his backpack and after checking that all his stuff was packed he went back down and ran into Elsa one the stairs, she had a package in her hands "here''s the food" "thanks" Mars took the package and put it in his backpack and when he looked up again he saw Elsa staring at him with worry in her eyes "what''s wrong?" "be careful..." Mars gave a reassuring smile and patted her on the head "don''t worry, I''m always careful plus I still haven''t found anyone that can match me in swordsmanship since I left the forest" "...and if you do?" "if it''s a bandit then I''ll just finished them off with some dragon flame magic" "...okay" having reassured Elsa Mars felt a warm feeling spreading in his chest for a second before it disappeared again as he walked on down the stairs and out off the mansion where he ran into Hanna next and explained how he would be gone for 3 days and reminded her to keep up with the training he had assigned her before he and Victoria left the mansion and started to head towards the north gate though the busy streets and after a few minutes of walking they arrived "now to find the convoy... there it is, or at least there''s Jack" Mars quickly spotted Jack and walked over, when he got a little closer he also saw Lina both of them was carrying a backpack and wore their armor, Lina was carrying a whip and wore leather armor that hugged her curves tightly making the other mercenary''s around give her a extra long look "hey jack, hey Lina" Jack turned around and when he saw Mars he lit up a little "oh there you are Mars, just in time too" just as Mars was about to ask what he was just in time for a man climbed up on a carriage and shouted out the the mercenaries "okay quiet down!" as the crowd got quite the man clear his throat and spoke up again "my name is Frank, I''m with the Relt merchant company''s private security and I''m here to keep order on you lot as we go on this little trip" Mars inspected Frank he carried two short swords and wore leather armor that was reinforced with steel "okay let''s see if we''re all here, just raise your hand when I call out your name, Jack... Sarah.... Ariella... Mars... Lina... Harry... and finally Melvin... good we''re all here, then let''s set off" as soon as Frank was done speaking he gave a tap on the carriage and jumped off as it started moving as the 2 horses in front received a command, at the same time another 2 carriages behind also started moving "well then, let''s bring up the rear" Mars gave a nod and followed after Jack and Lina that jugged up and put their backpacks in the last carriage before all 4 of them slowed down and began to bring up the rear as the convoy moved out off the gates and the landscape opened up to near endless green fields with numerous people working them on both sides of the wide dirt road ''that''s right it''s already late summer...'' Mars enjoyed the fresh air as he talked with Jack and Lina while Victoria ran around and looked at all the new things around the road, Mars even saw her play with a butterfly with her paws swiping after it as it flew in the air and was once again reminded how she was just a cub. after some time the convoy left the fields and turned off the main road into a forest with a road going through it and soon Mars felt a familiar gaze on him ''goblins... I really can''t be bothered... but I suppose that''s what I''m getting payed for'' Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and yelled out "hostiles, a group of 14, 250 meters off to the east, closing fast" at Mars'' shout the convoy stopped and the mercenary''s moved to the right side off the carriages while they drew their weapons and soon Frank showed up and asked Mars "...Mars right?" "yeah" "then Mars, are you sure?" "yeah, I can even tell you that there''s 2 goblin mages in the group" "goblins..." Franks stroked his chin for a second before he gave a nod and yelled out as he drew his swords "watch out for spells!" as Frank yelled out the mercenary''s tensed up a little more but after 30 seconds the tension began to disappear again and just as Frank was about to question Mars a lesser beastwoman yelled out as she nocked an arrow on her bow "one group, east 50 meters!" Chapter 68 The first contract 3 as soon as the lesser beastwoman yelled out all doubt disappeared form Frank''s face and after he gave Mars an extra look he turned his eyes towards the forest ''here they come'' Mars waved his hand and soon the temperature around him raised as 4 flame arrows appeared next to him floating above his shoulders, just as the last one formed the first goblin showed it ugly mug from in between the tree''s wit a weird laughter "kekekekeke---" *STAB* only to have an arrow planted right in the middle of it''s ugly misfortune face, but still even more goblins came out form in between the trees "nice shot!" after Mars called out he kicked off the ground as the 4 fire arrows also shot out each targeting a different goblin meanwhile Mars reappeared behind a goblin mage and snatched it''s wooden staff and kicked it in the neck *SNAP* the goblin was sent flying and soon hit a tree meanwhile Mars threw the staff that split open the head of another goblin "that''s 7" the remaining goblins having found out how horribly outmatched they were turned and tired to ran only to be cut down by the other mercenary''s ''well that''s that...'' Mars drew his sword and stabbed it into the dead goblin mage and pulled out the magic beast core while Frank walked up and gave Mars an amazed look "you sure have good ears... and fast legs too" "thanks?" Mars half ignored Frank as dug out another core form a random half burnt goblin which caused Frank to give a sigh before he spoke again "I have an offer for you, I wonder if you interested?" "depends on what it is" "...okay how about this, you take out all the small and far threats and I will add 100 cel to your pay, what do you say Mars?" Mars stroked his chin before he held out his hand "if you make it 200 cel then it''s a deal" "...deal" Frank shook Mars''s hand and looked towards the other mercenary''s "5 minutes then we move again, finish up what your doing!" Mars gave a nod and vent back to the convoy and waited until it started moving again where he, Victoria, jack and Lina guarded the rear of the convoy again and after a few hours the convoy came to a stop "what now?" Jack gave Mars a weird look before he spoke "chow time, aren''t you hungry Mars?" "oh, well not really?" "well okay, but join us anyway" "sure, let''s go Victoria" "okay..." Mars walked over and sat down a the edge off the group and leaned his back against a tree and closed his eyes as Victoria came and lay down on his legs ''ah, this is life..." Mars sat and enjoyed the evening sun for a while until he sensed someone walking up to him, opening his eyes slightly Mars saw the lesser beastwoman that had fired the arrow at the first goblin she had shoulder long blond hair with 2 cat ears on the top of her head, her blue eyes was also cat like and she had a long slender blond cat like tail that extended out from her waist "hey there" "...hello" after Mars greeted her she stood and stared at his lap, or more likely Victoria "say..." "hmm?" she pointed down at Victoria that was purring in Mars''s lap "do you mind if I pet her?" "well... not is she doesn''t, do you mind Victoria?" Victoria didn''t answer but she kept purring so Mars just gave a nod to the lesser beastwoman that sat down and began to cautiously pet Victoria while Mars looked into her face ''her pupils are not quite split like a cat, they are a little round too...'' "my name is Sarah" the beastwoman, or rather Sarah spoke up while she was petting Victoria "oh, nice to meet you Sarah my name is Mars, and this is Victoria" Sarah smiled and petted Victoria on the head "oh so your name is Victoria, how cute... how old is she?" ''technicality she''s older than me...'' "she''s a little over a year" "I see..." after petting Victoria for a bit more Sarah stood up and gave Mars a look before she turned and left ''...oh well'' feeling Sarah was a little weird Mars gave a shrug and grabbed his backpack and dug through it and pulled out the package he had received form Elsa earlier and opened the brown paper carefully and found and found 3 small brown paper packages inside and after picking one he opened it and found it was filled with biscuits and salted meat "...neat" Mars began to nipped on some biscuits while he fed some salted meat to Victoria while the sun dyed the sky orange "gather over here for a minute!" Mars looked over and saw Frank was standing over by the carriages and stood up before he walked over "it''s time to deiced the night shifts, I''ll spare us a lot of discussion and decided them first off... Jack and Ariella then Sarah and Mars then Melvin and Lina and finely Harry and me that''s all, your free to do what you want of the rest of the day, but be sure to go to bed before your shift" after Frank was done talking Mars vent back to his tree and sat down again and ate some more biscuits while he gave the salted meat to Victoria until the pack was empty "...well that''s that... let''s sleep Victoria" "okay..." Mars pulled out his bedroll and looked around for a good spot without roots or big stones and after a little while he found a spot on the edge of the camp where he laid down his bedroll and climbed into it before Victoria came and lay down on top of him where the 2 off them slowly drifted off to sleep... "Mars....Mars wake up" Mars opened his eyes and found he wasn''t in a dream as clearly evident by the blue cat eyes that stared him down at close proximity belonging to Sarah ''oh right i didn''t use the [Demon dream magic] before I vent to bed... but still no nightmares is a new thing...'' "...awake?" "yeah, give me a second..." Mars pushed the still sleeping Victoria gently aside and got up and grabbed his sheath with the sword sheathed inside and secured it on his belt and put on his boots "now I''m awake... what''s wrong?" Sarah gave him a weird look "your aura changed..." "my aura?" "yeah when you picked up the sword" "really?" Mars tilted his head which Sarah saw and mimicked by tilting her head to the other side before she turned and walked over to a campfire that illuminated the night and sat ''I wonder what my aura looks like... what is a aura even?'' Mars followed after Sarah and sat down on a stone a little away from her and looked into the fire for some time before he asked "how does my aura look?" "what aura?" "...are you kidding?"" "no?" "but you just said my aura changed?" "...no?" "oi what''s with the pause" Mars glared at Sarah with narrowed eyes before he gave a sigh and looked into the fire again and stuck his hands closer, or more like into the fire and began to absorb energy "...doesn''t that hurt?" "no it''s actually quite nice, not that I recommend you stick your hands into the fire" "why?" "well because it would burn your hands" "...okay" Sarah''s ears dropped slight like she was disappointed before she also looked into the fire while the silence only broken by the sounds of the fire descended for a while until Sarah spoke up in a quiet voice that was almost like a whisper "...you''re not mad right?" "about what?" "that I read your aura?" ''so now you admit it...'' Mars gave a mental sigh before spoke while still looking into the fire "why should I be mad about that?" "because it''s a very private thing" "...well I don''t really mind, I will even forgive you on one condition" Sarah looked at Mars and covered her body with her hands while she backed off slightly "not a condition like that... I just want you to tell what my aura looks like" "well... okay then looked over here" Mars looked away form the fire and into Sarah''s eyes that shined slightly form the light of the fire and the stars "...you finally look at me" ''well that''s because you said I should...?'' "yes I see it now... it really is weird, normally an aura looks like a flame with a color but you have 2 flames with 2 colors one is red and feels fiery hot while the other is dark blue and feels cold like a winter night, but the 2 of them seems in perfect harmony even though the red fire became bigger when you picked up the sword..." "I see... well that certainly sounds weird" Chapter 69 The first contract 4 ars looked back into the fire while he stuck his hands even deeper into the fire "I mean I have never seen anything like your aura... it''s so strange..." ''well I guess it''s because of the whole reincarnation thing...'' of cause Mars wasn''t going to tell Sarah he was reincarnated into a living god, but he still felt a little bad he couldn''t say why his aura was so strange just not enough to care about it for very long ''oh well...'' silence fell over the camp as Mars warmed his hands and absorbed energy from the fire while Sarah readjusted the string on her bow until sometime late Mars gave a twitch and suddenly stood up with a eerily wide smile on his face ''...this guy is good'' it was faint, but his ears had picked up sighs of life in the forest some 350 meters away "what''s wrong?" "nothing, I need to go take a leak" Sarah gave a frown at Mars''s crude comment and vent back to working on her bow while Mars walked away from the campfire ''now how to go about this problem... I could sneak up on him and capture him but that seems like a pain...'' Mars gave a sigh and disappeared form view as he kicked off the ground and moments later he reappeared in the forest behind a man that looked and smelled like a bandit that had not showered for days "WHO!?" the bandit turned around with a dagger drawn and faced Mars in the dim forest and after squinting his eyes at Mars he relaxed a bit "just a brat... don''t worry I''ll make this quick" Mars completely ignored the bandit, he was more interested at the weird feeling he felt when he moved just now and mumbled "...just like a cup on the verge of overflowing" "what did you say brat? it''s no use to beg for your life!" the bandit rushed forwards and stabbed out at Mars and as his dagger sank into the stomach of his target his eyes flashed with a hint of wicked glee before it turned into fear as his dagger met no resistance when it pieced it''s target "wha---" "annoying" *SNAP* the bandit''s eyes widened now showing fear before he feel to the ground with a sound much like a sack of potato falling over, but still Mars ignored him after he instinctively snapped his neck and mumbled "...again... just a little more..." Mars''s figure once again disappeared before it reappeared again a few meters away leaving a after image behind "...no not like that" again Mars disappeared and reappeared "need to be more light on my feet..." again another flash as Mars once again reappeared, this time with a smile on his face "just like that..." soft lights shone in the forest as Mars seemed to teleport in the dim forest as he reappeared and disappeared a few times a second until finely he stopped with a smile on his face "...[Instant movement] huh... sure feels like a powerful skill I wonder what level it is... status" as Mars exhaled a mist like substance flowed out of his mouth and formed the letterer of his status in front of him Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [25/1000]Constitution [51/2000]Dexterity [36/1500] Intelligence [27/600]Wisdom [40/900]Charisma [27/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] (NEW) Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1733/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "only level 1..? it feels way too powerful to be a level one skill..." Mars tilted his head slightly "maybe I should ask Info about it?" Mars thought for a bit more time before his figure disappeared from the forest and reappeared at the edge of the camp where he walked over to the campfire where Sarah was sharpening her arrows and sat down "how many were there?" "hmm..? oh just one, seemed to be a scout" "I see... well it''s time the change" "okay, see you in the morning" Mars stood up again and vent back to his bedroll witch had been kept warm by Victoria and a little after he laid down he fell asleep again... as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon and shone in between the leaves in the forest Mars opened his eyes "...shit" Mars was in a bad mood, no matter how many times he activated the [demon dreaming] magic it didn''t work so his night had been filled with nightmares and now that the sun was showing he gave up on sleeping any more and crawled out of his bedroll and picked up his sheathe and sat down with crossed legs while he breathed in the morning air that healed his mood somewhat, meanwhile as a member of the slept-like-a-baby-all-night team Victoria did her morning stretches while she yawned and her horns flashed "good... morning Mars" "yeah, good morning to you too" Mars gave a sidelong glare at Victoria and revived a innocent look back that defeated his sense of jealousy of her sleep quality and gave a sigh before he petted her on the head and looked out over the camp that seemed to be in the process of waking "Mars, your awake" "good morning Lina" Lina walked over, she wore some casual clothes that she usual wore under her leather armor and looked very much like a flower opening its petals in the morning "yeah g''Morning Mars, you mind helping with something?" "sure what is it?" Lina gave a sigh and pointed, Mars followed her finger and saw a figure that had yet to get up and was still sleeping despite the busy camp "Jack... huh I had him figured for a early riser" Lina looked at Mars and waved her hand in front of her face with a defeated expression "no way, Jack always sleeps like a rock" "well okay then..." Mars put on his boots and walked over the where Jack was snoring away and pulled his sword from his sheath as he released a massive amount of killing intent and said with a smile on his face "wake up, or I''ll cut you" Jack jumped up and out of his bedroll and took a defensive stance against Mars for a few seconds before he gave a confused look at first Mars and then the giggling Lina besides him "good morning Jack" "...morning Mars, what is this?" "well it was the best way to get you out of bed" "...I see" Mars gave Jack a pat on the shoulder just as Frank called out "pack your stuff we leave in 5 minutes!" "...well you heard the man" Mars vent back and packed his stuff and after putting his backpack on a carriage he walked over to Frank and told him he had dispatched of a bandit scout last night "I see... well they should not be attacking us before we get the cargo from the village but keep your guard up anyway" "okay boss" Mars joined Jack and Lina in the back of the convoy again but this time Mars noticed Sarah moved her position further back in the convoy and was stealing glances at him ''nah that''s properly just my imagination'' Mars decided to ignore Sarah as he talked with Jack and Lina until noon where the convoy reached Glaenarm village, the village didn''t fit Mars''s description of a village it was more like a prison with high walls that was heavily guarded by armed and armored guards that stood up on the walls and watched the convoy closely "HALT! state your business" Frank stepped forwards and called out "we''re the convoy from the Relt merchant company here as planed on time" one of the guards gave a nod and lowered his bow before he looked at the mercenary''s with wary eyes and yelled "only people form the Relt merchant company are allowed inside the walls, all escorts are to wait outside!" Frank looked at the mercenary''s and explained "sorry that''s the rules, we will move again in 30 minutes take a break" Mars grabbed his backpack before the convoy moved inside the walls and found a nearby tree where he sat down and pulled out a package with food "are you hungry Victoria?" "a little..." Mars fed some salted meat to Victoria while he ate some of the biscuits and waited for the convoy to move again ''so it only takes 30 minutes to unload and load the convoy... I wonder what we''re transporting, ant what Glaenarm village produces for it to be targeted by bandits...'' Chapter 70 The first contract 5 as Mars sat he noticed some unrest among the other mercenary''s it seemed like they were arguing about something but as usual Mars didn''t care enough about the mortals to care about what they were talking about that is until Jack spoke his name "no matter if he really has a AMW Mars can still beat him with a sword" the other mercenary showed a hint of disdain when Jack said Mars''s name "heh, just a iron ranked brat with good ears what can he do against a AMW?" "so what you just suggest we surrender!?" "all I''m saying is we stand no chance against a AMW and if the bandit leader really have one well then let''s just say I don''t owe Relt my life" "...coward" "yeah that what stupid men call smart men that know when they are beat" the other mercenary spat on the ground and left along with his friends however he only went a little ways away before he sat down on the ground it seemed he had some backbone after all and wasn''t scared away by a mere rumor told by one of the village guards ''I wonder what a AMW is...'' Mars decide to get some answers and walked over to Jack and asked "what''s a AMW?" "you really don''t know?" "nope" "...AMW means active mana weapon, it''s basically a powerful weapon powered by a mana stone or a magic beast core" "AMW huh... sounds neat" "...are you confident in beating something like that?" "sure I am, what you didn''t think I showed all my tricks during simple training?" Frank gave a smile and shook his head before he patted Mars on the shoulder "in that case we will depend on you" "yeah count on it" Mars was confident that he could beat whatever a active mana arms or whatever it was ''or at the very least I die once, before I beat it...'' Mars sent a glance at the the mercenary Jack was speaking to earlier and realized he was a sliver ranked mercenary as for his name he couldn''t care less only that he had some skill ''well he won''t last 10 moves against me... whatever'' Mars lost interest and focused on petting Victoria on the head until the convoy come out form the walls and the mercenary''s quickly got back on their feet and into formation around the convoy, as usual Mars joined Jack and Lina in the back of the convoy and as they walked Mars asked more about the AMW and gradually got a picture in his head "so basically it''s a ''hot'' weapon..." "a hot weapon?" "it''s a concept, basically a sword is a ''cold'' weapon and from what you say a AMW is a ''hot'' weapon" "...huh, if you say so Mars" Jack looked at Mars with confusion on his beast like face ''but I really didn''t expect to find a hot weapon in this world...'' Mars wondered what the limit of Alfan''s technology was ''well there''s a concept of hours, minutes and seconds, and there''s even a big clock tower in Marlton which is a mere border town...'' Mars stopped thinking about technology as his attention was caught by something else as he suddenly looked off into the forest "a scout...I''ll be right back!" not waiting for Jack or Lina to respond Mars kicked off the ground and reappeared moments late at the front of the convoy where he quickly found Frank "Frank, there''s a scout some 300 meters off to the west do you want me to deal with him?" "...no let''s use him" Mars gave a nod and stroked his chin "so should I wound him until he calls for help and draw out the main force?" "no not like that, although I like your way of thinking... for now just act like normal, but inform me again when the main force shows up" "...I don''t think I need to" Mars pointed forwards and on a hill some 600 meters away was some 30 figures that were standing in between the trees, clearly they didn''t think they needed to hide "...shit, contract front 600 meters!" when Frank yelled out the convoy stopped and the mercenary''s spread out making ready to meet the bandits head on, in the middle of the group of bandits where a man a little over 190 centimeters tall that carried a large battle axe that had a big red magic beast core that was fixed in the middle of the blade even from this distance Mars felt energy radiating off the battleaxe "I guess that''s a AMW?" "...yeah it looks like it" Frank looked bitterly at the lead bandit before he gave a glance at Mars and asked "can you take him?" "hmm... sure but can I keep his battleaxe if I do?" "fine" "...nice" Mars drew his sword for the first time during this contract and started walking forwards towards the bandits, completely unfazed by their numbers pissing off the bandit leader "it''s just a brat... go finish him off" "on it boss" one of the bandits near the leader went forwards towards Mars with a cruel look on his face he drew a sword and began swinging it around to show off "brat I will cut you into pieces!" as Mars was walking towards the bandits some of the mercenary''s where panicking about the AMW that had showed up in the hands of the bandit leader, some even suggested fleeing although non had the balls to flee right now it was only a matter of time, only Lina and Jack looked calm as they had faith in Mars "your the first?" Mars had stopped in front of him stood the bandit less than 10 meters away "first what?" "...never mind" Mars disappeared from view making the bandit panic for less then one second, as after one second he lost the ability to panic *SNAP* after a loud snapping sound Mars reappeared behind the bandit that fell over, his neck twisted in the wrong direction "one down.... 32 to go..." Mars kept walking towards the bandits that was no longer laughing at him nor was he treating him as a mere brat "...number 3 and 4 get him" the bandit leader had a slightly grim look on his face as he commanded his 2 subordinates, clearly Mars''s display had sobered him up ""on it boss"" at this point some of the mercenary''s had also stopped panicking as they had clearly seen Mars''s speed "...the next two, sword and bow underlings" the 2 underlings carried a sword and a bow and the one with the bow dipped the head of the arrow into a flask with some green liquid before he nocked it on his bow while the other took up position to protect the bowman "so that how you want to play?" Mars stuck his sword into the ground and waved his hand swiftly summoning 3 fire spears that shot forwards towards the 2 panicked bandits "shit, he''s a fire mage!" the bandit with the bow managed to doge the fire spear that was sent after him but the one with the sword wasn''t so lucky, the only lucky thing was he was hit in the head with 2 fire spears which quickly ended his suffering "damn you brat!" "I wonder why they all call me that..." "wha---" *SNAP* "do I really look so young?" Mars dropped the dead bandit to the side and kept walking towards the bandits after he pulled his sword out of the ground and swung it once to flick the dirt off the blade "damn it, bunch of useless pieces of trash!" the bandit leader swung his battleaxe threateningly and sent a glare at his underlings "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO GET HIM!" the bandit leader yelled at his underlings but none of them moved, they were all terrified by Mars''s shift killing of their comrades "but boss..." "...damn it, I''ll do it myself!" the bandit stepped forwards as a soft looking red membrane spread from the magic beast core in the middle of the battle axe blade over his body while the core gave off a soft glow ''a shield huh... I got one too but it seems like a waste of energy units...'' Mars looked at the bandit leader the was glaring him down from about 50 meters away and asked "what, do I have something on my face?" "...I''ll give you one change brat, join my group" "and if I refuse?" "then you will become rust on my battleaxe!" "let''s see about that!" Mars disappeared from view and immediately after a loud clang was heard as his sword sent the bandit leader flying a few meters before he crashed into the ground "sure is hard, that shield" the bandit leader stood up again, looking even more ruffled and yelled at Mars again "YOU BRAT! STAND STILL SO I CA---" *CLANG* once again the bandit leader was sent flying meanwhile Mars looked at his sword that had gotten a nick in the blade "fuck it I''ll do it by hand" Mars sheathed his sword and cracked his knuckles Chapter 71 The first contract 6 *CLANG* the bandit leader flew once again, but this time he hardly hit the ground before Mars appeared behind him and sent him off with another kick *CLANG* "fucking break already!" Mars''s attention was completely caught up with playing his one man ball game as he kicked the bandit leader around in circles, meanwhile the mercenary''s was hunting down the rest of the bandits that had started fleeing after Mars sent their leader flying the second time *CLANG* "you know what, fuck this" Mars, now really annoyed loaded his left arm with 20 energy units and walked over to what was left off the bandit leader and sat his left hand down on his chest before he unleashed the energy *BOOM* "...are you fucking kidding me?" the shield still held, despite Mars''s best attempts at breaking it "maybe if..." Mars activated his drain touch and put his hands on the shield and sure enough after a few seconds the shield broke and Mars grabbed the battle axe with a excited look on his face, completely disregarding the dead bandit leader "now how does it work..?" Mars tried putting his mana into the battle axe and sure enough the magic beast core on the blade lit up with a soft glow and soon a soft looking red membrane covered Mars "...neat" Mars became a little excited and tried putting more mana into the handle of the battle axe but unfortunately the battle axe was a cheaply made AMW so the core exploded into dust and the shield around Mars disappeared "...shit" Mars threw the battle axe aside and looked around and found Jack and Lina covering their mouths, trying not to laugh a little away from him "....really guys?" "sorry... hehe---" "yeah we''re really sorry Mars... hihi---" Mars became depressed and walked back to the convoy were Frank greeted him with a smile on his face "hey Mars, good work with the bandit leader I''ll be sure to add a bonus" "...okay" Mars felt a little better and found Victoria to pat until the convoy started moving again "just because we beat the bandit doesn''t mean you can slack off the rest of the way, be sure to keep alert!" after Frank yelled the convoy started moving again and Mars took his usual spot in the back of the convoy with Jack and Lina until the convoy stopped as the sun was going down were Mars ate and then vent to bed in his bedroll... opening his eyes Mars saw the familiar room, or rather the familiar prison cell with the clock on the wall that was displaying 104 days, 15 hours and 52 minutes "...fuck not again, is the demon dreaming magic not working anymore or what?" Mars tried to use his mana and surprisingly a small reaction happened, like the fabric of the dreamed twisted slightly, but didn''t fully break "interesting..." Mars tried again and this time a small hole was thorn in the dream but it quickly reformed and repaired it self "so I need more mana... I can do that" Mars loaded the spell with 4 times as much mana and used it again, tearing a hole in his dream were he quickly jumped though "well this is... weird" around Mars was flashes of images, fragments of his memories that passed by in a otherwise pure white space, as he tired to focus on one of the images it stopped flashing and showed a picture of a old computer along with his dad that held it up, he was standing on a pile of rubble and was covered in dirt "that''s right... dad was a information archaeologist" as soon as Mars saw the image memories came flooding back about how him and his dad had spent weeks working on a old pc only to find the only complete data was a pictures of a weird green frog that looked kind of sad, Mars was disappointed by this until his dad explained how this picture often was found on information era pc''s but this was a new version of the picture and it was therefore a unique find "I remember how mom yelled at us afterwards... that''s right mom, how did she look?" Mars once again tried to focus on the flashing images but suddenly a headache struck him and the images became blurred... "Mars... Mars wake up" Mars opened his eyes and saw Lina in her casual clothes shaking his slightly "hmm...?" "good, your awake" "yeah just give me a second" Mars sat up and saw the other mercenary''s was packing their stuff "wait what happened to my night guard shift?" "Frank decide to let you off since you beat the bandit leader alone" "...okay" Mars stared off into empty air until Lina poked him on the cheek "you sure your awake?" "...yeah I just had a nostalgic dream that''s all" "was it a good dream?" "yeah that''s why I''m a little tired still" "I see" Mars stretched and eventually got out of his bedroll and put on his boots before he packed his stuff and vent over to wake up Jack, afterwards he took up the usual spot in the convoy and around midday the convoy reached Malrton''s northgate without further trouble at around noon "good work everybody, come over here to collect your pay!" Mars lined up and soon it was his turn, when Frank saw him he gave a smile and handed him 35 silver coins for a total of 3500 cel "if you ever want a permanent job come to Relt, we will take care of you and make sure you get a nice pay" "I''ll think about it" after Mars received his pay and said goodbye to Jack and Lina he and Victoria vent back to the mansion though the busy streets and soon they reached the mansion where a man stood outside the gates he looked like a young scholar, he wore a mantel and carried a bag that gave of a thick smell of medicine, when Mars and Victoria vent past him into the mansion grounds like he owned the place the man called out to him "excuse me, do you know if this is where Hanna Orbrage lives?" Mars stopped and turned around and looked at the man "you here to see Hanna?" "oh so it is here! do you mind letting me see her?" "...well as long as you follow closely after me" "thank you very much!" the young scholar picked up his bag and followed after Mars into the mansion were Mars vent up all the stairs and stopped in front of Hanna''s door and was about to knock but stopped "...what''s your name?" "me? I''m Ivan" "okay... my name is Mars by the way" Mars knocked on Hanna''s door and called out "Hanna it''s me, I have brought a guest his name is Ivan" "oh Mars... give me a second" while Mars waited Ivan jaw dropped until he eventually studded "i-is s-she a-a-awake!?" "yeah she is... I heard the family invited a skilled healer" "really now..." Ivan looked stunned but soon the door was opened by Jean "please come in" Ivan swallowed once before he walked in the door followed by Mars "you... are healed" Ivan looked at Hanna and was completely stunned until he began crying and hugged Hanna "you''re okay!" Hanna was a little stunned by the sudden embrace but quickly recovered and patted Ivan on the back with a soft smile on her face "yeah I''m fine Ivan" after some time Ivan gradually let go of Hanna, at this point he was bright red in the face and quickly sat down on a chair "sorry, I lost my self a little there... I''m just happy your okay" "I''m also glad to see you Ivan" Hanna also sat down and gestured to Mars that he should sit down too "but... who was it that healed you?" Hanna gave a glance at Mars that shook his head before she spoke "I think it was a wandering healing master... I don''t even know his name" "I see..." "well enough about me, why are you here Ivan?" "oh right..." Ivan gave a sigh as his face darkened slightly before he spoke with a defeated smile on his face "it''s the prince, he made the academy move to expel you if you don''t show up within 20 days" Hanna''s casual smile widened as she narrowed her eyes that had turned cold "did he now?" "y-yes that''s why I came here, to try and heal you" sparks flew in the air around Hanna before she gave a sigh andturned to Mars and bowed "I''m sorry I can''t take your lessons anymore, I need to return to the academy" "Hanna?" Ivan looked confused at Mars, he had no idea about what Hanna was talking about "...tell me about the prince first" "he''s the 3''rd prince of Destra... and also probably the one that almost had me killed in that ''accident'' with my staff" "accident?" Hanna gave a sigh and touched the light skin around her right eye "...my staff was sabotaged after I refused to become the mistress of the 3''rd prince" Chapter 72 Towards Destras magic academy 1 "...so the 3''rd prince sabotaged your staff?" Hanna gave a nod "I think so, or at least one of his underlings did it for him" Mars stroked his chin for a while before he looked at Ivan and asked "how old does one need to be to get into the magic academy?" Ivan looked a little confused but still answered "those between 15 and 20 can enter after taking a test" "I see... and how old do I look to you Ivan?" "hmm..? around 16 years old?" "so I could pass as a student?" "sure, if you have magic skill to match" at this point Hanna caught on with what Mars was thinking "...well that''s a option" "what are you talking about Hanna?" "well Mars could enter the magic academy" "really?" Ivan looked at Mars and briefly inspected him before he asked "Mars can you use magic?" "sure can..." Mars waved his hand and over 15 small balls of fire appeared around him before they began spinning around like moons in orbit "wow..." Ivan stared at Mars until he waved his hand again and the fire balls disappeared "I see there certainly won''t be a problem about magic skill, but what about the tuition payments?" "let''s talk with my parents about that" Hanna looked excited about having Mars with her in the academy "there''s no need for that, I should be able to pay on my own... but let me talk with your parents first" Mars stood up form his seat and walked out of the room with Victoria following after him and after asking a few maids he found Reimund in his office and explained the situation "I see... well that certainly explains a whole lot" "you didn''t know?" "no... and I kind of wish I didn''t now" Reimund let out a deep sigh before he looked at Mars with a sharp look in his eyes "as a baron of Destra I can''t say I approve of your plan... but as a father I''m happy you would go so far for my daughter" "so?" "so if the 3''rd prince should happen to fall on his sword I and my wife will rejoices in secret, but if officially you had anything to do with it we will have to condemn you" "I see..." "but what to do about the tuition fee..." "how much is it?" "it''s 10.000 cel per year" Mars thought for a second before he remembered one gold coin was 10.000 cel and let out a sigh "that should pose no problem" "...seriously?" "yeah" Reimund bowed down "...I''m in your debt" Mars looked at Reimund and suddenly got an idea "then could you do one thing for me?" "what is it?" "...if she''s okay with could you send Elsa along with Hanna to the academy?" Reimund gave a smile "I''m sure she would like to follow you... okay if my wife is fine with it then I will allow it" "thanks" "when are you planning on leaving?" "tomorrow I think... I have some things I need to do first" Mars said goodbye to Reimund and went out of his office and looked down at Victoria "let''s go visit the old man" "okay..." Mars walked out of the mansion and into the busy town and after some 30 minutes of walking he and Victoria reached the smithy that seemed awfully noisy "--- I said get out!" "but please dear blacksmith I will pay 2 times what he did for it!" "you want me to shove my hammer up your ass? get out now!" Mars was about to open the door but stopped and moved to the side just as the door was swung open as a man with a gold mercenary tag around his neck stomped out of the smithy "I will remember this!" with that as his last remark he left down the street leaving Mars and Victoria alone in front of the smithy "why... was he... so angry?" "I don''t know, let''s find out" Mars knocked on the open door and walked inside the smithy while he called out "old man, you here?" "for the last fucking time I''m not going to sell---, oh it''s you Mars come in, come in" halfway though his sentence the old man began friendly and urged Mars in, before he closed the door after him "is something wrong old man?" the old man gave a sigh, as Mars looked at him he noticed dark circles around his eyes "it''s your armor" "my armor?" "after I finished it I went and bragged about it and soon enough people showed up wanting to buy it..." "oh..." "well it''s all good now that you''re here, it''s over here" the old man pointed at a armor stand that was covered with a piece of cloth "then let''s see it" Mars pulled of the cloth and revealed a half mail plate armor made of some solid looking black leather and reinforced with dull black steel plates that was formed after a masculine chest shape "...nice" Mars eyes still glued to the armor pulled a couple of gold coins up his pocket and laid them on the table beside him before he asked the old man "I never got your name old man?" "I don''t have one, left it behind when I deserted the empire" "...I see, well thanks for the armor, can I wear it now?" "sure" after some time and instructions form the old man Mars managed to wear the armor and after strapping his sheathe to the side of his waist the old man pointed to the elbows and knees of the armor where plates of steel reinforced it "just like you ordered the plates will pop out if you press them from the inside" "neat" "there''s also the thing about the weight, I used tank boar leather and dark steel so the total weight is about 55 kilograms" "hmm... it''s a little on the heavy side but it should be fine" Mars jumped a little on the spot to demonstrate his point before he took a breath and kicked off the ground lightly and stopped a few meters away "okay, here we go" Mars took another breath and kicked of the ground only this time he disappeared form view for a moment before he reappeared in the other end of the shop, seeing this made the old man''s eyes go wide before a nostalgic light flashed through his eyes as he mumbled "[Instant movement]... to think I would see it again..." "you know this skill old man?" the old man gave a nod "I have seen it before... the person I respected most in my life used it, the flaming rose general" ''the flaming rose general...'' Mars had heard about this person before form Lina and couldn''t help but ask the old man "is it true she was a half dragon?" "yeah of course it is, she had horns and a tail too" "a tail?" "yeah like a dragon tail, it was about 1,5 meter long too" "I see..." Mars became a little confused, was he not also a half dragon? if so then where was his tail? or maybe the flaming rose general was some other race? "well anyway thanks for the armor again old man" "sure, come again if you ever need something else" Mars said his goodbye to the old man and walked out of the smithy with Victoria following after him "where to go now... let''s say goodbye to Jack and Lina, they might be at the guild" "okay... but Mars?" "what?" "why do... you have... heavy clothes... on?" Mars looked down and saw his new armor "oh this, it''s called armor" "arm...or?"ˇ§ "yeah it helps me by protecting me from harm" "really..? okay then..." Mars and Victoria walked towards the guild and soon arrived and walked inside "let''s see... looks like they are not here..." "hey Mars!" Mars was about to leave again when someone called out to him from behind "oh, it''s you Alex" "it''s good that I caught you Mars, come over to the counters with me for a second" Alex and Mars walked over, before Alex held out his hand "your tag please" "err... I''m not in trouble right?" Mars became a little nervous when Alex asked for his tag "no not at all, just give it here quickly" "okay..?" Mars took of his tag and handed it to Alex that took out the iron tag with a small sword on it and put in a dull steel tag instead before he handed it back to Mars with a grin on his face "congratulation" "thank you..?" Mars put on his tag again with a puzzled look on his face, only a second later did he realize he just had ranked up and gave a simile "don''t thank me, thank the Relt company, they were the one that pushed for your rank up" "I see... oh by the way I will be leaving town tomorrow" Alex gave a nod "I figured you would leave sometimes soon, good luck on your future contracts" "thanks" Chapter 73 Towards Destras magic academy 2 after Mars said goodbye to Alex he went over to the usual restaurant and after greeting Zack he went up to the usual room and knocked on the door before he abruptly opened the door and saw Jack and Lina inside the room, to Mars''s surprise they both seemed orderly and fully clothed and surprisingly Jack seemed to have gone cold and was sleeping in his chair "oh it''s you Mars, nice armor" "hey Lina... what happened here?" "well what always happens, Jack got drunk and fell asleep..." "that''s, well... I wish you luck?" "oh so you get it... I kind of wish Jack got it too..." Mars walked into the room and sat down on a empty chair before he took a sip from a random glass "good wine, were you guys celebrating something?" "nah it''s just the usual..." "I see... do you need help carrying him?" "....please" "okay then... here we go" Mars picked up Jack in a princess carry witch caused Lina to let out a giggle when she saw him in Mars''s arms still snoring "then lead the way" "...yeah let''s go" Lina stood up and wore her jacket before she lead the way out of the room and down the stairs where she handed some coins to Zack and walked out of the restaurant with Mars and Victoria following after her a few minutes late Mars spoke out "I''m leaving town" "when?" "tomorrow I think" "I see... where are you headed?" "towards the magic academy, there''s this child that got hurt there so now I have decided to help her" "help her... how?" "by making her strong enough to get revenge or rather to decide if she wants revenge" "I see... we''re here" "here?" Mars looked ahead and saw a 2 story inn with a bar/restaurant on the first floor and what seemed like personal rooms on the second floor "yeah... sorry do you mind taking him the rest of the way?" "lead the way" Lina walked into the inn with Mars following after and after briefly greeting the woman behind the counter Lina led Mars up the stairs and into a room that had 2 beds along with some other furniture "we''re here, put down Jack over there in his bed" Mars put down Jack that still snored on the bed and asked Lina "1 room... but 2 beds?" Lina looked slightly defeated as she gave a sigh "I suggested we move together to save money..." "I see... well then I wish you good luck with the dense dog over there" "thanks, hope to see you again Mars" "yeah me too" Mars closed the door after him and gave a sigh before he walked out of the inn and down the road towards the center of town when Victoria''s horns flashed as she walked up to his side "Mars... are you... sad?" Mars gave a sigh before he answered "a little" Mars remained silent all the way back to the mansion where he saw a familiar person waiting for him at the gate "welcome back Mars" Mars gave a smile "I''m back Elsa, did you decide?" Elsa gave a sweet smile "well I have never been to the magic academy... so I decided why not go when I was invited" Mars felt the loneliness disappear from his body as if melted by Elsa''s smile "thanks Elsa" Elsa walked up and poked Mars on the chest before she put on a playful smile and said "I expect you escort me properly when we arrive" "in full armor?" "why not, I have always wanted my personal knight, you look very good in that armor by the way" Mars gave a playful smile before he half kneeled down on the ground "then I will do my utmost to escort you lady Elsa" "I''m counting on it" Mars talked a little more with Elsa after that but eventually they parted and Mars went up to his room and took off his armor with little trouble but within 10 minutes he managed to get it off and stack it orderly in the corner of the room and looked around in the small but cozy room and thought it would probably be the last night he spent in this room when his eyes fell on a sack that lay on the table "... I think it''s time to put you to use" Mars walked over and pulled the sack made of expensive carpet open and saw the mana stone inside it before he poked it and felt a small jolt "I wonder if..." Mars activated hi drain touch and poked the mana stone again, but this time he felt a small but stable amount of energy flow into his body "I knew it" Mars gave a smile and picked up the mana stone and held it in his hand as he absorbed the energy inside it until he felt his [Energy: storage] fill up and put down the mana stone that had dimmed a little before he chanted "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [25/1000]Constitution [51/2000]Dexterity [36/1500] Intelligence [27/600]Wisdom [40/900]Charisma [27/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1911/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "okay, now open the [Energy: upgrade shop]..." the text in front of Mars changed into the [Energy: upgrade shop] that was displayed with half transparent text [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy] class skill level up price: 2000 "level up my class" Mars felt his energy units drain rapidly as he gave out the command and soon his storage emptied mostly out, but soon came a feeling of power that spread all over his body "level 20... that means my status point have all gone up by 20..." Mars felt it was kind of absurd how he just got the status of 20 half-dragons added on to himself but soon accepted it with ease, after all witch dragon didn''t wish to get stronger "now for the rest of the energy in the mana stone..." Mars activated his drain touch and picked up the mana stone again and absorbed the rest of the energy in it "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 20 (up) Status points: Strength [45/1000]Constitution [71/2000]Dexterity [56/1500] Intelligence [47/600]Wisdom [60/900]Charisma [47/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1427/2000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "yep looks good" Mars waved his hand and made his status disappear again before he sat down on the bed and gave a yawn "time for bed..." Mars carefully pushed Victoria that had already occupied the bed to the side before he laid down and went to sleep... Mars opened his eyes again and found himself in a pure white space where countless images was flashing past "this place again..." Mars was a little excited about not having nightmares but also found this space a little confusing as he felt he had no control over anything in this space "I really want to see my mom though... let''s try this..." Mars closed his eyes and focused on the word ''mother'' for some time before he snapped open his eyes and focused on a picture "..." Mars stared at the picture lost for words for some time "is she..? she is isn''t she?" the woman in the picture seemed at first glance human but at second glance she seemed like a fairy with her ears slightly sharp and her eyes light green and hair and while her face gave of a gentle look Mars remembered how stern she was with him and his dad "that''s right... mom wasn''t human... and I was a half in my last life too" Mars found a little funny that he was only half human in both his incarnations but he quickly focused on burning the image of his mother into his memory as the pure white world around dimmed slightly "just a little more..." Mars struggled but managed to memories the picture of his mom just as he passed out and fell asleep Chapter 74 Towards Destras magic academy 3 when morning came Mars opened his eyes and sat up in his bed before he looked around in his room, form the light coming through the window Mars judged that it was early morning and decided to lay down again as the picture of his mom flashed through his head ''she almost looks like an elf... I wonder where she was form...'' his memory might not be all that clear but he knew for sure that the woman in the picture was his mother and even if she wasn''t human Mars still felt love for her as any son would for their mother ''well let''s get up...'' Mars raised his upper body again and looked at Victoria that was still sleeping nestled up on his legs and felt a little troubled about how to proceed with getting out of bed ''let''s go easy on her...'' Mars started petting Victoria on the head, specifically on the spot between her ears and horns right on the top of her head until alight purring sounded out form the horned panther cub "good morning Victoria" Victoria slowly opened her eyes and stared at Mars for a second before she sent a telepathic message to him as her horns flashed with a soft white glow "good... morning Mars" Mars gave a smile and continued petting her until she stated her morning cleaning by licking her black and orange-red fur "and her we.... go" Mars swung his legs out over the edge of the bed and sat for a moment before he kicked of the covers and stood up and he began putting on some clothes when suddenly someone knocked on the door "give me a second" Mars hurried and put on the rest of his clothes before he opened the door where he saw Jean that had a displeased expression on her beautiful face "what is it?" "bring your luggage down, we''re just waiting on you" "oh, sorry I will be right down" after Jean finished saying what she had to she turned and left leaving Mars behind that hurriedly grabbed his armor and stuffed into his backpack before he turned and left the room as he called Victoria "Victoria, we need to leave now" "coming... now" Victoria jumped off the bed and followed after Mars as usual by walking half a meter behind him. Soon Mars and Victoria reached the courtyard where 2 carriages stood ready, one seemed to be for luggage while the other was for people, Mars put his backpack on the luggage carriage and walked up to the other carriage and opened the door and found Ivan, Hanna, Jean and Elsa sat inside "sorry I''m late" Mars took a seat next to Ivan and shut the door after him as Hanna that sat the next seat over leaned out and gave Mars a smile "don''t worry about it Mars" Ivan was quick to try and back up Hanna "yeah don''t worry Mars, we have only waited about half an hour" "okay if you say so" Mars gave a smug look to Jean as if to say ''what''s the rush'' but was coldly ignored as he had expected and turned to look at Elsa that wore a summer dress and gave a smile "did you sleep well Mars?" "yeah I had a good dream too" "that''s good" as Mars was talking to Elsa Victoria jumped in and laid down on Mars lap, seeing they all were aboard the carriage started moving and soon the 2 carriage convoy left though the north gate... fear "first blood~" fear and unwillingness was reflected in the eyes of the goblin mage, it thought of itself as a superior of its own species but against this "tipple kill~" it was helpless, the youth stemmed to be teleporting around as he kicked and killed the goblins while speaking in a distorted voice "multi kill~" the goblin mage started to chant in its own native and hoarse voice but soon felt a cold wind behind it and voice that spoke out "ultra kill~" that was the last thing the goblin mage ever heard as Mars kicked it''s fragile neck that produced a snapping sound as Mars''s foot connected and sent the now lifeless goblin mage flying "that''s that" Mars clapped his hands and flames appeared and burned the goblin corpses to ash and after picking up 2 tier 1 cores he began walking back to the carriage where among the peanut gallery Ivan looked at him with wide eyes while Hanna''s eyes lightly sparkled with admiration of Mars''s strength "Mars are you a s-spacial mage?" "no Ivan it''s a physical skill, he moves to fast for us to see" "r-really!?" Ivan was slightly stunned before respect and awe spread in his eyes as he looked at Mars that had just walked over ''why is it always goblins...?'' Mars wondered why goblins were so common of a magic beast and asked Ivan about it "that''s because they need the least amount of corrupted od to spawn" "od..? what''s that?" "od is like.... hmm, it''s the worlds mana? I think" "the worlds mana?" "yeah, I think that''s how my teacher explained it, basically od is the mana of the world and when it gets changed or corrupted it spawns magic beasts and goblins are the most common ones" "I see..." Mars stroked his chin while he thought ''but Rex said mana was the aura of the soul, does that mean the world is alive and has a soul? or maybe there''s a difference in the understanding of mana in Destra?'' Mars stopped his thinking and gave a wave to the coachman before he climbed into the carriage and sat down next to Elsa that latched onto his arm immediately and asked Hanna "how long is this trip going to take anyway?" Hanna gave a sidelong glance to Elsa that was rubbing her cheek against Mars''s shoulder and gave a fake cough before she looked away with a light blush on her face and answered Mars''s question "8-8 days I think, right Jean?" "yes it''s 8 and a half day to reach the academy city by carriage" "and we''re what, 2 days in?" "...yes that''s right asshole, sorry I mean Mars" "...oi" Mars grabbed the hilt of his sword and sent a faint amount of killing intent at Jean, but was once again coldly ignored and gave a sigh as he let go of his sword, Jean had always been treating him cold but the whole ''night training'' incident seemed to have made her outright hostile towards him ''well can''t really blame her for that one...'' Mars gave another sigh and clapped his hand on his lap twice which made Victoria jump up from the floor of the carriage where she nestle in his lap before he used her fluffy ears to heal his damaged soul slightly as the carriage moved on... In the evening the 2 carriage caravan stopped and while the 2 coachmen took care of the 4 hoses the occupants of the first carriage stepped out and stretched their stiff bodies while they took in both the open grassland scenery, Mars looked out over the rolling hills that was sparsely decorated with trees and gave a sigh ''we should arrive tomorrow...'' the past week had been slow, being crammed into a carriage for most of the day had made Mars''s body slightly stiff only the rare goblins had harassed them during the trip but soon they also turned into amusements as Mars and Jean fought over who could kill them the most amount of goblins in the least amount of time ''well at least she warmed up slightly because of that...'' Jean had stopped treating Mars as dirt and started to treat him more as a rival instead, although she was rather childish about it when she declared Mars for her rival in the middle of a card game ''well at least the random insults have lessened somewhat...'' as Mars was admiring the scenery and soft hand grabbed his and a clear voice spoke out besides him "hey you" "hey" Mars didn''t need to look to know it was Elsa that had grabbed his hand, he already knew the feeling of her hand almost as well as the felling of the hilt on his sword "what are you doing?" "admiring the scenery" "...and what are you really doing?" "checking for hostile beast and bandits on the east side of our camp, but I figured the other sounded more romantic" Elsa gave a light giggle besides him and gave his hand a squeeze before she asked "then should we cheek the west side of the camp now?" Mars gave a smile and returned the squeeze before he gave a nod "yeah let''s do that" Chapter 75 Towards Destras magic academy 4 Mars was sleeping, after some time he once again found himself in the pure white room floating as memories passed by "I wonder what''s going to happen today..." Mars emptied his head for useless thoughts and focused on the flashing memories that passed by in the form of images and gradually one of the pictures cleared up and showed a stern looking old man "is that grandfather...? my grandfather..." the stern looking old man was clad in a military uniform, he looked to be in peak physical form with firm muscles his uniform failed to hide all over his body, giving the impression he was a bodybuilder and not a high ranking officer in the Unified Terran Army or UTA for short "didn''t I have a dream about visiting grandfather... now I remember... the contract" large amount of information flowed into Mars''s head, most of it was about a contract his father had signed before he married his mother "now I see... genetic engineering over multiple generations...." the UTA had collected genetic samples from soldiers for over 100 years before they ''made'' the perfect soldiers called Alphas in hundreds and over 500 years later Mars''s family was one of the most pure Alpha family left, that is until his dad fell in love with offworlder "and then the contract insured that I joined the UTA when I was 15..." Mars suddenly felt a whole lot of things made sense when he knew he had been in the military form when he was 15... "well whatever..." Mars looked around the pure white space and found it dimming slightly as he passed out and fell asleep... "Mars wake up" "hmm... give me a second" Mars woke up and sat up and looked around "good morning Mars" "...good morning Hanna" Mars looked at Hanna that had come to wake him up, she was crouching down and wearing a sundress with a mantel over it "...isn''t that the same mantel as Ivan''s?" "it''s the uniform for the academy" "I see... it looks good on you" Hanna gave a smile and stood up before she gave a spin "you think so?" "yeah..." "well in that case what do you think about my---" "Hanna, Mars we need to go!" "oh, well you heard Ivan get up Mars" "yeah yeah, give me a second" Mars crawled out of his bedroll and put on his boots before he picked up his sheath and strapped it to his belt and stretched before he walked over to the carriage and got on after greeting the coachman "sorry for keeping you all waiting and good morning to you all" "good morning Mars" after Mars greeted the people in the carriage and sat down next to Elsa the carriage shock slightly as it set off down the dirt road, around midday the 2 carriage convoy reached the gates of academy city where all 5 people got of the carriage for an inspection by the city''s guards "next" a queue of all sorts of people was lined up outside of the gate, at the gate stood 3 guards that checked the people that wanted to enter the city "sure is a lot better security than Malrton" Ivan that was right behind Mars in line quickly explained "that''s because the only thing bordering Malrton is the Mother forest, besides the academy houses important researches and grimoires" "I see" "next" quickly Mars''s turn came and he stepped up to the guards "state your name" "Mars" ".... and the name of your pet?" "that''s Victoria" "is it tame?" "...yes she is" "what''s your purpose for visiting?" "I''m here to sign up at the academy" the guard paused slightly before he asked the next question "are you a member of a guild?" "yes" Mars pulled out his steel tag and showed it the guard "hoo~ steel, that''s pretty good for your age" "thanks" "what''s in the bag?" "armor, money, magic beast cores and a bedroll" "...do you mind if I take a look?" "no I don''t but..." Mars gave a look behind him at the long queue of slightly dissatisfied and impatient people "...yeah your right, you can pass... next!" Mars passed the guard and walked through the gate into the city, the ground was paved with cobblestone and the most of the building was made of stone bricks and had some clear looking glass for windows, of in the distance Mars saw what looked like a clock tower "neat" Mars and Victoria walked of to the side and waited for the rest of the group that soon got into the city, the carriages also soon passed the inspection and drove in the gate, Mars walked up to Hanna and asked "what now?" "now we head to the academy and get you registered, unless you need to do something first?" "hmm..." Mars stoked his chin and remembered something "can you show me the way to the temple?" "the temple? sure it''s on the way to the academy anyway" with Hanna leading the way Mars, Hanna and Victoria walked through the city''s busy streets "wait where did the others go?" "they went ahead to the academy" "oh, okay" as Mars followed after Hanna he looked around the streets and at the people going on with their lives ''almost half seem to be students... it really is the academy city'' most of the people on the streets whore a mantel like the one Hanna and Ivan was wearing while they walked around, after walking for about 10 minutes Hanna stopped in front of a temple like building with a bell tower "here it is" "ho~ this certainly looks more like a temple in Malrton" Mars admired the building that looked like it was made of smoothed marble bricks before he walked into the building ''this really feels like a temple...'' the inside of the temple was lit by candles and sparsely decorated, there was also a counter with a priest like person standing behind it "hello can I help you two?" Mars walked up to the counter and looked at the priest that carried a businesses smile on his calm face "yes, is there any prayer room available?" "certainly right this way" Hanna sat down in a waiting room and gave Mars a wave as he and Victoria followed after the priest further into the temple "oh right... could you take me to a prayer room with the best avatar?" "the best avatar?" the priest stopped and look at Mars with a funny face, right until Mars pulled out his necklace of the apostle and showed it to the priest "A-Apostle!? right this way please" Mars followed after the slightly panicked priest and soon arrived at a door deep into the temple "right though this door is the best prayer room, please take your time" "thanks" Mars opened the door and walked into the prayer room before he looked around ''...this seem high class'' the prayer room was decorated with complex gold engravings on the marble walls, in the middle of the room was a clear crystal ball that floated mid air and behind it was a altar wade mostly of gold where a doll the size of a 10 year old child lay, the doll was wearing a nun habit lined with gold tread and decorated with gemstones of various sizes "yep this sure is high class, I wonder who uses this room normally..? maybe royalty?" Mars walked up to the crystal ball and laid his hand on it, the room shock slightly when he touched the crystal ball much like a computer waking up [SUBJECT #5 CONFIRMED REQUEST DESCEND?] "yes please" [ACTIVATING ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, SUBJECT: INFORMATION BEGINNING DESCEND...] Mars took a step back as a formless pressure descended from the heavens into the avatar a few seconds later the avatar shock slightly before floating up into the air, standing upright in the air the eyes of the avatar fluttered slightly before opening showing eyes that was as bright as stars, feeling even more pressure Mars grabbed the hilt of his sword and watched the holy avatar that preceded to put on a unladylike face before shuddering slightly "ahh~ that''s the stuff~" "...Info?" "sorry Mars give me second~" "okay?" Info closed her eyes and floated back down on the ground and after half a minute she opened her eyes again "are you okay Info?" "yeah I''m fine" "...what was that about?" "that..? oh it was just the feeling of a high class avatar that caught me off guard" "I see..." Info waved her hand and a table with 3 chairs appeared in the room "please take a seat" "thanks" Mars walked over and sat down before he pulled the other chair closer and patted his thigh "Victoria" Victoria quickly jumped up on the chair and nestled into Mars lap before she began purring "now, first of congratulations are in order" "congratulations?" "for reaching level 20, let me give you a gift to celebrate" "a gift?" Chapter 76 Enrollment 1 Info gave a cheeky smile and waved her hand making a leather sheath appear on the table "a sheath?" Mars picked up the sheath and examined it, but besides the high quality leather and excellent craftsmanship he couldn''t find anything special about it and gave a questioning look to Info that soon explained "what you hold in your hand might just be a sheath to you, but it was once a prized partner of a living god of the sword" "a living god?" "yes, and while it seems normal it might help you break though the level cap on the [Swordsmanship] skill" "really?" "yeah" Info gave a smug smile like she was saying ''I''m amazing right?'' "thanks for the gift Info" "your welcome Mars, now with that done why don''t you tell me what you have been doing since last we spoke" "hmm... well first off you remember the whole ''kick them in the shin, if they fight back kick them in the balls'' strategy I made?" "ugh, don''t remind me" "well it turned out i didn''t have to use it, the people are really civilized in this world so talking sense to them is easy" "really..? that''s good" "yeah and then I---" for the next 30 minutes, much like a child telling their parent what they had been doing for the day Mars told Info about what he had been doing "so your here because of that child, Hanna?" "also because the academy seemed like fun" "I see... what are you going to do with the 3rd prince?" "...that depends" "on what?" "...my mood mostly" "...I see, well then go and do your worst... also send away that priest spying at the door on your way out" "I will, see you Info" Mars stood up form the tale that disappeared along with the chairs and watched Info lay down on the altar [DECEDENT ENDED, LIFTING ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING STANDBY MODE...] Mars walked out of the prayer room and sure enough the priest that had showed him the way stood right outside the door "spying on people is a bad habit, bad for your health too" "w-w-what are y-you talking about?" Mars gave the priest a pat on the shoulder with a wide smile on his face before he punched him in the stomach making the priest pass out on the spot before he walked away "let''s go Victoria" "why... did you... punch him?" "because he annoyed me" "okay..?" Victoria tilted her head slightly as she followed after Mars out to the waiting area where Hanna was waiting "are you finished?" "yeah let''s go" "okay then follow me" Hanna lead the way and soon Mars saw a big gate where student with mantles like the one Hanna was wearing walked in and out of "this is the main gate" "...neat" Hanna walked in the gate while Mars and Victoria followed after as both of them looked around, Mars focused on a student that was looking at Hanna with wide eyes "hey, isn''t she the one that got hurt?" "no way the student that got hurt is either dead or dying" "yeah your right" having lost interest the students walked away ''well they right, kind of right anyway'' Mars decided to ignore the other students as he followed after Hanna and soon they walked into a administration building "it''s just over there at the counter" "thanks Hanna, see you later" "see you" Mars watched Hanna walk out of the building before he walked over to the counter and asked the person behind the counter "I would like to become a student at this academy, is it possible to register here?" "certainly, please take a seat while I call the professor" "okay" Mars took a seat and soon a man with a blue mantel on showed up and looked at Mars with examining eyes before he asked "your the one that want to register?" "yeah, is there a problem?" "no not really it just depends on your skills, you need to take a little test before I can register you" "that''s fine" "okay follow me then, I''m professor Steven you can just call me Steve "okay, my name is Mars" "okay then Mars follow me" Mars stood up and followed after Steve out of the building and onto a empty practice field that was covered in formation engravings "normally anyone can register at the start of a new year, but since it''s mid year now you need to be at least a combat class mage to sign up" "combat class?" "here at the academy we classify mages based on their raw magic output, form basic, apprentice, combat, strategic and finally tactical" "I see, then I need to cast a spell?" "yes your strongest spell, aim in the middle of the field please" "okay step back..." Mars confirmed Steve stepped back before he summoned a small flame a tip of his index finger "now for the real thing..." Mars took a breath and raised the flame into the air where it rapidly expanded to the size of a carriage before it suddenly started condensing and getting smaller, meanwhile the heat the flame gave off rose exponentially as it''s size got smaller and smaller until it was the size of a ball "that''s one... now for the rest..." Mars summoned another 2 flames that, like the first first got larger before they condensed "now for the hard part..." Mars had learned this spell from Chloe, but had never managed to figure out the last hardest part which was to fuse the 3 fireballs together into 1 "let''s give it a try..." Mars raised his hands and gradually the 2 outer fireballs started to fuse into the middle one, meanwhile Steve looked on in half horror half expectation ''he''s at the critical point now, if he fails then the formation might not hold and half the academy might go up in flames'' Steve started to sweat, but the expectations on his face kept him from running away ''I am the one that pushed him to use his strongest spell so I might as well see it though to the end'' as Steve was praying Mars finally managed to fuse the fireballs together, now only one bright white fireball was floating in the air "go!" Mars pointed ahead and sent the fireball flying as he himself fell back just as the fireball hit the center of the formation and exploded with a deafening roar *BOOOOOM* the shock wave moved out form the explosion but was stopped and contained by the formation as a transparent dome seemed to form with the explosion in the middle, that is until the dome shattered but luckily it was replaced by a back up dome as the safety of the formation kicked in and ensured the explosion was contained "well, how is it did I pass?" "...yeah" Steve looked at Mars with a weird face before he asked Mars to follow him as they both went back to the administrative building where Steve stopped and asked Mars with a awkward face "can you pay the fee?" "sure, no problem" "okay good... wait here I need to go get someone" Mars waited and soon Steve showed up followed by a old, frail looking woman that wore a triangle pointed hat and a golden mantel, seeing Mars''s confused face Steve quickly explained "this is the vice principal, she is also your new teacher" "nice to meat you, I''m Mars" "...follow after me I''ll show you to class" "sure" Mars said goodbye to Steve and followed after the vice principal that remained silent until they reached the classroom where she walked up to the blackboard "...introduce yourself Mars" Mars looked around the mostly empty classroom and saw a total of 4 other students, 2 of them seem to be a young pair of beastmen twins "well then, my name is Mars I might look human but I''m not... also I''m a steel ranked merc, I use fire and darkness magic" "good now take a seat, now where were I..? oh right" Mars took a seat in the front ''wait where did Victoria go..?'' Mars suddenly realized Victoria had stopped following him at some point and got a little nervous ''hopefully she''s with Hanna or one of the others...'' unaware of her new student nervousness the vice principal started speaking while she drew on the blackboard "formation, or arrays if you will are in essence what drives most of the advanced tools in this world, they are often drawn with magic beast cores or molten down mana stones, but more ancient cases has shown us its possible to use metal, although we don''t know how... some examples of formations are simple amplification formations in wands and staffs the academy''s clock tower is also powered by a formation witch draws in od form the surroundings and converts it to mana witch powers the timepiece other examples include---" Mars did his best to follow along and as he did he got more and more interested in formations, he even started daydreaming about carving a formation on his armo Chapter 77 Enrollment 2 as Mars listened to the vice principal''s teachings about formations and arrays he got more and more interested and eventually raised his hand to ask a question "--- so by using magic beast cores of different elements, yes what is it Mars?" "if it matters what kind of element the magic beast core has does that mean different elements are useful for special parts of a formation?" the vice principals eyes lit up a little "yes that is exactly right Mars for example, air element magic cores are better for gathering od whole earth element magic beast cores are better for reinforcements" "I see... sorry for interrupting" the vice principal gave a sigh before she smiled "I don''t mind... I like smart students or at least the ones that are awake" "what?" the vice principal didn''t answer she just pointed behind Mars, when he turned around he saw that the rest of the students in the class had fallen asleep "oh... I see" Mars suddenly felt kind of awkward for the other 4 but when he saw the vice principals smile he knew this was the norm "they normally sleep?" "yeah... well they all have their circumstances, they are all tactical class mages after all" Mars looked at the beastmen twins, they both looked no more than 10 years old and asked with doubt in his voice "all of them?" "yes even the twins, well they aren''t here by choice it''s more like we look after them" "...I see" "well this is all for today... follow me I will show you to the dorms" "is it okay to let them sleep?" "yeah its fine" "...if you say so" Mars followed after the vice principal and suddenly asked "do you know the 3rd prince?" "no not personally, why do you ask?" "...no reason, just wondering what he''s like" "....well he''s harmless... most of the time" "what do you mean by that?" the vice principal gave a weird smile "you will see when you meet him" "okay?" Mars remained silent as he followed after the vice principal as both of them reached the dorm building which was 3 stories tall and gave mars the impression of a cheap apartment building "we''re here, your room is number 202 on the second floor" the vice principal took a key out of her pocket and handed it to Mars "thanks" "good now that you know where the dorms are let''s get the troublesome things out of the way, can you cover the tuition fee?" "sure" Mars took out a gold coin and handed it to the vice principal "that should do it right?" "...yes, now let''s go get your mantel" Mars once again followed after the vice principal this time back to the administration building where she exchanged some words with the person behind a counter and soon received a red mantel which she handed to Mars "it''s the rules that you need to wear the mantle at all times while you are on the academy grounds" "okay" Mars put the mantel on and was surprised by its weight and gave asked about it "why is it so heavy?" "that''s because of some magic nullification formations inside the mantel, it helps with preventing injuries" "neat" Mars made some small jumps and got adjusted to the weight of the mantel before he asked the vice principal "is there anything else?" "my class starts at 10, don''t be late" after she said her piece the vice principal turned and left ''at 10... what to do now... let''s find the others'' Mars walked out of the administration building and started to wander around, as he walked he noticed the other students was sending him strange looks but ignored it ''it''s just because I look handsome right?'' after wondering about it for awhile he decided to ask a random female student "hey you, mind if I ask you something?" "m-m-me!?" "yes?" "e-excuse me, I-I have something I need to do!" Mars looked in amazement as the student ran away ''...maybe I''m too handsome?'' "excuse me do you mind if I ask you a question?" "...stay away from me" "..." Mars felt defeated and decided to go back to his dorm room, on the way back he noticed the other students looking at him weirdly while some of them whispered "hey, that''s a new one right?" "yeah it is I have not seen him before... hey quiet he''s looking this way!" ''it seems like they are afraid of me..?'' Mars started to understand a little about what was going on and gave a evil smile and drew his sword before he disappeared and reappeared in front of a random student "you answer my question" the student froze and looked at Mars''s with horror on his face "w-w-w-w-what is y-y-your q-question?" "why are people look at me weirdly?" "t-t-that''s because of the c-c-color of your mantel" "my mantel?" "y-y-you are a tactical class mage right? only tactical class mages has red mantels" "I see, thanks for your help" Mars sheathed his sword and walked away form the frightened student ''well that explains it... well if I was a puny mortal I would be afraid of a WMD walking around too'' Just as Mars was wondering what to do someone called out to him from behind "hey Mars!" Mars turned around and saw Ivan that was walking along with some other students "hey Ivan" Mars gave a smile and walked over, scaring the other students in the processes "I-I-Ivan what are you doing!?" "what..? oh don''t worry I know him Mars is not dangerous" "r-really?" "yeah I spent nearly a week with him and so far the only thing he''s killed are a few goblins" "that''s... well I guess that''s normal?" "never mind that, Ivan have you seen the girls around?" "hmm... Hanna should be on one of the practice fields by now, but I don''t know about the maids" "the practice fields?" "oh right you''re new here Mars, let me show you the way" "thanks" with Ivan and his friends leading the way Mars soon arrived at the practice fields, which was a big open courtyard with formations carved into the stone tiles that lined the courtyard, the formations also lined the courtyard into multiple smaller fields, hence the name the fields was filled with students all testing or practicing spells inside the formations "well this looks neat" Mars looked around and spotted Hanna inside a formation, she seemed to be practicing some sort of spell "there she is" "where... oh right there she is indeed" Mars, Ivan and his friends walked over and watched Hanna as she formed a lightning spell with her bare hands before she fired a bolt of lightning into the empty air making a small thunderclap sound out """ohhh~""" this feat clearly amazed the peanut gallery that consisted of students and some teachers ''that was chain lightning... not bad it only took her half the time to form the spell then last time...'' Mars also nodded his head in praise meanwhile Hanna continued forming and firing another 3 chain lightning spells before she stopped and walked out of the formation with a smile on her face as she wiped her long yellow hair away from her face dazzling the crowd in the processes ''well looks like she has recovered well...'' one had to remember that it was only 2 weeks ago that she had been in a coma caused by her own spell misfiring due to her staff being tempted with, to be able to cast the spell that nearly killed her with her bare hands no less, less than 2 weeks after waking from a coma showed her personal strength "Hanna" "oh it''s you Mars" Mars called Hanna and soon she pulled through the crowd and walked up to Mars with a natural smile on her face "what is it?" "well first off, nice job with your spells" "thanks Mars" "second, have you seen Victoria anywhere?" "Victoria..? no I don''t think so..." "well she will show up when she''s hungry anyways..." as Mars was speaking with Hanna a teacher walked up and interrupted "wait Hanna, you still have not told me the name of the person that healed you!" Hanna frowned "what does it matter who healed me?" "it matters to the whole academy if we could invite such a skilled person it would help all of Destra! especially in these troubled times" "I have told you so many times already that person don''t want his name spread... besides if I told you he would burn down Malrton in revenge!" "heh, just a small border town... if you ask me that''s well worth the trade" "you!" just as Hanna was about to slap the teacher Mars garbed her hand and stopped her with a faint smile on his face with thick killing intent radiating off his body "oi" "what, oh your the new tactical class mage... why don''t you run off and play or something" "...I know the name of the person that healed Hanna" "really! then say that sooner, now tell me and you will be well rewarded!" "that person happens to be my teacher... let me show you the healing skill I have learned from him..." "oh please I would love to witness the skills of a masters disciple!" "really? then hold still..." Mars put his hand on the hilt of his sword right before a flash slashed across the teache Chapter 78 Enrollment 3 "eh..?" Mars''s sword stopped a inch form the teachers arm "what do you think, a severed arm should be the perfect example... now hold still" "w-w-w-wait!!!" at the teachers panic Mars put on a innocent expression "I thought you wanted to see my healing in person? so hold still" "now now, there''s n-n-no n-n-need to get violent is there!?" Mars took his sword of the shoulder and gave it a few swings before he explained "I''m pretty confident in swordsmanship, you won''t feel a thing" "n-n-now that I think about I have a class to teach!" looking at the teacher running away Mars gave a smile as he sheathed his sword, as much as he wanted to cut of his arm he decided to hold back for the sake of not worsening the already bad reputation of tactical call mages in the academy "thanks for the help Mars" "don''t mention it, if anyone bothers you like that again send them to me" "okay, if you say so" "well never mind all that, how has it been being back at the academy?" "it''s been good so far well besides that teacher, my friends where even talking about holding a party for me since I have re---" "hey Hanna, how have you been since we spoke last? have you decided to agree to my suggestion?" as Hanna was talking a student that could only be described as sleazy looking walked up and interrupted her, he carried a oddly confident smile like the world was within his control "no for the last time I''m not going to agree!" the sleazy student took another step closer and lay his hand on Hanna''s shoulder before he continued "really? that''s so sad with your health being good and all... oh well don''t complain to me later" Mars watching form the side put a hand on the hilt of his sword "...oi" "what! can''t you see I''m having a conversation with Hanna here, fuck off!" Mars was a little surprised by the sleazy student''s outburst but pulled himself together and grabbed his hand before he twisted it around his back "AHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU, LET GO YOU FILTHY COMMONER DO YOU WANT ME TO HAVE YOU KILLED IF NOT THEN LET---" "hey Hanna?" "...what?" "can I stab him?" "...no" "please, just once?" "...no" "tch..." Mars clicked his tongue and let go of the sleazy student that was still screaming insults at him "YOU WANT ME TO HAVE YOUR FAMILY KILLED YOU LITTLE FILTHY COMMONER!? YOU JUST WA---" "shut up already" *SLAM* Mars, tired of being yelled at punched the sleazy student in the stomach and watched him kneel over and pass out with a refreshing smile on his face before he turned to Hanna and said "let''s go visit the 3rd prince" "...why?" "because I want to know if this sleazebag is acting under his orders" "okay then, but I''m not sure we will be able to see him" "oh don''t you worry about that, just lead the way" "okay if you say so Mars" "you coming Ivan?" "m-me?" "yeah you" "w-well okay" "good, lead the way Hanna" while Hanna lead the way Mars''s eyes turned crimson and his horns also grew out making him look sinister as a devil out of hell "M-Mars you have horns!?" "yep" "...are you a demon?" "nope, half dragon" "half dragon... I see" Ivan looked at Mars with an admiring look on his face "guys we''re here" hearing Hanna call out Mars looked to the front and saw what could only be described as a luxurious 4 story tall dorm building with a fence around it, in front of Mars''s group was a gate that was guarded by some fierce looking guards in full plate armor "what is this place?" "it''s the dorm for the higher nobility and royalty" "I see, well lets go" Mars walked up to the gate but was stopped by the guards "halt! no commoners allowed" "what if I told you I''m not a commoner?" the guard looked Mars over before he showed a grin "no way a dirty non human is a upper noble, fuck off!" "I see, let''s do it the hard way then" "the hard wa---" Mars used [Instant movement] before the guard managed to finished talking and appeared in front of the guard and ''lightly'' punched him over 50 times in less than 2 seconds, completely destroying his armor and knocking him out as he fell over like a sack of potatoes "that''s one" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" ignoring the other guard Mars dug his foot under the passed out guard and kicked him right over the gate and in the open door on the other side, and raised his hands over his head before he yelled "GOOOOAAAAL!!!" the guard, Hanna and Ivan looked at Mars with weird looks on their faces, but as a professional guard he quickly snapped out of his daze and drew his sword as he approached Mars "hold on a second... there it is" Mars pulled his necklace of the apostle out of his shirt and flashed it to the guard that went pale at the sight of the 13 pointed silver star "a-apostle!?" "well, what now..? you want me to fuck you up like I did your friend?" "n-no sir apostle please pass!" "now that''s more like it, come on Hanna, Ivan" Ivan looked over at Hanna and asked "is he always like that" "...pretty much, I was surprised by how well behaved he was during the carriage trip" "okay..." "come on, what are you 2 waiting on?" "we''re coming now" Hanna pulled Ivan along passed the still pale guard after Mars "now let''s see..." Mars looked around the hallway and spotted a random maid "excuse me miss, could you please tell me the way to the 3rd prince?" "...err, it''s down that hall room number 15" "thanks" after Mars thanked the maid he walked down the hall and soon found room number 15 and knocked on the door ''...I wonder if I''m going to have to run after this'' Mars thought for a moment about what would happen if he fucked up and accidentally killed the 3rd prince but shook his head to shake of the violent thoughts ''I hope I''m able to talk sense into him'' as Mars was thinking the door opened "yes, what is it?" a elegant looking maid wit tied up silver hair opened the door and gave a slime at Mars when she saw him "is the 3rd prince here?" "yes master is in" "...I would like to meet him" Mars put a hand on his necklace of the apostle to drive the point that he wasn''t going to take no for a answer home "...please wait a moment" the maid closed the door again and after waiting a few moments did she open the door again "please this way dear guest" Mars gave a nod and followed after the maid into the room and found that the so called ''room'' was more like a big apartment "his highness is inside" the maid gestured to a door "thanks, come on you two" "y-yes Mars, is this really a good idea Hanna" "what are you saying after coming this far, come on" Mars opened the door and walked into a luxurious living room where 3 people was present, sanding behind a couch was a woman clad in armor along with a man that carried a staff and sitting in the sofa sat ''... a child?'' a child that looked no more than 13 years old sat in the sofa, he had short blonde hair and was clad in relatively ordinaryclothes and wore a mantel like the other students, seeing Mars made his eyes light up before he stood up form the sofa couch and held out his hand to Mars "welcome apostle, I''m Augustus Destra the 3rd prince of Destra" Mars was presently surprised by Augustus''s show of maturity Mars also gave his hand with a smile on his face "nice to meet you Augustus, I''m Mars and as you can see I''m not only a apostle but also a half dragon" Mars shock the 3rd prince''s hand before he introduced Ivan and Hanna "theses are my friends, Hanna and Ivan" the prince gave a nod and gestured to the couch across from himself "please sit down" Mars and Hanna both sat down naturally while Ivan was rather stiff "now what do I owe the honor of meeting a apostle?" "well your highness I''m afraid it''s a rather dull topic" "oh? please do tell" "well it all started about a month ago before I became a apostle, I was living rather wild in the mother forest but due to circumstances I was forced to leave the forest and then I headed to Malrton that borders the forest" "when you say wild, what do you mean?" "I was living in a cave clad in animal skins" "...seriously?" "yeah, it was quite fun actually being able to laze around all day, but anyway when I came to Malrton chased from my home in the forest I was taken in by Hanna''s parents, they clothed me and fed me, so I owe them quite a bit, so when I found out their daughter was mortally injured I healed her at once" "so you are also a healer?" "yeah, and I''m really good at healing too" "...in that case I might need your services in the future" "I would be happy to help your highness with anything... that is depending on how this conversation ends" "...what do you mean?" "well, the thing is the reason Hanna was mortally injured was because her staff was sabotaged... right after she refused to become your mistress" Chapter 79 Enrollment 4 "...my mistress?" Augustus looked both stunned and in disbelief as he looked at Mars, then at Hanna "but I never.... wait are you perhaps Hanna Orbrage?" Hanna was a little surprised Augustus knew her full name and gave a nod "yes that''s my name your highness" "I see..." Augustus stroked his chin and remained silent for almost a full minute before he looked at Hanna and asked "and who was it that demand this of you?" "...I think his name is Victor, form the way he was acting I thinks he''s the son a high ranking noble?" "Victor..." Augustus stroked his chin again and half a minute late his eyes lit up before he suddenly stood up and bowed down to Hanna "I''m sorry this is all my fault" ""your highness!"" the so far silent people behind Augustus called out in alarm before they reached out and tired to stop him from bowing "stop it you two, this is my fault!" "but your highness plea---" "stop bowing already" "Mars?" "explain if you want forgiveness, bowing comes after" "yes you''re right Mars..." Augustus sat down again and after a little while did he begin speaking "...Victor is the son of one of my fathers advisers and has been keeping me company since I began my study here at the academy, he mentioned about a month ago that one Hanna Orbarge was a rare lightning mage like me so I send him to befriend Hanna on my behalf he must have twisted my words" "well he did seem rather... overbearing" Augustus gave a bitter smile "yes so therefor my orders, my responsibility" Mars gave a sigh and looked at Hanna "so what do you want to do, kill him?" "kill him? Augustus?" "yeah, don''t worry you can pin it on me" "YOU WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" discussing killing the prince didn''t sit well with the female knight so she drew her sword and pointed it at Mars, but Mars just ignored her and looked at Hanna awaiting her decision ''well I might die once or twice but I''m sure I can make it out the country... maybe I could work something out with the elvers in the Mother forest?'' time seemed to slow to a crawl as Hanna was thinking, Ivan was pale and slightly shaking and the male mage advised Augustus "your highness please take shelter!" "no, I must take responsibility for this" even as the prince tried to act mature Mars still felt his voice shaking slightly, actually the only calm person in the room was Mars, he was 98% sure he would survive even if shit went down even then dying once or twice was fine for him "I... don''t want him dead" "well then that''s fine too, what about Victor?" "...let me handle him myself" "okay, well then my businesses here is done" Mars stood up form the couch and looked the people in the room as he undid his transformation making him look human again before he gave a light bow to the 3rd prince "excuse me your highness I will take my leave first" Mars turned and walked towards the door only to stop after a few steps and turn around again "have any of you seen a black horned panther around...? no? okay" Mars walked out of the room and left Ivan and Hanna behind ''what to do now..?'' Mars was a loss for what to do and decided to go and check out his new room, after walking for a few minutes he arrived at the dorm building and went inside ''its nice, but kinda pales in compression with the noble dorms....'' Mars walked though the nice dorm building and soon found room 202 and pulled out his key and unlocked the door "....neat" the room was indeed as Mars despised it a neat and homey apartment with a kitchen/living room that was furnished with a small table with 4 chairs along with a couch with a small table, walking around in the apartment Mars found it had 2 other rooms, a bedroom and a washing room "well this is nice... my luggage is here too..." Mars sat down on the couch and started into the empty air for a few moments before he laid down in the couch and closed his eyes while he focused on the contract he had with Victoria and tired to sense her location ''she''s close... in the next room?'' Mars sat up again and started at the right hand wall and clearly felt Victoria was behind the wall ''well I hope she''s not in trouble...'' Mars got up from the comfortable couch and walked out his apartment and over to the room 203 and knocked on the door ''please don''t be a weird neighbor...'' as Mars had some rude thoughts the door opened "hey Mars" "hey... Elsa" the one that opened to door was Elsa which surprised Mars slightly "surprised?" "a little... but presently surprised... are you living here?" Elsa gave a mischievous smile and leaned forwards slight "why don''t you come in and find out" Mars followed after Elsa into the apartment and found it looked almost exactly like his own with a small kitchen/living room, inside the living room was Victoria she was laying on the couch sleeping as usual ''well I''m glad she''s okay...'' now relieved that Victoria didn''t get into trouble Mars spent a couple of hours talking, but mostly flirting with Elsa until it was late "well I better get back to my own room now, the dinner was nice" "okay then see you tomorrow Mars, you too Victoria" "goodnight Elsa" Mars and Victoria went back to their own room "this is where we will live now Victoria" "okay..." Victoria went around and sniffed around in the room before she jumped onto the couch before she sat down and looked at Mars with her head tilted to the side as her horns flashed "it''s... the same... as Elsa''s?" "yeah it''s pretty much the same, let''s go to bed" "okay" Mars and Victoria went to bed snuggled against each other as the night passed peacefully... "hmm..." Mars felt something hitting his face and opened his eyes "...really?" Mars looked in disbelief at Victoria''s hind leg that somehow had gotten up and poked him on the cheek, she had somehow gotten herself turned around on the back with 3 of her legs in the air, the last one right up in Mars''s face "well it seems like it''s morning anyway..." Mars carefully lifted Victoria off himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked out the small window up at the clock tower and saw the time was 7:24 AM "...class starts at 8" Mars decided to get up and rose out of bed before he put on his clothes and his boots "time to get going..." Mars put on his mantel and walked out of the door and was about to lock the door when he remembered Victoria and walked back into the apartment and shock her slightly until she woke up "Victoria I''m going now, do you want to come with me or stay here?" Victoria stretched as she woke up and looked at Mars with her blue eyes "I... want to go... with you" "okay then let''s go" Mars walked out of the apartment again this time followed by Victoria and locked the door after himself before he walked out of the dorm building towards the class room while he ignored the other students that looked at him weirdly ''I wonder what class is going to be about today...'' Mars walked in the classroom and found it empty "well we''re a little early..." Mars found a desk in the front of the room and sat down while Victoria walked around the class room and eventually jumped up on Mars''s desk and laid down to sleep again, after waiting for a few minutes did the vice principal arrive and walked up to Mars''s desk with a slightly stern face "...what can I help you with vice principal?" the vice principal gave Mars a stern look before she spoke "yesterday you beat up a guard at the noble dorm right?" "oh... yes I did" looking at Mars''s earnest face the vice principal gave a sigh "want to tell me why?" "because he was racist and called me a ''dirty non human'' so I beat him up" "...I see, anything else?" "hmm... I went easy on him so he should live?" the vice principal gave an other deep sigh and shifted her gaze to Victoria that was sleeping soundly on Mars''s desk "and who is this?" "this is Victoria... Victoria say hello" Victoria''s horns flashed briefly right before shock appeared on the vice principal''s face "[Telekinesis]... to think a magic beast would know human langue..." "yeah she''s smart" "I see... how did you tame her?" "I didn''t, I made a contract by mixing my mana with hers" "you did what now!?" Chapter 80 Enrollment 5 "you did what now!?" "I mixed my mana with hers? afterwards I was able to use darkness magic as a result" the vice principal started at Mars, then at Victoria for some time until she gave a deep sigh and looked at Mars with a stern face "don''t tell anyone else about that" "...why not?" "because it might endanger you and Victoria" Mars looked at the vice principal and gave a smile "even I am no match for Victoria when she''s serious, she''s a class 9 magic beast after all so I doubt anyone would be able to hurt her" "I see, well just be careful" the vice principal went back to the blackboard and started to prepare for the class and a few minutes later did the first student show up, a youth about 15 years old, he carried a pair of thick glasses and a self confident air around him as he walked in and sat down, completely ignoring Mars and Victoria, the next student to come to class was a woman around 25 years old with short blue hair, she seemed rather nervous as she glanced at Mars while she walked past his desk and finely the 2 beastmen twins walked in, they both had short white hair with tall fox ears on the top of their heads, one of them seemed interested in Victoria bu was pulled along by the other "good, now that everybody here today is the monthly spell test" "YES!" """...""" the confident youth was the only one that seemed excited for the spell test, the others remained silent Mars the only clueless person in the room asked "what''s a spell test?" the vice principal opened her mouth to explain but the confident youth yelled out before she had a chance to speak "it''s the best lesson all month, also its a change to see my greatness!" "...well if you say so dude" "well like Chris said it''s testing spells" "okay..." Mars stood up, poked Victoria awake and followed after the the vice principal that walked out of the class room along with the 4 other tactical class students and soon they arrived at a courtyard on the outside of the academy that was walled in on 3 sides while the east direction was a clear field with craters "here we are... now who wants to go first?" "ME!" Chris raised his hand impartially and seeing no one else wanted to go first he walked up and stood on a spot with black bricks before he started casting a spell as a ball of light appeared in his hand before he looked over at Mars with a grin on his face "new guy watch closely, this is greatness!" not waiting for Mars to reply Chris trusted his hand forwards as a beam of bright light shot out like a laser and hit the containment array with enough force that the ground shock slightly "MORE!!!" as Chris yelled the force of the laser seemed to increase and the first transparent containment field broke like a piece of glass but the laser did not get far as the 2nd containment array kicked in and blocked the laser again, Chris stopped the laser spell and put his arms up before he yelled "HAHAHA! I DID IT!!! HAHAHAHAHA---" the vice principal gave a sigh before she looked at the remaining 4 and asked "who''s next?" Mars looked around and saw none of the other 3 looked eager and stepped up and replaced the still laughing Chris on the spot with the black bricks "good luck new guy!" Chris gave Mars a clap on his shoulder when he walked past, which made Mars give a smile back "luck has nothing to do with it, it''s all skill" "HAHAHA, well said!" Mars took a deep breath and summoned a small flame witch floated up over his head as it grew in size only stopping when it was the size of a small truck "CONDENSE!" the flame obeyed Mars''s command and shrunk to the size of a ball, the flame was now glowing white like a small sun "that''s the first!" Mars summoned another 2 fires that like the first got bigger before they too condensed to the size of a ball "now... FUSE!" Mars raised his hands and the 2 outer fireballs began to fuse with the middle one meanwhile the temperature rose drastically and as the fusion competed the air became so hot that one would be able to cook a steak on the bricks below where Mars was standing "GO!" Mars pointed forwards and the sun like fireball flew forwards towards the array witch closed around the fireball as it exploded with a deafening roar instantly shattering the first and second containment array before the explosion was contained, seeing his spell destroying a containment array more then last time Mars gave a smile and turned around before he walked back and sat down on the ground with Victoria that soon laid on his lap, Mars petted Victoria until Chris walked over with his self confident smile on his face "awesome spell dude, whats it called?" "it''s a downgraded version of a elven spell called 9 fold explosion, so I guess you can call it 3 fold explosion" "NICE!" Chris held out his hand "I''m Chris by the way" Mars smiled and shook his hand "Mars, and this is Victoria" as Mars was talking with Chris the girl with the short blue hair walked up and stood on the black stained bricks and took a deep breath before she trusted out her hand and water began to rise from the ground before it formed a coiling dragon that surrounded her "FORM!" as she yelled out the coiling dragon seemed to form countless ice spikes that covered it like scales giving it a furious look "now... GO!" at her command the dragon flew forwards and crashed against the containment array making it stretch under the pressure before it ultimately held, the dragon seemed even more furious that it failed to break the array and began to claw it while the ice scales suddenly stood up straight before they all suddenly shot out like bullets hitting the array making the first containment array shatter before the second barely held "she''s pretty good..." Mars watched in awe as the water dragon dissipated slowly, then he gave the woman another look this time with respect instead of his standard ''pure and righteous'' look he used on all women in his strike zone "yeah Karen is a good water mage" ''so her name is Karen...'' "well that''s all for today... dismissed" Mars was a little confused and asked Chris "wait... aren''t the twins going to cast a spell each?" "no, they are earth mages and specialize in raw destruction, if they both fired off a spell half the academy would be in ruins" "that sounds... awesome?" "yeah, you should have seen the vice principal face when they told her about it, it was priceless HAHAHAHA!" "I can imagine that..." "anyway you coming along?" "to what?" "the cafeteria of cause!" "...sure I''ll come along, Victoria come" Mars, Chris and Victoria walked towards the cafeteria under Chris''s lead and soon the group arrived at the cafeteria where Mars suddenly asked "where do you pay for the meals?" Chris gave a smile and patted Mars on the shoulder "they are free, so eat as much as you can" "...nice" the inside of the cafeteria was lined with tables and chairs where countless students where already seated and eating their meals, in one end was there a long table with kitchen staff behind it, they served all sorts of food to the hungry students that was lined up in and waiting to be fed, Mars, Chris and Victoria also walked over and lined up as they waited for their turn patiently but soon some whispers reached Mars''s ears "look it''s a beast" "it really is! I wonder who brought it?" "it''s probably some noble here to show off his new pet" Mars did his best to ignore the whispers but since it was about Victoria and not himself he still felt some annoyance by the whispers ''well as long as they only talk...'' Mars hoped nobody would make a larger scene out of it and waited as he stood in line but soon someone yelled out "look there''s a beast!" the shout gathered attention and soon almost everybody in the line was looking at Victoria that seemed uncountable by all the states, so much so that her ears where flopped over and lay down flat on her head her tail was also hanging low with the tip swaying slightly from side to side ''for fucks sake...'' Mars felt lost about what to do until he got a idea and told Chris "sorry Chris, go ahead and eat without us, Victoria jump into my shadow" "ok..a.....y" Victoria eager to escape all the states jumped into Mars''s shadow and disappeared before Mars walked out of the line and swiftly walked towards the exit with a stern face that pushed most of the onlookers away as they made space for him, except for one that is "stop right there!" Chapter 81 Enrollment 6 "stop right there!" a strong willed voice that Mars didn''t recognize sounded out in the cafeteria but Mars ignored it and kept walking "I told you to stop!" a soft hand grabbed Mars but he shock it off before he kicked off the ground and activated [Instant movement] and reappeared a few meters ahead before he continued calmly walking towards the exit "last warning, stop right there!" Mars finely paused and stopped, before he turned around with a oddly calm smile on his face as he inspected the one that had called out to him and saw it was a girl about 16 years old, she had fiery red hair that was set in two twin tails on the side of her head, she had orange eyes and was clad in a academy uniform "what?" the girl got visibly irritated by Mars''s short question and flared up "you! don''t you know it''s against the rules to bring beasts into the cafeteria?" "no I did not, now if will excuse me" "YOU! stop right there!" "what?" seeing Mars'' attitude was still indifferent the girl got even more enraged "you have to pay a fine, follow after me" "why?" "BECAUSE. I. SAY. SO!" the air around the girl started to get hot as her mana started to get active "...meh I don''t want to" "YOU!!! FINE DON''T BLAME ME THEN!" the girl pulled out a wand before she summoned a fire lance witch pointed at Mars "...fire eh" Mars was unmoved by the fire lance and stood still as it was hurled towards him by the enraged girl ''it would be a pain if my clothes got burnt, but I can''t just doge it or else the cafeteria is going to be set on fire...'' Mars thought for a moment before he thrust his hand out to meet the fire lance before he simply grabbed it and snuffed it out with his bare hand and looked at the stunned girl with a slight smile on his face "that was rude" Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared before he reappeared right in front of the girl and "OUCH!" poked her forehead leaving behind a red mark on her skin "you know the funny thing about rules is they only work if you have someone strong enough to enforce them" the girl rubbed her forehead and looked at Mars with teary eyes "f-fine I''ll let you go with a warning" "that''s more like it" Mars turned and walked out of the cafeteria, this time no one stopped him ''let''s find some place quiet...'' Mars walked around and soon found a quiet corner of a courtyard where a lonely tree stood and sat down with his back against the tree before he called out "it''s fine now Victoria" Victoria jumped out of Mars''s shadow and looked around with weary eyes before she walked over and nestled on Mars''s lap where he petted her gently to sooth her after a while Mars could feel that Victoria had calmed down "let''s go into the city and get some breakfast" "okay...I''m hungry" seeing Victoria was back to normal Mars gave a happy smile "then let''s go find some food" Mars walked out the gate to the academy and out onto the streets of the academy city ''now where to go... lets just wander around...'' Mars did as he though and wandered around for a bit and took in the sights of the city until he arrived at a market "this looks promising... Victoria you smell anything good?" Victoria looked around and sniffed the air before she looked at a direction as her horns flashed "over...there, smell... good" "then let''s go over there" Mars walked in the direction pointed out by Victoria and soon they both saw and smelled a bunch of food stalls and quickly brought some grilled meat which he fed to Victoria and a sandwich witch he ate himself, now having satisfied their hunger Mars and Victoria took some time to explore the market witch had all sorts of odds and ends but bedsides some low class magic beast cores Mars found nothing of interest and left the market without using anymore money and started to walk back towards the academy with Victoria ''well it was fun in its own way... maybe I should bring Elsa next time?'' Mars and Victoria returned to the academy without anything interesting happening that is until they reached the dorms and was about to walk in "stop right there!" ''not this shit again...'' Mars debated ignoring the call but eventually turned around and saw the girl from earlier ''she''s brought more people this time... annoying'' the girl had a smug look on her face as she was surrounded by what looked like 3 of her friends/underlings "I decided to have you pay the fine anyway, now come with me" "...annoying" "what did you sa---" the girl didn''t have a change to finish talking before Mars appeared in front of her and once again "OUCH" poked her forehead before he pulled out his sword and held it up to her face and said in a cold voice "I done playing with you, run along now little girl" "f-f-f-fine, you win this time!" the girl ran away leaving her underlings behind witch iterated Mars as they looked quite hostile despite their leaders untimely retreat "what, you guys want something?" "your just a swordsman, don''t act all high and mighty!" "we will remember this!" "yeah so don''t you forget!" after the underlings said their lines they ran after their leader in a hurry with slight panic on their faces, seeing them run away Mars gave a sigh and put his sword over his shoulder ''this must be what they call youth...'' Mars gave another sigh and sheathed his sword before he and Victoria walked back to the dorms and entered room 202 where Mars laid down on the sofa to relax and soon he was joined by Victoria that snuggled up to him ''...maybe I should look around for some extra classes to take, just to pass time'' Mars considered what classes to take and decided that the classes that made the most sense to him was formations and maybe darkness magic if they had classes for them ''well this is Destra''s magic academy, they should have those classes... but first comes lazing around'' Mars lazed around on the couch along with Victoria until it was past noon "well I need to get up and do stuff... do you want to come with me?" "no...." "okay then look after the room" "okay..." Mars walked out off the room and shut the door after himself ''...I don''t need to lock it when Victoria''s home'' Mars walked out of the dorm building and headed towards the administrative building when he arrived he walked in and asked the person at the counter "is it possible to register for more classes?" "yes certainly, what classes do you want to register for?" "darkness magic and formations" "one moment please" the person at the counter flipped open a book and looked though it before he looked back up at Mars "there are classes for formation building, but we have no classes for darkness magic" "oh... then just for formation building please" "yes that will be 1000 cel" Mars quickly fished out a sliver coin and handed it the person "and your name is?" "Mars" "okay then Mars, you are now registered for formation building classes and may take all levels of this class expect expert witch isn''t available at the moment, classes start form 8:00 and every other hour until 19:00 in the central teaching building class room 5" "okay, got it thanks" Mars left the administrative building and looked up at the clock tower ''13:34... perfect, I should have time to find the central teaching building...'' just as Mars was wondering how to find the way to the central teaching building Mars spotted a familiar person and walked up behind her before he softly said "stop right there!" "w-w-what do you want!" it was indeed the fiery girl that had tried to get him to pay a fine 2 times now "well first off my name is Mars, what''s your name?" "Mars huh... my name is Cassandra Skymaw my friends call me Cass" "okay Cass, do you know where the ce---" "you''re not my friend!" Mars gave a smile and put a hand on the hilt of his sword "don''t say that, I think we''re quite close already with you firing deadly magic at me and all" "y-you.... f-fine I give you special permission to call me Cass" "that''s better, see Cass I''m a new student here and I don''t know the way to the central teaching building, so I wondered if you would show me the way" "...fine" "see that''s much better" Mars followed after Cass with a childish grin on his face and soon Cass stopped and pointed towards the building next to the clock tower "that''s the central teaching building" "thanks" Chapter 82 Life as a student 1 Mars took a glance at Cassandra that was walking off before he gave a sigh and walked towards the central teaching building, the building was 2 stories tall and reminded Mars of his basic education in his last life, shaking his head Mars walked in the building and quickly found class room number 5 and walked in ''empty...'' Mars resized he was still a little early and found a table and sat down and waited for the class to start and soon other students started to arrive and sit down, although they all kept their distance from Mars which confused him for a moment before he remembered ''oh right... they are afraid of the tactical class students... I wonder why Cass wasn''t afraid of me?'' as Mars was thinking a male teacher with long black beard walked in "okay settle down everybody, I will take attendance now Max, Christine, Jasper--- " as the teacher was taking attendance the student raised their hands as their names was called, soon Mars''s name was called and he also raised his hand before taking it down again "okay the... let''s start the lesson, first can anyone tell me what powers a formation?" about half the student raised their hands, indulging Mars "yes you" the teacher picked a random student that soon answered "either a magic beast core or a mana stone" "yes that''s right, but where does mana stones come from?" "form the empire" "that''s right most mana stones comes from a mine on the southern border of the empire, now about basic formations---" the class continued on and Mars felt his understanding of formations deepen, he even felt he would be able to make some basic formations, this was of cause way out of the norm and only thanks to his high intelligence stat ''maybe I should find the vice principal and ask some question about formations...'' Mars gradually got more and more interested in formations as the class progressed on he even wished he had some magic beast cores to use for experiments and decided to go out into the city after the class was over and buy some materials so he could make some basic formations "well that''s it for today" Mars was snapped out of his train of thought as the teacher ended the class and quickly got up from his chair and walked up to the teacher before he asked where he could buy some basic materials for formations "hmm... there is this one shop, wait a moment I''ll draw you a map" "okay" the teacher glad that one of his students seemed interested in learning took out a piece of paper and drew a rough map for Mars "here you are, just follow the map and say James send you" "thanks" after thanking the teacher Mars walked out of the class room and soon he walked out of the academy''s gates and started following the map ''let''s see... this way'' after navigating the busy streets for a while Mars arrived at a small shop in a side street and walked in and found it cluttered with stuff but empty of people and called out "....excuse me, is anyone here?" "give me a second!" Mars waited as he was told and soon a middle aged man with a awesome mustache walked out form the back "oh a student, what do you want?" "well... I need some basic materials for formation building, James sent me here by the way" "oh James... well in that case let me find something for you" the man went back behind the counter out into the back room and soon he came back again with all sorts of stuff "formation prof paper, array ink, a small mana stone and a formations guide" Mars gave a smile when he saw the pile of stuff the man had piled up on the table "well normally it''s 6500 cel, but since James sent you just give me 50 silver coins" "okay... here you are then" "you need a bag for it?" "if you have one then please" "okay give me moment... here you are" "thanks again" Mars left with the bag feeling happy that he got a recommendation form his teacher and hurried home so he could play with his new toys, or rather experiments, as he arrived at the gate to the academy and quickly walked towards the dorm building while he went over the basics of formation building in his head, the 3 parts of a formation: runes, lines and the power source, runes made the formation do things like contain spells while lines connected the formations parts and a power source powered the formation ''well there''s also passing lines, circle runes and backup power sources but that''s to advanced for me at the moment...let''s just start with something basic'' Mars walked into room 202 and sat down at the small desk and spread out some formation proof paper on the desk witch was basically just some thick paper, before he took out some of the special array ink witch had mana stones girded and mixed into it "now let''s start..." Mars started by drawing the power source which was a type of rune on the paper, then he drew another rune witch when powered would emit light, then he drew a line form the power source to the light rune and took a deep breath before he placed the small mana stone on the power rune and "...nothing, I must have drawn the rune wrong... yeah there it is" Mars spotted a small flaw in the rune he had drawn and started on making a new rune on the same piece of paper, he was not discouraged by his mistake instead he was motivated to get it right this time around and sure enough after 4 more tries Mars managed to get it right as a soft light shone out form the rune "...neat, now for the next one" Mars lost track of time and by the time he came to himself again he was out of materials, but the trade off was rather good as he managed to learn over 30 basic runes "...what time is it?" Mars looked out the window and saw it was completely dark outside, and when he looked at the clock tower he found that the time was 5:57 in the morning "...well shit" Mars felt hungry but there was no way anyone would make him some food now and he didn''t have anything else to eat so he decided just to go to bed hungry and sleep a few hours "let''s hope I wake up in time... maybe I should just meditate for a while.." having decide not to risk sleeping Mars walked over to the couch and poked the sleeping Victoria awake "I''m going outside now, do you want to come with me this time?" "I... want to... come with" "okay then, let''s go" Mars and Victoria walked out of the room and after Mars locked the door they both went out of the dorm building and soon Mars found a tree where he sat down with Victoria laying on his lap, Mars closed his eyes and regulated his breathing... hours later Mars felt an increasing amount of eyes looking at him as he sat and meditated, but ignored them until he felt one walking close and opened his eyes "...hey Hanna" "good morning Mars, you too Victoria" Mars stretched for a bit as he looked at Hanna before he asked her "what time is it?" "it''s a little over 7" Mars stood up and dusted of his pants before he looked at Hanna and asked "how''s your swordsmanship coming along?" Hanna gave a smile and brushed her hair out of her face "I still train everyday once in the morning and once in the evening" "I see, well then let''s test your progress" Mars stood up and pulled out his sword and handed it to Hanna "...right now?" "why not?" "okay then... but what about your sword?" Mars gave a smile and raised his right hand as it transformed and grew out 10 centimeter long claws "see I don''t need a sword, now come at me" "okay then, here I come!" Hanna raised the sword and swung it down as she steeped in towards Mars *CLANG* Mars blocked the sword strike with his claws "not bad" Mars felt Hanna''s strength had gone up since their last training session "then... how about this!" Hanna momentarily lowered the force she pushed against Mars with and pulled back the sword before she lowered it and swung it form below towards Mars''s neck ''she really is a genius with the sword...'' Mars stepped half a step back making the sword miss his neck before he responded with a rather slow slash of his own *CLANG* Hanna easily blocked Mars''s claws "nice" hearing Mars''s praise Hanna gave a slightly smug smile "I know right?" "looks like you can take some more then!" Mars began raising his speed and after 10 minutes Hanna kneeled over completely out of breath meanwhile Mars stood and transformed his arm back into human form with a slight smile on his face "you''re improving fast, but don''t get cocky, keep up with the good work" "y-yes" Mars gave Hanna a hand and pulled her up on her feet Chapter 83 Life as a student 2 "well then we better get to class" "yeah it''s late... see you Mars" "see you" Mars waved goodbye to Hanna that headed in the other direction before he called Victoria and began walking towards his own class room where he and Victoria soon arrived "...empty, guess we are a little early" Mars found a table and sat down and petted Victoria that laid down on the table while he waited for class to start, soon the beastmen twins arrived one of them once again seemed interested in Victoria and shock of the others hand before she ran over and watched Victoria at close range before she asked Mars "my I pet her?" Mars watched the girl and found her fox ears that stood straight up and trebled slightly look cute so he gave his okay "sure, just don''t touch her any weird places" the fox beastman eyes lit up along with the rest of her face before she timidly reached out her hand and softly petted Victoria for a bit until the other twin yelled "Lilly come on!" "no Lee I want to pet the panther a bit more" the other beastman twin, Lee clearly became annoyed at Lilly''s refusal and gave a fierce glare at Mars before he stomped off and sat down at a table in the back "so your name is Lilly, my name is Mars and this is Victoria" Lilly seemed completely focused on Victoria and answered without looking up form her "i know... you told it before" Lilly gave a short glance at Mars before she ran off ''she seemed kind of shy... oh well'' Mars waited and soon the rest of the students arrived and the lesson began when the vice principal showed up, the class was about basic spell structure and cleared up some of Mars''s doubts about spells ''so in essence a spell is a mold and mana is the molten metal that goes into the mold, if you don''t have enough mana you can''t fill the biggest molds or the strongest spells, therefore only certain mages can cast tactical class spells...'' Mars felt it all made some sort of scene and after the lesson Mars declined Chris''s invitation to go to the cafeteria and went back to his room to sleep but was stopped on the way there by Ivan calling out to him "hey Mars!" Mars turned around and saw Ivan, Hanna and the 3rd prince Augustus walking together and quickly greeted the 3rd prince "your highness" Augustus gave a dashing smile "please call me Augustus Mars" "okay Augustus" "so Mars, what are you up to?" "...I was thinking about going to sleep" Augustus tilted his head "that''s a little early?" "yeah I was up late last night working on formation runes and only looked at the time when I ran out of materials" "oh... I see" just as Augustus was feeling troubled Ivan stepped forwards with sparkling eyes "you study formations Mars?" "yeah, what can I say it''s interesting" Ivan''s eyes lit up even more before he gave a emotional sigh "to think there was a comrade so close!" "comrade?" Mars looked at Hanna feeling puzzled, seeing Mars''s confusion Hanna explained "Ivan is very interested in formations" "that''s right formations are my blood, no my very soul!" "...I see" "since your out of materials why don''t you come shopping with us?" "well I suppose I could postpone my trip to dreamland, well then let''s go" Mars and Victoria went along with the group and joined their shopping trip, along the way Mars talked with Ivan about formations but quickly stopped and shifted the conversation as Ivan''s eyes got more and more bloodshot the more he talked about formations, on the way Mars also noticed how a small group of people seemed to be watching them ''...well it''s probably just the 3rd prince''s escort'' Mars ignored the group of slightly shady people that watched them from all sides and focused on having fun with the others as time passes quickly and soon Mars was back at the academy again where he said goodbye to the others and went back to his room with Victoria while carrying a bag filled with basic formation building materials ''...feels like I''m in a loop'' Mars put down the bag by the table before he sat down in the couch and was suddenly hit by dizziness that made him frown ''no, I''m just tired... time for bed'' Mars got up form the couch and made his way to the bedroom, throwing off his clothes on the way before he collapsed face first down on the bad and began to rub his cheek against the bed sheet "ah, my love where have you been all my life?" Mars pulled the covers up and soon he fell into a dreamless sleep... in another part of the world of Alfan, the southern part of the empire to be exact a miner named Jim felt his body being shaken by a pair of small hands "dad... dad, wake up" "yeah... give me a second sweetheart" Jim turned over and put his feet out over the side of his bed before he pulled himself up and sat on the bed side while he rubbed his sleepy eyes with one of his hands while the other found it''s usual spot on the top of his young daughters head, after holding back a yawn Jim gave his daughter a kind head rubbing before he told her "go tell your mom I''m up" "okay dad!" looking at the back of his 7 year old daughter Jessie runoff Jim got up form the bed and stretched putting his impressive arm and back muscles on full display, Jim had been a miner for almost 15 years now and he gradually felt his body being worn down by the hard work ''maybe it''s time to retire... no I have to earn enough for Jessie to go to school'' having renewed his determination Jim quickly got dressed and walked out of the bedroom into the living room where his wife had already served the breakfast "good morning" "good morning dear, come have some food before you go" Jim sat down at the table and began to eat his breakfast while holding back another yawn, soon he finished and got up "dear I''m heading out now" "okay, see you later" Jim walked over to the door and grabbed his trusted partner that stood next to the door, it was a old but well maintained pickax that gave of a dull shine "dad don''t get eaten by the golems!" Jim gave a slight slime and turned to Jessie with a stern face "what makes you think I won''t eat them instead?" "how would you do that?" Jim gave a grin and showed of his pickaxe "first i would chop them into little pieces with my pickaxe of cause!" "wow, dad your really strong!" Jim kneeled down and put his free hand on top of Jessie''s head "take care of mom while I''m away" "I will!" "okay then see you later sweetheart" Jim gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead before he stood up again and walked out the door and began walking through the small streets towards the mana stone mine, on the way more and more sturdy looking men carrying pickaxes also showed up, they were all heading towards the mine Jim greeted the ones he knew on the way and soon he arrived at the entrance to the mine where he walked over to the crowd that had formed in front of the foreman''s office ''I wonder what''s going on..?'' Jim felt a little confused but soon he spotted a other miner he knew and asked him "hey Alex what''s going on?" "oh, hey Jim.... it''s nothing just that a new vain opened up on the lower levels" "isn''t that normal?" "well... here the thing" Alex gestured for Jim to come closer and only when he got right next did Alex lean in and whisper "it seems like it opened on its own" "...your not kidding right?" "no I''m afraid not, me and a couple of guys were tasked with going down and checking it out want to come along?" "why would I do that?" Alex gave a grin and leaned even closer before he whispered "there''s a 1000 cel bonus" Jim thought for a moment before he gave a nod "sure sign me up" "great to be honest I feel better having you watch my back, let''s get the guys and go" "okay lead the way" Jim followed Alex over to the entrance of the mine, or rather a elevator that lead down to the mine that was at the edge of a giant square 50 meters by 50 meters and almost 100 meters deep cut into the ground with magic ''it''s amazing no matter how many times I see it...'' Jim along with a bunch of miners stood at the edge of the square and waited on the elevator that soon arrived where the miners stepped on the open wooden elevator that took them down into the mine, Jim admired the how neatly the sections of dirt changed color the deeper the elevator went and soon the elevator reached the bottom and the pit and stepped off ''now where is the tunnel to the lowest levels... that''s right over there'' Jim and Alex walked over to the tunnel that lead down to the lowest level, walking through the dim tunnel Jim remembered what Jessie had told him this morning and tightened the grip on his trusted partner with a slight slime on his face ''good thing the stories about the walls turning into golems are just stories...'' "there it is!" one of the miners in front yelled out drawing the attention of the others, Jim made his way to the front of the group and saw that a side tunnel had opened up, following the others Jim squeezed his way though and was dumbstruck by what he saw on the other side "are all dose... mana stones!?" the miners felt like they were dreaming, in front of them was a small mountain of mana stones "WE''RE RICH!" one of the miners yelled and ran up to the mountain meanwhile Jim got a bad feeling and looked away form the mana stones and around the room, feeling puzzled he touched the walls and found them completely smooth, almost like someone had smoothed them down the room was also oddly square, it didn''t seem like a natural cave at all "hey Alex..?" Jim turned around as he called Alex but came face to face with pure horror, he stumbled backwards as cold sweat purred down his body as his eyes was glued to the monstrosity that had silently showed up out of nowhere and now stood and blocked the entrance to the room feeling the cold gem like blue eyes staring at him Jim yelled at out "GOLEM!" Jim''s yell got the attention of the other miners and almost all of them turned and saw the golem it was a little over 2 meters tall made of stone with 2 eerie blue gems for eyes, the golem however ignored most of the miners as it walked towards the mountain of mana stones past the stunned and terrified miners until it reached one that was rolling around in the mana stones "WE''RE RICH!" the miner didn''t notice the golem until it was too late, by the time he noticed the golem it already had its hand around his neck *SNAP* the miner dangled limply in the golems rocky hands as it turned around and looked at the other miners "RUN!!!" nobody knew who shouted but all the miners began scrambling towards the exit at the same time, Jim was the first one out and kept his lead as he ran towards the elevator ''shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!'' Jim reached the elevator just before it set off the ground as it rose up towards the daylight "what the fuck was that..." all the miners in the elevator looked horrified Jim included "look there''s more!" Jim looked out from the elevator and saw countless golems that ran out of all the tunnels like ant form a disrupted hive, but alas they were safe in the elevator as it reached the top "looks like we made it..." just as Jim breathed a sigh of relief did a loud bang sound out from behind him, he turned and saw a golem that had burst out the ground and was grabbed by its hand "SHIT, LET GO OF ME!" the golem either didn''t hear his cries or it just ignored them as it took out a mana stone with its free hand and trusted into Jim chest ''shit....'' Jim felt the pain of the mana stone being stabbed into his chest and soon his life flashed before his eyes and right before he passed out did a voice sound in his head "rise new golem and protect the mistress at all costs" Chapter 84 Life as a student 3 Mars slowly opened his eyes "...." and stared out into the empty air for a moment before he turned his head to the side and looked out the window "...morning huh" He slowly crawled out of bed and stuck his head out the window to look at the clock tower, feeling the morning air in his face woke him a little more "...still an hour until class starts" Mars laid down on the bed again and stared into the ceiling for some time until he felt that he was about to fall asleep again "I need to get up..." he said so to remind himself but he still didn''t move form the bed, at least not until a little while later were he finally rose form the bed like a zombie and started to put on his clothes only to lay down on the bed again this time fully clothed and started into the ceiling once more "...I really need to get up" time passed and Mars still lay and stared into the ceiling feeling like a near-dead fish stranded on land until he felt something jump onto the bed and raised his head a little to see "...good morning Victoria" Victoria sat on the bed and was in the process of washing her front paw when her horns flashed "good morning... don''t... you need... to get... up?" "yeah I do..." "then why... don''t you?" "because I slept to much, so I''m still tired" Victoria tilted her head to the side but didn''t answer as she heard something and turned her head towards the front door and before mars managed to ask what was happening a knock sounded out form the door "oh for fucks sake..." cursing Mars rose form the bed and went over to answer the door "good morning Mars" "oh, good morning Elsa" right outside the door stood Elsa dressed in a blue summer dress "um... I made breakfast and was wondering if you would like some too?" Mars became dumbstruck and looked at Elsa for a full 10 seconds in silence before he finally asked "...are you perhaps an angel?" Elsa widened her eyes before she gave a sweet smile "no Mars I''m a maid" "I could almost kiss you right now" "...why don''t you" "because afterward I would find it hard to hold back" "...I see" Elsa seemed a little dissatisfied but still showed Mars to her room where breakfast was served on the small table "let''s eat before it gets cold" "sure" Mars enjoyed the breakfast along with Elsa''s company but all to soon was it time for him to leave for class "thanks for the food" "you''re welcome Mars" "I need to leave for class now, Victoria do want to come along?" "no..." "okay then I guess I will see both of you later" "see you Mars" Mars closed the door after himself and began heading towards his class room, on the way the usual ''parting of the seas'' happened with Mars in the middle and the other students avoiding him like the plague ''well that''s fine.... I''m not lonely at all'' convincing himself that he had friends Mars made his way to the classroom witch wasn''t empty this time "good morning Chris" "good morning my friend!" Chris laughed loudly as usually "come sit down let us share our lesson and expand our knowledge!" "sure" Mars sat down at the table next to Chris and waited for the lesson to start and soon the others came and took their seats and waited... and waited.... and waited "maybe she overslept?" just as Mars commented on the vice principals lateness did she show up looking unusually flustered she hurried into the room but collected herself before she look at each and everyone of her students before she spoke "I know that this is sudden, but I need you all to go and pack your bags and be back here in less than 30 minutes" Mars frowned before he stood up and put a hand on the hilt of his sword before he asked "what happened?" the vice principal gave a sigh and massaged her temples before she answered "we have been summoned by the king and we need to leave for the capital by sky carriage soon" "the king?" "....yes the one and only ruler of Destra" "...I see" "is there any other questions..? no then dismissed, be sure to back here in 30 minutes" ''still the king huh... maybe I should kill him reeeeeaaal quick'' Mars left the class room while contemplating killing the king of Destra for the interruption of his peaceful student life ''well anyways gotta pack quickly...'' mars went back to his room and packed his stuff, poked Victoria awake and locked the room on his way out before he walked over to the room next over and knocked on the door ''please be here...'' soon Elsa opened the door, she was wearing her maid uniform looking like she was about to go to work "oh Mars, what is it?" "well... me and the rest of my class have been summoned by the king so i need to leave the academy for a while" Elsa''s eyes widened before big tears suddenly began to form in the corner of her eyes meanwhile her dog-like ears dropped down ''shit this is bad'' just as Mars was panicking not knowing what to do Elsa grabbed him and hugged him tight as she cried silently, Mars feeling at a loss warped his arms around her and ever so gently patted her back "don''t worry... I''ll be back before you know it" Elsa remained silent but soon raised her face witch was stained with tears at this point "...really?" "yeah so don''t worry, besides killing me is kinda hard" Elsa lowered her face again looking a little better but she still remained silent, seeing her like this sent pain though Mars''s heart ''...fuck it'' Mars grabbed her chin and raised her face and just as Elsa looked at him confused did he lightly kiss her, for a moment time seemed to stop before Mars pulled away again with a cheeky smile on his face "how was that?" Elsa''s face lit up before she gave a sweet smile "....it was late... and too little" this time Elsa put her hands around his neck and pulled his head down a little before she kissed him, this time it was Mars''s time to have his face light up, that was until a cold voice sounder out in his head "Mars... what are you... doing?" Mars waited until Elsa was done kissing him before he pulled away and shifted his attention to Victoria for a second "I''ll tell you when your older" "okay..." "well I''m sorry Elsa but I need to leave now" "...promise you will come back" "okay I promise" only when Mars promised did Elsa let go of him before she took a step back "then have a nice trip" "yeah... see you" "bye Mars" Mars took one last look at Elsa before he turned and walked out of the building, suddenly feeling lonely Mars gave a sigh and shook his head to stabilize his mood "I will be back" "why did you... do a strange... voice?" "to lighten the mood a little" "okay..?" Mars ignored Victoria''s confusion and walked into the classroom and saw the only person there was the vice principal that looked at Mars with wonder "that was fast" "fast?" "that you got packed" "well... it''s more like i never unpacked" "oh right... well that makes sense" Mars found a table and put his backpack down before he sat down at the table and waited for the others to arrive ''i wonder what the king wants... well there''s only one thing I can think of...war'' it made sense to Mars that war was happening or at least some sort of military excise, else why would the king call for the country''s walking talking WMD''s ''the real question is against who..? the empire..?'' Mars shook his head, it just didn''t make sense for a kingdom to attack a empire unless of course it was a sneak attack or the empire was politically unstable ''well whatever it is I''m sure to walk away alive, I''m not giving my life for this little kingdom'' as Mars was thinking the other students arrived carrying their luggage, Karen and the twins was looking nervous while Chris was his usual confident self "well we''re all here, let''s go" with the vice principal leading the way the students left the classroom carrying their luggage and soon they walked out of the building and into a plaza that was filled with students that was crowding around something "okay, open the way!" hearing the vice principal''s yell the students opened up a path and exposed the thing they were crowding around, a elegant looking carriage only it looked a little odd with the wheels missing instead big ball sized mana stones replaced them and the coachman seat was surrounded by a dome made of glass, overall the carriage gave of a oddly familiar feeling to Mars ''that looks like something from my last life... like an early flying car'' Chapter 85 Life as a student 4 the more Mars looked at the sky carriage the more he got the impression it was like a early flying car form his last life ''but still look at those mana stones... feels like there''s about 5000 energy units in there and there''s 4 of them...'' Mars thought about stealthily taking 1000 energy units off the top of the 4 giant mana stones but quickly dismissed the thought "come on, let''s board quickly" hearing the vice principal Mars and the 4 others snapped out of their daze and quickly walked over to the sky carriage where Mars opened the door and got in, the inside of the sky carriage was like any other carriage only a little bigger than a normal carriage with room for 8 people along with luggage space under the table in the middle "neat" Mars quickly took off his backpack and moved all the way over to the opposite window and sat down after he put his backpack down under the table and looked out the window at the students that was crowding around the sky carriage meanwhile Victoria crawled up on his lap and lay down ''...wait isn''t that Cass?" Mars spotted Cassandra in the crowd and gave her a little wave but she didn''t see him as she was too busy looking at the sky carriage ''oh well...'' as Mars looked out the window the last person boarded the sky carriage and shut the door closing out the outside noise "...wait you brought your pet?" Mars looked over and saw Karen had sat down next to him, or rather next to Victoria "well she''s not my pet" "then what is she?" "she''s... my partner? anyway we''re both under a mana contract, so I can''t just leave her behind" "I see... do you think she will be useful?" "with what?" Karen gave a bitter smile before she continued "you know there''s only one thing the king would summon us for" "true... sure she will be useful, even I don''t have confidence in beating her in a straight on fight" Karen''s blue eyes widened slightly before she gave a smile "in that case I''m happy she''s here" just as Karen finished speaking did the sky carriage shake slightly before it started to rise into the air ''here we go...'' Mars looked out the window again and saw that the carriage was rapidly rising up into the air before stopping as it reached about 15 meters and suddenly started accelerating vertically as it speed out of the academy and out of the city a few moments later ''we must be going at least 90 kilometers per hour... pretty good speed'' "well now that we''re alone I think it''s time I told you all something" Mars looked over at the vice principal that was speaking and saw she had a serious expression on her face "no matter what the king has to say I will be the only one speaking, you just have to follow my lead" the vice principal looked at all 5 students with a grave look on her face before she loosened up a little when she was sure all her students had understood her message "don''t worry you are all my students and I will follow and protect you wherever it is we are going" hearing what the vice principal said the atmosphere in the carriage lightened a little, especially the twins that sat next to her seemed to calm down a little ''well not that I was worried in the first place....'' Mars leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes as he started to relax while the other students talked among themselves meanwhile the sky carriage continued flying north and 2 days later the sky carriage arrived at the capital of Destra King''s city, the carriage landed outside the walls and the group got out of the sky carriage carrying their luggage ''well would you look at that...'' Mars looked up at the 15 meter tall walls with wonder, the wall was not only study looking it also seemed to be reinforced with formations that covered the entire wall like a mural along with the well armed soldiers walking on top of the wall it gave a overall imposing feeling "gather around, there should be someone to escort us to the castle soon" the students gathered around the vice principal and waited, Mars put down his backpack and sat down on top of it while he stretched his slightly sore body ''well the wall is imposing and all but this sure seems like bad manners, making your guest stay outside the walls...'' Mars was slightly displeased but soon a knight looking person in full plate mail approached the group, the only thing his full plate armor exposed was a pair of green eyes that looked at the group of students with badly hidden contempt "you people, follow after me" after he finished talking the knight turned and walked away ''looks like I was right... that''s more bad manners...'' Mars picked up his luggage and followed after the knight along with the rest of the group and soon they arrived at the gates, the gates were about 10 meters tall and 5 meters wide with soldiers standing guard and cheeking the stream of people that passed through the gates in a orderly manner, seeing the crowd the knight stopped for a moment before he began pushing his way through the crowd "make way... I said make way!" hearing the knight''s yell the crowd opened up a path for the group to pass though, when the soldiers noticed the commotion they saluted to the knight before they continued with their tasks ''so this knight is highly ranked... or at least higher ranked then common soldiers... well I guess that doesn''t say much'' Mars walked through the gates along with the rest of the group and found themselves in a space that was cleared out for a secondary defense if the gate should be breached, but right now it was crowded by all sorts of people going on with their day, the knight made his way through the crowd shoving away all that got in his way "make way!" ''...this really puts a bad taste in my mouth'' Mars looked at the knight that shoved a child away with disgust, before he could take anymore and looked away and noticed the twins were falling behind, Lily in particular was falling behind and looked like she would be swallowed by the crowd any moment ''can''t be helped...'' Mars stopped walking and waited until Lily was close before he snatched her luggage "...what are you doing?" "carrying your luggage for you so you can keep up" "thanks Mars" after thanking Mars Lily walked over and helped her brother Lee with carrying his luggage meanwhile the group passed the cleared area and began walking down the main road of King''s city and after walking for close to an hour with all their luggage the group form the academy was exhausted except for Mars of cause that as this point was carrying most of the groups luggage, Mars looked up at the castle that still was close too 5 kilometers away and called out to the knight "hey we need a break" the knight stopped and turned around and looked at Mars "...take 5 minutes then" as soon as the words left the moth of the knight the group stopped and sat down on the pavement exhausted, all expect Mars that is "you really are something Mars..." "hmm..? oh, I''m not human remember?" Mars looked over at the vice principal that was parsing him with a questioning look on his face "not that, for asking the knight for a break, also thanks for helping with the luggage" "...well it''s nothing much for me anyways" even though his words were humble Mars still felt rather good about being praised by the vice principal "get up, breaks over!" as soon as he finished speaking the knight started walking again almost leaving behind the rest of the group as they scrambled to get up and keep up with the knight ''...should I kick his ass?'' Mars started thinking about teaching the rude knight a lesson but soon dropped the idea ''....don''t want to piss off the one that gave him his orders, maybe if we say he tripped down some stairs... several times...'' unaware of Mars''s thoughts the knight kept leading the way and after walking for another half an hour the group arrived at the gates to the castle, the caste itself was made of smoothed marble and looked like it was at least 5 stories tall with spires that was far higher then the castle itself the knight walked up to the gates and exchanged a few words with the guards before they opened the gate and let the group into the castle courtyard that seemed to be a practice field for the knight of the castle, the rude knight walked into the castle and though the hallways that was elegantly decorated with fine furniture and pieces of artwork and soon he walked into a room and turned to the group "wait here" after he finished speaking the knight walked out of the room and shut the door behind himself leaving group form the academy behind ''...now I wonder what''s next'' Mars gave a sigh before he spoke "...well that was horrible" the vice principal also gave a rather deep sigh "I''m afraid that just life as a student of Destra''s magic academy" Chapter 86 Life as a student 5 "what do you mean?" "I mean this isn''t the first time I have been summoned like this, I was also summoned when I was a student at the academy myself, at that point in time Destra was a vessel of the old empire and the old empire was expanding its reach in the north... in that period I spent more time on the battlefield then in the academy" "...I see" "um... teacher?" "what is it Lily?" "...are we going to a battlefield?" the vice principal gave a sigh and patted Lily on the head "I''m afraid so... but don''t worry we all will do our best to protect you" "that''s right sis, don''t worry we will be fine" "...okay if you say so" Lily showed a small smile feeling a little better now that she had been reassured by her brother and teacher, Mars ignored the whole exchange as he was occupied with something else and sat down on a couch and closed his eyes ''what''s this feeling...'' he kept having a nagging feeling that something was about to happen, something bad ''maybe I should wear my armor..? let''s do that'' Mars''s eyes snapped opened before he grabbed his backpack and pulled out his armor before he began putting it on "Mars..?" "yeah?" "what are you doing?" "putting on my armor" "...why?" Mars looked over at the vice principal before he plainly said "I have a bad feeling, don''t mind me" "...okay" Mars kept putting on his armor under the stares of his classmates and soon he was fully clad in armor, out of fear that the couch would give under the weight of his armor Mars leaned against a nearby wall as he waited, soon Karen stood up form the couch and walked over to Mars before she leaned in and whispered "can you feel it too?" "...it?" "the odd in the air is restless" Mars felt the odd for a moment before he gave a nod "yeah and the course of the disturbance is moving around too" Karen nodded before she concluded "it must be a powerful mage" "yeah and he feels like he''s pissed off too" Karen gave another nod "I''ll go tell the teacher" "okay" Mars followed Karen with his eyes as she walked over to the vice principal before he closed his eyes again and focused on the odd around him ''...this is amazing most of the odd in the castle seems to be pulled towards one person, like it''s bowing down to it''s master... I might need to use my [Energy: discharge] if it comes to a fight...'' as Mars mentally prepared to unveil his real identity he picked up a pair of footsteps that moved towards the room he was currently in ''...nope no dice, this is not the powerful mage'' Mars opened his eyes and looked at the vice principal and said "someone''s coming" "you sure Mars?" "yeah I''m sure 2 people, one armed and armored but he''s not the rude knight form earlier" "okay" the vice principal gave a nod and straightened up a little and sure enough within a few seconds there was a knock on the door before it was opened by a man in full plate mail much like the rude knight form earlier, the person that followed was wearing a butler''s uniform but seemed to be of higher status then the knight and spoke to the group with a clear tone "please follow after me dear guests" after the butler finished talking the group got on their feet and followed after him out of the room and though the complex hallways until they reached another room that looked like a changing room, there was also several maid standing ready there "now please allow us to help you get dressed more... presentable" the maids stepped forwards and each dragged a person into a changing room, this of cause included Mars that also was lead into a changing room by a beautiful maid "I don''t care what you do just don''t touch the armor and my sword then we''ll be fine" the maid gave a nod "understood, then let''s start with your hair..." Mars spent the next 30 minutes being groomed by the maid before he finally stepped out of the changing room and found it empty except for Victoria and the butler that stood the same place he did when Mars entered the changing room, Mars ignored the butler and walked over and leaned against a wall as he closed his eyes again to feel the odd in the castle ''he''s moving... and he''s still not happy'' the reason Mars focused so much on this powerful mage was that he felt that this mortal might be able to kill him and not just once or twice but kill him completely ''maybe i should just take Victoria and leave..? nah that would put the others in a bad spot...'' "Mars?" Mars opened his eyes again and saw the others, Chris and Lee where now dressed in tuxedos while the girls wear dress in pretty dresses, Mars looked at Karen that had called out to him "what is it?" "...are you not going to wear a tux?" "nah, I will wear my armor until I know who the powerful angry mage is and if he want to harm us" "...good point" Mars looked at Karen and her navy blue beautiful dress "you look good by the way" "thanks" Karen gave a smile but didn''t look all that pleased wearing a dress, she looked like she wanted to tear off the dress this very moment and wear her usual robe, she also walked kind of weirdly in it ''well that''s none of my businesses'' Mars looked away form Karen and focused on the other students, expert for Karen they all looked rather happy being dressed up including the vice principal that chatted with the maids in a low voice "everyone if I may have your attention for a moment... good, the audience will happen in a few moments so I need you all to hand over any and all weapons you carry" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly but still unfastened his sheath and handed it with the sword still sheathed to a nearby maid, Mars was the only one that carried a weapon so the whole process was over fast "now then please follow after me" the group followed after the butler and was lead though the castle''s hallways until they arrived at a door on the 3rd floor "please enter" the vice principal took the lead and opened the door and walked into the room, Mars followed after her and found the room was a office with a middle-aged man with graying hair sat behind a study looking desk, when he saw the vice principal he gave a smile and stood up from his chair and welcomed her "Moira, I''m glad you''re finally here" the vice principal gave a slight smile "hello Dan, I thought his majesty was the one that was welcoming us?" Dan gave a sightly defeated smile as he sat down behind his desk again and gestured to a couch that the group should sit down "his majesty is entertaining foreign guests at the moment" "I see, then what do we owe the summoning to?" Dan rubbed his temples for a while before he answered "it''s the empire that requests mages this time, so I''m afraid I don''t know much other then it isn''t people your going to be fighting" "come on now Dan, surely the prime minister of Destra knows more than that" Dan gave a sigh and opened a drawer and took out a small mana stone and laid it on the desk "okay then, what''s the mana stone for?" "it''s what your going to be fighting" "your not kidding... right?" "no I''m afraid not Moira, the mana stone mine in the southern part of the empire has started a rebellion and as we are speaking is eating away at the empires first and second army, as the magic armor battalions are in the north stabilizing the empires new vessels the empires army is lacking mages and has therefore call on us" "...you still didn''t say what we''re going to be fighting" Dan gave another sigh "golems and undead" "golems? and... undead?" Dan gave a smile at Moira''s confusion "yes I know, but technically the undead are also golems at least that what our spies are saying" "okay... then how long are we expected to fight?" "until the mine has been retaken I''m afraid" "...then what about transport? you surely don''t mean for us to walk again do---" as the vice principal confirmed the details with the prime minister of Destra Mars focused on the odd in the air and noticed something ''he''s... coming this way?'' Mars ignored what there was going on in the room and focused his ears on the hallway outside and soon picked up some voices "but dad they don''t know anything why don''t we search ourselves?" "no we need to let then managed this as we''re lucky enough that they accepted without knowing the details" "ugh... let''s just hope Dan has something good for us" Mars suddenly stood up form the couch and faced the door, shocking the others in the room "Mars what''s wrong?" Mars ignored the vice principal and transformed his hands into claws "what''s happening with him Moira?" "I don''t know" soon the footsteps stopped outside the room and a knock sounded out in the room before the door was opened and 2 people walked in, or more precisely 2 elveres walked in "no way... Mars is that you!?" Chapter 87 Life as a student 6 Mars looked at the elver that called out to him and gave a slight slime, while he slipped into a battle ready stance with his claws ready to tear flesh apart "long time no see Chloe" Mars looked at Chloe, see looked the almost the same as when he saw her last with her slender build and short bob cut blonde hair, the only thing he didn''t remember was the dumb looking smile she had on her face, Chloe spread out her arms and approached Mars "don''t come any closer" "Mars..?" "I don''t want to cut you up but I will do so" the smile on Chloe''s face stiffed and she put down her arms before she asked "are you still mad about that?" "no" "then why are you like this?" "because you guys tried to have me killed" "but that was ju---" the other elver besides Chloe gave a sigh before he spoke "Chloe I''ll take it from here" "but dad!" "it''s fine don''t worry" Mars shifted his focus to the other elf and inspected him, he had long blonde hair and green eyes like Chloe Mars also noticed how the two of them look a lot alike, the male elf ignored Mars appraising gaze and gave a smile before he spoke "I believe this is the first time we have met" "that''s right" "my name is Adam I''m the current head of Green river" "I see... then what is Green river''s stance?" "...the elders have decided to invite you as a guest" Mars gave a nod before he showed a wide smile "then what do you think? I did cripple your son after all" the temperature in the room instantly fell and for a few seconds neither Mars nor - said anything they just looked at each other, before finally Adam gave a sigh "he ignored my orders and was injured as a result" "is that so?" "...yes" "okay" Mars gave a nod and transformed his arms back as he relaxed his stance and looked at Chloe before he spoke "but I''m afraid your timing is kind of bad, I have just been ordered to kill off some golems so you see it''s kind of hard for me to follow you back to Green river" Adam looked at Dan then at the vice principal and the other students before he gave a sigh "I see that''s rather unfortunate, but I''m afraid the elders insist" "hold on, Adam is this the person you''re looking for?" "yes I believe it is" "in that case I believe there''s no problem with Mars following you back to Green river?" Mars shook his head and pointed at Lily before he explained "when Destra is sending children to the front line I can''t stay back can I?" Dan cringed slightly but remained silent so did Adam "then... why don''t we follow him dad?" "Chloe?" Chloe gave a slightly disdainful smile "since the humans seems to have a problem why don''t we help them out?" "that''s... a good idea" Adam gave a nod before he turned to Dan with a slightly childish smile on his face "why don''t you fill us in since we''re going too?" "you... fine" Dan quickly filled Chloe and Adam in on the whole golem situation "golems huh... well that should be fine" Adam looked confident after all he was a powerful mage so a bunch of moving rocks should be no problem for him to handle plus ''it give me a chance to show off...'' Adam wore a childish grin on his face witch caused Chloe to have a long face "dad... you know what never mind" Chloe looked at Mars again and slowly a dumb looking smile formed on her face as she walked closer to him, before she latched onto his arm "...what are you doing Chloe?" "I''m not letting you go again" "...I see" Dan looked at Mars and Chloe being intimate and gave a fake cough "well I think that''s all... please stay the night in the castle, I can have a double bed prepared if you want" Chloe''s face lit up in a magnificent blush but she tightened her grip on Mars''s arm and yelled "yes please d---" "that won''t be necessary" "dad!" "I said it won''t be necessary, you can do what you want after the elders have talked with Mars" "...fine" Chloe loosened her grip slightly but still held onto Mars''s arm, Dan called a maid with the ring of a bell and soon the door was opened by a maid that stood ready "please take our guests form the academy to their rooms" "yes, dear guests please follow after me" the group form the academy got up from the couch and followed after the maid Mars and Chloe include leaving behind Dan and Adam that heaved a big sigh and sat down on the couch "well that was tense" "you mean with Mars, that is him right..? I mean the one you have been searching for?" Adam gave another sigh before he looked at Dan "what I''m about to tell you stays between you and me" "...fine, what is it?" "Mars could probably level this castle in a couple of minutes" "...your kidding right?" "no I''m afraid not, the elders told me to take care not to offend him for the sake of the village" "I see..." Adam wiped the cold sweat off his brow and sank deeper into the couch meanwhile Mars was following the maid walking down the near endless hallways of the castle, Mars gave a sigh before he spoke to Chloe that was still latched on to him "Chloe... I have a girlfriend" "...is she human?" "no she''s a beastwoman" "then it''s fine" "...what''s fine?" Mars stopped walking and looked into Chloe green eyes as she showed a slightly sinister smile on her pretty face "it''s fine because we will both outlive her, then you''ll be mine in the end" Mars shuddered slightly but did his best to keep a straight face ''women in love are scary... or maybe it''s just Chloe that''s scary'' Mars gave a sigh and resumed walking after the group and soon the maid showed them to their individual rooms, although Lily and Lee insisted on sharing a room "well this is my room for the night... what are you doing Chloe?" Mars looked at Chloe that walked around the room like she owned it with a slightly stiff smile "...nothing I''m just checking out the room, its way smaller than the one I live in" "yeah well that''s the difference between us at the moment" "the difference?" Mars gave a sigh and sat down in a chair before he continued talking "I''m a poor student and you''re a diplomat" Chloe gave a smile and sat down on a chair in front of Mars "that''s only because the dumb humans don''t know what you really are" "...well that''s true, not that I feel very much like a living god" "and I don''t feel very much like a diplomat... especially not with these dumb humans looking at me like I''m a rare animal" "that sounds... unpleasant" "yeah well it''s fine now that you are he---" *knock knock* Chloe was interrupted by the knocking on the door and right after the door was opened "Chloe it''s time to go" "but dad I was ju---" "it''s time" "yes dad..." Chloe got up from the chair and walked over her dad that stood in the doorway before she turned to Mars with a sweet smile on her face "goodnight Mars" "night Chloe, see you tomorrow" Chloe shut the door and now Mars was alone in the room "you can come out now" Mars spoke out in the empty room and soon his shadow slightly shock before Victoria jumped out of his shadow, she seemed a little down with her ears down low as she looked around the room "what''s wrong Victoria?" Mars could feel her uneasiness even without the contract that bound them together, Mars watched her pace around the room for a while before she seemed to calm down a little and eventually jump into his lap and curl up in a fluff ball "that... man" "who..? oh Adam" "yes Adam... he''s strong... and scary" "you got that right... well he''s no match for the two of us" "really?" "yeah we''re very strong if we work together" Victoria remained silent but showed her happiness by purring loudly *knock knock* "its not locked, come in" the door opened and the vice principal walked in and shut the door behind herself "I would like to have a word, is that okay?" "yeah it''s fine, please sit" Mars gestured to the chair in front of him, the vice principal gave a smile and walked over and sat down in the chair "first I want to know if you''re in trouble" Mars tilted his head "in trouble?" "yes I don''t speak elvish but I could tell the talk in Dan''s office was kind of serious" Mars paused and asked with a dumb look on his face "elvish?" the vice principal gave a nod "yes wasn''t that what you where speaking?" Mars felt even more confused but suddenly he realized something ''wait a second... she''s right I were speaking another language, but it was just so natural i didn''t notice'' Chapter 88 Towards the front 1 "Mars..? what''s wrong? Are you really in trouble?" Mars woke up form his daze and shook his head slightly "no I''m not in trouble teacher" the vice principal gave a sigh of relief "that''s good... next I would like to know how you know those elvers if that''s okay?" "its fine, I know the girl Chloe but it''s the first time meeting her dad... I lived in the Mother forest for some time along with Chloe and 3 other elvers" "I see...if I remember right the spell you used that one time was also a elven spell?" "yeah Chloe taught me that one... or more like she downgraded it so I could lean it..." the vice principal''s eye lit up "she downgraded a spell... I would love to talk spells with her then..." Mars shook his head but refrained from telling how Chloe hated humans and only talk to him when she came to know he wasn''t human "well anyway it''s good you''re not in trouble, I will take my leave now goodnight Mars" "goodnight teacher" Mars watched the vice principal walk out of the door before he gave a sigh and began to pet Victoria between her ears "let''s go to bed" "okay" Victoria jumped down from Mars'' lap before he stood up and walked over to the bed and took off his boots and clothes before he laid down in the bed "...holy shit... how can something be so soft..." Mars was amazed by the softness of the bed and rolled around for a bit before he got board with it and laid still and looked into the ceiling "it might actually be too soft... nah it''s fine" "what are... you talking... about?" Mars looked over at Victoria that still sat on the floor and looked at him like he was weird "come feel the bed Victoria its hella soft" "okay..?" Victoria tilted her head to the side but still jumped into the bed and stood pawing it for sometime until her horns lit up again "you''re... right it''s... soft" Victoria''s eyes shone with excitement as she started jumping around the bed "so...soft" Mars watched on with a warm smile as Victoria played around the bed for a few minutes before she sat down on the bed and looked at Mars while her horns flashed "are we... going to... play with... Chloe tomorrow?" Mars gave a smile and sat up in the bed and petted Victoria on the head "sure let''s do that" Victoria''s eyes lit up again as her horns shone "that''s... good I have... missed Chloe" "yeah me too, let''s go to sleep" "okay... goodnight..." Mars laid down on the way to soft bed and soon fell into a dreamless sleep... Mars opened his eyes "where am I again..? oh right the castle..." he sat up in the bed and looked around the room and spotted Victoria she was laying by his feet in the soft bed but what surprised Mars was that he wasn''t alone in the room "...why are you..? never mind good morning Chloe" "good morning Mars" Chloe was sitting in a chair facing the bed Mars had slept in "no wait why are you here?" Chloe gave a smile "I ran into a maid going to wake you up and kindly offered to do her job" "...I see, just for reference how long ago was that?" Chloe tilted her head "about an hour ago..? I don''t know I lost track of time watching your sleeping face" Mars shuddered slightly but kept a straight face "oh is that so..." ''that''s not creepy at all right..?'' Mars once again found his lack of romantic experience form his last life limiting so he really had no idea if Chloe was being cute or creepy "wait you said an hour ago!?" "yeah what about it?" "that means I''m late!" "oh..." Chloe''s smile widened slightly as she looked at Mars that jumped out of bed and scrambled to put on his clothes and after he poked Victoria awake did he walk out off the room followed by Victoria and Chloe that had a smile on her face "wait where do I need to go..?" "I know that, follow me" Chloe showed Mars the way and soon he arrived in a courtyard where a sky carriage stood ready and both the group form the academy, Dan and Adam waited "sorry I''m late" just as Dan opened his mouth and was about to complain Adam raised his hand and spoke in human language "we don''t mind Mars, it wasn''t your fault anyway" Adam sent a glare at Chloe that only showed a innocent smile back, seeing they exchange and remembering what Adam said yesterday about leveling the castle Dan forgot his anger and gave a sigh before he spoke "well I have waited such a long time seeing you all off isn''t a problem" "sorry again" "I don''t mind Mars, as Adam said someone should have woken you up long ago... well let''s talk about your journey first the trip even with sky carriage it will take you 15 days to reach the front which is outside the range of a sky carriage so a landing and resupply is necessary on the way" the vice principal gave a sigh and spoke "the town of Mirefield... I really don''t like that place..." "I know Moira but its the north most resupply point in the kingdom so it will have to do" "fine...but I don''t like it especially not with students as young as these... your going to owe me one" "okay Moira... well then have a nice trip" the group form the academy and the 2 elvers boarded the sky carriage, Mars boarded first and sat next to the window naturally Chloe secured the spot next to Mars, next to her sat the vice principal, the rest sat on the other side of the table with Chris sitting right in front of Mars the first thing he did after sitting down was to reach his hand across the table to Chloe "my name is Chris nice to meet you!" Chloe stopped admiring Mars''s face and gave a brief glance at Chris and his outstretched hand before she muttered in elvish "dumb human go away, better yet jump out the carriage" Chris not speaking elvish was confused and looked at Mars for help, Mars gave a sigh and translated "she says nice to meet you" "oh I see HAHAHA nice to meet you too Chloe!" Chloe naturally understood what Mars was saying as she had been a part of a forest patrol team and she naturally also knew the common language but she was too lazy to correct him instead she latched on to Mars and rubbed her face on his shoulder Mars gave a sigh but didn''t stop her instead he talked out into the empty air as the sky carriage lifted off the ground "you can come out now" then Victoria suddenly jumped out of a shadow in the upper corner of the sky carriage and landed on Mars'' and Chloe''s lap before she laid down as the sky carriage flew over the Kings city''s walls heading north... 10 days later the sky carriage was still heading north only now the situation inside the carriage was totally different while Mars was still sitting by the window and Chloe next to him, Chloe was speaking quickly in the common language "so by using the spells own structure one can modify it by scaling down the structure thereby making a new spell" "I see... Chloe you really are a genius!" "heh... you''re not bad yourself Moira" Mars was used to it at this point but when the vice principal started speaking with Chloe he felt kind of... uneasy ''well they got along fine, so I guess it''s fine'' Mars looked out the window again and noticed the sky carriage was slowing down and soon a small town came into view, as far as Mars could see it was about the same size as Marlton ''time to find out why the vice principal doesn''t like this town... Mirefield was it?'' the sky carriage slowly flew in over the walls of Mirefield before it landed in the courtyard outside the local noble mansion, as soon as the sky carriage touched down Mars opened the door and stepped out of the sky carriage and stretched "who are you!?" Mars turned and saw some angry looking knights with swords drawn inch closer to the sky carriage, the one in the front was the one that yelled at Mars "me..? my name is Mars" the front most knight saw Mars''s relaxed attitude and also calmed down, no he was made to calm down as his experience as a knight and all the life and death battle he had gone though told him that the youth in front of him was a monster in human skin and could easily kill him with a flick of its hand "...why are you disturbing the lord?" "I don''t think we are, you see we''re here under orders form his majesty" Chapter 89 Towards the front 2 "his majesty orders?" the knights eye opened wide behind his full helmet before he calmed down a little and spoke with badly concealed mockery in his voice "do you think I was born yesterday boy?" Mars narrowed his eye slightly and put a hand on the hilt of his sword "call me boy again and I will beat you so badly your mom won''t recognize your corpse" the knight calmed down again, or rather he was forced to calm down facing the cold killing intent Mars was releasing and was about to command the other knight to attack when the vice principal steeped out the sky carriage and looked at Mars that was having a standoff with the knights and gave a sigh "every time I come here it''s the same... at least nobody died this time... Mars stop threatening the knights they are just doing their job" "...fine" Mars backed off but still kept a close eye on the knights meanwhile the vice principal handed a letter to one of the knights "the royal seal!?" the knight looked at the seal on the letter then at the vice principal with wide eyes his shout also started the other knights "I''ll go report to the lord right away, please wait here" the knight that received the letter walked away in half hurry half panic while the other knight kept watching the group form the academy, soon the knight returned again "dear guest please follow after me the lord would like to meet you all" Mars along with the rest of the group followed after the knight but he also noticed a deep frown on the vice principal''s face and Mars soon realized why, as soon as they stepped into the 3 stories tall mansion he also gave a deep frown ''...well I suppose there''s also theses kinds of nobles around but this is just... too much'' gold, there was gold everywhere not solid gold but as close as it got in various pieces of art and furniture that decorated the halls, there was also another thing that made Mars frown ''...living dead..? no they just wish for death'' the maid''s all had blank expressions on their faces, their eyes were dead and they all had a metal collar engraved with magic formations around their necks ''...brings back bad memories'' Mars started to feel sick, he vividly remembered how the collar he wore when he reincarnated had killed him more then once, Chloe perhaps sensing Mars''s bad mood latched on to his arm and spoke to him in elvish "...do you want to save them?" Mars took a deep breath and shook his head, even if he had the power to save them he knew that the only salvation for these maids was death "no... but I kind of want to beat up the person that made them like that" "...want me to help you?" "I thought you disliked humans?" "I do but..." Chloe looked at a maid, she was no more than 15 years old yet her eyes where dead and bruises covered her body that was no less than skin and bones "this is something that goes beyond race, if there where elvers in this town there would properly also be elvers enslaved here" "that''s true... well just follow me lead okay?" Chloe gave a big smile and tightened her grip on Mars''s arm "anything for you Mars" Mars once again felt the weight of Chloe''s love increase ''I really need to deiced how to deal with her and Elsa... well it can wait until we''re beat the golems...'' under the lead of the knight the group soon reached the 3rd floor and walked into a dining hall where a person that was more than a little overweight sat and stuffed his round face with meat and wine, around him where maid serving him by refilling his plate and glass the round person only stopped stuffing his face when the group got closer where he stood up from his chair and looked over the group with his small eyes "welcome to my humble domain, I''m the lord of this land my name is Gas Fedeson, don''t worry your sky carriage will be resupplied by tomorrow until then feel free to enjoy all of what my mansion has to offer... it''s been a long time, how are you doing Moira?" the vice principal gave a frown, meanwhile Gas ran his eyes with blatant lust over the group causing the females in the group to tremble slightly with disgust "I''m fine Gas, now if you would excuse us we are rather tired form our journey and would like to rest" "yes of course please rest, hey you show our guests to their rooms" "ye-yes master" the maid timidly stepped forwards and gestured for the group to follow her as she half fled out of the dinning hall "hey Mars?" "what is it Chloe?" "...can I roast that pig?" "...maybe tomorrow" Adam that was nearby happened to her them speaking in elvish and joined in with a cold smile on his face "why not do it now?" Mars was a little surprised that Adam joined in but remembered his wife had been tortured and killed by humans "...do you know how to resupply a sky carriage?" "good point, but if that disgusting human looks at my dear Chloe like that again I will kill him" "I wanted Mars to say that dad!" "...sorry" Adam became a little depressed by having his daughter yell at him, but decided not to argue back "th-this is your room, please enjoy your stay..." "thanks" Mars thanked the maid and walked into his room followed by Chloe of cause "this is... well I don''t know what I expected" the room was like the rest of the mansion overly decorated with gold witch gave Mars a bad taste in his mouth, Chloe also looked around the room with a frown on her face, the only thing that didn''thave gold on it in the room was Mars''s luggage that had been carried in earlier "yep... let''s go for a walk Chloe" "why..?" "because I can''t stand being in here for one more moment" "okay, then it''s a date!" "well I don''t kn---" "it''s a date" "as I was saying---" "date" Mars looked at Chloe''s bloodshot eyes and gave a sigh "fine it''s a date" "yay Mars I love you!" "yes I know..." Mars grabbed some coins from his bag and soon walked out of the room with Chloe "now how to get out of this mansion..." Mars looked around and spotted a nearby maid and asked her "excuse me do you know the way the the nearest exit?" "y-yes... follow the corridor this way then turn left" "thanks" Mars followed the maid''s instructions and soon he and Chloe walked out of the mansion into the front courtyard and further out the mansions gates into the crowded town, the streets where much like the ones in Marlton paved with stones that were somewhat flat and with room in the middle of the street for a 2 carriages to pass side by side while the walkways where on the edge of the street and the street itself was lined with buildings, some were shops while others where homes for the common folk "well what do you know, it looks like a common town..." "what were you expecting Mars?" "after that mansion... I don''t know something horrible?" Mars walked along with Chloe down the main street, ignoring the stares people sent after Chloe the trip was rather pleasant and soon they found a rather nice looking restaurant where they decided to have a meal while they were waiting for they meal a shady looking man walked up and asked Mars "how much for the elf?" "...what?" "I asked how much for the elf, isn''t she your slave?" "you better get lost right now" the shady looking man gave a frown "watch the way you speak boy I''m employed by the lord of this town" Mars gave a sigh and disappeared from view before he reappeared right in front of the shady man and grabbed him by the neck before he lifted him into the air "are you hearing badly?" Mars''s transformed his eyes as he stared at the man "n....o..... plea....se" "I see then do you understand what I said?" "y....es" "good" Mars threw the man aside like a piece of trash before he sat down and continued talking with Chloe completely ignoring the man that was having a coughing fit as he struggled to breathe, after a while the shady man got up and after giving Mars a viscous stare the ran off in the direction of the mansion "won''t that become a problem Mars?" "what you mean I should have killed him here on the open street?" Chloe gave a nod while she had a cold smile on her face "I don''t see a problem in killing human trash" "well me neither it''s just it would disrupt our date right?" "well that''s right" Chapter 90 Towards the front 3 Mars and Chloe enjoyed their food while they chatted but when they were done eating the shady man showed up again with some knights in tow "that''s him sir knight he assaulted me and insulted the lord!" the knight looked at Mars and recognized him from earlier and quickly gave a small bow to Mars "dear guest is this true?" the shady man paled slightly when he heard the words ''dear guest'' "no it''s not, he wanted me to sell my companion as a slave and I refused" the shady man paled even more when the knight turned to him "...I see so that''s what happened, men take him away" "no please I am loyal to the lord, please spare me!" the knights ignored the shady man''s pleas and dragged him away "...sorry to disturb you dear guest" "I don''t mind your just doing your job" Mars watched the knight walk away before he gave a deep sigh and looked at Chloe "let''s head back" "okay, but I kind of wanted our date to continue for a little longer..." "yeah well, I don''t think this is the right town for a date" "yeah that might be true..." after Mars paid for their food the 2 of them walked back to the mansion and soon Mars stopped in front of the door to his own room "well that''s that, hope you enjoyed our date" "I did... see you tomorrow Mars" "see you Chloe" Mars walked into his room and shut the door after himself "why are you hiding so much these days?" as he spoke out in the empty room Victoria jumped out of his shadow and as she landed on the floor her horns lit up slightly "not...hiding I was...sleeping" "I see...but why are you so tired?" Mars bent down and petted Victoria on the head "I... don''t know..." "okay..." Mars felt a little concerned about Victoria so he applied 50 energy units on his hand with his [Energy: healing] skill but to his surprise there wasn''t much of a reaction "well at least you aren''t injured... let''s just go to sleep" "okay..." Mars took of his clothes and crawled into the uselessly golden bed that was almost too soft to be sleeping in ''well at least its clean...'' Mars closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep... "...this place again" Mars once again found himself in dream space, looking around Mars saw countless incomplete memories flash by in the form of pictures "but there''s nothing I want to remember right now..." that was a lie, Mars knew he had to face the end of his last life at some point but he didn''t feel like it at this point ''although maybe I really should... meh it''s not like I have nightmares anymore so I can''t really be bothered...'' Mars simply stared at the flashing images for sometime until his consciousnesses began to blur and he passed out... "Mars... Mars... wake up... something happened" "hmm?" Mars turned to his side, but feeling something shaking him he gradually got awake and decided to question why he had been abducted from dreamland "what..?" "someone broke into the lord''s mansion last night and Lily and Lee is missing" "what!" Mars sat up in the bed and snapped open his eyes and looked at Chloe that had a somewhat concerned look on her face "as I said, someone broke in and took the twins last night" Mars rubbed his eyes still looking rather sleepy although his mind was wide awake he got out of bed without a word and started to put on his clothes while he thoughts spun around his head ''who could have... no the only thing that matters now is finding them...'' Mars gave a sigh before he started transforming into his half dragon form "...Victoria" Victoria jumped down from the couch and stretched while her horns flashed "what... is it?" "do you know where the twins are now?" Victoria began licking her paw looking rather relaxed about the whole situation "I... do" "wait you know where they are?" "yes... I didn''t... sleep so... I had time... to follow... the people that... took them... did I do... good?" Mars gave a smile before he walked over and petted Victoria on the head "yeah you did well" Mars turned to Chloe while he petted Victoria "where are the others?" "they are speaking with the lord" "then let''s go join them" Mars now fully horned walked out of the room followed by Chloe and Victoria and under Chloe guidance they quickly reached the dining hall where the rest of the group were talking with the lord Gas "can''t you spare some more knights to look for them?" "I''m sorry but 10 knights and 50 guards is all I can spare for searching as public order would suffer if I let more join" "then we will join the search" "you are free to spend as much time as you want, but should you not obey his majesty orders?" "...are you telling me to abandon my students?" "no I''m simply asking what''s more important to you" Gas wore a smug smile on his round face when Mars walked into the dinning hall, but it slightly stiffened when he saw Mars''s transformed appearance "teacher do you mind if I ask some questions?" "oh Mars... well it''s fine I guess" "thanks, now lord Gas is there any guards hurt?" "guards? what are you talking about?" Mars gave a shrug "I was told someone broke into the mansion and kidnapped the twins, so isn''t it natural to amuse that the mansions guards would have detected the intruders and fought them..? and since the kidnappers succeeded isn''t there any injured guards? I happen to be a skilled healer so please show me to them so I can work my magic" Gas''s smug smile froze before he pulled himself together and spoke with a slightly shaky voice "n-no, there are no injured guards" Mars''s smile widened slightly as he took a step closer to Gas "so your telling me that this mansions guards are so useless that they failed to detect the intruders? or where they all killed?" Gas remained silent causing Mars to give a deep sigh before his smile widened even more "well thankfully one ''guard'' just told me she knows where the twins are" "who!? I mean, who told you that? I would like to rewards such fine work myself" Mars looked at Gas that seemed to have lost his temper slightly before he pointed to Victoria that was sitting on the floor licking her paw and spoke "I''m afraid it isn''t one of your guards" Gas froze before he looked ready to explode with anger but he managed to keep his mouth shut "so if you would excuse me I need to go rescue my travel companions" Mars turned and left the room "Mars wait" Mars turned and saw that the vice principal had followed after him "teacher" "Mars is it true you know where the twins are?" "no I don''t know, Victoria knows where they are" "...what are your plan?" "find the twins, kill everyone else in the building where they are held" "...I-I see, that''s a rather extreme plan... could you bring Karen and Chris?" Mars stopped walking and looked confused at the vice principal "why?" the vice principal gave a sigh "because we''re heading to war.... they need to see some blood first or else they might break during battle and lose their lives" "...fine" "thanks Mars I''ll bring them now" Mars waited and less then a minute later the vice principal returned followed by Chloe, Karen and Chris. The vice principal turned to her 2 students and told them with a stern face "you have to listen to Mars, no matter what he says you do it, understand?" "yes teacher" "ye-yes teacher" Karen answered fine but Chris seemed rather nervous unlike his usual confident self "good, then Mars I leave theses 2 to you.... I will go make sure Gas doesn''t try anything funny" "okay... let''s go" "yes Mars, does Victoria really know where they are?" "...well there''s only one way to find out so let''s move" "r-right" Mars turned around and began walking out off the mansion meanwhile Chloe grabbed onto Mars''s arm she was sulking slightly "why are you ignoring me?" "...sorry I needed to focus, if you want to come with then you need to help out... let''s say you guard Karen and I guard Chris" "...fine, I''ll go get my sword" Chloe ran off towards her room leaving Mars alone with Chris and Karen, of cause Victoria was there too but she seemed to have her focus on something else "Mars?" "hmm..? what is it Chris?" "...do you think we will have to kill them? you know the ones that have taken the twins?" "hmm... probably, why?" "I-I haven''t killed anyone... ever..." "I see well there''s a first time for anything, do something enough times and you will eventually get used to it" Chapter 91 Towards the front 4 "I-I see... is that how you did, I mean got used to it?" "yeah, that''s how everybody gets used to it, don''t worry" finished instructing Chris Mars looked at Victoria and asked "how is it, they still there?" Victoria looked into the empty air and seemed to be spacing out but her horns still flashed dimly "no... they are... being moved... to another... place... should we... go?" "yeah if they are being moved then it''s the perfect time to hit them" just as Mars was deciding how to get the twins back Chloe returned with her sword "I''m ready" "okay then let''s move" Mars lead the way out the mansion before Victoria suddenly began running off in another direction "follow her, she knows where they are!" Mars began running followed by the others into the town while the others followed after him after a while they reached the outer town in a district with a lot of warehouses ''this feels familiar... never mind'' Mars shook his head to get rid of useless thoughts and stopped running ''any second now...'' Mars looked back and saw Chris and Karen running in the distance "do you think they realize they friends are in danger?" "....of cause they do, they are just in bad shape... Victoria how''s the twins?" Victoria still seemed to be spacing out as she stared into the empty air, but her horns still flashed like usual "they.... stopped" "are they close?" "halfway... there..." "okay" Mars looked around, the warehouse district was somewhat crowded with people and it also had somewhat heavy traffic with carriages filled with cargo coming and going "Mars... wait... up..." "oh you''re finally here" Mars looked over at Chris and Karen that had finally caught up and gave a smile "we''re halfway there and accounting to Victoria they are no longer moving so let''s take it easy" "thank... the... 13..." Mars gave a sigh and began walking again and after walking for a little while Chris and Karen had caught their breath "what''s the fastest spell you can cast Chris?" "the fastest..? hmm... its a spell called flash that emits a bright light when cast" "okay... what about you Karen?" "hmm... probably water spear, I practiced that pretty hard when I was in the army" "then do you have any combat experience?" "...no I''m afraid not, I was in the back line during a small rebellion but that''s all" "okay... just follow after Chloe and support her, Chris your with me" ""okay"" "well then look alive, we''re here" Victoria had stopped walking and was staring on a warehouse that looked mostly abandoned, Chris seemed a little confused and asked "...how does Victoria even know where the twins are here?" Mars gave a smile and pointed to the roof of the warehouse "look" "what..? there''s two Victoria''s..?" on the top of the roof sat one of Victoria''s shadow clones and looked at the group "no its a shadow clone, but never mind that game face on" Mars put a hand on his sword and walked up to the gate to the warehouse and a guard walked up to Mars "halt! what''s you business?" "my friends are in there, let us though or it''s going to get ugly" the guard frowned and looked at the other guard with a questioning look on his face, the other guard was a older man that seemed to be the other''s senior and after looking at Mars for some time did the older guard give a nod "let them though" "but wh---" "no buts! he will kill you to get through the gate, don''t you have a wife and child to care for?" the younger guard remained silent and stepped aside while the older guard opened the gate letting the group though "oh one more thing, who owns this warehouse?" "hmm... I think it''s the lord" "...okay thanks" Mars''s smile widened slightly into a ferocious grin as he walked over to the door to the warehouse "you ready Chloe?" "yeah I''m good to go" "what about you two?" "...as ready as I''m going to be" "yeah as Karen says, I''m also ready" "okay, then let''s do this" Mars unsheathed his sword, the polished white bone glistened coldly in the midday sunlight ready to draw blood, Mars took a deep breath and kicked open the door as he yelled "HONEY I''M... HOME!" time seemed to slow down as Mars beached the door while pieces of wood was still flying in the air Mars''s eyes scanned the inside of the warehouse, it was empty of crates with a single carriage in the middle. A group of armed men was spread across the warehouse Mars quickly counted before he yelled to Chloe "17 in total, 4 mages!" "who are you!?" Mars didn''t answer he simply disappeared from view and reappeared in front of the nearest armed man and before the man had a change to react Mars''s sword flashed and sent his head flying into the air "ENEMY ATTACK!" the armed men sprung into action and began to charge towards Mars and the rest of the group before they surrounded the group putting pressure on Mars and Chloe, although Mars seemed rather relaxed as he cut down the men one after the other quickly ranking up 5 dead body''s on the floor of the warehouse "damn it, he''s too fast!" "focus on the others!" "kill the elf!" being more and more outmatched by Mars the armed men''s eyes turned red with rage and began launching reckless attacks on not only Mars but also the rest of the group "Chris, Karen use the spell now!" "ye-yes Mars!" Chris began preparing his mana and half a second later he trust his palm forwards and a blinding light shone from his palm blinding the armed men right after Karen finished forming 4 water spears witch she fired towards 2 of the arm men, hitting each with a spear in the head and in the chest swiftly killing 2 enemies in less then one second. Chloe also made use of the flash of blinding light and swiftly cut the necks of 5 enemies, meanwhile Mars that was even faster then her had his sword turn into a white blur as it raced across 5 of the armed men''s throats sending them falling to the floor while they clutched their necks, at this point the numbers had become even leaving the 4 enemy mages, one of witch fired a fire lance at Chloe "die!" the fire lance did however not hit its target as Chloe made a masterful display of swordsmanship and cut the lance right down the middle, dispensing the fire lance and turning it into slightly hot air witch only harmlessly blew her short blonde hair around "damn it, one more time---" the mage did not get another change as Mars appeared silently like a reaper behind the enemy mages and with a quick slash of his sword 4 heads flew into the air for a short while before they landed on the dirty warehouse floor, Mars looked around the now quiet warehouse before he gave a sigh and shock the blood of his sword "ugggghhhh....." Mars turned around and saw Chris was puking on the floor with a pale face, Karen also looked rather pale but managed to hold back her breakfast form resurfacing "Chloe can you look after the 2 of them outside while I fetch the twins?" Chloe was wiping the blood of her sword and when Mars requested her to leave the blood filled warehouse she gave a sweet smile "sure, no problem" Mars watched the 3 of them leave before he approached the carriage that stood in the middle of the warehouse, Mars walked up to the carriage and cut the lock on the door with his sword before he opened the door and saw the twins huddled up against each other on the floor of the carriage, they were wearing dirty rags that barely covered their small bodies, on their skin where thick black formation lines tattooed all over their bodies except their feet and hands "Mars..?" "yeah it''s me... your safe now" ""Mars!"" the twins both threw themselves at Mars and began crying loudly, Mars felt they finally were acting their age and held them until they both stopped crying a little while later but they still didn''t get off him so he decided to ask a question "are those... formations on your bodies?" Lily and Lee both looked op at Mars with tear filled eyes and after Lee gave a sniff he began to explain "yes... we were taken from our home when we were younger and the ones that took us did this... to enhance our mana output" "...I see" Mars patted both of them on the head while he gave them a smile "let''s get out of here" ""okay"" Mars was about to let them go when he remembered the warehouse was filled with bodies "actually wait just a second..." Mars rehashed a flame that spread over the floor and burned the bodies to ashes along with all the blood "done, let''s go now" ""yes Mars!"" Chapter 92 Towards the front 5 Mars took the twins into his arms with Lily on his right arm and Lee on his left arm and walked out of the empty warehouse and joined the others outside "Lee, Lily! HAHAHA it''s good to see you''re alright!" Chris greeted the twins loudly it seemed he had regained his vigor after puking in the warehouse Karen was still rather pale but still gave a wide smile when she saw the twins, Lily looked like she became embarrassed about the dirty rag she was wearing which Mars spotted "hold on a second Lily" Mars put both the twins down before he took off his sweater and pulled it down over Lily, it was of cause way too big for her as she was only 10 years old, so it looked more like a long dress as the sweater almost touched the ground but it was better then just wearing the dirty rag, Lee as a boy didn''t seem to mind his current outfit as much as Lily and besides Mars had only worn one sweater so he was out of clothes to give anyway. seeing as the twins were wearing nothing on their feet Mars picked them up again and carried them in his arms "let''s go" Mars and the rest of the group began walking back towards the mansion, on the way they attracted a lot of attention seeing as the group consisted of a elf, a half dragon and 2 snow fox beastmen twins, Mars of cause half ignored half basked in the stares he received meanwhile Chloe had a aloof expression on her face as if saying the rabble could do as they pleased while she admired Mars''s bare upper body, soon the group returned to the mansion "...how do you two want to deal with the lord?" ""the lord?"" "he''s the one that had you kidnapped" both of the thought for some time until Lee finally spoke "...I think it''s fine to leave him be" "Lee?" "sis he''s just a pittyful man leave him and he will eventually self destruct" "...okay I agree with Lee" "if that what you want then it''s fine" while Mars felt it was a rather childish way to solve the problem he found it to be fine, after all they were children ''...although I really want to burn him alive, oh well the children have spoken'' "then let''s go get the teacher and leave this place, any objections?" no one spoke so Mars gave a nod "then let''s meet here again in 10 minutes" Mars saw nods all around "okay then" Mars still carrying the twins walked into the mansion and eventually arrived at his own room and put down the twins on the floor before he walked into his room and quickly grabbed his luggage, put on another sweater and when he turned to leave the room again he saw that the twins were standing in the doorway looking at him "what''s wrong?" "...can you help us pack?" "...sure" the faces of the twins lit up slightly before they each grabbed one of Mars''s hands and began leading him to their room ''they have really gotten attached quickly...'' Mars followed the twins to their room and helped them pack their luggage and carried it out the mansion and loaded it into the sky carriage before he leaned his back against the sky carriage and gave a sigh ''...I really hope Gas falls over dead'' Mars was still a little sad about the whole ''leave him to self destruct'' thing but what could he do? ''well I could just break the trust I have build with the twins and kill him anyway...'' while mentally discussing murder Mars had a blank look on his face while he watched the twins run around, they seemed to be playing tag and Lee was currently it ''nah, it''s as Lee said he will eventually self destruct own his own... really wanted to incinerate him though'' as Mars was wondering if he could kill the lord without the twins finding out the rest of the group form the academy showed up with the vice principal in front that ran up and hugged the twins "I''m so glad you''re alright" the vice principal held the twins tight for a few moments before she looked at Mars with gratitude in her eyes "I''m glad you found them... what are we going to do with Gas?" "Lee has decided to leave him alone" "..I see well then let''s leave, everybody get in the sky carriage we''re leaving!" meanwhile as the group form the academy and the 2 elvers were boarding the carriage Gas Fedeson was sitting in his office sweating while his mind raced this continued for a while until there was a knock on the door and a subordinate responsible for surveillance steeped into his office "so what was it?" "it was as we''re feared the group form the academy that took back the beastmen twins..." "....shit" Gas hit his desk and frowned his brows "where are they now?" "that''s... they left in their sky carriage a moment ago" "WHAT!?" "as I said, they left..." Gas sank into his chair and breathed a sigh of relief before anger overtook him and he hit his desk again "damn them how dare they threaten me! not only that they also ruined my plans to curry favor with the 8 heads..." "yes really they deserve death..." Gas thought for a moment before he suddenly stood up form his chair "that''s right they deserve death, so let''s kill them!" "but my lord how are we going to do that?" "fetch my communicator I''m going to make a call to my cousin" "yes my lord!" the subordinate rose to his feet and ran out the room while Gas showed a furious smile on his ugly round face "they are certainly all going to die!" "hmm..?" "what is it Mars?" "...nothing I just had a bad feeling... never mind that tell me how we play this card game" "okay so as I was saying---" inside the sky carriage was a harmonious feeling as all of the group from the academy was preparing to play a card game as Karen explained the rules of the game to Mars that was the only one that didn''t know how to play it, Adam was watching the clouds outside the window while Chloe was watching Mars as usual. the seating was also slightly different as the twins were seated on Mars''s right and left while Chloe sat a little further away from Mars on his left with Adam sitting all the way out on the left against the opposite window "so you got it now Mars?" "yeah I think so... let''s just try it" the game went on and Mars got more and more depressed as he got beaten hard in the first half of the game only when he got encouragements from the twins by his side did he seem to lighten up a little and fight back, but he still lost in the end ''oh well...'' Mars gave a sigh and looked out the window on his right while he petted the twins on the head with both hands ''...wait is that..?'' Mars transformed his eyes and spotted what looked like a row of ballistas on a hilltop a few kilometers away ''weird...'' the ballistas were operated by a group of rough looking men that in all fairness looked like a bunch of bandits ''wait we''re going that way..?'' Mars felt it weird that the sky carriage seemed to get closer and closer to the hilltop and closed his eyes to feel the odd in the air ''shit, we''re being pulled by a wide range spell... this is bad'' Mars looked around the carriage and saw nobody else had noticed the anomaly, perhaps the driver of the sky carriage knew but he was in a isolated compartment ''we might still escape the pulling force that''s affecting the carriage... but I need to make some perpetration first...'' the first thing Mars did was to take Lily that was sitting on his right and put her into his lap "Mars?" Lily became a little surprised and looked up at him with her big red eyes "sorry I want to sit at the window for awhile is that okay?" "it''s fine..." Mars moved over to the window before he sat down Lily on his left ''that''s the first step...'' Mars looked out the window and focused on the group of bandits and their ballistas and spotted what looked like a mage in the middle of the group, the mage wore a robe and carried a staff which he held above his head ''so that''s the one...'' Mars, having found the most likely source of the weird odd began to form a flame outside of the sky carriage that soon shaped into a flame lance ''just a little closer...'' Mars aimed the fire lance as the sky carriage got pulled closer the the hilltop ''now!'' Mars fired the fire lance towards the mage, the fire lance zoomed through the air but hit a magic barrier before it could strike down the mage at the same time the ballistas opened fire "shit, INCOMING!" Chapter 93 Towards the front 6 time seemed to slow down for Mars as his mind raced while the steel spear-like projectiles flew towards the sky carriage that still was trapped by some sort of spell, the inside of the sky carriage got rowdy following Mars''s shout but Mars turned out the noise and focused on gathering his energy units to form a [Energy: reflect shield] to hopefully block some of the steel spears that were hulling towards the sky carriage at breakneck speed ''shit shit shit!'' the shield began to form but before it fully formed it was hit by a steel spear that effectively broke the formation of energy units and destroyed the shield "FUCK!" *BANG* the sky carriage was hit by spears and Mars felt a mind numbing pain from his shoulder and his left thigh right before he suddenly felt weightless and hit the roof of the sky carriage as it hurled towards the ground, moments later it began crashing into trees slowing the speed of the sky carriage somewhat before it hit the ground with a loud bang... Mars felt his entire body burning and rapidly cooling at the same time with a blurry consciousness "fuck me..." Mars turned and sat up before he opened his eyes and found he was in a forest "where is..?" Mars looked around and spotted the sky carriage a little ways away, it was mangle beyond requisition and behind it was a trail of broken trees and destroyed luggage, seeing the destruction Mars''s muddy head got clear "the others! aw FUCK!" Mars tried to get up but felt a mind numbing pain from his leg and looked down at it "oh for fucks sake..." there was a steel spear piercing his thigh to make matters worse it was bent in a way that made it hard to pull out "you know what, fine you can come too" Mars began crawling towards the sky carriage but found Lily on the way there, she had also been thrown from the sky carriage and was in way worse shape them Mars with all her 4 limbs bent the wrong way her head was turned to the other side so Mars was unable to see if see was alive or dead "fuck, Lily hold on!" Mars dragged himself over to Lily and activated his [Energy: healing] skill with 100 units of energy before he touched Lily with his hand "please work!" luckily it worked as a half transparent membrane spread over Lily''s body and rapidly began to heal her, Mars watched as her limbs bean to restore and bent back into place with loud cracking noises sounding out form her body and soon the transparent membrane disappeared "LILY!" Mars shock Lily and within a couple of seconds she began to show signs of waking "thank god..." Mars having confirmed she was okay began crawling onward towards the carriage where he soon arrived at the mangled body of the carriage and after transforming his hand he tore a hole into the carriage and yelled "anybody hurt!?" "Mars? we''re mostly okay, but Lee is hurt!" "bring him here quick!" a few moments passed before Mars saw Lee in the opening he had torn, he was clutching his stomach were a giant bruise were formed, there was also blood around his mouth and his eyes were filled with tears, it also looked like he had trouble breathing "hold on a second Lee" Mars once again activate his [Energy: healing] skill with 100 energy units and soon the bruise disappeared form Lee''s stomach as well as the other small injures he had, then Lee looked at Mars with sparkling eyes "Mars, your amazing!" "yes I know... go wake up your sister while I remove this piece of junk from my leg" "okay Mars" Lee went over to his sister meanwhile Mars sat with his back against the mangled body of the sky carriage and took a closer look at his leg "yep this looks bad..." Mars gritted his teeth and simply started pulling on the bent steel spear that was pierced through his thigh, but quickly found it impossible to simply pull out by himself "Chloe?" "yeah what is it?" "can you come out here for a second, I need an extra pair of hands" "...sure" Chloe crawled out of the hole Mars had clawed in the hull of the mangled sky carriage she looked a little ruffed up with numerous bruises visible all over her body from the rough landing "Mars your leg!" "don''t worry about it, it''s just a flesh wound" "...I''m pretty sure it''s not just a flesh wound Mars" "yeah I know, I just always wanted to say that, well whatever just help me remove this piece of metal" "there''s something I need to tell you first" "...what is it" "Moira and Chris... they''re gone" "...shit" Mars hit the ground in frustration and for a moment his eyes were covered in guild and sorrow before a few minutes later they became clear again as he took a deep breath "...help me remove this" "...okay" Chloe put her hands on the steel spear and looked at Mars "you ready?" "yeah, do it" Chloe began pulling the steel spear while Mars gritted his teeth and soon the spear was almost removed from his leg "that''s fine Chloe, let me do the rest..." "I don''t think that''s a good idea" Mars took over and with one last pull he removed the steel spear but also most of the a large piece of flesh form his leg "fuck that hurt!" "...told you" Mars ignored Chloe and activated his [Energy: healing] skill with 50 units of energy and soon the giant wound on his leg closed and Mars stood up and stomped his leg into the ground a few times "...all good, now for the fun stuff... Victoria you awake?" Mars called out and less then a second later Victoria jumped out of his shadow "you... called... Mars?" "yeah, can you set up a perimeter around the crash site and tell me when our guest arrive" "...okay" Victoria merged with a nearby shadow and disappeared from view "well then let''s get the others out" Mars turned around and faced the mangled body of the sky carriage and yelled "stand clear!" after waiting a few seconds Mars transformed his hands before he slashed out with his claws and cut the side of the mangled body to pieces allowing the others to finely come out, Karen had light bruises but Adam looked completely fine ''well he properly has a few tricks up his sleeves'' Lily and Lee walked over and stood next to Mars as they each grabbed one of his hands to hold while they looked towards the carriage with sad tear filled eyes, no doubt Lee had told his sister about the casualties among the group, Mars squeezed they hands tight and asked Chloe "what about the coachman?" "...he''s gone too" "I see... does anyone have anything against me burning the bodies?" nobody said anything so Mars waved his hand and sent a flame into the mangled carriage that burned the bodies of the coachman, the vice principal and Chris while Mars mumbled "may their souls find peace..." for a while nobody said anything and the only sound was the twins quietly sobbing until Victoria''s voice sounded in Mars''s head "they''re... here" "okay..." Mars took a deep breath and let go of the twins hands "Mars?" "don''t worry Lily I''ll be right back" "...okay" Mars turned around and began walking in the direction of the bandit group that was closing in while his body slowly transformed into his half dragon state "need a hand?" Mars looked to his side and saw Adam was leisurely following after him with a smile on his face "...sure why not" while Adam like all elvers looked slender Mars could feel a mighty force form him, it was like he was the eye of a hurricane or the surface of a deep lake, nobody could guess what was going on behind that smile of his, Mars stopped observing Adam and looked ahead while he walked and soon he spotted a group of bandits with a senior mage in the middle "there they are... I want half" "...no problem, then I''ll take the other half" Mars gave a furious grin "only if your fast enough" and disappeared from view and reappeared in the middle of the bandit group before he reached forwards with his hands and grabbed the face of the mage and before any of the bandit reacted he gave a twist of his hands *SNAP* "what the fuck!" "he killed Morgan!" "bastard!" one of the closest bandits lunged forwards and swung a iron club towards Mars but abruptly froze mid action, just as Mars and the rest of the bandits were puzzled by what happened Adam appeared right next to the frozen bandit and grabbed one of his arms "...around it goes" a horrible sound sounded out form the bandit, Mars only just managed to see what happened before the bandit was turned into a mangled mess of blood, flesh and minced organs ''Adam he sped up the movement of his arm by probably a factor of 10... he''s a time mage'' the bandit had been twisted into a mangled mess by Adam but Adam looked as usual with his calm smile on his face "what''s wrong Mars, weren''t you going to outpace me?" "...oh you''re on now" Chapter 94 Towards the front 7 flesh was torn, body parts flew and bandit''s screamed as they tried to flee in terror, the key part being that they tried. less than 10 seconds after Mars had snapped the neck of the mage that was named Morgan Fedeson the quiet returned to the forest clearing as mars held the last 2 remaining bandits by their necks with a wide smile on his face "not bad old man" Adam gave a light sigh before he also gave a smile "your not bad yourself Mars, but never mind that what is the last 2 for?" "well let''s see..." Mars let go of one of the bandits that fell to the forest floor and started to beg Mars while he was on his knees "please spare my life!" "only if you tell me why you shot us down" "ye-yes it was all Morgan''s orders, I tried to stop him!" "I see... well then run along" "thank you, young lord!" the bandit ran and soon disappeared into the forest, meanwhile Mars looked at the other bandit that he also let go and asked "who''s Morgan?" "he''s the cousin of the lord of Mirefield---" *SNAP* as soon as Mars heard the name of the town he kicked out and snapped the neck of the bandit "....fuck, knew I should have killed that pig... Victoria do you mind taking down the one that ran?" as Mars called out to her Victoria appeared form in between the brushes and leisurely walked into the clearing "already... did" "didn''t you say you would let him go?" "yeah but I never said anything about Victoria letting him go" "I see, nice work" Adam gave Mars an approving look, but Mars looked rather troubled as he sat down on the ground and began thinking ''what to do next... it''s probably best to return to Mirefield, if not to cook some pork then at least acquire some transport...'' "what do you think we should do Adam?" "hmm... yeah that''s a tough question... well knowing my daughter she will follow whatever you do without question" "that''s true..." "yeah so just treat me as a follow along to Chloe, I will follow your lead" "...fine" Mars stood up again and began walking back to the crash site... meanwhile in the capital of Destra Dan the prime minister was busy working at his desk, he was currently going over a report on how the 8 heads where trying to sway lover level nobels with a frown on his face ''this is getting out of hand...'' Dan put down the report and massaged his temples when there was a knock on the door "....come in" a young mage opened the door, his face was pale and Dan could see he was sweating a lot "sir prime minister... the number 28 sky carriage signal was lost about half an hour ago" Dan paused and took a deep breath before he asked with a grave look on his face "what''s the changes the mana battery on the transmitter is dead?" "that''s... zero, I changed it myself before it left some days ago" "I see... where was it lost?" "north of Mirefield sir" Dan closed his eyes and massaged his temples for some time before he opened his eyes again and looked at the nervous mage "send another sky carriage to Mirefield to find out exactly what happened to sky carriage number 28 and it''s cargo" "yes sir... but not to the crash site?" "no we could lose another sky carriage that way... also have send a squad of dark knights with the sky carriage and have them investigate the lord of Mirefield" the young mage gulped form what he knew about the dark knights where akin to horror stories, he had heard a story about how a dark knight beheaded the lord a small town because he disallowed beastmen to work in his estate "i-is it really necessary to send the dark knights?" Dan gave the young mage a hard look "...a friend of mine was on that sky carriage, I want to know if foul play was involved" "y-yes I''ll give the orders now, excuse me sir" after the young mage closed the door Dan gave a sigh and reached into his drawer and pulled out a pack of cigarettes after lighting one up he took a long puff and leaned back in his chair "...please be okay Moira" back at the crash site was the group gathered around a campfire, they had spent most of the day salvaging the cargo of the sky carriage although most of it was broken they had manged to find some food and water skins that had survived the crash, also Mars''s backpack was surprisingly fine with only some minor cuts in the leather ''....well I made it of magic beast hide after all'' Mars looked over at his bag with pride in his eyes before he shook his head ''now''s not the time to be proud...'' Mars looked around at the group, they looked tired but other then that they were fine since Mars had healed all of them once to help with the bruises they sustained form the crash, Mars had also ''salvaged'' the mana stones from the sky carriage to refund some of the used energy units ''well it felt like I ended up profiting energy units, but whatever...'' "...what are we going to tomorrow?" "if nobody has a problem with it then let''s head back to Mirefield" Karen furrowed her brows before she asked Mars "why would we head back there?" Mars stood up and looked around at all the members of the group "for revenge" "revenge..? Wait you don''t mean that pig had anything to do with our crash?" "that''s exactly what I meant, the name of the mage that helped shoot us down was Morgan Fedeson" "Fedeson... Like the lord of Mirefield?" "yeah, I don''t know if he was a brother or a cousin I just snapped his neck" "I see...that''s rather violent" "...yeah, well I was in a bad mood" "but never mind, do you really want to head back to Mirefield?" "I think it''s the best option, of cause now that we are presumed dead we can do whatever... Let''s see, does anyone have any other ideas?" Mars looked around at the group and realized he had obtained minority support with Lee, Lily and Chloe following him blindly, Adam was neutral and Karen was the only one in doubt about it "well it''s been a long day... let''s talk about it tomorrow, Lee Lily you guys can borrow my sleeping bag" ""okay Mars"" Mars got up and walked over to a nearby tree and sat down with his back leaning against it, Victoria quickly joined him and lay down on his lap before she curled up and nested against Mars ''hopefully she will come along in the morning...'' Mars regulated his breathing and closed his eyes as he started to meditate and soon he entered a state of nothingness... the next morning Mars slowly opened his eyes and looked around the camp, the first thing he spotted were the 2 elvers they sat back to back and also looked like they had spent the night meditating next were Karen that lay next to the burned out campfire covered with a beast skin blanket form the steady rising and falling of her chest Mars could tell she was sleeping, the twins lay a little away from the campfire in Mars''s sleeping bag tangled together, Mars once again found them rather cute ''well all children are somewhat cute when they are quiet....'' Mars took a deep breath and began stretching while he thought about what to do for the day ''well first we need water, so finding a river is top of the list, then comes food but that should not be a problem as long as nobody dislikes magic beast meat... is that all..? I think so...'' "Victoria its morning let''s go hunt" "yay... I like... hunting" ''but first let''s see... status'' Mars queitely chanted as he breathed out and soon some half transparent mist formed his status Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [25/1000]Constitution [47/2000] (DOWN)Dexterity [36/1500] Intelligence [27/600]Wisdom [40/900]Charisma [18/50] (DOWN) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1695/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] ''son of a... I did die form the crash like I thought... oh well I''m almost level 20 then I will get 20 points in each status...'' "Mars... what''s wrong?" "...its nothing, let''s go Victoria" Chapter 95 Towards the front 8 Karen slowly woke up but she was still tired so she kept her eyes closed ''cold, why is it so cold?'' she pulled up her legs and hugged her knees as she tried to fall asleep again but the cold wind kept making her more and more awake so eventually she slowly opened her eyes "where is this..?" she looked around and found herself in a forest next to a burnt out campfire ''oh right... the crash'' her memory gradually came back to her as she was waking up, but with it also came the feelings she had suppressed all day yesterday as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes "teacher... Chris..." Karen cried as silently as she could but someone still heard her "this is why I don''t like humans" "who..?" Karen nearly jumped in fight but she managed to stay calm as she turned and saw the elf Chloe looking down on her "you always cry, it''s annoying" Karen blanked out but gradually she got angry at Chloe, she had never like this elf anyway as she always seemed to looked down on her "what''s your problem!?" Chloe didn''t expect Karen would yell at her so her green eyes widened slightly when Karen yelled at her before she put on a mean smile "and now you yell, really humans are just so funny..." Karen gritted her teeth and glared at Chloe "what nothing else to say..? not going to cry anymore..? then why don''t you think about what to do next?" Karen got confused by what Chloe said and repeated "...what to do next?" "yeah, or are you going to cry and yell again..? because that doesn''t help our situation one bit" Karen realized what Chloe was doing and became embarrassed by her own behavior, but quickly hided it by turning her face with a cold humph and mumbled "...you really are a nasty woman" Chloe''s mean smiled widened a bit before she reached out her hand to Karen "no not at all, unless you touch Mars that is" Karen stared at her hand for a bit before she took it and was pulled to her feet by Chloe "I don''t have any interest in him..." Karen gave a slightly mean smile and grabbed Chloe by her hip "but maybe if your interested?" this caused Chloe''s smile to stiffen slightly before a blush spared on her face "n-no my heart is only for Mars" "really... your no fun elf" Karen let go of Chloe with a teasing smile on her face "y-you... your a rather nasty women yourself" Karen gave a warm smile "thanks for the compliment" "easy now Victoria..." Mars was hunched over in the brushes looking at, if all went well his breakfast, Victoria was next the him also hunched over ready to strike "I got... this... watch... over there" "over there?" Mars looked past the heard of deer that was drinking from a small creak and in between the brushes on the other side of the creak was another Victoria, or most likely a shadow clone "get... ready... NOW" the shadow clone jumped out of the brushes scarring the heard of deer before they fled towards where Mars and Victoria where hiding "nice" Mars activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of a deer before he quickly drew his sword and cut its neck, meanwhile Victoria pounced on another deer and brought it down "did... I do... good?" "yeah you did, good job Victoria let''s head back to the campsite" Mars grabbed the legs of the 2 deer and swung them over his shoulders before he began heading back to the campsite followed by Victoria, when he returned he was greeted by Chloe that was chatting with Karen "hey Mars, you got breakfast I see" "yeah I figured I would do some hunting with Victoria" Mars showed off his trophy "looks good, let me help you butcher it" "sure" Mars and Chloe went along and butchered the 2 deer carcasses and when they were done Mars started roasting some of the meat with his flame while Karen looked at his flame and sighed "fire magic is so convenient" "yeah, but it doesn''t help if your trapped in a desert" "yeah, well that''s true... anyway... let''s do as you say and head back to Mirefield" "...okay then let''s set off after we''re done eating" "sure" Mars roasted some meat for the group to eat and after they finished eat they set off towards Mirefield... "hmm... I might see it" Mars was standing on the branch of a tall tree and was looking into the distance "do you see it or not?" Karen yelled from the ground, after spending the past 5 days she looked rather... wild, her hair was messy and her clothes were torn here and there "...I see it, I can see the walls form here just a little more guys!" Mars looked fine, he was after all a past caveman so living in the forest suited him rather well "really! finely a proper bed, a shower!" Karen raised her hands above her head and began crying tears of joy meanwhile Chloe looked at her with a weird look on her face before she gave a sigh "Karen calm down, we still need to get there first besides we need to deal with the lord" "geh... fiiiine" Karen put down her hands meanwhile Mars having climbed down the tree rejoined the group "wait where did the twins go?" "they properly ran off with Victoria" "again..?" Mars gave a sigh, the twins had really made him tired over the last couple of days, after they recovered from the loss of Chris and the vice principal they had been running around playing with Victoria "well they acting their age for once" Mars gave a shrug, he could roughly feel the direction Victoria was though their contract so there was no change of them getting lost "let''s go, we''re close to the town so we should be able to get there today" "...finely... a bath..." Mars ignored Karen''s grumblings and began walking in the direction of the walls he had seen from the top of the tree, just as he began walking Chloe walked up next to him and latched on to his arm "hey" "hey you" Chloe remained silent only after they had walked for a while did she speak up in a low voice "do you still have nightmares?" "...no, not at the moment" "I see, that''s good" "yeah" Chloe fell silent again but Mars could feel her worry about his nightmares so he felt a need to reassure her "really it''s been fine, I have mostly dreamless sleep these days" "okay... that''s good" Chloe finely gave a smile and the 2 of them walked on in comfortable silence, until Mars noticed something moving in a brush ahead of him ''what''s that... wait is that Lee? or maybe Lily?" Mars spotted a hint of white hair in the brush and assumed it was the twins trying to play a prank on him or one of the others in the group ''well might as well play along...'' Mars did his best to ignore the ''clearly not a ambush'' and walked along until he got close to the brush and a white blur jumped out at him and grabbed his legs "got you Mars!" Mars gave a smile and dropped a hand down on the head of Lily and ruffled her hair for a bit "yeah you did... where is your brother?" "he''s playing with Victoria" "okay" Lily grabbed Mars''s free hand with a grin on her face and began walking along with him ''is this what they call a flower in each hand?'' Mars walked along with Lily and Chloe and soon Victoria and Lee joined the group, Lee having played himself tired laid on Victoria''s back currently exploring dreamland as he steadily breathed in and out with closed eyes ''well it''s good he''s okay again...'' Lee had been blaming himself for some time, after all it was him that said it was okay to leave Gas alone, but Mars had explained to him he wasn''t at fault at all, this of cause didn''t work the first time it only got Lee mad but after telling him the same thing over and over he gradually accepted it and let go of his guilt "I need to cheek the direction again, Lily you want to come with?" "yes!" Chloe let go of Mars''s arm and watched with a smile on her face as Mars picked up Lily and looked around for a tall tree "Mars what about that one?" "hmm... yeah let''s use that tree, nicely spotted Lily" "hehehe" "ready..?" "yeah, go Mars!" Mars jumped and landed on one of the top branches of a 35 meter tall tree and looked around along with Lily that he carried on his arm "Mars over there" "over there..? yeah I see it" Mars looked in the direction Lily had pointed and saw the walls of Mirefield some 5 kilometers away "good job Lily" "eheheh" Mars praised Lily and patted her on the head ''well the only question now is... how should I kill Gas Fedeson?'' Chapter 96 Towards the front 9 "okay next person" Mars steeped forwards in the queue, it was finally his turn to get cheeked "do you have any id?" "yeah... will this do?" Mars pulled up his steel mercenary tag and showed it to the guard "yeah that''s fine, what about the children, do they have id?" "no" "....then its a fee of 50 cell per head" Mars reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin and handed it to the guard "here" "okay... next!" Mars walked through the gates while holding the hands of Lee and Lily, they were the last of the group to pass through the gates of Mirefield "sorry for the delay... where did Karen go?" "she went to find a inn with a shower" "...I see, did she say were to meet up again?" "she said she would be at the central square in a hour" "okay... then I guess we storm the castle after that" "Mars, Mars" Mars felt a tug in his left hand and looked down "what is it Lee?" "I''m hungry" "okay then let''s go find some food, you want to come with Chloe?" "nah I''m good" "okay then see you at the central square in a hour" "see you Mars" Mars walked off into the crowd with Lee and Lily by his side their fox like ears twitched as they looked with wide eyes at the crowd around them "Mars, Mars" this time he felt a tug in his right arm and looked down at Lily that was looking at his with sparkling eyes "what is it Lily?" "I smell something good over there!" "then let''s go over and have a look" mars followed the direction pointed out by Lily and after walking for a bit they arrived at a small market were Mars also began to smell the sent Lily was following and looked over, there was a small stall with a middle aged man cooking skewers with some kind of tasty looking meat, Mars walked up to the stand and brought some meat skewers for them to eat... "what about the slaves?" "all hidden away in the warehouse district like you ordered my lord" "...and the new shipment of magic boosters?" "they have been stored underground like you instructed" "good... damn dose dark knights, why are they sending the kingdoms hounds after me anyway?" "...we are still looking into that, but so far it looks like the order came from the prime minister" "...shit" Gas hit the table he was sitting behind with his fist, he had received word form the 8 heads that the dark knights were heading to his territory for a surprise inspection "what are you standing around for!? go cheek everything again!" "y-yes my lord" sending the servant away Gas leaned back in his chair and wiped the sweat off his forehead "...damn, those bastards" just as Gas was cursing again someone knocked on the door "what is it this time!?" a servant hurriedly opened the door "th-the dark knights have arrived" "piece of trash, why didn''t you tell me earlier!" Gas got up from his chair and walked toward the door where the servant stood "they have only just arrived my lord" "as if I care about that!" Gas shoved the servant to the side and walked out of his office ''shit.... shit... SHIT! those damn dark knights!'' the reason Gas was so angry was that the dark knights were a nightmare for any noble, let alone a corrupt one like himself because of one simple royal decree: a dark knight were free to execute anyone breaking the laws of the kingdom, even if the person breaking the laws was the crown prince the result would be the same: death ''calm down... I have hidden all the evidence away... I will be fine...'' Gas walked out of the mansion and into the courtyard were a sleek black magic carriage was parked, unlike the boxy sky carriage Mars''s group had traveled in this sky carriage looked like quiet modded with its sleek streamlined form, if Mars saw it he would probably compare it to a old stealth fighter jet, Gas stopped walking a few meters away from the black sky carriage and put on his best smile while he tired to calm his racing heart ''calm down.... calm, shit did I remember to have the sex slaves corpses moved?'' just as Gas was thinking about that did the door of the sky carriage open and a person clad in a dark full plate armor step out, the armor looked like it was made form a piece of the night sky and had a overall sleek and streamlined form like the sky carriage, the only weird thing were that there was no sword belt on the armor instead long sharp black claws where fixed onto the gauntlets "welcome lord dark knight" Gas gave a bow but the dark knight remained silent as 2 more dark knights stepped out of the sky carriage, one of them had a long 2 handed war hammer on their back while the other carried a long slender sword "hey is this the right place?" one of the dark knights spoke to one of the others "it should be, unless our navigator got the wrong place again" "...let''s cheek, oi you there is this the town Mirefeild?" "y-yes lord dark knight" "hmm... okay, looks like we got the right place this time... are you the lord of this town?" "yes lord dark knight, my name is Gas Fed---" "stop talking we don''t care about your name and or sob story, we ask a question and you answer it simple as that got it?" Gas gritted his teeth in rage "oi you deaf?" "n-no I understand" "good, now then..." the dark knight with the war hammer removed his helmet revealing the face of a man in his early 20''s with short brown hair and brown eyes "Kim, Tony let''s get this over with" ""yes captain"" the other 2 also removed their helmets and showed their faces, the one with claws for hands was revealed to be a girl in her teens with green shoulder length hair and green eyes, the one with the slender sword also took of his helmet and revealed the face of a man in his early 50''s with graying hair and battle scars visible on his face he was clearly a veteran, the captain turned to Gas and spoke in a commanding tone "now let''s start our inspection first---" *BANG!!!* a loud roar of a explosion interrupted the captain, followed by what looked like the warped front gate of the mansion flying cleanly over the roof of the mansion before cashing down in the courtyard, before anyone had a change to react a yell was heard "GAS I''M BACK FOR YOUR HEAD!!!" the dark knights turned to the lord and the girl with the claws that was named Kim asked "your name is Gas right?" "y-yes" "then do you know anyone pissed off enough to do that?" the girl pointed at the warped front gate that now lay in the courtyard "no I don''t, it''s probably rebels... let my knight deal with them" "if you say so, now then let''s start our inspection" turning time back a bit Mars was walking towards the mansion along with Chloe and Adam, Karen was looking after the twins as they would only get in the way in the upcoming battle against Gas and his guards "there it is, what''s the plan Mars?" "....kick down the front door and go wild?" Adam gave a sigh while Chloe smiled "I do like how simple you are sometimes, but is that really the plan?" Mars remained silent for a moment before he spoke again "find Gas quickly and end this, after that we leave the town quickly before they lock down the town and head for the empire" "that sounds a little better..." "well then let''s kick down that door..." "wait you weren''t kidding?" "I am always serious... well most of the time" Mars started loading his right arm with 50 units of energy while he walked up to the front gate of the mansion "hey you, stop!" the guards tired to stop Mars but he effortlessly sidestepped their attempts at grabbing him and arrived in front of the gate and put his right hand on it *BANG!!!* the gate was blown clean off the hinges and flew over the mansion, Mars gave a smile and took a deep breath "GAS I''M BACK FOR YOUR HEAD!!!" "rebels! kill them!" the nearby guards snapped out of their daze and charged at the group of ''rebels'' "I''ll go find Gas, I leave theses clowns to you guys" "sure we got this Mars go!" "I''ll be right back" Mars activated his [Instant movement] skill and disappeared form the guards encirclement "where did he go!?" "never mind that take down the elvers first!" "...do you think our lord will let us play with them?" "I call dips on the female!" "focus boys, we can play with them after we''re done!" """OHHH""" Adam''s smile widened and so did Chloe''s "dad I think they are looking down on us" "I think so too, let''s show them!" meanwhile Mars appeared in Gas''s office "empty?" Mars closed his eyes for a moment and when he didn''t hear anything he gave a sigh "no secret rooms... where did he go?" Chapter 97 Towards the front 10 "now if I were a load of lard where would I hide..?" Mars looked around the empty office once more before he turned and left the office and started to walk around the mansion "you there, halt!" "oh for fucks sake..." Mars stopped and turned and saw a knight like person clad in full plate armor "who are you, what are you doing here?" "...well I''m looking for the lord, do you have any idea where he is?" the knight paused for a moment "...he should be in the back courtyard" "oh... thanks" "you''re welcome" Mars felt his smile stiffen slightly but still gave the knight a light bow before he turned and left for the courtyard ''that was kind of pleasant...'' Mars soon arrived and walked out of the mansion into the open courtyard where he spotted Gas along with 3 people in black armor "found you!" "you! how are you still alive I was su---" Mars disappeared from view and reappeared right in front of Gas and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air, meanwhile the dark knight captain looked on with slight surprise on his face for a moment before he asked Mars "....can you let him down?" "no" "why not?" "he killed a few friends of mine you see, well he didn''t do it himself his cousin did" "and when did this happen?" "about 5 days ago" "... are you perhaps---" "captain let''s just kill him!" being interrupted the captain let out a massive amount of killing intent and looked at the dark knight that had interrupted him "quiet Kim, the adults are talking" "y-yes captain" the captain gave a sigh and his killing intent disappeared like mist in sunlight before he spoke to Mars again in a calm tone "where you perhaps on the sky carriage that crashed north of here?" "yeah I was" "...I see, how many others survived?" Mars looked at the captain for the first time with a blank look on his face "3 died, the vice principal, Chris a student and the driver" "L....e..t...me....d...o....wn" Mars looked up at gas that was completely blue in the face and gave a slight slime "quiet little piggy the adults are talking" the captain also ignored Gas and looked like he was in deep thought before he gave a nod and looked at Mars "that''s a interesting story... but I''m afraid it''s just that at this point, a story. So why don''t you put down the lord and we can talk about it some more?" "no way" "...what did you just say?" "I said no way" the captain gave another sigh, before he looked at the female dark knight "I see.... Kim you''re up, try not to hurt the lord" "yes captain!" Kim put on her helmet and readied her claws as she casually walked closer to Mars, Mars looked over Kim and his gaze stopped at the claws "...nice claws" "thanks!" Kim kicked off the ground and swiped at Mars with her claws, but Mars simply took half a step back and avoided the swipe "muuuu!" Kim let out a unladylike sound and swiped at Mars again only to have the same thing happen again, Mars effortlessly avoided her swipe by leaning his body to the side, still holding Gas above his own head in one hand "stay still!" "nope~" for the next 2 minutes Kim tried to hit Mars with her claws, the key part being that she tried "MUUU!!!" Kim stomped her foot into the ground before she turned to the captain and yelled "captain, he doesn''t play nice!" "why don''t you stop going easy on him then?" "fine!" Kim stopped for a second and suddenly runes lit up on her armor forming a complex formation across the entire dark plate body, Mars having studied formations recognized part of the formation and quickly transformed his free hand into his dragon claws *CLANG* ''damn she''s quick now, might have to be a little serious'' "MUUU!! why do you block!?" "because I don''t like to be stabbed!" "why don''t you just die! die! DIE!" Kim turned into a blur and so did Mars''s claws as loud sounds of metal clashing filled the courtyard ''I really want to use [Instant movement] and end this, but Gas would not survive it... maybe let him go for now and focus on the fight? nah that would make it hard to get to him if he runs and hides'' "DIE! DIE! DIE!" "shut up, crazy woman!" Mars kicked and hit Kim in the stomach sending her flying backwards in the air she flipped and landed unharmed before she kicked off the ground and charged towards Mars again with fury as she swung her claws at him again "DIE!" Mars used the time where Kim wasn''t up in his face to draw his sword and swung it down on her *CLANG* sparks flew and Kim was forced to take a step back "HAHAHAHAHA! captain he just doesn''t die!" ''shit this girl is crazy!'' "you know what? fine, I pity the one that have to clean this up" Mars quickly loaded his left arm with 100 units of energy and activated his [Energy: discharge] on Gas that still was held helpless in the air *SPLAT!!!* Gas exploded into bloody mist that spread all over the courtyard, bits of flesh and pieces of organs rained down from the sky as the dark knights were bathed in blood, only Mars which had pointed Gas towards the dark knights was clean "....captain the lord exploded! there''s blood all over HAHA---" "shut up!" *CLANG* Mars sent a kick to the side of Kim''s head and sent her flying, after she tumbled on the ground a few times she stopped moving "that''s one down, who''s next?" the captain wiped some of the blood off his face and looked over at Kim before he gave a sigh "well now that the lord is dead our job here is done..." "your job? weren''t you working for him?" Mars became confused, he was sure that the dark knights were underlings of Gas "we were here to investigate him for corruption and then kill him when we found prof" "I see then what do you want to do now?" the captain gave another sigh "since it would take all our lives to kill you I won''t bother... we''re done here, Tony pick up Kim and lets get out of here" "yes captain" "wait you''re leaving just like that?" "...yeah did you want anything else?" "we were originally supposed to reinforce the front in the empire north of here, but what should we do now that our sky carriage crashed?" the captain gave a slight smile "there''s another sky carriage in route... it should be here in a couple of hours" "I see... thanks for the heads up" Mars watched as the dark knights boarded the black sky carriage and took off, only when it was a tiny dot in the distance did Mars let his guard down with a sigh "I should go find the others..." Mars left the bloody courtyard and walked around the mansion to the gate less front where Adam and Chloe was waiting for him along with a bunch of mangled corpses, when Chloe saw Mars she gave a sweet smile and walked up to him "are you done?" "yeah I spread him all over the courtyard" "...so he''s dead?" "as dead as dead can be" "okay, so what now?" "another sky carriage will be here in a few hours, so let''s meet up with the others" "yeah let''s do that" Chloe latched on to Mars''s arm and the 2 of them followed by Adam walked into town away form the mansion... a dry wind blew bringing with it some dried up pants and dust, this was the southern desert of the empire, normally the only things here was sand, lonely rock formations and caravans moving though but now a small town of tents was set up. A lone soldier was running through the tent town, he was heading to the middle were a large tent was set up, passing by the soldiers that stood guard outside the tent the soldier keeled down as soon as he made it inside and called out "reporting! a group of class 1 golems has appeared!" "hmm... how many? and where are they coming form?" "a group of approximately 100, form the north west!" "hmm... have the 14th squad of active mana armor soldiers intercept" "sir, yes sir!" the soldier got up and gave a salute to the beastman that was sitting in a chair before he turned and left the tent. in the now quite tent a long deep sigh was heard before the beastman stood up form his chair exposing his features, a long gray tail and 2 slightly fluffy looking wolf ears on his head showed he was a wolf beastman while the military uniform he wore exposed him as a low ranking general. The beastman general walked over to a table were a map of the southern desert was spread out, stroking his bread covered chin and mumbled while he moved a wooden piece on the map "a group of class 1 golems... most like from this village... that means they probing us..." he stood there and rubbed his chin for a moment before he called out "messenger!" a soldier quickly ran into the tent and kneeled down "have the 15th squad of active mana armor soldiers prepare and head out 2 kilometers to the north east to intercept" "sir, yes sir!" the messenger quickly ran out of the tent once again leaving the beastman general alone in the tent "oh... that reminds me what happened to the mage reinforcements form Destra?" Chapter 98 Golem war 1 "I kinda miss the color green..." Mars was looking at the endless sand dunes "yeah me too..." he was looking out the window of the sky carriage at the scenery, it had been 4 days since they had left Mirefield in a sky carriage almost identical to the one that crashed and 2 days since the scenery changed from wild forests to what Mars was looking at now, sand and more sand ''well there are some rock formations here and there but that''s it'' Mars gave a sigh and looked away form the window and at the others in the sky carriage, as usual Chloe was sitting next to him, she was also looking out the window at the unchanging scenery, next to her was Lily and across from Lily was Lee and Karen, the sky carriage felt a lot more empty now that it wasn''t filled to the brim and looking at the 2 empty seats still gave Mars a feeling of guilt ''if only I formed the shield a little quicker... well no use in thinking about the past'' Mars gave a sigh and looked over at Lee that was looking a little restless "what''s wrong Lee?" "um... the odd feels strange" "the odd?" Mars felt for a moment and sure enough the was something wrong, it felt almost restless "weird... well it''s probably nothing Lee" "okay..." just as Mars finished reassuring Lee he felt a change in the sky carriage and looked out the window ''we slowing down... I think we''re there'' soon his guess proved correct as the sky carriage slowed down even more and began to lower it''s attitude, Mars still looked out the window as a small town of tents came into view for some reason Mars found it slightly nostalgic, when he saw a group of soldiers doing push-ups the sense deepened. The sky carriage touched down a little away from the camp and the group got off along with their luggage, as they stepped out of the sky carriage the group felt the temperature of the desert and began to losses their clothes, Chloe also began to fan herself with her hand ''what now..?'' just as Mars was thinking about what to do the sky carriage lifted off and speed off to the distance, seeming like it was fleeing from this place "what do we do now?" Mars looked over at Karen that had raised the question they all was thinking about and gave a light sigh as he picked up his backpack "we head to that camp and explain why we''re here" "...why we''re here..? oh right I had almost forgotten" Karen gave a sigh right before Chloe chimed in "what about me and dad?" "well... just tag along for now..?" Chloe sent Mars a glare "don''t look at me like that, I don''t know either" "Mars, Mars" Mars felt someone tug in his sweater and looked down and saw Lee looking up at him with his red eyes "what is it Lee?" "soldiers are coming" "hmm... oh, they sure are" Mars saw a group of soldiers closing in on them, they were dressed in matching brown desert camouflaged armored uniforms and carrying spears, it also looked like there was a small number of mages in the back that separated themselves from the other soldiers with the staffs tipped with crystals that glinted in the sunlight they were carrying. the group of soldiers spread themselves out in a fan formation with spears pointed towards Mars and the rest of his group before one of the soldiers stepped forwards and shouted "identify yourselves!" Mars took a brief glance at the others before he spoke up acting as the leader of the group "we are tactical mages form Destra, sent here to reinforce" the soldier that had spoken first paused and exchanged some words with a soldier besides him before he signaled for the other soldiers to lower their spears and walked forwards to Mars "you were expected nearly a week ago" "...our sky carriage was shot down 4 days south of here, we lost 2 of our people in the crash including our teacher" "I see... my condolence but still you are a welcome sight, follow me the general will want to meet you" the soldiers were all smiles and helped the group with their luggage as they walked into the tent town and soon reached the big middle tent and gestured for the group to walk inside, Mars took a deep breath and walked in followed by the rest of the group. Inside the tent stood a wolf beastman, he was nearly 2 meters and 20 centimeters tall, he had gray hair and his build was as if chiseled in marble by the gods themselves, his slightly fluffy ears twitched when the group walked into the tent but he didn''t react more then that as he stared at the map on the table with a slight frown on his face, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the wolf beastman ''this mortal sure is something...'' only after the group waited for almost a minute did the wolf beastman look up form the table and looked at them for a moment before gave a frown and asked "where''s Moira?" Mars was at a loss for what to say but simple said "she''s dead" the frown on the beastman deepened as he walked over and stood in front of Mars, the pressure he was letting out caused the others form the group except Adam and Mars to take a step back "her killer?" "dead, body torn to pieces and scattered in a forest 4 days by sky carriage south of here" "tell me what happened" Mars reflexively spread his legs so they were lined up with his shoulders, straightened his back and put his hands behind his back before he spoke "our sky carriage was shot down by bandits, 3 people died in the crash: the driver, a student named Chris and Moira our teacher" "...continue" "yes after killing the bandits that shot us down we headed back to Mirefield to confront the mastermind behind our crash, as well as the cousin of one of the bandits, the local lord" the frown on the wolf beastman deepened slightly before he mumbled "damn kingdoms and their greedy lords... continue" "we, or rather I and the 2 elvers stormed the mansion and killed the lord, afterwards we acquired transport with another sky carriage and arrived here after 4 days of travel" the wolf beastman gave a sigh, various emotions flashed through his eyes for a moment before he spoke "my name is George I''m in charge of the 3rd active mana armed army that is currently tasked to hold down the southern front against the golems, what is your name young man?" "Mars" "have you served in Destra''s army?" "no, but i have served a lifetime ago in another armed force" "I see, who else of you have military experience?" Karen took a step forwards "I have served in Destra''s army for a time" "I see, anyone else..?" no one else spoke up "okay then.... rest for today, I will have plenty of work for you tomorrow... dismissed" George walked back to the table with the map meanwhile the group left the tent and stepped outside were the soldier that had showed them the way waited "follow me I''ll guide you all to your tents" on the way the soldier spoke about the camp "we are 15 squads of active mana armor soldiers and they support staff, while we might have the least about of soldiers of the 4 fronts we have under general George''s leadership had low losses so far as we hold down the front line against the golems" "can you tell us more about the golems" "sure... we have separated them into a class system with class 1 golems being undead golems, basically dead people with mana stones stuck somewhere in their bodies, while they are no threat on their own they often show up in numbers that make them a threat. Class 2 golems are people sized and shaped moving rocks, they are a little tougher than the class 1''s but not much of a threat as they often show up on their own. Class 3 golems are basically bigger and tougher class 2 golems, theses are a problem because when they show up they bring class 1 and class 2 golems with them in large numbers" Mars along with the rest of the group nodded along as the soldier spoke "as for class 4 golems... well let''s just say we hope not to meet one of those, as they can use tactical class magic on their own... well anyway theses tents are going to be you home for now, meals are morning midday and evening, someone will be here to fetch you guys when it''s time to eat" as the soldier walked away Mars inspected his tent, it was 3 meters tall and 5 meters wide, but since it was in a pyramid shape it was likely smaller on the inside, Mars took a breath and opened the tent door and stepped inside the tent ''hot... should make it a habit to keep the door open during the day or else this happens...'' Mars endured the furnace like heat inside the tent and put down his luggage and looked around, other than a field bed in the middle of the tent it was empty "well I don''t know what I expected in the first place..." Mars gave a sigh and walked back out of the tent Chapter 99 Golem war 2 Mars woke up, his eyes snapped open only to close again moments later before he turned in the small field bed seemingly not ready to leave dreamland yet ''hot... why is it so hot..?'' Mars tossed and turned around in the small bed and eventually he kicked off the covers and laid face down with one arm over the side feeling the sand below the bed ''cold...'' have found some source to cool down Mars quickly trust his right hand down into the sand and enjoyed the coldness that spared though his body form the sand, but alas it was not enough to cool down the uncomfortably hot tent, so he began with eyes still closed in protest to throw of his clothes until he was stripped down to his underpants ''finally cold...'' swing his left arm over the other side of the field bed Mars also trust his left hand into the cold sand and enjoyed the feeling of cooling down a little before his eyes opened again, as he just had solved the first problem another arouse "....hungry" Mars looked around the tent and saw Victoria laying on the sand a little ways away form his bed, she was lining on her back with all 4 feet in the air and snoring lightly ''there she is... well let''s get some food...'' Mars poked Victoria awake and walked out the tent and was greeted by the blinding sunlight, after his eyes adjusted and stopped hurting form the bright light Mars began to move towards the place where they had eaten yesterday evening along with the other soldiers, it was a cleared out place in the middle of the small tent town were tables and chairs were neatly lined up in rows after rows, Mars walked over to serving area and revived a tray with food ''now where are the others... there they are'' Mars quickly spotted the group form Destra and walked over and sat down, but before he could begin eating he had to deal with the stars of wonder he was receiving form the others "...what?" "nothing it''s just... how don''t you have heat stroke yet?" "heatstroke?" "form sleeping in the tent for so long" Mars gave a confused look at Karen meanwhile Chloe also spoke up "yeah I was wondering about the same thing, I was out of my tent when the sun rose to avoid the heat" "well... I''m not human so maybe that''s why?" Karen''s eyes widened for a second before she gave a nod "I almost forgot you said that when you joined our class right?" "I remember that!" "yes yes, you are very smart Lily" "ehehehe" Patting Lily on the head Mars was momentarily in bliss from her soft hair and ears but then he noticed Karen was still looking at him with a examining gaze "what?" "well it''s just... If you aren''t human then what are you?" "dragon" "dragon..?" "half" "half..? w-wait you don''t mean half dragon do you!?" Mars gave a nod and put on a ''pure and righteous'' face and asked "wanna see ma horns?" Karen''s face lit up like a Christmas tree before she averted her gaze "n-no I''m fine" "oh really... such a shame" Mars suddenly felt cold and looked to his side where he saw Chloe wearing a perfect smile on her face as she stared at him with half open eyes Mars gave her a little wave which made the chilling sensation he felt increases in coldness, luckily he was saved by Lily that asked a question "Mars is it true you have horns?" "yeah but I only have them sometimes" "...really?" "yeah want to se---" "excuse me" Mars looked up at the soldier that had interrupted him with slight annoyance on his face "the general requests your presence" Mars quickly stuffed his face with food and got up from his seat after he managed to force the food down his throat "...lead the way" Mars and the rest of the group followed the soldier out of the camp and into the desert where general George stood and waited in the middle of nowhere "good morning people, i would like to see your most powerful magic" Chloe raised her hand "yes what is it?" "right now?" "yes right now, I like to know what my subordinates can do" "...then let me go first" George gestured to a distant sand dune and Chloe gave a nod before she raised her arms and a small flame appeared on the tips of 4 of her fingers before they rapidly grew in size hovering over her like 4 small suns "...fuuu" Chloe let out a breath and the 4 giant fireballs began to shrink until they were the size of footballs, Chloe waved her hand and the 4 fireballs that gave off a stupid amount of heat fused into one bright white fireball "...go" with a small voice that sounded like a whisper Chloe commanded the fireball that quickly speed off into the distance towards the sand dune, moments late it hit the sand dune and exploded in a truly awesome fashion bringing with it a shock wave and moments late a roar of the explosion "good" George praised with a rare smile on his face before he looked at the others with a expression that asked ''who''s next?'', Lee looked at his sister and asked her "what spell?" "hmm... let''s go with earth spike" "okay sis" the 2 of them walked forwards hand in hand with Lee on the left and Lily on the right as the formations on their bodies lit up somewhat responding to their mana going active as both of the twins raised their free hand and pointed off into the distance, moments later the very earth shock and a giant spike, nay a small mountain rose up form the sand with break neck speed only stopping when it was several hundred meter tall, Mars looked at the new terrain feature with a slightly dazed look on his face and remembered what Chris had told him ''that is pure destruction all right...'' Mars remained dazed until he felt someone tugging in his clothes and looked down and saw the twins were looking at him with a ''praise me'' expression on their faces, Mars gave a sigh and plopped his hands on both of their heads and gently began ruffling their hair ""ehehehe"" the twins happy giggles seemed to wake up the rest of the group form their daze, even George looked somewhat dazed but quickly praised "very good" "my turn" Karen stepped forwards and prepared her ice dragon spell, water started to form and gather around her floating until it formed a long slender dragon that suddenly froze into ice, glinting in the desert sun it looked quite magnificent as it coiled around her "...go" pointing to a distant sand dune Karen commanded the ice dragon that uncoiled it self, showing off a length of almost 20 meters before it flew off towards the sand dune, suddenly its scales stood up and a moment later they began shooting out with enough power to piece though solid rock. the ice dragon kept circling the area Karen had pointed to while shooting out ice scales in all directions until it ran out of ice and disappeared "very good" hearing the praise from George Karen showed a small slime as she walked back to the group "I''m up next I suppose..." Mars stepped forwards and began casting his 3 fold explosion spell, quickly forming 3 fireballs that appeared as 3 small suns Mars quickly fused them together and compressed them together into a single small fireball that gave of a awesome amount of heat "go" Mars pointed at a sand dune and sent off the fireball that soon reached its target and exploded sending off a big shock wave as well as a roar of an exposition that shock Mars slightly as he watched the sand dune turn into a glass dune, even if he used a lesser grade spell than Chloe had his spell still did more damage as the quality of flame he used was superior to hers "very good" George looked over the group before his gaze stopped on Adam that had not demonstrated a spell yet, Adam simply gave a small smile and said "I''m a time mage" "...I see, in that case it''s fine... well then I will now assign you to your active mana armor squads, for the duration of this mission you will be part of theses squads and support them on the battlefield is that understood?" George looked around at the group and seeing nobody speak up he gave a nod before he began assigning them to the squads, Mars ended up in squad 7 and was given instructions of how to find the squad in the tent town and sent off by George that assigned the others into their squads. Mars along with Victoria walked back towards the tent town. "I wonder how our new comrades are" Victoria looked up at Mars as her horns shone "comrades?" "basically they are going to be our new playmates" "what are... we going... to play... with?" "the golems" Chapter 100 Golem war 3 Mars stopped walking, i front of him was a large tent with the number 7 on it "this must be it..." Mars took a deep breath and walked into the tent, the inside looked like a cross between a mechanical workshop, a armor workshop and a dorm room with pieces of armor all over the room and what looked like 4 armor stands where 4 sets of armor were being worked on by 3 people, there was also 4 field beds one of them was occupied by a woman that was snoring loudly. as Mars steeped in one of the people working on the armor that looked like something out of Warhammer turned around and looked at Mars and quickly said "just in time, hey come over here we could use a extra pair of hands" "...sure" Mars was busy looking at the persons face, she was a woman who''s beauty reviled Chloe''s with a perfectly balanced face and long flowing jet black hair, her eyes were also jet black giving her a impression of a sinister beauty but the warm smile on her face was anything but sinister, she wore coveralls that was slightly dirty with oil "hey you coming or what?" "...sorry I spaced out for a second" Mars stepped up to the armor and was quickly told where to put his hands as the beauty tightened some bolts on the inside of the armor "hold this" "yep, got it" "you sure, it''s kind of heavy right?" "I happen to be kind of strong" "...fine here you go then" the beauty handed Mars a armor plate and told him were to hold it as she tightened some bolts to keep it in place, meanwhile the 2 others that was working on the armor looked at mars in disbelief until one of them whispered to the other "hey he just lifted that armor plate right?" "yeah and it looked like he was fine with it" "which means..." ""he''s a monster like the captain"" "hey you guys I heard that! work you hands instead of your mouths!" ""yes captain!"" Mars helped out for another hour and finely the 2 of them had finished assembling the armor ''...it really looks like something from Warhammer'' "thanks for your help... oh, I never got your name" "I''m Mars, the general has assigned my to the 7th active mana armor squad as of today" the beauty paused before she showed an embarrassed smile "and here I thought you were just another mechanic... my name is Vanessa, I''m a half demon and the captain of the 7th active mana armor squad, and this over there is Gus and Hans" Vanessa pointed to the 2 men that also was working on the armor, one of them had a lean build with blonde hair and blue eyes and was named Hans while the other had a muscular build and had short gray hair with brown eyes was named Gus "nice to meet you Mars" Hans offered his hand and Mars quickly shock it meanwhile Gus gave him a nod with a soft smile on his slightly handsome face "...and the one sleeping over there is Nicole" Vanessa pointed to the one woman snore concert that was still ongoing despite all the noise "well she certainly is... something" Vanessa looked a little embarrassed and quickly explained "she had night watch last night" "oh I see..." Mars gave a nod, he also clearly remembered what it was like to have the night watch so he admired Nicole''s ability to sleep even with so much noise going around the tent "by the way... what, or who is that?" Mars looked back at Vanessa and saw she had spotted Victoria that was playing with some thrash on the ground with her paws "oh that''s Victoria, she''s my... well I have a contract with her, so I guess she''s my partner?" "oh I see... well let me---" "reporting!" just as Vanessa spoke up a messenger ran into the tent and shouted "about 100 class 1 golems have showed up 1.2 kilometers north east of the camp, the general have commanded that the 7th active mana armor squad is to engage!" Vanessa gave a salute to the messenger "orders revived, the 7th active mana armor squad will now prepare to engage" the messenger gave a salute and left the tent leaving the 5 people alone in the tent, Vanessa looked first at Mars then at Hans "Hans wake up Nicole, Gus suit up and Mars come here and help me suit up" ""yes captain!"" "okay" Mars receiving instructions form Vanessa quickly helped her suit up, meanwhile the others including a newly awaken Nicole also jumped into their armor suits and quickly got ready "let''s head out!" """yes captain""" "oi Mars where''s your response?" "yes captain!" "very good, now let''s go!" Mars followed after the 4 of them while he inspected their armor ''2,5 meters tall... weight of close to 250 kilogram... powered by 3 mana stone each... but most importantly their look like space marines'' Mars found himself grinning as a small child as he watched the 4 armors move out of the camp "we''re going to pick up speed now Hans pick up Mars and let''s get going!" "yes captain" "no need I can keep up" "...fine, you better not fall behind" as Vanessa spoke the sounds of 4 engines winding up sounded out around Mars as the 4 active mana armors powered up "let''s go!" setting off as the first Vanessa''s armor suit set off followed by the others and gradually picked up speed as it approached 45 kilometers an hour, Vanessa looked back and was slightly surprised by Mars that easily followed after them despite the high speed, he also gave her a little wave to show that he was fine causing her to become confused and used her communicate to speak with Hans that followed 2nd after her "just what is he?" "captain?" "I''m talking about Mars" "well he''s most likely like you captain, half something" "...yeah I think your right Hans" agreeing with Hans Vanessa shifted her focus back to the front and saw off in the distance what looked like a mob of people and activated her loud speaker so the rest of the squad including Mars could hear her "heads up, here they are!" Mars looked forwards as he ran with break neck speed and saw the mob in the distance, transforming his eyes he got a closer look at the mob, they were people or more precisely they were people at some point ''undead...'' rotting flesh, exposed bones and missing eyes and limbs, besides the mana stones that was glowing ominously in the middle of their chest the class 1 golems looked exactly like a group of b-movie zombies as they walked along on the hot desert sand, as the group was about 300 meters away from the class 1 golems Vanessa raised her hand and signaled the group to stop and looked at Mars, he could feel her jet black eyes looking at him though the helmet for a moment before she activated the speaker "are you fine Mars?" "yeah I''m good" "okay... you are a tactical class mage right?" "yes captain" "then please fire the opening shot... look they are coming" Mars looked at the mob of class 1 golems and noticed the distance had already decreased to less than 200 meters while they were talking "okay then..." Mars raised his arms and 3 small flames appeared at the tips of his fingers before they quickly grew in size to 3 small suns that quickly condensed into a single small bright white fireball "...go" Mars pointed towards the mob of class 1 golems that was rushing over and the fireball flew off and when it reached the middle of the crowd it exploded in awesome fashion swallowing up over half of the class 1 golems in a the explosion as the shock wave blew around the the rest. the 4 soldiers were stunned into silence, sure they had seen tactical class magic before, but the short time it took for Mars to cast it overwhelmed them all along with the destruction it caused as a single spell had almost wiped out the group of almost 100 class 1 golems, the first one to recover was Vanessa that quickly praised Mars "good job Mars, tactical magic sure is something else... looks like it''s our turn, squad let''s wiped them out!" """yes captain!""" Mars watched as Vanessa unsheathed a giant sword from the back of her armor and led the charge into the group of disorganized mob of class 1 golems and raved havoc along with the rest of the squad, in all honesty it looked like a bunch of grown men kicking around children as they quickly wiped out the rest of the class 1 golems and returned to where Mars was waiting with Victoria that had jumped out of his shadow in the meantime, Mars raised his hand and gave a salute to Vanessa "good work captain" Vanessa removed her helmet and showed Mars a warm smile before she turned to the others "let''s head back to camp" Chapter 101 Golem war 4 the group was on their way back to the camp, but instead of rushing they took their time as the 7th squad got to lean more about their new teammate "---so Reimund opened his doors for me and both clothed and fed me" "that sound unreal, at least it''s not the usual noble we hear of" "well in all fairness form the lords I have meet it''s been 50/50" "oh really, what''s the bad example?" "the lord of Mirefield" Vanessa gave a frown when she hear the name Mirefield, before she gave a sigh "yeah that''s a pretty bad example" "you meet him before?" "once when the mission started" "...well then I have some good news" "what?" "he''s dead" "...really?" "yep killed him myself" "you did what now!?" "I killed him, made him go splat" Vanessa gave a sigh and the rest of the squad looked at Mars with serious expression on their faces, Mars picked up on the serious mood and gave a smile to try and lighten the mood, after some time Vanessa spoke up "don''t worry Mars, now that you''re a part of our squad we will do our best to protect you" "well I appreciate the thought, but I don''t think Destra will do anything about it" "...why not?" "because I''m an apostle" Vanessa and the rest of the squad stopped moving and looked at Mars in pure shock before Nicole spoke up "y-you''re kidding right?" "nope" Mars reached into his clothes and pulled out the 13 pointed silver star he always wore around his neck and showed it of with a expression that said ''pretty cool right?'' sending the rest of the squad into a daze as they stared at the silver star, befitting of the role as captain Vanessa was the first one to snap out of her daze and looked at Mars with a complicated look on her face before she slowly said "...I now doubt anything you do will ever surprise me" Mars gave a childish grin "oh really, how about this..." Mars raised his hand and transformed it, looking at the long claws Vanessa became stunned again that is until Hans stammered "h-half d-d-d-dragon!" as soon as Vanessa heard Hans she snapped out of her daze and still wearing her armor suit she went down on one knee and lowered her head, the others quickly followed her and also kneeled down completely stunning Mars in the process, before he had a change to recover Vanessa spoke with a exited voice "are you here to save the general?" "the general?" Vanessa looked up and stared at Mars with her jet black eyes "the flaming rose!" "...wait a second" Mars organized his toughs for a moment and quickly remembered hearing about the flaming rose a couple of times before, but as far as he knew she was "dead... didn''t she die?" "what..?" Mars and Vanessa stared at each other for a moment before she spoke out slowly "you don''t know about it?" "it?" "the rebellion..." "I know it happened" "...I see" Vanessa got up again and looked at Mars with a disappointed look on her face and wordlessly turned and began walking back to the camp leaving the rest of the squad "what was that about?" Hans gave a sigh and shock his head "if you don''t know about it then there''s no point in telling you about it" "...I see" Mars followed the squad back to camp in silence, the happiness form the easy victory seemed to have all but evaporated ''this feels... like I''m at fault?'' Mars found himself feeling a little guilty about showing off "what''s.... wrong?" "...it''s nothing... I think" "okay..?" eventually the group made it back to the camp and Vanessa went to report to the general meanwhile Mars moved his field bed over to squad 7''s tent, he placed it in a comer next to the entrance and ignoring the rest of the squad he laid down and stared into the ceiling for some time until Victoria jumped up and laid down on his chest, looking down on Mars with her big round blue eyes for a while her horns eventually flashed "are... you okay?" Mars showed a smile and began petting Victoria on the head while he stared into the ceiling "...I''m fine, thank you Victoria" Mars enjoyed the feeling of Victoria''s soft ears for some time until someone called out to him from the side "...hey" Mars looked over and saw Nicole, realizing this was the first time he had looked at her properly Mars inspected her, she was a head shorter than him with short brown hair and brown eyes, she had somewhat tanned skin and a overall petty frame, she seemed more like a neighborhood teenage girl then a battle hardened soldier "yes?" "can you help me with lifting something, the captain said you were strong" "sure" Mars carefully lifted the sleeping Victoria off his chest and got up before he laid her back down on the field bed again, before he turned back to Nicole and followed her over to the armor stand "this plate here" "okay..." Mars grabbed the armor plate and lifted it out its frame "that''s good, hold it there..." Nicole grabbed a formation marker and began adjusting the formation runes under the armor plate Mars had lifted off, some minutes passed before she gave a sigh "...that should do it" "should I put it back now?" "yeah, thanks for the help" Mars put the armor plate back in place and helped Nicole tighten the bolts that kept the armor plate in place "is there anything else you need help with?" "hmm... no I think that was all" "okay" Mars turned and was about to walk back to his field bed when Nicole called out to him "um... Mars" "what is it?" "...could you help me with something else?" "...sure why not" "okay, this way" Nicole let the way out of the tent with Mars following after her and they eventually reached the cooking tent were Nicole walked inside with Mars following after her, the inside was busy with cooks working but Nicole agilely moved past the busy cooks without bumping into any of them until she reached what looked like the main chef and poked him on the shoulder "oh it''s you Nicole... you want the usual?" "yeah you got some?" the chef gave a wide smile "just got some in with yesterday''s caravan" "great!" the head chef walked out the cooking tent with Mars and Nicole following after him "now where did they put it..." they now stood inside a storage tent next door to the cooking tent where a massive amount of boxes was stacked and filled most of the tent "oh there it is" the chef took out a box about 50 by 50 centimeters and handed it to Nicole "here you are Nicole" "thanks" "sure thing, give your captain my regards" Nicole then handed the box to Mars that took it and found it was lighter than he expected "let''s go Mars" "okay?" Mars followed after Nicole out of the storage tent and out to where all the benches was lined up, Nicole stopped and looked around the crowd "now where is she... there she is, can you see her?" "who?" "the captain" "oh... there she is" Mars found it rather easy to spot Vanessa in the crowd with her jet black hair and eyes "now here is where it gets difficult Mars, first you walk up to her and place the box on the table then you say ''I got this for you'' then you slide to box across the table to her. Got it?" "....yeah" Nicole showed a slime and patted Mars on the shoulder "then go" "okay" Mars walked off though the crowd and eventually arrived at where Vanessa was sitting, she had the whole bench for herself and was sitting and looking into a cup with water, over all she looked rather depressed, Mars sat down across from her which woke her from her daze "what are you doing here Ma---" "I got this for you" Mars slid the box across the table to Vanessa that looked a little confused, but after staring at Mars for a moment she opened the box and soon a smile formed on her face as she looked into the box, just as Mars was about to ask ''what''s in the box'' she looked up at him with a intense look on her face "this... are you sure I can have this?" "...yeah that''s why I got it for you?" Vanessa gave a wide smile and reached into the box and took out... a bar of chocolate before she imitatively bit into it with relish on her face and closed her eyes as she chewed before she sighed "so good..." and bit into the bar of chocolate again with a blissful look on her face, Mars looked at her with a blank look on her face ''I guess it''s true... chocolate is happiness in solid form'' Chapter 102 Golem war 5 Mars''s eyes snapped open, it was the middle of the night and the camp was quiet looking around the tent Mars confirmed the rest of the squad was asleep and slipped out of bed before he whispered to Victoria "let''s go" "...okay" Mars and Victoria slipped out of tent and soon they reached the outskirts of the camp where sentries patrolled the perimeter of the tent town, Mars and Victoria easily slipped past the patrols and soon Mars was running in the night dessert with top speed towards his target "please still be there..." a few minutes later Mars reached his target, the air still smelt rather burnt and part of the desert sand was turned to glass, there was rotting body parts and bodies all over the place but most importantly there was mana stones all over the place "bingo" Mars reached down and pulled a mana stone out the dismembered chest of a dead class 1 golem before he activated his [Energy: basic drain touch] and drained the energy units out of the mana stone until it turned to dust moments later "about 100 energy units..." a smile spread on Mars''s face as he reached for the next mana stone and after absorbing the energy form numerous mana stones Mars felt his storage was filled and chanted "...status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 19 Status points: Strength [25/1000]Constitution [47/2000]Dexterity [36/1500] Intelligence [27/600]Wisdom [40/900]Charisma [18/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 1900/1900] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "open the upgrade shop" commanding his status the words soon changed to the upgrade shop Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 1900 Class skills currently available: none "level up my class" after the words left his mouth a warm spread across his body and soon he felt all his stats raise by 20 "...I''m not done yet" Mars kept savaging for mana stones and less than 30 minutes later his storage was filled again so he once again chanted "open the upgrade shop" Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 2000 Class skills currently available: [Living god: presence][Energy: sense] "oh... would you look at that, some new skills... let''s see..." Mars focused on the first new skill and a moment later the text changed [Living god: presence] use cost: none status: locked price: none function: display the might of your status as a living god for all mortals to feel "this seems... fishy" never mind the vague description Mars felt great distrust about the whole no cost thing "well... let''s just look at the other skill..." Mars focused on the other skill and soon the text transformed again [Energy: sense] use cost: none status: locked price: 2000 function: feel any and all energy movements in the vicinity of the user "see now this feels more like a proper skill... unlock [Energy: sense]" feeling his energy units drain as usual Mars let his guard down, that''s when it happened "AGGGGGHHHHH!!!" pain, sudden pain made him scream out and clutch his head while he fell to his knees, it felt like a molten metal rod was being inserted into his brain, rolling around on the cold desert sand for awhile Mars wordlessly screamed until suddenly the pain disappeared and he was finally able to catch his breath again "Mars! Mars!" "I''m fine Victoria... wait Victoria hold still for a moment" he could feel her even though she was standing behind him he cold still feel her from her heart beating to the neurons firing in her brain he cold feel it all including her magic beast core next to her heart, it was like getting a whole new sense "are... you okay?" "yeah I''m fine now" Mars petted Victoria on the head as he himself calmed down for a moment until something else caught his attention, it was like a small orb of energy buried under the sand a few meters away from him, crawling over and digging for a few seconds Mars uncovered a mana stone "this is weird...but so pretty" when Mars looked at the mana stone it was the same dull blue glass like stone as always, but when he felt though his new sense the mana stone ''glowed'' in a soft blue light, Mars began absorbing the energy inside it and gradually the light dimmed and went out just before the mana stone turned to dust "this is... neat, yep neat" Mars nodded to himself, finding his new sense well worth the pain and went back to finding more mana stones with renewed fever only stopping when he had nearly filled his storage again "let''s stop here... Victoria let''s head back to the camp before the sun rises" "okay..." heading back to camp Mars and Victoria avoided the guards and easily slipped into the camp and soon got back to squad 7''s tent were Mars sneaked in and got into bed without waking any of the others ''today''s harvest was rather good... I wonder what higher class golems are like and how much energy there is in they mana stones...'' Mars laid in his bed and felt the energy around himself, form Victoria next to his bed, to Nicole that was sprawled out on her bed a few meters away ''the energy that''s circulating in her body... is it mana..?'' Mars found himself drawn to gray energy that was circulating around Nicole''s body, but soon found it rude to ''stare'' and pulled his focus away and slowly fell asleep... Mars awoke late he felt a little groggy form his late night treasure hunt nut he still felt fine as he rose and sat up in the bed and looked around, the tent was almost empty except from Nicole that was tinkering with her armor suit and Vanessa that looked like she was about to head out carrying a wooden sword but stopped when she saw Mars was awake and gave him a smile "good morning" "morning, are you heading out to train?" "yeah" "mind if I join you?" "sure why not" "neat" Mars quickly got up and grabbed his sword and got clothed before he followed after Vanessa out of the tent on the way to the training field Vanessa asked Mars "so how much do you know about handling a sword?" "a lot, at least I''m no beginner" "...I see, then I will go easy on you" Mars could feel a sense of competitiveness form Vanessa but gave a light smile before he spoke "oh... then I will do the same" "we''ll see" they soon arrived at the training field were Vanessa grabbed a wooden sword and threw it to Mars before she gave a light smile and said "come at me however you want" "sure thing" Mars decided to smash her confidence and activated [Instant movement] as soon as he caught the wooden sword and arrived in front of her before he slowly swung down "wha---" and lightly boinked her on the head with the sword "and that''s one point for me" Mars showed a teasing smile to Vanessa "you... fine let''s go again!" "as you wish captain" Mars walked back a few steps and raised his wooden sword stood ready "here I come!" Vanessa kicked off the ground and swung down towards Mars only to have her wooden sword blocked by Mars that raised his free hand to cover his mouth and yawned before he asked "is that all?" "you!" Vanessa quickly took some distance and stared at Mars for some time before she asked "what''s your [Swordsmanship] level?" "5" shock covered Vanessa''s face "5..!?" Vanessa gritted her teeth for some time before she asked "could you instruct me then?" "sure, why not... come at me then" "yes here I come!" Mars closed his eyes and relied on his new energy sense to fight off Vanessa''s attacks for a while until she began to let her guard down and he suddenly attacked and lightly boinked her on the head with his wooden sword "that''s 2 points for me" Mars pulled back his sword and Vanessa attacked again, the whole process repeated itself for sometime with Mars only attacking when she let her guard down and after some time she was out of breath and Mars opened his eyes again and asked "should we stop here for today?" "yes... I... think... that''s... for...the... best" Vanessa looked slightly down so Mars gave a sigh and walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder "don''t worry about it, you will improve fast under my guide" Chapter 103 Golem war 6 days passed, Mars and the rest of squad 7 would go out and exterminate a group of class 1 golems every few days and Mars would sneak out the following night and level up form the now owner less mana stones, Mars had adjusted quite well to the whole soldier thing and had no problems if this life style should continue for another few years, but that was only him meanwhile Chloe which he had not seen for the last few days was complaining to him in the eating area "---and then they just laughed at me! can you believe it!?" "nope, sure can''t" "yes isn''t that right! but that''s not the worst of all then he---" Mars once again tuned out the sound and focused on Chloe''s face, he found her petty charming without sound at the moment but quickly tuned in again as she was nearing the end of her complaining "---honestly can you believe it?" "nope, sure can''t" "hey are you even listening? "sure am" "...then repeat what I just said" "I can''t because I was lost in observing your charming face" Chloe''s face lit up red before she turned her head away with a humph and mumbled "so you do find me charming..." "of cause I do... I mean have you looked at yourself? I almost think you''re sculptured personally by one of the 13" Chloe''s face turned even more red as she still refused to look at him, meanwhile Mars clenched his fist under the table ''distraction successful... but what am I going to do about her...'' Mars took a closer look at Chloe that still was busy blushing and quickly found she was working up a healthy tan on her skin but otherwise nothing came to mind, that when someone else called out to him "hey Mars!" "hmm..?" Mars turned and saw Hans walking over "oh, your with your girlfriend... sorry but we need to gather now" "okay... see you later Chloe" "see you Mars" Chloe looked a little sad but Mars knew he had to go "let''s talk later okay?" "okay..." Chloe still looked a little down when Mars walked away but Mars focused on Hans and asked "is it class 1 golems again?" "hmm... yeah same as usual" "okay got it..." Mars and Hans quickly got back to squad 7''s tent where the others where all suited up, Mars helped Hans suit up and then the 5 of them headed out of the camp and began to head north, on the way Vanessa spoke to Mars that was running next to her "are you good to fire the first shoot?" "yeah" "good, cause here they are" approximately 400 meters away was a group of almost 300 class 1 golems, they were moving directly south "weird" "what?" "it''s just that they seem oddly organized" "hmm.... you''re right Mars, they do look organized" "well whatever" Mars quickly prepared his 4 fold exposition and was about to fire it off when suddenly something shot out form the group of class 1 golems "intercept!" Nicole reacted first and stepped in front of Mars and drew her great sword *CLANG* a football sized stone hit her sword and exploded into fragments, as soon as Vanessa heard the sound of the stone hitting the sword she yelled out "shit! there''s class 2 golems in there, Mars fire your spell now!" "got it!" Mars waved his hand and sent off the bright white fireball towards the rapidly closing group of golems, in response more stones was fired with break neck speed form the group of golems after the fireball, seemingly trying to shot it down but it was all in vain as Mars made the fireball doge the incoming stones and soon it reached its target and exploded in a truly awesome manner sending pieces of chard body parts flying all over the place, but when the dust settled close to 100 figures was still standing, half of them being made of rock with eerie blue glowing eyes and a mana stone in the chest area ''those must be the class 2 golems...'' a wide smile formed on Mars''s face form his energy sense he could feel that the energy in the class 2 golem''s mana stones was more than double of that in the class 1''s "Mars pull back to the camp and request for reinforcements" "no way, captain are you trying to hug all the fun for yourself?" "...fine you better not get killed" Mars drew his sword and stood ready as the golems closed in Hans looked rather excited even with his helmet on Mars could tell he had a wide grin on his face form the way he was pacing back and forth while the humming form his armor suit gradually got higher and higher, Vanessa turned around and looked at her squad, Mars could feel her jet black eyes though the helmet "let''s kill theses sons of bitches!" """OHHHH!!!""" "ohhh" the other 3 seemed a lot more fired up than Mars, or maybe it was because their roars was amplified by their loudspeakers "remember to keep the formation tight... Mars you do whatever" "I can do that" as soon as Mars responded he disappeared from view and reappeared close to the golems "shit that guy is crazy" "...yeah I agree, 10 cel says he''s injured by the end" "Gus... fine then 100 says he''s fine" "that''s some confidence captain..." "yeah well, I have crossed blades with him before, anyway let''s go!" """yes captain!""" while the squad was betting on whether he would be fine Mars dug into the golems with his sword, he rapidly reappeared and disappeared again every time he appeared a head would be sent flying without fail greatly upsetting the golems as they roared at him but with how fast he was moving they could do nothing but watch as their numbers shrunk, by the time Mars sent head number 15 flying the rest of the squad joined the fight, they didn''t bother with the class 1 golems as they just kicked them aside if they were in the way before they clashed with the class 2 golems "time to pull my weight a bit more..." Mars reappeared behind a class 2 golem and grabbed the back of it''s head before he discharged the 10 energy units he had changed beforehand "...and boom goes the diamante" *BOOM* the head of the class 2 golem was blown clean off along with most of its upper body exposing it''s mana stone which Mars quickly pulled out causing the rest of the class 2 golem to turn into pieces of rock as it collapsed, Mars pocketed the mana stone with a smile on his face before he activated [Instant movement] again and disappeared again. This time he reappeared in front of another class 2 golem and slashed down with his sword splitting cleanly it down the middle before he turned and kicked it form the side sending the now parted in 2 mana stone flying causing the golem to collapse "this is easy..." Mars stopped using [Instant movement] and kicked of the group avoiding a stone fired from a class 2 golem before he arrived in front of a another class 2 golem and with a single slash cut out the mana stone, causing the golem to collapse "was that the last one?" Mars looked around and just managed to catch sight of Vanessa bringing down her great sword on the last class 2 golem, utterly obliterating it and sending pieces of rock flying "that''s.... rather crude... but effective" "well that''s that, let''s head back to camp" after making sure all the golems were pacified the group started to head back south towards the camp ''this is starting to get annoying...'' on the way back to camp Nicole, Gus and Hans were rather quiet but all 3 of them stared at Mars with various degrees of wonder, Mars gave a sigh and asked Vanessa which he was walking next to "...is it okay to leave them like that?" "they''ll be fine in time" "okay if you say so captain..." Mars gave another sigh, but as Vanessa said when they made it back to camp Gus Nicole and Hans had all recovered from their shock and was speaking with Mars with smiles on their faces after making it back to the tent Mars helped with maintaining the armor suits while he observed the runes and lines on the inside of the armor suits boosting his knowledge about formations somewhat with the help of the others that answered his questions with smiles on their faces when he asked ''if this keeps up I should be able to make my own active mana armor in the future...'' Mars laid down on his bed and looked into the ceiling while he prepared for his night salvage expedition ''I''m almost level 25, with this battle I should be able to level up tonight...'' looking forwards to the night Mars closed his eyes and drifted of to a shallow sleep... Chapter 104 Golem war 7 Mars''s eyes snapped open it was nighttime and the only sound in the tent was that of light snoring, he quickly and silently got out of bed and put on some clothes before he poked Victoria awake and whispered to her "I''m going out, do you want to come with?" "are... we going... to play?" "sure we can play after I''m done" "yay... then I''m coming... with" "okay then let''s go, first we got to sneak out of camp" "okay...." Mars and Victoria sneaked out of camp, like last time it went rather easy by using Victoria''s [Shadow magic] and Mars''s [Instant movement] simply put the sentry''s never stood a change. Out in the open desert Mars and Victoria ran towards their target at full speed and soon they arrived at the spot were Mars and the rest of the squad had annihilated a group of class 1 and 2 golems the day before "and we''re here... now time for me to level up" "level... up?" "hmm... basically I get stronger?" "cool... I want... to level... up too" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head "sure, I''ll buy some magic beast cores for you when I have the change" "is it... a promise?" "sure , I have enough money anyway" "yay..." Victoria began running around in pure happiness while Mars watched on, remembering he had promised to play with her afterwards Mars stretched and activated his energy sense and soon the desert ''lit'' up with blue lights ''well time for me to get to work...'' Mars began to search around for mana stones, with his energy sense it was rather hard to oversee them so it was pretty easy, when he found a mana stone he would pick it up and absorb the energy within it turning it to dust before he picked up another stone and soon his energy storage reached its capacity "well then... open the upgrade shop" Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 2400 Class skills currently available: [Living god: presence] "level up my class" Mars soon felt the stored energy units drain and a comfortable warm spared over his body, after the warm feeling disappeared Mars opened his status to confirm "status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 25 Status points: Strength [70/1000] (UP)Constitution [93/2000] (UP) Dexterity [81/1500] (UP) Intelligence [72/600] (UP)Wisdom [85/900] (UP)Charisma [63/50] (UP) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 0/2500] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] [Energy: sense] (NEW) Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] "yep, looking good... my stats are closing in on 100 each... well not that I''m fully able to use all my stats anyway..." Mars gave a sigh even though he technicality had 70 half dragons worth of strength he was only able to use 10 half dragons worth at most which in and of itself was a lot but Mars still felt it was not enough "well maybe some new skill will solve my problems... open the upgrade shop" Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 2500 Class skills currently available: [Living god: presence] [Energy: bloodline] "oh there is a new skill, let''s see..." [Energy: bloodline] cost: 2500 use cost: 1000 status: locked function: restores the targets dormant bloodline or repairs a damaged one Mars paused on first glance it seemed like a useless skill to have ''but... there was that collar...'' Mars thought back to when he was reincarnated, at that time he was wearing a collar that suppressed his dragon part and his ''vessel'' had been wearing it for more than 5000 years so it wasn''t entirely unlikely that this skill was useless "maybe my dragon bloodline is damaged..." the more Mars thought about it the more likely it seemed, after all when he was not transformed he looked just like any other human "well any other handsome human, but still..." Mars picked up a mana stone as he thought and absorbed the energy inside it "fuck it, let''s give it a try" Mars began to gather mana stones again and soon his storage had filled up again, although the amount of mana stones left on the ground was insufficient to refill his storage again "unlock [Energy: bloodline]" Mars felt his energy units drain before knowledge of a new skill appeared in his mind "okay... now for the energy units..." quickly gathering the remaining mana stones in the area Mars managed to get his total energy stored up to 1340 which was enough to use the new [Energy: bloodline] skill once "question is do I want to use it now..?" the reason Mars was hesitant was because of his recent experience with the [Energy: sense] skill that hurt like hell when he unlocked it "maybe I should wait..? nah fuck it, the best things in life is the things you don''t think through" Mars threw caution to the wind and activated his new skill, first nothing really happened but having learned from last time Mars grit his teeth and waited and soon a warm sensation spread all over his body, but the pleasant feeling soon ended as the warm feeling gradually began a hot feeling and then a boiling feeling like being boiled alive, Mars went down on his knees and grit his teeth as the pain intensified meanwhile a itchy feeling spread all over his skin that at this point was red like that of a boiled lobster after sometime Mars began feeling his eyes begin to bleed and closed his eyes as tears of blood ran down his face and feel onto the cold desert sand ''well.... this... is... not... that... bad...'' after a unknown amount of time passed Mars gradually felt the boiling sensation lessen before it soon went away completely he was finally able to let out his breath and fell over backwards and rested some time on the cool desert sand before he began to check his body for new parts "no horns... no tail... no extra body hair... tongue feels normal... nope nothing new..." not quite sure how to feel Mars gradually opened his eyes and looked around "well this is..." first he thought it was daytime, but then he noticed the stars in the sky "well I''ll be damned..." when Mars looked around he found that other then being able to see perfectly fine during the night he was able to see a lot better like being able to count grains of sand better "...neat" if Mars had a mirror he would have been able to see that his eyes had changed the pupil was still blue but it had become vertically split like a lizard''s eye and the area around his eyes had also changed a little, the skin now looked a bit like scales "maybe I can use the skill more than once..?" Mars decided to test it when he got more energy in storage "well anyways... Victoria!" calling after her once Victoria jumped out of a nearby shadow and walked over to him while her horns flashed "can...we play... now?" "sure, what do you want to play?" "let''s... play tag..." "okay then here I go!" Mars activated [Instant movement] and tried to catch Victoria but the Victoria in front of him turned out to be a shadow clone that turned into black smoke when he touched it "well it would not be that easy..." Mars looked around and saw multiple Victoria''s around the desert all looking at him with their big blue eyes and moving their tails in unison clearly saying ''come on. let''s play'' "oh, here I come!" "I... can''t... anymore...." Mars now lay on his back looking at the night sky, in the past 20 minutes he had used [Instant movement] more than 10.000 times even with stamina of a living god Mars was tired out by the end, seeing her playmate was unable to keep up Victoria, the real one appeared next to Mars and laid down next to him before imitating him and turning around so she laid on her back and looked up in the night sky with her big blue eyes, for sometime both of them stayed silent until Mars sat himself up and petted Victrola on the head "let''s head back" "okay..." Mars and Victoria began heading back to the camp, avoiding the night watch and successfully slipped into the camp before they made their way to squad number 7''s tent and quietly walked inside after Mars confirmed that the rest of the squad was sleeping and laid down on his bed, soon Victoria jumped up and laid down on his chest lightly purring while her horns flashed "today... was fun" "yeah I had fun too" Chapter 105 Golem war 8 "Mars wake up" "hmm..?" Mars turned but refused to wake up "Mars... fine, Gus go get the bucket with ice water" "yes captain" "I''m up!" Mars shoot up and opened his eyes which made him half blind form the light in the room "bright!" he quickly closed his eyes again before he began rubbing them with his hands, after some time passed he opened his eyes again only this time he did it slowly so they had time to adjust to the light "...are you okay?" "yeah I''m fine... just getting used to my new eyes" "new eyes?" Vanessa leaned in and looked at Mars''s eyes before she covered her mouth in shock "Mars your eyes!" "what about them?" "they have changed, now they are like dragon eyes!" "oh... well I guess that explains the bleeding..." "what bleeding?" Mars averted his gaze and shut his mouth, but Vanessa kept probing "bleeding... did your eyes bleed?" "yes, well... it''s hard to explain" ''more like its a pain to explain...'' "hard to explain..?" Vanessa pondered for a moment before she asked "dose it have something to do with your apostle status?" Mars gave a sigh before he spoke "...yeah you could say that" "oh... in that case I won''t ask anymore" "...thanks" finished being questioned by Vanessa Mars got out of bed and put on some clothes "I''m gonna go get some food" "I''ll join you" Mars looked over at Nicole that had also just woken up and gave a nod "okay then let''s go" Mars walked out of the tent and was once again blinded by the bright morning light "ah fuck!" "what''s wrong Mars?" "it''s nothing, just getting used to my new eyes" "okay?" Nicole tilted her head to the side before she ran around to Mars''s front and looked at his eyes "wow" "...I know right? please don''t ask" "okay... well now you look a lot more like a half dragon" "...did the flaming rose also have eyes like this?" Nicole tilted her head to the side "I wonder... I never actually served under her so I don''t know" "okay, well then let''s go get some food" "yeah I''m starving" Mars and Nicole went over to the eating area and got their food before they sat down and began eating with Mars, or more likely his new eyes attracting attention from the other soldiers meanwhile Nicole asked "so I heard a rumor, is it true you have a elvish girlfriend?" "well... she not really my girlfrie---" "I''m not?" Mars froze up meanwhile Nicole had a teasing smile on her face as she looked at Mars that was half crying "hey Mars do you care to repeat what you just said?" Mars slowly turned around and saw Chloe standing right behind him and in a effort to try and distract her he pointed to his eyes and said with a stiff smile on his face "hey Chloe, see I got new eyes" "...don''t try to weasel your way out of this, repeat what you were going to say" ''...shit.... well might as well go all in'' "well as I was saying, you''re not my girlfriend you''re my soulmate" "...humph, well I suppose I can let it slide" Chloe still looked a little unsatisfied but still sat down next to Mars with her food and slowly began to eat while Mars wiped his forehead "so when did you get new eyes?" "...last night" "I see" "...wait you''re not going to ask about it?" "well I probably has to do with ''that'' right?" "...yeah, well it does" "then I won''t ask now" "...thanks" "they look cool by the way, your new eyes" "so I have been told" Mars returned to his food and so did Nicole that still had a grin on her face "I''ll get you back later" Nicole put on a innocent face and slightly tilted her head to the side "get me back for what?" "yeah Mars i think Nicole is innocent here" "...fine" Mars grumbled a little as he ate his food but he kept his mouth shut until he finished eating while the 2 women talked about various things as they quickly got friendly, when Mars was finished eating he excused himself and went back to squad 7''s tent alone, as he walked in he saw Vanessa was working on her armor suit "hey captain, need a hand?" "oh Mars, yeah come here and hold this" "sure" Mars walked over and held the armor plate for Vanessa as she worked on the runes under the armor, looking at the runes Mars got an idea and activated his energy sense and was overwhelmed ''wow...'' ''looking'' at the runes tough his energy sense made the whole armor light up with flowing light, it looked like a nighttime city seen from the sky with lights following rigged lines and the runes looking like, well runes but much more delicate as the energy inside them slowly rotated giving off multiple different colored lights "it''s fine now... Mars?" "oh sorry, I spaced out for a second there" Mars put back the armor plate and held it in place while Vanessa tightened the bolts "and there, thanks for the help Mars" "you''re welcome captain... you mind if I look at your armor some more?" "I guess I don''t mind, as long as you don''t take it apart" "okay" Mars sat down in front of the armor suit and activated his energy sense again, ''seeing'' the complex runes on the armor Mars began memorizing them one by one completely ignoring the area around him shunting out everything other then the runes he was memorizing and thus time passed until Mars suddenly felt he was being shaken "Mars!" "hmm..?" Mars snapped out of his daze and looked over "oh, hey Chloe what are you doing here?" Chloe gave a sigh and sat down next to Mars and looked at the armor suit before she asked "how long do you think you have been sitting here?" "hmm... 2 hours?" Chloe gave another sigh and looked directly at Mars "it''s been 27 hours since you sat down" "...huh, guess that''s why I''m hungry" "you... don''t you have anything else to say?" "....sorry for worrying you" "that was better... though you don''t need to say that to me" Chloe pointed behind her and Mars turned and saw the rest of the number 7 squad, they were, in particular Vanessa looked very worried Mars turned and gave a small bow before he said "sorry for worrying you" Vanessa was the first on the speak up, carrying a gentle smile on her face "it''s fine as long as you are okay... never mind that more important thing have happened while you were in a daze" "important?" "the order for advance have been given and we have been ordered to be scouts for the main force" "I see that certainly is important news" "yes it is, sorry but you won''t have time to sleep as we''re moving out now" "okay... thanks for waking me Chloe" "its fine, besides my squad has been assigned to logistics so I have time to spare" "okay... well then I guess I see you later" "yeah see you Mars" Chloe gave Mars a little wave as she walked out of the tent with a smile on her face "well then now that our sleepyhead is up, it''s time to move" """"yes captain"""" Mars went over to his bed and packed his backpack, being organized he only needed to pack some small stuff before he was ready so he helped the others pack the special backpacks containing all their food, water, mana stones and other camping stuff, the special backpacks fitted onto the backs of the 4 armor suits before the squad was ready to move out "well then, let''s go" """"yes captain"""" Vanessa lead the 3 other armor suits, Mars and the for once awake Victoria out of the camp and headed north east a couple kilometers before she signaled for the squad to hold and she took off her helmet and kneeled down in her armor suit, the other 3 did the same and Mars also sat down on the warm sand, meanwhile Victoria was off to the side playing with some tumbleweed "now our task is to scout for golems, if we meet a group that is beyond our ability to take down we contact base camp and get help, for everything else we''re on our own" Mars and the rest of the squad nodded as Vanessa continued "so it''s important we trust each other and are able to work together so if anyone have something they need to get of their chest then its now" Vanessa looked at the rest of her squad in turn with a stern look on her face "I have something" "then speak Hans" Hans looked over at Mars "the thing is..." Hans looked the most serious Mars had ever seen him "what?" "I have a thing for elvers so please introduce me to some of Chloe''s girlfriends!" Mars felt all the tension drain from his body and weakly said while averting his gaze "...sure thing bud" Chapter 106 Scouting party 1 "...anyone else?" "yes captain" "what is it Gus?" "its.... her" Gus pointed over to Victoria that was playing innocently with some tumbleweed before he continued "are we sure she won''t be a problem during the mission?" "ah... mind enlightening us Mars" all eyes focused on Mars that gave a sigh before he called Victoria over "Victoria come here for a second" "okay..." Victoria walked over and laid down in front of Mars before he continued "first of all Victoria understands speech and will be able to listen to commands, secondly I don''t have confidence in winning over her in a life and death match" Vanessa nodded before suddenly looking confused and asking "you don''t have confidence?" "no, even though shes a cub she still is a class 9 magic beast" the group fell silent before suddenly Gus spoke "...I don''t believe you" "Gus..? explain why you don''t please" "because I have seen a class 9 magic beast before and the presence it gave off was nothing short of breathtaking.... even if she is a cub, shouldn''t she give off more pressure?" Mars nodded and pointed to Victoria before he said "try punching her" "...really?" "really, don''t do it lightly either" "fine, don''t blame me" Mars stood up and walked away form Victoria before Gus in full armor suit punched out and hit Victoria, or so he thought because the moment his fist connected the Victoria before him turned into black smoke "what!?" "now please slowly turn around" Gus, still confused turned and saw close to 15 shadow spears floating a few centimeters form his face along with 5 more Victoria''s off in the distance with more shadow spears ready to fire, feelingthe cold sweat down his back Gus took a step back in fear before the shadow spears turned into black smoke along with the shadow clones off in the distance "...I believe you now, sorry for doubting you" Mars gave a smile and petted the real Victoria besides him on the head "I don''t mind, neither dose Victoria" "...thanks" Vanessa along with Hans and Nicole all stared at Victoria for sometime before Vanessa gave a sigh and showed a smile on her face before she spoke "I think I speak for us all when I say we''re happy to have you Victoria" Hans, Nicole and Gus nodded along with what Vanessa was saying "now then is there anything else..? no then I will continue, as we''re camping out we need night watch, the pairs will be Mars and Victoria, Me and Hans and finally Gus and Nicole, we will rotate the times in that order too. Next is food, eating time is 2 times a day and water breaks is 6 times a day, other than that I expect all of you to be at your sharpest at all times" """"yes captain"""" "good then let''s move, we have a lot of ground we need to cover today" """"yes captain"""" the squad began moving, Hans was the navigator so he lead the party with Vanessa the commander after him, then came Nicole that watched the right side then Gus that watched the left side and then finally Mars and Victoria that was responsible for the back of the group ''this feels really familiar ...almost nostalgic'' Mars walked along the desert dunes and kept watch while he walked and for a couple of hours nothing really happened besides the squad holding a few minutes water break, it was then it happened "hmm..?" Mars stopped and looked back, Gus quickly noticed and called out to him "Mars, what''s wrong?" "I think something''s under the sand" "shit, Mars and Victoria get away!" Mars listened to Gus and kicked off the ground to quickly get away Victoria jumped into a shadow and disappeared *BOOM* the sand exploded and a blur shot out of the falling sand after Mars, he quickly drew his sword and blocked *CLANG* Mars was sent flying back by the impact just as Gus yelled while he drew his great sword "SAND SCORPION!" Mars did a flip and landed on his feet and looked at the giant sand colored scorpion as his [Energy: information] skill activated adult sand scorpion gender: male class: 7 basic info: a adult sand scorpion, a deadly hunter capable of lightning fast ambush as it hides under the desert sand, a tail measuring close to 10 meters carrying a deadly venom its know as one of the scariest hunters of the empire''s southern desserts "sure is big..." Mars looked at the giant sand scorpion with a casual look on his face, meanwhile Hans , Nicole and Vanessa all drew their great swords and rushed the sand scorpion, Gus was the first to arrive and slashed down on one of the scorpions claws *CLANG* sparks flew of the scorpions chitin and Gus''s great sword "damn it''s hard!" "Gus watch out the tail is coming!" Gus raised his sword and blocked the tail that shot down with break neck speed *CLANG* Gus was pushed back a few meters by the tail, meanwhile Vanessa took the opportunity and slashed down on the exposed tail with all her strength and managed to cut into the tail slightly which clearly pissed of the sand scorpion as it with lightning speed shot one of its claws forwards and clutched Vanessa "CAPTAIN!" "oh no you don''t!" Mars appeared next to the claw and made a lightning fast slash that cut right through the claw, severing it form the sand scorpion *KISSAAAAHHHH!!!* "oh it''s pissed now" Mars didn''t hang around he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared meanwhile Victoria was shooting shadow spears at the sand scorpion, but her shadow spears had little effect as they only pierced a few centimeters into the chitin but it did give Vanessa enough time to free herself from the severed claw of the sand scorpion and pull back "...time to end this" Mars appeared silently on top of the sand scorpion and lightly touched its head with his left hand before suddenly *BOOM!!!* like a giant invisible boot had stepped on the scorpion it flattened almost completely spewing it innards out of the cracks in its chitin and onto the desert sand, looking at the now dead sand scorpion Vanessa pulled herself out of her daze "wow... what was that Mars?" "hmm... something like a special skill" Nicole also awoke form her daze "...awesome, hey Mars what''s it called?" "secret" "aw come on Mars you can tell me!" "...still a secret" "che... never mind that captain, can we eat this tonight?" Vanessa took off her helmet and nodded "sure, as long as you disassemble it yourself" Nicole gave a salute "yes captain, I''m on it!" Mars looked at the dead sand scorpion and asked Hans "you can eat that?" "sure can, it''s one of the best kind of meat in the desert" "I see... mind if I take the core?" "well I''m fine with it but ask the captain" "okay" Mars walked over to Vanessa "hey captain, you mind if I take the core?" "well you did kill it so why not" "thanks" Mars got his sword ready and helped Nicole disassemble the sand scorpion and by night time they had finished and began eating the meat, Mars roasted some over his flame and first made Victoria taste some of it "how is it?" "it''s.... good... more" "okay here you go" Mars gave Victoria another piece before he bit into his own "oh this is good" the meat was tender and faintly tasted like chicken "I told you right?" "yeah you were right Hans, here you go" Mars handed a piece to Hans that had gotten out of his armor suit "oh thanks" Hans bit into the meat with glee on his face "hey not fair Mars!" "don''t worry there''s more where it came from Nicole" "fine then I want the next piece" "sure... and here you are" "thanks!" Mars looked out over the night desert while he roasted more of the sand scorpion meat for the rest of the squad the only one not eating yet was Vanessa that was talking with the general tough a communicator powered by mana stones, after she finished she walked over and joined the group and sat down next to Victoria, Mars quickly handed her some roasted meat "thanks Mars... I most say you''re more of a asset them I ever expected" Mars naturally felt happy being praised and gave a smile "I only do what I can" Vanessa ate a little of the roasted sand scorpion meat before she looked over the rest of the squad "okay eyes on me, when we''re done eating hit the hay. Mars and Victoria you guys have first night watch, be sure to wake me and Gus before you end your shift" "yes captain" the squad gradually got done eating and began resting in the tents they had brought with them, only Mars and Victoria was awake after some time, they sat by a campfire and was snuggled up with Victoria lying on Mars''s lap and Mars slowly petting her on the head while he looked into the campfire as the night gradually grew longe Chapter 107 Scouting party 2 "Mars... Mars it''s time to pack up camp" "hmm... give me a second" Mars awoke after Hans shock him a bit, he had the feeling he had been dreaming but was unable to remembered what he was dreaming about ''well whatever...'' Mars got up or at least he tried to as he quickly found Victoria was lying on top of him "hey Victoria, wake up" Victoria woke up and still on top of Mars began stretching while her horns flashed "good... morning Mars" "yeah good morning Victoria, could you get off me?" "okay..." Victoria jumped off and Mars was finally able to get up and look around, there was not much to see as he still was inside his tent, quickly getting on some clothes Mars got out of his tent and greeted Hans that was working on disabling his own tent "good morning Hans" "oh, good morning Mars" Mars began taking his tent apart as he looked around, besides the endless desert there wasn''t that much to look at so he quickly got his tent taken apart and packed into the large backpack before he joined Vanessa and Nicole that was eating breakfast "good morning" "morning Mars, sleep well?" Mars gave a smile "like a baby although I have the feeling I dreamt something, I just can''t remember what it was" "okay... was it a good dream?" "I think so..." Mars dug into his breakfast which was freeze-dried oatmeal after putting in some water it was more than edible and actually surprisingly good, while he ate he fed some leftovers form yesterday''s barbecue to Victoria and by the time he was done eating the others was ready to move "Mars you ready yet?" "give me a second captain... yeah I think I''m good" "okay then let''s move" """"yes captain"""" "yes... captain" Vanessa was a little startled by Victoria''s telepathic message but with Mars pointing to Victoria she figured it out and gave her a smile "let''s go" the group began moving, the formation was the same as yesterday with Hans leading as navigator and Vanessa directly after him, then Nicole that was watching the right flank then Gus that was watching the left flank and finally Mars and Victoria that was watching the back ''this is really nostalgic... the only thing I miss is my gauss rifle... maybe I can make one when I return to the academy?'' Mars walked and made a mental plan about making a man portable electromagnetic rail gun and found that after he had observed the runes on Vanessa''s armor suit it was surprisingly doable to mentally design one ''well that is for the future... now to make sure we don''t get hit from behind...'' Mars put his focus back on watching the rear of the formation and thus time passed until it was about midday and the group stopped and Mars walked up to the front and looked forwards ''that''s.... a village?'' some 50 building where half organized half randomly placed around what looked like a central well, there was no signs of life form the village and judging from the sand that covered the pathways in between the houses it had been empty for a while "do you see anything Mars?" "no, just a empty village, but the well in the middle got me interested..." Vanessa gave a nod and looked towards the village "right, we could always use more water... let''s go check it out, we need to make sure its clear anyways... let''s go" """yes captain""" the group approached the the village and soon they reached the edge of the village, the houses was made of brownish clay or mud they looked simple but comfortable homes but now that they were all but empty they gave off a lonely feeling that spread over the group as they walked into the village ''empty...'' Mars cheeked a building at a time but they all turned up empty except for scattered furniture that made it look like the owners had left in a hurry "how does it look?" "empty so far..." "keep an eye out, we don''t want to be ambushed" "yes captain" Mars drew his sword and continued looking through buildings along with the rest of the group ''wait a second... why don''t I just use my energy sense?'' Mars felt a little dumb but still activated his energy sense and looked around ''nothing... oh, wait there is something... in the well'' "captain" "what is it Mars?" "there''s something in the well" "something?" "well... a bunch of golems" Vanessa stopped walking and turned to look at Mars "Mars I''m not doubting you here it''s just... how do you know that?" "well that''s..." *rumble* just as Mars was going to make an excuse about his energy sense the ground began to rumble "shit..." Mars turned to look towards the well that was the center of the of the rumble "fall back!" the group quickly fell back and left the borders of the village as the center of the village collapsed and a giant sinkhole appeared, before the dust had a change to settle eerie blue glowing eyes appeared in the dust cloud looking towards the group "prepare for battle!" """yes captain""" before the group had a change to move rocks came flying with break neck speed out of the dust cloud towards Mars in particular, he didn''t panic but easily sidestepped the rocks with [Instant movement] feeling annoyed that the golems were targeting him Mars called out to Vanessa "I''m going ahead" "Mars! wait for backup!" "nope~" Mars disappeared and soon a bunch of sword glints appeared within the dust cloud as Mars quickly began cutting down the golems but something unexpected happened when one of the golems managed to block Mars''s sword ''what the..?'' thinking it was just a fluke Mars slashed at another golem but his sword was blocked again "shit..!" Mars activated [Instant movement] and pulled back and as soon as he reappeared he felt his neck hair stand up and quickly ducked down as a sword made of rock passed right over his neck, rolling forwards Mars got on his feet and looked at the golem that had slashed out after him "what the fuck are you?" the golem looked like a class 2 golem made out of rock but one thing put it apart from the other class 2 golems and that was the rock swords it carried in its hands, there was also something about its eyes that was different almost like it had intelligence form the way it looked at Mars with a calm gaze before it dropped one of its swords and took a stance with it remaining sword raised high "oh, so you want to play?" Mars also took a stance as his body slowly transformed into its half dragon from before he kicked off the ground and clashed swords with the golem *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* after 3 high speed exchanges Mars found that the golem clearly knew swordsmanship and clearly had a high level in the skill, but alas that was all it had "done testing you out now, so DIE!" Mars sent out a slash that clearly was higher speed the the rest and cleanly cut the golem in two before he picked up the mana stone but just as he was about to absorb it he saw from within the dust cloud another 5 golems holding swords charge out at him "looks like the fun just started" Mars stood his ground and held his sword as the golems surrounded him seeing the 10 swords pointing at him from all sides Mars felt a little pressure but all the pressure did was making a grin form on his face before he shouted as he raised his sword "COME!" the golems charged at him at the same time all attacking different points on his body in a coordinated effort to kill him, unfortunately for them their oppornet didn''t play fair and disappeared right before they managed to cut him down at the same time a thin sword line crossed over the golems as they all suddenly halted and paused for a moment before they all turned into pieces of harmless rock, Mars reappeared a little away and took a deep breath before he mumbled "so [Instant movement] can be used on body parts individually and not just on the whole body..." Mars looked down a his arm, it was covered in fresh blood that dripped down on the desert sand, seeing this Mars gave a smile as he tightened his fist "looks like the backlash is something else..." Mars looked up again and noticed the dust was settling and his view expanded out so he could see the rest of the group "wait what''s that?" Mars quickly noticed Vanessa''s armor suit was keeled over and the others were gathered around it, Mars quickly headed over and when he arrived he saw Vanessa was out of the suit and was looking angry when she spotted him "Mars!" Vanessa stomped over towards him "yes?" "this is the last time you disobey orders or I will have you kicked out of my squad is that clear!?" Mars was a little take back but quickly nodded his head "yes captain" Chapter 108 Scouting party 3 "good... wait what happened to your arm Mars?" "its nothing, give it a few minutes then it will heal on its own" "...if you say so" Vanessa looked a little concerned but almost like she suddenly remembered she was suppose to be angry with Mars did her face snap back into a frown before she went back to her armor suit, at this point Victoria appeared form out of nowhere and walked up to Mars "Mars... your hand..." "yeah I know..." Mars wiped the blood off his arm and saw the wounds were rapidly closing and gave a smile before he showed it to Victoria "see it''s fine" "okay... that''s good" Nicole walked over and after she sent a glance after Vanessa did she ask Mars "what happened?" Mars kept opening and closing his hand as his wounds healed "I ran into some interesting golems" Nicole tilted her head to the side and asked "interesting? are they not all the same?" "nope, the ones I fought knew swordsmanship" "swordsmanship..." the tilt went slightly deeper as Nicole gave Mars a blank stare, Mars gave a sigh and asked "you don''t believe me?" "no it''s just... well unbelievable... anyway you should tell the captain" "okay... wish me luck" Nicole gave Mars a salute as she sent him off, Mars walked over to were Vanessa was fuming and called out to her "um... captain?" "...what?" Vanessa turned and looked at Mars with narrowed eyes "I have something to report" "what is it?" "when I fought---" "when you disobeyed orders" "yes.... when I disobeyed orders I found some interesting golems that appeared to know swordsmanship" "swordsmanship... are you sure?" "yes captain, they carried 2 swords each which they used to attack" "...I see, hmm..." Vanessa fell into deep thought meanwhile Mars waited patiently for her to speak again and so some time passed until finely Vanessa looked at Mars again "I will report this to the general.... go join Hans and investigate the center of the village" "yes captain" Mars walked towards the collapsed center of the village "this sure did a number on the village..." the giant sinkhole had almost swallowed the whole village with only some of the outermost buildings still standing the rest had all been swallowed into the sinkhole and had all but a few been smashed to pieces, looking at all this destruction made a small smile form on Mars''s face. after taking in the view for a moment Mars spotted Hans digging through some rubble down in the sinkhole and decided to join him, so he jumped down into the sinkhole and landed on the ground after falling for about 4 seconds and looked up "definitely looks deeper from down here..." while admiring the scenery Mars walked over to Hans that was digging though some ruble and asked "what have you found?" "hmm..? oh, Mars... nothing so far except for ruble" Mars tilted his head and asked "so what are we looking for?" Hans stopped digging and raised his head to look at Mars "anything that could have made the village collapse like it did" "okay... I''ll go look over there" Mars also began looking around or at least he pretended to as he activated his energy sense and quickly got a clear ''look'' at what caused the village to collapse ''is that it..?'' among the numerous mana stones in the area there was this one... thing that gave off a different energy signature Mars walked over and began digging and soon he uncovered it "now what have we here..?" at first he wasn''t clear about what it was he was looking at, it was a cube a couple centimeters wide and it was seemingly made of polished rock but besides that it was heavy, really heavy for its size Mars threw it into the air a couple of times and estimated its weight was about 25 kilograms ''well whatever it is, it sure is pretty...'' the surface of the cube was covered with interlinked formations, Mars could barely make out the runes on its surface ''it''s circle runes...'' circle runes was made up of ordinary runes stringed in a circle, while it might seem simple to read the parts of a circle rune its function as a whole was lost to Mars as he wasn''t as well know in the domain of circle runes ''well whatever... maybe the captain knows what it is..?'' Mars turned and called out to Hans that was a little ways away "I found something I''ll go show it to the captain" "sure I''ll keep digging" Mars looked around and quickly found the robe Hans had used to get into the sinkhole and quickly climbed it and walked over to the captain "captain I found something" "what did you find?" "this" Mars showed the cube to Vanessa that looked it over while it still was in Mars''s hand before she tried to pick it up but was stopped by Mars "careful it''s really heavy" "okay?" Vanessa clearly didn''t take his warning as she tried to pick it up with only 2 fingers and quickly found she was unable to lift it from Mars''s hand Mars gave a grin which was quickly spotted by Vanessa that pouted and asked him "what?" Mars straightened out his face "no it''s nothing captain... but this thing is really heavy" Vanessa gave up on picking up the cube and just looked at it while Mars held it and eventually she gave a sigh "...well whatever it is the general needs to see it" "that means?" "that means we need to return to camp... but not now, we''re close to the mining town were the golem infestation started" Mars gave a nod and asked "so we''re driving into their lair?" "basically... well we will go as far as we can" "roger that captain" "anyways... go get Hans and let''s get some food" "yes captain" Mars quickly walked back to the edge of the sinkhole and jumped down before he walked over to Hans "Hans, let''s go eat" "roger that... what was it you found earlier?" Mars showed off the cube to Hans that leaned in and inspected it for sometime before he asked "...what is it?" "well I don''t know and neither does the captain" "huh... well it''s covered in runes so it''s probably best to keep it away from any and all mana stones" "yeah... we don''t want it activating after all" Mars put the cube into his pocket and followed Hans up the robe out of the sinkhole and walked over to the temporary campsite were Gus was busy boiling water with a mana powered portable stove, Nicole saw the 2 of them walk over and asked "what do you want to eat today Mars?" "hmm... something with chicken" "and you Hans?" "....same as Mars, as long as it has chicken its fine" "okay..." Nicole digged into the big backpack and fished out two packs of freeze dried food which she threw to Mars and Hans, Mars looked at the package "curry chicken" Hans also looked at his package "same here" feeling satisfied with his food mars opened the package and fished out a wooden spoon before he poured some boiling water into the package and began mixing the continence with his spoon and asked the captain "so captain what do we know about the mining town?" "well I was going to brief you all later but now is a good time too.... first off it''s about 30 kilometers away from here and it had a population of about 5500 people... besides that we don''t know a whole lot other than the golems first showed up in the man stone pit mine" Mars stopped stirring his food and tasted the chicken curry ''oh... so good...'' "wait captain that''s basically nothing we know of the town right?" "that''s what we''re here for Nicole, remember we''re scouts" "oh right" "our job is to scout out the town and return in one piece" "Mars... what... are you... eating?" "oh Victoria, its chicken curry" Mars petted Victoria that once again had showed up out of nowhere "want to try it?" "yes...I do" "here you are..." Mars took out a spoonful curry and moved it in front of Victoria''s face that then proceeded to lick on the spoon a couple of times before she stopped and her horns flashed "tastes... weird" "so you don''t like it?" "no..." "okay then, more for me" "hey Mars" "what is it captain?" "...is Victoria well fed, I mean I have not seen her eat anything the last 3 days" "hmm..? oh Victoria why don''t you tell me what you have hunted the last few days?" Victoria looked at Vanessa then at Mars before her horns flashed "goats... mostly" "okay, captain she says she had goats to eat" "that''s good..." "why do you ask in the first place?" "well it''s because I have been thinking of adding Victoria to our combat formation and you can''t fight on a empty stomach" Mars gave a smile and petted Victoria on the head "that''s true" Chapter 109 Scouting party 4 "Mars, wake up" Mars turned in his bed but showed no signs of waking up which caused Nicole to give a sigh and begun shaking him slightly "Mars it''s time to wake up" "hmm..." this time there was slightly more sign of life as he turned again and slightly opened his eyes "...good morning" "good morning Mars" Mars raised his upper body still in bed and stretched, late last night he had been collecting mana stones and had managed to rise his level to 27 "get out of bed now! Mars we need to leave now!" "okay, for fucks sake give me a second..." "move it! I''ll take down your tent now" Mars jumped out of bed and quickly put on some clothes, before he stuffed his backpack with his stuff just as Nicole tore down his tent when mars''s eyes adjusted to the light he spotted something... weird "is that a mountain?" Mars saw what looked like a mountain, the only weird thing was it wasn''t there yesterday "no it''s a class 4 golem and it''s moving this way!" "shit" Mars snapped out of his daze and quickly packed his stuff while he took another glance at the class 4 golem it was approximately 400 meter tall with the rough shape of a man with 2 arms and 2 legs and one head with 2 gemstone like blue eyes "holy shit that''s huge" "yeah that''s why we need to move!" "I can see that... I''m almost ready give me a second" Mars once again looked up at the class 4 golem and had a stupid thought ''I kind of want to fight that...'' "Mars!" "yes yes, I got it already" Mars finished packing his stuff and gave one last look at the golem that was slowly moving this way before he yelled out "ready to move!" "finely... okay let''s go, base camp will take care of that thing" """yes captain""" the group began moving east trying to get out of the way of the massive golem without being spotted by it, a few hours later the group finally stopped and Gus called out while he looked at the golem in the horizon "I think we''re clear" "looks that way... let''s get some breakfast" the group stopped and begun eating some food while they all watched the golem, now south of them move in the distance "I really wanted to fight that thing tough" "...you''re crazy Mars" "yep sure am, still I have the feeling I could take it" Hans patted Mars on the shoulder and looked towards the golem in the distance "whatever you say Mars, whatever you say" after about a hour of eating, drinking water and resting the group was ready to move again when the mana communicator lit up with a incoming call, Vanessa took the call and after taking respectfully for a few moments she hung up and stared out into the empty air with a grave look on her face, Mars walked up to her and asked "what is it captain?" Vanessa gave a sigh and looked over the rest of the group before she spoke "a scouting party form the northern containment task force have gone missing after they entered the mining town yesterday evening, if that wasn''t bad enough the captain is the son of a high ranking minister, and said minister have pressured the general to get his son back, so now we need to go into hostile territory and search for him until we find him or prof he has died in action" Hans gave a sigh and sat down on the desert sand before he spoke "well that... sucks" Vanessa gave a nod "yes it sucks but we have received our orders, so let''s get to it" """yes captain""" "oh and Mars, have you seen Victoria?" "hmm... she should be around?" just as Mars looked around after Victoria did she jump out of a nearby shadow with her horns glowing "what... is it?" "oh there you are Victoria, the captain wants to talk with you" "okay..?" Victoria tilted her head to the side and looked over at Vanessa with a blank look on her face, Vanessa gave a sigh and walked over to the two of them and kneeled down in front of Victoria before she cautiously reached up with her hand and petted Victoria on the head and spoke "hello Victoria, I''m Vanessa do you mind if we talk for a bit?" Mars saw Victoria''s horns flash followed by a delightful look on Vanessa''s face and amused the conversation was going well, Mars decided to give them some space and walked over to a nearby rock and laid down on it and closed his eyes and enjoyed the desert midday sun as only a half dragon could, form the shadow of her armor suit Nicole gave Mars a amazed stare and poked Hans that sat a little ways away "what?" "see Mars?" "Mars..? oh holy shit he must be baking in that heat..." "yeah it''s about 40 right now plus he laid down on a stone that have been in the sun all day, there''s only one thing right to call that..." ""a freak"" Mars raised his head and looked over at Nicole and Hans "oi, I can hear you two" they both gave a harmless smile and then Nicole spoke up "we were just complimenting your heat tolerance" Hans clearly agreed as he nodded along with what Nicole was saying, Mars gave a smile and asked "why don''t you join me out here in the sun?" ""we''ll pass"" "....you two clearly are in sink today" Mars laid his head down on the stone again and enjoyed the desert sun for some time until Vanessa called out to him "Mars get up, we''re moving now" "okay captain" Mars rose from the rock and stretched while the other 4 jumped into their armor suits "let''s roll" """yes captain""" the group began moving north again and after a few hours match some walls became visible in the distance they had reached it the mining town were it all started, Mars narrowed his eyes and walked forwards as he looked at the wall "how does it look?" "it looks... empty captain" "empty?" "yeah I had expected guards on the walls but it looks deserted" "I see..." Vanessa fell into thought and mars remained silent until she spoke again "then let''s climb the walls and take a look from there" """yes captain""" the group moved closer to the walls, clearly the golems never heard about guards because the walls was completely deserted like Mars said, actually there was not even the slightest sign of even a single golem nearby which only made the group more tense as they reached the foot of the walls "Victoria go check out the top of the wall" "okay..." Victoria disappeared from were she was sitting and moments later she appeared again with her horns glowing "it''s... clear" "she says it''s clear" "okay, Mars cheek it out" "got it..." Mars took a couple steps back before he jumped and landed on top of the 5 meter tall wall and lowered his body to the ground as he looked around, on the outside of the walls was more desert but on the inside of the walls was a splendid town, only there was no signs of anything alive in the town, at least not form were Mars was looking, a little confused Mars raised his body up and stood straight up and looked into the ghost town ''it really is empty...'' there was not a single golem in sight, just building after building with no signs of life coming from them "well this makes it easy for us..." Mars jumped down the wall again and filled in the waiting Vanessa "it''s empty, there''s buildings but no signs of life or golems" "weird... Mars get back up on the wall, the rest of us will move tough that gate over there" """yes captain""" Mars jumped back up on the wall and watched the town with vigilance, meanwhile Vanessa, Nicole and Gus moved in their armor suits and walked into the town though a nearby gate were they stopped and Vanessa waved Mars down from the wall, Mars jumped down and rejoined the rest of the group "what now captain?" "call out Victoria, she will scout the town form the shadows" "okay, Victoria" Victoria jumped out of Mars''s shadow and sat down on the ground while her horns flashed "I heard... her... should I... just look.. around?" "yeah, come back if you find any golems" "okay..." Victoria jumped into a nearby shadow and disappeared meanwhile the rest of the group remind alert until Victoria returned a few minutes later "the whole.... town is... empty" "she says the whole town is empty" Vanessa gave a frown as she put a hand on her chin and thought for a bit before she asked Victoria "did you find any armor suits?" "yeah.... by the giant... pit" "giant pit..? oh, you mean the pit mine... well then let''s head over there and take a look" Chapter 110 Scouting party 5 the group walked though the quiet streets, besides the sounds of their footsteps there was no sounds in the ghost town and after walking for a little while Nicole broke the silence "this is really creepy..." the other 3 nodded Mars however had seen plenty of ghost towns and even city''s in his past life so he was fine with a empty mining town "look the armor suits are over there" the group went over to the armor suits that stood next to the mine, the 4 soldiers began inspecting them for damage while Mars walked over to the edge of the mine and looked down into the pit ''that''s really deep... about 25 meters down, it looks like the mine have been made with some sort of magic with how cleanly the walls are cut...'' "Mars you see anything?" "hmm... well the elevator is down so they might have gone into the mine" the elevator was indeed at the bottom of the mine, after looking around for a bit Mars spotted the controls for the elevator and brought it up to the surface before he turned to the the rest of the group and asked "what now?" Vanessa had a frown on her face "well their armor suits show no signs of battle... let''s head into the mine and look for them" "okay captain" Mars put down his backpack and the other 4 got out of their armor suits and grabbed their backup weapons, Vanessa carried a sword, while Hans held a staff with a red gem fixed on the end, Gus carried a battleaxe and Nicole held twin swords "let''s go" the group boarded the elevator and slowly descended into the mine Mars was rather relaxed but the other 4 was rather tense as they looked down into the mine, arriving at the bottom of the mine the group got of the elevator and looked around at the numerous shafts that spread out from the bottom of the mine "which way?" Vanessa looked around for a few moments before she looked at Mars "....Mars pick a way to go, we''ll follow your lead" "I have a better idea... Victoria can you tell if people have been here recently?" Victoria gave a nod before she walked around sniffing the ground and after a few moments her horns lit up as she looked down a mine shaft "this... way" "okay then let''s go" the group walked into the shaft, Mars was able to see fine in the darkness but summoned a flame so the others was better able to see and for a couple of moments the group walked down the shaft until Mars spotted something on the left side of the tunnel "look at that" there was a opening about a person size with tool marks around it "let''s check it out" "okay captain, I''ll go in first" Mars walked up to the hole and stepped trough and soon he found himself in a square room, he put his hand on the wall and found the stone had been polished down so it was smooth, in the middle of the room was a platform made of wood with a couple of mana stones "how is it Mars?" "it''s safe come on in and see this" the rest of the group squeezed tough the hole and looked around the room Nicole pointed the other side of the room "look there''s a door" Mars looked over and saw she was right, there was indeed a door made of the same polished stone as the rest of the room so it was rather hard to spot, Mars quietly walked over to the door and put his ear to it and closed his eyes ''paper being moved..? no someone reading... besides that 5 sets of breathing... but 4 of them sounds... weirdly stained?'' Mars turned to the other 4 and signaled them to be quiet as he put a hand on the hilt of his sword, Vanessa nodded and made some hand signals to the other 3 before they stacked up on the door and counted down with her fingers ''5'' ''4'' ''3'' ''2'' ''1'' "go!" Gus kicked in the door and the other 3 quickly stormed into the room weapons raised, Mars also walked in the room just as he did a clear and relaxed voice rang out "oh... more mortals..." Mars walked into the room and looked around, the room was simple but his attention was quickly taken by the woman sitting in the middle of the room in a out of place but comfy looking armchair made of brown leather. The woman sitting in the armchair wore a loose golden robe and held a rather thick book in her slender hand, she had long black hair and a pair of sharp looking golden eyes, Mars was mesmerized for a moment but when he meet her eyes surprise flashed on her face "a baby brother... no a little brother without his presence... tell me little brother what brings you he---" "what did you do to them!?" Vanessa shouted and in interrupted the woman Mars looked over and saw what had enraged her 4 soldiers was crumpled over in the corner of the room, clearly theses were the missing soldiers Vanessa had revived orders to find, the mysterious woman looked rather displeased by being interrupted and narrowed her eyes slightly as she shifted her gaze to Vanessa "nothing, they annoyed me so I shut them up, then I moved them to the corner of the room so they would not be in the way" "you! we are soldiers form the empire!" the mysterious woman tilted her head and asked "what empire?" "that''s it, combat formation!" just as the group moved into position to fight the mysterious woman gave a sigh "this is why mortals are so... never mind then... [SILENCE MORTALS]" the women''s voice seemed to reach into their souls and carried with it huge amount of pressure that made the group freeze up unable to move the slightest this kept up until a few minutes later the pressure disappeared and Vanessa, Gus, Hans and Nicole fell to the floor passed out from being unable to handle the divine pressure that had assaulted their bodies, only Mars was left standing with trouble catching his breath he looked over at the woman and said "you... are.... a.... living... god?" the woman looked up from her book and gave Mars a charming smile "correct little brother" then she waved her hand and another armchair appeared across from where she was sitting, she gestured to the chair and said "sit" Mars didn''t dare let his guard down but still walked over and sat down in the armchair, the woman watched his caution and gave a slight smile before she asked "so, what brings you here little brother?" Mars pointed at the passed out Vanessa "I came here with them, they are part of a army I was drafted into... we''re here to find the source of the golems that have taken over the town above us" the woman nodded and looked interested as she put down her book and asked "but why do you follow orders of a mortal? if it was me I would just had destroyed the country that would have dared draft me into a army" "well... it seemed interesting so I thought why not?" the woman gave a wide smile and repeated after Mars "interesting.... yes what else is there to do then all that is interesting! very good little brother, let me ask you; what is your name?" Mars sensed his value in the eyes of this elder sister of his had just raised significantly and no longer felt danger to his own life so he gave a smile and said "both in this life and the one before I have been known as Mars" "Mars I see, Mars.... well then little brother Mars my name is Tatiana and my godhood is that of mana" Mars nodded "I see... mine is that of energy" "energy.... that''s a interesting godhood... reminds me of another living god a few centuries ago what was it again..? oh right heat" Mars was surprised and asked "heat? but that''s just thermal energy?" Tatiana tilted her head "thermal? what does that mean?" "what?" Mars felt something was wrong, how could a living god that have lived for so long as Tatiana not know of the word thermal? "oh right, sorry that''s a term from my past life" "your past life..? that right you said something similar before, could it be you remember your past life?" "well just bits and pieces" Tatiana gave a nod and asked with glowing eyes "so what is thermal? and what does it have to do with energy?" Mars gave a wry smile and begun to explain science to Tatiana this lasted for more then a few days, Tatiana would wave her hand and food would appear so Mars and Victoria didn''t grow hungry during the period, Mars was so engrossed in explaining that he completely forgot about Vanessa and the others. Chapter 111 Leaving the empire 1 Tatiana nodded along while Mars spoke but suddenly stopped and looked over to the edge of the room were Vanessa seemed to be waking up "ugh my head..." Mars also turned and looked and suddenly remembered about the rest of his squad and the current situation and turned to Tatiana and asked "by the way dear elder sister you would not have anything to do with the golems that have run rampart the last couple of months right?" Tatiana awkwardly averted her eyes and began laughing before she stopped again and bowed her head slightly to Mars "I made a golem to deal with stuff around the house but I didn''t think it was capable of multiplying and waging war..." at this point Vanessa became clear headed enough that she remembered were she was and got alert as she jumped to her feet and raised her sword towards Tatiana "Mars get over here we''ll take her on together" Mars gave a sigh and looked at Tatiana with a apologetic look on his face "sorry elder sister, she doesn''t know better" "Mars what are you talking about!? get over here now!" Mars gave another sigh and activated [Instant movement] and appeared into front of Vanessa and snatched her sword "Vanessa sorry but using a sword will not solve this situation" "...fine, but you better explain exactly what''s going on" Mars pointed to Tatiana that was still sitting in her armchair "that is my elder sister, she was the one that created the first golem now before you say anything she''s very sorry about that and has already deactivated them all right?" Tatiana gave a quick nod and waved her hand before she spoke "all my golems have deactivated just now, they will no longer trouble you empire" "...just like that?" Mars nodded "just like that... by the way be careful not to irritate my elder sister, it''s not that she has a short temper its just she will annihilate the empire if she gets mad" "...she has the power to do that?" "well she created a golem army by mistake so yeah she dose" Vanessa looked over at Tatiana for a few seconds before she gave a sigh and threw her arms up "I give up, Mars you handle this" next Vanessa just sat down on the ground with a exhausted look on her face before she grabbed the back of her head and laid down on the floor and closed her eyes "...well whatever" Mars just shrugged his shoulders and walked back and sat down in his armchair and looked at Tatiana that was sulking "what is it?" "...you make it sound like I''m some violent person" "sorry dear elder sister" "well whatever... more mortals are coming so I will take my leave" "so soon... will we meet again?" "as long as you live a long life then sure" "okay" Mars watched as Tatiana stood up from her armchair and with a wave of her hand opened a rift in space before she walked into the rift which closed afterwards leaving Mars alone with the rest of the soldiers in the room "and just like that she''s gone huh... captain it''s over" "I have noticed... let''s wake up the rest of the people before we do anything else" "right... I''ll go fetch some water" The incident known as the golem war ended as abruptly as it started, on the 53th day of the war the golems simply fell over and fell apart, this greatly puzzled the 4 generals that was in charge of containment but after another 2 days passed a scout party returned to the southern general and reported in person that the center mining town was cleared of golems and thus victory was declared, the group of draftees from Destra was currently in a sky carriage moving north and after flying for 4 days they left the southern desert of the empire and moved into the more pleasing on the eye great southern plains "why are we going further north, isn''t home the other way..?" Mars moved his hand down on Lily''s head and gently petted her soft fox like ears while he answered her question "that''s because we need to go to an reward ceremony in the empire before we can go home" Lily slumped over somewhat before she complained "but I want to go home..." "yeah me too but we have to endure a little longer" "okay..." "still... I quiet look forwards to getting an reward" "you sound like a dog..." "oi" "sorry Mars, you sound like a proud awe inspiring dragon" "that was better Chloe" Chloe gave a sigh "but still I want to go home to the forest too... and away form all the humans" "...at least you honest with your desires..." Chloe sat up straight and looked at Lily and Lee before she asked "have you 2 also noticed something weird about the humans gazes sometimes?" "weird?" Lee tilted his head in confusion but Lily nodded while frowning "sometimes... it''s kind of scary" "what about you Mars?" "me..? well I generally ignore that kind of stuff, but sometimes it gets my attention sure" Karen tilted her head and asked "what are you guys talking about..?" Chloe gave a wry smile and explained "it''s something all non humans know... that gaze" Lily, Lee and Mars nodded, this only made Karen more confused "what gaze..?" Mars gave a sigh and bluntly said "the kind of disdainful gaze that human supremacists have... I noticed it more when I got my new eyes" "oh... sorry" "you don''t have to apologize Karen" Chloe quickly backed up Mars "yeah Karen even if they are the same race as you, you don''t have to feel bad about it" Adam cleared his throat and quickly corrected Chloe "what my daughter means is you don''t have to feel responsible for it" Karen nodded and after a few moments of silence Mars spoke up "well you learn to ignore it" "that''s right..." the group fell silent and after another few moments Mars broke the silence and tried to change the subject "what do you guys think the rewards will be?" Chloe was the first one to speak up "hmm... maybe some land in a distant part of the empire?" "oh, that sounds reasonable" "I know right, they will properly just point to some distant poison swamp and say ''this is yours now'' or something like that" "...that sounds sad" "I know right?" Adam was the next one to speak "maybe they will give us citizenship in the empire or something?" "that sounds oddly realistic, as expected of a village leader" the journey continued slowly and just like that another 2 days passed before the sky carriage landed inside a city with a big fort in the center as for the name of the city Mars could not care less as his energy was spent on the 6 day flight getting there, Mars mentally named the city ''JASH'' for ''just another shit hole'' clearly he wasn''t in the best mood and he also started complaining as soon as he stepped out of the sky carriage "my back is killing me..." Chloe walked over and rubbed him on the back as she consoled "well it was a rather long flight..." "everyone" Mars looked over and saw a butler type person standing in front of the fort along with a group of maids that was neatly lined up in 2 rows "welcome to Kluzbrug, I''m sure your all tired after your long journey so please follow after me I will show you to your rooms" ''oh so that''s the city''s name...'' Mars and the rest of the group followed after the butler into the fort ''what is this smell...?'' upon entering Mars ignored the others and closed his eyes and took a deep breath, a nostalgic smell filled the air around him "Mars what''s wrong?" "don''t you smell that too Chloe?" "smell? what scent are you talking about I don''t smell anything?" "huh... must be my imagination then" Mars pushed the matter of the scent into the back of his head and followed after the butler obediently and soon the group reached the second floor were the butler gestured towards some rooms "please rest here until tomorrow" the group gave nods all around and each picked a room to stay in, Lee and Lily picked the same room of cause, upon entering his room Mars dismissed the maid that was on standby inside the room and laid down in the over-sized luxurious bed and looked into the ceiling ''I should unlock my presence...'' Mars had decided to unlock his [Living god: presence] ever since he personally experienced his elder sister Tatiana''s presence so he quickly chanted "open the upgrade shop Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: 2700 Class skills currently available: [Living god: presence] "unlock [Living god: presence]" Mars waited and unbeknownst to himself his aura began to change turning a lot more dominating and powerful meanwhile information entered his head at high speed until he knew how to activated his new skill Chapter 112 Leaving the empire 2 "so that''s how it works..." Mars played with his [Living god: presence] turning it on and off again like a child playing with the lights, unknowingly scaring the maids that walked by his room in the process "this is neat..." Mars continued to play with his new skill until the sun fell down over the horizon and night fell "now then... Victoria" "what..?" "wanna go find something?" Victoria jumped up on the bed and looked into Mars''s face with cat-like curiosity as her horns flashed "find... what?" Mars reached up and slowly petted her on the head "whatever smells so... nostalgic" Victoria tilted her head to the side while her horns flashed again "okay..?" "good then let''s go" Mars walked out of the room followed by Victoria and came face to face with the maid he had ordered to leave the room earlier, the maid tilted her head to the side and asked Mars "dear guest, where are you going this time of night?" "sorry could you show me the way to the mess hall?" "certainly but why don''t I bring you some food instead?" "no I would prefer the mess hall" "okay, then please follow after me" Mars followed after the maid and soon arrived on the 3rd floor were the mess hall was, the hall was filled with servants and soldiers eating and making marry some looked at Mars but most ignored his presence ''the smell is fainter now...'' Mars sat down at a empty bench and had the maid bring him some food, after eating he rose from his seat and asked the maid "what''s your name?" "my name is Anna dear guest" Mars gave a nod "then Anna could you show me the way to the roof" "the roof?" Anna tilted her head to the side in confusion, but Mars just gave a smile and said "I would like to watch the stars for a bit" "...okay then please follow me dear guest" Mars followed after Anna out of the mess hall and all the way up to the roof via the central staircase Mars stepped out on the room and looked up, the stars were clearly visible as there were very few clouds ''the smell is even fainter here...'' Mars looked down on the floor and thought to himself ''the basement... no the dungeon, oh well'' Mars stood and watched the stars for some time before he nodded his head and said to Anna "Anna could you show me back to my room?" "certainly dear guest" Mars followed Anna down the stairs and felt the scent get stronger and stronger so when Anna turned and walked off the stairs while Mars and Victoria continued going down, he managed to reach the ground floor and find the stairs going down before Anna caught up to him again "dear guest you can''t go down there!" Mars just gave a smile and began walking down the stairs ''the scent is getting stronger...'' Anna followed after Mars "please dear guest return with me to your room!" "I don''t think so" "you leave me no other option, GUARDS!" Mars ignored Anna and kept walking down and eventually reached the dungeon, it was a hallway with solid looking metal doors on both sides of the hallway, Mars strolled down the hallway and quickly found a extra reinforced metal door with formation runes on it were the nostalgic scent was coming from ''in there..?'' "HALT!" Mars looked and saw a group of guards was running his way with spears raised "I don''t think so... [STOP]" as Mars commanded the guards all froze and fell over, they were passed out "this is really convenient... well whatever let''s get this door open..." Mars looked at the formation runes for a moment before he discovered they were circle runes and gave a sigh "well then" Mars summoned his flame and put in on the door handle, the white flame eventually begun melting the door and with a clang did the handle fall to the ground, Mars gave a smile and pushed the door open "excuse me..?" Mars called out into the room but after waiting for a bit he received no answer so he simply walked in and looked around, the room was dark without even a single window Mars re-summoned his flame to light up the room and spotted a figure sitting on the floor covered in a dirty rag, but one thing stood out to Mars it was a metal collar that the figure wore, Mars squatted down and looked at the collar "now where have I seen you before... right I haven''t seen you before I have worn one of you before" it was a dragon sealing collar like the one he had worn when he reincarnated "who... are... you?" a horse voice spoke out, after a second Mars realized it was the figure that had spoken "me I''m just a passing Living god" "Living... god..?" "yep, now let''s get you out of here, but first..." Mars reached out and grabbed the dragon sealing collar and activated his [Energy: drain hand] and drained all the energy out of the collar and with a ''click'' did it open before it fell to the ground "eh..?" the figure seemed surprised and slightly moved Mars looked and saw a scaled tail rise from the floor it looked rather withered like it had been drained of blood for a period of time "I... can... move... my... tail?" "looks like it" "is... this... a... dream..?" "nah I don''t think so?" Mars reached down and grabbed the hood that covered the figures face and pulled it down and revealed 2 small horns "so that''s why you smell nostalgic" 2 small horns in the forehead, red vertical slit eyes with scale like skin around them and long red unkempt flowing hair "it'' because we''re the same" the figure, no she looked up at Mars and looked into his eyes "the... same..?" Mars gave a nod "we''re both half-dragons, now let''s get out of here" she looked up at Mars but now her eyes shone with hope "can you move?" "I... don''t... think...so" Mars gave a nod "excuse me then" Mars reached down and picked her up and carried her with both his arms and walked out of the prison cell and begun walking down the hall when he felt a pair of eyes on him and looked down "what is it?" she averted her gaze before she spoke "it''s... nothing..." "let''s go get you some water first" Mars walked past the passed out guards and begun walking up the stairs and walked up into the main hallway were Anna was standing and waiting, when she saw Mars her eye widened before she reached into her skirt and pulled out a dagger "do you really have to?" "...you leave me no choice dear guest" "fine...[SLEEP]" Mars walked past Anna that fell over, passed out and made his way towards the mess hall making some other maids sleep on the way there, as he stepped into the mess hall all eyes gathered on him, clearly someone had alerted the guards a guard with a slightly different uniform called out to Mars as he drew his sword "put down the prisoner and surrender!" "not likely" "fine then... kill them!" the guards quickly surrounded Mars and faced him with spears raised Mars gave a sigh and activated his[Living god: presence] on full power making the guards freeze up as divine pressure descended upon them some of the weaker guards even kneeled down, meanwhile the female half-dragon kept her eyes on Mars, she was unaffected by the pressure as Mars made sure not to target her "now then... [GO TO SLEEP]" as Mars shouted out the guards simply fell over like dolls with their stings cut, Mars gave a nod clearly pleased with his new skill and walked over to a nearby bench and carefully put down the female half-dragon that still was watching him with clear eyes "Victoria watch over her I''ll be right back with some food and water" "okay..." Mars walked into the kitchen and... persuaded some of the chefs that had been watching the ''fight'' with the guards to give him some food and a mug of water before he walked back into the mess hall and sat down at the table before he pushed the tray over to the female half-dragon "oh that''s right I never asked your name?" "my...name..." she seemed confused as her eyes clouded for a moment before her eyes lit up "my... is... Varvei..." "Varvei... I see, my name is Mars" "Mars..." Varvei looked down and mumbled to herself before she dug into her food and drank some water greatly helping with her voice, from what Mars could see Varvei was rather malnourished "how long have you been imprisoned?" "I.. don''t.. know.." "right sorry" Mars gave a sigh and began to think about how he was going to leave the empire along with a wanted criminal Chapter 113 Leaving the empire 3 Mars watched Varvei eat for sometime until she slowly finished ''this is worse than I thought...'' from the way she was eating Mars could tell she was badly malnourished, most likely she would have died in another week if Mars had not taken her out of her cell "you done eating?" "...yeah" "okay then..." Mars walked over and picked Varvei up again and proceeded to walk out of the mess hall with Victoria following after him, after some more usage of his new skill did he arrived in front of a door and knocked moments later the door opened "oh it''s you Mars... wait what, or rather who is that?" Mars ignored the question and asked "can I come in Chloe?" Chloe stared into his face for a moment before she gave a sigh and nodded "...sure" Chloe stepped aside and Mars walked in and turned to her "remember what I said earlier about a scent?" "... yeah I do, wait was it her?" "yep, by the way this is Chloe Varvei" "....hello" "hi, by the way Mars is mine" Mars gave a sigh "...so because of this I need to leave early" Chloe looked like she had a headache coming on as she massaged her temples but eventually she just gave a sigh "...so when will I see you again?" "hmm... after I leave the empire I''ll head for Destra''s magic academy, then I suppose I''ll pay the Mother forest a visit" Chloe stared at Mars for a moment then gave another sigh "fine, then you can go now I''ll tell the others" "thanks Chloe" Mars turned and walked out of the room leaving Chloe behind "...idiot" Mars picked up his backpack and left the fort after a few more uses of his new skill and entered the city still caring Varvei in his arms "why are you even doing this?" "hmm..?" "I mean saving me" "oh that... well because it sounded like the most interesting thing to do" "...I see" Varvei fell silent and Mars continued to walk into the quiet night town, well it was not completely quiet and Mars soon reached one of the not so quiet places; an inn "let''s rest here for the night" "should we not leave the city before someone comes after us?" "yeah we should, it''s just I''m worried about your condition" "...I see" Varvei lowered her head slightly "sorry..." "don''t worry about it, Victoria wait here with Varvei for a moment" "okay..." Mars put down Varvei in a secluded ally a little away form the inn "I''ll be right back" "okay..." Mars walked into the inn and quickly found the owner that stood behind the counter and asked "do you still have rooms?" "yeah we do, do you want a single or a shared room?" "single please" "well I suppose it''s late already... just give me 100 cell" Mars paid for one night and was shown to a room on the second floor, the room was small with a single bed and a window "perfect..." Mars put down his backpack and walked over to the window before he jumped out of it and landed on the street down below before he walked over to where he had left Varvei and Victoria "sorry for the wait" Mars quickly picked up Varvei again and walked over towards the inn again only this time he jumped and landed inside his room and put down Varvei on the bed and sat down on the floor himself "what are we going to do now?" "rest" Mars stood up and pulled a blanket over Varvei before he sat down on the floor himself with his back leaning against the bed frame "...are you sure I''m worth the trouble?" Mars sensed the weakness in Varvei''s voice "sure you are, i mean just by the fact that you are the first half-dragon I have met" "...you won''t regret it?" "nope, now get some rest" "...okay" some time passed and when Varvei fell asleep Mars also closed his eyes and begun to meditate with Victoria laying in his lap as the time passed and the night grew longer... the next morning Mars open his eyes and glanced towards the door before he gave a sigh and quickly picked up the still sleeping Varvei and then suddenly jumped out of the window with Victoria following after him quickly just as he clear the window the door was kicked in by a knight looking person "there he is!" "don''t let him get away!" ''sure is lively in the morning...'' Mars begun sprinting away form the inn, elegantly weaving his way tough the morning crowd "...Mars were is this?" "oh, good morning Varvei, we''re still in the city" "okay..." Varvei now better used to being carried rubbed her eyes and looked around as the surroundings zoomed past and suddenly voiced out a complaint "I''m hungry..." "then let''s stop and get some food, we have shaken them off our tail by now" "you sure run fast..." Mars lowered his speed and eventually stopped running as he leisurely walked down the main rood, ignoring the stares he revived until he found a food stand and brought some food for Varvei, after she finished eating she looked up at Mars and asked "what now?" Mars looked around at the shops around and nodded his head "first let''s find some cloths for you, then we buy some supplies and leave this city" "that sounds good" Mars, Varvei and Victoria did some shopping avoiding the guard patrols thanks to Mars''s supernatural hearing that could detect anyone wearing guard armor from 500 meters away "and that the last we need... right?" Varvei counted on her fingers "clothes, boots, dried food and camping gear... I think so" "good then let''s skip town and start heading south" "south?" "yeah to Destra" "Destra..." Varvei gave a sigh before she put on a resolute expression "well why not" "good then let''s go" Mars walked towards the southern wall, but turned of the main road before they reached the gate "wait... your not going to jump the wall are you?" "...that was the plan, why are you bad with heights?" "no... its just, can you reach the top of the wall, its 15 meters you know?" "well that should be no problem if I take it serious" "Mars..." "well don''t speak until we clear the wall, or else you might bite your tongue" "okay" Mars reached the foot of the wall and looked up "Victoria mind checking the top of the wall for me?" "sure.. wait a... bit" Victoria disappeared leaving behind Mars and Varvei and moments later a voice sounded out in Mars''s head "its... clear" "okay here we go!" Mars took a few steps back and got a running start before he jumped and... almost reached the top of the wall "shit" Mars quickly transformed his hand and stabbed his claws into the wall to stop his fall before he kicked off the wall and managed to reach the top of the wall were he quickly walked over to the other side and leaped over the railing, Mars felt Varvei''s hands squeeze him tight as a weightless feeling enveloped them both movements later they landed on the ground with a loud bang "well that went better than expected, you alive Varvei?" "...I thought I was going to die" "well don''t you feel alive now then?" "sure, as long as my hands stop shaking" Victoria jumped out of a nearby shadow and then the 2 of them, Mars caring Varvei begun running towards the sunset... or rather south, after running for about 15 minutes Mars slowed his pace a little so it wasn''t so rough on Varvei, meanwhile he begun loading his [Energy: healing] skill with energy units and shifted Varvei so he only used on hand to hold her "Mars?" "hold still for a second" Mars put his hand on Varvei''s forehead and activated his healing skill and after some time... nothing much happened "what did you just do?" "hmm... think of it as a good luck charm" "okay..?" Mars shifted Varvei back again so he held her with 2 hands "Mars..." "what is it Victoria?" "we... have people coming... after us" "what?" Mars stopped and strained his ears sure enough sounds of pursuers entered his ears, Mars looked down at Varvei and asked "what should we do?" "what do you mean?" "I mean kill them or keep running?" Varvei gave a frown when Mars casually mentioned killing their pursuers but eventually just looked away "...do as you wish" "okay, Victoria let''s do this" Mars stopped running and put down Varvei so she leaned her back up against a nearby tree and then he turned to welcome the pursuers that arrived riding horses, there was about 20 of them, Mars looked over at Varvei as he slowly transformed into his half-dragon form "now before we get started if anyone wants out now the only change you get" the leader of the pursuing knights signaled for his subordinates to surround Mars before he barked "heh... just a dirty non-human don''t worry we''ll make this quick" Mars gave a sigh and put a hand on the hilt of his sword meanwhile a wide smile formed on his face Chapter 114 Leaving the empire 4 Mars stared down the knight leader with a wide smile on his face and a hand on the hilt of his sword for some time before he asked "what''s wrong scared?" "humph, you two get him!" ""yes captain"" the leader commanded two of his underlings that then got off their houses and approached Mars with their spears raised, one of them gave a glance at Varvei before he gave a vulgar laugh and yelled "look it''s protecting its mate!" the other followed up with more mocking "truly laughable that''s why non-humans are---" "annoying" Mars suddenly appeared behind the two of them sword drawn and suddenly two red lines formed on the knights necks before their heads slid off and their bodies fell over, this of cause displeased the knight leader that yelled with a completely red face "attack! kill them both!" the leader yelled but none of his subordinates responded as Mars reappeared again this time blood covered his sword arm, he gave a sigh and mumbled as he wiped off the blood "....still not prices enough with my strength" the 48 knights fell to the ground at the same time, all of them having revived a single cut to their necks "you... what are you Mars?" Varvei stared at Mars, fear in her eyes but Mars just gave a casual smile and said "just a passing living god" Varvei terrified of Mars tired to get up, but her body failed her so she begun crawling away from him "oi is that how you treat your savior?" "I never asked to be saved!" Varvei kept crawling this caused Mars to give a sigh and scratch the back of his head in frustration as he slowly walked after Varvei and asked "you done yet?" "you killed them all, you monster!" "guess not..." Mars picked up his bag and slowly followed after Varvei that was still crawling trying to get away from him "ha... ha... get... away... from... me..!" "nope, why don''t you calm down a bit" Varvei turned around so she lay on her back and glared at Mars, Mars sensing she had something to say stopped and waited for her to catch her breath which she did a few minutes later "...why did you even save me in the first place?" "well because it was interest---" "don''t give me that crap!" Mars shut his mouth and looked into Varvei''s eyes for some time until he gave a sigh and sat down on the ground "well I suppose I should take this conversation seriously... I saved you because I could and wanted to" Varvei narrowed her eyes "then what about all the other prisoners, why don''t you save them too!?" "because I don''t want too, sure I could rescue all the prisoners, take over the fort then overthrow the empire and rule the continent within 50 years, but that sounds like a pain" "...that doesn''t answer my question" Mars narrowed his eyes and glared at Varvei "then what I have to answer you question?" "...yes or else I will bite off my tongue" Mars gave another sigh and buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly before he mumbled "...why did I save you... was it really my own will..?" Varvei got a little confused seeing Mars act like this but still maintained her glare and suddenly Mars raised his face again "that''s right! it wasn''t my own will, it was the will of my vessel!" "....your vessel?" "my body, you see I got reincarnated into this body less than a year ago so I still don''t entirely control it sometimes instincts will lash out beyond my control" Varvei looked even more confused "so what you saved me because your instincts made you?" "basically" "...that makes no sense" "nope it doesn''t" Varvei and Mars both stared at each other for sometime until Varvei gave a sigh and broke eye contact while a light blush spared on her face "...in that case I suppose I can allow myself to be rescued" "great" "but tone it down with the killing please, I don''t want anymore people to die for my sake" "...fine" Mars walked over and picked up Varvei and suddenly gave a grin "by the way your crawling was really good" "...shut up" "oh, are you sulking now?" "..." the grin disappeared from Mars''s face "I really thought it was good it means it won''t be long before you can walk by yourself" "okay..." some days passed and Varvei gradually got better and begun to display the appetite of a true dragon which caused Mars quiet a headache because their rations were rapidly running out, Varvei of cause noticed this and begun saying she wasn''t hungry as a result she got busted by the loudest stomach growl Mars had ever heard, as a result her eniter face lit up like a Christmas tree which was quite the sight to behold Mars was of cause unable to hold his laughter which only made Varvei sulk even more, this lasted a few days right before the pair reached a town and decided to stock up on provisions "there you go... take it slow" "but... I... can''t" "yes you can, believe in yourself, ah don''t use your tail that''s cheating" "but..!" "no but''s keep it up!" "okay..." Mars was currently watching over Varvei as she slowly and with great trouble walked around a small inn room they had rented, this had been Mars''s idea as Varvei gradually got better it was time to start training her body a bit "that''s good, only one more lap to go" "ha... ha... ha..." Varvei grit her teeth and took it one step at a time but unfortunately she didn''t quite make it as she stumbled and fell "ops..." only to have Mars catch her "are you okay?" "I''m.... fine..." "that''s good, take a rest and try again when you''re ready" "you... demon..." "hahaha! I am indeed a demon! a demon that will tickle unwilling and slothful half-dragons if they don''t do as I command of them!" "don''t... you... demon..!" "HAHAHA come here!" "no..." Mars then proceeded to very slowly chase after Varvei with arms stretched out fingers wiggling making it so she completed her lap and thereby her training for the day before she collapsed on the floor again "good job, I knew you cou--" *GROWL* "...eating time I see" "kill me now..." Mars left the embarrassed Varvei on one of the beds and walked over to his backpack and begun to dig through it eventually finding a package of dried meat and handed it to Varvei that ever so gracefully opened the brown wrapping paper before she begun eating the dried meat bit by bit "you don''t have to hold back you know" "I know..." Varvei''s speed gradually speed up while she still ate bit by bit ''good grief...'' Mars walked over to the window and rested his elbows in the window as he looked at the stream of people outside the inn ''how peaceful...'' in a fort about 100 klimoters further north a knight was running through the hallways with great stress viasabe on his face, he ran he eventually reached a heavily guarded door were 5 knights stood in full armor and started down the servants that passed by, upon reaching the door the knight gave a salut and loudly said "I have an urgent report for the mashal!" the knights in full armor let him pass and as soon as he walked into the room did the door close behind him, after the door closed did the knight take a few steps forwards before he fell to his knees and oudly reported "reporting to the mashal!" the other figure inside the room looked up from his paperwork, he was a old man with gray hair but beyond that any other signs of ageing was negligible as he was in perfect health and had an astonishing figure packed with muscles "speak" "yes, reporting to the mashal Varvei has escaped!" "WHAT!" with a slam did the marshals fist descend upon his table in a fit of rage, the talble creaked loudly under the pressure but bearly held without breaking "when did she escape!?" "4 days ago" "why haven''t I been informed before now!?" "the forts guards had all been knocked unconscious by an unknown magic spell" "...I see, is that all?" "yes mashal" "then send word to the elite magic knight platoon leader to come to my office at once, tell him I have a mission for him" "yes, at once marshal" the knight retreated from the room meanwhile the mashal gathered his thoughts ''how did she managed to escape.... in the first place why did she escape I thought the intelligence division broke her will thoroughly..?'' the more the mashal boarded over this the more questions he had ''was she rescued by some of the remaining rebel forces...? no that''s impossible, no one knew were she was held unless they bribed a high ranking officer there''s no way they should have acquired intel to make such a raid...'' suddenly there was a knock on the door, this woke the mashal form his thoughts "enter" a man in the prime of his life entered the office, he was wearing white plate armor, upon entering he kneeled down and respectfully asked "please give me your orders mashal" "Varvei has escaped, your task is to re-capture or kill her" the man in white palte armor''s eyes flashed with a hint of coldness before he lowered his head "understood" Chapter 115 Leaving the empire 5 "that''s it you''re doing better now" "ha... ha... r-really?" "yeah as I see it you''ll be walking on your own in no time" Mars and Varvei was currently walking through a forest following a dirt road, Mars was lending his arm to Varvei as support while they slowly walked forwards "...but" "no but''s I know you can do this" "okay..." as the two of them walked Varvei gradually reached her limit so Mars picked her up again and carried her in his arms when suddenly Victoria jumped out of a nearby shadow with her horns glowing "Mars... there''s bad... people... ahead" "bad people..? you mean bandits?" "yes bandits... they are attacking... a carriage" "hmm... let''s go take a look, you don''t mind me killing bandits do you Varvei?" Varvei looked a little pale but still slowly shook her head "...no I don''t" "great then let''s go take a look" Mars speed up and soon he reached the place were the bandit''s where and just like Victoria said they were attacking a carriage that was guarded by what looked like mercenaries although they were on their last leg with only 2 of them left fighting back against the 20+ bandits "...sure looks like bandits" "aren''t you going to help them?" "well sure then let''s do this, Victoria make sure none of them get away" "okay..." Mars put down Varvei and gave her a pat on the shoulder "don''t start crawling away this time princess" Varvei face lit up before she turned it to the side and mumbled "...I won''t" "good then I''ll be right back" Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from Varvei''s view "...idiot" Mars appeared next to what looked like the bandit leader that was standing in the back and mercilessly slashed at him without warning severing both his legs "AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" the bandit''s scream drew the attention of the rest of the bandits "who''s that!?" "he hurt the leader!" "kill him!" "surround him!" the bandits changed Mars that just stood there leisurely with sword drawn and a casual smile on his face as he calmly said while he pulled out his steel mercenary tag "I''m here to assist" "he''s a merch, kill him!" a bandit charged forward and sashed at Mars with his sword, Mars just took half a step back and then he kicked the bandit in his family jewels with all his strength "AAAAGGGHHHH!!!" the second agonising howl sounded out as the bandit fell over clutching his family jewels, this seemed to dampen the bandits lust for battle as they just surrounded Mars and looked on as the family jewel less bandit rolled around in agony on the ground "not coming..? then here I come!" Mars kicked off the ground and sent out a slash that spilt another bandit at his waist sending the 2 parts of him to the ground as the smell of blood got thick in the surrounding area, Mars quickly sent out another slash sending the head of another bandit flying into the air "he''s a monster!" "run!" the bandit''s scattered and begun running into the forest, one of them ran towards Varvei but right before he reached her did a fire lance hit him and set him ablaze right before Mars suddenly appeared in front of the burning bandit and cut his head cleanly off sending it flying into the air "nobody touches Varvei" Mars walked over to Varvei and asked "you okay?" "...y-yeah I''m fine" "that''s good" Mars picked up Varvei and walked over to the 2 surviving mercenaries, one man and one woman both humans both of them bowed their heads to Mars "thanks for saving us sword master!" "thank you sword master" "it''s nothing, I''m sorry for not getting here sooner" "please dont be sorry we''re just glad you showed up at all sword master" "okay..." "erm... what about the rest of the bandits, should we pressure them?" "my magic beast Victoria is taking care of the ones that ran" "okay..." the man walked over to the carriage and knocked on the door before he loudly said "mister Baker it''s clear now, the bandits have run away" the door of the carriage opened and a human man dressed in expensive looking clothes stepped out and looked around, seeing all the bloodshed he frowned lightly before he turned and asked the merch "what happened? how did you beat them?" "it was this swordsman that drove the bandit''s away" mister Baker turned his head and looked at Mars with a aporving look on his face before he walked over and reached out with his hand "my name is John Baker, I''m a humble merchant" Mars shifted Varvei so he had a hand free and reached out and shook the merchant''s hand "my name is Mars, I''m a steel ranked merch this is Varvei" "...hello" "oh so a frail maiden and a handsome swordsman, truly a match made in heaven, please by all means join me in my carriage if you are also headed south?" "we are, we would be glad to join you mister Baker" "oh wonderful! then please join me in the carriage, after you Mars" Mars walked in and sat Varvei down on a seat before he sat down next to her, the inside of the carriage was surprisingly comfy and wide, clearly John Baker was no mere ''humble'' merchant, as soon as John sat down the carriage begun moving again "I really must thank you once again Mars, ifyou had not come to my aid I would likely have been taken prisoner by those foul bandits" "no need to praise me mister Baker I only did what I thought was right" "I see, such a admirable sprit... Although it might be rude I would like to ask into miss Varvei''s condition, is there anything I can do to help her" Mars looked over at Varvei and discovered she was fast asleep before he spoke "i''m afraid not mister Baker, it''s simply malnothison that has made her frail, she was imprisoned for a long time you see" "ah, I that case my company has some nurtistion pills, when we reach the branch in Ely I should be able to provide some free of charge of cause" "that would be much appreciated mister Baker" Time passed and eventually night fell and the carriage stopped, they were still in the same forest, the 2 mercenaries prepared camp while John showed his skills at cooking by making a marvelous dinner for Mars, Varvei and himself, as for the 2 mercenaries they could only munch on biscuits and dried meat while watching enviously after dinner one of the merchs came over to John and raised an issue "night watch is it?" "yes sir, it''s hard when there''s only the two of us" "hmm... this is trouble..." "mister Baker I believe I have the solution to our problem" "oh, please speak Mars" Mars didn''t speak, he turned towards the dark forest and called out "Victoria!" soon after he called Victoria jumped out of the brushes and showed herself to the group with her horns flashing while she walked over to Mars "what... is it?" "can you help with the night watch?" "sure..." "good, Victoria says she can help with the night watch, if we include me that''s 4 people on night watch that should be sufficient" "but Mars I would hate for you to stand night watch, you are after all our saviour" "I truly don''t mind John in fact I will get uneasy if I didn''t help out" "...if that''s how you feel then it''s fine I guess" "thank you mister Baker" "no I should thank you Mars" Mars and John exchanged smiles meanwhile Varvei gave a sigh and looked down into the ground, Mars spotted this and sat down next to her and after some time passed he asked "what''s wrong?" "...it''s nothing" "...don''t make me tickle you to find out" Varvei blushed and tried to move away from Mars, but was quickly grabbed by the arm "if you don''t tell me I don''t know how to make it better" "...fine" Varvei gave another sigh before she spoke in a small voice "...it''s just I feel so useless" "that''s because you are useless" Varvei sent Mars a glare "how cruel! how could you tell a maiden such as myself that!" "well it''s the truth, you are useless right now, in fact you''re a burden" Varvei''s face sank, tears begun to from in the corner of her eyes when Mars spoke again "but that doesn''t matter right now your only job is to get better" "...really? you won''t throw me away because I''m useless?" "no, why would I do that when I went through all the trouble of rescuing you?" Varvei started at Mars'' face before she gave yet another sigh and broke eye contact with a light blush on her face "...fine" "that''s good, now get some sleep" "okay..." "you want me to tuck you in?" "n-no I''m fine" "okay then" Mars got on his feet and walked over to the campfire a little ways away and sat down and looked into the fire, Victoria quickly came and took her usual spot on his lap while she purred lightly as the night grew longer... Chapter 116 Leaving the empire 6 Mars woke up from the sound of movement nearby and looked over "hmm..?" it was Varvei, she was holding the trunk of a tree and walking around it with sweat on her forehead with some of her red hair sticking to it, from the looks of things she had clearly been at it for some time now, Mars gave a wry smile and got up and put on his boots before he picked up a water skin and walked over "Varvei" "ha... ha... oh... it''s... you... Mars..." "why don''t you take a break for now" "no... i''m... almost... done..." "fine, but no more then another 2 times it''s not good to overwork yourself" Varvei gave a nod and walked the last two laps around the tree before she sat down on the ground "here" Mars handed the water skin to her and gave her a look over, while she was still thin it wasn''t a bad as when he had saved her, her tail also looked a lot better with the scales regaining some of their former red color, seeing all this Mars could not help but praise "you''re doing good, give it another week and you will be able to walk on your own" "ha... ha... you... think... so..?" "definitely, so just endure a little longer" "okay... thanks... Mars..." "now let''s get some food in you" Mars quickly picked up Varvei and walked over to the campsite and put her down before he handed her a package of dried meat "eat this for now" "okay" as Varvei ate Mars watched her, she certainly had gained a lot of appetite clear by the way she oh so elegantly stuffed the dried meat in her mouth, Mars activated his [energy: healing] skill with 25 units of energy as he put a hand on her shoulder, Varvei closed her eyes as the skill worked and opened them again and looked at Mars "what did you just do?" "I healed you" "healed?" Mars nodded "yeah it''s a healing skill, quiet a powerful one at that" Varvei gave a nod and looked down at her legs that was feeling a lot better now "I have never heard of healing skills, is it a bestowed skill?" "you could say that it has to do with my status as a living god" "...I see" Varvei looked down at her legs again and slightly moved them while her tail lightly beat the ground in a rhythm Mars didn''t know "oh right what''s bestowed skills?" Varvei still looked down but begun explaining "bestowed skills are bestowed by the 13, they are all extra powerful and mighty" "I see..." Mars thought for a bit ''in that case my [demon dreaming] is a bestowed skill... well it is pretty mighty being able to look into my past life and all'' Mars stood up and begun packing his stuff, this included the two sleeping bags that he and Varvei had been using and some other minor stuff before he pulled out some coffee from his backpack and sat down next to the campfire and re-lit it with his flame, Varvei looked at Mars'' flame and suddenly blushed and looked away, Mars didn''t notice this as he was occupied by making his morning coffee "oh good morning Mars and miss Varvei good morning to you too" Mars looked up form the fire and saw John had just stepped out of the carriage "good morning mister Baker" "...good morning John" John looked up at the cloudless sky and gave a smile "today seems to be a wonderful day for traveling, let''s get going we should be able to reach Ely today" "okay mister Baker" Mars drank his coffee and helped Varvei into the carriage just as the two mercenaries were done packing up camp "let''s get going" the carriage started moving inside Mars and John talked quite a lot with Varvei joining the conversation when she pleased which was not very often as the carriage slowly moved through the forest, there was a little problem with some goblins at noon but the two merchs and Victoria handled it perfectly with none of the goblin even reaching the carriage and late in the afternoon did the carriage reach Ely, as soon as the carriage entered town did John pay the two merchs for a job well done and after exchanging good byes did the two leave "well no that''s done with let me show you two to my branch store" "please mister Baker, i''m looking forward to your personal chefs performance" the carriage moved into the town and eventually stopped in front of a shop with people streaming in and out of clearly this was a very popular shop, John gave a smile and turned to Mars and Varvei "welcome to my 12th branch shop, while it is nowhere as good as the one in the imperial capital I hope it suffices" "no need to be so humble I''m sure this is a good shop" Varvei was also feeling excited and asked John "what do you sell?" "mostly travel food, such as the newly invented freeze dried food the army uses among other products" "okay" "well then let''s head in" Mars picked up Varvei and followed after John into the shop all the way up to the 3rd floor which was John''s private estate when he was in town after eating a luxurious meal John had a servant bring some nutrient pills for Varvei after witch Mars declined John''s offer to stay in the shop and left with Varvei in his arms after they exchanged goodbyes with John "let''s go find a inn somewhere..." Varvei looked up at Mars and asked "why didn''t we just stay with John for the night?" Mars gave a wry smile "well because something seemed... off" "so because your instincts?" "what you don''t trust in my instincts?" "...I do but..." Mars gave a nod and looked up again as he kept searching for a inn while he mumbled "I guess I''m just overly cautious..." while Mars and Varvei walked into town John sat in his office and thought in silence ''that clearly was the Varvei of legend... but I wonder what happened for her to be in such a state maybe she was just malnourished..? as Mars called it...'' John let out a groan and leaned back in his chair ''still to see a famous figure of the empire reduced to such a state was quite something, the new emperor sure is merciless... maybe I should move my business out of the empire?'' John gave a sigh ''no that''s impossible... I am a merchant of the empire and I will remain so until my death so what I should do now is act in a way that benefit me the most...'' John gave a nod and then he picked up a small bell and rung it, soon a maid walked into the office awaiting his command "send word to the captain of the local garrison, I have information on a wanted criminal" "yes, at once my lord" the maid gave a bow and left the office leaving John alone as he gave another sigh and leaned further back in his chair staring into the ceiling he mumbled "for the sake of profit..." The night passed and morning came Mars'' eyes snapped open and quickly looked around the small inn room "well shit... Varvei wake up" "hmm...?" "Victoria you too" "what... is it?" "we have trouble" Varvei rubbed her eyes and asked with a sleepy voice "trouble?" "yeah the-local-garrison-locked-down-the-whole-area kind of trouble" "...shit" "my thoughts exactly" Varvei looked out the window, the streets were deserted no people in sight before she looked at Mars and asked "what do we do?" "first, Victoria see if you can find any holes in their formation" "okay..." Victoria gave a small cute nod and jumped into the a shadow and disappeared leaving Mars and Varvei alone in the room, Mars started to rummage through his backpack and pulled out his armor and a package witch he threw over to Varvei "eat this for now" "but..." Mars gave a teasing smile "I just don''t want your stomach to growl during the upcoming fight" Varvei blushed and gave Mars a glare before she dug into the dried meat in the package, Mars put on his armor and sat down on the bed and waited for Victoria to return while he hummed a song "what song is that?" "hmm... something from my last life I think" "oh..." Varvei looked down at the floor and after some time passed she asked "...do you miss it..?" "what?" "your last life" Mars thought for a moment before he shook his head "no I don''t, besides I died in agony and regret" "I see... was it painful?" "yeah... so this life I plan on living a long and good life" "okay..." Varvei fell silent again until Mars stood up and looked at her with a smile on his face "so let''s both survive this" "...okay" Chapter 117 Leaving the empire 7 Mars looked outside the window, the deserted street was as lifeless as the last time he had looked at it, suddenly Victoria returned by jumping out a nearby shadow with her horns glowing "I''m... back" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head while he asked "how was it?" Victoria squinted her eyes in happiness and begun lightly purring causing the nearby Varvei to be secretly envious "there was... a lot... of soldiers... some in mana... armor... there was... no holes... in the formation" "well shit..." Mars fell into thought for sometime before he picked up his sword "Victoria you stay here and guard Varvei" "okay..." Varvei looked at Mars with worry in her eyes and asked "what about you Mars?" "I''ll go scare off the imperial army" Varvei gave a sigh and mumbled "...why does it sound like you''re just going shopping?" Mars stood up and walked over to Varvei before he put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair "relax" "...fine, just promise me you''ll be fine" "I''ll be fine" "...okay then" Mars gave a smile and ruffled her hair one more time before he lifted his hand and walked over to the window and jumped out, landing on the street Mars leisurely walked down the road until a blockade came into view there was about 20 normal soldiers with spears and two soldiers in active mana armor ''well this is trouble...'' having been part of Vanessa''s squad Mars knew first hand how powerful trained soldier in active mana armor was, and there was two of them here ''there''s about 5 roads out of the part of town we are in if there''s two active mana soldiers per road then that means there''s 10 of them in total...'' Mars gave a sigh and drew his sword, the white bone glittered in the sunlight drawing the attention of the soldiers "there he is!" the two mana armored soldiers drew out great swords and one of them stepped forwards "surrender or we will use deadly force!" "you can''t just let me though?" "no, we have orders to arrest you and the female half-dragon!" the slightly distorted voice sounded out of the mana speaker caused Mars to give a sigh "then I hope you find peace in the next life" as Mars spoke a sense of pressure spread out form him and hit the soldiers, along with a came a creeping sense of dread which made them hold their weapons tightly "F-Formation!" one of the soldiers in the mana armor yelled, his slightly distorted voice form the mana speaker carried with it a hint of fear, the soldiers quickly formed a spear formation as all of them stared down Mars that was slowly transforming into his slightly sinister looking half-dragon form "...well then, here I come" Mars started walking towards the soldiers, slowly at first but he gradually picked up speed until he was in full sprint as the distance between Mars and the group of soldiers shuck until suddenly he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view "where did he g---" one of the soldiers yelled only to be literally cut short and he along with the others clutched their necks and fell over as the smell of iron spread in the nearby area, Mars reappeared in the middle of the collapsed soldiers, his sword arm was bleeding a little but Mars ignored it and looked at the two mana armor soldiers "now for the two of you" "you bastard!" one of the mana armored soldiers swung down his great sword at Mars and with a loud bang did it hit the cobblestone pavement spewing pieces of rock all over the place "did I get him?" *CLANG* a loud clang sounded out as Mars hit the mana armored soldier on the side of the helmet causing sparks to fly, the other soldier quickly yelled "on you shoulder!" the mana armored soldier quickly tried the grab Mars with his free hand but only grasped air "where did he go!?" "on the roof, 45 degrees left!" "got it!" the mana armored soldiers swung his great sword sideways into a total Innocent building to his left that quickly collapsed into ruble form the sudden impact, Mars reappeared on another roof a little ways away "guess I should take this seriously..." Mars begun changing his right hand with 50 units of energy while he jumped for roof to roof avoiding the great swords that was swung after him until finally his [Energy: discharge] skill was ready for use "time to end this..." Mars jumped down on street level and dodged another swing of a great sword before he jumped and landed right in the face of one of the mana armored soldiers and put his left hand to the helmet of the armor before he activated his skill "and boom goes the dynamite" *KABOOM* the force of Mars'' skill bent the helmet inwards witch was followed by a sort but miserable scream and then the now empty of life armor fell over with Mars then turning to look at the other mana armored soldier "you''re next" a little over two hours later Mars stood on the wreck of yet another set of empty mana armor, his armor was chipped here and there and his sword had snapped in two, after he had killed the first mana armored soldier he had called for help and almost 30 mana armored soldiers had stormed Mars, his [living god: presence] was only able to slow them down a little, Mars gave a sigh and looked around "now where did it go..? oh there it is" Mars walked over and picked up the other part of his sword or at least he tried to "oh for fucks sake... where did my left arm go..?" Mars realized he was more wounded then he thought with his entire lover left arm missing, there was also a deep cut down his left shoulder witch almost made his shoulder fall off "...well at least I''m alive" Mars decided to look on the positive and picked up the other part of his sword with his right hand and put it in his pocket before he sat down and activated his [Energy: healing] skill on himself with 100 units of energy while he looked at the wound on his left arm "...well this is... something" about 5 centimeters of his left arm grew back before it stopped healing "so it does regenerate missing limbs... neat" Mars rose to his feet again and slowly walked back to the inn that luckily was still standing and jumped into the 2nd floor window "I''m back" "good I was greeting worried---" Varvei stopped speaking and covered her mouth with her hands as tears begun running down her face, Mars gave a wry smile and sat down on the bed next to her and slowly stroked her on the back with his remaining right hand "it''s fine, I can heal it" Varvei remained silent while she cried until she mumbled "it''s my fault... once again it''s my fault" "no it''s not" Varvei wiped her tears and looked at Mars with a weak smile on her face before she gave a nod before he picked out the blade of his sword and gave it to Varvei "can you hold this for a second?" "sure..." Varvei held the blade and then Mars took the other part of his sword and held it to the blade part before he activated his [Energy: restoration] skill and the two parts fused together "there we go" "that''s... amazing" "yeah it''s pretty neat right?" "...what do we do now?" "hmm... Victoria" Victoria jumped out of a nearby shadow at Mars'' call and walked over to him with horns glowing "you''re... hurt" "it''s fine, I''ll heal it in no time" "okay..." "never mind that, Victoria can you carry the backpack?" "sure..." Victoria looked over at the backpack before he horns flashed and a shadow appeared under the backpack before it slowly got adsorbed by the shadow and then the shadow disappeared again "...that''s neat, teach me how to do that sometime" "okay..." "well then... Varvei climb up on my back" "your back?" Mars showed his left arm "yeah I can''t carry you in my arms" "oh right..." Varvei climbed up and Mars'' back and put her arms around his neck "you comfy?" "...yes very" "okay then let''s leave Ely and get on our way" "okay" Varvei nestled against Mars and even warped her tail around his waist, Mars stood up and grabbed her thigh with his right arm and jumped out of the window and begun running towards the southern walls were he jumped over the walls and begun running into the plains with the speed of a normal carriage, Varvei on his back ran her hand through his hair with a enchanted look on her face before she gave him a squeeze with her arms with a happy smile on her face, this was the most happy she had been in a long time Chapter 118 Leaving the empire 8 days passed and soon a two months had passed, 2 figures was walking on a dirt road in the southern desert of the empire namely Mars and Varvei, Mars looked over at Varvei she had almost completely recovered by now and although she had a slim figure she still had one, with curves in all the right places, this proved quite some trouble for Mars as she would often unexpectedly jump into his arms with a dumb grin on her face and rub her face against his while saying his name with a fiery hot voice while her tail swung back and forth like she was some kind of dog ''well it''s good she recovered... same can''t be said for this place...'' they had not seen another person since they entered the desert, the villages and town they came across was empty devoid of people it was like the whole southern desert had been abandoned by the empire, what Mars and Varvei didn''t know was the emperor had take the change to redressing the layout of the whole southern desert now that it was devoid of people anyway "Mars~" "what is it?" "nothing I just wanted to say your name~" Mars looked over at Varvei and saw she had her usual dumb grin on her face and gave a sigh, he was pretty sure she had fallen for him, but due to his inexperience with the whole subject of love he wasn''t sure how to proceed plus there was Chloe and Elsa to think about too ''...looks like I have become a lady killer in this life'' Mars didn''t know how to feel about the whole thing so he tried not to think too much about it... well one thing''s for sure, his dragon side was awfully happy about having so many admirers ''well let''s wait until we reach Destra''s magic academy...'' Mars shuddered a little when he thought about what would happen when the 3 of them finally meet for real ''...let''s not think about it'' as the saying went; out of sight out of mind "let''s make camp a little further ahead" "okay Mars~" "Victoria you there?" Victoria jumped out of a shadow when Mars called and walked over with her horns glowing while lightly purring "what... is it?" "can I have the backpack?" "sure..." a tar like shadow appeared on the ground in front of Victoria that suddenly shot out the backpack before it disappeared again Mars caught the backpack with his newly healed right hand and put it on his back as they walked another few kilometers before they stopped and made camp for the night, as the sun was slowly setting over the horizon Mars gave another sigh as he looked over at Varvei that had latched on to his arm and was rubbing her face against his shoulder with a dumb grin on her face "...are you going to do that all night?" "yes~" Mars gave yet another sigh before his eyes turned serious and he turned his head and looked into Varvei''s crimson eyes and asked "why don''t we do something else?" "eh, something else?" Varvei gradually got more and more red in the face before she suddenly took some distance from Mars with a full flush on her face and looked down "...pervert" ''diversion complete'' Mars had found that while Varvei was very good at ''offence'' she had very little ''defense'' and was thus easy to get to ''retreat'', basically she was like a pure maiden with a very lively fantasy "well then go to bed, I''ll take first watch" "...meanie" "what was that?" "...nothing" Varvei pouted a little but still got into her sleeping bag and soon she fell asleep, as soon as she begun lightly snoring did Victoria appear, the first thing she did after walking out of the darkness was watching Varvei for a bit before she walked over to Mars and laid down in his lap and begun purring loudly "what''s wrong Victoria?" "...nothing..." "okay?" Mars decided to leave it alone and looked into the campfire while the night gradually grew longer... The next morning after packing up camp the group once again begun moving south, as the time neared mid day did something unexpected happen "what''s that sound?" Mars stopped and strained his ears and so did Varvei, the sound Mars was hearing gradually got louder and louder until Varvei also heard it and yelled "military sky carriage! Mars move!" Varvei grabbed Mars'' hand and begun running for cover, Mars looked back and saw... it, while it was called a military sky carriage that''s were the similarities to a normal sky carriage ended it was huge, more than 50 meters across with more than 20 mana armors on the outside of the hull and two mana powered cannons in the front on either side of the cockpit "looks like a heavy landing craft" "now isn''t the time to be in awe, run Mars!" "yes yes" Mars picked up Varvei and increased his speed but how could they outrun a military sky carriage? soon it overtook them and landed in front of them, Mars stopped running and narrowed his eyes as the mana armors separated from from the hull of the military sky carriage and begun walking towards the two of them, one of the mana armors was painted pure white and lead the others towards Mars and Varvei "looks like we can''t avoid a fight" as Mars drew his sword Varvei stepped forwards as the horns in her forehead grew longer and claws grew out form her fingers, her tail also grew out bone barbs as it slowly swung from side to side before she screamed at the mana armors with tears streaming down her face "WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" the leading white mana armor raised one of its hands which signaled the others to stop and alone walked forwards towards Varvei and then it... kneeled down "I ASKED YOU, WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" the white mana armor lowered its head low before it spoke "your subordinate is here apologize general" Mars walked up next to Varvei and petted her on the back "calm down Varvei" "okay... ugh this idiot, I''m no longer a general you know that right Jeff?" the white mana armor spoke out again "in your subordinate''s eyes you will always be the flaming rose general" Mars'' eyes widened slightly and looked at Varvei, of cause he had his suspicions about Varvei being the flaming rose general but hearing it for real was a little of a shock, Mars then pointed his sword at the white mana armor and spoke "...come out of your armor if you want to talk" the white mana armor ignored Mars and kept still until Varvei gave a sigh "do as Mars says" "understood general" the back of the mana armor opened and a middle aged man jumped out, he had sort graying hair and a muscular figure he walked over and stopped a few meters ahead of Varvei before he kneeled down again which caused Varvei to give yet another sigh as she once again asked "why are you here Jeff?" "your subordinate is here to apologize for his incompetence" Varvei gave yet another sigh and kneeled down and put her hand on Jeff''s shoulder and once again asked this time in a soft almost in inaudible voice "why are you here Jeff?" "to help you escape the empire''s reach" "I''m pretty sure that''s not your orders though?" "orders given by the now ruling faction is to be ignored by my own discretion" Varvei gave yet another sigh before she asked "what do you want me to do? fight another long and bloody civil war to overthrow the human supremacists and restore the empire to its past glory?" "no your subordinate wishes for you to live a long and happy life away from the empire" "but that---" "Varvei" Varvei was about to say something only to have Mars interrupt her "what is it Mars?" "I think we can trust him for now" "but that''s not what I''m talking about, I'' worried he will be branded a criminal and sentenced to death for violating orders" "look at him for a second Varvei those this Jeff seem like a man of poor resolve?" "but---" "general we are all here of our free will to help you" Varvei looked like she had a headache coming and massaged her temples for sometime until she finally gave yet another sigh and said "fine, but no more general this general that call me by my name" Varvei stopped off towards the military sky carriage leaving Mars and Jeff "oh by the way Jeff was it?" "yes what is it?" "for me making a repeat of what happened in Ely isn''t hard, so you better be sincere when you say you want to help her" "...I can swear by the 13 if you want" Mars gave a grin and pulled out his necklace of the apostle and showed it to Jeff "no I trust you... for now" "a-apostle... so the generals rescue was a divine order?" "nah it was my will alone" "...okay" Mars reached out and gave Jeff a hand as he helped him to his feet again before both of them looked towards Varvei that was walking towards the military sky carriage as she yelled "come on Mars or I''ll leave you behind" "yeah I''m coming now" Mars gave a wry smile and followed after Varvei and soon both of them had boarded the military sky carriage Chapter 119 Returning to Destras magic academy 1 Mars looked around the inside of the military sky carriage and found it was surprisingly wide, upon entering he found himself in some sort of common room with soldiers milling about the tables but as soon as Varvei entreated they all stopped and saluted her witch caused her to give yet another sigh "...carry on" some of the soldiers went up to Varvei and talked with her while Mars watched form the side until someone poked him on the shoulder and he turned around and gave a smile "hi Vanessa" "hi Mars" Mars looked around and didn''t see the rest of the squad and asked "where are the others?" Vanessa gave a sigh "they weren''t as committed as me" "I see..." Vanessa gave a weak smile and gestured for Mars to sit down at on the tables, Mars sat down and so did Vanessa "can I ask you something?" "what is it Mars?" "it''s just for the record, what happened in the rebellion?" "...Varvei have not told you yet?" "nope" "I see... well in that case sure I can tell you" Vanessa rested her elbows on the table and looked over at Varvei while she begun talking "the rebellion technically started when the at that time head of magic research Shawn a rare space-time mage summoned a so called hero from another world" "a hero?" "yeah from some other weird world... well the hero grew powerful over the years serving the empire for a few years while he in secret formed his own faction in the upper society in the empire and plotted to overthrow the emperor" "and that''s what happened?" "yep after half a year of bloody fighting did the old emperor surrender to the rebellion at sword point... and so now a otherworlder rules one of the most powerful empires in all of Salen... weird isn''t it?" Mars nodded "yep sure sounds weird... my I should overthrow him?" Vanessa smiled at what she thought was a joke, little did she know Mars was completely serious "well I have things to do before that..." "oh things more important than conquest? do tell" "well I suppose i could..." Mars cleared his throat "well handsome as I am, I naturally have many admirers... it''s just I have no idea what to do about them..." "what do you mean ''do about them''?" "well... if I should date one of them... or all of them" "well dragons are famed for their lust... so just do whatever?" "why are you asking me?" "well because I don''t know any of you admirers" "yes you do" "who?" Mars pointed over at Varvei "...are you serious?" "...yep, that I am" Vanessa covered her mouth with her hands in shook before she blurted out "no way" "yes way, I''m serious" "but... but the only thing the general love is her beloved dragon spear" "dragon spear?" Vanessa gave a nod "yeah her primary weapon... but still for spring time to have come to our general... this must be investigated further" Vanessa suddenly stood up with a glint in her eyes and walked over to Varvei then grabbed her and dragged her into a room along with some other female soldiers, seeing this Mars gave a sigh and petted his legs witch Victoria jumped up on moments later and laid down "this is going to be a long trip..." "really..?" "no I''m just taking pity on Varvei... women are scary" Victoria tilted her head to the side as her horns flashed "okay..?" Mars put his hand down on her head and slowly petted her while time slowly passed as the military sky carriage flew further south... Just about 10 days passed before the military sky carriage landed again Mars, Varvei and Victoria stepped out and turned back and saw Jeff was seeing them off, he gave a salute "take care general" Varvei gave a soft sigh "...you too Jeff" after saying goodbye Jeff gave Mars a long look before he gave another salute and stepped back into the military sky carriage as it took off, Mars and Varvei stood and watched it until it was just a small dot on the horizon "...what now?" "well... I''m going back to the magic academy, want to come with?" "sure..." Varvei gave a smile and latched onto Mars'' arm before she looked up at him with a smile "lead the way" "...okay" Mars looked at the sun and then detriment the right way and begun walking south, the military sky carriage had dropped them off about 100 kilometers north of the academy city so Mars calculated that it would take them about a week to reach the academy city, while they walked Varvei complained about how she had been interrogated by the female soldiers on board the military sky carriage, well Mars used the word ''complaining'' but given the fact that she had a wide smile on her face she looked rather happy, that was of cause until they got interrupted rather rudely "hand over your belongings if you want to live!" a single bandit with a rusty sword stood and bared their way, Mars gave a smile and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, but before he had a change to do anything did Varvei let go of his arm and walked towards the bandit that licked his lips when he saw Varvei "that''s right lady you''re mi---" *SMACK* before the bandit had a change to finish what he was saying was he hit in the face by Varvei''s transformed mace-like tail that sent him flying to the side, Mars watched this with a wide open mouth as the bandit flew about 4 meters before he hit the ground, he was dead most likely from a broken neck after receiving Varvei''s tail to the jaw, Varvei whipped her tail back and forth to shake off the blood before walked over and stomped on the corpse of the bandit "how dare you interrupt my sweet time with Mars!" then she turned to Mars with a wide smile on her face "let''s go Mars" "o-okay" Mars obediently offered his arm to Varvei which she latched onto again with a sweet smile on her face as she rubbed her check on his shoulder... 6 days later the trio had made camp for the day and Mars was in the processes of skinning a bear Victoria had killed when Varvei walked up to him and sat down next to him "what''s up?" "...mind if I ask you a question?" "no, ask away" Mars put his focus back on skinning the bear as Varvei had fallen silent, only after some time passed did she ask her question "is that Chloe you lover?" "hmm...." Mars stopped what he was doing and looked at Varvei "no, she said she likes me... I think?" "you''re terrible" "yeah I know" "then do you have another lover?" "...no" "then---" Mars put a finger on Varvei''s lips and shook his head "sorry but can you wait just a little longer, it should become clear when we reach the academy" Varvei looked into Mars'' eyes for some time until she gave a small nod "I understand..." Mars gave her a small smile and went back to what he was doing but suddenly Varvei pushed his down on his back and sat herself on top of him "what are you do---" Mars stopped speaking or more like he was forced to stop speaking as his mouth was blocked by a pair of soft lips, Mars gave a mental sigh and put his hands around Varvei as she kissed him for almost a full minute before she pulled away with a satisfied smile on her face "now you know how I feel..." Mars looked up at Varvei for some time in silence until she eventually got off him and walked over and sat down by the campfire, Mars kept laying on his back and looked up at the stars with a wry smile on his face ''good grief...'' Mars eventually got back to skinning the bear, but for some reason he kept making mistakes so he eventually gave up on the hide and cut off some meat to eat and walked over to the campfire and sat down next to Varvei as he begun roasting some of the meat, Victoria also came over lured by the smell of roasted bear meat "I''m... hungry" "here you go then" Mars begun feeding Victoria small pieces of roasted meat but was interrupted when Varvei poked him on the shoulder, Mars looked over and saw Varvei was sitting like a baby chick with her mouth wide open and her eyes closed "really now..." Mars picked up a piece of roasted meat and carefully put it into Varvie''s mouth which closed around the roasted meat and began chewing "is it good?" "mmm" "....I''ll take that as a yes" Mars gave a sigh and looked up at the nights sky, the stars was still visible as was the two moons and so night slowly passed until morning came Chapter 120 Returning to Destras magic academy 2 The gates of the academy city was busy even in the early mornings as traveling merchants with their escorts left for distant towns and cities and farmers left the town to head out and do their day job at the fields outside of the city walls, Mars, Varvei and Victoria was just about the only ones that waited to enter the city so the processes was fast with Mars paying for Varvei and so the 3 of them entered the academy city. Mars looked around and found the cobblestone road slightly nostalgic as he walked down the street with Varvei latched onto his right arm, Mars pointed out some of the good shops to her while they walked and after spending some time the 3 of them reached the gates of the academy, Mars was already wearing his red mantel when he walked up to the gate so the guard just let him in without any fuss "oh... is that you Mars?" "oh my I''m happy you remember me Cass" "only my friends call me Cass! call me by my full name!" "okay miss Cassandra Skymaw" "...you know what I mean" "it''s either that or Cass" Cassandra gave a sigh "fine then call me Cass... by the way who''s this?" "oh this is Varvei" "hello Cassandra" "Varvei, where have I heard that name before... well never mind nice to meet you, are you a new student?" "no I''m just here with Mars to take a look around" "okay, well I have class now so I have to go" "see you around Cass" "see you around Mars, Varvei" Cassandra walked off towards her class leaving Mars and Varvei alone, Victoria had already run off somewhere "well then... I''ll go drop off my bag at my room, want to come with?" "sure" Mars and Varvei walked towards the dorms, along the way Mars received the usual guarded stares as all tactical class mages did, Varvei having horns and a long tail also received some stares but the stares she received was more curious then guarded. Soon both of them reached the dorms and walked inside Mars lead the way and soon he pulled out the key he hardly used and unlocked his room "ugh... stale air" Mars put down his backpack and opened a window meanwhile Varvei sat down on the bed and looked around, soon she spotted the formation materials on the desk and walked up and took a closer look "you study formations Mars?" "yeah just a bit" "...I see maybe I could help you out, I happen to know a lot about formations" "sure, I would like that if you have time... I was thinking about getting some food in the cafeteria want to come?" "sure" Mars walked out of the room and locked the door after Varvei walked out then he showed the way to the cafeteria that was relatively empty as it was still early in the morning but late enough that most of the students had gone to class, Mars and Varvei both brought a tray with some food and sat down at a empty table and begun eating in silence, after they finished eating did Mars pick up the trays "I''ll be right back" "okay" Varvei looked at Mars'' back until he was obscured by the crowds, then she began looking around and soon made eye contact with a student wearing a red mantel, the student widened her eyes when she saw Varvei and pulled the arm of another beastwoman dressed in maid clothes that also looked over at Varvei and soon both of them walked over and sat down in front of Varvei, Varvei looked at the student with the red mantel and suddenly remembered something "wait... your name is Chloe right?" "yeah that''s me, so where is Mars?" "he just left, said he would be back soon" "oh I see..." Chloe fell silent until the beastwoman in maid clothes poked her on the shoulder "what is it Elsa?" "shouldn''t you introduce me?" "oh right, Varvei this is Elsa, Elsa this is Varvei" Varvei gave a nod and looked over at Elsa "hello" "nice to meet you Varvei, has Mars been taking good care of you?" "...what do you mean?" "well it''s just I heard from Chloe that you wasn''t in such a good shape last time she saw you" "oh right... yeah I''m in perfect shape now" "that''s good, I wouldn''t want to beat down a weak thieving cat" suddenly it clicked for Varvei, while Elsa''s smile seemed harmless at first glance there was a good amount of hidden killing intent in there, Varvei gave a wide smile as a cold light flashed in her eyes "oh don''t you worry about that, what about you defeated dog aren''t you clutching that dagger rather hard? are you okay?" Varvei slowly transformed her tail as she stared into Elsa''s eyes but suddenly both of them was interrupted as Chloe spoke up "both of you look rather pathetic fighting like that, can''t you tone it down a little?" ""HUMPH"" both of them broke eye contact, Varvei swung her tail back and forth in irritation as she glared at Chloe but suddenly she gave a smirk and so did the other 2, the whole mood seemed to have suddenly improved a whole lot and then Chloe spoke up "hey so how far have you gone with Mars?" Varvei blushed a little and slightly averted her gaze "I-I kissed him" "ugh... so jealous, so I''m the only one that hasn''t kissed Mars" "wait that means, you too Elsa?" "yeah... it was so dreamy..." "I know right..." Varvei and Elsa both had stupid grins on their faces while Chloe seemed rather jealous, this was the exact moment Mars returned "I''m back... oh Elsa and Chloe are here too" ""Mars!"" both Elsa and Chloe shot up form their seats and each grabbed a arm as they hugged Mars, Elsa''s tail seemed to have turned into a blur and Chloe''s long ears seemed to be trembling slightly "wow there, take it easy I''m not going anywhere" "but it''s been so long... ha... ha... Mars'' smell" "hey Elsa act properly!" "like you aren''t doing the same thing Chloe!" "easy Chloe, Elsa people are staring" "how cares about that!" "yeah we don''t care!" it took some time for Mars to calm down Elsa and Chloe but eventually both of them sat down at the bench next to Mars of cause, Mars looked over at Varvei and asked "do you want to enroll here Varvei?" "here at this academy?" "yeah we could take classes together and stuff like that" "but.. isn''t it expensive to enroll?" Chloe gave a soft sigh and spoke up "don''t you want to be with Mars?" "yes I do but..." "then no but''s!" "...o-okay, Mars I would like to enroll here" "good then let''s get your enrollment sorted" "r-right now?" "yes right now" "o-okay" Mars rose form the table and so did Varvei but Elsa and Chloe kept sitting "what about you two, want to come with?" "I want to tag along but I have class now..." "and I need to clean..." "okay then we''ll see you later" "bye Elsa, Chloe" Mars and Varvei walked out of the cafeteria leaving Elsa and Chloe behind and headed over to the administrative building and soon found a teacher, Mars explained Varvei would like to enroll the teacher gave a nod "we always welcome talented students, you just have to pass the test first" "test?" "you see we only accept strategic and tactical class mages at odd times of the year like this" "so i have to take a test?" "yes follow me... Mars you can come as well" "yes... wait you know who I am?" "of cause I do, how many tactical class mages do you think we have at the academy?" "not a lot right?" "right, so all staff is required to know them by name" "I see..." Mars and Varvei followed after the teacher and soon they arrived in a courtyard with a giant containment formation in the middle "well then miss Varvei please use your most powerful spell at the middle of the formation" "okay..." Varvei walked forwards and stopped at a spot about 10 meters from the containment formation before she raised her arms and mumbled "ring of fire..." a gentle flame appeared a soon formed a ring that gradually grew larger until it was about 15 meters across then it started spinning around itself at high speed before Varvei pointed at the containment formation "go..." the ring of fire shoot forth with such high speed it almost seemed like it teleported when it arrived inside the containment formation activated and formed a transparent dome that was shattered as soon as it formed with the back up containment formation only just able to kick in before it also shattered under the might of the ring of fire, Mars mentally prepared for the ring to explode or destabilize but it didn''t, it just silently returned to floating around Varvei as if it was awaiting its next order. Varvei waved her hand and the ring disappeared into thin air before she looked over at the stunned teacher and asked with a smile on her face "did I pass?" "y-yes... yes you did" Chapter 121 Returning to Destras magic academy 3 Mars woke up from his daze and thought back to when he had taken the test, at that time his 3 fold explosion was only able to break the first containment formation ''well I''m sure if i used the same spell I would have similar results... probably'' Mars convinced himself so and gave a nod before he walked over to Varvei and patted her on the shoulder "good job" "thanks Mars" "could you teach me that spell sometime?" Varvei frowned and slowly shook her head "I''m sorry I can''t, I learned it from a grimoire..." "oh, I see well never mind then" the teacher gave a sigh of amazement and also walked over to Varvei "you have passed the test miss Varvei, as long as you can pay the fee you will be accepted into Destra''s magic academy" "I''ll pay for her" "....okay then please follow me back to the administrative building" Mars and Varvei gave a nod and followed the teacher back to the administrative building were Mars paid the fee and Varvei received her red mantel which she put on "how does it look?" "it looks nice on you" "thanks Mars!" Varvei latched on to Mars'' arm and rubbed her face on his shoulder in happiness until the teacher gave a fake cough and spoke up "class have already started so please follow after me miss Varvei and I''ll show you to your new dorm room, Mars go ahead and head to class" "okay" "see you later Mars" "see you Varvei" Mars walked out of the administrative building and headed to class, when he reached the class room he knocked on the door and waited until it was opened, a middle aged man with a golden robe and a calm smile on his face opened the door, upon seeing Mars his smile widened a little and he reached his hand forwards "you must be Mars, I''m the new vice principal Max" Mars grabbed Max''s hand and shock it with a smile on his face "nice to meet you Max" "please come in and take a seat" Mars gave a nod and walked into the class room and looked around and saw the twins and Karen sitting on their usual places, but there was also Chloe sitting at a seat a little away from the others and a unknown student that also wore a red mantel, she had short yellow hair and a pair of yellow eyes that seemed to be glowing slightly, Mars also saw Victoria that had taken her usual spot on top of his desk and was sleeping. Mars walked over and took his seat after waving at Karen and the twins "okay then let''s resume the lesson about mana, mana as I''m sure you all know is the power behind all magic spells and formations furthermore---" Mars listened to the lesson for about 10 minutes until there was a knock on the door and the teacher form before followed by Varvei, the teacher and Max exchanged a few words before the teacher walked out of the class room leaving Varvei behind "okay we have a new classmate here, go ahead and introduce yourself" "yes.... my name is Varvei, I''m a half dragon nice to meet you all" "good, Varvei go ahead and take a seat" "yes teacher" Varvei walked over and took a seat a little away from Mars before the lesson continued, after an hour did Max stop teaching and ended the lesson before he walked out of the classroom, Mars stretched and looked around the classroom the twins were sleeping soundly and Karen was chatting with the unknown student, Varvei was looking like she was contemplating something so Mars left her alone and walked over to Karen "hey Karen" "hey Mars I was just talking about you" "really now... was it about how handsome I am?" "err... no" "..." "w-well anyway this is Joy" Joy bowed her head slightly as she inspected Mars with her slightly glowing yellow eyes before she suddenly gave him a thumbs up "I heard you gave the finger to the empire... nice job" "you don''t like the empire Joy?" "no..." "I see, well I''m probably a wanted man in the empire... so nice to meet you?" Mars reached out his hand with a wry smile on his face, Joy''s eyes sparkled as she quickly shook Mars'' hand with a strange vigor until Varvei walked up poked Mars on the shoulder "should we go?" Mars turned and saw Chloe also looked at him expectantly "yeah let''s.... see you Karen, nice to meet you again Joy" Mars left the class room with a flower on each hand and Victoria following after him and the rest of the day did Mars'' spend along with his 3 admires telling stories about what had happened during the trip but mostly he spend the time flirting with the three of them until night came and he returned back to his room and threw himself on the bed with a happy smile on his face "this is life..." Mars slowly drifted off to sleep... late at night a pair of fluffy black ears twitched as they focused on the sounds around them, then they turned to the person sleeping on the bed in the small dorm room ''he''s sleeping... but I want to play...'' she gave a light snort out from her nose to show her displeasure with Mars that was currently in dreamland before she turned to the window that was slightly open ''I can always play by myself'' Victoria decide to go out and play by herself and focused soon her horns glowed slightly before the outline of her body turned blurry and she turned into a shadow that slipped out the window and down the wall before she rematerialized on the ground and looked around for something to play with and soon spotted some dried leaves on the ground that moved slightly in the wind ''pray found'' Victoria''s pupils widened and turned round as she crouched down and started to mentally calculate the distance to her target before he hind legs exploded with power and she leaped into the air, after gliding through the air for a second did she land again with her front paws firmly around her pray that crumbled as she tore it apart with her paws ''time to find some more pray...'' Victoria looked around again as her fluffy ears twitched searching for any sounds in the quiet night and soon the sound of metal grinding against metal entered her ears ''over there?'' having found something new and interesting she released the dried leaves from her paws and begun running in the direction of the sound and soon she reached the outer fence of the academy where a group of masked men was scaling the fence, Victoria hid in some brushes with her ears standing at attention as she looked at the group soon their whispers entered her ears "is he really here?" "yeah the latest intel from the academy says he arrived early this morning" one of the men that had passed the fence licked his lips and gave a smile under his mask "100.000 cell for the head of one person... the empire sure is generous" soon the rest of the group finished scaling the fence and the group begun moving further into the academy, but a set of paws starked them in the dark ''they look like bad people... Mars said I could kill bad people... this seems like fun pray'' Victoria ran up to and hid in an other brush before her horns flashed slightly and a shadow clone that was formed out of the surrounding darkness appeared before it moved ahead of the group and sat down and waited soon the group of masked men discovered the shadow clone, one of them fired a crossbow at the clone, the bolt strock true and made the shadow clone tune back into shadows "what was that?" "don''t know" one of the bigger intruders shushed the others before he whispered "it doesn''t matter what it was, be alert!" the group moved forwards again while Victoria watched them from a nearby roof ''they seem mean.... let''s thin their numbers first...'' the group continued forwards until the leader signaled for them to stop and turned around "...wait where did Luger and Caspar go?" "err..? they were right behind me?" "maybe they got lost?" the leader felt a chill down his spine and quickly drew out his sword, the blade glinted in the moonlight "defensive positions!" the group of 6 bounty hunters formed a circle with their backs against each other and watched the darkness in an alert state, little did they know Victoria had appeared in the middle of them ''boring pray... this was too easy'' Victoria formed 8 shadow meddles which shot off into the necks of the bounty hunters that all fell over with a thud before they began melting into a shadow that had appeared under them Chapter 122 Invaders of the Mother forest 1 Mars opened his eyes slowly and stared into the ceiling for some time until he gave a soft sigh and sat up in bed and looked around the small dorm room, Victoria was as always laying on his legs sleeping, so was so far in dreamland that she was snoring lightly Mars reached over with his hand and begun petting her on the head and slowly the snoring turned into light purring before she turned slightly in her sleep. Mars gave a wry smile and lifted her up as he pulled his legs out from under her and got up and looked out the window up at the clock tower ''still another hour until class...'' Mars quickly threw on some clothes and left his dorm room after locking the door and headed towards the cafeteria to get some breakfast, soon he arrived and found the queue for the food was manageable and queued up to get some food, after he got his tray with food he looked around and soon spotted a deserted table and walked over and sat down before he began eating his food in silence until he spotted a familiar person and called out "Hanna" Hanna turned and looked around and eventually spotted Mars and walked over with her tray and sat down in front of Mars with a small smile on her face "it''s good you back... when did you return Mars?" "yesterday morning" "I see..." Hanna fell silent Mars was about to return to his food but remembered something and asked "that reminds me how did that thing go?" "that thing?" "your revenge" "oh that thing... it went well, but thanks to it I have lost all my old friends" "oh... you mind telling me more?" "well there''s not really much to tell I challenged him to a duel and killed him" "how did you feel afterwards?" Hanna opened her mouth but didn''t know what to say so she closed it again with a frown on her face meanwhile Mars continued "surely something must have changed... that''s probably what you asked yourself right?" "th-that''s... yes I did ask myself that question but..." Mars gave a smile and continued "nothing changed right?" "...yes" Hanna lowered her head and bit her lower lip "don''t worry about it that''s the normal reaction to that sort of stuff" Hanna looked up again "really..? I''m not weird for feeling like this?" Mars gave a reassuring smile "nope not at all... well I can see your not entirely convinced, hmm... that''s fine too I guess, you''ll find your own answer... at some point" "is that what you did?" "yes" "I see..." the two of them returned to their food and after some time Mars finished and but down his cutlery on the tray and gave a soft sigh before he looked over at Hanna that still was eating and noticed her scars was almost gone only leaving a faint lightning pattern on her face "oh right how is it going with his highness?" "with Augustus? we''re friends" "I see... and how''s it going with... what''s his name again..? oh right Ivan" "we''re friends too" "huh I thought your old friends left you?" "Ivan''s different then those 2 faced friends" "I see" Mars stood up and grabbed his tray "see you later Hanna" "yeah see you Mars" after saying goodbye to Hanna Mars walked over and put his tray in the bin before he walked out of the cafeteria and back to his dorm room and picked up some stuff for class before he poked the still sleeping Victoria awake "I''m going to class, you want to come with?" "sure..." Victoria stretched before she jumped down the bed and followed after Mars out of the dorm room but before he reached he ran into Chloe which looked rather distressed "what''s wrong Chloe" "oh Mars thanks god I need your help!" "what''s wrong Chloe?" "something happened at the village!" Chloe was clutching a small metal cube that was glowing with soft red light "well then we need to leave now, go pack we''ll meet up at the gates in 10 okay?" "o-okay" Mars ran back to his dorm room and packed his backpack before he left the dorm room he looked around and thought to himself ''and I was just starting to enjoy being back too...'' Mars ran out of the room but before he could make his way to the gate he ran into Elsa "Mars what''s wrong?" "something happened at Green river, Chloe have asked me to come with her" "then I''m going too!" Mars looked at Elsa for a second before he gave a nod "then back a bag and meet us by the main gate in 5" "okay!" Elsa ran off towards the dorms and Mars continued towards the gate where he found not only Chloe but also Varvei waiting for him "good your here, let''s go!" "Chloe wait Elsa is coming too" "Elsa... okay" "try to calm down... do you know what happened?" "no just that if this cube ever glowed red the destruction of Green river is a real possibility" Varvei also looked concerned and put a hand on Chloe''s shoulder, Mars put a hand on his chin and thought out loud "we''re at least a week by carriage away from the Mother forest... if we ride on horseback we can shorten it to 5 days... if we ride the horses into the ground and change at every town we can probably make it in 4 days... I really wish we had a sky carriage" while Mars was thinking Elsa arrived, she was wearing some leather armor instead of her usual maid clothes "I''m here" "okay good then let''s go" during the next 3 days Mars and the girls rode form city to town switching horses when they could as they made their way south, on the way Mars brought Varvei a long spear which she practiced with in the evenings and just like that on the evening of the 4 day did the group reach Malrton which was only a stone throw away form the outer Mother forest after spending the night at Malrton they ventured into the Mother forest "this sure is nostalgic..." Varvei looked around the forest, they were still in the outer forest so it wasn''t so hard to traverse the terrain as of yet "Isn''t just another forest?" "hey this is my home" Mars took a deep breath with his eyes closed taking in the air of the forest, he half had a feeling of wanting to go back to wearing beast leathers again "well then let''s continue we''re still some days away from Green river" the group continued their journey and with the help of Victoria''s sharp senses they avoided most magic beast making their journey a smooth one, until the 3 day since they entered the forest when they reached the barrier forest and ran into a rather nostalgic group of magic beasts, Mars suddenly raised his hand and signaled the group to stop while he looked around "Victoria you hear them too?" "yeah... there''s a... lot of them" Elsa walked up to Mars and asked him "what''s wrong Mars?" "we have incoming from right ahead" "magic bests?" "yeah it''s a group of stealth acid spiders" "ugh... spiders" "yeah I know... Victoria and I will take the front, be sure not to get hit by the acid" "you don''t have to tell me twice" Chloe patted Varvei on the shoulder and said with a grave look on her face "take it serious it really fucking hurts" "you tried it?" "yeah once... I almost lost my leg" "...okay then" Varvei began slowly transforming as she clutched her long spear in her hands and alertly watched the forest around her "I hear them too" Mars also transformed into his half-dragon form and looked ahead as he drew his sword "here they come!" Mars quickly formed a few fire lances and fired them off into the distant trees seemingly aiming at nothing when suddenly they hit something, something that let out a inhumane scream as it fell from the trees burning, Victoria also fired off some shadow lances that nailed a few spiders to the trees around them "there''s still 16 of them left stay alert!" after he yelled Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view before he reappeared and stabbed his sword into the head of a spider before he reactivated [Instant movement] and disappeared again, while Mars was massacring spiders Varvei stood ready with her long spear with her eyes closed, suddenly she opened them and trust forwards with her spear and non fatally hit a spider which caused its stealth to disappear "Chloe!" "I got it!" Chloe that had been waiting for a target fired a fire lance right into the face of the spider instantly killing it "nice job" Elsa was also standing with her eyes closed while her wolf like ears were twitching slightly suddenly she grabbed Chloe and pulled her a step back making a lump of acid shoot right past her "th-thanks Elsa" Elsa opened her eyes and gave a smile and a thumbs up Chapter 123 Invaders of the Mother forest 2 Mars pulled his sword out of the last remaining spider and looked around, other then the spider corpses and the few spots were the trees were slightly burning everything looked fine, the girls were also alright with them having taken down 6 of the total 24 spiders Mars thought they did a good job and walked over and praised them "good job" the girls showed a mix of bashful and proud emotions after receiving simple praise from Mars and gathered around him "did I also... do a... good job?" "yeah you did a good job too Victoria" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head meanwhile Chloe walked over to one of the spider corpses with her sword drawn, this caused Elsa some confusion so she asked "what are you doing Chloe?" "getting the core... they are useful for Mars" "useful? is he going to make magic formations with them?" Mars suddenly realized he never told Elsa he was a living god and pulled her to the side "er... here the thing Elsa I''m not mortal" Elsa widened her eyes slightly as she looked at Mars, but she remained silent waiting for him to continue, Mars scratched his head and asked her "have you ever heard of living gods?" "no... it that what you are?" "yeah basically, although I''m too young to be called a proper living god" "too young... how old are you then?" "...5 months" "you don''t seem like a 5 month old baby though?" "that''s because I have memories from my past life" "I see... this is a lot to take in, but..." "but?" "are you still the Mars I know?" "yeah" Elsa gave a small nod and walked forwards before she embraced Mars in a hug "what''s wrong Elsa?" "nothing I just wanted to make sure" Elsa let go of Mars and pulled out a dagger and asked "so magic beast cores are useful for you?" "yeah they help me grow stronger" "I see then let''s collect them quickly" Elsa went off to collect the cores Mars gave a soft sigh as he watched her walk away and suddenly saw Chloe stomping over with a angry face "what''s wrong Chloe?" Chloe didn''t answer she just walked up to him and... hugged him before she whispered "stupid you never hugged me" "I see" Mars put his arms around Chloe and hugged her back and for a time it was as if only the two of them existed in the wide forest until Chloe pulled away and Mars let her go, he also saw a glint of her bright red ears but decided not to tease her about it, suddenly Mars felt a cold sensation from his back and turned around to see Varvei with her arms spared out and a wide smile on her face ''good grief...'' Mars surrendered and also gave Varvei a hug before he joined the others in looking for cores, in the end he managed to receive a total of 24 cores which he put into his backpack "let''s go" "Mars wait... we have more guests" Mars looked over at Chloe and saw she was holding the metal cube only this time it shone in a blue light, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the spot and waited, the girls gathered around with Victoria was the first to claim a spot on his legs with Varvei on his left and Chloe sitting with her back resting against his and Elsa on his right side, soon Mars also began hearing the guests approach, the sounds of leather boots softly treading and bowstrings being drawn sounded out around him ''this is a rather big group... 12 in total'' Mars gave a smile as he petted Victoria on the head and soon a single elf appeared in front of the group, he had short blonde hair and green eyes and carried a sword in his hand but there was no sign of hostility on his slightly handsome face as he looked at Mars with a smile "long time no see Alvin" "yeah it''s been a long time Mars" Mars looked around and counted to be sure before he gave a nod "moving up in the world, now you command 11 people" "yeah it''s been the standard patrol size since we got invaded" "I see... good for you" "so is there anything you want Mars?" "I''m here to help, anyway I can" "I see... personally I would be happy to welcome it but I''m not sure what the elders think" at this point Mars heard a sigh form his back before Chloe stood up and faced Alvin "hey Alvin" Alvin''s face stiffened slightly before he gave a small bow "princess Chloe" Chloe gave a sigh at the whole ''princess'' part but still continued speaking "you know how I was assigned a secret mission by the elders?" "yeah, what about it?" "well the mission was to invite Mars for a chat" "I-I see... well in that case..." Alvin gave a hand signal and the 11 other elvers showed themselves from the shadows of the forest "let me escort you to Green river" "captain!" one of the elvers spoke out in protest "we can''t just escort some unknown outsiders to Green river!" Alvin looked at the elf and gave a sigh before he put on a stern face "did you not hear what Chloe just said?" "with all due respect, she could be lying or perhaps that human is threatening her!" "human? wait Mars is not a hu---" before Alvin had a change to finish his sentence had Mars appeared in front of the elf that was speaking out against Chloe and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air "call me human one more time and I will end you" "you!" one of the nearby elvers took unkindly to Mars threatening one of the other elvers and drew her sword before she slashed at Mars, only to have a set of claws block her sword "well aren''t you lively" Mars threw aside the elver he was holding by the neck and planted a lightning fast punch to her stomach making her kneel over "get the human!" "I''m telling you I''m not human!" the distribute developed into a full on brawl between Mars and the remaining 10 elvers but less then 2 minutes later the forest was quiet again, well except for the groans of pain from the elvers Mars sat down on one of the more lively elvers and looked at Alvin with a grin on his face "does this remind you of something Alvin?" "....a bit, anyway could you get off Dexter" "he tried to spit at me, i think he deserves to be sat on for some time" "...please?" "fine" Mars got off the elver that apparently was called Dexter and brushed the dirt off his pants "anyways... what do you know about the invaders?" Alvin stroked his chin "only that they made a beachhead in the southern peninsular and they seemed to have started building a fort" "have you tried a diplomatic approach?" "that''s... sorry I don''t know, I''m not high enough in the chain of command to know" "I see... well then let''s get going" "yeah... squad, breaks over let''s move... now!" the wounded (mostly in their pride of course) elvers picked themselves off the ground and followed after Alvin while sending hateful looks at Mars, Mars as always ignored them and carried a calm smile on his face as he walked together with the girls Later that day in the evening the group stopped to make camp, Mars found the looks he was getting a little annoying so he grew out some horns to convince the elvers he wasn''t human which caused their looks to soften a little, everything would have been perfect if he had not beaten them so badly earlier ''well whatever...'' Mars sat down his backpack and pulled out his bedroll while he looked over at Chloe, she was speaking with some of the other elvers that sent glances in Mars'' direction they were clearly still weary of him ''ignore it, ignore it...'' Mars sat down on his bedroll and pulled some dried meat out of his backpack and munched on it while he looked around, while he was eating Elsa came over and sat down next to him, she was silent for some time until Mars held out some dried meat and asked her "want some?" "...sure" Elsa took some of the dried meat and begun eating it mean while she grabbed Mars'' hand "say why did you beat up the elvers earlier?" "hmm... for nostalgia''s sake" "nostalgia? did you beat up a group of elvers before?" "yeah when I first came to this forest I beat up a group of elvers that included Chloe and Alvin" "...were they trying to kill you?" "yeah... I remember Chloe''s eyes they were dead like she was looking at some kind of filth" "and so you beat her up?" "...no she ran I sent Victoria after her" "that must have been scary" "yeah but they are friends now though" "I see..." Elsa leaned her head on Mars'' shoulder and looked over at Chloe with a little envy in her eyes Chapter 124 Invaders of the Mother forest 3 early morning Mars'' eyes snapped open, he sat up and looked around the forest was quiet which calmed him down a little ''what''s up with this damn forest..?'' he had a nightmare just now, he was back in that horrible cell and was tortured all night in his dreams, so his current mood was bad to say the least ''...hopefully it doesn''t continue like last time'' Mars shook his head to clear it before he crawled out of his bedroll and put on his boots and stood up and stretched his slightly sore back "good morning Mars" Mars turned and saw Chloe standing there with a blue fruit in her hand which she handed to him "good morning Chloe" Mars bit into the fruit and a fresh taste of mint spread through his mouth Mars chewed and swallowed "thanks" "you''re welcome, did you sleep well?" "no i had a nightmare..." "I see..." "well anyway are the others awake?" "I think Varvei is awake, she''s probably training with her long spear" "could you go wake Elsa for me?" "okay..." Mars watched Chloe walk away and gave a sigh ''I really hope... well whatever'' Mars shook his head again It took the group 3 days to reach the outskirts of Green river, Mars looked at the 15 meter tall wall that looked like it was made of living wood with deep shadows under his eyes, what he feared had happened his nightmares were back and his mood had hit rock bottom the only times he smiled was when the girls tired to cheer him up or when Victoria acted spoiled but even then it was only a weak smile he showed, this stark contrast made even the elvers looks on him soften a little "well then here we are... Mars you might want to transform before we enter the city" "right..." "you okay?" "I''m fine..." "...if you say so" Mars grew out his horns and followed the group though on of the gates into Green river and looked around, the high rises made of wood certainly were impressive only Mars wasn''t in the mood to admire the architecture so he only silently followed after the group, almost all of the elvers on the streets stopped and watched the group with guarded looks on their faces, only the children showed curiosity and wonder when they looked at Mars and the girls, Varvei gave a small wave to a child that waved back with a smile only to have its parent grab the child and walk away "they really are guarded even for elvers... has it always been like this Chloe?" "yeah pretty much... although it was different at some point before the massacre of Mother town" "I see... a massacre huh..." Varvei gave a sigh and looked at the crowd again while she tightened the grip she had on her long spear, Chloe gave a wry smile as she looked at the crowd "I would probably also be like that if I had not meet Mars" "oh really... Elsa told me that you were way worse when you meet him for the first time though" "ugh.... are you still mad about that Mars?" "me? no not really" suddenly the group stopped walking in front was another group of armed elvers that wore plate armor that looked like it was made of dark polished wood, the leader stepped forwards "halt, for what reason did you bring those outsiders Alvin?" "one of them is too meet with the elders according to princess Chloe" "....what about the other 2?" Chloe saw the elvers in polished wooden armor move their hands to their swords and quickly stepped forwards "they are my guests" "is that so?" "yes they are my friends" the leader stared down Chloe for some time before he gave a hand signal and the rest relaxed, then he gave a smile and a light bow "then please allow me to escort the elders guest form here" "...fine" Alvin walked up and whispered something into the leaders ear which caused him to give a deep frown before he looked at Mars "follow after me please" "go it" Mars gave a wave to the girls before he followed after the leader further into Green river but to Mars'' surprise they soon reached a closed off ally were the guards surrounded him "what''s the meaning of this?" "we don''t like you outside" "I see... well then what are you going to do about it?" "we''re going to---" "before you finish that sentence be very sure about what you are going to say because I''m not in a mood to hold back, if you attack me I will kill you all starting with you" the massive amount of killing intent Mars let out caused the leader guard to freeze up but Mars continued "I will not only kill you I will do it by tearing off all your limps then I will carry you corpse to the elders and tell them that your race isn''t worth keeping alive on Alfan then I will kill every elver in Green river" the blood drained from the leader guards face before he swallowed hard "so are you sure what you''re going to say? then say it" the leader guard remained silent for some time until he gestured to the exit of the ally "follow the main road until you reach a bridge then enter the giant tree on you right" "smart man" Mars gave a slight smile and walked past the leader and exited the ally before he followed the main road, ignoring the stares he got on the way until he reached the bridge and stopped to look up at the giant tree ''that sure is big... about 200 meter high?'' Mars walked up to the giant tree''s trunk and entered it through an opening and found himself in a nice looking lobby and walked over to the counter were a elf stood and waited, the elver gave Mars a curious look before he asked "your name?" "Mars" the elver looked down at a book which she flipped through until she found Mars'' name and suddenly looked up at him again with shock in her eyes "the living god?" "one of five yes" "p-please wait here for a moment!" the elf receptionist gave a quick bow before she ran off further into the hollowed out tree "well then..." Mars found a nearby chair, sat down and waited... and waited ''and how long am I supposed to wait...'' just as Mars was getting tired of waiting a group of elvers showed up, the lead was a old, nay an ancient looking elf with wrinkles all over his face, he carried a gentle looking smile when he looked at Mars, the others were guards in ceremonial looking armor, the ancient elf stopped in front of Mars "are you Mars?" Mars gave a nod "yes that''s me" "as I live and breathe... could you do me a favor Mars?" Mars gave a smile and nodded "sure" "could you apply your presence so we may know for sure you''re a living god?" "what you don''t believe me?" the gentle smile disappeared and the elvers in ceremonial armor spread out and pointed their spears at Mars, the elder raised his hand and held it there "please" "fine... [STOP]" Mars gave a smile as the elvers in ceremonial armor fell over, they were passed out "will this do?" the ancient elf''s gentle smile returned before he gave a light bow "please follow after me, the elders is waiting" "sure" Mars got up from the chair and stepped over the passed out elvers and followed after the ancient elf "you know this is only the 2nd time I have been threatened since I came to Green river" "is that so?" "yes and there will not be a 3rd time or I will burn down this forest" "...I understand" Mars gave a nod and followed after the ancient elf further into the hollowed out tree, the way was complicated like a snake trail through a sandstorm after going through a unknown number of hallways that looked exactly alike did the ancient elf finely stop in front of a large wooden door which he gestured to with a light bow "the elders wait though this door" "well then let''s meet your elders" Mars confidently walked up to the door and... kicked it open, the door almost fell of its hinges as it slammed into the wall with a loud bang "anyone home?" Mars walked into the giant hall, 5 wooden raised thrones were in the middle of the room were 5 figures sat, one of them looked up with a frown on his face "he certainly is brash this young living god" "but that''s how they all are..." "your right, we shall take no offence to it" "after all it is us that should apologize" Mars looked up at the 5 elders with a smile on his face and moved a hand to the hilt of his sword "I certainly hope its a sincere apology you have prepared for me" Chapter 125 Invaders of the Mother forest 4 "for sending a kill or exile order we off our most sincere apology" "we have gathered a gift for you Mars to show our most sincere apology" "a total of 1.000 class 6 magic beast cores have been gathered, we offer theses cores to you" "in hopes that you will forgive our past transgression" Mars swallowed hard "did you say 1.000 class 6 magic beast cores?" "we did indeed" "you have use for these right?" "we certainly hope you can use them" Mars gave a awkrved smile, use for 1.000 magic beast cores? certainly he had a few, well more than a few ''and class 6 magic beast cores is 200 energy units each... this is the jackpot'' "we have also prepared a building for you to use as you wish" "a big one in the middle of the city with view off the river" "from all 50 floors of cause" "I-I see" "there''s also the matter with the young Chloe" "yes must not forget the young princess" "we have decided not to interfere with your relationship" "you two are free to do as you wish" Mars gave a smile "I''ll be sure to tell her that... by the way I heard you have some problems with invaders" "yes the invaders...." "we certainly have a problem with them yes" "why do you ask?" "well I can help you out with your problem" "truly?" "that would certainly be helpful" "but what do you ask in return?" "nothing much, just that all of Green river know I''m the one that helped you out, you see I have been getting some rather guarded stares since I arrived in Green river, been threatened twice too... I would just like to have most of Green river look on me positively" "positively is it..." "we can arrange that but..." "do you truly not wish for anything more?" Mars thought for a moment but shook his head "no" "we see..." "we would certainly welcome this" "but..." Mars gave a slight frown it seemed like they were against getting in his debt, sure he could demand another 1.000 magic beast cores but he didn''t feel like it, after all the cores they had offered him was enough for now "take it as a friendly gesture, after all i plan to live in Green river for some time" "if that''s the case..." "very well, we will accept this friendly gesture form you Mars" "when will you handle the invaders?" "hmm... in 2 days... I have something I need to handle first" "okay that''s fine" After Mars finished his conversation with the elders he walked back out the door and found the ancient elf waiting for him with a gentle smile on his face "I take it the talk went well?" "yeah it went fine" "I see... well then follow me I''ll show you out" Mars gave a nod and followed after the ancient elf A female elf stood and waited in the reception area of the giant tree, she wore a business suit and looked like she was in her 30''s with shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes, next to her stood a ancient looking elf that had just fetched her ''I wonder when he''s coming...'' her name was Kaitlin and she is a member of one of the oldest clans in Green river, also one of the wealthiest it was her building that had been taken by the elders and given to a certain Mars but why she did not know "nervous?" "no... well a little" Kaitlin smiled at the ancient looking elf, she didn''t dare to be disrespectful because the ancient elf besides her was a part of the ''eldest'' that severed the elders "to be honest I''m more confused, who is this Mars for him be granted my building by the elders?" "it''s not your building anymore" "sorry... I''m just confused" "hehe... I''m sure you are, but all will be revealed in some time" "I sure hope so..." "look there he is" Kaitlin looked and saw another ancient elf leading a youth with horns growing out his forehead ''he''s kind of handsome for a non-elf.... but those deep shadows under his eyes, I wonder if he doesn''t sleep?'' Kaitlin steeped forwards with her business smile on and reached out her hand to Mars as she introduced herself "my name is Kaitlin, I have been tasked with managing your new building if there''s anything you want to know just ask me" Mars gave a nod and shock her hand "my name is Mars, I hope you will take care of me, I never owned a building before" "certainly, now please follow me I''ll show you to the building" Mars gave a nod and followed after Kaitlin first out of the giant tree then into the bustling city "the building has 50 floors, floor 1-25 is commercial with high class stores, floor 25-35 is apartments, floor 35-45 is administrative space for offices and the last 5 floors is a penthouse for your personal use" "I see, that certainly sounds impressive" "I''m sure it will be more impressive when you see it in person" "well could we make a stop another place first?" "sure were are you thinking of going?" "were ever the forest patrol teams rest when they are in the city" "okay, I know the way" Mars followed after Kaitlin until they reached the outskirts of Green river were some simple looking barracks was located "who are we looking for?" "Alvin and the one''s he''s looking after, 2 non elvers and Chloe" "princess Chloe?" "yeah that one" "okay..." Kaitlin walked into one of the barracks, soon she returned with Alvin and the girls Chloe was the first to reach Mars so she was also the first to latch on to his arm before she asked "how did the talk with the elders go?" "it went well, I even got a few gifts" "really then what about us? what did they have to say?" "they have decided not to interfere with our relationship "really... then let''s make some babies right now!" "wow there hold your horses" Mars stopped Chloe from from dragging him into the nearby barracks with a light chop to the head "ouch!" or not so light, seeing her lightly tear up Mars hugged her tight and whispered into her ear "what''s the rush?" "y-you''re right no need to rush this but first..." Chloe grabbed Mars'' face and deeply kissed him right then and there and for some time it was as if only the two of them existed in that plane of reality "okay that''s enough Chloe!" "yeah save some for us too!" until she was dragged away from Mars by Varvei and Elsa, Mars spent a moment getting his bearings again before he looked over at Kaitlin and gave a smile "please lead the way Kaitlin" "r-right... so that''s why he doesn''t sleep at night" "did you say anything?" "n-no nothing" "where are we going Mars?" "you''ll see" "this is the building" Mars looked up at the building, it was like most other buildings in Green river made of living wood with breaches coming off the main building ''this sure is something...'' Mars admired the, no his building for a while without saying anything before he looked over at Kaitlin with a calm slime on his face "why don''t you show us around?" "certainly, at once first is the entrance---" while Kaitlin spoke of the building it dawned on Chloe what was happening and waved the other girls over "what is it Chloe?" "I think this is Mars'' building" "what do you mean his building?" Varvei was confused but Elsa''s eyes lit up "you mean the elders gave Mars a building?" "yes that''s what I mean" Varvei''s eye widened "you mean this building?" "yes this building, why else would this Kaitlin be showing us around?" "that makes sense... but why would the elders be so generous?" Chloe thought for a moment "hmm... it must be because they know what Mars really is" "I see... but what should we do about it?" "nothing?" "Chloe really... don''t you think it''s a bad idea to tie Mars to one ''ship''?" "well this happens to be my ''ship''" "...well never mind then, what do you think Elsa?" "me? well I think it''s wonderful that someone values Mars to this extent" "that''s... well fine then" Mars stopped and looked over at the girls "girls come on or we will leave you behind" "coming!" the guided tour of the building took about an hour, on the way Mars greeted some of the residents of the building, they were surprisingly okay with an outsider being the owner of their building, now only the last thing need to be shown off, the penthouse they were currently standing in the main living area "the penthouse is rather big at 1,5 square kilometers of floor space, other than that it has its own mana power source witch powers the lighting and all the other appliances in the penthouse... and most of all the view is to die for, take a look" Kaitlin pressed a button and the giant curtains opened up showing a breathtaking view of the river and the other parts of the city Chapter 126 Invaders of the Mother forest 5 Mars looked around the main living area before he asked Kaitlin "the elders sent me another gift, do you know where it is?" "err... there was a chest sent to the building, it''s in the main storage area right this way" "lead the way please" Elsa looked at Mars'' face and asked the other 2 "is it just me or does he seem even more excited then when she was showing us around the building?" "kinda?" Chloe gave a knowing look and nodded "....it must be magic beast cores or mana stones they gifted him" "oh right, he uses them to get stronger right?" "yeah" "I see..." Mars left the girls and Victoria that had showed up at some point and followed Kaitlin soon they reached a rather empty storage room were a single chest stood, Mars walked up to the chest and... poked it before he jumped back "...what are you doing?" Mars looked over at Kaitlin with a oddly serious face "checking if its a mimic" "I-I see" having made sure the chest was safe Mars walked over to it again and slowly opened it, the insides of the chest glinted in the light, Mars swallowed hard and looked at the content with wide eyes for a moment before he shut the lid again and picked up the chest and carried it on his shoulder "you may leave now Kaitlin" "but there''s still a lot of the penthouse left to show you" "I''m sure we will find our way around at some point, besides exploring is also fun" "I-I see well then I''ll take my leave, you can always come find me in my apartment downstairs" Mars ran back to the main living area and carefully put down the chest before he opened it again letting the magic beast cores inside glint in the sunlight before he picked one up and watched it with an enchanted look on his face and suddenly yelled "unlimited power!" the girls half jumped off the couch in shock "jeez Mars don''t suddenly yell like that!" "s-sorry I just felt like I had to... anyway''s Victoria come over here" "what... is it?" "its magic beast cores" Victoria''s ears perked up and she hurriedly ran over and looked down into the chest with shining eyes "if there''s any you can use be sure to tell me" "I... think there''s... some down... there" "that''s good... well then let''s start using these..." Mars started eating the magic beast cores, passing any that were fire or darkness element to Victoria which she ate and in the evening Mars reached level 30 "...status" Name: Mars Age: 0 (vessel 5220) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 30 Status points: Strength [100/1000] (UP)Constitution [122/2000] (UP) Dexterity [111/1500] (UP) Intelligence [102/600] (UP)Wisdom [115/900] (UP)Charisma [93/50] (UP) Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 4] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 1] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 2600/3000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] [Energy: sense] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] ''looking good almost all of my status values are above 100 points...'' Mars laid down on a couch and patted his stomach in satisfaction "now for the unpleasant stuff..." Mars had decided to face the source of his nightmares; his past life ''question is how to go about it..? maybe I should visit the temple'' Mars thought for a moment before he decided on visiting the temple "Chloe" "yes Mars what is it?" "could you show me the way to the temple?" "sure.... right now?" "yeah I have something to do in 2 days so it has to be now, sorry" "no problem, let''s go" Chloe grabbed mars'' arm and the two of them left the building and walked through the evening city until they reached the temple that was only a few minutes away, the two of them walked into the temple and talked to the priest having Chloe with him shortened the process and soon the priest showed Mars the way to the best prayer room, mars walked into the prayer room and shut the door after him and looked around the prayer room "not bad... well then let''s see if she''s up for a talk" Mars walked up to the crystal ball and put his hand on it and a mechanical voice sounded out in the room [SUBJECT NUMBER 5 CONFIRMED] the avatar sat up on the altar and looked around the room with it''s black marble eyes [SCANNING ROOM FOR PRESENCE OF MORTALS... COMPLETE, NO MORTALS DETECTED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER...] [COMPLETE... REQUEST DESCEND YES/NO?] "yes" [SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, STARTING DESCEND...] a formless pressure seemed to descend from the sky and filled the avatar like water filling a vessel and soon the eyes of the avatar turned pure cyan, glowing strongly in the dark prayer room as they stared at Mars "....Info?" "...give me a second" the avatar closed its eyes and seemed to be focusing on something for a moment before its eyes snapped open again and the lips of the avatar formed a gentle mother-like smile "it''s been some time since last Mars, care to explain?" "well there were some circumstances that made it hard to visit a temple... I became a wanted criminal" Info''s smile widened before she waved her hand and a table and two chairs appeared "oh, do tell me that story" Mars sat down and begun telling what had happened since the last time they had seen each other, after about half an hour he was done speaking and looked over at Info with a wry smile "so see there really was not time to visit a temple" "yeah I see... but still you meet one of you elder siblings and lived... that''s uncommon" "...r-really?" "yeah most of the time the top cause of death for a living god is running into a older living god" "I see... well at least I was fine" "yeah... but still you have build quite the gathering of girls around yourself" "well... my charms are undeniable" "...whatever you say... still I didn''t think you would find another half-dragon to woo" "well it only took getting wanted by one of the most powerful empires on this continent" "well you could just destroy that empire" "I might in the future, but right now I really can''t be bothered" Info leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling "what did you call me for?" "well... I need a way to face my past life so I stop having these nightmares" "I see..." Info waved her hand and a soft light gathered around Mars before it disappeared again "there... I just upgraded your [Demon dreaming] skill to level 5, now you should be able face your past life" "thanks Info" "hehe am I not the greatest?" "you''re the best I almost want to hug you" "well if that''s all I really need to get going, one of your elder siblings is messing around with the cycle of reincarnation so all of us 13 have a lot of work to do" "I-I see" "yeah don''t end up like her you hear... see you Mars" "see you Info" the cyan glow in the eyes of the avatar disappeared leaving behind the black marble eyes [DESCEND ENDED, LIFTING ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE] the avatar walked back and laid down on the altar and closed its eyes leaving Mars alone in the prayer room "well that''s that..." Mars stretched and stood up before he walked out of the prayer room and walked back to the reception room were Chloe unexpectedly was waiting for him Mars gave a smile and walked over to Chloe "sorry to keep you waiting" "I don''t mind, now let''s go back" "okay" Mars offered his arm to Chloe and the two of them left the temple and walked back to Mars'' building before they took the elevator, powered by a mana stone of cause, to the top floors as soon as they stepped out of the elevator a delightful smell entered their noses "ah they back, you done setting the table Varvei?" "give me a second" "okay" Elsa was in the kitchen cooking up a storm meanwhile Varvei was running back and forth from the kitchen to the dinning table caring dishes not only with her hands but also with her tail "this seems nice... what''s the occasion Elsa?" "well its a moving in party for all of us of cause" "I see..." Mars decided to reward Elsa for her hard work and walked up and hugged her from behind and whispered into her ear "I can''t wait to eat it" "ah~ Mars that''s dangerous!" Chapter 127 Invaders of the Mother forest 6 Mars slowly opened his eyes and looked around the king sized bed ''who''s hugging my leg..?'' Mars looked down and saw Chloe was latched on to his leg and gave a soft sigh and he slowly freed his leg and attempted to sit up but found he was unable to so he looked to his left to find out why ''Elsa... can''t feel my arm...'' Elsa was using his arm as a pillow and judging by the numbness he felt in his arm she had been lying on it all night, carefully lifting Elsa''s head off his arm Mars was finally able to get up and out of bed ''ugh... where''s the toilet again..?'' Mars walked out of the master bedroom as quietly as he could and after wandering around for sometime Mars found a toilet and walked in... and found it occupied by Varvei that was taking a shower behind a thin shower curtain, Mars could see her outline behind the shower curtain and hurriedly closed the door and walked off to find another bathroom ''that was close...almost didn''t make it'' Mars walked out of the bathroom and walked back to the main living area were he found Varvei... only wearing a shirt "oh good morning Mars" "....m-morning" "hmm... what''s wrong?" "could you put on some more cloths?" "oh..." Varvei''s face lit up in a full blush and she hurriedly put on some panties, while Mars (as a gentleman would) looked away "s-safe?" "yeah you''re good now" Mars gave a smile, even though Varvei''s current outfit was way too stimulating for him he tired to play it cool "could you tell the other two I''m on the roof and not to disturb me when they wake up?" "okay... but what are you going to do on the roof?" "well... something to do with my nightmares, hopefully end them for good" Varvei gave a smile and a small wave "okay, just be safe will you?" "yeah I''ll be fine" Mars walked up the stairs to the roof and opened the door before he stepped out on the rooftop garden and found a spot to sit down "here should be good..." Mars sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes and began to clear his head before he activated his [Demon dreaming] skill and slowly drifted off to sleep... around noon Mars'' eyes snapped open again, he was still sitting with his legs crossed "for fucks sake..." now he knew why he had been betrayed in his last life, the anger he felt made him sick to his stomach but he eventually calmed down and took a deep breath "all that for profit... did they lose their sense of humanity..?" the reason why he had been betrayed and doomed to life in that hell hole had been because his squad of marines discovered a new sentient species on a far off planet, this spices was able to naturally make plasteel in their bodies which happened to be the material most of the of the army''s new spaceship destroyers was plated with. so history took its natural cause the entire spices was enslaved and Mars with the rest of his squad was sentenced to hell all to keep them quiet, but alas all was in the past for Mars, he had died and now that he knew he died fighting for the rights of another sentient species he felt a little better ''still want to smash some stuff though...'' Mars got on his feet and turned around and saw the girls sitting a little away from him, all looking at him with worried looks on their faces, mars gave a soft sigh "I''m fine" "really?" Chloe was the first to speak up and she continued "are you really fine?" Mars gave a gentle smile "yeah" "that''s good" "thank the 13..." looking at their worried faces Mars felt truly blessed and showed a warm smile as he embraced the 3 of them in a hug "now there''s nothing holding you back right Mars?" Chloe looked at him with a fiery look on her face, Mars thought back to yesterday were he had managed to fight off her advances by using his nightmares as excuse "w-well there is this one thing I would like to do first" Chloe put on her best sulking face before she asked him, the other girls also looked dissatisfied "what?" "crush some invaders" Later that day Mars along with a group of elite soldiers from Green river left the city they were heading for the southern peninsular which was located directly south from green river, while the forest was ''safe'' there still was numerous forbidden zones were class 10 and higher magic best had made their nests so traveling through the forest was a death sentence without a proper guide. It took Mars and the rest of the group 2 days to reach the enemy fort that still was under construction, the fort itself had a hint of eastern style to it and was made mostly of wood meanwhile the walls around the fort was made of what looked like hardened mud, most likely just a temporary solution until proper walls could be build "so what do we do now captain?" the elf captain looked over at Mars seeking his opinion but Mars was still inspecting the fortress with his transformed crimson eyes and remained silent for sometime until he spoke "wait here for my signal" Mars transformed fully and jumped out into the cleared area around the fort and activated his [Energy: absorb shield] before he slowly began walking towards the fort ''any second now...'' with the sound of wind being cut a hail of arrows suddenly appeared in the sky and soon rained down on Mars harmlessly bouncing off his shield, as soon as the rain of arrows ended Mars kicked off the ground sending a cloud of dust up behind him as he charged at the mud walls, meanwhile lances of fire formed above him which fired off towards the mud wall but only harmlessly left some slight burn marks on the wall ''that should do to distract them...'' as the second hail of arrows appeared in the air Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared form the open ground and reappeared right in front of the mud walls which he laid his hands on "and here we go" *KABOOOOM* as Mars activated his [Energy: discharge] the walls exploded kicking up a mighty dust cloud "captain was that the signal?" "I think so, let''s go!" Mars was like a reaper inside the dust cloud, disappearing one second and reappearing the next with a slash to the neck of a random soldier, by the time the dust settled over 20 soldiers, mostly the archers form before had all died "huh... looks like something from feudal Japan, though not quiet" what mars was talking about was a group of nearly 50 soldiers with single edged swords wearing armor that looked like Dou armor or as it was more commonly known; samurai armor, one of the men wearing slightly different form the rest armor spoke up "why have you come here?" "to remove this fort from the map, you are trespassing on Green river soil" "...and were is this Green river you speak of!?" Mars'' smile widened "you will never live to see its walls" "if that''s the case then---" the man suddenly clutched his neck, a arrow had found its way there fired from one of the elite elven soldiers "captain!" "avenge the captain!" the rest of the Dou armored men charged at Mars ''this is boring...'' Mars activated [Instant movement] and soon appeared behind the group of Dou armored men that all grabbed their necks before they collapses on the ground, Mars looked over at the elven captain "you can handle the rest right?" "sure we can take it from here" "good then I leave the rest to you guys" "sure, thanks for the assist" half an hour later the fort had been thoroughly raided, no on other then Mars and the group of elite elven soldiers was left alive and the fort was set ablaze and soon they left the fort and headed back to Green river, on the way Mars made friends with most of the group which was easy since they had fought together and all. 2 days later the group arrived at Green river were the elvers dragged Mars out to celebrate before he had a change to return to his building "come on Mars drink!" "sure sure" Mars downed the nth glass of fruit wine at this point he was thoroughly drunk, Mars slammed the glass down on the table and shouted "another!" "coming right up" the bartender opened up yet another flask of fruit wine and sat it down in front of Mars Mars and the group of elvers celebrated long into the night and suddenly it was morning again, at this point only Mars was left standing (sitting on his chair) he looked around at the sleeping elvers with a smile on his face before he settled the tap and started heading home Chapter 128 Journey to the wasteland 1 2 months passed since the elimination of the invaders, in Mars'' building on one of the top floors 4 very naked figures lay crumpled together in a king sized bed, one of the figures suddenly sat up and looked around ''....tired'' Mars resisted the urge to fall asleep again but only just barely and stretched before he climbed out of bed leaving behind Chloe Elsa and Varvei in dreamland, Mars put on some pants and walked up to the window and looked out at the river for some time until his stomach grumbled ''guess I''ll go eat something...'' Mars'' life had changed in the 2 months since he destroyed the fort, first the most obvious; night activities, he had finally stopped holding himself back and taken the plunge which the girls welcomed with open arms, this Mars of cause found wonderful although the trade off was that he was a little tired in the morning ''it''s well worth it though... now let''s see what''s in the fridge...'' while Mars was rummaging through the fridge for something edible someone was sneaking up on him and suddenly jumped on him and hugged him from behind "morning Mars" "good morning Varvei" it was indeed Varvei, she was the second earliest riser in the household and often trained on the roof early in the morning with her long spear "how are the other two?" "still asleep" "I see..." "anything interesting in there?" Varvei peeked over Mars'' shoulder into the fridge with great interest, being a half-dragon she, like Mars had a healthy appetite "ah! dips on the roasted chicken!" Varvei elegantly slipped past Mars and reached into the fridge and grabbed a piece of roasted chicken which she then proceed to stuff her face with it "so good~ Elsa''s cooking is the best" "yeah I know, now give me some too" "but I called dibs on it!" "...then should I eat you instead?" "...fine you may have a piece" Varvei relinquished a piece of roasted chicken to Mars with a pout on her face "thank you" "humph whatever..." "yeah yeah, don''t be mad or I won''t kiss you anymore" "...I''m not mad" "really~?" "....I''m not mad" Mars decided to leave Varvei alone and chewed on the roasted chicken as he thought about what he should do for the day, suddenly a zombie, or rather Chloe walked out of the master bedroom, her hair was messy and she was wearing a shirt which was half open, furthermore her green eyes were dim "toilet..." Chloe was not a morning person, Varvei stopped eating and helped Chloe with finding the toilet meanwhile Mars decided on his course of action "I think I''ll go to the academy today..." while Mars was thinking Elsa showed up, she also wore a shit but looked a lot more fit to fight then Chloe and gave a gentle smile when she saw Mars stuffing his face with leftovers "good morning Mars" "Morning Elsa, I''m going to the academy today, wanna come with?" "hmm... no I think I''ll stay, say hi to Hanna for me" "sure" Mars finished eating and went up to the roof and looked around the rooftop garden before he called out "Victoria" "I''m... right here" Victoria jumped out of a nearby form a nearby brush, she looked a little different then she did a few months ago, her orange stripes was a lot more pronounced and another set of horns was growing from her head, although they were still small "oh there you are indeed" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head which caused her to let out a loud purr, Mars spent some time with Victoria until eventually Chloe and Varvei, both wearing their red mantels came up to the roof "Mars here''s a shirt and your mantel" "thanks Varvei" Mars put on his shirt and mantle and looked over at Varvei and Chloe "you girls ready?" "yeah I''m good to go" "me too" "okay then..." Mars transformed his left hand and with his claws he slashed out into the empty air as he activated a skill, instantly a rift in space formed and after a few seconds it stabilized, Mars then made a small bow towards Chloe and Varvei "ladies first" Chloe gave a smile and stepped through the portal meanwhile Varvei was hesitating a little and eventually asked "can we hold hands?" "are you still scared?" Varvei gave a small cute nod before Mars gave a soft sigh and held out his hand to her "thanks" Varvei took his hand and stepped through the portal along with Mars, last was Victoria that jumped through the portal right before it closed... at Destra''s magic academy in the central plaza a rift suddenly opened and stabilized, this of cause caused student to gather around some stared with wide eyes at the unnatural spacial rift while others just gave it a glance while they walked past, soon the portal widened and Chloe stepped out followed by Mars and Varvei and finely Victoria before it closed again, Mars looked around at the crowd with a smug smile on his face before he walked to class along with Chloe, Varvei and Victoria on the way they ran into a familiar face and Mars stopped to chat "hey Cass" "ugh... h-hey Mars" Cassandra looked like she had just swallowed something bitter "...I will ignore that rude sound you made if you tell me what''s been happening around the academy lately" "that''s fair... well the buzz is mostly around the 3rd prince getting together with some daughter of a baron" "wait is that daughter named Hanna?" "no her name was something else" "...I see" "well I have class now so I got to go" "see you around Cass" "...see you Mars" after mars said goodbye to Cassandra he caught up with Chloe and Varvei and walked together with them to class were he greeted the others and sat down and waited, soon Max, the new vice principal arrived he looked a little stressed but seemed to visibly relax when he saw Mars ''somehow I have a bad feeling about that...'' Mars tried to push his rude thoughts aside but during the lesson Max kept glancing at him almost as he was making sure Mars was still there, after class Mars rose to his feet as soon as the bell rang and was about to make his escape out the classroom when Max called out to him "Mars I need to talk with you, please stay behind" "...fine" Mars stopped and walked back to his seat and sat down, meanwhile the other students left the classroom even Varvei and Chloe left together with Karen and Joy, although they both gave him a little wave when they walked past him "so what is it you want to talk about?" "well... it''s about the way you travel to the academy" "ah..." to cover up his ability as a living god to literally tear space Mars had told others he was a space time mage, a harmless little lie "well the thing is the king has learned you are a space time mage and would like to meet with you personally" "....I see, so when does he want to meet?" Max gave a rather strained smile "as soon as possible" "I see, well then let''s head there now" "that was the plan, you have been to King''s city yes?" "yes I have.... give me a second" Mars transformed his left hand and slashed out into empty air and activated the skill he had learned when he had hit level 40 [Living god: space tear] and tore a rift in space, a few seconds later the rift stabilized and Mars gave a nod "you first" "o-okay... it''s safe right?" "totally" "good... then here I go!" Max clenched his fist and walked into the spacial rift, Mars gave a grin and followed after him soon after... in the middle of King''s city at a busy plaza a spacial rift suddenly appeared, this of cause scared the surrounding people with some calling for the guards while others fled in panic but soon the rift turned quiet as it had stabilized and a man wearing a golden mantle walked out and looked around before he gave a sigh and turned back and looked at the portal were Mars soon stepped out "could you not have chosen a more secluded place?" "sure I could, how about next time I open a portal directly inside the castle?" "...never mind, well then let''s head to the castle" "sure... it should be just this way" Mars and Max walked towards the castle which they reached after a half hour walk, Max walked up and exchanged a few words with the guards before they were allowed inside the castle, when they entered a knight stood and waited he gave a glance at Mars before he looked back at Max and spoke "please hand over all weapons to me" Max turned to Mars and Mars gave a nod and loosened the sheath form his pants and handed it to the knight "well then please follow after me, his majesty awaits" Chapter 129 Journey to the wasteland 2 Mars and Max followed after the knight, passing though numerous hallways until they reached the dept of the castle, on the way Mars transformed his eyes and grew out his horns which caused Max quite the scare but because of the knight he remained silent, soon they arrived at one of the inner rooms in the castle were several knights stood guard outside, the knight that was leading them walked up and opened the door and walked in. Mars and Max followed after and found themselves in a grand audience room, the room''s floor was made of pure white marble and in the back of the room was a raised throne were a old man sat, he had gray hair and golden eyes that seemed to shine lightly he clearly was the king of Destra, the knight that was leading them walked forwards a few steps before he stopped and kneeled down "vice principal of Destra''s magic academy and his student Mars has arrived" the king nodded and the knight got on his feet again before he turned and left, Max walked forwards along with Mars and stopped before he kneeled down, Mars however remand standing "Mars you have to knell" "no I don''t" Mars remained standing and locked eyes with the king that gave a wave which caused the guards inside the room to point their spears at Mars before he asked "why do you not knell?" "well there''s a couple of reasons.... first you are not my king, I live in Green river secondly... dragons don''t knell to anyone" ''other than Victoria I guess.... but that''s because she''s cut as hell'' the king narrowed his eyes and the leader of the guards yelled "what dragon, your just a dirty half breed!" "....guess so, well I''m 50% more dragon then you will ever be which makes me 50% more awesome than you''ll ever be" "YOU! don''t get cocky you dirt half breed!" just as the guard leader was about to order the guards to slaughter Mars the king yelled "stop this nonsense at once!" "but your majesty---" "I said stop" "yes your majesty" the guard leader quieted down and sent a hateful glare at Mars, the king gave a soft sigh before he spoke again "are you not afraid of death Mars?" "....is that a threat?" "no it''s a genuine question" "....no I''m not afraid of death" "why not?" Mars gave a wry smile "who would be afraid of an old friend?" the king''s eyes widened for a moment before he fell silent and thought for some time until he finally stood up from his throne with a smile on his face "everybody except for Mars is to leave the audience room at once" the guard leader turned to the king with a stupid look on her face "but you majesty we exist as you shield if you send us away how can we protect you!" "....you heard me the first time right Michele?" "y-yes your majesty but---" "no but''s! leave!" "y-yes your majesty!" one the way out of the audience room the guard leader glared at Mars, but that was the only thing she could do and soon only Mars and the king was left in the audience room "I apologize for Michele''s actions" "I don''t mind, it kind of cute how devoted she is to you" the king gave a sigh and stood up from his throne and gestured to the back of the throne "come with me there''s a room behind here were we can talk" "...fine" Mars followed after the king and walked past the throne and into a small hallway were the two of them eventually reached a small but comfy room, the king sat down and Mars sat down across for him, for a time the both of them looked at each other without saying anything until the king spoke and asked "you are a apostle right?" "...yeah I am" Mars pulled out the 13 pointed silver star and showed it off to the king, the king took a deep breath and calmed down before he leaned in and asked in a low voice "you are also a living god right?" Mars'' eyes widened slightly before he closed his eyes and listened for sometime until he confirmed there was no one listening in to their conversation before he gave a nod "that I am, I''m the current living god of energy, but how did you find out?" "well there was a couple of clues, first you can tear space with you hands, secondly you did not bow to me, thirdly you seem unafraid of death and finally you are a apostle of the 13" "I see... but where do you know about living gods from, to my understanding not meany mortals know about us" the king sank back in his chair a looked up a the ceiling with a nostalgic smile on his face "all kings are told about living gods when they take the throne, I was told by my father right before he died..." "I see" "well never mind those old stories.... I have called you here because I would like to ask a favor of you" "...well I''m in a good mood, speak" "first do you know about the country bordering us to the west?" "hmm... can''t say I do, well I never even knew there was a country to the west?" "well technically it''s a group of tribes made of demons that live in the wasteland that have banded together sometime in the last 50 years" "I see, so what''s the favor?" "I want you to fetch a person from that country" Mars thought about it for a moment, considering how board he had been since he crushed the invaders of the Mother forest and considering it was a king that asked him a favor he decided to agree "fine, who am I fetching?" "the next queen, their crown princess" "...and why am I fetching her?" "well here''s the case, the current queen is against all contact with outsiders while the next in line is said to be different, I want to know for sure so I can set some trade plans in motion" "I see and the current queen is just going to allow this?" the king gave a wry slightly forced smile "that''s where you come in" "I see.... sounds interesting" "so you will agree to my request?" "yeah, as I said it sounds interesting" "that''s truly good news..." the king leaned back in his chair with a relaxed expression on his face "is there any other matters we need to discuss?" "hmm... there is the matter with the empires bounty on you.... I have done my best to block it in Destra, but I''m afraid my power isn''t all reaching" "what''s the bounty currently at?" "300.000 cel" "I see... well if 10 men come, then 10 men will die" "that''s good well then I think that''s all" the king rose from his chair and reached his hand out to Mars, Mars gave a smile and shock it before he turned and left the hidden room and returned to the audience room which still was empty, he then walked up to the entrance and opened the door to the audience room were he found Max and the other guards waiting, as soon as Mars walked out Michele walked up to him with a fierce glare on her face "where is his majesty!?" "how should I know, maybe he went to take a piss?" "w-w-w-what are you saying you bastard!?" Michele went completely red in the face as she stammered at Mars, as her face seemed to reach the boiling point her eyes suddenly turned cold before she took off her left gauntlet and threw it at Mars "you bastard! you have shown zero respect for the crown, I challenge you to a duel!" Mars looked down at the gauntlet on the floor with a slight smile on his face for a moment before he picked it up "fine I accept" Max gave a sigh from the sidelines meanwhile Mars sent someone to fetch his sword while he followed Michele and the rest of the guards to a nearby courtyard "ready yourself for today will be the day of your death!" "sure, sure whatever you say little kitten" "w-w-what did you just call me you call me you bastard!" "a kitten, it''s because you keep meowing for attention... honestly it''s kind of cute" "w-w-w-w-w-w---" Michele once again flushed red in her face while her lips kept trying to form a word, Mars gave a smile "see there you go again" Michele shut her mouth and glared at Mars with hate filled eyes and a face flushed crimson, it was unknown if it was from hate and anger or embarrassment perhaps a good mix of all the former, at this moment Max arrived caring Mars'' sword and handed it to him "good luck" "thanks" Mars drew his sword and stood ready facing Michele Chapter 130 Journey to the wasteland 3 As Mars stood ready he took the change to inspect Michele, she had back-length black hair that was tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes "are you ready little kitten?" Michele''s eye twitched slightly as she silently drew her sword and stood ready, if looks could kill Mars would have died several times already "I am" "good then... Max give a signal" "oh good grief, fine... 3,2,1 start!" as soon as Max gave the start signal Michele kicked off the ground and sent a overhead slash down at Mars which he hurriedly parried with a slightly panicked expression on his face "t-this kitten has claws!" Mars went on the defensive as Michele sent slash after slash at his vital spots, Mars'' deference was in Michele''s eyes and she found numerous flaws which she exploited, but somehow Mars'' sword would always stop hers in the last second before she had a change to slay him with her sword ''I can do this!'' just as Michele thought this Mars suddenly took some distance and looked at her with a teasing look on his face and asked "how was it?" "how was what?" "me pretending to be on your level" "wha---" Michele tried to speak but realized she was unable to as a pure white bone sword had suddenly appeared at her neck along with a frightening amount of killing intent which made her freeze up, with a clang something hit the floor, Michele only realized later that it was her sword which she had dropped instinctively to try and perverse her own life "and that''s that little kitten" Mars sheathed his sword again and walked away from Michele that still was frozen in place "let''s head back to the academy teacher" "sure thing Mars..." Max took one last pitying look at Michele before he stepped into the portal Mars had opened, even after the portal closed with both Max and Mars gone did Michele not move for a long time... At the academy Mars steeped out of the portal which closed after him, then he went to find Chloe and Varvei which he found sitting outside the cafeteria at a table along with Joy and Karen, when Joy saw him her face lit up and so did Karen''s this odd reaction caused Mars to be a little confused so he asked "what were you girls talking about?" "secret, right Chloe?" "yeah just some girls talk, never mind that what did Max want to talk with you about?" "well it''s kind of a long story..." Mars sat down and told the girls what the king had asked of him and so on, including the duel with Michele which he skimmed over without telling any of the details "so what you just have to fetch that princess?" "seems simple right?" "well not really, how do you plan to find her? what''s your travel plan? and how do you convince her to enter a unknown portal conjured by a stranger?" "....those are some very good questions Chloe" "well I can give you some more if you want" "....I see, well as for how I''m going to get there i''m going to use this" Mars showed his steel mercenary tag "what do you mean?" "well even though they are hostile to outsiders trade still goes on, so I''m thinking of tagging along with a trade caravan" "I see... that''s a okay plan, but say you get there in one piece then what?" "hmm... I''ll just wing it from there" Chloe and Varvei both gave a sigh, Varvei massaged her temples and asked "why is it your so set on going?" Mars gave a bright smile "because it seems interesting" "oh for the love of all that is holy..." both Chloe and Varvei seemed to get a sudden headache, suddenly Varvei stood up and stared into Mars'' eyes with a angry look on her face "I''m coming too" Chloe also raised her hand "me too, I''m going too" "fine the more the more fun it''s going to be... bu there''s a problem, you girls don''t have mercenary tags right?" Varvei gave a proud, slightly arrogant look "that''s easy, it''s just a mercenary tag how hard can it be?" "..." "me too, I can get a mercenary tag easily too!" "...fine" ""yay!"" "let''s head home, I have a sneaking suspicion a third person wants to join in on the fun too" "okay, see you Joy, Karen" "bye bye" "see you Chloe, Varvei" Mars opened a portal which Chloe and Varvei stepped through Victoria also appeared out of nowhere and jumped though... "I want to go too!" "I thought so..." Mars just finished filling Elsa in on the situation "well then let''s go to the guild and get you girls registered... we probably also need to do some requests to get your rank up before we head to the wasteland... let''s head to the guild now" "right now?" "yes, why not?" "sure then I''ll go get the other two" "okay meet me on the roof when you are ready" Elsa ran off to get Chloe and Varvei meanwhile Mars walked back up to the roof again and played a little with Victoria until the girls showed up "let''s go" "what guild are we heading to?" "the one in Malrton" "then can we stop on the way and say hi to the baron? I want to thank him for the years I was in his employment" "sure... ladies first" Mars opened a portal and the girls stepped though, Victoria also jumped into the gate and last was Mars before the gate closed again, Mars stepped out and instantly was hit with a hint of nostalgia as he looked around the streets of Malrton, this was the first human town he ever visited in this life, at that time he had just left the Mother forest "well then let''s head to the guild.... this way" Mars ignored the onlookers and walked towards the guild along with the girls, but on the way Mars spotted a familiar person and called out to him "Jack" "hmm..? oh Mars!" Jack ran over and immediately gave Mars a bear hug, Jack was a greater wolf beastman standing a little over 2 meters tall with a wolf-like face "when did you return?" "just now" "I see... it''s been a long time let''s catch up at the usual place" "sure, I just have to do somethings at the guild first" "okay.... are you not going to introduce me to your girlfriends?" "oh right, girls this is Jack we went on a request together, and Jack this is Elsa, Chloe and Varvei" "nice to meet you Jack" "the honor is mine, to meet such beautiful girls, say Mars which on is your lover?" "....well they all are" "really? you lucky dog" Jack looked a little envious but suddenly one of his ears were snatched by a slender hand "ouch! ouch! Lina I''m sorry!" Lina let go of Jack''s ear and asked "sorry for what?" "I don''t know" "you know what---" "hello Lina" "hmm...? oh it''s Mars!" Lina was a female demon that stood close to 170 centimeters tall, she had obsidian skin and two pale horns, Lina walked over to Mars and also gave him a hug, Mars filled Lina and Jack in on why they were in town as the group headed to the guild "so you girls need to register?" Chloe gave a nod "yeah we also want to raise our rank before we head to the wasteland" Lina suddenly had a nostalgic look on her face as she mumbled "the wasteland.... it''s been 200 years since I were there last..." the group made their way to the guild and walked up to the reception area which was rather empty a this time of the day, Mars quickly got the attention of one of the guild staff and explained the situation "I see, well were are always happy to have more members of our guild, but they must take the proper procedures first" Mars gave a nod and agreed "of cause" "then Chloe, Elsa and Varvei please follow after me and we will begin your combat tests" the girls followed after the staff and Mars gave them a little wave which they returned before he sat down with Jack and Lina at a table and started to talk "you''re not worried about their combat test?" "nah, they are not that weak that I need to protect them" Lina gave a smile and asked "but you still protect them anyways right?" "of cause, but only because I want to" Mars, Jack and Lina started to catch up, as they talked time gradually passed until the girls returned each carrying a iron merc tag around their necks "good then let''s get to ranking up, Jack have you noticed any combat heavy requests lately?" "well there is that one, but..." "but?" "it''s sliver ranked" "one rank higher than mine... let''s do it anyway, want to come with?" "sure" Chapter 131 Journey to the wasteland 4 in a forest 2 days travel from Marlton a group of bandits were camping out, the group consisted of close to 50 mercenaries turned bandits, most of them were around silver rank when they turned to banditry, as for the reason it was simple at sliver, which was the 3rd rank from the bottom the death rate in mercenaries spikes this is because of most requests turn more dangerous the higher the rank. Silver is considered the first ''filter'' in the mercenaries world as was every 3rd rank after silver. The group of bandits were part of the ''lower'' silver rank and were unified by a former gold rank merc, Now the problem with killing former-merc bandits were that while they were bandits they were also former merc''s so they still had their training and they also posted sentries and generally kept alert, they also didn''t use drugs too often, one would not find themselves in a situation were an entire group of former merc bandit were drunk and unable to fight as would normally happen with normal bandits so they were generally harder to kill then regular run of the mill bandits "anything unusual happen?" "well there was this one thing..." like clockwork the sentries were switched one by one, the sentries that just got off duty gathered around the campfire and talked "you don''t mean you saw it too?" "what are you guys talking about?" ""a wisp"" "really?" "yeah it was this pair of blue orbs that floated in the air shortly before disappearing again" "isn''t it just a wild animal?" "with blue eyes?" "....I see your point but still, my guess is it''s just some sort of animal or magic beast" "might be..." "what are you guys talking about?" "oh, boss" "boss hear this, these guys say they saw a wisp" the bald boss gave a frown and mumbled "a wisp?" the underlings kept quiet as they could see their boss was thinking, after some time the boss'' eyes lit up and he pointed at two of his underlings "you and you go check up on the sentries" "sure boss, but why?" "because we might be under attack" "okay boss we''ll go right now!" the two underlings ran off meanwhile the boss commanded some of his other underlings to wake the ones that were sleeping, all this were reflected in a pair of blue cat eyes that watched from nearby... the attack the bandits were expecting never came but when they dropped their guard a few hours later the sentries were silently taken out, one of them managed to see a flash of a elf before he was stabbed in the neck with a sword, while another was stabbed in the heart from behind with a dagger and a third was was hit with a darkness glue ball in the face and suffocated while rolling around on the ground, but alas soon someone discovered they were under attack and yelled out before a arrow stuck his heart "dammit, I was just a little late..." Chloe lowered her bow with a sour look on her face it wasn''t until Mars patted her on the shoulder that her face lit up again "don''t mind it Chloe we have them on the back foot.... Victoria go ahead and run wild" "okay..." as soon as Victoria answered she disappeared almost like she melted into the shadows around her "WHO DARES TO ATTACK MY TROOPS!" "oh and there''s the boss, I''ll be right back" Mars drew his sword right before he disappeared from view then the boss'' head was sent flying and Mars reappeared again "and that''s that... let''s clean up the rest" "the boss is dead!" "run for it!" the remaining bandits scattered like bugs in sunlight and was easily cleaned up by the rest of the group, Varvei walked over to Mars, she was wearing some leather armor and carried her long spear over her shoulder "well that was easy... Thanks to you Mars" "i only did my part" Jack also walked over he was wearing his half plate armor and had a large grin on his face "Mars you are even faster then last time we sparred" Mars gave a smile "of cause I have been training" the request was over in just 5 days, 4 days for travel and just one day for locating and destroying the bandit group "the completion of the request have been confirmed, congratulations Mars you have ranked up to silver" "thank you" the girls also ranked up to steel and the group headed over to the local restaurant to celebrate, the usual private room was a little cramped but in a good way, the celebration lasted long into the night and like last time it ended with Mars carrying Jack that was blackout drunk "sorry for the trouble Mars" "I don''t mind Lina, besides I can''t make you carry him by yourself" Mars cheeked Jack to see if he really was asleep by poking his nose a couple of times before he asked Lina "have you made any progress with this hunk of meat?" Lina gave a wry smile and shock her head "no I have not... I even tried a couple rather aggressive things, but nothings is working... I''m starting to doubt his sexual orientation.... or maybe he just doesn''t like me..." seeing Lina so down Mars gave her a pat on the shoulder "I think the problem is that you''re too close, he has started to see you as a family member instead of a friend.... I think the only way is to just say it directly to him" "that''s easy for you to say..." "yes that''s why i said it" "you... fine I''ll try it sometimes... maybe" "good luck with that" soon they arrived at the inn were Jack and Lina was staying and Mars placed the sleeping Jack down on the bed "well then... see you around Lina and good luck" "thanks Mars" Mars left the small inn room behind and walked back to the restaurant were the girls were waiting and opened a portal to back home and after some... ''nightly exercise'' with the girls Mars fell asleep... the next morning Mars wasted no time and after eating a healthly breakfast Mars opened a portal to king''s city and after asking around for a bit Mars and the girls arrived at the guild, being the guild in the capital of Destra it was almost twice the size of the one in Marlton and bustle with activity, naturally the request board was also huge, Mars stood in front of the request board for a long time until he finally spotted a request from a merchant that was headed to the wasteland to trade with a caravan, Mars reached out and took the last slip on the request form and walked towards the counter "hey it''s gone!" "dammit we must have just missed it!" "hey, you brat stop right there!" Mars ignored the one that called out to him and walked towards the counter, until a hand grabbed him by the shoulder "I said wait!" Mars gave a sigh and turned around with a annoyed look on his face "I''m no brat" "I don''t care, now hand over that request slip to us" "....why? I got it first" "just hand it over... or else you''ll get hurt" Mars'' casual smile widened slightly "oh so I''ll get hurt I''m SO scared... the only thing that will hurt is my knuckles is you don''t remove your hand" "Bart you really don''t know what''s good for you---" "anything wrong Mars?" "no I''m fine Varvei" Mars gave a light sigh before he with lightning fast movements grabbed the man''s arm and twisted it around *CRACK* "AAAAGGGGHHHH---" "shut up" *SMACK* then Mars punched him in the throat making him choke on his scream, naturally this upset his friends "you bastard!" "get him!" Mars gave another sigh before he activated [Instant movement] and then ''lightly'' rammed into one of the other men sending him flying before he sent a solid punch to the last man''s jaw knocking him out cold, Mars then gave a sigh and suddenly realized that most of the people in the guild was looking at him and it had also turned silent all of a sudden "..." Mars gave a awkward smile but suddenly one of the people that was looking at him began to clap this was followed by the other merc''s and before Mars knew it most of the people in the guild was applauding him "did you see that? that was amazing!" "man he''s fast that kid" "good job kid!" Mars scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment and quickly moved towards the reception were he handed over the request slip to a receptionist that gave Mars a near perfect business smile "one moment please" the receptionist then opened a book and quickly flipped though it until she found the corresponding request "yes here it is.... a trade caravan heading to the wasteland, how many people will be in your group?" "4, one silver and 3 steel''s" "okay... the meeting place is the western gate tomorrow at 9" Chapter 132 Journey to the wasteland 5 early next morning a portal opened in a plaza in king''s city, which attracted some attention from the few early risers there were around, soon Mars, Victoria and the girls stepped out of the portal right before it closed "well then let''s head to the west gate" "sure... but why are we so early isn''t first at 9 the caravan leaves?" "well Chloe that''s because I like to be early" "...fine" Mars, Victoria and the girls walked through the morning city and found several merchant caravans lined up in a plaza waiting for the gates to open, there was also several merc''s around waiting with their assigned caravan "now what was it again.... ka something" "it''s the Karven caravan Mars" "oh thanks Varvei, let''s find the Karven caravan" after asking around for a bit Mars and the girls located the Karven merchant caravan, the caravan was made of several carriages that was drawn by giant lizard magic beasts, as for their names and class Mars could not care less since they weren''t for ''eating'' "are you guys mercenaries?" Mars turned and saw a little girl around 10 years old, she wore a white one piece dress and had green hair and eyes, Mars squared down to match her eye height and gave a nod "yeah, we are here to protect the Karven caravan" the little girl gave a nod before she turned and yelled "DAD!" soon a middle aged man with green hair and eyes arrived, he had a avage build "what is it sweetheart?" "theses guys says they are here to protect us!" "oh I see" the man looked over Mars and the girls before he gave a approving nod and reached out his hand to Mars "my name is Karven, I''m the leader of this caravan and this is my daughter Eliza" "nice to meet you, my name is Mars, I''m silver ranked and this is Chloe, Elsa and Varvei they are all steel ranked" "oh a silver ranked at your age, that certainly is impressive! I am very glad to have you on board Mars... since you guys are so early why don''t you all come into my carriage and enjoy some tea while we wait for the time to hit 9?" "sure why not" Mars and the girls joined Karven and his daughter in the main carriage, while it was a little cramped with so many people in the carriage it wasn''t really a problem since Mars was used to sticking close to the girls, the time passed with Eliza talking most of the time, she seemed to have taken quite a liking to the girls and over the cause of a hour she went from calling them by name to calling them big sisters.... eventual the time arrived and the group left the carriage and Karven walked around and introduced himself to the other mercenary groups "hey kid, we meet again" Mars turned and saw a mercenary was calling out to him, it was a demon man with pale horns and black eyes, he wore leather armor and carried a spear, Mars looked at him for some time until he recognised him from yesterday''s farce with the other mercenaries that tried to take the request form him, this demon man was one of the first to begin clapping when Mars had beat them up, Mars gave a smile and reached his hand out to the demon man "it''s not kid, my name is Mars" the demon man also gave a grin and took Mars hand and shock it "my name is Casper.... do you mind if I ask what your rank is?" Mars shook his head and pulled out his sliver tag "I might be newly promoted but I''m still silver" "oh, that makes us the same rank" Casper also pulled out a silver tag with a grin on his face Mars talked for a bit with Casper until the caravan started to move, besides Casper and his group another 4 groups had taken the assignment to protect the Karvan caravan for a total of 6 groups including Mars'' group, all the groups spread out and covered the caravan in a tight formation that left no gaps as the caravan slowly moved west... 3 days later the caravan entered the first ''dangerous'' area a forest road were orks had been spotted before, orks were class 3 humanoid magic beasts with the head of pigs and a body that was mostly shaped as a mans with five fingers on each hand they could and was know to use tools and weapons which made them a danger to face in close combat, but their inability to use magic and born dislike of bows made them easy targets if one kept them at a distance just like now, a group of close to 20 orks stormed the caravan but a hail of magic and arrows later there was only one left, they were simply too easy targets "I call dibs on the last one!" one mercenary yelled out as he drew his great sword and ran towards the ork to face it in close combat, the reason why the other merc''s let the one slip though was simply that they had been bored during the last 3 days and watching a fight was a good way to pass some time and improve their moods, this was also approved by Karven that stopped the caravan and watched the show "here I go!" the mercenary raised his great sword and slashed down on the ork which responded by meeting the slash with its own club, Mars gave a yawn seeing this slow paced fight and walked out into the killing field and gathered the magic beast cores from the orks he had killed, some of the corpses was still smoking after being hit by Mars'' fire magic but he simply cut them open and removed the cores, when he was done there was a loud applause so he turned and just managed to see the final orks head hit the ground, the merc that had killed the ork let out a loud and proud laugh, Mars gave a sigh and walked back to the caravan, Chloe stood and waited for him "did you get some cores?" "yeah but I don''t know why I bother they are only a drop in the lake at this point..." "oh.... so there''s a difference in the cores too?" "yeah the higher the class the more I get from them" "I see..." Chloe looked like she fell into deep thought, this caused Mars to give a sigh before he laid his hand on the top of her head and ruffled her hair "Mars?" "don''t worry so much about" "but you want to get stronger right?" "yeah I do, but I''m plenty strong right now" "okay..." Chloe still didn''t look entirely convinced but still gave a nod... as the days traveled turned to weeks some changes happened, first the group of mercenaries got a lot closer, even Mars that usually couldn''t be bothered knew most of the other merc''s by name secondly the terrain changed from mostly being fields and forest to a more... dead appearance, Mars looked out over the dry ground that stretched for miles on end only dotted by a few large boulders and withered trees, there was also a few tumble weeds which Victoria found great joy in chasing around, also the things attacking the caravan had changed, at the start of the trip it was mostly magic beasts but now it was mostly bandits that attacked the caravan "how many times have we been attacked this week anyways Casper?" "hmm... 3 times, no 4 times, there was that one time were your magic beast sprung an ambush and killed them all before we had a change to do anything" "oh... yeah, that''s right... well then 4 times it is... well it''s about to be 5" "you sense something?" "yeah a group of 16 hiding behind a boulder about 700 meters away.... on the right side of the caravan" "man your hearing is amazing as always..." "thanks.... ENEMY ATTACK!" upon hearing Mars'' yell the caravan stopped and the mercenaries spread out around the caravan looking for any signs of an attacker, but after sometime of nothing happening one of them called out to Mars "where are they?" Mars pointed to the side as he drew his sword "right side 700 meters, 16 of them, behind that boulder" the first time Mars had made a call like this one the other merc''s had doubted him which caused some to be injured, but that was all in the past, now they followed Mars'' orders with blind faith. The mercenaries spread out and approached the boulder were the enemies were said to be hiding, soon they reached the boulder and circled around it and found... a group of demon travelers resting in the shade of the boulder, the group of demon travelers was frightened seeing the group of armed mercenaries suddenly appear, but the group of mercenaries quickly lowered their weapons and explained the situation with slightly awkward looks on their faces Chapter 133 Journey to the wasteland 6 "I am really sorry about this" Mars bowed his head in front of the group of demon travelers, to avoid confusion about his race he had grown out his horns, a demon elder was acting as the head of the group stood forwards and looked at Mars'' bowed head with a stern look on his face "you really did give us a scare.... but luckily no one got hurt" "we, or rather I thought you were bandits for that I am truly sorry" "....please raise your head" Mars raised his head and looked straight into the black eyes of the demon elder, this stare off continued for about a minute before the demon elder gave a sigh "as leader of this group of travelers I forgive you" Mars gave a smile "thank you" then he turned and was about to walk back to the caravan but the elder called out to him "can I ask you a favor?" "sure" "we would like to join your caravan until we reach the capital would this be acceptable? "this.... I don''t know I will have to ask the leader of the caravan" "okay" Mars, followed by the group of demon travelers walked back to the caravan and found Karvan and Eliza, just as Mars was about to call out to Karvan and explain the situation Eliza ran forwards towards the demon elder and embraced him in a hug "grandpa!" "oh Eliza dear, how have you been?" "I have been a good girl right dad?" Karvan gave a wry smile "yes she''s a good girl just a little too energetic" "that''s good, that''s good" the demon elder gave a wide smile as he praised Eliza, Mars walked over and explained the situation to Karvan and asked if it would be possible for the group of travelers to join the caravan "sure, since father in law is among them we must naturally take them in" Mars gave a smile "I figured... but still I didn''t guess that Eliza is a half demon" "what you have a problem with half breeds?" "no I myself am a half, so I have no problems with half breeds" "I see... that''s good, she just doesn''t have her horns yet but besides that''s she''s a energetic little demon" "I see...." Mars gave a nod... The caravan continued on moving west further into the wasteland, the group of demon travelers turned out to be less of a burden then Mars had thought as most of the 20 some demons were combat able, even Eliza''s grandpa showed off some mean darkness magic spells that absolutely massacred a group of bandits, Mars quickly got close with the demon elder as both of them had a good impression of each other and soon Mars started to learn darkness magic spells of the old demon "so... like this old demon?" Mars showed off a half completed spell to the old demon that had yet to give his name "no! you need to feed the bottom part more mana to make a stable spell or else it will just collapse when you fire it!" "I see.... so more like this?" "that''s more like it... but you still need to stabilize the bottom part of the spell structure more" Mars had a good head on his shoulders and due to his high intelligence and wisdom stats he improved very fast, the old demon was more and more pleased with mars'' progress them he himself was and over the days he taught him he gradually started to call Mars son instead of calling him by name. During a break about a week after the caravan had picked up the demon travelers Mars was practicing darkness magic with the old demon "well then here I go" Mars focused and his own shadow gradually grew longer, and suddenly a shadowy figure separated from his shadow, the figure then grew its ''arms'' out into 2 sharp looking blades and dashed forwards and slashed at a boulder cutting it cleanly in two "good job son, you have mastered the basics of the shadow soldier spell, but there''s still much to learn" the old demon waved his arm and instantly 10''s of shadow soldiers spawned from his own shadow and entered a formation before they ran at a boulder and reduced it to dust in just a few seconds, Mars looking form the side gave a nod as his own shadow soldier returned to his own shadow "right... still how long do you think I will take before I reach you level old demon?" "hmm.... a few years maybe?" Mars gave a smile, spending a few years to earn that kind of combat power seemed worth it "Mars, dinner is ready" Mars turned and gave a smile "oh Elsa perfect timing" Elsa gave a smile and walked up to Mars and latched onto his arm and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, seeing Elsa act spoiled Mars gave a wry smile and asked her "what''s wrong?" "nothing... it just.." "just?" Elsa leaned in and whispered into his ear "it''s been a while since we did ''it''" Mars suddenly showed a ''pure and just'' look on his face before he took his arm around Elsa waist and pulled her close before he whispered into her ear "I''m enduring too" Elsa shuddered slightly but before the mood turned anymore pink a loud fake cough was heard and Mars gave a awkward smile as he looked over at the old demon that stood with a mean smile on his face, before Mars was able to explain himself the old demon spoke "I know, I know youth and all, but mind the place and time please" "okay... would you like to join us for dinner old demon?" "sure, why not" Days passed as the caravan moved and gradually Mars got more and more curious about the place they were heading "how can a city in the middle of a wasteland support itself?" the old demon gave a smile "that''s all because of the underground river son, it provides for us demon''s with pale fish and freshwater" "so there''s a underground river.... I see" "in truth all the 4 cities including the capital is placed along the underground river and it''s natural access points" Mars gave a smile and a nod "I see now... I''m looking forwards to seeing it for myself" "I thought you were going to head back with the caravan?" "no I will be staying in the capital for a while... truth is I have been assigned a task by the king of Destra" "oh a task from the king... do tell" Mars briefly explained about the task he had been assigned by the king of Destra while stressing that a trade agreement would benefit both parties interests "I see a trade agreement... sounds interesting, well the only problem is how you are going to meet the princess I guess?" "yeah I have been racking my brains about that one too... any tips?" "the only thing I can think off is the martial arts tournament" "a martial arts tournament?" "yeah the winner gets to make a wish of the queen, but do you know the traditional martial arts of the demon kind?" Mars gave a wry smile "....please teach me" the old demon gave a smile "of cause I will teach you son... only this really isn''t something that can be learned in a few months, well it works well, there''s still a few months until the tournament" Mars gave a happy smile and bowed to the old demon "thank you" "don''t mention it, besides if your talent for shadow magic is anything like your talent for martial arts this is going to be easy on my part" and so a few more days passed, Mars was spending all his breaks learning the traditional martial arts of the demons even training long into the night, of cause his rate of improvement was very fast as the old demon had predicted but just like you couldn''t learn boxing just by punching a few hundred thousand times, the traditional martial arts of the demons wasn''t easy to learn and required the movements to be very precise. Meanwhile the caravan moved ever closer to its destination and soon the day arrived, Mars stood on top of a tall boulder and could faintly see tall stone walls in the distance "looks like we''ll make it there by nightfall..." "make... it where?" "oh Victoria.... can you see those walls in the distance?" Victoria looked the way Mars was pointing and narrowed her eyes and after some time her ears dropped slightly "no..." "oh... well you will be able to see them soon so don''t worry" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head, her mood improved fast and soon she was lightly purring, Mars gave a smile and stopped petting her "let''s get back to the caravan" "okay..." Mars and Victoria jumped down from the boulder and rejoined the caravan were Karvan stood and waited "how was it, could you see the walls?" Mars gave a nod "yeah" "do you think we will make it by nightfall?" "hmm... barely, it might be better not to hurry and camp out one last night" "I see... hmm... will we do as you said and camp out one last night" Chapter 134 The capital of demons 1 Mars looked up at the tall walls, they were about 15 meters tall and made of some white stone that seemed to softly glow in the sunlight "they sure are tall..." "yeah..." "well I could jump those if I really wanted to, just like that one time do you remember Varvei?" "ugh... please don''t remind me, I was this close to peeing my pants" Mars gave a laugh and gave Varvei''s hand a reassuring squeeze "okay I won''t do that again, don''t worry" suddenly a pair of soft arms reached around Mars'' from behind and covered his eyes "guess who~" "Elsa" "right, here''s your price~" then she gave him a hug from behind before she latched onto his left arm and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder, Mars gave a smile seeing Elsa acting spoiled and walked back to the caravan with the two of them where a group of demon guards were checking over the caravan for contraband, after a few minutes the caravan got the okay sign and was allowed to move into Froset, the capital city of the wasteland, upon entering the city Mars looked around at the buildings, they were made of light brownish stone and at most stood 3 stories tall "follow me I will show you the way to my home" "your home?" the old demon narrowed his eyes and sound a little angry when he spoke again "where else will you be staying?" "oh.... well then lead the way" "that''s more like it" the old demon lead the way through the somewhat narrow streets, along the way the demon inhabitants would stop and stare at Mars and the girls when they walked past, Mars as always ignored the looks he was getting but Victoria was a little more susceptible to the states and soon she hid herself in Mars'' shadow, after about 15 minutes of walking they reached a house were the old demon went inside and gestured for Mars and the girls to follow him "welcome to my humble home" Mars looked around rude as it might be ''....how is this humble?'' the door they had walked though turned out to be the entrance to a courtyard were numerous servants stood with their head''s bow, all of them neatly lined up "I never knew you were such a big shot old demon" "well I did well for myself in my younger days" "I see... well I own a building too, if you''re ever in Green river I will be sure to play a nice host" "well if it happens I will be sure to come and find you, now let''s go inside and get some food" "sure" just as the old demon was about to walk inside a female demon walked out into the courtyard, she had long back hair and 2 pale horns and a figure Mars only could describe as perfect, when she saw the old demon her face lit up "dad!" the old demon''s face lit up in a smile "oh, Julia come here and give your old man a hug" the two of them hugged then Julia looked over at Mars and the girls with a questioning look on her face, the old demon gave a sigh and whispered something into her ear "really dad!?" "yeah, now off you go" "okay see you later!" Julia ran out of the courtyard, this puzzled Mars quite a bit so he asked "what did you tell her?" the old demon gave a sly smile "I simply told her that her sweetheart just entered the city and that she should go find him" "oh, I see then she''s Eliza''s mother?" "yeah that she is, now with that out of the way let''s get some food" the feast was a grand one, not only were there pale fish from the underground river there was also numerous kinds of magic beast meat, the only thing that was wrong was that there was little to no vegetables or fruit the only green thing on the table was edible seaweed from the underground river, after eating the old demon retired and Mars and the girls were showed to a guest room were they went to bed for the night. The next morning after a healthy breakfast Mars joined the old demon in practicing the traditional demon martial art or Kel as it also was called, the art included mostly pins and grapples but oddly enough there was also some kicks in there as well but no punches as Mars practiced he noticed Victoria had disappeared but didn''t really think much about it.... ''This place is huge...'' two big cat ears stood alert and they flickered slightly with a hint of cat like curiosity as Victoria looked around what seemed like a giant hall, how she got here was a mystery that involved a tumbleweed and a annoying fly which she had chased after, she looked at the walls of the hall as she walked along there were drawings of female demons along with some text in traditional demon language but the grander meaning eluded Victoria as she searched around for the annoying fly that had lead her to this place ''there it is!'' she spotted her pray on the far side of the hall and sneaked over before she pounced ''I got it!'' she did indeed get it, she squished it with her paws, she even felt momentarily proud about having hunted down the annoying fly but soon her ears twitched as they detected movement nearby and she hurriedly hid in a shadow soon a group of demons passed by, they were wearing armor and carried spears ''smells good...." they were escorting a few servants that lured Victoria after them by the smell of the food they were caring, she moved from shadow to shadow and soon the group with the delicious smelling food stopped in front of a door were the servants went in, after some time passed the servants left without the food ''in there... slurp'' Victoria wiped her droll with her paw and turned into a shadow that glided across the floor and passed under the heavily guarded door before she materialized again and looked around the room ''where is the food... there it is!'' the food had been served on a table, so Victoria jumped up on the the table and was just about to begin eating when she heard movement in the room and froze "is someone there?" Victoria stood oh so still and looked at the other person in the room, she was a demon teenager with long silver hair and a piece of cloth tied around her face so it covered her eyes from the edges of the cloth Victoria could see a giant scar that most likely had taken her sight ''what should I do?'' Victoria went over her options in her head, she could kill this demon teenager but she didn''t look like a bad person so Mars would most likely scold her if he found out, after thinking at high speed for about half a minute Victoria came up with a plan "....hi" "oh my some is there!" which was to go for it "I''m... hungry" and seem pitiful while she was at it "you... are not a demon?" the blindfolded demon walked a little closer while she asked, but Victoria just blinked her eyes and answered in a simple way "Victoria.... is Victoria... you can''t see?" the blindfolded demon gave a weak smile "no I''m blind" "okay... so can... I eat... this?" "hmm... only if you let me touch you" "touch... me?" Mars had warned her of strange people that wanted to touch her but the pale fish on the plate seemed oh so delicious "....fine.... but don''t... touch... weird places" the blindfolded demon gave a wide happy childlike smile and then she visablely suppressed her excitement and put on a serious face "I''ll try not to" then she slowly moved across the room and slowly reached out with her hand and touched Victoria''s fur "oh.... are you a beastman?" "Victoria... is Victoria... no one... is like... me" "....well okay then" slowly and gently the blindfolded demon''s hand explored Victoria''s body "oh my you have horns!" Victoria tilted her head to the side and asked as her horns flashed "how... do you... think... I have... been talking?" "with your horns?" "yeah..." "that''s.... well never mind" the blindfolded demon''s hands carefully moved exploring Victoria from the tip of her horns to the bottom of her paws "my oh my so squishy!" the blindfolded demon giggled when she touched the bottom of Victoria''s paws, but suddenly she stopped as her ears slightly twitched "Victoria you need to hide, someone''s coming!" "okay..." Victoria blended into the blindfolded demon''s shadow and hid herself, soon the door opened an a servant stepped in and looked at the blindfolded demon with a warm smile "mistress it''s time for practice" "give me a few minutes, I''ll be there soon" the servant bowed, even though the blindfolded demon was unable to see it "as you wish mistress" Chapter 135 The capital of demons 2 Mars had a stern look on his face as he looked at Victoria, as for the reason he was mad was because it had been almost a week since he had seen her last "where have you been?" Victoria looked down into the ground with her ears lowered meanwhile her horns flashed as she sent a telepathic message to Mars "...I was.... playing.... with a friend" the stern look on Mars'' face loosened slightly as he asked "do you have any idea how worried I was?" Mars had thought the worst, although he could feel that she was alive and her general diction from the contract they sheared he had no idea what she was doing or if she was okay, the only reason he had not torn the city apart looking for her was the girls constant pleas for him to not act rashly "...I''m sorry" "why don''t you forgive her Mars?" Chloe tried to cover a little for Victoria seeing how pitiful she looked, Mars gave a long sigh and kneeled down and slowly petted Victoria on the head "I was really worried... it''s good that you are okay" after Mars forgave Victoria he continued his training with the old demon in the courtyard when suddenly the door to the courtyard was kicked open, the old demon flared up and yelled "who dares!?" "oh my old demon you still have such a temper?" a demon around the age of the old demon stepped into the courtyard with a smug look on his face, the only thing that was a little weird was that he was missing a horn which made Mars mentally name him ''one horn'' "Dax... why have you come?" "do I need a reason to visit a old friend?" "who''s your friend!? LEAVE!" "fine then I''ll get to the point... have you found a demon to represent you in the Kel tournament?" "....why do you suddenly care about that?" "well I heard a rumor that you were training a non-horn" "well it''s true and he''s going to win the tournament!" the one horned demon looked at Mars laughed and turned and left, Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and jumped over the wall to the courtyard and landed in front of the one horned demon "what do you want non-horn!?" "it''s not non-horn you one horned bastard" Mars grew out his horns and gave a my-horns-are-better-than-your-one-horn smirk "so have horns, so what!?" Mars maintained his smirk and just walked past the one horned demon and said when he walked past him "if you appear in the tournament I''ll beat you to death with your own served arms" Mars walked back into the courtyard and continued practicing the art of Kel with the old demon, meanwhile Victoria ran off again to play with her mysterious ''friend'' like this time passed until it was the day before the tournament, the whole group was gathered for a feast Mars sat with the girls on one side of the table while the old demon sat on the other side, Mars seemed rather carefree meanwhile the old demon seemed a little nervous but as mars kept toasting the nervous look on the old demon''s face slowly disappeared and when the feast was over was seeing Dax''s defeated face the only thing the old demon talked about "son you must be sure to cripple that one horned bastards reparative" "sure.... but won''t I be disqualified if I do that?" "hmm.... maybe, but if it happens I can set up a meeting with you and the princess if it happens so don''t worry" "I see... well then I''ll go wild" "that''s good son!" the old demon slapped Mars on the back a couple of times "now go get some rest, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow" "sure" Soon the night passed and Mars'' eyes snapped open, he was in a guest room on a king sized bed, he slowly raised his head and looked around ''....this is a little lonely'' he was alone in the room, a demand that the old demon had made to make sure he was fit to fight "well whatever" Mars rose from the bed and looked around for his clothes, after putting it on he left the room and just when he opened the door he ran into a servant that was about to go wake him up "ah, dear guest it''s good that you are awake, please follow me the master of the house has requested your presences" "....sure" Mars followed after the servant while he patted his empty stomach that was complaining to him, soon he arrived in the dining room were the old demon waited and a sparse breakfast was lined up, Mars gave a slight frown, seeing this the old demon gave a laugh "don''t worry son, you can have all the food you want after you have won the tournament" "....fine" Mars sat down and begun eating and all to soon the food in front of him was gone, he patted his still half empty stomach with slight displeasure "now let''s get you dressed" the old demon gave a clap and a group of servants entered the dining room and took off Mars'' clothes and dressed him in some loose fitting black pants that reached down until his ankles, the pants were decorated with knitting made of gold string and that was it the rest of his body was left bare putting his upper body on full display showing of his near perfect build "this is?" "a traditional Kel uniform, the knitting show you rank" "my rank? I didn''t know Kel had ranks?" the old demon gave a grin "it dose, you''re of the 4th rank, there are 5 ranks in total.... if only you had a bit more time you could have reached the 5th rank... well whatever let''s get going" "what about the girls?" "they are already there" "okay... then lead the way" "sure thing" the old demon got up and walked out of the house, Mars followed after him and soon the two of them was walking through the city that was strangely empty "repeat what you know about the point system in Kel" "sure... whoever of the two fighters gets two points first wins, you get one point for pinning your opponent but you can''t use the same type of pin twice during so will earn you no points, knocking your opponent out with a kick earns two points" "good you remembered son" Mars gave a smile "of cause you were the one that taught me old demon" soon the two of them arrived at the central plaza that also was strangely abandoned, the old demon walked over and stood besides a well "you might want to grow out your horns now son" "okay...?" Mars did as the old demon asked and grew out his horns then the old demon gestured to the well "jump down when you are ready" then the old demon turned and left the plaza with quick steps leaving Mars alone "jump down?" Mars looked down into the well and gave a smile when he saw what was inside the well "so that''s how it is" Mars cracked his neck for a few seconds before he gave a light sigh and jumped down the well, falling for a few tens seconds Mars landed on a stone platform that stretched for hundreds of meters, on the edge of the platform were spectator seats that was filled to the brim with demons and in the four corners were giant chains that held up the platform over the great underground river that ran bellow it, Mars figured that the entire arena was most likely submerged in the underground river when it weren''t in use, seeing Mars had jumped down instead of using the rope ladder he instantly became the center of attention for the thousands of demons as the entire area became silent for a few seconds before suddenly the demons began talking amongst each other "who''s that?" "an outsider! but he''s wearing a Kel rope?" "don''t tell me a non-horn is going to fight in the tournament?" "look he''s of the 4th rank!" "impossible, no outsider have ever reached that level, it has to be fake!" even though the demons were whispering Mars'' sharp ears still heard most of what they were saying and soon a slight grin formed on his face "son over here!" Mars turned and saw the old demon, he was standing at the edge of the arena, Mars gave a smile and walked over "son you really did jump down.... you know I was half kidding when I said it right?" "I figured I would make an entrance" Mars looked around and saw tens of demons sitting with their eyes closed on the edge of the arena, they were all wearing Kel ropes and each had a older demon standing behind them "sit down son, relax and clear your mind" "sure..." Mars sat down with his legs crossed and cleared his mind as he mentally went over the Kel pins he had learned Chapter 136 The capital of demons 3 Mars slowly breathed out and opened his eyes, his mind was clear and he was ready to fight when the the old demon patted him on the shoulder and pointed to a pair of demons, both of them only had one horneach and explained "that''s Dax and his son" "....got it" Mars looked around at the other opponents and found most of them were looking at him with disdainful expressions, seeing this Mars'' casual smile widened a little before he asked the old demon "old demon this is a knockout tournament right?" "yeah it is, if you lose then that''s that" "okay" Mars'' smile widened a little more as he waited for the first round to start, a few minutes later the entire arena quieted down just as Mars was about to ask what happened he noticed all the demons were looking in the same diction and also looked over ''....so that''s how it is'' at the far side of the arena a elder demon was taking her seat, the seat looked more like a throne and Mars quickly figured she was the queen of all the demon''s, once she sat down she looked over the contestants one by one, when her eyes reached Mars they lingered a little longer but other then that there was no reaction to seeing a outsider in Kel robes, once she had looked over all of them she cleared her throat and spoke in a unhurried tone "....may the Kel tournament begin" as she finished speaking 4 demons stepped out into the arena ''the Judges huh... hope they are fair'' the 4 Judges talked privately for a few moments before they each turned to one side of the arena and loudly called out """"first match, Mars vs Ark"""" "it your turn son, go make me proud" "of cause" Mars rose and walked into the arena feeling almost all the eyes in the arena follow his every move with slight disdain made mars'' smile widen a little more ''just watch me'' soon he reached the middle of the arena and stood face to face with a demon about the same height as him with only a few meters separating them, the demon''s moth moved voicing out something ''you.... are... dead... meat? or something like that'' in response Mars only gave a casual smile as the 4 Judges turned and looked at the 2 contestants from all four sides """"begin!"""" as soon as the judges announced the start of the match the demon named Ark moved he kicked off the ground and sent a fierce kick out after Mars'' jaw, but Mars just swayed slightly and made the kick miss by a paper thin margin, with his agility stat it was almost too easy "stand still!" several kicks followed but none of them landed, suddenly Mars kicked off the ground and tackled the demon to the floor and quickly got him into a pin before he looked at the judges """"one point to Mars!"""" Mars let go of the demon and got up from the floor, Ark was fuming with a bright red face, clearly he was angry about something, Mars walked back to his start position and turned to Ark with a calm face, meanwhile Ark was trembling with anger and humiliation """"begin!"""" the next round began this time Mars decided to act first and activated [Instant movement] and arrived before Ark as he sent a kick to his jaw, Ark didn''t even manage to react as he was sent flying and rolled on the floor a few times before he came to a stop, the arena turned silent nobody had expected that the outsider would manage to win his first fight, not even the judges that was slightly stunned it wasn''t until Mars turned and looked at one of them they reacted """"2 points to Mars, Mars wins!"""" Mars gave a cheeky grin and walked back to the old demon that was bustling with excitement, he was almost jumping up and down, Mars gave a smile and sat down in front of the old demon and soon felt his hand slapping him on the back "well done son!" "it was nothing too amazing, just wait until I face Dax''s son" the old demon cooled down and gave a slightly tense nod "right..." "well if he''s the same level as the last one it will be no problem" Mars wore a relaxed expression as he watched the next fight, this one fight lasted about 10 minutes before the winner was declared and the next one began, soon almost two hours had passed and all the contestants had fought once and soon it was his turn again, this time he stuck to pinning his opponent twice and easily won the match, as he raised his arms in victory the arena was silent, well almost silent "GO MARS GO!" "THAT''S MY MAN!" "HEY HE''S MINE TOO!" Mars noticed he had a 3 woman cheer squad located in the audience and gave a wave to the girls before he returned and sat down in front of the old demon and awaited his next match which arrived after an hour of waiting """"Mars vs Devin"""" Mars stood up and walked into the arena soon he stood face to face with his opponent a demon with only one horn, he was also a head higher than Mars and had a robust build that gave a overpowering feeling "so you''re Dax''s son?" the one horned demon gave a cold snort "father said to destroy you, so get ready to die" being threatened Mars gave a casual smile and slipped into a stance """"begin!"""" as soon as the match started Mars disappeared from view as he activated [Instant movement] and then he performed a roundhouse kick that landed right on Devin''s jaw, only the difference between this kick and the last one he had thrown was that this time he was not holding back *CRACK* Devin''s body twisted as it flew a few meters and rolled on the floor, but something flew a little longer, the expression on the judges faces hardened instantly when they saw what it was ''maybe I went a bit too far..?'' it was his mangled jaw which had separated from his face that had flown a little longer than the rest of his body, the judges shifted their gazes to Mars and stared at him for a few seconds before they spoke """"2 points to Mars, Mars wins!"""" the arena was silent, gazes with mixed emotion looked at Mars that was the center of attention, Mars gave a sigh and walked back to the old demon that was tearing up when he looked at Mars, it was tears of joy, before mars had the chance to ask what happened the old demon spoke "I once had a son... a real son, my flesh and blood and he was killed in this very arena by Devin, now Mars you have avenged my son" the old demon''s voice was not loud but given that most of the arena was silent his voice carried far and the gazes on Mars started to warm a little, Mars however only gave the old demon a smile before he sat down in front of him again "I did what I promised" "thank you son" Mars breezed through the rests of the tournament and soon he stood as the final victor in the arena and walked over to a designated spot and sat down, the spot was in front of the old queen of demons that looked Mars over for a long time before she spoke in a unhurried tone "...outsider, no champion what is your wish?" Mars lowered his head and spoke in a clear tone "I wish for a private meeting with the crown princess" the queen''s eyes slightly widened and the audience began whispering amongst themselves, but Mars just kept his head lowered and waited for the queen to speak, which she soon did in her usual unhurried tone "...that wish is easily granted... do you wish for anything else?" Mars was a little surprised, the old demon had not told him about being given a second wish and sunk a glance in the old demon''s direction and found he was as clueless as Mars, after thinking for awhile he lowered his head even deeper and spoke "I wish for the prosperity of all demon kind" the old queen''s eyes gave a glint of approval before she spoke again "and how do you want that wish to be granted?" "by speaking with the crown princess I hope to give all of the wasteland prosperity in from of a trade agreement with Destra" the old queen''s eyes glinted again as she gave a nod and raised her right hand "this wish I grant... given you are able to hold up your end of the bargain" Mars showed a smile with his head still lowered, things were going better than he expected "that should not be a problem" Chapter 137 The capital of demons 4 Mars raised his head and looked at the queen, she gave a slight smile and spoke "...I hereby declare the end of the Kel tournament" the queen rose from her seat as all the demons in the arena bowed their heads to her and soon she walked out of sight and the arena began bustling with noise, many people talked about the matches but just as many talked about the wish Mars had made to the queen, Mars himself rose form the spot he was sitting and walked back to the old demon were Chloe, Elsa and Varvei also were standing and talking "shall we leave?" the old demon nodded with a happy smile on his face, he seemed like he was going to be happy no matter what happened for the rest of the day at least, soon the group left the underground river arena and began heading back to the old demon''s courtyard to celebrate, on the way Mars received some rather hot stares from some young female demons which caused the 3 girls to swarm around him as they attempted to keep him for themselves, the group soon reached the courtyard were there already were prepared for a grand feast. The rest of the day was spent celebrating Mars'' victory in the tournament long into the night... The next morning Mars dressed up in his best clothes and walked into the city alone and headed towards the castle were he soon arrived, after a quick talk with the guard Mars was escorted into the castle where he walked tough a long hall with numerous paintings of female demons Mars didn''t hold back his curiosity and asked the guard "what are those paintings?" the guard had seen yesterday''s Kel tournament and had a positive impression of Mars so he quickly answered with a smile on his face "those are paintings of all the former demon queens" "I see..." Mars looked at the paintings as they walked past them and soon they reached a heavily guarded door were the guard exchanged words with the other guards and soon the door was opened and Mars alone walked into the room and looked around, the room was elegantly decorated, mars looked over at the bed in the far end of the room and saw some teddy bears among with some other plushy''s and gave a small smile and sat down in a chair and waited, soon another door then the one he had walked in by opened and a blindfolded demon with back length silver hair walked in Mars looked over the demon once before he focused on her shadow and gave a smile before he spoke "so this is your new friend?" the princess stopped and showed a confused expression "excuse me, what are you talking about?" "sorry princess, I''m not talking to you I''m talking to your shadow or rather, to Victoria" the blindfolded demon''s face shoved a trace of shock before she gave a smile and asked Mars "so your Victoria''s owner?" "I''m not her owner, I''m her partner" the blindfolded demon let out a small laugh "you''re just how she told" "well thank you princess" as the two of them spoke Victoria jumped out of the blindfolded demon''s shadow, her ears were flopped down and she was clearly nervous "are you... mad?" "mad? why would I be mad? "okay..." Victoria lightened up again and walked over to Mars and began purring slightly "my oh my, you really are her partner for her to be so happy when you meet" Mars gave a smile and stood up from his chair and bowed slightly "please sit princess" the blindfolded demon gave a smile and sat down in front of Mars, Mars also sat down and for some time both of them just looked at each other, well the blindfolded demon didn''t ''look'' at Mars but he certainly felt a pair of ''eyes'' looking at him and not just the hidden guards he clearly felt the princesswas ''looking'' at him "let me introduce myself, I am Mars of Green rive.... I''m a half dragon" "well met Mars of Green river, my name is Velvet the current crown princess" Mars gave a grin "do you mind if I ask a rude question Velvet? you see I''m not one to beat around the brush" "....sure ask away" "you''re not really blind are you?" "what? you think the blindfold is for fashion?" "no I can clearly feel your ''eyes'' on me, you can see just not like me am I right?" "....well you are kind of right" Mars gave a nod "I knew it" Velvet frowned slightly "you are a bully" "guilty as charged" "well then.... Mars let us get to the main point, can you really make a trade agreement with Destra?" Mars gave a nod "sure I can, but would you not like to talk with the king of Destra in person instead?" Velvet gave a sigh "are you telling me to cross the wasteland? sorry but there''s no way mother would allow that..." "what if it only took an instant?" "....what do you mean?" "surely you have heard of space time magic? I happen to be a space time mage" Mars felt Velvet''s ''eyes'' light up "hmm.... in that case, is anyone there?" as Velvet called out a servant entered the room and bowed to her "please inform mother that I will be taking a trip to Destra" "what?" "as I said I''ll be taking a trip to Destra real quick" "o-okay I''ll inform the queen at once" the servant turned and walked out of the room, after the door shut Mars'' ear picked up someone running at full speed, most likely the servant "....I see you''re a bully too" Velvet didn''t respond but let out her tongue before she asked Mars "shall we get going?" "sure" Mars stood up from the chair and transformed his arm and slashed into the empty air with his claws, soon a rift opened and stabilized into a portal Mars then bowed and said with a teasing smile "lady''s first" Velvet ''looked'' at the portal for a moment before she gave a slightly nervous nod and walked through it, Mars followed after her and last was Victoria that jumped though it just before it closed... "my oh my, is this Destra?" on the other side of the portal Velvet stepped out and ''looked'' around, Mars stepped out of the portal after her and spoke "yeah this is king''s city, the capital of Destra" "my oh my" is Velvet had a tail it would be wagging with near speed of light as she ''looked'' around "let''s go to the castle" "sure lead the way!" Mars, Victoria and a very excited Velvet moved towards the castle but on the way Mars noticed a group of people that was keeping a close eye on him and got annoyed "Victoria keep an eye on Velvet" "okay..." "my oh my, are you going somewhere Mars?" "yeah I have to deal with something real quick" "okay, but be quick about it!" "sure princess" Mars waved his hand as he walked away, as he walked away the group of people followed after him ''look at them trying to be sneaky...'' the group that was tracking him obviously had tracking experience but in Mars'' eyes they were like children playing hide and seek, as soon as he reached a deserted ally Mars stopped walking and put a hand on the hilt of his sword while a confident smile formed on his face, meanwhile the group that was following him spread out and surrounded him from all sides ''looks like a party'' soon a group of rough looking people showed up, they all carried some sort of weird weapons that looked hardly impracticable to use in tight spaces, if Mars were to describe them they then they were like extra long bladed scythes "well hello there" one of the rough men looked at at a piece of paper and gave a nod "it''s him" "I knew it boss, let''s get him and cash in that bounty!" "quiet... there''s a reason he has a bounty that high.... I don''t spouse you Mars was it? want to surrender?" "no" "then there''s only one thing that happens you die, we get rich" Mars gave a sigh and activated [Instant movement], the next moment the heads of the group of rough looking men all fell to the floor "and that''s that" Mars walked over and picked up the piece of paper that was half soaked in blood and read it "400.000 cel huh... maybe I should deal with the empire soon..." Mars gave yet another sigh and walked back to Velvet and Victoria "I''m back" Velvet was stuffing her face with some grilled veggies and gave a nod to Mars "welcome.... back, how... was it?" "it was just some fools blinded by greed, let''s head to the castle" Mars lead the way and soon they arrived at the castle Chapter 138 The capital of demons 5 "my oh my, is this the castle?" Mars gave yet another sigh ''she sure is excited'' "yes princess this is the castle, shall we go inside?" "yes let''s!" Mars lead the very excited Velvet into the castle and quickly found someone to announce his presence to the king meanwhile they were lead to a waiting room were they waited for about 20 minutes until a knight came and escorted them to the audience room were Mars ran into a familiar person "hello there kitty cat" "HHHIII!!!" letting out a scream Michelle ran away from Mars without looking at him leaving Mars looking rather awkward, he suddenly felt a cold stare and turned around "what?" Mars asked Velvet that was coldly ''staring'' at him "....nothing, just didn''t think someone could actually be so tormented that they ran away from a person just by hearing their voice" "well... she did try to kill me" "....if you say so" "well she did and she was not nice about it, so there you have it: try to kill me and one might end up slightly traumatized" "....if you say so" Mars waited with Velvet a few more minutes before they were allowed into the audience room Mars as usual didn''t knell and neither did Velvet, she simply picked the sides of her traditional demon dress and bowed slightly to the king while she introduced herself "my name is Velvet, I''m the current crown princess of Froset, the capital of demons" "well meet Velvet, let''s move to a slightly better location and talk" "certainly" the king gave a nod to Mars with eyes filled with gratitude before he left with Velvet, Mars gave a slight smile before he turned and left with Victoria, once they was out of the audience room his way was suddenly blocked by a group of knights "you sure it''s him Jim?" "yeah I''m sure" Mars gave a sigh before he asked "just to be sure you''re after the bounty right?" "damn right!" "just quietly hand over your head to us" Mars gave yet another sigh and put a hand on the hilt of his sword "you guys know I have just done your king a great favor and this is how you repay me?" "who cares about that?" Mars smile widened as he saw that the knights eyes were blinded by greed and mumbled "you should think this was the capital of demons..." Mars didn''t care to look at them any more so he simply activated [Instant movement] and... knocked them all out with the back of his sword "why... didn''t you... kill them?" "well because I''m sure that when the king finds out what they have done they will live a life worse than death" Victoria''s eyes brightened as she looked over the knocked out knights again and nodded her head "I see... Mars... you''re... so smart" "why thank you Victoria" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head until a maid passed by "excuse me miss maid" "yes, what is it?" "could you inform the king that this group of knights just tried to kill me?" "...they did what?" "tried to kill me and take my head as a trophy" "....I-I see, I''ll have someone bring them to the dungeon at once" "thank you" after Mars thanked the maid he and Victoria wandered around the castle for a few hours before a maid found them and informed them that the king had finished talking with Velvet "I see, thank you" "please follow after me, lady Velvet is waiting" "sure" Mars and Victoria followed after the maid and soon they reached the outside of the room were Mars had talked with the king last time, the maid gestured to the door before she gave a bow and left, Mars opened the door and walked into the room were the king and velvet was drinking tea "your majesty, princess" "oh Mars there you are, I heard about what happened be relieved the offending knights will be stripped of they titles and thrown out into the streets" Velvet stopped sipping her tea and showed a surprised expression "my oh my what happened Mars?" "well..." Mars took a seat and poured himself some tea before he spoke "some of the knights ganged up on me and tried to kill me" "oh my..! and why in the world would they try to kill you like that?" "well the 300.000 cel bounty on my head probably had something to do with it..." "3-300.000 cel?" "yeah I pissed of the empire, now there''s a huge bounty on my head... I might destroy the empire soon" "d-destroy the empire... surely you are joking right?" Mars gave a sigh before he gave a wide smile and spoke "nope I''m starting to get real annoyed by the bounty" "I-I see... well good luck with that" "thanks" after that there was a few moments silence before Mars downed his tea and stood up "well then princess let''s get going" "sure..." Velvet stood up from her chair and gave a bow to the king before she spoke again "I hope what we have talked about today comes into function soon" the king also stood up from his chair and reached out his hand to Velvet "sure miss Velvet I''ll send out the first trading caravan tomorrow morning" Velvet gave a smile and reached out and shook the king''s hand before she turned to Mars and spoke "let''s get going Mars, I''m sure my dear mother is furious" "what you''re saying and you smile doesn''t match... well whatever, stand back" Mars transformed his hand and slashed out into empty air with his claws soon a rift in space opened and stabilized into a portal where Mars gestured to with a teasing smile on his face "lady''s first" "....s-sure" Velvet stepped into the portal and disappeared, Mars then gave a nod to the king before he also stepped though and last but not least Victoria jumped through the portal right before it closed... In Froset, more precisely in the crown princess room a portal opened scaring the servant that was waiting in the room awake, as the servant saw the portal she ran out of the room to inform the queen. Soon Velvet stepped out of the portal and ''looked'' around before she gave a sigh and walked over and collapsed face first into her bed, when Mars saw her like that he commented "that''s not a very ladylike posture princess" in response to Mars'' comment Velvet began rolling from side to side in her bed until finally about a minute later she suddenly stopped and got up from the bed, them Mars'' sharp ears picked up someone moving towards the room with hurried footsteps "Velvet!" as soon as the door was opened the queen walked in followed by numerous servants and yelled her daughters name "dear mother" Velvet lowered her head, meanwhile the queen walked up and embraced Velvet "are you okay?" "I''m fine dear mother" the queen looked over Velvet a few more times before she turned to Mars and asked with a smile on her face "I trust the talks with the king of Destra went well?" Mars gave a nod "it did, the first caravan will be sent off tomorrow" "that''s good... sorry Mars could you leave I need to have a talk with my daughter" Mars gave a nod before he bowed to the queen "at once your majesty" leaving while ignoring the non-verbal pleas for backup from Velvet Mars walked out of the room before he grew out his horns and left the castle before he headed back to the old demon''s courtyard were he found the girls laying in the sun seemingly very relaxed, Mars gave a wry smile before he spoke out "I''m back" "welcome back Mars" Chloe rose from the blanket she was lying on and walked over and gave Mars a hug, Elsa followed after her and also gave him a hug, meanwhile Varvei was still sleeping in the sun Mars put on a teasing expression and walked over to her and squatted down next to her before he started slowly poking her check "umm...." first came a unladylike sound before she turned her head to the other side and kept sleeping Mars stood up and walked to the other side before he squatted down next to her and poked her again "umm..." this time she slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times "It''s Mars~" then she grabbed his arm and pulled Mars down next to her before she hugged his arm and fell asleep again ''good grief...'' "that''s no fair!" Elsa protested and lay down next to Mars and hugged his arm close "me too then" Chloe lay down on top of Mars and curled up on his chest, like this the afternoon passed with Mars spending time with the girls ''well this is fine once in a while... besides i don''t think I''ll be able to see them a whole lot in the immediate future, after all I have a empire to dismantle'' Mars'' eyes shone with a cold light, for annoying him the empire was going to fall Chapter 139 To kill an emperor 1 In the southern part of the empire a character walked into a small town, the character was in one word shady. He carried a staff with a dark magic beast core embedded at the top of the staff and wore a thick brown robe with a hood over his head, walking into the small town the figure walked to a nearby inn and went to book a room for the night "w-what will it be?" the hostess was a little intimidated when she saw the face of the figure, his face was bandaged leaving only a thin line that exposed a pair of blue vertical split eyes, the figure put down 10 cel on the counter without asking for the price "one room for the night" the hostess quickly took the money "sure right this way" the figure followed after the hostess and arrived at a small-very-too-cramped room with a single bed, the room smelled of mold but the figure just gave a nod "this will do, leave" "s-sure at once, have a good night" the figure sat down on the bed and gave a sigh "this sure is tiring... Victoria you can come out now" Victoria jumped out of Mars'' shadow and began purring as her horns flashed "I... miss... Chloe..." "yeah me too... I miss the other girls too of cause" it had been about a month since the Kel tournament and Mars was slowly moving towards the capital of the empire where he would perform his master plan kill the emperor and hope his bounty disappears in the chaos after the assassination, to make sure he was not harassed by bounty hunters on the way he had disguised himself as a shadow magician and even changed the way he was speaking, there was only one problem he had run out of travel founds after he had given a big portion of his assets to the girls for them to mange in Green river ''what was it called again... something heads, was it 8 heads?'' Mars briefly thought back to the name of the name of the organization he had ''borrowed'' his cel from ''maybe I can find another of their lairs..? nah I doubt it.... which means there''s only one way to make some money working'' temporally dreading doing actual work Mars laid down on the moldy bed and closed his eyes and patted his stomach, right after Victoria jumped up and laid down on top of him and closed her eyes as the night grew longer... The next morning Mars'' eyes snapped open before he grabbed his staff and pointed it towards the door, Victoria jumped down from his stomach and into his shadow, soon the door opened and the hostess walked in with a bowl of water she was a little surprised Mars was awake much less pointing his staff at her, but being the hostess of a inn she had seen a bit of everything and didn''t take his hostility to heart "I brought you a bowl of hot water" she simply placed the bowl on the small table and walked back out the room, Mars lowered his staff and Victoria poked her head out of the shadow at Mars'' feet as her horns flashed "she... seems though" "yeah...." "well you know the deal, stay in my shadow" "okay..." Mars briefly washed up before he left the inn and headed towards the local guild building, the inside was made of the usual suspects 7 parts tough looking men and 3 parts petty receptionists, Mars walked up to the request board but was stopped by a group of tough looking men "you look shady, too shady to be a proper merc" Mars gave a mental sigh and raised his staff as he pulled out his silver merc tag and showed it off "move or you will be moved" the stare off continued for a few moments until a receptionist walked over and gave one of the tough looking men a kick to the shin "ouch!" "Jimmy what have I told you about scaring unfamiliar people!?" "but baby---" Jimmy was about to protest but received yet another kick to the shin and swallowed down his words, the receptionist that was a female lesser bunny beastman or in simpler terms a real bunny girl turned to Mars and gave a frown "you sure are shady looking, what''s your story?" Mars thought for a moment before he spoke "I''m disfigured, I keep my face banged so people don''t lose their lunch" "....if you say so, so what can I help you with?" "I''m looking for work" the bunny girl narrowed her eyes slightly "what kind of work?" "any kind that pays and sends me towards the capital" "hmm.... there was that one request..." the bunny girl turned around and looked at the request board, eventually pulling down a request "here look it over" "sure..." Mars looked over the request, it was for a caravan said to arrive in a few days that was heading towards the capital, the only weird thing was that the pay was way to good, sitting at 10.000 cel, Mars looked up from the request and looked at the bunny girl and asked "what''s the catch?" the bunny girl that was a head shorter than Mars gave a evil grin and asked "why do you think they are picking up new escorts?" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly behind the bandages "because the escorts died off?" "ding dong! right because they died off, you see the cargo is one mean former merc bandit that lead a crew of over 100.000 bandits that was scattered by the imperial army a few weeks ago, now they are carrying him to the capital were his is to be executed" Mars gave a wide smile under the bandages "sounds like fun, where do I sign up?" the bunny girl narrowed her eyes slightly "you do see the part where it says gold ranks and up right?" "yeah I do, don''t worry I fight with the power of 5 men" the bunny girl gave a sigh and looked over at Jimmy "then let''s have a test right now, beat Jimmy and his friends and I''ll let you take this request, what do you say Jimmy up for it?" "sure thing baby!" the bunny girl gave a sigh and kicked Jimmy in the shin again "ouch! why baby?" "I told you not to call me baby when I''m working!" a few minutes later Mars was out back of the guild building in a makeshift arena, in front of him stood Jimmy and his 5 friends with their weapons drawn, the bunny girl walked in and stood in the middle of them and asked Mars "are you ready?" "one sec" Mars tapped the bottom of his staff against the ground and instantly the magic beast core shone and over a dozen shadow soldiers appeared form his shadow, the smile on Jimmy''s face stiffened slightly "now I''m ready" "o-okay, then begin!" as soon as the match started Mars'' shadow soldiers kicked off the ground and quickly entered a formation around him, then moving as one with the shadow soldiers Mars moved towards Jimmy and his friends while the magic beast core embedded on his staff relashed a dark light "get him!" Jimmy and his 5 friends also entered a formation and ran at Mars, on the first clash more then a few shadow soldiers was defeated and turned into black smoke, Jimmy gave a smug smile and yelled "is that all you got!?" Mars gave a slight smile under the bandages and quickly tapped his staff against the ground twice and 2 dozen shadow soldiers appeared from his shadow and quickly surrounded Jimmy and his friends meanwhile Mars pulled back leaving his shadow soldiers to tie them down and began circling the encirclement, replacing his shadow soldiers as soon as they fell, this kept up for about 10 minutes before Jimmy yelled out "give, we give up!" Mars stopped his shadow soldiers that walked back to him and got absorbed back into his shadow and looked at the slightly stunned bunny girl before he asked "I won right?" "y-yes that you did... that reminds me I don''t know your name" ''well I''m not slim but...'' "just call me Shady" the bunny girl gave a nod "well then mister Shady, come back in a day for the information on the caravan" "sure" Mars turned and walked out to arena ''now let''s find a place that does not smell of mold to sleep tonight...'' the next day Mars showed up at the guild and quickly found the bunny girl "hello, I trust you have something for me" "ah mister Shady, give me one minute..." the bunny girl ran into the back area and soon returned with a middle aged man and pointed at him "this is the one I was talking about yesterday boss" "hmm I see he sure does look shady" Mars gave a nod, then the middle aged man proceed to look him over once more before he spoke again "so you want to join that caravan?" Mars gave another nod "yes that was the plan" the middle aged man crossed his arms and gave a nod "I don''t see why not, besides if you really did beat Jimmy and the boys you''re more than qualified... sure I''ll bend the rules for you this once" "thanks" Chapter 140 To kill an emperor 2 Mars looked through the narrow slit in the bandages that was covering his face at the caravan that had stopped in town ''they sure look like they have been through hell....'' there was not a single uninjured merc to see, all of them had bandages that smelled strongly of medicine and iron somewhere on their bodies, the caravan itself also looked like it had been through something fierce with what looked like hastily repairs all over the wagons, all except for one the wagon in the middle of the convoy that looked like it was made of solid steel with 2 armored rhino looking magic beasts dragging it forwards "sure looks like a prison wagon" Mars gave a nod besides him the middle aged man from the guild gave a sigh and asked Mars "mister Shady are you sure you''re up for it? I can still cancel the arrangement" "no it''s fine, it looks just like I thought it would" "okay if you say so..." the middle aged man gave another sigh and walked over and talked with one of the merc''s guarding the caravan, after about a minute he gestured for Mars to come over which he did, the merc the middle aged man was talking with looked Mars over once before he gave a scoff before he said with a disdainful tone "welcome aboard Shady" Mars simply gave a nod, if the merc was going to disregard him then he was inclined to care even less about him then normal, the merc then turned and left leaving Mars alone with the middle aged man that patted Mars on the shoulder "good luck mister Shady, remember if you survive you can always come back to my guild and have a drink" "sure I''ll tell you all about it then" the middle aged man gave a wry smile before he turned and left, Mars looked around for a empty spot in the formation and placed himself there, soon the caravan started moving and slowly left the small town which Mars had forgot the name of long ago... "This sure is a party" not even half an hour after the caravan had left the small town were it attacked by a large group of bandits, Mars tapped his staff and summoned a group of shadow soldiers to protect himself before he began supporting the merc''s around him with well timed spells, mostly he used his self created spell the shadow glue to seal the bandits movements by hitting their feet but after a bandit avoided his spells twice Mars got annoyed and switched to aiming for headshots, one can imagine the horror of having a ball of glue covering one''s own face much less the super shadow glue, fortunately for the bandits their horror was shot lived as they were quickly finished off by the merc''s once they got their eyes covered with the dark glue. Soon the bandits realized Mars was one of the bigger threats and focused their efforts in trying to kill him, unfortunately for the bandits the merc''s also realized Mars'' impact on the battlefield and moved to protect him and all to soon the bandits were forced to turn and run, Mars gave a wry smile and tapped his staff against the ground twice as two dozen more shadow soldiers appeared and gave chase to the bandits, the merc''s around Mars raised their weapons and let out a cry of victory and gathered around Mars and showered him with praises "man you really are a lifesaver!" "I thought I was a goner, but then you supported me!" "thanks for the assist!" Mars liked to get praised so he put on a praise-me-more expression under the bandages before he not so humbly said "it was nothing, we are after all mercenaries that have accepted the same request so helping you all was natural" "someone help over here!" just as Mars was feeling smug a anguished cry came from the other side of the convoy, his face hardened at once before he kicked off the ground and with the rest of the merc''s that was praising him a moment ago arrived at the other side of the convoy ''this is... bad'' bad was one way to put it, the mortality rate for the side were Mars was not at was almost 25%, or in other words every 4th merc had died under the assault of the bandits and most of the rest was injured, some more then others Mars looked around and soon found the source of the yell and rushed over ''this is horrible..!'' when Mars saw the wounded merc he almost lost his lunch, his left leg had almost been severed and another merc was holding the wound with his hands trying to stop the bleeding but there was too much blood and the injured merc was already in shock "please help!" "...I can, as long as you move!" Mars pushed the merc that was holding the wound aside and activated his [Energy: healing] with full power and touched the wound which then closed at a speed which the naked eye could see, as soon as the wound closed the wounded merc stopped hyperventilating and seemed to calm down. Mars gave him a pat on the leg and stood up before he walked over to the next injured person and healed them too, sure he had other things to use his energy units on but helping the merc''s was like helping himself as the bandits attacks was far from over and there was a long way to the capital, once Mars was done treating the ones that could be treated he ignored the looks of praise he was getting and directly sat down on the ground and acted like he was tired "mister Shady are you okay?" Mars waved his hand in front of his face "I''m fine, just a little tired..." Mars closed his eyes to drive the point home, as for why he acted tired it was simple he wanted to seem more human if he simply healed everyone with tired the merc''s might start to avoid him or treat him like some kind of monster or god... Later that evening Mars sat in front of a campfire along with some of the merc''s he had fought with earlier that same day "so why is it that you cover your face mister Shady?" Mars gave a sigh "I''m disfigured" "oh... sorry" "I don''t mind Mat" Mars gave the mercenary named Mat a pat on the shoulder before he stood up and stretched "I think I''ll retire for the night" Mat gave a nod "please sleep well mister Shady" "I will..." Mars walked away from the convoy and found a tree which he quickly climbed and sat down on a branch and closed his eyes. Meanwhile the mercenaries gathered around the campfire and talked with hushed voices "you ever seen anything like that old Tom?" old Tom was a old gold ranked mercenary clad in iron armor with a long white beard, he closed his eyes and stroked his long beard for a moment before he slowly shook his head and spoke "no, the healing spell mister Shady uses is far beyond what I have ever seen... Not only the quality of the healing but the times he was able to use it is beyond what I have ever seen, it''s most likely a bestowed skill" the other mercenaries nodded, right it had to be a bestowed skill anything else was simply impossible, after a long silence a other mercenary raised his hand, she looked like a teenage girl and carried twin swords, her sharp ear revealed she was a half elf, she was also one of the ones Mars had healed during the day and unlike her fragile looks she was one of the most bloodthirsty mercenaries of the lot and had only been injured because she chased to far, no one knew her real name so they just called her blood Mary "when mister Shady healed me I saw something..." the other mercenaries leaned in and listened as she continued "...I saw a glint of a silver star in his robe he, mister Shady might be a apostle" old Tom gave a nod and spoke "that would make sense given the power of his bestowed skill" the other mercenaries nodded along again only Mat gave a frown and spoke "but if he''s a apostle then why have he not gone to the holy union to the west? I heard they treat apostles like royalty there" old Tom gave a frown and spoke "it might be because he''s disfigured all you hear from the holy union isn''t true and I figure a disfigured apostle would revive more scron than anything else" "I see.... poor mister Shady, if he wasn''t disfigured he would live a great life in the holy union..." nods all around again as another part of Mars'' alter ego backstory got added without his permission Chapter 141 To kill an emperor 3 The next morning Mars climbed down from the tree he had spent the night in and went to do his morning stretches but found a pair of eyes on him and looked over ''that''s Mary right..?'' Mars remembered the half elf he had healed yesterday and gave a small wave, Mary gave a smile and walked over and greeted him "good morning mister Shady" "morning Mary, how is your arm?" Mary blushed lightly when she remembered how Mars had tenderly held her arm as he healed it yesterday "I-it''s fine!" Mars tilted his head slightly but decided to ignore Mary''s strange behavior and instead shifted the topic "have you eaten yet Mary?" "yeah I just finished eating" "I see that''s good, you need to eat to replenish the lost blood, even though my skill healed you yesterday it didn''t replace the lost blood" Mary gave a nod and asked Mars "you have not eaten yet right?" Mars shook his head slightly "I''ll go get some food now" Mars walked past Mary and over to the carriage were food was being disturbed to the mercenaries and got his rations that consisted of dried meat and a cold wheat porridge, after Mars inhaled his food he slipped a few pieces of dried meat into his shadow for Victoria to eat, then he walked over to his spot in the formation around the convoy and sat down and waited for the convoy to start moving... At a camp in the middle of a forest a rough looking man hurriedly ran between the tents that was not-so-neatly lined up, his goal was a large tent in the middle of the camp, were there current leader was resting, as soon as he reached the tent he suddenly stopped and kneeled down outside of the tent "big sis, I have important news!" the man waited patiently and soon a voice sounded out form inside the tent "enter" as soon as he heard the response a smile formed on the face of the rough looking man "yes big sis!" then he rose from the ground and entered the tent and kneeled down again, the inside of the tent was luxuriously decorated and in the middle of the tent stood a bathtub that was made of pure silver in the tub lay a breathtaking beauty and bathed, she had long red hair and pure white skin without a single scar "what is the important news?" the woman seemed more interested in cleaning her already spotless body and lazily asked, the rough looking man lowered his head and spoke "the last raid on the convoy was nearly wiped out" the beauty suddenly stopped cleaning her body and let out an icy tone "...what did you just say" cold sweat formed on the rough looking man''s forehead, he knew the beauty in the tub had never heard of the saying ''don''t kill the messenger'' and if he spoke wrongly he was dead "a-as I said; the last raid on the convoy was nearly wiped out" the beauty''s body shock slightly before she let out an even colder tone "tell me the details, NOW!" "y-yes big sis! It seemed like a skilled shadow mage appeared in the last round of reinforcements, this mercenary was the cause of our loss" "....you''re telling me ONE. SINGLE. MERCENARY. caused our forces to almost get wiped out!?" the words hit the rough looking man like a hammer and with every single one he lowered his head even more, his entire body was now covered with cold sweat but he quickly answered the beauty in the bathtub "y-yes that''s what the survivors told" "damned imperial army if only they weren''t so alert we could just bring all our men and attack the convoy... never mind that, double the number of men in each attack and tell them to go after the mage first, however brings me his head will be rewarded!" "y-yes at once big sis!" "and for the sake of your own skin free my man from that convoy soon!" Mars suddenly felt a chill and looked around, bloody Mary that had been walking next to him noticed and asked "what''s wrong mister Shady?" "...it''s nothing I just felt a chill" "I sure hope so..." Mars heighten his alertness and scanned the surrounding forest once more, but alas he didn''t find anything other then some local wildlife in the distance which caused him to let out a sigh, meanwhile Mary peered into his face from the side with a light blush on her face, Mars of course noticed this and asked her "what is it?" "...are you really disfigured mister Shady?" Mars almost fell over but quickly answered "yeah I really am disfigured" "hmm..." "what?" "I don''t think you are" Mars stopped walking and gripped his staff a little tighter before he said in a cold tone "sometimes it''s best not to ask too much" Mary became flustered and waved her hands in front of her face "it''s not that I don''t trust you mister Shady, after all you healed me" "...then what is it?" "it''s just you don''t feel... disfigured?" Mars shook his head, the bloodthirsty half elf was oddly sharp on some strange points, thankfully something happened that rescued him from the current situation, Mars gave a wide smile under the bandages before he spoke "we have guests" "eh..?" "500 meters west of the convoy, a group of 30 some bandits are sneaking up on us" "g-got it, I''ll alert the others! Hehe finally some action!" seeing Mary''s eyes light up with the thirst for blood once more Mars grabbed her collar and stopped her from running off "ugh, what is it mister Shady?" "don''s chase to far, if you do I won''t heal you" "tch... fine I get it" "good" Mars left go of the bloodthirsty half elf and watched her run around and inform the others before he tapped his staff against the ground and a dozen shadow soldiers appeared around him, then Mars pointed to the nearby forest where the bandits were coming from "set up a ambush" the shadow soldiers were silent but still moved and blended in with the shadows of the trees, Mars gave a nod before he tapped his staff against the ground again and another dozen shadow soldiers appeared and formed a protective formation around him "here they come!" the bandits came running out of the treeline, most of the 30 some bandits were injured as a result of Mars'' shadow soldiers ambush but it didn''t look like anyone was killed, as soon as the bandits got out of the treeline they scanned the mercenaries and when they noticed Mars their eyes suddenly became bloodshot and changed at him with various war cry''s "shit---" "they are going after mister Shady!" "cover Shady!" Mars looked at the incoming bandits with a smile covered by the bandages and suddenly began tapping his staff like crazy, with ever tap a dozen shadow soldiers appeared and charged at the bandits, soon the bandits stopped charging at Mars, as for why it was simple they were people too and didn''t want to die "come, come, COME!" at this point Mars'' eyes were bloodshot as he yelled at the bandits while he summoned shadow soldiers like crazy but soon he reached his limit and was forced to stop as his mana very nearly ran out, being hit by a headache Mars'' body swayed as he nearly collapsed but he managed to remain standing as he leaned on his staff. Meanwhile the shadow soldiers massacred the bandits perhaps they were influenced by Mars'' craze because they showed no mercy and was even more brutal than usual, even tearing dead bandits apart like wild hounds spreading the smell of iron all over the battlefield and all too soon the bandits ran away in fear, alas they fate was sealed as the shadow soldiers (and Mary) persured and wiped them out completely "here mister Shady drink this, it will help with your mana" old Tom handed a small glass flask with a clear liquid inside to Mars, Mars gave a nod and quickly down the flask, it was tasteless and soon a warm feeling spread across his body as his mana slowly recovered "thanks" "don''t mention it... take it as a gift for seeing the rumored shadow army once again" Mars tilted his head to the side and asked "shadow army?" old Tom stroked his beard and gave a nod "it''s the name of the spell you used just now, it''s legendary from the empires defeat in the southern wasteland were we were fighting against demon folk. I remember it clearly, a young demon used that very spell and summoned a thousand shadow soldiers in exchange for his own life... The shadow soldiers fought like real soldiers and eventually forced us to retreat" Mars gave a nod as he rubbed his aching head before he spoke "to tell the truth I learned this spell from a demon in that very wasteland" "I see... well anyway it an awesome spell to watch, I''ll leave you to care for your headache" "thanks" old Tom walked away and left Mars that sat down on the ground to rest Chapter 142 To kill an emperor 4 Mars gradually recovered from his mana shortage and by the time the mercenaries was done cleaning the battlefield Mars stood up from his spot and walked over and used a fire spell to burn the bodies of the bandits to ashes, after he set the bodies alight someone poked him on the shoulder, so Mars turned around and saw Mary with fresh bandages around her arm and an awkward look on her face, Mars gave a sigh and asked her "what did I tell you not even 15 minutes ago?" "...not to chase too far?" Mars grabbed her head with a deathclaw of doom "so you do remember" "ouch, ouch! p-please forgive me mister Shady!" "what do you mean forgive you, have you done anything wrong~?" "ouch! y-yes I was wrong, I should not have chased so far!" "oh I see, well in that case I forgive you" Mars released Mary from his death claw of doom and quickly grabbed her arm and pulled the bandages off "let''s see here..." Mary turned quiet with a light blush on her face as Mars peered into her wound "hold still..." "okay" Mars reached out and carefully removed a small piece of lose bandage that was stuck in her wound before he activated his [Energy: healing] skill, as the wound closed Mars held her hand as Mary''s face gradually got more and more flushed "and there you are, good as new" Mars gave Mary a pat on the arm which woke her from her daze "t-thanks mister Shady" Mary attempted to run off and find a place to cool her face but Mars held on to her arm "before you leave why don''t you tell me what you have learned once more?" "....not to chase too far?" "good girl" Mars gave Mary a pat on the head before he turned and walked back to his spot in the formation as the caravan slowly started moving again... "WIPED OUT!?" the man trembled as the hysterically voice hit him in the face like a truck before he lowered his head even more and spoke with a shaky voice "y-yes b-big sis, t-they w-w-were w-w-w-wiped out" if the man was a mage he would be able to feel the odd in the air tremble as the redheaded beauty with pure white skin in front of him almost formed a spell fuelled by pure rage instead of mana, her expression on her pretty face had contracted and she looked like a wraith out for blood as she trembled in rage for a few moments before she began raining causes at the poor man "the 13 be damned, you bunch of ignorant, week, cowardly, poor excuses for men can''t even do something as simple as take one fucking carriage from a bunch of spineless sell swords! Your task is not even the hard one! do you understand that!?" the man trembled as he lowered his head even more, by now his body had been covered by cold sweat and he half expected to be killed at any time "y-yes big sis we understand" "damn it!" after cursing once more the redheaded beauty suddenly seemed to calm down and asked the man "you know what the problem is?" the man trembled like a small dog, at this point his clothes was drenched in cold sweat, but he knew he could not remain silent so he answered the question "no I don''t big---" *SNAP* ''huh that''s weird... why can I see the ceiling?'' those were the last thought that went through the man''s head as his body and head had been twisted apart by a strong suddenly appearing vacuum, the redheaded beauty gave a sigh and spoke out in the tent "the problem is that I let you useless people handle it... I have to get darling back myself" Mars let out a yawn, the last few days had been calm with no sudden and bloody attacks from bandits, besides the bear that wandered within 200 meters of the caravan and was hunted down in secret by Victoria Mars had not detected anything that posed a threat to the caravan and was naturally starting to feel bored "hey mister Shady that''s bad manners, you have to be alert during the job!" bloody Mary that walked next to him reminded him to keep alert but Mars just waved his hand and dismissed her "yeah, yeah.... I''m always alert anyways Mary" "if you say so, but man it''s really been quiet the last couple of days..." "yeah... almost to quiet, just kidding" "hmmm I still get the feeling something is tracking the convoy some 400 meters out" ''that''s properly Victoria... man she really is strangely sharp...'' "really? I don''t feel anything within 700 meters... That''s not true, there''s a bunny rabbit 620 meters to the south-south-east" Mary gave a sigh before she spoke enviously "what is up with your senses? I''m the half elf here and I can only sense out to 400 some meters and that''s only if I concentrate..." ''well I never said I was human...'' Mars gave a nod and asked "by the way, what''s up with the shaking?" while they had been talking Mars noticed Mary''s arm was slightly shaking the whole time, Mary gave a wry smile and looked around, after she confirmed no one was paying attention to them she gave Mars a command "lower your head a bit" Mars did as she asked and lowered his head a bit, then Mary walked up to him and whispered into his ear "I''m cursed" Mars'' eyes widened slightly and he looked over Mary again this time with his [Energy: sense] and noticed some sort of energy was reeving havork inside her body, no doubt causing no small amount of pain, Mars activated his [Energy: healing] and healed Mary causing the shaking to stop, but the energy was still causing damage inside her body, seeing this Mars gave a sigh and asked her "is that why you always case too far?" "....yeah the pain only stop if I kill people regularly" Mars gave a nod "I see..." Mars went over ways to lift the curse in his head but ended up with nothing besides asking Info next time he would see her, while Mars was thinking Mary spoke "thanks" "for what?" "for not pitying me" Mars suddenly felt Mary was much older then she let on and was about to ask her how old she was when it happened "SHIT---" *KABOOM* reacting with his quick reflexes Mars managed to push down Mary as a deafening explosion rang out ''what the fuck was that!?'' Mars felt no strength in his body only the feeling of his body rapidly cooling and the taste of iron in his mouth ''shit...'' Mary awoke after an unknown amount of time passed, her ears were ringing and she felt like she just had been beaten silly, her whole body ached and cried out in pain, she also felt someone laying on top of her as she opened her eyes "mister Shady!" it was Shady that lay on top of her, she shock him a couple of times but he showed no signs of waking up, Mary bit her lip and took his pulse "shit!" he was dead. Mary felt tears welling up in her eyes but she bit her lip even more and carefully pushed him aside and looked around, it was pure hell there was blood and served body parts all over moans of pain from the few maimed (un)lucky survivors along with a giant crater about 25 meters away from her "what happened!?" she scrammed and looked around with tears dripping down her face "oh so there''s still someone alive?" Mary heard a voice and looked up, she saw a redheaded beauty standing there mid air floating, she looked at Mary with wonder oozing out her cold unfeeling green eyes that shone like jewels in the sunlight, Mary trembled her instincts told her that this was an opponent she would not be able to beat, just the odd fluctuation in the air told her that the redheaded beauty was a master mage. Mary''s instincts told her to run but there was something else that told her to kill this bitch in the most brutal ways she knew ''she killed mister Shady!'' Mary gritted her teeth and drew her twins swords and stood ready as she glared up at the redheaded beauty and screamed at her "I''ll kill you!" the redheaded beauty put on an amused face as she responded with a mocking tone "and how will you do that you dirty half breed?" the redheaded beauty waved her arm and a blade made of wind was sent down after Mary'' neck, Mary relying on her instincts pushed her aching body to the side just in time and avoided the wind blade Mary kept her eyes on the redheaded beauty that suddenly froze while looking at something that wasn''t Mary then a roar was heard "YOU BITCH, HOW DARE YOU KILL ME!?" Chapter 143 To kill an emperor 5 "YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU KILL ME!?" Mars roared he was truly enraged this time, not only had he been killed, he had been killed by a mare mortal the humiliation he felt fulled his rage, before anyone had a chance to react he activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of the redheaded beauty mid air and slashed at her face with his claws "AAAGGGHHH!!!" 4 deep cuts appeared on the now not-so-beautiful-redhead''s face as Mars landed down on the ground again and tore the bandages off his face before he yelled "that''s what you get!" blood streamed down the now disfigured redhead''s face, she covered her face with her trembling hands before she screamed "you bastard!" launching several wind blades after Mars the redhead expected to kill him within a few spells but Mars just stood there and when the spells hit him they seemed to get absorbed "you like that don''t you bitch, next will be your arms!" acting as soon as he said it Mars disappeared from view before he appeared and slashed at the redhead''s arms leaving 4 deep cuts on each of her arms before gravity took him and he landed on the ground again just another howl of pain was released by the disfigured redhead, at this point she stopped cursing Mars and just tired everything she could to kill him, launching spell after spell at him, but alas all the spell were just harmlessly absorbed. "next will be your legs!" the redhead flinched before suddenly she turned and tried to escape by flying away "oh no you don''t!" Mars instantly appeared in the air besides her and grabbed the redhead, holding on to her Mars activated his [Energy: drain hands] and drained her of all her mana making her flying spell cancel as both of them suddenly fell towards the ground, Mars landed on his feet but the redhead landed on her back and coughed up fresh blood, Mars quickly grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air and stared into her face with a slight frown on his face before he squeezed and a pop sounded out before he threw aside the corpse and summoned a small flame that burned it into ashes in mere seconds "...and that''s that" having vented his anger Mars calmed down and turned back and found a very stunned Mary that looked at him in wonder "you''re... alive? but how?" Mars gave a sigh and walked over to his bag and pulled out a fresh set of bandages "help me put theses bandages on and I''ll tell you" "o-okay" Mars sat down on the ground and Mary walked up behind him and took the bandages and began covering his face with them, a few minutes of silence later and Mars'' face was covered again and he stood up and turned to Mary "let''s help the survivors" Mary gave a nod and followed after Mars as he healed the luck survivors which mounted to about 15 that was somewhat combat ready, the rest about 20 was maimed and was unable to fight but very happy to be alive, nobody asked Mars what had happened and silently began to gather the dead and bury them... Late at night Mars sat near a small campfire with Mary sitting next to him, both of them were quiet and looked into the fire, suddenly Mars started talking "do you know what a living god is?" Mary looked over at Mars and studied his face that was covered by bandages and shook her head "no I don''t" "I see... well without going into too many details that what I am and I don''t die if someone kills me, I just get angry" "how many times have you died?" "hmm... this is the 5th time I think? anyways I don''t bother to remember" "I see... why do you cover your face? your not disfigured, so why cover up?" Mars gave a sigh "truth is there''s a bounty on my head, a rather big on at that" "what did you do?" "I saved a person from a jail cell, a person that was going to die by starvation and that got me a 300.000 cel bounty" "...really? who did you save?" "the flaming rose general" "....I thought she was dead already" "yeah so did I, but now she lives in an elven city state south of the kingdom Destra" "....I see" both Mary and Mars fell silent as the night grew longer... It was calm after the redhead attacked, unknown to Mars and the mercenaries the bandit group that had been attacking them dissolved due to internal conflict after their ''big sis'' died at Mars'' hand and now they were just a few hours away from the capital of the empire: Central, Central was not only the biggest city in the entire empire it was also the "center" of the empire, this meant that all orders and thinking found place in Central it was like the brain of the empire and at the center of that brain stood a man named Shouta Yamato or in other words the emperor ''question is how to get within swords reach of him....'' "mister Shady what are you thinking about?" "oh nothing just that those walls are the highest I have ever seen" Mars pointed at the walls in the distance, saying they were the highest he had ever seen was no lie, at first glance they were about 55 meters tall "hmm... I see" Mary didn''t seem entirely convinced, she was after sharp at the oddest points "have you been Central before Mary?" "hmm..? yeah I have" "sweet can you show me the way to the temple then?" "sure, but after we get our pay" "of course" the process of getting into Central was surprisingly swift and soon the convoy passed though one of the many gates and steeped into the streets of Central, the group of mercenaries each got a piece of paper from the convoy leader and headed towards the guild to get paid Mars of cause followed after them and soon the group arrived at the local guild, it of course was way bigger then what Mars was used to but he quickly got over it and lined up and waited for his turn to talk with the receptionist, soon it was his turn "what can I help you with?" Mars handed over the slip of paper "I completed a request" "just one moment..." the receptionist left the counter and walked into the backroom ''that reminds me I forgot to get my reward in Forset....'' soon the receptionist returned carrying a small brown leather sack witch she put on the counter "please count the reward" "no need" Mars directly took the leather sack turned and walked over to the entrance of the guild were he stood and waited for Mary to show up which she soon did "hey" "hey mister Shady, you ready to head to the temple?" "sure let''s go" Mars followed after Mary into the bustling city, the steers was filled with people, mostly humans but also beastmen and some demons "give me your hand your hand...." Mary whispered something to Mars which even with his super hearing barely heard "hmm..? what''s up?" Mary''s face lit up and for sometime she just stood there and looked at his feet before finally she mustered courage to repeat herself in a higher volume "give me your hand.... so you don''t get lost..." Mars gave a grin under the bandages it seemed like the poorly made excuse was an attempt by Mary to change their current relationship "sure" Mars grabbed Mary''s hand which resulted in her face getting even more red as she mumbled "there... now won''t get lost..." Mary let the way to the temple which was about 15 minutes away on foot, Mary stopped outside the temple and seemed reluctant to head inside "let''s go in" "....okay" Mars half dragged Mary into the temple and walked up to a counter were a priest like person stood behind, the priest gave a frown when he saw Mars, but Mars ignored this and pulled out his necklace of the apostle "I would like a prayer room, the higher quality the better" the priest''s frown eased a little when he saw the necklace of the apostle but he still kept a dignified expression "certainly" the priest lead the way deep into the temple, Mary remained silent and let Mars drag her behind him, soon they reached a door were the priest gestured to before he turned and left "let''s go inside" "....okay, I have to check my job anyways" Mars opened the door and walked into the prayer room and gave a nod, it certainly was the most impressive prayer room he had ever been to, Mars turned to Mary and said "ladies first" "okay, thanks Mars" Mary walked up to the crystal orb and put her hand on it before she gently closed her eyes as a soft hum spread over the room, about a minute later she opened her eyes again and turned to Mars with a sweet smile on her face "I''m done" "okay then let''s have you meet her" Mary tilted her head slightly and asked "her?" Mars gave a grin "Info" Chapter 144 To kill an emperor 6 "I-Info? who''s that?" "oh right it''s only me that call her Info, her real name is Information I think?" Mars shrugged and walked over to the crystal ball and put his hand on it [SUBJECT NUMBER #5 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] Mary shudder from the unfeeling voice that suddenly appeared in her head but before she had a chance to say anything Mars spoke "yes" [SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, SCANNING ROOM FOR MORTALS... 1 MORTAL CONFIRMED, SMITE Y/N?] "....no" Mars was a little intrigued by the so called smite but decided not to test it on Mary [SMITING PROTOCOL DISABLED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, SENDING DETAILS TO INFORMATION...] while they waited Mary suddenly shuddered before she grabbed Mars'' arm and asked with a trace of panic in her voice "isn''t Information one of the 13?" Mars gave a nod "yeah of course she is, what are you scared?" "n-no I''m not scared of anything! I''m just a little nervous..." "don''t worry Info is basically my parent she won''t hurt you" "y-your parent!? what are you..?" Mars gave a grin under the bandages "a living god" [DETAILS CONFIRMED BY INFORMATION, STARTING DESCEND...] "here she comes" Mars gestured over to the avatar that lay on the altar but then he noticed Mary had trouble breathing as the spreading divine pressure got heavier and heavier soon her knees went weak before she collapsed with Mars just barely managing to catch her at this point the descend was luckily complete and the formless pressure lessened making it so Mary could breathe again, Mars gave a sigh and looked over at the avatar that sat up and opened it''s emerald eyes and looked over at Mars with a grin on its face before it asked "what the fuck is it you have on your face Mars?" Mars froze, he had not expected Info''s first dignified words to contain profanity and hurriedly removed the bandages that covered his face, meanwhile Info had risen from the altar and walked over to them "my oh my that sure is a cute mortal you found Mars" "...thanks?" Info gave a sigh "so why did you summon me?" Mars looked up from Mary and looked at Info and noticed she had a frown on her face and asked "is something wrong?" Info gave yet another sigh and waved her hand and made a table and some chairs appear before she sat down and leaned her chin on the table, Mars sat Mary in one of the chairs and sat down next to her, then Info finally spoke "it''s just I have been busy cleaning up the cycle of reincarnation the last 15.000 of your years so I''m a little grumpy" Mars gave a nod, he vaguely remembered something about an older sibling messing around with the cycle of reincarnation last time they spoke "....is there anything I can do for you Info?" "....no I''m fine and due for a long holiday soon anyways so what''s up?" Mars looked over at Mary as she was being unnaturally quiet and saw she was pale and hyperventilating "sorry Info could you tune down the divine pressure? Mary can''t take it" Info closed her eyes for a moment and suddenly her perssense weakened substantially making it so May could finally catch her breath and breathe normally again, then she lowered her head "thank you lady Information" Info opened her eyes again and gave a smile as she looked over at Mary "you''re Mars'' guest, just call me Info" "o-okay lady Info" "...well it''s better... so what is it you wanted Mars?" "well I wanted to catch up a little and receive some help" Info gave a sweet motherly smile and gave a nod "then let''s hear what you have been up to since we saw each other last" Mars began telling Info about what he had been doing since they had met last without leaving anything out, Mary sat on the side and listened in with great interest soon about 15 minutes had passed and Mars was finishing his story "---and that my simple plan" Mary quickly spoke up before Info had a change to "wait wait! are you planning on killing the emperor because there''s a bounty on your head!?" Mars gave a small innocent nod "yeah that was the plan, besides he put that dragon weakening collar on Varvei and that is more than enough for him to die" "b-but he''s the emperor!" Mars gave a frown and slightly narrowed his eyes "and I''m the living god of energy, one of 5 living gods currently on Alfan... When I say someone should die, they die" Mary gave a nod "I get that but isn''t there a simpler way?" Info gave a sigh and spoke to Mary "that''s how Mars is... he''s always been oddly simple in his problem solving, besides I''m no fan of that emperor myself..." Mary gave a nod "is it because he''s a otherworlder lady Info?" "no, it''s because of the policies he is implementing..." Mars looked over at Info and asked "what policies?" Info gave a sigh "human supremacy policies" Info looked over at Mary and pointed to her ears and said "soon you won''t be able to walk on the streets without being killed" "what!?" Info gave a slightly sinister smile as she spoke "there''s a reason there''s 4 major races in Alfan and now one mortal dares to try and change the balance of Alfan? I say it''s better for Mars to handle this before one of us 13 get involved and have to smite the entire empire for violating the rules set down by the administrator..." Mary paled but Mars just gave a nod before he asked "so I take it I have your permission to destabilize the empire by assassinating the emperor?" Info let out a sweet laugh before she spoke with a wild fury in her eyes "sure! and please go wild while you do it!" Mars'' eyes lit up as he gave a nod, now that he had Info''s permission to go wild he certainly was going to go all in "well now that topic is over and done with, I take it you brought this mortal for something?" Mars gave a slight frown when Info referred to Mary as ''this mortal'' after all they had been quite close the last few days but he decided to ignore it "she''s cursed and I hoped you could help with it" Mary''s eyes widened a little before she looked over at Mars, unknown emotions flashed through her eyes briefly before her eyes became calm again, Info gave a nod and looked over at Mary for a few moments before she gave another nod "she sure is... can you tell us why you''re cursed first?" "well... I would rather not... but..." Mary gave a shy glance in Mars'' direction before she continued speaking "if mister shady Shad--- I mean if Mars wants to know" "hmm.... not really~" ""..."" "w-what?" Mars suddenly revived to pair of death stares from the two girls in the room, Info gave a sigh "you have always been strangely dense Mars..." "hmm..? really I mean I don''t really care why she was cursed, Mary is Mary anyways right? a silly thing such as a curse isn''t going to change that" Mary''s face lit up and Info gave another sigh and mumbled "how can someone be so dense and so sharp at the same time...?" Info gave yet another sigh meanwhile Mary''s face approached max redness "well in that case I won''t ask... hold still girl" the emerald eyes on the avatar glowed extra bright for a moment before she gave a nod "done" "eh..?" "I said it''s done girl" "really..?" "you don''t feel pain anywhere right?" "n-no it''s gone?" "that means your curse is gone" "eh..?" "what is this, a loop? I. SAID. YOUR. CURSE. IS. GONE." "....really?" Info gave yet another sigh and stood up from her chair, walked back to the altar and laid down "I''m done, see you Mars" "....see you Info" Mars gave a small wave to Info as she laid down on the altar and the avatar closed its eyes [DESCEND ENDED... LIFTING ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE...] "and that''s that... hey Mary can you help me with my bandages again Mary?" "....sure" Mary still not quite sure how to feel helped Mars with putting his bandages back on his face and soon the two of them was ready to leave the prayer room, Mars gave a smile under his bandages and offered his hand to Mary that was still lost in thought "let''s go" but Mary just stood and looked at him and suddenly tears slowly formed in her eyes "Mary? what''s wrong?" "am I really cured?" Mars gave a nod "yeah" "really?" "yeah" "really?" "....yeah" "real---" Mars stopped Mary by pulling her into his arms and quietly whispered into her ear "it''s okay now" it was quiet at first but soon her crying was so loud Mars doubted she would ever stop Chapter 145 To kill an emperor 7 time passed as Mars gently held Mary and stroked her back as she cried Mars knew that the burden that had just been lifted from her shoulders was a huge one and that she needed time to fully comprehend that she was finally cured of her curse ''what kind of person curses a young child with this kind of curse I wonder..?'' a cold light flashed though Mars'' eyes, if he knew he would add them to his to-be-killed list and maybe even moved them above the emperor on the list ''well anyways... what to do now..? I need my sword so maybe I should bring Mary back to Green river?'' "Mars I''m okay now..." "are you sure?" Mary gave a small nod, her eyes were a little red from crying but they seemed to be glowing brighter than ever before then she gave a sweet smile "yes I''m sure" "okay then.... do you want to stop by my home real quick?" "eh..? Mars you have a house here in the city?" "not quite" Mary tilted her head to the side and Mars gave a sigh "it''s a yes or no question" "then yes" "okay then..." Mars quickly transformed his hand before he called out "Victoria you don''t have to hide anymore" "okay..." Mary tilted her head again but then she felt a chill and turned around and saw Victoria sitting ever so elegantly and staring at her with her big blue eyes while she licked her paw "wha---" Mary was about to draw her swords but then Victoria''s voice appeared in her head and monetarily stunned her "hi... my name... is Victoria" not knowing what to do Mary simply gave a nod "I''m Mary, nice to meet you?" Mars gave a nod it was good that they got along then he slashed the empty air and a rift in space appeared and stabilized into a portal, this of course startled Mary quite a bit "w-w-w-what''s that Mars!?" "a portal, now ladies first" "o-okay..." Mary steeled herself and steeped into the portal and disappeared, next was Mars and then Victoria that jumped into the portal just before it closed... Mary stepped out of the portal and looked around, she found herself in a building of some sort and walked over to the window and looked out of it ''wow...'' the view startled her a little, after all it was the first time she had been in such a high building, but she quickly got used to it and admired the view of the river and the other building below "neat right?" before she noticed Mars had showed up behind her, he wore a smug smile on his face "yeah it''s a nice home" Mars'' smile became even more smug before he continued bragging "the whole building is mine, I was granted it as an apology by the elders of Green river... never mind that, let''s go greet the others" "the others?" "well you''ll see.... here comes the first one" Mars turned and looked down the hall, suddenly someone ran around the corner "I KNEW IT!" Mary just managed to see a red blur as Varvei jumped into Mars'' arms and hugged him tight, even wrapping her long tail around him before she turned her head back and yelled "IT''S MARS!" "...Mars who''s this?" "wait a second Mary here comes the rest" next around the corner was Elsa that also ran and jumped into Mars'' waiting arms and then finally came Chloe that also jumped into his arms, looking at the 3 beauty''s in Mars'' arms Mary''s smile stiffed a little before she gave a small sigh "well then this is Mary, Mary this is Varvei Elsa and Chloe" Varvei and Elsa was busy rubbing their cheeks against Mars so only Chloe looked over and took a long look at Mary before she let go of Mars and gave a sweet smile "hello Mary I''m Mars'' legal wife, those two are just leaching off him" "what did you say!?" "Chloe that''s going too far, we''re all his wife!" Mary''s smile stiffed a little more before she turned to Mars and asked him "....is that true?" "yeah they are my lovers" Mary gave a sigh before suddenly a resolute light shone in her eyes as her entire face lit up red before she walked over and also joined in the hugging, seeing this Chloe gave a rather strange smile "my oh my~ Elsa, Varvei look at our newest contender~" Varvei stopped rubbing her face against Mars and looked around herself soon she saw Mary was also hugging Mars and gave a sweet smile, meanwhile Elsa was too busy rubbing her face against Mars to care about anything, Mars gave a sigh and asked Chloe "Chloe do you remember where I put my sword and armor?" "hmm... it''s in the main study I think?" "okay thanks" Mars spent the rest of the day chatting with the girls and Mary which for some reason remained latched on to him for the rest of the day, after eating dinner Mars went to bed early and left the girls to talk among themselves, they seemed to have taken a liking to Mary so Mars was not worried and collapsed face first into bed and soon fell asleep... The next morning Mars gently tore off Elsa and Varvei that was clinging to him and walked into the living room were he found Mary sleeping on a couch with a blanket covering her, Mars had a urge to poke her cheek but stopped himself as he had more important things to do, after he found the main study Mars put on his armor and grabbed his sword and turned to leave the study when he found Victoria sitting in the doorway looking at him with her big blue eyes, Mars gave a smile "good morning Victoria" Victoria just looked at him and didn''t respond for some time until finely her horns flashed and her voice appeared in Mars'' head "I''m... going too" Mars gave a sigh and walked up to her before he kneeled down and petted her on the head "....this is not a trip in the park Victoria, there''s a chance I might die for real" Victoria just kept on looking at him with her big blue eyes before she repeated "I''m... going too" Mars gave another sigh "fine, but if I tell you to run you must run" Victoria shook her head as her horns flashed again "I''m your... partner... if you die... I die" Mars gave a smile "I see... well then I''ll better make sure I don''t die then" "yeah..." "okay then let''s go up to the roof" Victoria gave a nod and followed after Mars, but before they reached the roof they ran into Mary that was walking around with slight panic on her face "Oh thank the 13 Mars where is the nearest toilet!?" Mars was a little stunned but still pointed to a nearby door "right there" Mary gave a nod and ran towards the door and opened it before she let out a strange victory cry and shut the door after her, Mars gave a sigh and walked up to the roof and opened a portal to Central and walked though with Victoria following after her... "now where to go..?" "the...castle?" "sure let''s do that Victoria" Mars looked into the distance and saw the giant castle, after walking for a few hours they arrived in front of the castle gate were Mars walked up and asked a random guard "is the emperor in?" "what are you talking about? The emperor is always in" "I see, well you seem like a nice guy so I''ll ask you once, step aside and let me in" "....are you joking with me?" "no" Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword, and let out his blood lust which made the guard pale "p-please I have a wife and child" "in that case let me though and you''ll see them again" "o-okay" the guard fumbled to open the gate he was guarding before he suddenly stopped and took off his helmet which revealed a pair of fluffy looking wolf ears before he turned to Mars and said "....if you''re after the emperor I would not advise you to enter here" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly "really? then where would you enter?" the guard swallowed his saliva and pointed to the left "500 meters that way is a hidden unguarded entrance, just press the loose brick" "and why should I believe you?" "because I know what the emperor has in store for my kind" "....I see, thanks" Mars turned to leave but before he left he turned back to the guard "I would take the rest of the day off if I were you" the guard gave a hurried nod then Mars left and walked about 500 meters and came face to face with a brick wall "now where is the loose brick... there it is" Mars pressed the loose brick and just like some kind of magic trick a hidden tunnel opened "...neat" Chapter 146 To kill an emperor 8 Mars followed the tunnel for about 10 minutes before he found a ladder which lead up, Mars climbed the ladder and pushed aside the stone plate at the top of the ladder which turned out to be a stone tile "...neat" Mars quickly got up the ladder were Victoria followed before he pushed the stone tile back in place and looked around, he was inside a wide hallway "okay good for now.... Victoria hide in my shadow" "okay..." Victoria jumped into Mars'' shadow and hid herself meanwhile Mars picked the best looking direction and began walking in a non-hurried pace, soon he ran into a maid that was caring some bed sheets ''play it cool...'' Mars gave a smile and a nod to the maid as he kept walking, the maid suspected nothing and returned his nod with a slight blush on her face, as soon as Mars passed the maid he gave a sigh and continued down the hallway ''just searching blindly won''t do...there has to be something I can go after...'' Mars activated his [Energy: sense] and looked around ''the central mana supply... no as tempting as it sounds it''s not my objective...'' Mars continued looking around and soon zeroed in on a person with a huge amount of mana a few kilometers away ''a high class mage... if he isn''t the emperor he will know where he is...'' having found his target Mars now walked with his objective in mind and by following the mana wires in the walls he was able to map a way to his target fairly easily ''the problem is the way passes by what looks like a checkpoint...'' Mars kept walking as he thought about what to do about the 2 guards that guarded the checkpoint and eventually decided to take them out quietly. Walking along the hallways Mars passed some maids and a few guards but so far no one had stopped him and soon he arrived at the checkpoint were 2 guards stood, Mars put on a smile and walked up to one of the guards while he talked to him "hey buddy, can you help me out?" the guard gave a frown "what is it?" "you see, to tell the truth I''m lost I was supposed to head to the---" as soon as Mars was within arms reach of the guard he acted with lightning fast movements as a cold light shone is his eyes, Mars grabbed the forehead and jaw of the guard and before he had any change to react he twisted *CRACK* then he activated [Instant movement and grabbed the face of the other guard covering his mouth and used his [Energy: drain hands] and within moments the guard turned mummified and died, Mars then gave a sigh and let go of the guard that fell to the floor "Victoria" as soon as Mars called out his own shadow expanded and covered the 2 corpses before they were absorbed into his own shadow and disappeared ''and that''s that'' Mars then opened the door that the guards were standing in front and passed though and closed the door after him ''now where did that mage go... there he is'' having found his target Mars proceeded to walk calmly towards the mage''s room and when he arrived he found it unguarded and simply opened the door and walked in, the mage stood with his back against Mars but quickly turned and saw him, then she yelled "who are you!?" "...[FREEZE]" after using his pernce for the first time in a while Mars walked up and grabbed the mage by the neck before he lifted her into the air "now I only have one question: where is the emperor?" the mage looked at Mars in terror "oh right you''re still frozen my bad take your time..." while Mars waited for the mage to be able to move again he drained her mana, you know just to be safe "the emperor? what do you want with him?" "that''s my business, JUST. ANSWER. THE. QUESTION" Mars tightened his grip on the mage as a cold light shone in his eyes, he had come to far to return empty handed "he''s... in... his... chambers..." "see was that so hard?" Mars gave a smile and loosened his grip on the mage "now you are going to show me the way, if you scream for help know that it''s the last thing you will ever do" Mars let go of the mage that collapsed on the floor while coughing before she gave a glared fiercely at Mars "...fine, follow me" Mars gave a nod "I knew you would be smart" the mage got up and walked out the room with Mars following after her, after they had walked for a while they reached another checkpoint were one of the guards talked to the mage "ah lady Anna, are you here to see the emperor?" "yes I have brought a guest with me too" the guard looked over at Mars and gave a nod "that''s fine" both of them smoothly passed through the checkpoint, then after making sure no one was around Mars gave the mage a pat on the shoulder, draining her mana again making her face even more pale "...why did you drain my mana again?" Mars gave a smile "so you don''t get any funny ideas, now please lead the way lady Anna" the mage clicked her tongue "will you at least let me live if I show you the way?" "hmm... sure as long as you don''t get in my way" the mage remained silent as she let the way and after a little more walking they arrived at a reinforced door "he''s in there" Mars gave a nod and activated his [Energy: sense], sure enough just like the mage said there was a single person inside laying on a king sized bed seemingly asleep, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly that person had no mana, this was the first time Mars had ever seen a person without mana ''well there was no mana in the world where I came from so it makes sense an otherworlder like him have no mana...'' "good you may leave.... be quick about it!" "y-yes" the mage ran back the hallway "well I figure there''s about 2 minutes until more enemies arrived so let''s make this quick... Victoria you ready?" "I''m... ready" "okay then let''s do this" Mars walked up to the door and put his hand on it *BANG* "oh it''s more sturdy than I thought" Mars charged his [Energy: discharge] even more and with a bang the door flew off its hinges into the room were the person inside had already woken up from the noise the person was dressed in a sleeping gown and held a single bladed sword in his hand, he gave a frown when he saw Mars and asked in a calm tone "....and what is this?" Mars gave a warm smile like he was greeting an old friend "hello Shouta Yammato, my name is Mars and I''m the 5th living god, the living god of energy" "a living god..? and what are you doing in my bedchambers?" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he spoke "you have annoyed me so I''m here to end you" the emperor''s eyes narrowed slightly before he drew his single bladed sword and pointed it at Mars "well then let''s get this over with, I still have some paperwork left to do" Mars drew his sword and for a few moments none of them moved until suddenly Mars activated [Instant movement] and arrived before the emperor and slashed out *CLANG* a sound of metal meeting metal stuck out as the emperor blocked Mars'' slash, Mars gave a frown and reactivated [Instant movement] again as he once again slashed at the emperor *CLANG* Mars pulled back and with a wide smile on his face he asked "you can use it too?" the emperor gave a confident smile "as I said I''m a busy man, so let''s end this quickly" Mars gave a sigh and activated [Instant movement] again and turned into a blur, but the emperor also activated [Instant movement] and turned into a blur and for a time the one thing that happened in the room was the sound of metal meeting metal with loud clangs sounding out before suddenly the two of them reappeared again, Mars was covered in wounds and the emperor was slightly out of breath. As for the reason Mars was covered in wounds even though he had the higher level in swordsmanship was simple, the emperor had more experience with actual sword fights than Mars, if Mars had his rifle from his past life then this would not even be a competition the emperor would be long dead "is this all a living god amounts to?" "oh you''re on now" Mars quickly transformed into his half-dragon from and suddenly the emperor let out a condescending laugh before he spoke while a savage light shone in his eyes "it''s no wonder you can''t beat me, you''re just a dirty non-human!" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before both of them turned into a blur again Chapter 147 To kill an emperor 9 *CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!* the fight gradually intensified as both Mars and the emperor pushed themselves to the limit while the elite guards arrived and began helping the emperor, this of course displeased Mars "FUCK OFF!" Mars quickly summoned some shadow soldiers to tie up the elite guards while he continued the high speed fight with the emperor, seeing his help getting tied up with the shadow soldiers the emperor roared "what are you doing!? help me kill this dirty non-human!" the emperor was understandably beginning to panic although he had wounded Mars, he showed no signs of being tired after using [Instant movement] so many times while he himself was starting to become exhausted and was breathing heavily, there was also the eerily calm smile on Mars'' face that seemed like he was just playing with him "I order you to kill him!" "what''s wrong? getting tired?" Mars showed a teasing smile on his face, this had never been a fight to begin with, one was a person while the other was a living god "YOU DIRTY NON-HUMAN I''LL KILL Y---" "you know what, this has gone on long enough.... [STOP]" when Mars let out his presence all the people inside the room suddenly stopped moving, they were bound by his pressure, then Mars gave a sigh and activated his [Energy: healing] on himself and healed all the wounds on his body before he walked up to the frozen emperor with a warm smile on his face "have you ever heard of the threat: I''ll tear off you arm and beat you to death with it..? no? well allow me to demonstrate" Mars then transformed his arm and used his claws to stab the emperor in the shoulder a few times before he took hold of his arm and tore *RRRIIIPPP* with a sound that would give the frozen elite guards nightmares for a long time to come Mars tore off the arm of the emperor "AAAGGGHHH!!! I''LL KILL Y---" "oh, you can speak? well just to be sure... [STOP]" the curses the emperor was raining at Mars stopped suddenly, then Mars gave a nod and swung the severed arm a few times from side to side "well then..." Mars grabbed the shoulder part of the torn off arm and then he swung it towards the emperor''s face *SMACK* "why are you slapping yourself?" *SMACK* "come on dude, tell me why?" *SMACK* "...well this got boring really quickly" Mars gave a sigh and grabbed the severed arm with both hands and activated [Instant movement] *CRACK* Mars let go of the arm that fell to the floor along with the dead body of the emperor before he summoned a small flame that quickly burned the emperor''s corpse to ashes, then he turned around and looked at the still frozen elite guards and gave a small wave before he tore a portal open and walked in before it closed again... After the all to sudden death of the emperor the empire fell into civil war when a sudden coup launched by the military took place just when they were crowning the new emperor, but Mars didn''t care about that and spent his time with the girls in Green river going to and from Destra''s magic academy every day, he also got Mary registered and for about 2 months he spent his time in peace learning about formation runes and working privately on replicating a firearm that was from his past life: the ALPHA-01, now there were many weapons from his past life that he wanted to make but the ALPHA-01 was the most ''simple'' magnetic powered man portable rail-gun he knew of and although progress was slow it was going forwards and not backwards as Mars first started with making a cannon sized rail-gun and worked his way from there. the cannon was currently about half done as Mars let out a yawn and stretched ''about time I went to bed...'' Mars turned off the lights in his workshop and walked back to the master bedroom were he found the 4 sleeping girls occupying the bed ''maybe I should just sleep on the couch?'' Mars walked back out of the master bedroom as quietly as he could and found a couch in the living room and laid down and closed his eyes, but soon opened them again as something had laid down on top of him "hey you" it was Mary that was lying on his chest, Mars looked into her green eyes as he asked her "...weren''t you sleeping Mary?" "don''t underestimate a gold ranked mercenary" "I see... what about the others?" "still sleeping... I wanted you for myself for once" Mars gave a nod and laid his head down on the couch and looked up into the ceiling and asked "so now you have me, what do you want to do?" Mary nestled into Mars and rubbed her cheek on his chest "sleep" "okay.... goodnight then" Mary gave a sweet smile before she pulled a blanket up "good night Mars" Mars closed his eyes and soon fell asleep... The next morning Mars went along with the girls to the academy, after the class with the vice principal was over he went to take the optional class for formation runes but was stopped on the way by the vice principal that ran after him "please wait Mars!" Mars stopped and waited for the vice principal to catch up before he asked "what''s up?" "ha... ha... you have been summoned again by the king" "okay... want to come with?" "no I don''t think I need to come this time, please show up sometime today at the castle in King''s city" "got it..." Mars wasted no time and opened a portal to King''s city and stepped though, after he arrived at King''s city he walked on foot towards the castle when suddenly Victoria popped out of his shadow "Mars... I''m hungry" "oh... well in that case the king can wait, let''s go to the marketplace" walking a little further Mars soon found himself in a bustling marketplace with all kinds of stalls and after looking around for a little while he found a stall selling grilled meat on a stick "hey can I have 10 of those?" "sure coming right up" the man that was manning the stall soon made the kebabs and handed them to Mars and after Mars paid he found a bench and sat down and fed Victoria the grilled meat while enjoying the peace "wait... what''s that guy doing?" Mars spotted a suspicious looking man that was lugging a heavy looking sack and activated his [Energy: sense] to take a closer look at the sack "....what the fuck!" Mars got up from the bench and walked over to the man and gave him a clap on the shoulder "what do you want brat, I''m in a hurry!" "oh, sorry I just want to ask you a simple question" "I don''t have time!" the man brushed off Mars and quickly left, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly and followed the man with his eyes as he walked away "Victoria can you follow him and then meet me in the castle when your done?" "sure..." "good girl, I''ll see you later then" "see you... Mars" Mars split up form Victoria and walked to the castle were he was lead inside by knight and passed straight to the king''s chambers where the knight knocked on the door which then soon was opened by another knight "I have brought Mars" "okay" the knight''s exchanged salutes before one of them gestured for Mars to walk inside ''I wonder what''s up..?'' Mars walked in and saw the king was sitting at a table, when the king saw him he quickly stood up and welcomed Mars "Mars it''s good that you have come... leave us" """yes my king!""" Mars passed by the knights that exited the room and sat down in front of the king "it''s good that you''re here.... before we start I have to ask did you have anything to do with the collapse of the empire?" "well... I killed the emperor" the king''s eyes widened slightly as he stared at Mars for a moment before he gave a sigh "I see...well then let''s get to the main topic, please enter" as soon as the king spoke a door opened and 3 knights walked in, only they were a little different from normal knights, their armor was dark as the night sky and they each carried different weapons, just as the king was about to introduce them to Mars one of them that had metal claws fixed on her gauntlets suddenly yelled "AH! it''s the guy that doesn''t want to get stabbed!" Mars'' eyes widened slightly, he knew those dark knights, they were the ones that had tried to stop him when he killed Gas Fedeson the corrupt lord that had caused their crash when they were heading to the empire for the first time "quiet Kim!" the captain, a young looking man with short brown hair hit Kim in the back of the head with his fist "OUCH! why are you mean captain!?" "we''re in the presence of the king you imbecile!" "oh right, s-sorry lord king" Chapter 148 The northern rebellion 1 "s-sorry lord king" the king gave a smile "I don''t mind Kim... I take it you have met Mars before?" "yes! he''s the one that I could not stab!" Kim showed a child-like smile which startled the king a little "i-is that so?" "yup he''s really fast!" the captain gave a sigh "okay Kim quiet down and let the adults talk" "...okay" the king turned to Mars with a slightly apologetic look on his aged face "well then I''ll skip the introductions and get straight to the point, Mars I want you to follow the dark knights and act as insurance on their mission" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before he looked down at the table and spoke "what''s their mission?" "well it''s rather complicated but the gist is that a lord in the north might have joined the civil war in the empire and is supporting one of the factions without my consent, this if true could drag my kingdom towards it''s untimely end" Mars gave a nod "I see, if the faction he supports wins then it''s no big deal but if it loses the reformed empire might use it as an excuse to invade Destra" the king gave a smile and a nod "and the thing is the lords in the north has always been on edge against the empire so their private armies are rather large, if he really has joined in on the war in the empire and is fishing in troubled waters he might also have received help from the faction he''s supporting so sending 3 dark knights alone is too risky, I need a one man army as insurance" Mars gave a nod "sounds interesting... But let''s talk compensation" "okay, how does---" "I was thinking 100 class 6 magic beast cores would be fine" the captain gave a slight frown, this was the first time he had seen a man capable of interrupting the king, the oldest dark knight also gave a frown, but before they had any charge to speak the king gave a nod "sure thing, 100 class 6 magic beast cores it is" Mars gave a nod and reached out his hand to shake on it, so did the king and after they shook hands Victoria suddenly appeared from out of nowhere "wha---" Mars reacted quickly and spoke before the situation got out of hand "it''s fine, she''s with me" Mars stood up from his chair and walked over and petted Victoria on the head after which she began purring loudly, the king was the first one to pull himself together and was about to ask a question when Kim suddenly yelled "look captain it''s a kitty cat!" "....yes Kim I have noticed" "look at its fluffy ears! I want to touch them so bad!" "yes yes Kim quiet down we''re still in the presence of the king" "s-sorry lord king" Mars looked at Kim which he had mentally named crazy Kim in his head with wonder before he turned to Victoria and asked "so what have you found?" Victoria purred happily with her eyes closed as her horns flashed "I found... a nest of... bad people... praise me?" "yes yes you''re a good girl Victoria" the king and the dark knights all wondered what Victoria was saying but only one of them asked the actual question "what did the kitty cat say?" "she says she has found a group of kidnappers or more likely slavers here in King''s city" the king widened his eyes and took a few seconds to calm down meanwhile the oldest dark knight that had been silent so far spoke "is that the truth?" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke "of course it is, now if you will excuse me I''ll go clean up" Mars turned and was about to leave the room before the king spoke out "Mars could you take the knights with you?" "...sure, as long as they wear something that isn''t too eye catching... I''ll be waiting at the gate to the castle" Mars stepped out of the room and left, then the captain spoke "my lord is he really all that important?" the king gave a sigh before a stern look appeared on his face "he''s the one that killed the emperor" "...is that true?" the king gave another sigh "that you will have to see for yourselves, now go change and follow Mars, remember he has the power to destroy our kingdom it is most important we befriend him.... he''s also close with Green rivers immortals" the captain widened his eyes in shock for a moment before he calmed down again and gave a bow "I understand" outside the castle by the gates Mars and Victoria waited for the dark knights to arrive which they soon did only this time they were all dressed in civilian clothes with various concealed weapons "let''s go, we have some slavers to exterminate" Kim looked around before she gave a frown "where did the kitty cat go?" "Victoria? she''s hidden in my shadow" "aww I wanted to talk with the pretty kitty cat..." Kim shoulder slumped slightly before the captain patted her on the shoulder "focus Kim, we''re on a mission now" "yes captain~" the dark knights followed after Mars that followed Victoria''s instructions and soon they entered the storage area of King''s city "it''s always the warehouses... so clich¨¦" "did you say anything Mars?" "no it''s nothing... we''re there soon, game faces on" "oh can I put on my mean face?" "sure Kim do whatever you want as long as you don''t stab me" "okay~" "we''re.... here" "okay, then let''s go" Mars looked at the warehouse Victoria had pointed out and walked up to the door before he drew his sword and checked the door "it''s actually unlocked?" in the next second Mars felt danger and quickly kicked the ground and jumped back just as a crossbow bolt landed where he had been standing "well that''s rude..." Mars walked up and pulled the bolt out of the ground and examined it and quickly noticed it was poisoned "I take it back, that''s damn right hostile" Mars deflected the next bolt with his sword before he activated [Instant movement] and rushed into the warehouse and slashed at the man that had been firing crossbow bolts at him, swiftly sending him to the underworld as his head rolled on the floor, then Mars looked around the warehouse which was cluttered with boxes of various sizes "Victoria mind finding the entrance to the underground rooms?" "okay... be right... back" Victoria slipped into the shadow of some boxes and disappeared, at this point the dark knights finally walked into the warehouse, the captain looked at the corpse on the floor and gave a slight frown "....we could have interrogated him" Mars gave a shrug and sat down on a random box "not likely that the doorkeeper was the brains of the operation" the captain gave a nod and looked around "so where is the slavers?" Mars pointed to the floor "most likely in the basement, I have Victoria looking for an entrance" the captain gave another nod "I see, good work" Mars frowned slightly, although he liked to receive praise the praise the captain gave made it feel like Mars was his underling, but before Mars had a change to do anything about it Victoria returned, jumping out of a nearby shadow with her horns flashing "I found... it... follow me" "okay lead the way" Mars and the dark knights followed after Victoria passing a few traps on the way as they moved into the labyrinth made up of boxes "this is... it" "good work Victoria" Mars gave Victoria a few head pats before he kicked the box which was hiding the entrance to the basement aside and jumped down into the basement without using the ladder and looked around "this really is like last time..." in front of Mars was a reinforced door made of steel "last time?" "yeah I raided a hideout of the... 8 heads was it? before" the captain gave a frown but didn''t comment further instead he gave a few hand signals towards the door and to the other 2 dark knights that both gave a nod before the oldest of them walked past Mars and began checking the door for traps, Mars gave a sigh and walked up to the door "it''s not that I don''t like your style old man, but...." Mars put a hand on the door and activated his [Energy: discharge] blowing the door clean of its hinges with a loud bang "I just prefer to go in with a bang" Mars walked past the old dark knight that was rubbing his ears while looking at Mars with resentful eyes "intruders!" "kill them all!" "Victoria go ahead and cut off any of the ones that are running away" "okay..." Victoria jumped into a shadow and disappeared meanwhile Mars deflected a crossbow bolt that was aimed at his head with a calm smile on his face "time to go wild!" Chapter 149 The northern rebellion 2 "time to go wild!" Mars wasted no time and activated [Instant movement] and rushed into a room before he swept it like a bloody hurricane killing everyone inside without showing any mercy before he moved to the next room and repeated the process until he reached another reinforced door and stopped to take a closer look "what do we have here?" Mars raised his sword and took a deep breath before "HA!" with a low shout he slashed down, cutting the door off the hinges before he turned and prepared to kick it in "honey I''m..." *BANG* "HOME!" the door flew into the room that turned out to be a luxurious looking office that at first glance appeared to be empty "dude seriously...?" Mars gave a sigh and walked over and kicked the desk "come out and face me like a man" "o-okay just don''t kill me!" "..." a fat looking man in silk clothing got up from behind the desk, he was sweating with big beads dripping down his face "please don''t kill me" "why should I let you go?" "your not a knight? I can give you money if you let me go" Mars put on an intrigued face and a warm smile before he brought up his sword and held it against the fat man''s double chin but before he had a change to say anything someone walked into the room, it was Kim she held a pair of bloody claws in her hands clearly she had been killing a lot of people, when she saw Mars she tilted her head and asked with a child-like smile on her face "why have you not killed him yet?" "because I want information" "hmm..?" Kim tilted her head clearly not understanding what Mars meant, Mars gave a sigh and explained "if I get information I get to kill more bad people" "oh I see! then information is very good, right?" "yes it is, so fat ass what do you have for me?" "HIII don''t kill me!" "come on now that was the wrong answer... guess I''m not getting a lot out of you" Mars slashed out and decapitated the fat man before he walked over to the desk and began digging though it finding a lot of documents which he carefully put to the side in a neat stack before he looked around the room "what are you looking for?" "a hidden safe" "hmm...? I don''t understand?" Mars removed the rug but found nothing then he began taking down paintings and soon found a hidden safe "bingo" "oh is that the hidden safe?" "yes Kim, that it is" Mars raised his sword and slashed down cutting into the safe before he opened it and looked inside "...jackpot" Mars pulled out a sack and filled it with coins, most of them golden coins and jewels then he turned to Kim and pulled out a ruby the size of a baby''s fist and presented it to her "for you" "oh, a pretty rock!" Kim snatched the ''pretty rock'' and admired it before she stuffed it into her pocket and gave a wide child-like smile "thanks Mars!" "your welcome Kim, now let''s go kill some bad guys" "okay!" Mars went back out the office with Kim following after him like a baby duck following its mother and soon both of them began slaughtering the rest of the people in the underground but soon they found something horrible, the holding cells for the slaves "I think I''m going to be sick..." the conditions of the slaves was horrible most of them was covered in filth and was starved so badly their bones was clearly visible Mars cut open the cells and let out the slaves before he let them up to the surface before he and Victoria turned to the dark knights "well that''s a job well done I think, oh right here the documents that were in the office I''m sure you guys can use them better than I can" the captain gave a nod and accepted the documents "thank you Mars, we will leave for the north tomorrow morning don''t be late" "okay, well then..." Mars transformed his hand and opened a portal to Green river and steeped though after he gave Kim a little wave, then Victoria jumped though and the portal closed... The next morning Mars'' eyes snapped open ''tired...'' for sometime he lay and looked into the familiar ceiling until suddenly Elsa turned in her sleep and slapped Mars in the face with her arm ''....and suddenly I''m a lot more awake'' Mars pushed Elsa''s arm aside and sat up in the bed and looked around before he let out a yawn and scratched his head before he sneaked out of bed and picked up some somewhat clean boxers from the floor and wore them ''....need a shower'' Mars gave another yawn as he walked out of the master bedroom into the living room where he ran into Kaitlin the manager of the building as well as its former owner, she had her back turned and was reading some documents so she didn''t notice Mars walk in "good morning Kaitlin" Kaitlin turned her head and saw Mars which only was wearing boxers and blushed a little before she rose from her seat and gave a slight bow "good morning Mars" Mars still not completely awake scratched his stomach and gave another yawn before he asked "so what brings you here so early in the morning?" "i-its nothing, it''s just that a few of the people running shops in the building have expressed their interest in meeting you lately" "I see, well I have something planned for the next week so maybe after that?" "that''s fine too" "oh right wait here for a second..." Mars walked over to his stuff which was in a neat pile in the corner of the room and pulled out a leather sack and walked over and handed it to Kaitlin "what''s this?" "founds" "founds?" Kaitlin opened the sack and found several rubies and several golden coins "t-t-this is!?" even though Kaitlin was used to running an entire building in the middle of Green river she was not used to seeing this much cash "b-b-but the business is doing fine?" "then use it to invest or something I don''t need it, anyway I need to shower now talk about it with one of the girls" Mars turned and left the still slightly stunned Kaitlin behind, after taking a refreshing shower Mars walked back to the living room and found that the girls was awake, Mars noticed how Chloe was talking with Kaitlin and Elsa was cooking some breakfast so he decided to join Mary and Varvei that was lazing around on a couch until breakfast was served. After eating Mars got dressed and wore his armor and after kissing the girls goodbye he walked up to the roof and opened a portal to King''s city, after arriving at the city Mars leisurely walked towards the castle with Victoria following after him and soon they arrived and was let into the castle. Soon they arrived at a courtyard where a sleek dark as night sky carriage stood parked, upon seeing the sky carriage Mars gave a nod ''yup, I want one of my own....'' while Mars admired the sky carriage the dark knights arrived along with the king, Kim gave her usual child like smile when she saw Mars and ran over to him like a puppy "good morning Mars!" "good morning Kim" clearly giving Kim the ''pretty rock'' had made her feel much closer to Mars then he had expected ''oh well...'' Mars gave a sigh before he turned and exchanged nods with the other 2 dark knights before he gave a light bow "your majesty" the king gave a smile "it''s good to see you''re here Mars" "well I did make a promise" "that you did and I''m honored you kept it" "i see... well should we go now?" "oh I want to sit next to the kitty cat!" the group boarded the sky carriage and got comfy before it lifted off the ground and headed north... in the northern Destra lay a town called Bellmoral, it was a so called strategic location between the empire and Destra as it lay as a fort in a mountain pass that had the empire to the north and Destrra to the south, in Bellmoral a mage was sitting and meditating when suddenly he received a long range telepathic message and open his eyes "...a squad of dark knights?" the mage was an old man with graying hair and he had an overall frail looking build, but the light that shone in his eyes made people mistake him for a younger man "....I have to report this to the lord, don''t I?" the mage got up from the pillow he was sitting on and walked out of the room into a hallway where he sometimes passed by servants which all stopped and bowed their heads to him when he passed, soon he arrived at the lord''s office and walked in without knocking, inside the office sat a man in the prime of his life behind a study desk, without looking up from his paperwork he asked the mage "what is it?" "sire I have revived word that Destra is sending a squad of dark knights" the man behind the desk gave a nod before a cold light shone through his eyes "have them disappear before they arrive" "as you wish sire" Chapter 150 The northern rebellion 3 "hey are we there soon?" Mars gave a sigh, this was only the 114th time Kim had asked the very same question and just like clockwork the captain responded "we''re there when we''re there Kim" Mars looked over at the oldest dark knight that was wearing earplugs and suddenly got very envious before he gave yet another sigh and petted Victoria on the head as he closed his eyes, they had been flying for about 3 days in the sleek dark as night sky carriage that reminded Mars of an early stealth fighter jet, suddenly Mars'' eyes snapped open again as he quickly turned to look out the window "what is it Mars?" "....incoming!" *BANG* something suddenly hit the sky carriage before it suddenly went into a smooth dive "hold on to something we''re going down!" "kyaaa!" Kim was the only one that seemed to be having fun as she screamed like a small girl on a rollercoaster meanwhile the sky carriage rapidly descended, Mars quickly activated his [Energy: absorb shield] as Victoria jumped into his shadow before suddenly the sky carriage began hitting the trees and then finally hit the ground with a loud bang ''....never want to do that again'' even though Mars was protected by his absorb shield he still felt a little groggy as he looked around the inside of the sky carriage, the first on he spotted was Kim that lay in front of him on the table, Mars shock her a couple of times before she woke up "ah my head hurts!" "hold still for a second" Mars quickly healed her with 100 energy units before he looked around for the other 2 dark knights and quickly found them on top of each other in on the floor of the sky carriage and healed them too before he tried to open the door to the outside but was unable to as the frame of the sky carriage had warped in the crash "well I tried the nice way..." Mars then kicked the door open and crawled out the wreck of the sky carriage before he looked around, the land around him was bare with a few trees here and there and the rocky ground he was walking on was covered with frost, in the distance was a mountain range but this was not what Mars was looking for, after looking around for a few seconds Mars spotted a belista maned by a group of rough looking men, some of which was heading towards him but they were still some 2 kilometers away "what are you looking for?" Mars turned his head and saw Kim also had crawled out of the wreck "our attackers" "they are bad guys right?" Mars gave a nod "of course they are" "then I can stab them right?" "sure be my guest, they are over there" Mars pointed in the direction of the rough looking men and no sooner then he pointed did Kim start sprinting in the direction of the group with her claws ready "Victoria do you mind keeping an eye on her, you know make sure she doesn''t get hurt?" Victoria jumped out of Mars'' shadow and began running the same way Kim did, Mars gave a sigh and walked over to check on the driver but found he had been directly hit by the ballista and was dead, then he pulled the other 2 out of the wreck and started a campfire with the bits of trees the sky carriage had knocked over when it crashed, soon the captain woke up "Mars...? where is this?" "the northern wilderness, the sky carriage is over there" "I see we crashed... wait where is Kim?" "she''s dealing with the bad guys that shot us down along with Victoria" the captain gave a nod and began shaking the last dark knight awake "wake up" "hmm...? captain?" "help me sift through the wreck" "yes" the 2 dark knights got to work meanwhile Mars sat and looked into the fire until a few minutes later when Kim returned, her claws was covered in blood and she had a few bloodstains on her clothes but she, as always wore a child-like smile on her face "I''m back!" "...welcome back" "oh Kim you''re back" at this point in time the captain and the other dark knight returned from sifting through the wreck, they both carried some supplies along with their armor over to the campfire, when Kim saw the captain she did a salute "I have neutralized the attackers" "good job Kim, did you interrogate one for them?" "err... nope!" the captain gave a sigh before he spoke "so now we have no idea if they were bandits or hired thugs" "not necessarily... Victoria did you get anything?" "I found... this" Victoria opened a shadow were a leather sack appeared out of, Mars walked over and picked up the sack and opened it "bingo" "what is it?" Mars threw the sack on the ground as it spilled out with coins, most of them silver but a few of them was golden, Mars gave a nod and concluded "they weren''t bandits" "...I see, in that case let''s head to a nearby town and find a way to inform the king" "not so fast captain.... why don''t we head to our detestation anyways?" the captain gave a frown "you want to head to Bellmoral?" Mars gave a nod and explained "I''m a one man army remember? plus now we have proof Bellmoral is rebelling so it''s best not to waste time" "I see..." the captain fell into deep thought and it was not until a few moments later he looked at Mars and spoke again "are you sure you can handle whatever they will throw at you?" Mars gave a nod "I won''t die even if they kill me anyways" "I see... well in that case we head towards Bellmoral" In Bellmoral at the lord''s fort the frail mage sat and meditated in his room until he once more was interrupted by a telepathic message and opened his eyes "they shot it down but the dark knights survived? and now they are heading here?" a trace of anger flashed in the frail mage''s eyes before he began cursing "useless pieces of shit, we paid them so well and they couldn''t even do their damn job properly!" after cursing the frail mage calmed down and rose to his feet and walked out of his room, a few minutes later he arrived at the lord''s office and walked in without knocking "lord there has been a problem... the thugs we hired have failed, the dark knights are heading here on foot" the lord continued working on his paperwork without looking up at the frail mage and for some time both of them said nothing until finally the lord spoke "send out the 1st army, tell them to kill anyone wearing dark armor south of the town" the frail mage''s eyes widened slightly before he hurriedly spoke "the entire 1st army? is that really necessary?" a cold light shone in the lord''s eyes before he looked up at the frail mage and said "We have made our choice, now we must follow it to the bitter end" "....I see, I''ll relay your orders at once" the frail mage gave a slight bow before he turned and walked out of the room, then he followed the hallways until he arrived at a large courtyard where a large group of soldiers was training then he walked over to the one that was overseeing the training "general" "oh if it isn''t mage Simon, have you come to join our training?" "no I bring orders from the lord, the 1st army is to head out and kill a small squad of dark knights that have crash landed a few days south of here" "....I see, orders received the 1st army will now head out, stop training and line up!" as the general yelled the figures that were undergoing harsh training all stopped and quickly lined up in front of the general in two rows each consisting of 50 men """"""we await your orders general!"""""" just as the general was about to give his orders the frail mage took himself to the head while a look of immense pain flashed on his face "mage Simon what''s wrong?" "they shot down my surveillance golem..! I''ll leave you here general" "I see, have a good rest mage Simon" "I fucking knew it!" Mars had just fired a fire lance spell into the air and now he stood next to the charred remains of what looked like a metal bird with a single huge eye "what is it Mars?" Mars picked up a stick and poked at the golem a few times while he studied the formation runes on the body of the golem "it''s a surveillance golem, its been watching us for sometime now, most likely the enemy know our every move form before I shot this down" "I see... so we should expect some resistance?" Mars gave a nod "yeah I think so" Chapter 151 The northern rebellion 4 "hey are we there soon?" asking for the 231th time Kim made Mars give yet another sigh and as always the captain answered "we''re there when we''re there Kim" it was snowing lightly as the group made their way through the northern wilderness, well there was a dirt road so it wasn''t completely wilderness, the group had been walking for a few days they were still heading north towards Bellmoral and so far it had been smooth sailing, or rather walking so far "wait, what''s that?" Kim pointed up in the sky, Mars looked up and gave a smile before he launched a fire spear into the air which hit the thing Kim was pointing at "ah! why did you kill it?" "because it was another surveillance golem" "I see, well then it''s okay...." Kim walked over to Mars and reached up and began patting him on the head "...what are you doing Kim?" "rewarding you for good job?" Mars gave a smile and kneeled down a little so it was easier for Kim to pat him on the head "I see, well in that case I''ll gladly accept it" "ehehehe..." Kim laughed happily as her child like smile shone even more but both of them were interrupted by the captain that gave a fake cough "Mars I don''t think we have time for that right now..." the captain pointed and Mars followed his point with his eyes and spotted a group of soldiers that was heading towards them "right... here comes the army of Bellmoral, what do you think the odds are they are after us?" "high... they don''t look friendly" "yup, you guys better quickly wear your armor" "right..." the dark knights quickly suited up as the soldiers approached, when the soldiers saw the dark armor the dark knight were wearing they raised their spears, the group of soldiers Mars'' group had run into was about 20 men strong, a commander like soldier raised his spear as a cold light flashed in his eyes before he commanded "kill them!" Mars gave a sigh and put a hand on the hilt of his sword as a wide smile formed on his face "be right back" Mars disappeared from view and reappeared again a few seconds later along with a gust of wind that blew his hair around as he sheathed his sword, meanwhile the group of soldiers fell over, there was a thin cut on each of their necks, they were all dead "you really are fast..." "amazing!" the captain and Kim was both amazed by Mars'' speed, Mars gave a smug smile and explained "it''s all in the fine control of the muscles when you move at those kinds of speed" "...I believe you, let''s move on" over the next few days Mars single handedly killed more than 80 soldiers in total, as for the rest he let them flee as for the reason why he let them go it was simple, to spread fear as he explained to Kim "you see an unknown enemy can be scary but an enemy that can kill you in an instant is even more scary" "I see! you''re so smart Mars!" the group had entered the mountains range a few days ago and was nearing Bellmoral by following a narrow mountain road with a steep cliff on one side and a mountain wall on the other "hey are we there yet?" Kim once again asked, this time it was the 314th time she had asked the exactly same question and as always the captain answered "we''re there when we''re there Kim" "got it captain!" Mars gave a sigh as the rest of the day passed uneventfully and the group set up camp in a small cave that shielded them for the wind, Mars sat in front of the campfire with Victoria on his lap when the captain walked over and sat down a little away from Mars "....what''s up captain?" the captain gave a sigh and spoke "what do you think the odds are that all of us survive this mission?" "hmm... 100%?" "you really are confident... remember we are 4 people storming a fortress with hundreds of soldiers, surely the odds aren''t that good?" Mars gave a sigh and patted Victoria on the head as he spoke "I can do it alone if you guys aren''t up for the challenge" "you..." the captain was about to say something but stopped then he shook his head and rose to his feet and walked further into the cave to sleep "well then.... let''s get some sleep Victoria" "okay... I want to... sleep together" "sure thing" The next morning the group left the cave and headed towards Bellmoral which they reached in a few hours of walking, looking at the tall walls of Bellmoral Mars felt a sense of dread "....nope can''t jump those walls.... the gate it is then" the gate was closed and under guard of some heavily armored soldiers and on top of the walls stood archers ready with their bows and arrows "Mars are you really going?" "yeah it''ll be easy, just like a walk in the park" Mars unsheathed his sword and began walking leisurely towards the gate with a calm smile on his face, Victoria followed after him with her tail slightly swaying from side to side "it''s him!" "avenge our comrades!" "kill the speed demon!" the soldiers recognized Mars in an instant and the archers on top of the walls took aim "Victoria hide" "okay..." Victoria jumped into Mars'' shadow before he himself activated [Energy: absorb shield] on himself and continued his light stroll as arrows rained down on him from above, some of them missed while the rest was harmlessly defected by his shield, then he kicked off the ground and ran at the heavily armored soldiers and engaged them in close combat "HA!!!" with a loud shout Mars slashed down at the first soldier in heavy armor "fool! my armor is made of---" *SLASH* like a hot knife through butter Mars cut the soldier in half the other soldier hurriedly took some distance "you monster!" "...why thank you" Mars activated [instant movement and ended the life of the second heavily armored soldier before he put a hand on the gate "and... here... we... go" *BOOM* with a loud boom the gate flew off its hinges as it warped inwards and floated in the air for a few sounds before it hit the ground "Victoria do you mind taking care of the archers?" "okay... be right... back" Victoria jumped out of Mars'' shadow and jumped up the wall, then miserable screams sounded out from the archers that was quickly massacred by Victoria''s shadow magic spells meanwhile Mars looked around just inside the gate, the town inside the gate was quiet, there was no one on the streets Victoria jumped down from the wall and joined Mars meanwhile the 3 dark knights walked in the busted gate and looked around, suddenly there was a low rumble which caused Mars to give a sigh before he spoke "that''s the sound of active mana armor starting up, if i were you guys I would back up" "active mana armor? can you handle that Mars?" "sure thing, just don''t get in my way" "okay... Kim let''s go we''re heading back out the gate" "oh but i wanted to see the big armor..." the captain half dragged Kim back out the gate, at the same time 2 sets of active mana armor showed themselves down the street, Mars cracked his knuckles and stabbed his sword into the ground as the active mana armors moved closer, as soon as they cleared the last building and stepped out into the open space near the gate Mars sprung into action and activated [Instant movement] and appeared on top of the fist active mana armor and quickly put his hand down on the hull of the armor *BANG* with a loud bang Mars discharged his stored energy into the active mana armor making the frame warp instantly killing the pilot of the armor then he jumped off and ducked under the giant 2 handed sword of the second active mana armor before he approached it like a ghost and put his hand on the hull *BANG* Mars felt quite some pain from the rebound of his skill but quickly healed himself before he called the dark knights and then the group approached the castle in the middle of town together when suddenly a frail looking man blocked their way, he was wearing a mage''s robe and the odd around him exposed he was a high ranking mage "none of you can pass" "we''ll see about that!" Mars kicked off the ground and quickly approached the frail mage that quickly activated a spell, suddenly the ground Mars was running on shot up Mars twisted his body and narrowly avoided an earth spike that nearly impaled him, still in the air Mars kicked of the spike and retreated as numerous more spikes shot up from the ground where he just were, back at his starting point Mars glared at the mage that wore a smug smile on his face "as I said, none of you will pass!" Chapter 152 The northern rebellion 5 "as I said, none of you will pass!" "....could you at least have said ''you shall not pass'' instead?" Mars gave a sigh as he dodged the incoming rock spears with paper thin margins meanwhile the dark knights had taken shelter behind the corner of a house, but just as Mars thought they were going to be useless again this fight a soft hum began sounding from their armor as numerous formation runes lit up on the surface of the armor "go, formation 7!" the dark knights charged out with the oldest in front wielding a two handed hammer, but before they had any change to display their formation a shadow spear impaled the frail mage from behind, coughing up blood the frail mage''s eyes showed unwillingness as he fell over behind him sat a proud looking Victoria, she was licking her front paw and swaying her tail from side to side as her horns flashed and a slightly smug voice sounded in Mars'' head "come... on I''m... waiting" "....yeah we''re coming now, good job Victoria" the group moved deeper into Bellmoral and soon they reached the fort in the middle of town, outside the fort stood a man in the prime of his life with a 2-handed sword over his shoulder he was clearly waiting for them "...are you the lord of Bellmoral?" the man gave a nod and looked past Mars at the dark knights as he lifted his sword off his shoulder and stabbed it into the ground before he spoke "as a selfish last request I would like to duel the speed demon that killed so many of my men" Mars gave a smile it seemed that this lord had some backbone "sure why not old man" Mars stepped forwards and put a hand on the hilt of his sword and stood ready, the lord pulled his sword up from the ground and also stood ready with sword in hand "....Kim give us a signal" "oh okay! erm... 3, 2, 1, START!" as soon as the duel started Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view, next there was a flash of red as the lord kneeled down before Mars reappeared in his original spot "....magnificent" then the lord collapsed completely, he was dead "and that''s that..." "good job Mars!" Kim walked over and patted him on the head again, Mars kneeled down a little to make it easier for her, when she was done Mars looked over at the captain and asked "want a lift back to King''s city?" "sure... we need to report to the king as soon as possible" "okay then let''s go" Back at King''s city a rift suddenly opened in front of the castle, soon it stabilized into a portal and then Mars, the dark knights and last but not lest Victoria walked out of it and walked directly into the castle as the portal closed. Inside the castle they were quickly lead into the king''s private chambers where the dark knights captain reported to the king about the whole situation, the king nodded along and after the dark knight captain was done reporting the king looked at Mars with grateful eyes and said "Mars you have done me a truly great favor this time, I will have your reward prepared in a few days time so please come and collect it" "got it, well then I''ll head home" "erm... if it isn''t too much to ask could you open a portal to Bellmoral first? I would like to send some personal there" "...sure thing, I''ll be waiting outside the castle then" "thank you Mars" "don''t worry about it" Mars gave the dark knights a wave which only Kim returned before he walked out of the kings private chambers and continued out of the castle and found a spot to wait, soon a group of people came out of the castle some of them were knights while others looked like they were good at administrative work "I take it your the group heading to Bellmoral?" "yes we are in a hurry, so hurry it up mage!" "yeah we don''t have all day" Mars gave a nod and opened a portal that headed to Bellmoral "then please enter this portal" then he turned and walked into the city and brought a box of sweets and a box of chocolate before he walked into a back alley and opened a portal back to Green river... Back at Green river Mars gave the sweets and chocolate to the girls then he headed down to Kaitlin''s office and knocked on the door "yes?" Mars opened the door and walked into the office, Kaitlin was sitting behind the desk working on some paperwork, at first she only gave a brief glance up but when she saw it was Mars she stopped working and gave a smile "hello boss, what can I help you with?" "you said there was some shop owners that wanted to meet with me?" "right, do you perhaps have some time now?" "yeah I just got back from crushing a rebellion in northern Destra so my schedule is clear" "I see... well then follow me I''ll show you the way" Mars gave a nod and followed after Kaitlin down the stairs while they walked Kaitlin explained about the shops in the building "the shops we have here in the building are mostly owned by residents of the building but there are a few exceptions such as the weapons shop which is owned by a local trade union" "I see, what''s the name of the trade union?" "it''s not the name that''s important.... it''s that the elders is behind them" "I see... well let''s just talk with the locals then" Kaitlin gave a smile "in that case we have all from butchers to high class clothing shops" "hmm... let''s just start from the top and work downwards" "sure boss, in that case we have a high class clothing shop first" "sure thing, lead the way" soon they arrived in what truly was a high class clothing shop, the goods were made of the highest quality materials such as magic beast leathers or the finest silk and the employees were all beauties that had an elegant feel about them Kaitlin lead the way in and called out "owner, I have a guest for you" "I''m coming, give me a second!" soon an elegant looking elf that looked like she was in her 40''s walked out of the back room, she had long blonde hair and like all elvers born in Green river green eyes, when she saw Mars she widened her eyes slightly "I take it your the new owner of the building Mars?" "yes that''s me" the owners eyes lit up as she hurriedly gestured for Mars to follow her "please follow me I have something for you" "...sure" "Julie and Michelle please follow after me" ""yes madam"" Mars and the 2 employees followed after the madam into the back room which turned out to be a clothing workshop, as soon as they walked into the workshop did the 2 employees flank Mars and begin taking off his armor while the madam began looking at some fabric, as much as Mars enjoyed being disrobed by 2 beauties he still asked "erm... what are you doing?" "preparing you for a fitting session" "a fitting session?" the madam looked up from the fabrics and answered Mars'' question "yes I thought giving you a gift was proper since you took over the building and seeing as this is a clothing shop what better gift then a custom tailored suit?" "I see... can I make a request then? it''s about the color" "sure" "can you make it match my horns?" "your horns?" "oh right I''m not transformed give me a second... there" Mars quickly grew out his pale horns as his eyes also transformed into their crimson color "my those sure are some nice horns... as for you request we just got some magic beast silk in that should match the color pretty well, let me find it real quick" the madam went into a backroom meanwhile the two employees finished taking off Mars'' armor then one of them asked "why were you wearing armor in the first place mister Mars?" "well I was doing some work for the king of Destra, you know some simple stuff, suppressing a revolt" the employees eyes widened slightly "my, a revolt..! are those common in Destra?" "not very, but they do happen" Mars did some more chit chat with the 2 pretty employees while Kaitlin gave her opinion a few times until about 10 minutes later when the madam returned with some fabric that was pale like Mars'' horns "sorry, it was in the bottom of the pile... is this to your liking mister Mars?" "it''s just perfect madam" "okay... please just call me Juile" "sure" what followed was Mars being in bliss as 3 sets of soft hands brushed lightly over him taking all kinds of measurements for the next half an hour until finally they were done and Mars stepped out of the clothing shop "well that was pleasant... where to next Kaitlin?" "next is a traditional sweets shop a few floors down" "...nice" Mars very much looked forward to the traditional elvish sweets and followed after Kaitlin Chapter 153 A trip to the holy union 1 "phew... that was rougher than I thought it would be" Mars gave a sigh as he sat down in the couch in his living room and leaned back, he had been vesting all kinds of shops the last 5 hours, he had also revived all kinds of gifts from the shop owners so much so that he wasn''t able to carry it all and eventually had to promise he would come back for the gifts some other time "well that was nice...." "what were you expecting?" "I don''t know.... just not this" "hmm.... they are nice aren''t they" "yeah..." Chloe leaned into Mars as she sat next to him on the couch "by the way you should talk with Marry" "...okay" Mars didn''t ask why he knew that Chloe had her reasons to ask him "well then, how long before dinner?" Mars called into the kitchen and Elsa yelled back "about 15 minutes, if you want it faster you can help out" "maybe next time" "you always say that..." Mars gave a sigh and got up from the couch as he asked Chloe "are they training on the roof?" "yeah... good luck" "sure..." Mars walked out of the living room and eventually walked up the sitars to the roof as he did the sounds of metal meeting metal gradually got louder and when he stepped out onto the roof it was almost deafening *CLANG* Mary wielded her twins swords as she deflected Varvei''s long spear for the nth time *CLANG CLANG CLANG* "girls do you have a moment?" *CLANG CLANG CLANG* "we''re... a... little... busy..." "I can see that, that''s why I asked" the two stopped fighting and Mars walked over and gave a nod "Varvei the food is almost ready" "really!?" Varvei imitatively ran down straits meanwhile Mars looked at Marry that was wiping the sweat that was dripping down her forehead, Mars walked over and took the towel from her "hold still" Marry closed her eyes and held still as Mars gently wiped the sweat on her face "done" "thanks Mars" Marry started heading downstairs but Mars called out to her "Chloe said you wanted to talk about something?" Marry stopped walking and turned and gave a nod "yeah... the truth is I would like to return home and tell my mother that I''m no longer cursed" "I see... and when were you planning on leaving?" "soon" Mars gave a nod before he gestured for Marry to come closer when she did he gave her a light chop on the forehead "are you angry?" "yeah" "so---" "I''m angry you didn''t ask if I wanted to come with" "really?" "yeah" "....then do you want to come with?" "sure" Marry jumped into Mars'' arms "thanks,'''' I love you" "love you too" then the two of them started heading downstairs and found that the others had already started eating and joined them, then Mars told them about his plan to head to meet Mary''s mother "wait where is it she lives again?" "the capital of the holy union" "right so me and Marry are playing on heading there tomorrow" Varvei nodded but Elsa and Chloe looked like there was something bothering them so Mars asked "what is it?" Chloe gave a sigh and spoke "I want you to meet my mother too" Elsa gave a nod "me too" "....I see, where do your parents live Elsa?" "in Malrton.... they probably worried that I quit my job at the lord''s mansion" Mars gave a nod and leaned back in his chair and spoke while he looked into the ceiling "then tomorrow I visit Chloe''s mom here in the city, then Elsa parents in Malrton and then I head to the holy union with Marry?" "sounds like a plan" "wait what about Varvei?" Varvei gave a sigh "my dad died long ago and my dragon mom is nowhere to be found..." "sorry" "I don''t mind" with a well laid plan for tomorrow the group finished their dinner and went to bed... the next morning Mars left the building with Chloe latched onto his arm, Chloe lead the way and soon they arrived at a graveyard where Chloe lead the way to a lonely grave "here she is" Mars gave a nod and read the gravestone, then the two of them spend a few minutes in silence before they left the graveyard again and went on a small date where Mars tired to cheer up Chloe the best he could, after they returned to the building Mars left with Elsa to Malrton where Elsa lead the way into the town and soon they arrived at a small house where Elsa knocked on the door which soon opened "ah it''s big sis!" by a small boy about 10 years old with fluffy looking wolf ears after he looked at Elsa he gave a glance at Mars then he widened his eyes and ran back into the house while yelling "mom Elsa brought a man home!" Elsa gave a sigh and gestured for Mars to enter the house while she explained "sorry about that Melvin has always had too much energy" Mars gave a nod "I don''t mind, kids should be energetic and carefree" Esla lead the way into the living room where she sat down in a couch and gestured for Mars to sit next to her which he did, after waiting half a minute a lesser beastwoman walked into the room, she looked just like Elsa just a little older so Mars stood up and introduced himself "you must be Elsa''s elder sister I''m Mars" "oh my" the beaswoman gave a wide smile as she put her hands on her cheeks meanwhile her tail began slightly wagging before she looked at Elsa and said "I like him already" Elsa gave a wry smile and pulled Mars back down into the couch before she explained "Mars that''s my mother" "oh.... well now I see where you get your charm from" "oh my" "Mars...." Elsa gave a sigh before she grabbed his ear lightly "why are you trying to charm my mother?" "....I''m not, trust me if I were there would be no doubt about it" Elsa relashed Mars'' ear and gave a sigh "right..." Mars spent some time talking and getting to know Elsa''s mother before suddenly a beastman walked into the room, he was in one word big, when he saw Mars he gave a frown "so you''re the one?" Mars tilted his head then the beastman roared "the one that has taken my cute daughter from me!" Mars was taken back, it looked like the big beastman was Elsa''s father suddenly he let out a short laugh and showed a grin before he poke Elsa''s mother with his elbow "see I got him good" "no you did not dear... see Mars is completely cool" "tch... well whatever, my name is Hermon I''m as you guessed Elsa''s father please take good care of my daughter" Mars stood up from the couch and shock Hermon''s hand before he sat down next to Elsa again then he spent until night talking with Elsa''s parents before they declined the offer to stay for the night and left for Green river.... The next day a portal opened in King''s city and soon Mars, Marry and Victoria stepped out of it before it closed "what are we doing here again Mars?" "asking a friend for help with the transport to the holy union.... no way I''m walking all that way, well just follow after me" "okay if you say so...." Mary gave yet another sigh and followed after Mars that walked towards the castle, on the way there they stopped and brought some roasted meat for Victoria but eventually they arrived at the castle were Mars exchanged some words with a knight before they were led inside, following after the knight Mary asked Mars "who are we meeting?" "the king" "w-wait the king! as in king of Destra!?" "yeah... come on you''re not nervous are you?" "well... a bit" "even after you meet Info?" "well that''s that and this is this, can''t a girl be a little nervous when she meets the king of a mid sized kingdom?" ".....if you want to you can hold my hand?" "humph as if that would have any effect..." Mary''s voice trailed off as she grabbed Mars'' hand with a light blush on her face, Mars gave her hand a little squeezes and soon they arrived at the king''s private champers where the knight knocked on the door "come in" "yes!" the knight opened the door and gestured for Mars and Mary to enter the room, Mary swallowed her saliva clearly still a little nervous meanwhile Mars half dragged her into the room where the king sat behind a desk and worked on some paperwork, when he looked up and saw Mars he gave a smile "hello Mars, to what do I owe this visit?" "well here is the thing, I''m heading to the holy union and I wondered if I could borrow a sky carriage for a few days?" Chapter 154 A trip to the holy union 2 About a week later Mars, Mary and Victoria stepped out of a sky carriage, Mars looked around and gave a nod "yup traveling with sky carriage is the way to go" while they were not in the capital which is where they were heading they were close, about 5 days on foot close "finally out!" Mary collapsed on the ground and rolled around, she was not a flying person and had been parlized by fear most of the trip, after much debate they had decided to walk the rest of the way to the capital on foot mostly to spare Mary that was currently in the progress of hugging the ground "oh solid ground, how I missed you!" "....was it really that bad?" "yes it was Mars.... ah ground, my one and true friend" Mars gave a sigh and decide to leave Mary alone and went over to talk with the driver and after that he unloaded their luggage then the sky carriage took off and left then in the clearing of a random forest "come on Mary let''s move" "okay.... this way" "you know this forest?" "yeah I basically lived out here right after I got cursed...." "I see..." "don''t look at me like that, it was not all bad... there definitely were some good parts" "right, like lazing around all day without anyone to say what you should do?" "how did you know Mars?" Mars gave a grin "don''t forget you are talking to the proud former owner of a limestone cave" "...you lived in a cave?" "yeah... for about 2 months.... those were the days..." Mars and Mary walked into the forest while they exchanged experiences of living in the wild and after 5 days of walking they arrived at the capital of the holy union: the city of prayer, the walls were made of what looked like pure white marble and were manned by soldiers in what looked like ceremonial armor and carried maces, Mars looked over at Mary after he was finished looking over the walls, she was trembling slightly so he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and said "it will be fine" Mary gave a small nod and a weak smile "...yeah" Mars was a little puzzled seeing the fearless Mary act like that but was forced to put it in the back of his mind as it was their turn for an inspection at the gates of the city of prayer "good morning" Mars greeted the guard but got no reply as the guard in ceremonial armor simply said "identification please" Mars gave a slight frown but still took out his silver mercenary tag and showed it to the guard, Mary also showed her golden mercenary tag to the guard, the guard gave a nod and gestured for them to move along but suddenly stopped as he looked at Mary with an odd look on his face "wait a minute you two" "what''s the problem?" "stay right there, I''ll be right back" the guard left in a hurry puzzling Mars meanwhile Mary went pale as they waited for the guard to return which he did a few minutes later followed by another guard that wore slightly different ceremonial armor that showed he was of a higher rank that the first guard, the higher rank guard looked at Mary for a moment before he gave a nod and a not-quite-a-smile smile and spoke in a loud tone "well if it isn''t bloody Mary" Mary grew even paler and Mars gave an even deeper frown and grabbed her hand but remained silent as the guard continued speaking "you should know you''re not welcome here bloody Mary" Mars'' smile widened slightly as a faint blood lust leaked out from him which caught the guards attention as he looked over at Mars he showed a frown first before he suddenly gave a friendly smile "she tricked you right? otherwise you would be a fool to travel with the infamous bloody Mary" Mars'' smile widened before he suddenly disappeared from view and reappeared in front of the guard and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air "you... what... are... you... doing..." Mars widened his smile even more before he slammed the guard into the ground and drew his sword and pointed it at the other guard that had drawn his mace "you! you won''t get away with this!" "we''ll see about that" Mars then stabbed his sword into the shoulder of the higher ranked guard which caused him to let out a scream "AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" the other guard yelled and closed the distance between them as he raised his mace into the air, Mars gave a grin before he delivered a lightning fast kick right to his jaw knocking him out as he dropped like a sack of potatoes "are there any more...? no?" Mars then turned to the higher ranking guard and pointed his sword at his throat before he spoke "now, we have shown our identification so we should be able to pass, yes?" "you''re not going to get away with this!" "wrong answer" Mars inched his sword closer to the high ranking guards throat before he asked again "now, we have shown our identification so we should be able to pass, yes?" "....y-yes" "I see that good, Mary let''s go" Mars sheathed his sword and grabbed Mary''s hand before he walked passed the gate into the city "...Mars why did you do that?" Mars gave a smile "because they were harassing you" Mary''s face blushed lightly "b-but we''re going to get in trouble because of that" "hmm... not necessarily.... anyway are you hungry because I''m starving" "a little bit" "okay what about you Victoria?" "I''m... hungry too" "okay then let''s get some food.... that cafe looks good" the group walked over to a nearby cafe and sat down at a table outside to enjoy the nice whether they were having and soon they had ordered some food which they sat and waited for "that reminds me I never asked what does you mother do for a living?" "....she''s a high priestess" "a high priestess?" "yeah she works in the temple" "I see..." soon their food arrived and just as they were about to begin eating a shout interrupted them "there they are!" a group of guards showed up, most notability the one Mars had stabbed in the shoulder was also there, there was also an even higher ranking guard present that glared at Mars with menacing eyes but she remained silent and watched as the injured guard spoke "as I said you will not get away with stabbing me!" "we''ll see about that...." Mars stood up from his seat and walked over to the highest ranking guard as he spoke "you see ma''am I didn''t want to stab your subordinate but he pushed me by harassing my travel companion" the highest ranking guard remained silent but looked over at the injured guard with questioning eyes, the injured guard slightly paled but hurriedly denied "I did no such thing ma''am" "oh really, mind swearing on the 13 that you did no such thing?" "and why should I do that!?" "well it''s just I thought this was the holy city, surely you''ll admit that your wrong instead of risking being cursed by doing a false swear?" "you... fine, I swear on the 13 that I did not harass that young lady" "got you" "wha---" the injured guard froze as suddenly he body became increasingly petrified by obsidian like stone until finally he was completely tuned into a stone statue this of course stunned the other guards and for sometime nobody said anything until suddenly the highest ranking guard kneeled down and said in a low voice "we apologize for interrupting your meal your excellency" this made the other guard wake up from their daze before they also kneeled down and repeated "we apologize for interrupting your meal your excellency!" "I don''t mind.... oh when you leave would you mind taking that stone statue with you and displaying it in your common room, you know to inspire the other guards to do better than this sorry example?" the highest ranking guard lowered her head even deeper "as you wish your excellency" then the guards left caring the obsidian stone statue with them, Mars gave a nod and walked back to the table and sat down, Mary was looking at him a little weirdly so Mars explained "even if I don''t show off my silver star I''m still an apostle so telling a lie like that while he swore to the 13 was an unwise move" "I know, it''s just could you not have solved this whole situation by showing you necklace at the gates?" "sure I could but then that asshole that harassed my sweet Mary would have gotten away with it" Mary blushed lightly and mumbled "w-who''s yours?" Mars gave a smile and put his focus back on his food Chapter 155 A trip to the holy union 3 as soon as the group finished eating they headed for the main temple where Mary''s mother worked and lined up in the giant queue there was to visit the temple, as for the reason for the queue was that missionaries came from all over Salen to visit the holy union''s capital, the city of prayers grand temple and the temple was grand indeed, no matter where one found themselves in the city of prayer one would still be able to see the giant 13 spires made of white marble, with one for every arch angle or as they would call themselves sub-administrators of Alfan. Mars oddly enough didn''t grew board in the long queue, that was because there was stalls and street performers along the way, after all there was no better place in the city of prayer except of course right near the gate where there would be a higher consecration of potential customer, Mars in particular enjoyed a drummer that played a slightly militaristic tune on his deer skin drum, the sound of the drum went from quiet and peaceful to enamors and imposing over the course of the song, when Mars asked the drummer he was told that it was meant to symbolism a soldier''s journey from training to the field, Mars was impressed and tipped the drummer handsomely. After spending about an hour in quee the group of 3 made it out of the sun and into the grand temple, the inside of the temple was cooled down as most of it was made of marble with only things like furniture made of wood of metal. After some time Mars and the other 2 finally got their turn to speak with a receptionist "hello what can I help you with?" Mars gave a smile and spoke "hi we''re here to see a high priestesses.... Mary what''s her name?" "Annabel" "right high priestess Annabel" the receptionist gave a slight frown but quickly hid it behind a businesses smile "in that case do you have an appointment? I''m afraid all the high priests and high priestesses are terribly busy" Mary gave a frown and spoke "but I''m her daughter" the receptionist showed a slightly gloating expression and asked Mary while he looked at her with undisguised contempt "and what prof do you have? am I spouse just to take your word for it? if you don''t have an appointment I will have to ask you to leave before I call the guards" "oh really... you know what I think?" "....what?" "that you are going to change your mind quickly" "and why would I do---" Mars unhurriedly pulled out his necklace of the apostle and showed it to the receptionist that instantly palled and shut his mouth, Mars gave a grin and asked "I heard apostles are treated very well in this country, but perhaps I was wrong...? Mary let''s go since we can''t meet you mother here we''ll try another kinder receptionist" the receptionist paled even more and hurriedly stammered "p-p-p-please wait your excellency!" the receptionist inwardly cursed Mars for his twisted sense of humor ''if you were an apostle why didn''t just say so!?'' but outwards he only showed the most humble of smiles and hurriedly added "if your excellency wishes I can show you the way to high prissiness Annabel''s room at once!" Mars showed a surprised expression "oh so you know the way to her room? then why didn''t you just say so?" the receptionist hurriedly lead the way through the temples many passageways all the while trying to flatter Mars, but seeing as Mars didn''t respond well to random flattery he shut his mouth and just lead the way in silence, soon they arrived at a door where the priest gestured to before he said a little nervously "t-this is the prayer room which high priestess Annabel is maintaining at the moment, please wait a moment while I announce your arrival" Mars gave a nod and stood and waited with Mary a few moments before the priest returned and gave a bow before he turned and left, Mars looked at Mary and asked "shall we?" "....sure" Mars gave another nod and lead the way into the prayer room where he found an elf kneeling in front of the crystal ball in the center of the prayer room, she did not look up when Mars entered instead she was wholeheartedly polishing the crystal ball with all her might, although at the same time the gentleness of her movements slightly surprised Mars ''she applies all her force in all her movements but she still manage to have a gentle feeling about it... where have I seen this before...?'' Mary walked into the prayer room after Mars and stopped and stared at the elf that was polishing the crystal ball and quietly muttered "mom..." the elf abruptly stopped polishing the crystal ball when she heard Mary''s voice before her body began trembling slightly and she turned around and looked at Mary "Mary... my child..." the 2 of them ran at each other and just when it looked like they were about to embrace each other both of them stopped and suddenly carried awkward looks on their faces, Mars gave a sigh and walked over before he suddenly gave Mary a push which made her fall into her mother''s embrace, feeling her mother''s warmth for the first time in who knows how many years Mary quickly teared up and warped her arms around her mother before she loudly cried "mom..." Mary''s mother was confused for a moment before she wrapped her arms around Mary as her eyes also began silently to tear up as she tightened her embrace on her one and only child, Mars gave a smile and folded his arms as he watched the moving reunion... Half an hour later both Mary and her mother had calmed down and under her mother''s lead Mary and Mars was lead to a guest room where they sat down while Mary''s mother severed some tea for them before she also sat down and looked over at Mars then at Mary with a clam slime on her face, Mars gave a silent sigh as he admired Mary''s mothers beauty, it was clear for all with eyes to see where Mary got her looks from "it''s truly been too long since we last met Mary, how have you been my child?" Mary took a sip of her tea before she spoke "well mom I became a gold ranked mercenary a few years back... but what''s most important is that I meet Mars a few months back" while she spoke Mary grabbed Mars'' hand and gave a warm smile, her mother gave Mars a glance and saw the silver star he was wearing around his neck "an apostle huh..." as Mary''s mother muttered that the temperature of the room fell slightly before she gave a not-quite-a-smile smile and asked "Mars was it? my name is Annabel... I wonder if I could ask, where did you get your status as an apostle?" before Mars had a change to answer Mary yelled angrily "mom!" "I''m sorry Mary but this is one thing I most know as both a mother and a high priestess" Mars was slightly confused but still answered truthfully "I got it in the southern part of Destra, in a small town named Marlton almost a year ago" Annabel gave a sigh of relief and quickly spoke "I''m sorry for asking you such a question Mars.... it''s just apostles form our holy union are.... how to say it..?" while her mother was thinking Mary spoke "trash" "right Mary thank you, they are often trash that only know how to throw around their weight as apostles" Mars gave a nod "I see.... well I don''t think I''m like them..?" "no you''re not Mars" "thanks Mary, but is it alright for a high priestess to talk about apostles like that?" Annabel gave a smile "what ever the fuck I say about those pieces of literal garbage in my spare time have nothing to do with what I do when I work" "I-I see" "just thinking about how it one of the biggest pieces of trash that cursed my Mary makes me want to see blood" Mars put on a thoughtful expression for a moment before a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he asked "and who exactly is that piece of thrash?" Annabel gave a sigh and spoke "one of the biggest pieces of depravity in our holy union.... his name is Yrimir" "Yrimir..." Mars memorized the name and put it at the top of his must kill list and asked "does he live here in the city?" Annabel gave a nod "yes he does, in the biggest mansion in the southern part of the city... why are you asking?" "no reason, just some PKR" "PKR?" Mars gave a cold smile and said "pre-kill research" Mary looked over at Mars with shock in her eyes before she hurriedly spoke "you don''t have to kill him Mars, really you don''t" Mars gave a reassuring smile and said "don''t worry Mary I''m not going to kill him today, today is set aside to getting to know your mom" Mary gave a sigh "good grief..." Chapter 156 A trip to the holy union 4 After visiting Annabel Mars and Mary walked around the city of prayer hand in hand and took in the sights of the various religious idols around the city, many of which depicted the 13 archangels one of which caught Mars'' attention, it was a statue made of withe marble depicting a woman holding a pair of glasses with one hand witch she was using to look through some documents she was holding in her other hand, on her back were two sets of wings and her body was covered by a robe "doesn''t that look like someone we know?" Mary looked over at the statue and thought for a moment before she answered "I think that''s a statue of information" "oh so it''s info... that''s why it looked so familiar" the two of them spent a little more time walking around before they returned to Green river via portal and went to bed... Mars'' eyes snapped open, it was night and the lights were shut off so naturally darkness surrounded him, he waited a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before he got out of bed, or at least he tried to fist he had to untangle himself from the girls, a few moments later he finally managed to get out of bed without waking anyone before he sneaked out of the bedroom picking up some clothes from the floor on the way out. After he got dressed Mars walked towards his workshop where he arrived a few minutes later, opening the door Mars gave a slight frown ''was it always this messy..?'' Mars then navigated the messy workshop and quickly found his armor on a stand and wore it, the dark steel half plate armor had changed a little, now it was covered with formation runes which Mars had engraved on it that shone lightly with a soft glow in the dark workshop "what are you doing Mars?" "....getting ready" Mars didn''t turn around he picked up some other magic tools and stuffed them in a backpack he had prepared and swung the backpack over his shoulder "what are you getting ready for..? don''t tell me you are going after Yimir?" "that I am, don''t worry Mary I''ll be back before the sun rise" Mars finely turned and saw Mary standing in the doorway, she was wearing one of his shirts and had a light frown on her face "....do you really have to?" "yes I do, he cursed you so naturally I want him dead" Mary gave a sigh and leaned up against the doorway as she folded her arms in front of her chest "if you really have to then be careful" Mars gave a smile and walked up to Mary before he gave her a quick kiss "thanks, now back to bed with you young lady" "...you know I''m 116 right?" "sure... back to bed you go" Mary gave a sigh and walked back towards the bedroom while Mars saw her off before he gave a sigh and walked up towards the roof. Stepping out on the roof Mars took a long breath of the night air and kneeled down and patted the ground twice before he spoke "sorry to disturb your sleep Victoria" "I... don''t mind... where are... you... going?" "I just need to take care of something real quick, want to come with?" "no... I want... to sleep... more" "good night then" Mars stood up and transformed his hand before he slashed out into the empty air and made a rift in space which soon stabilized into a portal which he then stepped though... The night was quiet in the city of prayers, except for a few mostly drunk people walking around on the streets it was empty and devoid of people, Mars walked along the streets and soon arrived in the part of the city were most of the villa''s where and started to look for the biggest one, but quickly was forced to give up his search as he quickly found his target "....really dude?" as for why he knew this was Yimir''s villa was simple, it was the giant YIMIR sign that glowed in the dark that gave it away, giving a sigh Mars walked around the villa a few times scanning for a weakness in the security but quickly found that the villa was void of formations let alone guards and simply jumped over the fence and landed in the backyard and gave a frown as he looked around ''what the fuck..?'' the entire backyard was filled with statues and all of them had something in common they were all of people looking afraid and they were all made of the same back obsidian rock, Mars walked up to one of them and inspected it, it was of a small demon child that was crying its eyes out "wait a minute" Mars recognized the black obsidian rock form somewhere and suddenly got dizzy from smudging rage ''these are not statues..! Yimir you sick fuck..!'' Mars stepped away from the ''statue'' and looked towards the main building and quickly found an open door on the second floor terrace and silently ran over and jumped before he landed silently and looked in the open door ''bingo'' Mars silently steeped into the bedroom where a figure was laying on the bed which suddenly spoke "I curse you with [DEATH]" Mars froze and felt his body rapidly cool as he kneeled down on the wooden floor before his vision suddenly darkened and he passed out for a moment... "come on now stop playing dead.... fine, I curse you with [PAIN]" Mars'' eyes shot open as he felt pain like never before and with a low shout he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from where he was kneeling momentarily confusing Yimir that saw in his bed before suddenly a sword light flashed and Yimir felt pain at his neck before he fell over forwards, Mars stopped at the side of him and caught his breath, he certainly had not expected to die once while killing Yimir but what was done was done, Mars transformed his hand into his claws and was about to slash at the empty air when he heard a voice "I curse you with [DEATH]" Mars looked over as his body once again cooled down and saw Yimir sitting up in his bed with one hand clutching his neck and an angry look on his face "HAHAHAHA that''s what you get little brother!" Mars stabbed his sword into the floor to keep himself from collapsing and focused his mind so he would not pass out meanwhile Yimir got up from his bed and walked over next to Mars and put a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear "I curse you with [DEATH]" Mars once again felt a hint of dizziness as he died once more meanwhile Yimir started talking again "now why are you here little brother..? wait let me guess I cursed someone you know right?" Mars didn''t have time to answer he instead just activated [Instant movement] or at least he tried to "oh no you don''t, I curse you with [SLOWNESS]" Mars felt his body freeze up, almost as if he had been dumped into a tub filled with ice cold water as his movements slowed to almost a halt meanwhile Yimir kept talking "so let''s just assume I cursed someone you know and care about, then you coming her to kill me is natural" Yimir nodded to himself before his face suddenly twisted with rage "ONLY DID YOU EXPECT ME TO FALL OVER DEAD FOOLISH LITTLE BROTHER!!! I CURSE YOU WITH [TORMENT]" then he kicked Mars in the stomach in a fit of rage before he suddenly calmed down and spoke in an almost apologetic tone "you see when you have lived as long as I have your mood swings are a little extreme, sorry about that little brother... where were we again? Oh right I curse you with [DEATH]" Mars collapsed on the floor his body convulsed form extreme pain or as Yimir called it ''torment'' it was unknown if he still was conscious not that Yimir cared about that "now let''s get to the good parts.... what was it again..? Oh right, I curse you with----" before Yimir had a change to finish his sentence Mars had stealthily put his hand into his backpack and pulled out the pin on a makeshift grande *KABOOM* the grande exploded instantly killing both Mars and Yimir as the floor collapsed and both of them fell down into the first floor living room, Mars landed on a couch while Yimir landed on a crystal table which was destroyed under the impact and scattered into many pieces... "you are really good at surprising me little brother... BUT DID YOU HAVE TO BLOW UP MY VILLA, I CURSE YOU WITH [DEATH]!!!" Yimir walked over and picked up Mars and suddenly had a board look on his face "you know what? I tire of this, if you know what''s good for you then leave Salen and never return, if I catch you again I''ll kill you for real" then Yirmir slashed out into empty air and ripped apart space and formed a portal which he then threw Mars into... Chapter 157 Power leveling 1 Mars'' eyes slowly opened his body was being wrecked by the torment curse Yimir had cast on him, if not for the fact that he was a half-dragon the torment curse would properly kill him for real over time as it slowly tore his body apart from the inside, lucky his self regeneration was high enough to keep it at bay. Laying face down Mars slowly turned himself over and looked up into the sky, it was clear without any sings of clouds "well... I got wrecked" Mars lifted his aching body up and looked around "...." the area around him was clear, well it was clear as far as his eyes could see "some kind of tundra?" the frozen ground and the boundless sky was the only thing in view, Mars almost had the idea to sit and admire the scenery but then his got wrecked by the torment cures once again, clenching his teeth in pain Mars got on his feet and once again looked around before he gave a sigh and opened a portal to Green river and walked though... at the gates of Green river a portal opened before Mars walked out of it as he walked towards the gate he transformed, growing out his horns he felt the hostility from the guarding elvers diminish as he walked through the gates he was hit by another pulse of the torment curse and gritted his teeth as he walked towards the temple but suddenly ran into someone he knew and greeted her "hi Isabel" Isabel was one of the members of the original members of the scouting party that had discovered Mars when he was in the Mother forests, upon hearing his voice she turned around with a surprised expression on her face "Mars...! wait Mars what happened to you, you look awful!?" Mars paused and looked down at his own body, he was indeed a mess, his armor was half broken from the makeshift grande and the clothes under it was holed and stained with blood, all in all he looked petty ghastly Mars gave a smile to try and reassure Isabel "err... well I''m fine, so don''t worry about it" "if you say so Mars.... where are you headed?" Mars gave a smile "to the temple" Isabel returned his smile "oh what a coincidence so I''m I" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he extended his arm "in that case allow me to escort you there" "oh my" Isabel took his arm and both of them walked towards the temple, Mars did his best to hide his pain from the torment curse but Isabel eventually found out and asked him with a concerned expression on her face "are you alright Mars?" "well.... I would say that I''m fine but... I''m kind of... cursed" "cursed!?" Isabel stopped walking and looked at Mars with shock on her face before she asked "how in the world did you manage to get cursed?" "well it''s a rather embarrassing story..." "is that so..?" "yeah so I would appreciate it if you didn''t ask, besides I''m going to get cured soon" "huh... well in that case I won''t ask" "thanks" soon they arrived at the temple, after Mars said goodbye to Isabel he flashed his 13 pointed silver star to one of the priests and was quickly taken to the highest level prayer room where he put his hand on the crystal ball [SUBJECT NUMBER #5 DETECTED, REQUEST DECENED Y/N?] "yes" [SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER...] while Mars waited he was once again wrecked by the torment curse and gritted his teeth in pain [ISOLATION BARRIER ONLINE, STARTING DESCEND...] a formless pressure descended into the avatar that lay lifelessly on the altar but soon it twitched and sat up before it opened its cyan glowing eyes and looked at Mars with a warmness that one wouldn''t expect from a lifeless avatar. After having looked at Mars for a little more than a few seconds the avatar suddenly frowned and spoke "hold still Mars" Mars didn''t have a change to answer as formless pressure enveloped him holding him still keeping him from breathing much less moving as the avatar floated off the altar and stopped in front of him before it put its hand on his chest and made a pulling motion, pulling a lump of darkness directly out of his chest before it squashed it with its bare hands turning it into dark partials that floated about the room for a few seconds before they disappeared completely, then the avatar gave a sigh and the formless pressure that enveloped Mars disappeared before it spoke "I take it you have meet Yimir?" "yeah... he''s a real asshole, well I did kind of try to kill him first" Info gave a grin and waved her hand making a table and two chairs appear out of thin air "I see... well tell me about it" Mars sat down and gave a sigh before he spoke "you know the curse you lifted a few weeks ago? turns out it was cast by Yimir" "I see... and then you found out about it and tried to kill him?" "yeah and then I got wrecked..." "well at least you''re still alive" "yeah that''s true..." both Mars and Info fell silent, then Info waved her hand and made a bowl of sweets appear along with a tea set, then she served tea for Mars and leaned her head in her hands before she asked "what level are you right now?" "level 55" "I see... so that''s why you got wrecked" "what do you mean Info?" "well at level 70 you unlock a skill most living gods use when they fight each other" "huh... and what does that skill do?" "it suppresses the effects dying and makes you able to use all of you status at once" "that sounds.... awesome" "yeah well that''s only the basic version" "I see... what level is Yirmir?" "that piece of trash? high 60''s" "I see... wait why are you calling him a piece of trash?" "because he tried to curse me once" "I-I see.... and how did that go for him?" Info narrowed her eyes "poorly" "well as expected..." Mars sipped his tea for a few moments before he suddenly asked Info "hey Info do you mind if I kill Yirmir?" "no I don''t feel free to do whatever, I mean it would be a pain to support a new living god but better than having Yimir continue to exist" "I see, then it alright if I kill him?" "yup, I certainly don''t mind... sorry Mars something has come up" "what''s wrong?" "it''s you elder sibling that messing with the cycle of reincarnation again.... after I specifically told her to drop it!" Mars felt the fury rise form Info and quickly stood up from his chair as she waved her hand and made the table, chairs and the tea set disappear into thin air before she floated over to the altar and sat down "sorry Mars, it''s not that I don''t want to talk with you more... it''s just..." "I know, see you Info" "bye Mars" the cyan light drained from the avatars eyes as they turned into black obsidian and a cold unfeeling voice sounded out in the prayer room [DECENED ENDED, POWERING DOWN ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE...] Mars gave a sigh and turned and left the prayer room... In another part of Alfan a hysterical voice sounded out "WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!?" the voice came from a woman with long black hair, if not for the twisted expression on her face one would be blind not to call her beautiful, but alas her fury twisted her otherwise pretty face into that of a demon as she continued screaming at the top of her lungs "WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE, WHY CAN''T I BRING HIM BACK!?" as the woman screamed towards the sky a formless pressure descended which made the woman''s face twist even more "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOURSELF HERE INFORMATION!" in response to the woman''s hysterical cries the formless pressure seemed to let out a sigh before it suddenly spoke [you know this won''t bring him back right?] "I''M A LIVING GOD, I WILL BRING HIM BACK NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TO TRY!" Information gave yet another sigh and shifted her gaze form the woman to what she was sitting on, it was a pile of corpses, no calling it a pile would be an understatement it was a mountain of corpses several hundred meters high, the corpses were all without exception twisted and torn making it so no corpse was whole without a doubt theses people all died a horrible death suddenly the hysterical woman seemed to calm down and whispered "I see, it''s because it''s not enough... I need more corpses, more people to die then maybe he will come back to me..." then she stood up and floated off the small mountain of mangled corpses, her destination unknown even to the archangel Information that watched her fly off into the distance Chapter 158 Power leveling 2 After Mars was finished at the temple he didn''t walk home, he instead walked towards the river and onto the giant bridge that spanned the so call green river and walked into the hollowed out giant tree that stood in the middle of the river and walked up to the counter and spoke with the receptionist "my name is Mars, I would like to meet with the elders" "yes sir Mars, I''ll send word to the elder right away please have a seat while you wait" "okay" Mars sat down and waited and soon an ancient looking elf walked over to him and spoke "please follow after me sir Mars, the elders is waiting" Mars gave a nod and followed after the ancient looking elf further into the giant hollow tree, after going through complex hallways for close to an hour Mars finally arrived in front of a big door which the ancient looking elf gestured to "the elders are waiting" "thanks" Mars walked up and opened the door and was imitatively greeted by the elders voices "see he didn''t kick open the door this time" "ha! I knew it" "tch..." "this doesn''t mean anything" "yeah he maybe will kick it open next time" Mars paused and eventually decided to ignore the elders bickering and asked them "I wonder if I could ask for you wisdom?" "oh he''s so polite this time" "we are really shocked" "very well since you asked so nicely what is it you need our wisdom for?" Mars walked up and sat down on a chair and thought for a moment before he spoke "is there a place nearby where you guys would not mind the local population of magic beasts to go... extinct?" "extinct you say..?" "can you elaborate?" "we are a little confused" Mars gave a sigh and explained "I use magic beast cores to get stronger and I need to get much stronger in a short amount of time..." "so you want to hunt?" "you could use the barrier forest for that... unless..?" Mars gave a nod and spoke "I''m afraid if I hunted in the barrier forest it would become less of a barrier and more of a forest..." one of the elders gave a nod with an understanding look on his face "so you wish to hunt another in place..." Mars gave another nod "yes exactly" "we understand... give us a moment..." Mars waited while the elders thought to themselves until suddenly one of them spoke up "there this one place.... an island off the west coast of our peninsular... only we forget why it was sealed off in the first place..." Mars gave a smile "then that will do fine, can you arrange a boat for me or do I have to swim?" "we will naturally arrange a boat for you" "thanks" Mars finished his talk with the elders and it was decided that the boat that would take him to the unknown Island would leave tomorrow, Mars didn''t follow the ancient elver back though the long hallways he instead opened a portal and stepped though... "Mars what happened to you, you look awful!" "yeah, yeah I know tell me about it" Mars waved off Mary that had waited for him on the roof since breakfast but decided it was too cruel and sat her down and told her what had happened, after he was done Mary looked at him with worry in her eyes and asked "so basically you got wrecked?" "yup" Mars agreed, it was the biggest defeat he had since he was reborn, but in his past life if he was known for one thing then it wasn''t giving up, if he met a ''wall'' he could not pass he would smash his head against it until it broke "so that''s why I''m going to be training starting tomorrow" "training?" "yep I meet with the elders earlier and found a good training ground" "can... I come... too?" Mars looked behind him and saw Victoria had sneaked up on them and gave a smile "sure, as long as you listen to me" Mary''s face lit up and then she asked "can I come too?" "hmm... I don''t think that''s a good idea, but don''t worry I''ll be home everyday by night to sleep at home" "okay then, I''ll go tell the others" "sure" Mars saw off Mary that ran downstairs then he patted his lap and Victoria ran over and laid down on his lap and began purring loudly "it will be like the old days" "what... will?" "the hunting trip, except i won''t be clad in animal furs" Victoria stared out into empty space before her horns flashed again "then... can you... stay here some... more?" Mars gave a smile and patted Victoria on the head feeling her fluffy fur his mood improved further... The next day Mars arrived at the river, further downstream form where the giant tree was, at his left was the river and on his right the river meet the open sea, a small dockyard was built on the cost of the sea, it was here most of Green rivers meager sea industry which sold more pretty seashells than fish had its roots. Mars and Victoria walked up to the dock and quickly found the ship that had been assigned to take them out to the island, Mars stopped at the plank out to the ship and called out "permission to come aboard?" then he waited for sometime until what he at first glance assumed was a corpse covered in empty glass bottles suddenly moved, or more like twitched for a second before the corpse, or more accurately figure sat up and looked at him, it turned out to be a middle aged elf with short graying hair and dull green eyes "...what did you say?" "permission to come aboard?" Mars repeated himself once and looked at the elver that stared blankly at him before he himself repeated what Mars just said "permission to come... aboard?" Mars gave a nod "yes don''t you usually say that before you board a owned vessel?" the dull light in the eyes of the elf lit up a little more as he suddenly began trembling "w-w-w-what a wonderful phrase!" the elf got on his feet and walked over to Mars before he repeated "what a wonderful phrase!!!" Victoria moved her front paws so they covered her ears and glared at the elf that continued "of course you may come aboard, you must be sir Mars I''m Even" "nice to meet you Even" Mars extended his hand which Even looked at for sometime before he looked like he remembered something and also extended his hand and shock Mars'' hand, then Mars walked aboard the small ship and asked "so this is the ship that will take me to the island?" "yes of course sir Mars, she''s seaworthy alright" "okay then let''s go" the ship set sail and after a few days of sailing Mars and Victoria was left on some random beach with the only thing in view being a vast expanse of forest that started right as the sandy beach ended "well then let''s go hunting Victoria" "okay..." Mars lead the way into the forest and soon they discovered their first pray, or more precisely it discovered them "....seems kind of pitiful don''t you think Victoria?" "yeah... but let''s... kill it" it was a wind deer that was trapped in vines, it looked like it had been running away from something before it ended up tangled in the vines, Mars walked over and quickly ended it before he harvested its magic beast core which was class 4. Looking at the 50 energy units contained in the magic beast core Mars felt he had a long way to go before level 70 but nevertheless activated his drain hands and drained the energy units out of the core that then turned to dust as the last unit was drained out of it "well then, let''s continue Victoria... do you sense anything nearby?" "yeah over... this way" "okay lead the way" Mars followed Victoria until they reached a clearing where a group of some kind of humanoid magic beasts stood, they were harvesting a kill of some kind of small animal with a few them standing guard and watching the forest ''what have we here..? they are not goblins but...'' just as Mars was wondering what kind of magic beast the humanoid creatures were his skill activated and showed him the information name: hobgoblin gender: male class: 4 basic info: a hobgoblin is an evolved goblin that shows latent talent in magic, besides that they also sometimes carry primitive weapons which are known to be poisoned. They are known to form social structures like villages were each hobgoblin have a distinctive role ''jackpot...'' Mars quickly signaled to Victoria to leave one alive "why...?" Victoria tilted her head then Mars explained though a series of hand signals that it was better that way "okay..?" Victoria was still a little confused but Mars ignored that and signaled for them to strike Chapter 159 Power leveling 3 as soon as Mars signaled to strike Victoria melted into a shadow which glided across the clearing until she was in the blind spot in the middle of the hobgoblins where she emerged from the shadow and punched on one of the hobgoblins while she fired spells at another 4, Mars took this as his signal to act and jumped out of the brushes before he kicked off the ground and stormed the nearest hobgoblin which was caught totally unprepared as it brought up its poorly made spear to block ''heh...'' time slowed down for Mars as he drew his sword and easily slashed through the poorly made spear as well as the neck of the hobgoblin with his sword, then he activated [Instant movement] and instantly cut open another 6 hobgoblins, this thinned the group down to 3 hobgoblins which instantly turned and tried to flee however 2 of them was stuck down by shadow spears impaling them and just like planned only one managed to escape, Mars gave a nod everything went as he had planned "why did... you let... it go?" "because now it will run home to its village" Victoria tilted her head to the side as her horns flashed again "village?" "yeah, can you do me a favor Victoria?" "sure..?" "okay then I need you to follow that hobgoblin back to its village then return here when you have found its home" "okay... now I... see" "that''s because your a smart girl, now go I''ll clean up this place" Mars gave a smile and patted Victoria on the head "ehehe... then I''ll... go now" Victoria melted into the shadows and disappeared from Mars'' view "well then 16 class 4 cores that''s 800 energy units... not bad at all" Mars went to work with harvesting the magic beast cores while pilling the corpses in a pile in the middle of the clearing, after he was finished he sat down and meditated until nightfall when Victoria returned "so how was it, did you find the village?" "yes... it really... big too" "nice, good job Victoria" The next day a portal opened op in the clearing and soon Mars and Victoria stepped out of it and looked around, the pile of hobgoblin corpses had turned into a scattered pile cleanly picked bones, Mars however ignored this and kneeled down and patted Victoria on the head "lead the way partner" "okay..." Victoria lead the way though the tropical forest, other than encountering a few low class magic beasts that didn''t know how to measure the strength of their opponents their journey went smoothly and just as the sun reached its zenith they reached the outskirts of a medium sized village which was made up of small mud huts and encircled by a simple fence with a few fragile looking watchtowers, it looked almost like an early stone age village Mars had seen simulations of so many times before in his past life except there was no humans only hobgoblins inhabiting this village "good job Victoria" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head as he praised her, while some might see an idyllic village Mars saw a goldmine that he had to ''mine'' in order to get stronger "Victoria can you do me another favor?" Victoria tilted her head as her horns flashed "sure..?" "thanks... then make sure no hobgoblin gets away" "okay...." Victoria melted into a shadow and left Mars alone as he drew his sword but right before he stood up form behind the brushes a scene flashed in his mind, blood filled the ground like a river, the small straw huts had been set aflame and the pain he felt when he first saw that scene this made him tighten the grip on his sword as he muttered "I am not a good person..." Mars stood up and began slowly walking towards the village while another scene flashed tough his mind, his loved ones turned into obsidian statues like the ones in the backyard of Yimir''s mansion "I have to get stronger..." the hobgoblins spotted him and made some excited sounds, they clearly saw him as an easy meal andtherefor quickly climbed down their watchtowers before they ran at him with their primitive weapons, Mars gave a sigh and activated [Instant movement] and instantly slaughtered the excited hobgoblins before he leisurely walked past the gate to the village meanwhile the hobgoblins kept running at him, but alas Mars just swung his sword which reaped the lives of the hobgoblins every time it was swung. As time passed and the amount of hobgoblin corpses neared a hundred they started to get a bit more cautious and encircled Mars, they clearly no longer saw him as easy pray Mars still had a cold expression on his face and easily dealt with the encirclement by predicting whenever one would attack him, almost like he had eyes in the back of his head. after about 30 minutes of being encircled and easily slaughtering the hobgoblins in mass an enraged roar sounded out from deeper within the village and a bigger more sturdy hobgoblin showed it self, it carried a rusty board sword, Mars gave a slight smile when he saw it and muttered "so at last comes the king..." Mars readied his sword as the king hobgoblin stormed over and raised his sword to meet the hobgoblin king''s rusty board sword which swung down towards his head *CLANG* as the two swords met Mars vaguely felt something ''this is..?'' it almost distracted him from blocking the next blow which he only barely blocked "no mistake, this definitely is that..." Mars'' smile suddenly widened to the extreme as he began laughing while he swung his sword to meet that of the hobgoblin king''s, the feeling Mars was feeling right was like that of a cup slowly overflowing with water, in other words he was leveling up and it was his [Swordsmanship] that was leveling up to level 6. Mars'' sword looked like it slowed down but it still managed to meet the rusty board sword without fail "come on! just a little more!" suddenly it happened, it felt like a soft membrane inside Mars broke apart and with what looked like a incredibility slow swing of his sword Mars met the rust board sword and suddenly a loud boom rang out which sent the rusty board sword flying out of the hands of the hands of the hobgoblin king which looked at Mars with horror before it turned and tried to run away "not so fast you majesty!" Mars sent out another slow slash in the direction of the fleeing hobgoblin king, mid swing his sword began glowing and suddenly a sword light was separated from his trusty bone sword and flew out and slashed the hobgoblin king into two pieces. Seeing their king get killed the hobgoblins yelled out in terror and began fleeing in all directions "hahaha! not so fast!" Mars went wild and sent out hundreds of sword lights which each slashed one or more hobgoblin apart and less then 10 minutes later the village was quiet Mars gave a sigh and removed his sheath form his belt and looked it over, it was a normal looking leather sheath that he had revived form Info, the former owner of the sheath was, accounting to Info a living god of the sword, Mars knew that the only reason he was able to break the level cap on the [Swordsmanship] skill was due to this sheath. Mars gave it a kiss and put it back on his belt before Victoria suddenly jumped out of a shadow in front of him with her horns flashing "no one... go away" Mars gave a smile and kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head "good job partner" Victoria purred happily before she looked around and then her horns flashed again "what should we... do now?" "now we harvest all the cores from the hobgoblin corpses, but don''t worry I''ll do the dirty work myself you don''t have to help" "but... I want... to help" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he patted Victoria on the head again "okay thanks Victoria, then can you start from that side?" "sure..." Mars and Victoria began harvesting the magic beast cores from the corpses of the hobgoblins and when the sun was about to set they finished and ended up with a total of 568 class 4 magic beast cores and a single class 6 core form the hobgoblin king, looking at the small hill of magic beast cores Mars'' smile widened as he did some quick math in his head "hmm... so this is about 28.600 energy units... this should put me just a stone throw away from level 60" Victoria tilted her head at the side and asked "is that... good?" "yeah it''s excellent for a days work, plus it put me a step closer to level 70" "what... happens at... level 70?" Mars gave a cold smile "I kill Yirmir" "okay...?" Victoria was still a little confused but Mars didn''t mind it and began to absorb the cores Chapter 160 Power leveling 4 A sword light flew out and pieced the middle of the earth bears head which let out a groan before the light in its eyes disappeared and it collapsed "and that''s 3.... how are you doing over there Victoria?" Mars looked over and saw another earth bear being pierced by a shadow spear before it also collapsed with a loud boom, then Victoria re-materialized on top of its corpse and licked her front paw while her 4 horns flashed "I''m done... with number... 2" Mars and Victoria had hit the jackpot and found a group of class 6 earth bears "that''s an easy 1000 energy units... Victoria do you have space in your storage shadow?" Victoria shook her head from side to side as her horns flashed "no... its full" "I see... hmm... then let''s take a trip back real quick and deliver one of these to Green river.... I know we can give it to the butcher in my building" "okay..." Mars quickly harvested the magic beast cores from the 5 earth bears before he memorized the place they where in and opened a portal to Green river and stepped though... About half an hour later Mars stood in a refrigerated storehouse, in front of him lay two of the earth bear corpses "you really are a savior landlord" and a very excited elf "I only needed the cores so I figured I might as well give you the rest... oh one thing if you could do me a favor..." "please ask away landlord!" "I would like some of the bones when you have butchered the corpses" "the bones..? sure I''ll have some of my people send them to your workshop when we''re done dissembling them" "just a few tens of kilos will do, you can do what you want with the rest" "okay landlord... that reminds me the tailor sent word at the last meeting that her gift to you was done" "oh... thanks I''ll head there at once" "sure, thanks again landlord" Mars gave the excited butcher a wave as he walked out of the storehouse and followed by Victoria he went back to his building, after climbing the straits to the right floor he quickly walked into the tailor shop and was greeted by one of the staff "oh sir Mars, wait a moment while I call out the madam" "sure" not even a minute later the staff returned with the madam of the tailor shop "hello Julie" "hey there Mars, you came just in time I have finished your suit" "I heard from the butcher so I came as fast as I could" "my oh my, then please follow after me" Mars gave a nod and followed after madam into the back area where he was handed the suit and showed to a private changing room and soon he exited the changing room wearing his new suit which color was the same as his horns "my, you look very handsome sir Mars" "thanks... how do I look Victoria?" Victoria looked at him for a few seconds before her horns flashed while she tilted her head to the side "normal...?" "right.... of course" "sir Mars is something wrong?" "no never mind that.... thanks for the suit" "you''re very welcome, please consider my store if you have any other clothing requests" "I will" Mars left the tailor shop and made a quick stop back home in order to change into something better suited for hunting in a jungle and then he opened a portal back to the island... Back at the island Mars checked his status, while glancing over it he noted that all his stats were in the high 200''s and that his level was 63, then he gave a nod and decided it was time to kick things up a notch "Victoria let''s head further into the island today" "further.... in..?" "yeah, think we can handle it?" "sure..." so far Mars and Victoria had hunted in the outer edges of the island as for why they had not headed deeper into the jungle was simple because the further one headed into the jungle, the higher the class of magic beast but after Mars had level up his [Swordsmanship] to level 6 and broke the level cap Mars felt more confident that he and Victoria could hunt higher class magic beasts without much danger, especially after they had hunted the group of earth bears earlier "then let''s go, be sure to tell me when you sense a magic beast nearby" "okay..." they started heading deeper into the island and after walking for about half an hour Victoria detected a group of magic beasts which they headed towards while they walked towards the group of magic beasts Mars noticed the so far dense vegetation cleared up a bit and got thinner and thinner, Mars and Victoria slowed their speed a bit since it was harder to hide but soon Mars caught site of the culprit ''what the fuck is that..?'' it was not that big, about 5 meters from the tail end to the nose, had a blackish fur and had 4 legs and a set of wings on its back, form its mouth dripped acid that made a clear dissolving sound when it hit the ground, it looked mostly like a lion with wings except for its head which was pure bone with slightly sunken pair of green eyes, just as Mars was wondering what to call this abomination his skill activated name: bone lion gender: female class: 7 basic info: a bone lion has acid spit and is capable of short flight due to its wings, they are known to live in small communities of up to 8 individuals with one male and multiple females, the females being a class lower than the male ''bone lions huh...'' Mars signaled for Victoria to stop and looked at the small hill which was devoid of vegetation and quickly spotted another 5 female bone lions bringing the total up to 6 ''where''s the male... probably inside that cave...anyways let''s hit the nest and see what happens...'' Mars signaled to Victoria and she gave a nod and melted into the shadows, Mars then drew his sword and slashed out with all his might sending a sword light off into the distance cleanly hitting on of the bone lions in the head sending it off the afterlife, the other bone lions of course noticed this and began letting out angry roars as they soon zeroed in on Mars'' location and began running at him, Mars kept calm and sent out sword light after sword light and before any of them reached him were they cut into pieces, then an even louder roar sounded out from the cave and another bone lion jumped out, only this one looked a little different then the rest it had numerous bone spikes around its neck making it look like it had a bone mane "this must be the male, Victoria you''re up" before the male bone lion had a change to move from its position was it speared to the ground by shadow spears that appeared above it from out of nowhere Mars kept his guard up until the light in the eyes of the male bone lion disappeared then he gave a sigh before he praised Victoria that had appeared next to him "good job Victoria" "you... too Mars" "thanks... now let''s go harvest the cores. be careful of the acid spit" "okay..." Mars and Victoria worked quickly and harvested the 6 class 7 cores from the females and the one class 8 core from the male "that''s 2900 energy units... not bad" Mars quickly absorbed the energy units from the cores, just as he was finished absorbing the cores a roar sounded out from nearby, Mars looked up and saw a boar the size of a small hill charge over, its body was covered in scales that glinted in the sunlight, even its eyes where armored by clear scales "what do we have here..." Mars narrowed his eyes and his skill activated name: scaled boar gender: male class: 9 basic info: a scaled boar can be a nightmare for a small sized kingdom and have in the past when it was pissed off destroyed a small sized kingdom over the course of a week. As its name implies it''s basically a giant boar covered in scales, it is also an omnivore and is known to like human meat "looks like we weren''t the only ones that targeted that bone lion group... Victoria keep your distance and use your shadow magic to harass it" "okay... what about... you?" "I''ll keep it company up close" Mars kicked off the ground and closed the distance to the scaled boar while sending off sword lights but for the first time since he had started using them the sword lights proved ineffective and simply made some small scales fall of before they bounced off and flew off into the forest "interesting!" Mars'' smile widened as he closed the distance to the scale boa Chapter 161 Power leveling 5 As Mars closed the distance to the scale boar Victoria circled both of them while firing shadow spears at the scale boar but alas the shadow spears bounced off the scales of the scale boar, just as Mars was about to clash with the scale boar he activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of the head of the scale boar before he slashed at its eye *CLANG* "tch...." Mars'' trusty bone sword bunched off the transparent scales that covered the scale boars eyes, the scale boar swung its tusks at Mars but Mars reactivated [Instant movement] and dodged out of the way while he shot out sword lights at the scale boars eyes *CLANG CLANG CLANG* the sword light ricocheted off the scale boars eyes further enraging it as it let out another roar and charged at Mars "you know what, let''s end this!" Mars activated [Instant movement] and reappeared on top of the head of the scale boar and put his hand on its head while his stored energy units rapidly discharged as a dull explosion sounded out *BOOM* *ROAAAAARRRRR!!!* "shit..!" Mars jumped off the scale boar that didn''t die from the energy discharge instead it got enraged "what the fuck is those scales made of!?" Mars cursed as he once again dodged the tusks before he took some distance and tired to catch his breath "come on fatty, let''s see what you got!" the scale boar narrowed its eyes before suddenly Mars felt energy gather between its tusks as a dark orb appeared "...seriously?" with a roar the scaled boar let out a roar as it released the dark orb that shot out towards Mars with amazing speed, Mars activated [Instant movement] and dodged to the side as the dark orb hit where he had just been standing and exploded *KABOOM* the shock wave spread out and knocked down trees in almost one hundred meter radius, Mars that had underestimated the strength of the explosion was also sent flying but thanks to some mid air acrobatics he landed on his feet "...no wonder its a class 9... time to go all out!" Mars charged his left hand with energy and activated [Instant movement] and landed on top of the scale boar and stabbed at the eye of the scale boar *CLANG* then as his sword was wedged a tiny bit into the scales then he placed his left hand on top of the hilt of the sword and discharged his stored energy *BOOM* *ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!* Mars'' trusty bone sword sunk down into the eye of the scale boar which let out and enraged and painful roar as it collapsed on the jungle floor, Mars stood on top of the scale boar and looked at his sword with slight worry in his eyes before he grabbed it and tried to pull it out only to have it snap at the hilt, Mars'' face was filled with pain as if it was a part of him that just had snapped "sorry..." "what..?" "oh nothing Victoria... let''s head back to the city" Mars opened a portal and grabbed the leg of the scale boar and pulled it though... "a-a-a scale boar!" "oh, so you know what it is?" "of course I know what it is I''m a butcher you know... still a class 9 magic beast..." the butcher walked around the scale boar corpse a few times before he stopped in front of Mars and gave a nod "give me a week" "can you focus on removing the pieces of my sword that''s stuck in its right eye?" "sure no problem landlord... and what about the rest?" "I need the core... besides that send a couple hundred kilograms of bone to my workshop" "got it land lord... I''ll have the rest of the sword dug out by nightfall" "thanks a lot" Mars left the refrigerated storehouse and headed back to his building, after pacifying the slightly grumpy girls by accompanying them for a few hours Mars walked into his workshop and closed the door behind him "now then.... time to get to work" Mars rubbed his hands together and walked past his experimental railgun and over to where a couple of crates were stacked in the corner of the room and opened on of the crates "....yup just like I asked him" inside the crate was bones of the earth bears, Mars grabbed a piece of bone as well as a sculpturing knife and began working, after about half an hour he was finished and a sword had taken shape "...no this won''t do, the blade is slightly bent" Mars threw aside the misinformed sword and picked up another piece of bone and began again, after working for about 6 hours Mars finely had a perfect second bone sword. As for why Mars made a second sword it was because what happened with the scale boar, caring a single sword would be okay in normal situations but having a backup when he was hunting magic beasts would expand his options for example what if there had been a second scale boar, what should he had done then? it was here another sword would come in handy, Mars nodded to himself and gave a yawn before he walked back to the living room and scoured some leftovers from the fridge to stuff his face with, after he was done stuffing his face he found the biggest couch and laid himself down before he closed his eyes and fell asleep... The next morning Mars returned to the workshop and found the pieces of his sword had been delivered, after using his skill to put the pieces back together to form a whole sword Mars quickly made a leather sheath for his back up sword which he put on the right side of his belt, behind the sheath he had revived form Info, that way it was out of the way when he was fighting but he was still able to quickly draw the sword with his sword arm "this should be good..." Mars gave a nod and walked out of the workshop, or at least he tried to "Mars...?" "oh hey Elsa, what''s wrong?" Elsa stood in the doorway with her hands behind her back she had a slightly unhappy expression on her face "does something have to be wrong for me to come find you?" "that''s... sorry Elsa I didn''t mean it like that" Elsa gave a smile "I know, I''m just messing with you... here" Elsa handed a box which she had hidden behind her back, Mars took it and looked it over while drawing a blank which caused Elsa to let out a giggle before she spoke "it''s a lunch box, for you and Victoria" "oh... thanks Elsa" "it''s the least I can do" Mars gave Elsa a quick kiss on the forehead before he gave her a wave and walked up to the roof and quickly found Victoria sleeping in the sun, Mars knelled down and poked her awake before he put down the lunchbox on the ground and asked her "can you store this in you shadow Victoria?" Victoria gave the lunchbox a sniff before her horns flashed "sure... what is... it?" "it''s a lunchbox made by Elsa" Victoria tilted her head to the side before he horns flashed "what''s... a lunchbox..?" "basically it''s a meal packed inside a box... don''t worry she said there''s enough for both of us" "okay...?" Victoria didn''t quite understand but still put the lunchbox into her shadow "good then let''s go" Mars gave Victoria some head pats before he opened a portal to the island and walked though... *twitch* ''there it is again... a space time disorder? no it''s someone opening a portal...'' *twitch twitch* her ears moved as ''she'' tried to figure out what it was that was cursing this disturbance ''not a space time mage, the handling of the fabric of space is way too rough... a living god..?'' too lazy to open her eyes ''she'' just listened closely ''well as long as it does not irritate me too much I can let it live... let''s just go back to sleep...'' ''she'' turned lightly in her bed before she once again fell fast asleep... Back at the island Mars wasted no time and headed towards the center of the island, as they walked through the jungle Mars suddenly felt something watching him and asked Victoria "do you sense anything?" "hmm..? no... not really..?" Mars looked around before he relaxed his guard "guess I was just imagining it..." suddenly a cold light flashed though Mars'' eyes as the hair on his neck suddenly stood up and he quickly grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it with lightning speed and kicked off the ground as he slashed out behind where he had just been standing *CLANG!* "Victoria hide!" Victoria quickly did as Mars told her and jumped into a shadow, leaving Mars alone to face off against... whatever it was he was facing off against? "come out and play~" Mars lazily spoke out as he swung his sword around in his hand looking very relaxed, but in reality he was on high alert Chapter 162 Power leveling 6 Mars twirled around his sword with cold eyes as he scanned the surroundings with all his senses while cold sweat ran down his back, he had no idea what he was facing, well he had some idea first it was a magic beast with great concealment abilities second it was capable of fast attacks with little to no forewarning, Mars still felt the gaze on him so he knew that it had not given up after the first attack, it was likely preparing for its next attack ''the time lag between attacks are rather long...'' just as Mars'' thought began to wonder the hairs on his neck once again suddenly stood straight and he swung out with his sword again *CLANG* his sword met... something as it was voilenty repelled again as sparks flew in the air his eyes transformed and he caught a glimpse of something and his skill activated name: Steel spiked chameleon gender: male class: 9 basic info: an unrelieved predator with... you guessed it unrelieved stealth abilities, not much else is known about this magic beast other then it usually kills with its first strike of its spiked tongue "so its a chameleon... wait I''m dumb..." Mars gave a sigh and almost face palmed himself before activated his [Energy: sense] and quickly spotted the chameleon and fired a fire spear at it which impaled it on the tree it was sitting on "...Victoria you can come out now" "okay..." Mars walked over to the 4 meter long steel spiked chameleon and harvested its magic beast core and looked at it "1200 energy units... jackpot" Mars quickly absorbed the energy units from the core before it then crumbled into fine dust in his hands, shaking off the dust Mars looked around for a new target before he asked Victoria "do you feel any magic beast nearby?" "hmm... no" "okay, give me a heads up when you do" "sure..." Mars and Victoria continued their journey towards the center of the island, on the way there they killed all magic beast they came across and a little over 4 days later they reached the center of the island where an inactive volcano stood, Mars looked up at the volcano and mumbled "volcanic soil... so that''s why the land is so fertile... I really wonder why the elvers didn''t expand into this land..." almost as to answer Mars'' mumbles a roar sounded out which made Mars look up "...shit" as Mars cursed his skill activated name: Lesser fire dragon gender: male class: 13 basic info: A lesser fire dragon, not much is known. dull red scales, 4 limbs, 2 wings, a head and a tail entered Mars'' eyes as he looked up as the lesser fire dragon that heavily breathed in "Victoria run!" Victoria turned into a shadow and blitzed off into the distance, Mars also activated Instant movement as he speed off into the distance as the sky turned red as the lesser fire dragon let out its breath and fire rained down setting the jungle alight. Mars tried to calm his breath as he looked at the destruction, almost 500 square meters of jungle had been turned into charcoalinstantly, even though Mars had literally sat in a campfire for the sake of glorious energy units he still feared the flames from the lesser fire dragon as he felt it would likely burn him quiet badly even though he had a high level of fire resistance. Mars still felt Victoria''s presence so he was reassured that she was still alive and drew his sword "come at me you over sized lizard!" the dragon still in the sky let out another roar when it found out Mars was still alive and flew towards him while it breathed deeply again, Mars wasted no time and sent out sword lights that struck the lesser fire dragon, but alas it harmlessly bunched off its dull red scales, Mars quickly switched his target and shot sword lights at the wings which proved more effective as it made the lesser fire dragon let out an enraged roar before it attacked with its fire breath again, Mars activated Instant movement and dodged out of the way of the dragon flames before coming to a stop outside of the radius of the scorched area and yelled "you like to play with fire? then eat this!" Mars fired off a few fire spears that hit the lesser fire dragon before he prepared to dodge again but no fire breath came so he looked up at the lesser fire dragon and found it looked at him with questioning eyes that was filled with curiosity "....what?" Mars watched as the lesser fire dragon landed and walked over to him before it sat down and tilted its head like an over sized dog trying to look cute, a 15 meter tall dull red over sized dog "what do you want?" the lesser fire dragon lowered its head and laid it down on the ground as its tail started to sway lightly from side to side, Mars recognized this gesture from Varvei that often swayed her tail lightly from side to side when she wanted something "you want more fire?" Mars gave a sigh as he summoned a fireball on top of his hand and swayed it from side to side as he watched the lesser fire dragon that followed the fireball with its eyes before it stood up again and turned around and walked a couple of meters before it looked back at Mars with its vertical slit eyes "....you want me to follow you?" the lesser fire dragon gave a slow nod which dumbfounded Mars before he slightly awkwardly scratched his cheek and said "sorry for calling you an over sized lizard..." Mars followed after the lesser fire dragon that lead the way to the volcano, on the way tired communicating with the lesser fire dragon but didn''t have much success as the lesser fire dragon was limited to making gestures with its head and tail, Mars also transformed into his half-dragon from which seemed to make the lesser fire dragon more excited. Soon the pair arrived at the foot of the volcano where a giant cave was located, Mars felt a presence that made him uneasy from the cave but the lesser fire dragon just walked in like it owned the place, after walking for about 5 minutes the lesser fire dragon let out a low roar that rumbled through the darkness, just as he was about to ask what it was doing he felt something moving in the darkness and looked up as he felt his whole body start to shiver uncontrollably, a warm flow of air washed over his body like something big just breathed out and two red moons suddenly appeared in the darkness it wasn''t until a few seconds passed that Mars realized that those were eyes and that they were looking at him, after being stared down for about a minute Mars let out a dry laugh and spoke with slight unease "....hello?" at the same time he spoke his skill activated name: Ancient greater fire dragon gender: female class: 20 basic info: a god to all dragons Mars felt no hostility from the ancient greater fire dragon but still didn''t dare act disrespectful so when it didn''t response to his greeting and kept staring at him Mars lowered his head slightly and remained silent until about a minute later when the ancient greater fire dragon let out another breath and a low raspy voice sounded out in the cave "....interesting" Mars remained silent as suddenly the two giant eyes began shrinking until they were human sized and a figure walked out of the darkness, she was covered in bright red scales that looked like tight fitting clothes besides that she looked like a mature beauty with 2 pale horns on her forehead and with bright red vertical split eyes, she walked over to Mars and stopped a meter in front of him before she leaned in and sniffed him "...interesting" Mars looked at the transformed ancient greater fire dragon and asked slightly nervously "what''s so interesting?" the woman looked Mars in the eye with a slight grin on her face before she poked him on the chest and spoke "your vessel is clearly half dragon, but the dragon blood is so thin that you smell like a human... now where have I seen you before I wonder?" "...I don''t think we have met before?" "not you, your vessel... when was it again..?" Mars closed his mouth and tired to breath lightly as the woman looked him over and walked around him while inspecting his body, normally Mars would have been over the moon to have a mature beauty look at him but he felt an undeniable pressure that could squash him like a bug at any moment, the pressure of death was the closest he had ever felt in his two lifetimes, suddenly the woman narrowed her eyes "I remember now.... your vessel is Drekriz one of my children" the temperature dropped instantly as a massive amount of killing intent locked on to Mars Chapter 163 Power leveling 7 Mars remembered the name Drekriz and what Info had told him about the former living god of war and how he had conquered the entire continent of Salen before he then tried to reach another continent before he waged war on his own people instead to level up in his class before he was overthrown and sealed in space "speak what happened to my child, how did he die?" Mars struggled a bit under the massive amount of killing intent that was pureed upon him but still managed to answer with a calm tone of voice "as far as I know he was sealed in a stable orbit around the planet" the woman narrowed her eyes menacingly before she asked "sealed? how? who did it?" Mars gave a sigh and answered truthfully "I don''t know, one moment I was getting executed and the next moment I was sealed in low orbit with a dragon suppressing collar around my neck" "a dragon suppressing collar.... I see..." the dragon woman fell into deep thought for a moment before she reached out and touched Mars'' chest, just when Mars was about to ask what she was doing he felt a warm current flow into his chest and remained silent while it flowed into his chest. After about 10 minutes of waiting the dragon woman gave a nod "you are definitely my blood... otherwise that would have destroyed you" Mars'' face slightly cramped but decide to remain silent as the dragon woman continued "my blood.... my child... what is your name?" "my name is Mars" "Mars... Mars..." the dragon woman mumbled his name a few times before she gave a nod and said plainly "good you are to call me mother" Mars'' face cramped slightly once more before he decided to ask what was bugging him "but I''m not Drekriz, you know that right?" the dragon woman''s face grew cold as she sternly said "your vessel is my blood, so why shouldn''t you call me mother?" Mars swallowed his urge to repeat what he had just said and squeezed out a slightly respectful "mother" the dragon woman gave a nod and suddenly showed a happy face "good, now let''s fix your low dragon blood..." "my dragon blood?" the dragon woman''s eyes narrowed slightly before she asked with a slightly menacing tone of voice as her tail swayed slightly from side to side "what? could it be you don''t want to?" "that''s not it mother... it''s just..." "just what?" Mars gave a sigh "sorry it nothing... please help me restore my dragon blood mother" "very good, open your mouth" Mars did as he was asked and opened his mouth, then the dragon woman cut open her finger and a few drops of blood flowed out and hovered in mid air before they flew into Mars'' open mouth, Mars then closed his mouth and swallowed before he mumbled "...this is highly unscientific" "what did you say child?" "nothing mother.... ugh" Mars suddenly felt something start to burn in his body and kneeled over and clutched his stomach meanwhile his skin suddenly turned red like a boiled shrimp and sweat purred out of his body quickly soaking his clothes, the dragon woman gave a nod and patted Mars on the head "do your best to endure my child if you don''t you might die for real" Mars felt his skin itch like hundreds of bugs were digging into it while his spine felt like it was getting ground into fine dust along with the rest of his bones and let out a low roar that sounded like a beast that was getting cooked alive. While Mars was going through pain greater than he had ever felt before the lesser fire dragon laid down in a corner of the cave and coiled up as it looked around the cave, it was uneasy it felt like something was looking at it and suddenly a pair of blue eyes appeared in the dark and a voice appeared in its head "is... Mars okay..?" the lesser fire dragon looked over at Mars that still was letting out a low roar and then it looked back at the blue eyes and gave a nod, then the blue eyes disappeared like they melted back into the darkness... Mars didn''t know how much time had passed, all he knew was that the only thing he could do was endure and endure he did, after an unknown amount of time passed the pain gradually let up and he then collapsed on the stone floor of the cave as he tried to catch his breath for a long time, then he heard a low raspy voice speak above his head "good, that was the worst of it my child" Mars forced his aching body up from the cold stone floor and sat up before he looked up at the dragon woman with questioning eyes, he sincerely hoped that the ''worst of it'' meant there would be no more pain, it was not that Mars was a wimp it was just that the pain he had felt had been to great to endure for much longer then he had already did, so he mustered his courage and asked "what''s next mother?" the dragon woman gave a smile and kneeled down and grabbed Mars'' jaw before she looked him directly in the eyes and said "now I teach you how to use your dragon blood to its greatest potential, but first let''s get something to eat... call over the shadow panther that has been lurking in my cave, I smell something good from its shadow" Mars gave a wry smile and called out "Victoria come out, it''s safe" as soon as Mars spoke Victoria jumped out of the darkness and walked over and sat down besides Mars while her horns flashed "Mars... are you okay?" "yeah I''m fine now" the dragon woman stood up again and looked at Victoria before she commanded "take out the tasty smelling thing you have in your shadow" Victoria looked at Mars and Mars gave a nod, then the lunchbox Mars had revived from Elsa materialized in front of her before it was picked up by the dragon woman that opened it and began stuffing her face with the contents while Victoria and Mars watched, Victoria''s horns flashed as she asked Mars "who is... she?" "my mother" less than a minute later the empty lunchbox that had contained 2 people worth of food fell to the floor before the dragon woman looked at Mars and commanded "I want some more" "...sure mother, then follow after me" Mars gave a sigh as he stood up before he opened a portal and steeped though... "...would you care to repeat that Mars?" "Elsa my dear I would like you to cook up a storm for our esteemed guest" "I have not seen you in a few days and then the first thing you do when you return is send me to the kitchen!? who is this woman anyways!?" Varvei, Mary and Chloe nodded along with what Elsa was saying while sending sidelong glances to the dragon woman that had taken over the comfiest couch in the living room and was having a carefree nap, Mars gave a fake couch and answered Elsa''s question "she''s my... mother" """"your mother!?"""" the girls exclaimed at the same time before Chloe asked "wait I thought you didn''t have a mother?" "well she''s my vessels mother and has... forcefully adopted me and just so you know if she goes on a rampage I can''t stop her" Elsa gave a sigh "fine but you all are helping me cook" Mars stood at attention "yes ma''am!" what followed was a rather busy cooking session with one cook and 4 assistance cook''s and one person eating, the whole deal lasted around 4 hours until finely the dragon woman was satisfied "that was good... now let''s start training" "sure mother, should we head back to the cave or..?" the dragon woman looked around before she gave a nod "let''s do that" and then Mars and the dragon woman left for the island again... "so let''s start... transform into your dragon from" "yes mother" Mars quickly transformed and found that not much had changed while he was in his half-dragon from, he still had horns and his eyes had changed collar to red, besides that there was the scaled spikes on his knees and elbows and his claws, but that was all normal parts of his half-dragon from, Mars having finished looking himself over looked up and asked the dragon woman "what now?" the dragon woman didn''t answer she just cracked her knuckles with a smile on her face before she kicked off the ground and sent a punch out towards Mars'' chest, Mars reacted and tried to block the punch by crossing his arms in front of his chest but the force behind the punch was a lot more than he expected so before he had a chance to react he was sent flying into the cave wall where he was embedded into the wall with a bang "....that was not so nice mother" Mars jumped out of the wall but when he glanced at his arms he was stunned "are those... scales?" the dragon woman gave a nod, those were indeed scales and they had appeared on his skin exactly were he had been hit moments before the punch had hit him and had helped him block the punch "...neat, but why did you hit me mother?" the dragon woman gave a shrug "I need to check how fast your scales were to deploy, with the speed they have you won''t need much tempering" "tempering?" the dragon woman gave a smile and raised her hands again as she took a fighting stance and repeated "tempering" Chapter 164 Power leveling 8 *bang* Mars flew across the cave and was once again embedded into the wall, but he quickly dug himself out and gave a sigh before he spoke "ouch... mother you really don''t know how to hold back do you?" "hmm..? did you say something Mars?" "...no" "oh it''s just I thought I heard a dog whine, must be my age" Mars'' face cramped slightly this new mother of his really didn''t know how to hold back "well if you''re tired, let''s go on to the next part come here Mars" Mars walked over slightly on guard, who knew what the so called next part was and what kind of ''training'' was part of it? "I''m ready" "good, then hit me" "....sure" Mars took a stance and raised his arms with his feet slightly apart and his left foot slightly behind the right one, or in other words a traditional boxer stance before he sent out a jab targeting his mother''s chin with lightning speed *BANG* "what...?" what had looked like normal skin had transformed into bright red scales, but that was not what surprised Mars, the force of his punch had completely dispersed, but before he had a chance to figure out anything his mother spoke "good now it''s your turn" "wait a moment please mother, can''t you at least tell me what you did first?" Mars'' mother gave a sigh before she spoke "I simply activated the scales... so far your scales have been inactive, now you have to activate them so they become shock absorbent" "...and how do I do that?" "I don''t know" "..." "don''t look at me like that... I really don''t, nobody taught me this" "so how am I supposed to figure it out?" "...well you''ll just have to figure it out by feeling I guess?" "then I need to punch you again, you know just to better figure it out" "...fine" Mars gave a sigh and once again took a stance and punched out, this time all his feeling was on his knuckles and as they made contact with his mother''s jaw he faintly felt something and quickly pulled his hand back as he fell into deep thought before he looked up at his mother and gave a nod "try to punch me now" "sure" *BANG* Mars was once again sent flying but when he dug himself out of the wall he had a smile on his face "I figured it out mother" "oh really?" "yeah its vibrations that''s the key" "vibrations?" "yeah by vibrating the scales in a specific way you eliminate the incoming force" his mother gave a nod "I see then why didn''t you do it before?" "I did, look I was not knocked very deeply into the wall this time" "oh... well I expected nothing less from my Mars" Mars looked at his mother gloating and gave a sigh before he walked over and stood in front of her again "one more time mother" "okay here we go" *BANG* time passed in this way and soon about a day passed, Mars stood in front of his mother that punched him again and again, but let alone being sent flying Mars didn''t even take a step back as he took the punches "I think we can move on to the next thing now mother" "yeah I''m getting tired of punching you... I mean it was kind of fun when you went flying every time but now it''s just boring..." Mars'' face once again cramped slightly this mother of his really was... ''well whatever...'' Mars gave a sigh while his mother was in deep thought and mumbled "hmm... then let''s go with your claws next..." "my claws?" "yes, try to use them" "okay...?" Mars transformed his hands and quickly his claws grew out to about 15 centimeters in length "good, now watch closely..." his mother also grew out her claws which also was about 15 centimeters in length, suddenly they began glowing slightly and Mars felt an immense amount of heat being given off from his mother''s claws, but was a little confused about what good having slightly hot claws could do "....that looks neat?" his mother gave a wry smile and shook her head and said "this is merely the first level, try it for yourself" "sure..." Mars closed his eyes and focused on his claws and soon his claws also began glowing slightly while they heated up quickly "good Mars, this is the first level known as ember, now you need to light the ''fire'' with those embers in order to reach the next level" "light... the fire?" "you should be able to feel it" "..." Mars focused on his claws but even after a long time he was unable to feel the so called ''fire'' his mother was talking about, at this moment it looked like his mother suddenly remembered something and quickly said "while the embers is in your claws the real fire is lit within you bones" "within my.... bones?" "yes try to feel it" Mars felt quiet as he tried to light the so called fire for sometime it was not until he was about to give up that he suddenly felt something ''is this... my marrow?'' Marsthen tired to transfer some of the heat from his claws to his bone marrow and suddenly it was like a fire was lit in his bones as his heartbeat suddenly speed up and the surrounding seemed to slow down by a lot before suddenly he felt a bone spitting pain as the world around him returned to normal, just as he was about to ask his mother if this was it she spoke before he could "you lasted 6 seconds.... that''s pretty bad, again" Mars gave a sigh and tried to ignite his bone marrow again, and thus time passed bit by bit as the time Mars could stay ''alight'' gradually increased over time... A whole week later Mars laid on the cave floor and slept, suddenly he opened his eyes and sat up and looked around right in front of him where the lesser fire dragon that had its head down on the cave floor while it looked at him with interest Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. "...what is it?" the lesser fire dragon rolled around so it lay on its back while it still stared at Mars, it also plopped out its split tongue at the side of its mouth ''....are you a dog or are you a mighty dragon?'' Mars walked over and patted the lesser fire dragon on its nose while he asked his mother "why is he here anyway?" "well because hes my child" "so he''s my little brother?" "you could say that... anyways he''s only 600 years old so he isn''t very mature yet" "...I see" "well anyways, come here Mars" "yes mother" Mars walked over and stood in front of his mother and waited for her command "ignite your bones" "yes mother" Mars did as he was asked and ignited his bone marrow and about 2 minutes later he felt the rebound and was forced to stop "2 minutes.... that''s good enough for now" "so are we moving on to the next part?" "yes... you have 1 day to bring me 3 magic beasts cores from magic beasts over class 10" "....sure" "and you are only allowed to use your claws to hunt them" "...seriously?" "yes so leave your swords behind" "...yes mother, by the way what happens if I fail?" "then you don''t have to come back" "...I see" Mars gave a sigh, this mother of his really was spartan, his mother then tilted her head to the side and asked "what are you waiting for Mars time''s ticking" "...right then I''ll be right back mother" "see you Mars" Mars turned and left the cave and breathed in the fresh jungle air before he narrowed his eyes and looked around for a bit before he kicked off the ground and began running into the jungle, then he began thinking while the jungle sipped by ''still to hunt 3 magic beasts over class 10 in less than 24 hours should be doable... the only thing is I don''t have Victoria with me so I can''t rely on her superior senses...let''s just hope I don''t run into another scale boar...'' Mars then activated his energy sense and began hunting, but alas, out of the 14 magic beast he found during the first 4 hours none of them were over class 10, with the closet being class 9 like Victoria, Mars gave a sigh as he absorbed the energy from the last core and looked around ''this isn''t working... but I don''t know what else to do...'' Mars had kept himself to the center of the island and circled almost half his mothers territory looking for high class magic beasts, just as Mars was about to give up hope he felt something watching him and quickly transformed his hands and struck out with his claws *CLANG* Mars just managed to repel the sneak attack as a smile formed on his face "bingo!" then Mars activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of a random tree before he struck out with his claws and when he did the feeling of tearing flesh transferred up his arm as a steel chameleon suddenly became visible as it let out its dying breath and fell down the tree "that''s one down, two to go!" Chapter 165 Power leveling 9 *BANG* "really... why... is... my... luck... so... bad!?" Mars once again activated [Instant movement] and dodged out of the way while his claws left another thin line on the scales of his opponent, a scale boar. While being stared down by it as it prepared to charge for the nth time Mars quickly considered his options ''this isn''t working... should I run away...? but I''m only one core from meeting the goal and this scale boar seems like the perfect target... if only I could get through the scales!'' Mars was indeed only one core away from meeting the goal set by his mother he was about 3 hours away from the time limit of 24 hours so he ''ignited'' his claws and once again dodged out of the way of a charge meanwhile he slashed at the side of the scale boar again but he only left a thin line on its scales "for... fucks... sake!" Mars knew he was wasting valuable time by fighting the scale boar but his stubborn personality and proud personalty kept him from running away from a fat over sized pig ''there has to be something I can do, think... my its eyes... let''s do that!'' Mars kicked off the ground and ran straight at the scale boar before he activated [Instant movement] and dodged out of the way of its tusks and landed on one of its tucks and slashed at its eye with all his might *CLANG* ''shit..!'' Mars filed to get through the thin transparent scales that covered the scale boar''s eyes and was sent flying when it shook its tusks and twisted himself in the air and landed on his feet before he once again kicked off the ground and dodged out of the way of the scale boar ''think... think... there must be something I can do to kill this thing... let''s see how you like fire!'' Mars summoned a fire lance and shot it right at the face of the scale boar, but the only result was that it became even more pissed off ''well it seems to be better than scathing it with my claws... let''s turn up the heat then!'' Mars quickly made perpetration for his 3 fold explosion when he suddenly felt a cold stare from behind and looked back Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. "....hello mother" his mother stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest while she was giving him a cold look before she spoke "what are you doing Mars?" "err... I''m killing this thing" "not with fire magic.... right?" "nope" Mars'' mother gave a sigh and kicked off the branch she was standing on and landed next to Mars before she looked at the scale boar "I''ll only show you once so look closely" Mars sharpened his senses and gave a nod meanwhile his mother walked towards the enraged scale boar like she was taking a stroll in the park, the scale boar didn''t like that, not one bit so it charged at her with its eyes almost glowing from rage "that''s right come to mother" Mars'' mother raised her hand and grabbed the scale boar''s tusk, as she activated her dragon scales the impact was completely absorbed, then she raised her other hand and looked back at Mars as she grew out her claws "look closely now Mars" her claws then ''ignited'' but way more intensely than Mars had ever seen before, it looked like her claws turned into red rubies as they shone with brightness that rivaled that of his own dragon flames before she then with lightning fast movement slashed out at the scale boar''s tusk and then... cut though it cleanly like a hot knife through butter, the scale boar let out an enraged but also slightly frightened roar as it backed off for the first time, Mars'' jaw nearly hit the jungle floor from shock, that was the scale boar''s tusk she cut though, not the thin scales around its eyes mind you, it was probably the hardest part of the scale boar and she... cut it like it was nothing, before Mars had a change to pick his jaw off the floor she turned to him and simply said "see Mars it was easy, now it''s your turn" "...." "Mars?" "oh... sure that looks easy..." Mars stared blankly at his mother while his voice was laced with sarcasm but on the inside Mars was trembling with excitement, if he also was able to cut open the scale boar with his claws he would effectively have found a replacement to his [Energy: discharge] and he would be able to save energy units in the future, so Mars put his focus on his claws and tried to ''ignite'' them even more and surprisingly found it really easy to do, soon his claws glowed just as bright as his mothers, the scale boar took a step backwards when it saw Mars'' claws glowing, fear was visible in its eyes "what''s wrong, scared?" Mars didn''t give the scale boar a change and quickly activated [Instant movement] and arrived in front of the scale boar''s face and slashed out at its eyes with both his hands *SLASH* *ROARRRR!!!* Mars'' claws passed though the thin scales like a hot knife through butter and dug out both the scale boar''s eyes, Mars twisted in the air and kicked off the scale boar to take some distance before he once again kicked off the ground and this time he left 3 long cuts down the side of the scale boar that was flooded with fresh blood that spilled all over the jungle floor, from there it was a one sided fight with Mars cutting into the scale boar with his claws while it ran around blind trying to escape, by the time it was all over Mars was covered in fresh blood "and that''s that..." Mars walked over to the corpse of the scale boar and dug out the core and handed it to his mother along with the other two "here you are mother" "thanks Mars.... you have passed my test, now let''s head back to the cave.... but first hold still" Mars did as he was asked and stood still as his mother summoned a flame that brunt off all the blood on him without setting his clothes alight "...thanks" Mars and his mother walked back to the cave, on the way back she asked him all kinds of mother-like questions like if he was eating okay and when she could expect a grandchild or two. Soon both of them arrived at the cave but just as Mars was about to ask what''s next his mother spoke "thanks for walking me back Mars, be sure to visit again soon" "...I thought there was more you could teach me?" "hmm.... not at the moment, but as the dragon blood in your veins thickens there will be some more things I can teach you" "I see, well then I''ll hunt some more on the island... be sure to visit me in Green river some time" "I will" Mars said goodbye to his mother before he opened a portal to Green river and picked up Victoria before he vent back to the island to hunt... A month passed from when Mars had last been thought by his mother, currently he had just level up to level 69 only one level away from his goal, Mars quickly absorbed the energy units from the few cores he had gathered today and looked over at Victoria "how is it Victoria?" "there''s... one... that way" "okay then let''s go" Mars jumped off the scale boar corpse he was sitting on and followed after Victoria into the jungle, soon they found the pray Victoria was talking about "what do we have here..." just as Mars wondered what the creature in front of him was his skill activated and showed him the information name: orger villager gender: male class: 4 basic info: an orger without any specific role in its local society, it can fulfill almost any role that its higher class brethren can do at a lower efficiency. A normal orger settlement is normally between 100 to 300 specimens ''jackpot... now we just need to find out where this one lives...'' Mars looked at the orger, it looked like a blue, fat humanoid that stood around 2 meters high, it carried a primitive but well crafted basket that it stored herbs that it picked off the jungle floor in and wore a simple loincloth made of animal fur, Mars signaled for Victoria not to attack, but instead follow after the orger "okay..." the two of them then continued to shadow the orger that walked around in the jungle picking herbs and wild mushrooms until dusk arrived then it turned around and started to walk in a certain direction, mars gave a sigh, he didn''t know if it was orgers in general that was stupid or this particular individual that was just unlucky but during the 4 hours they had shadowed the orger the two of them had silently killed off more than 10 magic beasts that had tired to sneak up on and attack the orger, Mars looked at the orger with slight resentment ''you better be worth the work I have put in so far" Chapter 166 Power leveling 10 "jackpot..." Mars, hidden in the brushes looked at the primitive village in front of him, just from a head count he counted a little more than 150 orgers so far and most of them were class 5 orger hunters or class 5 orger warriors that carried spears or stone clubs, Mars looked over at Victoria and whispered "just like last time, you make sure no one gets away" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. "okay..." Victoria jumped into a shadow and disappeared leaving Mars alone as he breathed out deeply before the look in his eyes grew cold as he stood up from the brushes and drew his sword as he began walking slowly towards the village. The first orger that spotted Mars let out a war cry, drawing the attention of the other nearby orgers before it charged at Mars with its stone club raised into the air, as it was about to bring down the club on Mars'' head a sword light shot out and cut its neck cleanly through before it exited on the other side and continued flying off into the sunset, Mars stepped aside and dodged the body of the now headless orger that collapsed in front of him before he looked over at the other orgers that were charging at him with their weapons raised "let''s get this over with fast, I need to be back for dinner tonight..." Mars sent out sword light after sword light as he cared a bloody path into the village, no orger ever got within arms reach of him, they all died from a well placed sword light to the neck but by the time Mars had killed around 100 orgers a roar was heard form further in the village as Mars'' pupils suddenly contracted before he hurriedly stepped to the side as a massive spear flew past him and embedded itself into the ground right behind him, Mars showed a cold smile as he sent out another sword light, decapitating another orger "...interesting" Mars activated [Instant movement] and dodged to the side as another spear came flying, just barely missing him, this continued for another 5 spears before another roar was heard form deeper in the village then Mars felt the earth faintly shake as the presence he had felt throwing spears at him suddenly charged at him, soon it appeared within his view, Mars'' first thoughts was one word big, it was an orger but this one was at least 7 meters tall and unlike the other orgers this one looked more buff then fat and it carried a broadsword made of some kind of dull red metal, as Mars looked at the orger his skill activated name: Orger king gender: male class: 9 basic info: the king of orgers "well that''s not that helpful information..." Mars gave a sigh as he activated [Instant movement] and dodged out of the way of the broadsword that was swung down with a bang and kicked up a dust cloud, Mars reappeared a few meters away and swung out his sword sending sword lights that decapitated some nearby orgers, this of course made the orger king even more enraged as it let out another roar and slashed out at Mars with its broadsword, only to have it hit air as Mars once again reappeared a few meters away with a slight frown on his face as he coughed lightly "ugh all that dust is annoying... would you stop swinging that thing around?" Mars didn''t wait for a replay as he swung his sword and sent out a sword light targeted at the orger king''s neck, but to Mars'' surprise the sword light didn''t send the orger king''s head flying it instead only cut a shallow wound on its neck "well would you look at that..." Mars dodged out of the way of the broadsword again as he sheathed his sword and transformed his hands and ignited his claws before he activated [Instant movement] and reappeared behind the orger king that suddenly froze "and that''s that... now to mob up the rest" Mars ignored the orger king and pounced on the other orgers, meanwhile a thin red line slowly appeared on the neck of the orger king then the orger king kneeled over as its head dropped down from its neck and fell onto the ground as a poll of blood speared under its corpse... By the time the sun was about to set it was all over, besides the heavy smell of blood in the air the village was all cleaned up and in the middle of the village was a pile of corpses, most of them were headless while some of them had big holes in their chests, next the the pile of corpses were a smaller pile of magic beast cores which Mars looked at with a satisfied look on his face "good job Victoria" "you too... Mars" after praising Victoria for her excellent job Mars went to work with absorbing the cores and just like he had hoped he hit level 70 and then he opened his [Energy: upgrade shop] and looked at the new skill that had just been unlocked "[Half-awaken]? I wonder why its only ''half''?" Mars looked at the skill for sometime until his other skill activated and showed the information on the skill [Half-awaken] use cost: 100 status: locked unlock cost: none function: half awakens the living good, causing all the status to be used and numbs the feeling of death so that normal functions can be carried out while dying "well whatever... unlock [Half-awaken]" Mars waited for a bit and soon he felt his new skill unlock and information about how to activate and use it enter his mind "luckily I have some energy units to practice....would not want to fail using this skill against Yrimir... well whatever, Victoria let''s head home" "okay..." Mars opened a portal to Green river and was about to step though before he suddenly remembered something and walked over to the corpse pile and looked at the dull red broadsword he had stabbed into the ground besides it "you must be lonely now that I killed your master... then you can come with me" Mars grabbed the hilt of the dull red broadswordand pulled it out of the ground and brought it with him as he stepped through the portal to Green river... back at Green river Mars first walked into his workshop and placed the broadsword with the dull red blade in a corner and was about to walk out when Mary and Chloe walked in, Chloe gave a sweet smile and said "Mars dinner is ready" "okay then let''s go" Mars followed after Chloe but noticed Mary had stopped and was staring at something so he followed her gaze and found she was looking at the broadsword with the dull red blade "what is it Mary?" "....this sword, where did you find it?" Mars tilted his head "on the island, a orger king was wielding it" Mary looked over at Mars, seeing her serious gaze Mars felt like he had done something wrong and was about to apologize when she suddenly asked "do you know what that sword is made of?" "hmm...? nope~" Mary gave a sigh and looked over at Chloe "what about you Chloe? do you know?" Chloe stared at the broadsword for some time until her eyes suddenly widened "th-this can''t be right?" Mary gave a nod and also looked over at the broadsword "there''s only one way to find out, Mars try grabbing the hilt of the sword" "sure?" Mars was a little confused but still walked over and grabbed the hilt of the broadsword and lifted it up, Mary gave a nod "now try forcing your mana into the sword" "sure" Mars did as he was asked and tried to force his mana into the sword, suddenly it was like his mana was ''grabbed'' by something before it suddenly got sucked into the broadsword as the blade of the sword suddenly shock slightly before it began transforming from dull red to a slightly brighter shade of orange-red as the blade vibrated slightly and metal dust fell off the blade onto the floor of the workshop "I knew it... I didn''t believe it at first but..." "I totally get you Mary I too didn''t know there was such a large piece..." Mars grew even more confused and looked over at the girls that were dumbstruck and asked "so what is it anyway this sword?" Mary gave a sigh "well its a single bladed broadsword, with a blade about 1 meter long and 40 centimeters wide and about 5 centimeters thick... but most importantly its made of adamantite" Mars tilted his head to the side before he looked at the broadsword again and asked "adamantite, like the merc rank?" Mary gave a nod "yes adamantite like the merc rank Mars... but also one of the most valuable pieces of metal on this continent" "valuable...? so how much is this broadsword worth?" Chloe swallowed hard before she mumbled "you could buy several Destra''s worth with that amount of adamantite" "...neat" Chapter 167 To kill a living god 1 "so you''re going to sell it?" "no... I was thinking of using it as is... anyways I''m going to keep this broadsword" while Mars was talking with Mary his hands were working on making a sheath for the broadsword, he planned to strap it to his back ''not that I really need a 3rd sword anyways...'' Mars didn''t know why but he insisted on keeping the broadsword and using it, after hearing his response Mary gave a sigh "well you were the one that found it, and besides we''re well off as is..." Mary gave a nod and got up from her chair before she left the workshop, Mars gave a sigh and kept working on the sheath which he finished a couple of hours later, looking at the completed sheath Mars started thinking about where he should go to train his new [Half-awaken] skill "it has to be somewhere with few people around... and relative flat... yeah it has to be there, that works for me I can say hello to them too..." Mars quickly decided where to go for his training session and afterwards he went to bed and soon fell asleep... The next morning Mars'' eyes snapped open before he sat himself up in the king sized bed and looked around as he stifled a yawn ''where did I put my clothes again..?'' Mars then untangled himself from the girls and sneaked out of bed before he opened his closet and pulled out some clean clothes and quickly wore them, now no longer naked Mars walked out of the bedroom into the living room and walked up to the fridge and began salvaging some leftovers for breakfast, satisfied with his haul consisting of a half roasted chicken, some boiled sweet potatoes and a half side of grilled salmon Mars turned around and was about to walk off with his pray when he came face to face with Varvei that looked at him with half narrowed eyes as her tail lightly swung from side to side behind her, Mars showed an innocent smile and greeted her "....good morning Varvei" "that better not be all the best leftovers" "....and if it is?" Varvei narrowed her eyes even more which caused Mars to feel cold sweat on his back before he bowed lightly and presented the half side of grilled salmon to Varvei "here you are my lady" Varvei looked at the half side of grilled salmon and showed a smile before she snatched it from Mars'' hands "oh for me? thanks Mars" looking at the now sweetly smiling Varvei Mars gave a sigh and walked over to the dining table and pulled out a chair and sat down before he began devouring his remaining pray, Varvei sat down in front of him and also began eating until both of them suddenly stopped as they looked over at the bedroom as their ears twitched slightly as they detected movement inside the room and soon Mary walked out and looked at the two of them with amazement "you two... you know that there''s breakfast in a bit right?" both Mars and Varvei gave a nod before they continued stuffing their faces with food which caused Mary to give a sigh before she walked over and laid down on the couch, soon both Mars and Varvei was done eating and hurriedly cleaned up after themselves before they also grabbed a couch and laid down, soon there was movement from the bedroom again this time it was Elsa that walked out "good morning Elsa" "...morning Mars" Elsa, still a little tired walked over and opened the fridge before she gave a sigh before she walked over to the couch where Mars was laying and looked at him with a slightly fed up expression and asked "why can''t you wait until breakfast?" Mars put on an innocent face and asked "what do you mean, Elsa dear?" Elsa narrowed her eyes slightly and asked "do you think I don''t know what was in the fridge last night?" being busted Mars raised the white flag and surrendered "sorry, I just can''t help it... the food you make is too good" Elsa gave a sigh before she suddenly looked over at Varvei that was watching Mars getting scolded with a slightly smug face "and you Varvei, you''re no better!" Varvei''s face stiffed slightly before she also raised the white flag in the face of Elsa''s fury "...sorry Elsa, but the food you make is just too good" Mars gave a nod and backed up Varvei "yeah it is, besides it beats having to throw out the leftovers right?" "yeah exactly as Mars is saying, we are actually doing you a favor Elsa" Elsa was about to say something but swallowed it down again before she gave a sigh and laid down on Mars and curled up on his chest, Mars gave a sigh and petted Elsa on the head as he quietly said "sorry" soon the last person walked out of the bedroom, she had messy hair and looked to be only half awake as she stumbled forwards while she mumbled "toilet..." Varvei gave a sigh and stood up from the couch before she helped Chloe find her way to the toilet, meanwhile Elsa also got up from the couch and began making breakfast, Mars feeling a little guilty helped her make it and soon Mars and the girls were gathered around the dinner table after they were all done eating Mars announced his plans for today "I was thinking of heading to the wasteland to practice my new skill" none of the girls wanted to come with so soon Mars stood in the rooftop garden and was about to open a portal when he called out "Victoria, I''m going to visit Velvet you want to come?" "sure..." Victoria appeared out of nowhere as usual, but Mars could see she was excited about visiting Velvet so Mars wasted no time and opened a portal to the wasteland''s capital of demons... Mars stepped out of the portal and took in the hot wasteland air for a moment as he looked around and refreshed his memories, while ignoring the looks he was getting he transformed and grew out his horns before he started heading down a slightly familiar route, Victoria was already gone, no doubt she was excited to meet with Velvet and had ran off to meet with her. Soon Mars arrived at the entrance to a familiar courtyard and knocked on the door, soon a servant came to open the door, fortunately he recognized Mars and allowed him into the courtyard "wait here, I''ll go tell the master you have arrived" "sure" Mars walked over to the practice area where two young demons were spearing in Kel, the traditional demon martial art, the demons gave Mars a look before they continued sparing seemingly uninterested in him, Mars being proud didn''t greet them either he just stood and watched them spar for some time until a loud laughter was heard from the house as an aged demon walked out with a big smile on his slightly wrinkled face "Mars! such a happy surprise, come let me have a look at you" "old demon it''s good to see that you''re well" Mars walked over and exchanged a manly hug with the old demon before the old demon laughed loudly again while he clapped him on the shoulder, no doubt this was the happiest the old demon had been since Mars had won the Kel tournament, the two young demons that were sparing walked over to see what all the fuss was about, one of them asked the old demon Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. "master who is this?" the old demons face went cold as he scolded the young demon pair "you fools! can''t you recognize you senior brother that won the last Kel tournament!?" the two young demon''s widened their eyes and turned to look at Mars with amazementbefore the youngest one of them gave a slight bow and greeted Mars "senior brother Mars" the older demon also followed suit and bowed slightly, but Mars felt slight disdain from the bottom of his eyes as he greeted him "senior brother Mars" Mars gave a smile and asked the younger demon "what''s your name joiner brother?" the younger demon''s face lit up as admiration shone from his eyes "my name is Jacob, you can just call me joiner brother Jacob or just Jacob" Mars gave a nod and turned his head to the older demon and asked "what about you, what''s your name joiner brother?" "Alex" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly but didn''t respond to the vague provocation instead he turned his gaze to Jacob, ignoring Alex "earlier when you were spearing with joiner brother Alex I noticed a few areas you could improve in do you mind if we go over them now Jacob?" "no not at all! in fact I''m honored to receive pointers from senior brother Mars!" Mars gave a warm smile and moved over to the practice area leaving Alex and the old demon behind, then he began teaching Jacob the ways he could improve the best in a short amount of time meanwhile the day grew longer and before Mars noticed it was already evening Chapter 168 To kill a living god 2 Mars sat at the dinner table along with the old demon, Jacob and Alex and ate, while he was eating he spoke manly with the old demon and Jacob mostly ignoring Alex that still looked at him with badly disguised disdain, when he was done eating he stood up from his chair and only after he promised the old demon he would come back again tomorrow and he showed a portal to the old demon was he allowed to leave. Mars didn''t brother with getting Victoria as he knew she was having fun with Velvet so he opened a portal to Green river and stepped though alone... The next morning Mars returned to the wasteland after having told the girls at home that he would be gone for a few days, then he spent most of the day training Jacob in the art of Kel before he decided it was time to pay Velvet a visit and left the courtyard behind along with the old demon that had business at the place, as they walked along the way Mars and the old demon chatted about what Mars had been doing since he left the wasteland, Mars also asked into what had been happening in the capital of demons since he left but all he got for a response was ''it''s like it always is'' so he quickly dropped the topic, soon they arrived at the place and both of them were allowed in Mars remembered the path to Velvet''s chambers so he said goodbye to the old demon that had business in another part of the place and made his way towards Velvet''s chambers were he soon arrived and knocked on the door "who is it?" "it''s me" "oh Mars..." Velvet got quiet and then Mars'' ears picked up hurried movement inside the room for sometime until she spoke again "come in" "thanks" Mars opened the door and walked into Velvet''s chambers, the first thing he saw was Velvet that sat at a small table and was drinking tea, she was wearing her blindfold as usual, Mars looked around the room and gave a nod before he spoke with a teasing smile on his face "that was the fastest panic cleaning I have heard in sometime, what did you hide your pron?" the graceful exterior that velvet had put on crumbled as she puffed her cheeks and stammered "a-a-a-as if a princess would have such vulgar stuff!" Mars'' smile widened slightly as he walked over and sat down in front of Velvet "so you know what pron is.... you dirty brat" "....anymore and I''ll get angry" Mars wiped the teasing smile off his face and showed a gentle smile before he asked "how have you been Velvet?" "humph" Velvet puffed her cheeks and turned her head to the side, Mars gave a sigh "I''m sorry I went to far" "as long as you know you were wrong" Mars stood up from his chair and made a 90 degree bow "I apologize for my rudeness princess Velvet" "...well, apology accepted please sit" Mars sat down again and looked over at Velvet, as usual he could feel a gaze on him even though she was blindfolded, Mars studied her movements for a moment before he muttered "you really are not blind are you?" "of course I''m not blind" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. Mars was a little surprised by Velvet''s answer "then why do you wear a blindfold?" "because I have to" "...I see?" Mars tilted his head still a little confused but velvet followed up "my eyes are a little special" "...I see, I won''t pry anymore then" "very good Mars" the two of them spent some time chatting during which Mars noticed Victoria, she was sleeping on Velvet''s bed with her 4 limbs sticking into the air, Velvet followed Mars'' gaze and also noticed Victoria''s sleeping poster and the two of them sheared a laugh before velvet suddenly turned serious and asked Mars "so Mars what brings you to the wasteland this time?" Mars sipped his tea before he answered Velvet''s question "the wasteland itself" "the wasteland?" "yeah I was bestowed a skill recently that I need to practice and the wasteland seemed to be the perfect place to do it" "my oh my, a bestowed skill surely it must be powerful right?" Mars gave a knowing smile and a nod before he explained the skill "yeah it is, it can more than tipple my physical abilities" Velvet''s jaw nearly hit the table as the corner of her mouth twitched "t-t-tipple.... and that''s without any backlash?" "I think so, I have not used it yet so I''m not sure" "that''s a bestowed skill for you I guess..." "yeah it''s a quite powerful, so I need to practice it before I can use it in combat" "I see..." Velvet gave an understanding nod before the conversation turned less serious and the two of them chatted casually until evening came and Mars went back to the old demon''s courtyard and after eating yet another grand feast Mars borrowed one of the guest bedrooms and passed out... The next morning Mars'' eyes slowly opened and looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling ''where is this again..? oh right'' Mars'' brain quickly kicked into gear as his confusion disappeared before he sat up and looked around the guest room the decorations were simple ''...can''t really stall anymore than this'' Mars decided that today was the day he was going to test out his new skill and got up out of the bed and got dressed before he walked out of the guestroom, the mornings in the wasteland was cold so a cold wind hit him in the face when he opened the door waking him up completely. Mars walked out into the courtyard and saw Alex and Jacob was sparing as usual and greeted them "good morning" "good morning senior brother Mars" "...morning" Mars as usual ignored Alex''s disdain and walked over to the table where the old demon sat and enjoyed his breakfast "good morning" "oh good morning Mars, come join me" "sure" Mars sat down and had breakfast with the old demon and mentioned he some stuff to do today, the old demon didn''t pry and so after Mars finished eating breakfast he stood up and excused himself before he opened a portal to the middle of the wasteland and steeped though... The wasteland was as it always was, flat, empty and blistering hot during the daytime and cold during the night. The only things that dotted the horizon was boulders of various sizes that stood in the otherwise empty wasteland, Mars gave a nod this would do nicely for a practice site for his new skill "well then... here goes nothing" Mars breathed out and activated his new skill [Half-awaken], instantly Mars felt a difference in his perception, his hearing became painfully sharp, dust blowing in the wind felt like boulders trumpeting down a mountain side, Mars nearly covered his ears in shock but managed to keep still as he tried to adjust to the changes and for the next 10 minutes Mars stood still without moving until he managed to somewhat adjust to the changes "okay... now for the first steep..." Mars then tired to lift his right leg for a steep but the moment he did, he was flung backwards at high speed and after flying through the air for a moment he collided with a boulder and was embedded into it "ouch... what the fuck was that?" Mars kept still while he thought about what could have caused him to fly across the wasteland like that and suddenly came to a realization "is it my status... because I now use it all at the same time?" Mars'' guess was right on point, normally he used about 1/10th of his total status now that his strength was so much more him simply raising his leg to take a step forwards was enough to send him flying backwards "in that case... let''s take it easy..." Mars focused and tired best he could at moving slowly and with normal strength as he got out of the boulder he was embedded into and about 15 minutes later he managed to get free without getting sent flying again "okay so far so good... let''s try jumping next" Mars did a small jump and was propelled about 25 meters into the air before gravity took over again and he fell down again and landed on his feet "good... now for walking" Mars spent the whole day with his [Half-awaken] skill activated, it was not until nightfall that he deactivated the skill and gave a nod "not bad for a days work..." during the time he had his [Half-awaken] skill activated he managed to learn how to walk normally again without getting send flying which Mars saw as great improvement, it definitely was the right call to practice this skill before he used it in combat, he could just about imagine what would have happened if he had used it against Yirmir without any practice Chapter 169 To kill a living god 3 Two weeks had passed, Mars once again stood in the wasteland and at one moment he disappeared before he instantly appeared at another spot a few kilometers away "finally..." a smile appeared on Mars'' otherwise serious face as a flash of golden light appeared in his eyes for a moment before it disappeared again like it was never there in the first place, Mars of course didn''t notice this as he was way to pumped about finally being able to use [Instant moment] while he had [Half-awaken] active, Mars deactivated [Half-awaken] and opened a portal to the city of demons and steeped though... "It''s been nice old demon, but I''m afraid I some things to take care off" "I see.... well if that''s the case then I''ll send you off Mars" "Thanks, I just need to go pick up Victoria at the place first... I''ll be back in about an hour" "sure" Mars left the old demon''s courtyard and walked towards the place where he soon arrived and was let inside, after that it was simply following one of the many hallways to Velvet''s champers where he soon arrived and knocked on the door "who is it?" "it''s me" "oh Mars come in, its not locked" Mars opened the door and walked into Velvet''s champers where he found Velvet being surrounded by palace maids that were in the processes of dressing her in a ceremonial dress, in other words she was half naked and her obsidian skin was more exposed than covered, although the important places was covered by silken underwear and as always she wore her blindfold keeping her eyes covered "yo" Mars was unfazed by the feast in front of his eyes and greeted velvet before walked over and took a seat at the tea table and poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it until Velvet was dressed. Velvet dismissed the maids before she walked over and sat down in front of Mars with a smile on her face Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. "so what can I do for you today Mars?" "well I have finished my training and I''m here to say goodbye for now as well as pick up Victoria" "I see... well you have been here for a couple of weeks now" Mars noticed that even though Velvet tried to keep calm her voice still sounded a little unhappy but decided not to pry as Victoria appeared form Velvet''s shadow as her horns flashed "are... we going home?" "yeah it''s time Victoria" "okay..." Mars looked over at Velvet and gave a smile before he said "don''t worry I''ll be back in a couple of months" "...you better be, oh right could you make a trip to Destra?" "what for?" "it''s just that the last caravan never showed" "....I see, well I put it in my schedule" Mars'' smile widened a little before he teased her a bit "are you going to miss me?" Velvet''s face lit up before she puffed her cheeks and turned her head away "w-who''s going to miss you?" Mars stood up from his chair and walked over in front of Velvet and put his hand down on her hair and ruffled it a bit before he said "goodbye Velvet, I''ll see you soon" "...you better keep your promise" "I will, see you" Mars walked out of Velvet''s champers with Victoria following after him and soon he returned to the old demon''s courtyard and found the entire staff of the mansion was lined up in the courtyard along with the old demon''s two disciples Jacob and Alex, the old demon walked over to Mars and gave him a manly hug before he clapped him on the shoulder and said "come back soon Mars" Mars gave a smile "I will" then he waved at the staff which he had become familiar with over his stay and turned before he opened a portal to Green river and steeped though... Back at Green river Mars spent a couple of days ''pacifying'' the girls since he had been gone for so long after that he put his focus on imbuing a set of clothes with magic formations, since his armor was wrecked from his last encounter with Yirmir, he chose the suit he had received from the tailor in his building and started working on it, he imbued the formation runes on the inside of the suit so he didn''t ruin its smooth look and after working for a couple of days he was finished and went to bed... The next morning Mars slowly opened his eyes and looked around, he was alone in the king sized bed, clearly he had overslept ''well whatever...'' Mars turned over and laid on his side as he looked at the wall of the bedroom with an empty stare while he space out for a bit until the look in his eyes suddenly sharpened ''today is the day I kill Yirmir'' Mars now fully awake got out of bed and got dressed before he left the bedroom and ran into Elsa just outside the door, she wore her apron and Mars could smell freshly made food on her "oh Mars just in time, breakfast is ready" "got it" Mars ate breakfast with the girls and casually mentioned he had something to do today and so he would be out of the house all day "then can you drop me off at the academy, I would like to go visit Hanna" "sure Elsa, I''ll just need to get changed first..." Mars quickly inhaled his breakfast before he went to his workshop and changed into his suit, now looking dapper as fuck and well dressed for murder Mars walked up to the rooftop where Elsa was waiting "you ready?" "sure" "then let''s go, I''ll pick you up in the evening" Elsa gave a nod and stepped into the portal Mars had opened to the academy before it closed again, then Mars took a deep breath and put a hand on the hilt of his sword as the look in his eyes sharpened before he ripped open space and stepped through the portal to the city of prayer... After arriving in a plaza in the middle of the city of prayers Mars made his way to the mansion district while ignoring the looks he was getting from the onlookers that had seen the portal open, at the mansion district Mars Mars quickly found Yirmir''s mansion and walked over and kicked down the gate with a single kick before he walked into the mansion and found it... empty "well shit..." not feeling like staying in Yirmir''s empty mansion Mars walked back out of the mansion and asked around in the vicinity where he could find Yirmir, showing a bright smile as well as his sword turned out to be strangely persuasive and so soon he learned where Yirmir was located and made his way back downtown to the cathedral where a giant crowd had formed outside, a public worship was being held by the bishop which was an aged man with a long white beard, behind the speaker platform was rows of chairs were the lesser ranked temple officials sat and behind them were a set of chairs that were occupied by apostles among them Mars spotted Yirmir that had a bored expression on his face, Mars thought for a moment and went around the crowd and approached the guards before he pulled out his 13 pointed silver star and showed itto the guards, he was then quickly allowed though and a seat was prepared for him next to the other apostles where he sat down and smiled at the crowd before he looked sideways over at Yrimir that also had spotted him and had a ugly expression on his face as his eyes clearly was clouded over with anger, Mars gave him a little wave with a smile on his face before he put his focus back on the bishop and his speech which seemed to continue on and on like this kind of speeches often do... A few hours later the bishop''s speech was finally over and the bishop stepped down from the speaker platform to an ear deafening appose which woke Mars as well as some of the other apostles up from their sleep, Mars stretched and quickly confirmed his target was still there before he suddenly stood up and walked away from Yirmir out of the seating area and past the guards before he turned and looked at Yrimir with a smile on his face and gave a small wave before he suddenly turned and ran away from the crowd, this caused Yirmir to quickly stand up and run after him ''just as planned...'' Mars slowed his pace and confirmed Yirmir still was following him before he continued running along the streets of the city of prayer, he suddenly felt something was wrong and looked behind him and saw Yirmir was rapidly closing the distance, Mars gave a smile and activated [Half-awaken] Chapter 170 To kill a living god 4 Mars activated [Half-awaken] and suddenly stopped running as he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view, moving at speeds too high to measure Mars ran back at Yrimir and quickly drew his sword and slashed at his throat, feeling his blade pass through Yirmir''s neck Mars turned and kicked him down an ally before he slowed down to normal speed again and reappeared along with a gust of wind. Then he sheathed his sword and walked down the ally he had kicked Yrimir down and picked him up and threw him through a portal he had just opened before he himself stepped though... Yirmir gradually woke up again as his body had healed completely and quickly got on his feet as he looked around, what entered his eyes were not the busy streets of the city of prayer but a wasteland, then he saw Mars standing off in the distance with a smile on his face and his trusty bone sword drawn, then his face twisted in rage as he yelled out "I''ll kill you for real this time Mars!" Mars'' smile didn''t flatter as he calmly responded "do you really think I would take you on without being prepared?" a chill went up Yirmir''s spine for a moment before he yelled out "I curse you with---" "too slow" Mars once again cut Yirmir''s throat which made Yirmir choke on his words as blood spilled out of his neck, clutching his throat Yirmir once again kneeled over before he fell with his face first down in the warm sand as a pool of blood spread around his head, Mars gave a sigh and mumbled "this is going to take some time..." then he sheathed his trusty bone sword and drew the adamantite broadsword and quickly chopped off Yirmir''s limbs before he kicked him a distance away and waited a few seconds before Yirmir relived again with a scream of pain, as Yirmir was screaming with pain he had never felt before Mars calmly walked over and stabbed the broadsword down in the middle of his head splitting his brain case in two and silencing his screams before he pulled it out again before he shock the broadsword shaking the blood and brain matter off the blade as he watched Yirmir''s head gradually being pulled together as he healed and rived again Mars held the broadsword above Yirmir''s head as a thought suddenly entered his mind and he mumbled "...I wonder what''s for dinner tonight?" as soon as Yirmir began screaming again Mars brought down the broadsword once more before he pulled out the broadsword once again and shock off the blood and brain matter off the blade, this process continued for a couple of hours and during those hours Yirmir''s screams of pain gradually turned to pleas of mercy but as always the broadsword descended like clockwork as Mars looked on with cold eyes, until suddenly Yirmir stopped reviving, after watching Yirmir''s body for a few minutes Mars gave a sigh "...I guess that''s that?" Mars gave a sigh and summoned a flame that brunt Yirmir''s body to ashes before he opened a portal to Destra''s magic academy and steeped though... a little after Mars'' portal disappeared a formless pressure descended where Yirmir''s ashes where and soon a man''s voice was heard "...you really disappointed me Yirmir... oh well I''ll just replace you with someone better..." then the formless pressure dispersed like it was never there in the first place back at Destra''s magic academy a portal opened and Mars stepped out of it and looked around, it was quiet and there was no students around "that''s weird..?" Mars spent some time walking around the campus and still found no people, gradually he grew concerned about Elsa and speed up his steps, soon he was running around the empty campus before he suddenly stopped and looked towards the main building of the academy and steeped inside and quickly found some staff which he asked about Elsa "hey have you seen a beastwoman around? she arrived here by portal this morning" the staff member looked over Mars and suddenly recognized him "you''re Mars right, a part of the tactical class students?" having his question ignored Mars narrowed his eyes slightly but decided to be diplomatic "yes that''s right, now have you seen a beastwoman around the academy?" "that''s great! another tactical class mage, follow after me please" Mars'' eyes narrowed even more before he grabbed the academy staff by the neck and lifted him into the air and asked once more "have you seen a beastwoman around?" "n...o..." "was that so hard?" Mars threw the staff aside and walked out of the building and continued looking around soon a group of academy staff approached him in the middle of them were an old man that carried an impressive staff and wore a golden mantle "Mars right?" "what is it? I''m busy" "please follow after us" Mars narrowed his eyes again he really hated when people didn''t listen to him "first tell me where Elsa is" the old man gave a surprised look before he asked "and who is this Elsa?" "a beastwoman that arrived here at the academy this morning" the old man thought for a moment before he spoke again "oh her, she''s on her way to the front" Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and asked "what front?" "the front against the empire... they invaded a few weeks ago and all students have been drafted to the front, now please follow after us" Mars fell silent before he turned around and walked away from the old man and the staff "stop right there!" Mars stopped and turned back to the staff that had yelled after him and asked "what?" "didn''t you hear the principal? all students have been drafted, that means you too" "I refuse" "what!? and who are you to refuse its an order sent down by the king!" "I see so it''s him I need to talk with to get Elsa back..?" the staffer''s face turned red from anger as he raised his hand and summoned a flame spear and yelled "all students are to be drafted, anyone refusing will be deemed deserters and executed! this is your last chance!" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please clickfor visiting. Mars'' eyes narrowed before he put a hand on the hilt of his sword and activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of the staff that had summoned the flame spear with his sword at his throat and said with a cold voice while letting lose his killing intent "you don''t have the capability to force me to do anything" "HIIIII!!!" the staffers knees went soft under Mars'' killing intent and his fire spear spell dissolved into nothingness, the principal gave a sigh and spoke "that''s enough Mars" Mars glanced over at the principal and narrowed his eyes slightly before he removed his sword and turned and left, as soon as he walked outside of the academy he opened a portal to King''s city and stepped though... At king''s city Mars walked towards the castle while ignoring everything else around him, when he arrived at the castle he directly passed by the guard that asked him what his purpose for his visit was and kicked in the door to the castle, this of course startled the patrolling guards that all came rushing to the site and tried to stop Mars from proceeding further, Mars simply made use of [Instant movement] to dodge their attempts at grabbing him as he proceeded deeper into the castle, soon he arrived at the audience room and once again kicked in the door before he walked in, this startled the people inside and the soldier that was giving a report of the front stopped and turned to look at Mars along with the rest of the court that was in place, the king of cause also looked at Mars, but instead of anger or surprise his face showed relief and happiness that Mars was there and spoke "Mars it''s good that you are here, we need to talk about the invasion in the north" Mars kept walking while his gaze was locked on the king, the king flattered a bit by being stared down by Mars'' cold look and quickly spoke "if I have done something that have annoyed you---" Mars ignored the king''s speech and spoke himself "this morning, one of my women, Elsa a beastwoman was drafted from the academy city you have 3 days to find her and bring her here... IF by the 13 she''s hurt... I''ll hold you personally responsible" finished saying what he needed to say Mars turned and walked out of the audience room, leaving it in complete silence before suddenly one of the nobles present began laughing "this is simply hilarious, a nobody says he will hold the king personally responsible and over a beastwoman of all things!" another noble spoke up "I concur, lord king we should capture and execute this nobody for contempt against the crown!" the king''s face sank, he was the only one present that knew if he was held personally responsible his country might get burned down faster than the empire could conquer it Chapter 171 War in the north 1 Mars returned to Green river alone and informed the rest of the girls about what had happened to Elsa all of the girls looked like they were very concerned about Elsa but Chloe looked the most concerned and asked Mars "what are you going to do about it?" "well I have already informed the king of Destra and given him a 3 day limit to get her back..." "not that, I mean about the empire invading Destra, what are you going to do about that?" Mars fell into deep thought for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders "nothing for now at least... although I would like to make sure Hanna and her friends are okay" Varvei was silent but suddenly she spoke up "what are we going to do for dinner tonight?" "ah... well... I know it''s not a joyous occasion but let''s eat out tonight" Meanwhile in a carriage in the southern part of Destra Elsa sat in the back with a board look on her face, meanwhile the other passengers either had scared or cold looks on their faces, they were all draftees from Destra''s magic academy, one of the young men looked at Elsa with an annoyed look on his face, he was a noble and had loudly complained about having to ride in the same carriage as a mere beastwoman at the start of the trip although now he had fallen silent and just stared at Elsa with an annoyed look on his face, besides Elsa sat a young woman that was more upset about the young nobles stare than Elsa was and so much to the displeasure of the rest of the people in the carriage they argued loudly, in the beginning Elsa had tired to calm both sides but now she had given up and returned to doing nothing instead as she let out a quiet mumble "...I wonder when Mars is going to come get me?" the young woman besides her heard her and stopped arguing with the young noble before she asked "who''s Mars?" Elsa gave a small slime and proudly said "he''s my man" the young noble being ignored got red in the face before he let out a disdainful laugh "heh... as if a man of a dirty beastwoman would be anything great" both Elsa and the young woman ignored the young noble and continued talking "so what''s he like, this Mars?" "well he''s powerful and strong and handsome and... he smells really good" "my oh my... wait you said his name was Mars right?" "yeah" "....is he prabhas the Mars that is part of the tactical class?" "...yeah what about it?" the young woman gave a glance over at the young noble before she spoke "I knew it, that means he''s the triple mage that can use darkness, fire and space-time magic right? I also heard he''s a beast with his sword" as the young woman spoke the young noble became more and more pale, Elsa noticed this and decided to add an important part "yeah that''s right, he was dispatched to the empire during the golem war too, he worked as a forward scout, he also put down a rebellion in the north a few months ago" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. the young noble was now as pale as paper he was even trembling slightly, heavens he had offended the woman of such a capable man, if he really came for her like she said then not only him but also the house behind him would be in big trouble ''I better keep my mouth shut'' with the young noble silenced Elsa and the young woman which she found out was named Jane talked for a few hours until suddenly the carriage stopped and the group of draftees from the academy was ordered out of the carriage and ordered to line up in a single file, Elsa spotted a dark as night sky carriage had landed in front of the convoy and was blocking the way meanwhile a person in dark plate armor was talking with some of the staff from the academy and a young woman in dark plate armor was walking towards the group of students and when she arrived she silently looked them over one by one before she stopped in front of Elsa and asked her "say is your name Elsa?" "yes?" the young woman in the dark plate armor face''s lit up before she turned and yelled "captain I found her!" a few moments later the so called captain walked over and also looked over Elsa before he praised the young woman in the dark plate armor "good job Kim" the captain used his hand to ruffled Kim''s hair, Kim let out a happy laugh "ehehehe" then the captain turned to Elsa and bluntly said "you''re coming with us" Elsa gave a nod before she asked "is it okay if I bring a person with me?" the captain thought for a moment before he gave a nod "I don''t see why not, just make it quick we''re on the clock" "okay... Jean do you want to come?" "can I really?" "yeah let''s go" "...o-okay" Elsa grabbed Jean by the hand and half dragged her with, as she walked away from the other students that still stood lined up she turned and gave a very wide smile to the young noble that caused his knees to go weak as he trembled all over with a pale face ''looks like Mars is right, revenge is a dish best served cold'' with a happy smile on her face Elsa boarded the jet black sky carriage that soon took off and flew towards King''s city... Back in Green river 3 days quickly passed, Mars and the girls ate out all 3 days and so they barely survived not having Elsa around, on the morning of the 3rd day Mars once again dressed in his suit stood on the roof of his building and petted Victoria before he asked "are you sure you don''t want to come with?" "yeah... I want to... sleep" "okay then" Mars gave Victoria a last scratch behind the ear before he slowly transformed his hand and tore space with his claws, waiting a few seconds a portal formed before he stepped though... Walking towards the castle Mars had a stern look on his face and a hand on the hilt of his sword handle when he arrived at the castle gate his stern look lessened a bit because of a familiar face at the gates "ah it''s Mars!" it was Kim she ran over like a small puppy would have and stopped in front of Mars with a big child like smile on her face and eyes that seemed to beam ''please praise me'' Mars gave a sigh and dropped his stern look before he patted her on the head "hi Kim" "ehehehe" "so what brings you here Kim?" "I was waiting for you, I''m supposed to show you the way" "I see... then lead the way" "okay!" Kim lead the way into the castle along the way the guards saluted her when she walked past, but Kim begin a one-track-mind ignored them all as she chatted with Mars. After walking for a while the two of them arrived at the audience room which was empty, Kim lead the way though and soon they arrived at the king''s private chambers where Kim opened the door and walked in like she owned the place "I''m back, I brought Mars!" Mars followed after Kim and walked into the room where he found Elsa, the king and two women which he didn''t know, one of them was a young lady that wore a blue mantle which Mars quickly identified her as being a part of Destra''s magic academy, although he could not remember what the color blue ment, the other was a mature lady around the same age as the king, she wore a luxurious dress and had long flowing black hair, she also wore a tiara on her head that was embedded with precious gems seeing her age as well as her clothing and accessories Mars put two and two together ''must be the queen'' however Mars was not interested in the queen right now so after he gave her a once over he put all his focus on Elsa and walked over in front of her, Elsa stood up from the couch she was sitting in and before she had a chance to say anything Mars hugged her close and whispered calmly into her ears "it''s good that you''re unhurt" Elsa shuddered a bit and her eyes became slightly moist as she hugged Mars back and for a while nobody in the room said anything until Elsa broke off the hug and sat down again, Mars sat down next to her and looked over at the king and expressed his thanks "it''s good that you found her, thank you" "no this is originally my fault allow me to apologize instead" Chapter 172 War in the north 2 Mars looked over at the king and gave a slight smile "you seem stressed" "yes I am... I have a lot on my plate" "Oh, then maybe you don''t have time to entertain me? in that case I''ll take my leave" Elsa gave a slight frown at Mars'' words and pinched his hand with a smile on her face "Mars be nice" "ouch... okay then... shall we get to the main topic then?" the king gave a sigh before he began speaking, it was oblivious from his face alone that he had been very stressed for the past weeks "well first of all the war we are fighting is not ageist the entire empire... it would be easiest to understand if I explained the current state of the civil war, how much do you know Mars?" "hmm... only that one of the factions is supported by the military" "I see, well in the start of the civil war there was about 8 or so factions but after a few months of fighting it has been reduced to 2, mainly due to the rest of the factions falling apart internally or joining each other. Right now the two main factions that are fighting open war for the throne is the military and the old nobles" "I see and so I''m guessing one of those is attacking Destra?" "yes the old nobles is currently on the losing side in the war and are being pushed back by the military but the military faction decided it was too slow and costly to stomp out the old nobles alone so they sent an ultimatum to surrender our military to them so they could win the war faster, I refused this ultimatum and now we are at war with half the empire. It has not been all bad though we have received support from the old nobles so we are barely holding on right now, that''s when I decided to draft the magic academy a few days ago" Mars gave a nod, it made sense to draft the magic academy from the king''s point of view "and that''s when Elsa was taken along for a ride in a stuffed carriage?" "yes unfortunately" Mars folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned back on the couch "I see... well I have an open schedule the question is what do you have to offer?" both the queen and the young woman from the academy widened their eyes slightly but the king was unfazed and spoke "since the military faction controls the southern part of the empire the mana stone mine is under their control, should we triumph over them we will naturally occupy their territory I''m sure when the empire reforms it will demand the territory back but until then I can promise you 80% of the mana stones from the mines" Mars thought for a second before he calmly said "90%" "hmm... I''m afraid that would cut to deep into our finances... best I can do is 85%" Mars gave a nod "that''s good enough... what about down payment? surely you can''t expect to promise me stuff that I have to conquer myself?" the queen was about to speak up, no doubt to ask who exactly Mars thought he was to ask so much from the king but said king raised his hand and stopped her from speaking before he spoke himself "right now our treasury is low on funds... I would most likely only be able to gather up around 100 class 6 magic beast cores" "hmm... that''s good enough, how many days do you need to get then together?" this proved too much for the queen that ignored the kings signals and asked in a low voice filled "who exactly are you and how dare you exploit our kingdom in its hour of need!?" Mars only glanced over at the queen before he looked over at the king again, but that one glance was enough to send shivers down the queen''s spine and not the good kind of shivers, in a single moment his gaze was on her she felt like she had descended down into an icy hell, it was only when the king grabbed her hand that she snapped out of her daze "I need at most one day to get the magic beast cores together... after that I hope you can visit the battlefield" Mars gave a nod and asked "what happened with the tactical class? surely you must have deployed them before the rest?" "yes I drafted then the day after war was declared, hmm... the current front is Mirefield so they should be there" "I see..." Mars glanced over at the queen who shivered slightly when Mars looked at her "then I have an offer for you..." At Mirefield things were less than good Destra''s and the military faction of the empire had been lock in a skirmish all week that had gradually escalated from exchanging arrows and spells to a full on assault form the empire''s side a few days ago, the empire was at an advantage due to their overwhelming numbers but since Destra''s side held the fort they were barely able to hold on. 3 days ago they were about to fall but received timely help when the tactical class of Destra''s magic academy arrived and managed to push back the invading army with their awesome magic spells and the tide even seemed to be changing for a time but the empire gradually employed counter measures to the tactical class magic and so Destra''s momentum crawled to a halt and now they were losing ground again, the outer wall had already been breached several places and the defense seemed to become more and more desperate, now it was afternoon and the sky had just started to turn orange a portal opened on the walls of Mirefield, first the defending troops thought it was an attack from the empires side but when no other than the king steeped out of the portal followed by the queen and a young man and two young women one of which was a student of the academy and another was a beastwoman they became greatly confused but was quickly commanded back to their posts by an officer that rushed over and kneeled in front of the king and asked "your majesty why are you here?" the king gave a wry smile before he spoke to the kneeling officer "what can I say, I was offered a preview of my purchase and I was in no position to refuse" Mars ignored the king and unsheathed his sword and calmly walked out to the edge of the wall, swatting arrows and spells out of the air like they were flies as he took in the air of the battlefield with a slightly nostalgic smile on his face before he turned over to the king and the queen and called them "your majesties if you would came over here please" the king gave a nod and took his wife''s hand as they both walked over to the edge of the wall and looked down upon the invading army that was assaulting the walls "now look closely at what 100 class 6 magic beast cores has brought you..." Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Mars breathed out and activated [Half-awaken] and activated [Instant movement] before he disappeared from view, a moment later he returned carrying a makeshift cloth bag filled with... something, at that moment the empire''s army seemed to freeze up for a moment before they suddenly descended into total confusion, Mars then half kneeled on the ground and presented the makeshift cloth bag to the king before he spoke in a loud voice "I present to you the heads of 16 commanding officers and one general that was assaulting Mirefield" the king flinched slightly before he also spoke in a loud voice "well done Mars" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he summoned a flame and burnt the now dripping cloth bag to ashes in an instant and stood up, Destra''s side of the battlefield was quiet and all that stood on the wall looked at either Mars or the king before suddenly Mars raised his sword up high and yelled "now let''s drive theses filthy invaders from our land!" """""OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!""""" the soldiers let out a war cry and stormed down the wall and engaged the still confused invading army, what followed was a slaughter before the rest of the empires army managed to begin retreating but only barely, Mars stood on the walls and overlooked the slaughter with a slight smile on his face when the last of the invading army had been mobbed up Mars turned to the king and asked him "how was it? are you satisfied with you purchase?" the king gave a wry smile and a nod, Mars then looked over at the queen that lowered her head slightly before he looked over at Elsa that was slightly pale and asked "sorry was that too much for you?" "no... I''ll be fine... eventually" Mars gave a nod, it was impressive in itself that she had not puked yet Chapter 173 War in the north 3 Mars looked over at the young woman from the academy that stood in a daze and so he gave a chuckle before he spoke out to Elsa "that reminds me, Elsa you have not introduced your friend yet?" "oh right, this is Jane, we met in the carriage on the way to the front" Jane woke from her daze and looked over at Mars with awe and a slight amount of fear, but before she had a chance to say anything Mars spoke "oh I see, well if you''re a friend of Elsa then you are a friend of me too... tell me if there''s ever anything you need" Jane''s expression slackened somewhat, she had just been promised help by an overwhelmingly powerful figure, one that even the king had to treat with respect, she hurriedly fumbled out a response "yes, will do..." Mars gave a smile and turned and walked over so he overlooked the inside of the walls, overlooking the town of Mirefield Mars gave a sigh, he had mixed memories about this place, but still most of the problems should have fixed themselves when he killed of the previous corrupt lord Gas fedeson ''well let''s go find the others...'' Mars opened a portal back to King''s city for the king and queen before he Elsa and Jean walked into the war ravaged town to find the rest of the tactical class form the academy but just when he stepped into town he was jumped by two small figures ""it''s Mars!"" "wow there..." Mars caught the two figures and rubbed them on the head where 2 pairs of white fox-like ears stood up straight "hi Lee and Lily, it''s good to see that your well" Mars looked down at the beastman twins that were busy rubbing their cheeks against him with a smile on his face as he rubbed their heads it was then that a woman with long blue hair walked over, Mars looked up and gave a smile "hi Karen" Karen gave a sigh before she showed a smile "and just as I was wondering where they ran off to... it''s been a long time Mars" "yeah sorry about that" Mars kneeled down and picked up the twins before placing them on his shoulders and asked Karen "do you have somewhere we could talk?" "sure, follow me" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. the twins were a little surprised about being picked up but alas their surprise turned into joy "wow so high!" "eheheh!" Mars walked along the streets of the town, along the way he received salutes form nearly every soldier he walked past, no doubt that what he had done on the walls had spread to the entire town at this point, Mars returned smiles and nods to them as his hands were busy holding the twins, soon they arrived at the castle and soon they were lead into a room by a servant, the room held a table with some chairs as well as a few bedrolls, Mars figured this is where they had been sleeping. Soon they gathered around the table and began to talk, mostly about how the battles had been going but also about what would happen now that the empires army were in full retreat but also about what the twins had been doing on the battlefield, Karen praised them for their quick reaction when the walls were breached as well as their tactical class spell that sealed the breaches in the walls before to many invaders managed to flood in, Mars spent most of the night talking with them until eventually sleep took him... "hmm..?" Mars woke up and discovered he could not get up, so he raised his head and looked at the things that lay on top of him and found Lee and Lily had made him into a makeshift bed and was lying on top of him while snoring lightly, Lee was even drooling a little ''well that''s... fine I guess?'' Mars gave up getting up and laid his head down on the floor again and looked up into the ceiling as the memories of yesterday gradually returned to him ''oh right, I forced the empire''s army to retreat...'' Mars was convinced that the way he forced them to retreat was the best possible outcome, while showing loyalty to the king while at the same time displaying overwhelming force, that way he lessened the amount of fearful gazes he would received form the other soldiers, but if by change some of them would learn he did it for the momentary gain they would no doubt be less respectful and more fearful ''well never mind that... what should I do now?'' while he could join the main force and push back the empire''s army that way it would be way to tiresome, he would rather show up when they were having a hard time and help them out swiftly like he did today ''almost like a hero that comes and saves the day...'' well cringe aside it sounded like a perfect plan, there was only one thing that bothered him about it and that was that he was unable to keep an eye on the two lumps of warmth that was defenselessly laying on top of him ''if the twins got hurt because I was not there...'' Mars imagined it for a moment and the heart wrenching pain he felt was enough to fully wake him up ''...even if it''s a pain I should join the main force along with the twins and Karen to keep an eye on them...'' having decided on what to do Mars felt his head clear of any doubtful thoughts as he began laying a plan for what to do ''first I have to take Elsa home, then I suppose I''ll pick up my payment form the king before I return here? Well first I got wake up theses sleepyheads'' Mars slowly began petting Lee and Lily on their heads, slowly they began moving in their sleep before Lily woke up first and looked at Mars with a pure smile on her face "good morning Lily" Lily gave an even wider smile and began rubbing her face on Mars, Mars also gave a smile seeing her acting spoilt soon Lee also woke up and began mimicking his sister, Mars gave a sigh and sat up and also greeted Lee "good morning Lee" "morning Mars!" Lee responded with vigor that woke up Karen that was sleeping in her bedroll a little ways away, she then sat up and scratched her hair before she raised her arms and stretched, Mars'' eyes were attracted to a particular area on her body when she stretched but he hurriedly pulled his eyes away and put his focus back on the twins as he greeted Karen "morning Karen" "good morning Mars..." Karen was not quite awake yet she looked a little groggy as she let out a yawn and crawled out of her bedroll and mumbled ''toilet'' before she walked out of the room, Mars gave a wry smile and asked the twins "is Karen always like that in the mornings?" Lily shook her head "she''s usually awake before we are so i don''t know?" "okay... let''s find something to eat" ""okay!"" it was then that the door opened again, Elsa and Jane walked in carrying a basket of food each, Elsa looked over at Mars and gave a smile "it''s good that you are awake Mars, we brought some food from the kitchen" "you truly are a godsend Elsa" Elsa''s smile widened before she looked around the room and asked "where is Karen?" "she left just now, I don''t think she''s completely awake" "oh I see... well then Lee, Lily can you help me set the table before Karen comes back?" ""yes!"" Lee and Lily jumped off Mars'' lap and helped Elsa with setting the table, when they were done the group gathered around the table and waited for Karen to return which she soon did looking a lot more awake then she did when she had left the room, after she gave a smile she walked over and took a seat at the table, joining the group at breakfast. After they were done eating Mars sheared his plans about joining the main force, Elsa looked a little sad when he said he would drop her off at home first but when she remembered the ghastly scene from yesterday she gave a small obedient nod, the twins were overjoyed that Mars would be spending more time with them and Karen gave a thin smile but said nothing it was then Mars turned to look at Jane and asked her "what about you Jane?" Jane gave a resolute look and said "I''m joining the force of cause, I can''t stay at home twittering my thumbs when my country is in danger" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly as he noticed her arms where shaking slightly, of cause he didn''t know if it was because of fear or excitement, nevertheless his impression of her went up a few notches ''she sure has a pair on her...'' Chapter 174 War in the north 4 After Mars decided how to move he kicked into gear after they were done eating, first thing on his schedule was to see Elsa home which he did by opening a portal for her to Green river after that Mars spent some more time with the twins and Karen after that he reported to the officer that was in charge of the tactical class students which met him with a smile, clad in a military uniform and with a sword on his hips he looked like a young officer fresh out of the academy, but Mars sensed some hidden ferocity when he met the gaze of the young officer and hurriedly gave a salute as he introduced himself "my name is Mars, member of Destra''s magic academy tactical class" the officer looked over Mars and noticed the two swords on his hips and gave a nod "very good, I look forward to working with you Mars" the young officer extended his hand out to Mars, Mars looked at him for a few seconds before he shook his hand as the officer introduced himself Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "my name is Henry I''ll be giving you orders from today onward until we have finished with the empire, is that okay with you?" the young officer narrowed his eyes as he spoke, but Mars ignored it and gave a response "as long as you don''t order me or my friends to kill each other I''ll follow your orders" "...good, as long as you follow my orders I suspect we will get along nicely" Mars gave a nod and spent a few minutes talking about his combat abilities with the young officer before he was dismissed after Mars left the room the young officer gave a happy smile, from what Mars had described he was a near perfect soldier and what officer would not feel joy commanding a perfect soldier? "How did it go with Henry?" "it went well, he seems like a capable officer" Karen gave a nod and looked down at the twins that were sleeping in Mars'' lap and spoke "well so far he has not given any unreasonable orders" Mars gave a nod and thought to himself ''so far, is it?'' then he shook his head, not all superiors were like the ones in his past life that had condemned him and his unit to hell over their greed "Mars is something wrong?" "hmm..? no it''s nothing, I was just thinking about the past" "I see... well in any case we''re glad to have you with us in this time of need" "yeah... I''ll do my best so that you and the kids get through this unscathed" "thanks Mars" "hey that''s what friends are for, right?" Karen gave a wide smile "right" time passed and eventually it was time for the main force to move out from Mirefield, this time they would be moving into the empire''s territory and go on the offensive so moral was high, Mars and the rest of the tactical class was put on a carriage that were positioned in the back of the formation so as the formation moved they saw little to non action it was only after a week had passed that Mars in particular received his first orders to move, the twins and Karen were more busy being two earth mage''s they had the job of smoothing out the road for the main force to move by building bridges over rivers or smoothing out the roads, and Karen being a water mage resupiled the water reserves of the main force thus there was only one reason to call out Mars a fire mage out and that was there was a problem the main force was unable to solve by themselves. Henry called out Mars form the carriage, Mars made a salute and awaited orders, Henry the young officer showed a small smile and spoke "we have run into a problem up ahead and need you to solve it for us" "I''ll do my best" "good, follow after me" Mars followed after the young officer and quickly made his way to the front of the main force were he quickly discovered the problem the main force were having "...a disabled set of mana armor?" "not entirely disabled though, it still fights back" Mars looked and saw the mana armor, it was big as usual but it looked like there were some problems with the legs of the armor so it was unable to move and stood, leaning up against a rock face were it fired off spells to keep the approaching trops at bay "...looks kind of pitiful" "did you say something Mars?" "no... you just need me to disable it? or do I need to destroy it completely?" the young officer stroked his chin for awhile before he spoke "if you can then disable it... it would be good to receive some information from the pilot" Mars gave a nod and killed all emotion in his eyes, now that he had revived an order his old training took over, the young officer shuddered slightly when he saw the light go out in Mars'' eyes. Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and walked forwards while gradually transforming his non-sword-arm and igniting his claws the disabled mana armor watched Mars approach and fired off a fire javelin spell at Mars, Mars'' eye remained dead as he drew out his sword and cut the fire javelin apart down the middle, as the fire particles dispersed into the air Mars'' emotionless eyes narrowed slightly as he activated [Instant movement] and closed the distance in an instant, Mars reappeared in front of the disabled mana armor and reactivated [Instant movement] on his transformed arm as it turned into a blur, a moment later his arm returned to normal as he undid the transformation and grabbed an armor plate on the mana armor and easily pulled it off, the mana armor had been neatly disassembled by Mars'' ignited claws so it fell apart the moment he touched it then he grabbed the pilot by the neck and dragged him out of the armor and lifted him up as he struggled to get out of Mars'' grasp then Mars punched him in the gut making the pilot faint showing the whites of his eyes. Mars and Henry walked back towards the carriage carrying the rest of the tactical class students, Henry sneaked a glance at Mars and was relieved when he saw that the light had returned to Mars'' eyes, it was not that he had not seen soldiers with dead eyes before, they were the most brutal soldiers and usually died off rather quickly, but this was the fist time he had seen anyone that could ''kill'' his own eyes like that "is something wrong?" Mars must have detected his gaze, Henry gave a sigh and spoke "have you been a soldier before?" "yeah a lifetime ago..." "by that you mean?" "oh right... even though I look and act human I''m not actually human" Henry remembered the claws Mars had grown out and gave a nod before he spoke again "well in any case, I''m glad to have capable soldiers under my command" "...thank you sir" Mars returned to the carriage and was jumped by the twins that called out his name in a happy tone ""it''s Mars!"" Mars caught the twins only because of his superhuman reflexes "ops... be careful will you?" ""sorry Mars"" seeing the downcast looks on their faces Mars gave a slight smile and put them down as he entered the carriage before he patted them on the head "just be careful next time" ""yes!"" Mars looked at their happy faces and knew that the next time would be exactly like this time and gave a wry smile as he patted them on the head "oh Mars, your back?" at that moment Karen also returned "oh hi Karen" "...how did it go?" "well I, as always performed as I was expected to" "...I see" Karen boarded the carriage before it began slowly moving again... Time passed in this way, whenever there was a problem the main force was unable to handle one of the tactical class students were sent out, the 4 of them gradually got used to their roles as problem solvers, the twins made bridges and smoothed the road, they even made tunnels though hills to speed up the movement of the main force while Karen solved the water supply but whenever Mars went out he would solve the more direct problems such as mana armors or big magic beasts, but most of the time he spent in the carriage playing with the twins. one day early in the morning Mars woke up, he had been sleeping in the slowly rocking carriage which he had gotten used to by now another thing he also had gotten used to were the twins that were latched onto him whenever he slept, right now Lee was laying on top of him and Lily was clutching his arm, Mars gave a sigh and spent some time just looking up at the ceiling of the carriage before he carefully moved Lee off him and freed his arm form Lily''s grasp all without waking either of them up, then he stifled a yawn and thought to himself ''today seems like another peaceful day...'' of course at this point in time Mars had no way of knowing how wrong he was because later that day the main force laid siege to the first fortified town on their route Chapter 175 War in the north 5 "looks like a tough nut to crack..." Mars stood next to a magic cannon battery that fired at the formation rune enhanced walls of Irker, the town which the main force had laid siege to earlier on the same day before he let out a yawn "...you sure look calm Mars" Mars looked over and saw Karen looking at him with a weird expression on her face "well what can I say... I''m just relaxed that''s all" as Mars and Karen were talking the magic canon battery finished their reloading and let lose another barrage of high level spells which lit up the surroundings more than the moon light ever could, Mars let lose another yawn as he watched the barrage of spells fly and eventually hit the walls which shock slightly under the force of the high level spells, Mars looked over at Karen again and asked "do you need something?" "it''s the twins, the cannon fire woke them up and then they realized you were missing..." "oh I see... let''s head back then" Mars and Karen left the magic cannon area and walked back to their carriage were Mars was jumped by the twins that were very much awake despite the time was almost midnight, Mars carrying the twins climbed into the carriage and sat them down just as another barrage was shot off from the magic cannons in the distance that briefly lit up the night sky outside the carriage, Mars disagreed with the higher ups decision to do a full 24 hours bombardment of Irker but what could he do? as far as they were concerned he was ''just'' a member of the tactical class of Destra''s magic academy. After calming down the twins he laid down on the floor of the carriage and closed his eyes meanwhile Lee and Lily found their sleeping spots on top of him and also laid down and closed their eyes, Mars mentally counted down ''...3,2,1'' *BANG* the magic cannons fired off another barrage like clockwork and the twins jumped slightly, Mars gave a wry smile and opened his eyes and spoke softly "...there''s nothing to be afraid off" ""but..."" the twins settled down again and Mars began lightly stroking them on the head to calm them down and closed his eyes again... after a few hours passed the twins gradually got used to the magic cannons firing off in the distance and fell asleep, Mars also regulated his breathing and soon fell asleep himself... The next morning Mars woke up late, when he opened his eyes the twins and Karen were already gone from the carriage Mars sat up and stretched then he noticed something strange ''...the magic cannons have gone silent'' Mars thought for a moment and remembered that the magic cannons specialized for breaking the enhancements on the walls and after they were done more traditional siege warfare would commence after the magic formations on the walls were broken Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ''...guess I''m late then'' Mars began jogging towards the walls and soon saw the walls of Irker ''...now this is proper siege warfare'' giant magic enhanced siege engines flung rocks at the walls of Irker and a constant rain of arrows and spells filled the air as the troops form Destra attempted to storm the gates protected by magic spells, Mars stood and watched for some time until a pair of small hands tugged his clothes and he looked down and saw the twins, they carried nervous expressions on their faces, Mars gave a sigh and patted them on the head "it will be fine" "but..." "we received some scary orders..." Mars'' expression hardened slightly before he kneeled down and Lee whispered the order they had received into his ear, Mars'' expression continued to harden, if not for the fact that the twins were right next to him he would have let out an enormous amount of killing intent when Lee finished speaking he stood up again and let out a sigh before he patted them on the head and spoke "don''t worry, I''ll come with and make sure to protect you guys" strategically he did not disagree with the plan the higher ups had made but morally he disagreed with them, after all the twins were only 11 years old and building an operation around them were it was necessary for them to kill was frankly insane. nevertheless he was unable to take their place so he could only support them and make sure they were safe ''well I could always murder the higher ups and do a hostile takeover of the troops and command them though fear but that sounds like a pain...'' time passed and soon it was time for the operation to begin, Mars showed up where the rest of the personnel were gathered for the operation and mingled with them for a bit until the twins showed up accompanied with an officer that had an emotionless look on his face, Mars lined up along with the troops and waited for the officer to declarer the start of the operation. The officer looked over the, some 50 troops that all were equipped with heavy shields before his gaze stopped on Mars for a little while before he gave a sigh and spoke up "we will now begin the operation... move to your assigned positions and get ready to charge!" the soldiers moved and formed a shield dome around the twins, Mars moved behind the shield dome and waited for the formation tom move towards the walls "you... your name is Mars right?" "yes" the officer had walked over to Mars and looked him over with slight disdain on his face before he continued talking "if you want to participate in this operation I won''t stop you, just know that I won''t guarantee you life" after saying that the officer turned and walked away and the shield dome formation with the twins in the middle began moving forwards, Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and followed after in a light jog as the shield dome formation moved out onto no mans land and began receiving an ever increasing amount of bombardment form spells and arrows, Mars also drew his sword and deflected the arrows and spells that came his way. After moving for some time the shield dome formation reached the middle of the no mans land and stopped before the troops began spreading out and forming a shield wall in front of the twins, Mars stepped up and gave them a reassuring pat on their heads before he stood in front of them, protecting them as a last line of defense, the twins ignored the heavy bombardment the shield wall in front of them took and hugged each other tight as the formation runes tattooed on their bodies began lightning up, at this moment the enemy began focusing their fire on the shield wall they had clearly found out something was wrong and so the first casualties began appearing in the shield wall formation. A painful 30 seconds later the twins both opened their eyes at the same time and let out a low shout, Mars felt the ground rumble and looked to the front were a giant earth spike shot out of the ground and rushed forwards at high speed before it collided with the tightly closed gate, when it did the entire walls of Irker trembled for a moment and a dull deafening sound spread across the battlefield and for a moment the entire battlefield seemed to turn silent before it quickly resumed its chaos again a moment later and soon the troops of the shield wall formation began yelling "no way, the gates held!?" "you gotta do it again!" "for our fallen comrades!" ''this is bad...'' at the moment the first attack on the gates failed the moral of the troops had fallen significantly, no doubt if the twins refused to attack the gates again they would be jumped by Destra''s troops, Mars calmly turned around and asked in a soft voice "can you do it again?" "yes Mars but..." "only one more time" Mars gave a smile "I''ll count on you guys then" the twins gave a nod and closed their eyes again as the formation runes on their bodies began lighting up again, this of course made even more fire from the walls consecrate on them and soon Mars also began deflecting arrows and spells that made their way through the holes in the shield wall formation but just as everything seemed to be under control a giant fireball appeared over the walls of Irker and it quickly began descending on the shield wall formation ''shit..!'' time slowed down for Mars as he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view before he reappeared in the air in front of the giant fireball and swung his sword down with all his strength cutting the fireball in half before gravity took over and he landed on the ground again and quickly retreated behind the shield wall formation again and mumbled "I knew they would have tactical class mages too but this is just..." Mars looked up at the 3 giant fireballs that slowly formed above the walls of Irker with an annoyed look on his face Chapter 176 War in the north 6 Mars looked up at the 3 giant fireballs that were quickly forming over the walls of Irker and thought to himself ''...looks like I can no longer hold back'' Mars then sheathed his bone sword and took the adamantite broadsword off his back and hurriedly unwrapped the cloth that were covering the blade before he activated his [Energy sense] and looked up at the giant fireballs and quickly found the weak points in the odd thanks to his [Energy sense] and sent out 3 sword lights that quickly dismembered the growing fireballs and made them disperses as harmless fire particles, maybe this stunned the enemy tactical class mage because no more fireballs showed up before the twins completed their spell and another giant earth spike shot out of the ground and rammed into the gates, only this time the gates didn''t hold and were violently broken apart then a loud roar was heard from behind form the troops that were on standby began storming the broken gate, but Mars didn''t care about that he walked over and picked up the exhausted twins and praised them "you did a good job" the twins both gave a nod and a pair of happy smiles, they were clearly too exhausted to talk and soon fell asleep in Mars'' arms. Mars carried them back to the carriage and put them down on top of the blankets before he quietly left the carriage behind and began walking towards the walls, gradually breaking into a run as he joined the soldiers storming the broken gates... "DIE!" Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. time slowed down for Mars as the tip of the spear gradually closed in on his chest, no doubt aiming for his heart shame it would never hit its mark as Mars steeped in past the tip of the spear and delivered a slash with his sword right to the neck of the spear carrying enemy soldier, severing his arteries and spraying his blood, none of which landed on Mars that had silently appeared in front of another soldier, this time it was a sword carrying soldier, Mars briefly locked blades with him before he pulled back slightly making the enemy lose his balance before he stabbed his bone blade into the neck of the enemy soldier and twisted slightly widening the wound just enough to be fatal before he pulled out the blade. while this took a long time to describe in reality it took less than 5 seconds to happen, Mars was like a reaper that cut down the enemy soldiers in doves with the least amount of effort on his part, as the number if enemy soldiers he had killed neared a hundred he began noticing a change in his own ''aura'' had changed, the odd around him seemed slightly restless but being in a combat situation he ignored it and looked up, he was getting nearer to the castle that was in the center of Irker but from the looks of the enemies resistance it would still take a lot of killing to get there. So that''s what he did, when the sun went down he simply transformed his eyes and kept on killing, the change in his aura was big it was now substantially more ''bloody'' so much so that the friendly soldiers avoided getting close to him and the enemies would shake when he looked at them ''just a little bit more...'' Mars knew this feeling, he was obtaining a new skill ''just a little, little bit more...'' Mars cut down the enemy soldiers with renewed vigor and soon it happened, all the bloody aura that had gathered around him suddenly got sucked into his body and disappeared like it was never there in the first place before suddenly erupted out like a volcano making every soldier in the vicinity freeze whether they were enemy or friendly ''nice'' Mars then activated [Instant movement] and cut down the enemy soldiers before he reappeared in the same spot and sheathed his sword and walked over to a friendly soldier and clapped him on the shoulder before he simply said "I''m tired, I''ll leave the rest to you guys" leaving the dumbfounded soldier behind, Mars pushed through the crowds of soldiers and eventually managed to leave the front lines and opened up his status and quickly found his new skill ''[Blood lust]..?'' when Mars looked at the new skill information popped up in front of him [Blood lust] use cost: 0 status: unlocked function: materializes the users blood lust with the use of mana "huh...?" Mars looked over the information again and again before he eventually stopped walking and muttered out loud "materializes is it...?" Mars focused on his hand and activated the skill, along with a massive amount of blood lust pressure speeding out around, silencing the bugs in the night a glove formed around his hand, no it was move like a gauntlet made up of some kind of blood red metal, Mars flexed his hand for a bit and realized there was no limit to his mobility and gave a nod "well this is neat..." Mars pulled back his blood lust and the gauntlet dematerialized into red particles that floated off with the wind "...neat" satisfied with his new skill Mars walked back to the carriage and laid down next to the twins and closed his eyes and soon fell asleep... The next morning Mars woke up to the town of Irker being completely conquered and so the main force occupied the town until a garsion force could arrive from Destra, the town itself quickly adapted to being under Destra''s rule with no riots or other forms of resistance and so for a time Mars enjoyed a peaceful time were he could laze around like he wanted to for some reason, whenever he met other soldiers they would salute him, this puzzled Mars in the beginning but then he remembered how he had cut down hundreds of enemy soldiers and then it made sense. Whenever Mars was lazing around the twins would play by themselves and Karen were off doing her own thing so nobody came to bother Mars it was only after he had lazed around for a week he suddenly sat up form his sunbathing spot where he had been lying for the past 5 hours and muttered "...I''m bored" Mars looked around, he was laying on the roof of the castle in the middle of Irker and had a fantastic view over the entire town, so from his vantage point, he started to look around for something to do, the first thing he spotted was a busy bar in the main street where he saw several soldiers were celebrating something ''nah, I don''t feel like drinking...'' Mars shifted his gaze away from the happy soldiers and searched for something else to do, soon he spotted the twins running around in the streets ''they look like their age for once... I should not disturb them'' Mars shifted his gaze away again and after overlooking the town like some kind of caped crusader for a couple of hours looking for something to do Mars eventually laid down again and enjoyed the last of the evening sun before he climbed down from the roof and entered the castle, as he walked through the hallways of the castle he ran into Henry that greeted him "hello Mars... wait why are you in the castle?" "well... I was sunbathing on the roof" "I see... do you happen to be free right now?" "well, I don''t have anything to do at the moment" "good, then accompany me, I might need your help" "sure..." Mars followed after Henry though the castle and soon the two of them reached the catacombs under the castle where Henry stopped in front of what looked like a prison cell and asked Mars "have you ever interrogated someone before?" Mars gave a nod, sure it was not his favorite thing to do but if he could earn some points with his superior officer he would be game, Mars thought for a moment and spoke "as long as it''s not women or children" "it''s not" "good" "well then let''s see what we can get out of him" Henry gave a nod to the guards that stood outside the cell and they gave a salute before they opened the cell and dragged the figure out form inside the cell, it was a man in his 20''s with a mana sealing collar around his neck, he also seemed kind of... drugged, his eyes were unfocused and he was dolling slightly, Mars gave a questioning look at Henry but Henry ignored him and said to the guards "follow me" ""yes sir"" the guards began dragging the half conscious man with them after Henry Mars gave a sigh and followed after them and soon the group arrived at the interrogation room where the guards seated the half conscious man down in a chair and pressed a button on his collar before they walked over and stood on either side of the door, Mars sat down next to Henry on the other side of the prisoner and waited, soon he noticed a change in the prisoners expression, his eyes seemed to regain their focus Chapter 177 War in the north 7 Mars looked on in wonder as the focus returned to the prisoners eyes but kept silent as Henry and the prisoner began exchanging words, Henry asked various questions that all held strategic value and the prisoner either didn''t respond or responded with mockery of Destra. Mars grandly got bored and activated his [Energy: sense] before he looked around at the mana lines that supplied mana from the main mana source out to the rest of the building, the setup seemed rather random like the mana lines were an afterthought, like it had been installed after the castle had been built, completely unlike his building in Green river where the mana lines were a part of the construction from the get go. Suddenly his gaze passed over the prisoner and stopped before he spoke "oi" both Henry and the prisoner were surprised that Mars suddenly spoke but before Henry had a change to say anything Mars continued "I would not circulate your mana like that in my presence, it can be dangerous for you health" Mars had recognized the way his mana was moving he was casting a fire arrow, only his mana moved very slowly, perhaps because of the mana sealing collar around his neck, as soon as Mars finished speaking the guards that stood behind Mars and Henry sprung into action but they were too slow as his spell were completed in the next instance and shot out towards Henry "DIE!" unfortunately for the prisoner Mars was present and simply moved his hand in the way of the fire arrow and grabbed it, erasing the spell before it had a chance to hit its mark. The guards grabbed the prisoner and pushed the button on his collar making him go limp before his eyes became unfocused again, Mars brushed the soot off his hand and looked over at Henry before he asked "I guess that''s that, right?" "...yes the interrogation is over, we''ll pass him over to the professional interrogates they will have him singing in no time" Mars gave a nod and thought ''enhanced interrogation is it?'' "well in any case thank you for blocking that spell Mars" "you are welcome Henry" Mars stood up and walked out the door, leaving the interrogation room behind... Half a week later Mars laid on a rocking carriage, the garrison force form Destra had arrived at Irker and so it was time for the main force to move on further north, after traveling for about 5 days the main force reached the town of Oveler and after about a week of sieging the main force broke through the gates and so after another day of fighting the battle ended in Destra''s victory and thus Mars was bored again ''I''m starting to get bored of playing soldier...'' with such thoughts Mars once again sat in a rocking carriage on the way to the next town, the town of Glower, which also was the town closest to the mana stone mine and thus controlled the flow of mana stones and also Mars'' target in this war, the 85% of the output of the mana stone mine which he had been promised by the king of Destra was almost within reach and a day later the main force arrived and laid siege to the walled town, much like the previous towns the magic batteries was the first to act, Mars lay awake under the moonlight and listened to the magic batteries in the distance and suddenly got annoyed and sat up before he muttered "time to wage war like a living god..." detriment to end the war as soon as possible Mars got on his feet and began walking towards the walls of Glower, passing into no man''s land Mars walked bristly towards the walls and soon arrived at the foot of the wall and put his hand on it and activated [Energy: drain touch], after draining the energy for about 5 minutes his [Energy storage] had almost filled up completely and the formation runes on the walls ran out of energy and powered down ''....neat, well then next is the gates'' as Mars followed the walls to the nearest gate he activated his [blood lust] skill and his body was gradually covered in vermilion plate-like armor that looked like crystallized blood that covered his entire body except for his head, a long cape also materialized on his back before he suddenly stopped walking and lightly hit his head Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I forgot, no capes" with a thought the cape dematerialized again and Mars continued walking and soon reached a gate and put his hand on it "...and here we go" with a fully loaded [Energy: discharge] a loud boom sounded out in the night, but the sturdy gate held "once more..? no two times more" Mars guessed how many more times the gate could take as he recharged his skill before once more a loud boom sounded out in the night, under the strain of the [Energy: discharge] the gate warped slightly, Mars gave a smile and charged his [Energy: discharge] once more as he lightly hummed a tune before finally *KABOOM* the gate warped and bent before it shattered inwards like dried wood that had been bent too far, Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword and walked into town past the broken gate and was met with a volley of spells and arrows, he then activated [Instant movement] and swiped the spells and arrows that would hit his unarmored head out of the way, entrusting his armor with the rest, and just like he had hoped the spells and arrows harmlessly bounced off his vermilion plate armor but they left scratches and dents on the armor, Mars looked down and saw the armor quickly regenerated, Mars looked up again and looked at the soldiers that had surrounded him in a half circle and calmly spoke "those who surrender will survive this" "FIRE!" his words had no effect on the soldiers that let lose another volley of spells and arrows, Mars gave a sigh as he blocked the ones that had been aimed at his head before he activated [Half awaken] and [Instant movement], when he, an instance later returned to his original spot the area around him had turned silent before all the soldiers fell to the ground almost at the same time and a heavy smell of iron spread out in the surroundings, Mars looked at his trusty bone sword and saw it was chipped here and there, clearly it was unable to handle the stress it was put under, Mars activated [Energy: restoration] to repair his sword and gave a nod "this is a job for something else..." Mars sheathed his bone sword and pulled the adamantite broadsword of his back and calmly unrolled the cloth that covered the blade before he gripped the hilt tightly with a single hand and looked up at the enemy reinforcements that were streaming into the small plaza in front of the gate and calmly repeated "those who surrender will survive this" as the sun gradually rose over Glower the main force form Destra noticed that one of the gates had been broken and cautiously moved in as they feared an ambush, but inside the gate they found no enemy soldiers, only a small hill of ash, in fact ash covered most of the small plaza just inside the gate, moving towards the mansion in the middle of the town more and more piles of ash were discovered and so they began talking to the town folk one of which said "a-a fiend in vermilion armor moved through the streets late last night and slaughtered all the soldiers... the ash you see on the streets are what''s left of them" they of course didn''t believe the town folk at once, but after hearing similar tales from most of the town folk they talked with most of the main force soldiers felt a chill run down their spine as they looked at the ash piles around them, gradually the main force made their way to the lord''s mansion in the middle of the town, the mansion was surrounded by a small moat and one of the drawbridges were lowered, the general sent in some scouts that soon returned saying that they had found the fiend in vermilion armor, the general then asked "well what was it doing?" "it... well, it waved at us with a smile on its face, it''s sitting in the middle of the courtyard on a wooden chair" "very well... battle stations!" before the soldiers could take battle stations the general felt a cold wind and turned to look behind him froze, there it was, the vermilion fiend it walked up and clapped him on the shoulder and spoke "you''re finally here" "d-do I know you?" "ah... well I can see it would be hard to notice with this armor on" the fiends armor gradually turned into particles and revealed a person the general was a little familiar with "wait you''re Mars!?" "sure am" Chapter 178 War in the north 8 Mars looked at the general, he looked like he just seen a ghost or more likely a fiend "it was you who massacred the enemy soldiers!?" "what can I say, I was bored of your kind''s slow warfare" "my...kind..?" the general paled as he mumbled those words he was now sure Mars was some kind of fiend, Mars unaware of his thought clapped him on the shoulder and spoke in a happy tone "I''ll leave the rest in your capable hands general" the general trembled slightly before he gave a nod and watched as Mars walked back towards the walls, after Mars'' figure gradually disappeared in the distance one of the asides of the general spoke to him "general?" "oh... proceed with the occupation of the town, bring me to the lord I''ll personally negotiate his terms of surrender" "yes sir" as the general went to work Mars walked back out of the gates all the way back to the carriage and entered it where the twins and Karen were sleeping and laid down on the floor on his bedroll and looked up into the ceiling for sometime until he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep... ""Mars... wake up"" as someone called out to him Mars turned his back against the source of the sound and attempted to keep sleeping, unfortunately for him the two that called out to him were children and they didn''t know of the wonders of sleeping after having pulled an all-night-slaughter and soon two pairs of small hands began shaking him as they called out again "Mars... wake up!"" Mars soon surrendered to his fate and opened his eyes before he turned so he laid on his back and stared into the ceiling of the carriage, two pairs of white fluffy fox ears entered his vision, but that was all the warning he got before the twins jumped on top of him both of them landed with their knees right on his stomach and successfully pushed all the air out of his lungs "oof... what have I told you two about jumping on people?" Mars, now fully awake raised his head slightly and looked up at the twins that were staring back at him with innocent eyes which made Mars lose his will to grumble any longer so he simply greeted them "good morning Lee, Lily" ""good morning Mars!"" after Mars greeted the twins he went on with his morning routine, first he went and received a bowl of water at the water rationing post and used it to wash up, then he went to the mess hall and got some food along with the twins, on the way there they ran into Karen that had just filled the water reverses up with her water magic. At the mess hall, a big tent with sitting room for some 80 people food was served and Mars and the rest of the group sat down and ate at a table by themselves, while they ate a group of soldiers got into a scuffle at a nearby table, otherwise it was peaceful after all nobody wanted to mess with anyone at their table, one was responsible for the water supply another had conquered a town by himself and the rest could destroy a city wall if they had too, so generally the ordinary soldiers left them alone because of fear and/or respect. After they were done eating Mars announced his intentions to head home, of cause the twins were less than pleased and spoke up loudly in protest, Lee was brought to tears and latched onto Mars and loudly cried "you can''t go Mars!" Lily on the other hand thought for a moment before she gave a smile and asked Mars "can you take us with?" Mars looked at Lily for a moment before he gave a nod "sure, why not?" "wait Mars you''re bringing them with you?" "I don''t see why not... what about you Karen want to come with?" Karen gave a sigh before she massaged her temples for a bit before she eventually gave a nod "sure why not..? it''s just that I have to report to the general first" "sure thing, I''ll come with it will speed up the process I''m sure" just as Mars had said it did indeed speed up the process, when the general eventually had time to see them it only took one look at Mars before he turned into a yes man and allowed Karen''s leave as soon as he did he urged them out of his tent so he could return to his work. With Karen''s leave approved Mars, Karen and the twins walked into town and soon found a deserted alley where Mars opened a portal to Green river ""wow..."" the twins stared at the portal and so did Karen, she had heard rumors about Mars being a space-time mage at the academy, but seeing a portal being ripped in space was a first for her "come on steep though" ""okay!"" the twins fearlessly jumped through the portal leaving Karen and Mars in the deserted alley, Mars looked over at Karen and noticed she was trembling slightly and gave a slightly teasing smile before he grabbed her by the arm "come on, there''s nothing to be afraid of" "...with a smile like that I''m not so sure" "oh well..." Mars gave a sigh and began half dragging Karen towards the portal "w-wait Mars just give me a moment to brace myself!" Mars stopped walking for half a second before his smile widened slightly "nope~" Karen''s face paled as Mars dragged her through the portal... On the other side of the portal Karen opened her tightly shut eyes and looked around, in front of her was a giant garden Mars spoke up form besides her "welcome to my garden" Karen looked around for a few seconds before she commented "oh... it''s kind of nice" Mars gave a grin and said "wait till you see the rest of the building" "...what building?" "the one you''re standing on" Karen was confused but still followed after Mars as he walked over to a nearby staircase and asked "is the building underground?" Mars simply gave a smile and didn''t respond, after walking down the staircase Karen found herself in a brightly illuminated hallway at the end of which she saw something that took her breath away, Mars gave a smile and spoke proudly "welcome to Green river" Karen''s mouth opened as she looked out the window, she had never been up so high before, the awesome view stunned her completely, outside she saw countless building that stood at a height she previously could not imaging Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "i-is this Green river?" "yeah, as I said welcome to Green river" "Lily over here!" "Lee come back, we should wait for Mars" after Lily and Lee arrived at the rooftop garden Lee ran off leaving Lily no choice but to follow after him and soon both of them stood in front of a window and looked out with child-like wonder as their eyes grew wide and both looked at each other and said ""let''s go explore!"" running around the hallways Lee and Lily looked and touched everything they found interesting, in one of the rooms they found a big bed and jumped around on the springy mattress when suddenly both their ears twitched and stood up straight before they both turned their heads to the side "someones..." "...coming" Lee and Lily looked at each other and spoke at the same time ""hide!"" they jumped off the bed and crawled under the bed and quieted their breaths, instantly their presences became weak, soon someone entered the room and a pair of high heels entered their view followed by a woman''s voice "it''s no use in hiding, I know your there" the twins remained silent and suddenly the bed they were hiding under got lifted up by a gust of wind and the woman entered their view, she wore a pale businesses suit and had a pair of long ears clearly she was an elf, she looked down at the twins with cold eyes and asked "now what are two beastmen doing in here?" the twins hugged each other tight as they trembled in fear, but Lee managed to speak "j-j-just wait till Mars shows up, he''ll beat you up if you hurt us!" a glint of surprise flashed through the elf''s eyes as her expression softened somewhat before she waved her hand which made the floating bed shift over slightly before it was gently sat down, then she asked "was it Mars that brought you here?" this time it was Lily that spoke up, she had seen how the elf reacted to the name ''Mars'' so she was now relatively sure the elf would not hurt her or her brother "of course, who else could open a portal like that?" the elf paled a little and quickly bowed her head "in that case I''m sorry for scaring you, my name is Kaitlin I look after this building when Mars isn''t home" Chapter 179 Hel let loose 1 Mars walked around with Karen and showed her around his penthouse, soon Kaitlin showed up with the twins in tow and explained that she thought they were intruders, Mars gave a nod after listening to her explanation and looked at her, she had lowered her head and was clearly expecting some sort of punishment, Mars gave a sigh and put his hand on top of her head "well just be careful next time" "....yes boss" Kaitlin looked visibly relieved and with a sigh all the tension left her body, Mars gave a smile and asked "do you know where the girls are at the moment?" Kaitlin gave a nod "Elsa is out shopping, Varvei and Mary should be training at a local training hall and Chloe is helping her father with work, they should all be home at dinner time" "I see, which means we have some free time... say Kaitlin are you free right now?" "hmm... I have some work but nothing that can''t be pushed back a little, do you require anything of me?" Mars gave a nod and a smile "in that case can you show us around the city for a bit, I''m sure Lee and Lily would like to see some more interesting things" "yes that won''t be a problem" "okay... Karen do you want to join us?" "sure, why not" "okay then let''s go" and so the trip started with visiting the traditional elvish sweets shop in Mars'' building where the twins got to taste all the sweets they wanted (within reason of course), next they went outside the building and visited a local playground were the twins got to burn off their excess energy before they walked to the central bridge where they sat down on a bench and watched the river for sometime until they eventually returned to Mars'' building and relaxed while Kaitlin served them tea. Soon after the group had sat down Mars heard the front door opened and stood up from his seat, which confused Kaitlin "what''s wrong Mars?" "well I would not want the table to get turned over..." Kaitlin became even more confused but soon she also looked towards the front door and gave a knowing smile before she went back to chatting with Karen, soon someone opened the door to the living room and walked in "Mars you''re back!" the first one through the door was Elsa that ran over and hugged him, Mars hugged her back and said "I''m back" after sometime Elsa pulled back and asked "how long are you staying?" "hmm... I''ll have to head to Destra tomorrow to meet the king but besides that I don''t think I''ll have to leave home for awhile" "that''s good..." Elsa buried her head into Mars chest, Mars felt a pair of gazes from the side and looked over and saw the twins were staring at him with wide eyes which caused Mars to give a sigh but before he could do anything about it the door to the living room opened again and Mary walked in along with Varvei, both of them spotted Mars and without saying a word they both stormed over and hugged him, one from each side, after he calmed them down and told them how long he would be staying Chloe arrived and the process repeated itself, then Elsa and Mars went to the kitchen and began making food while Marry and Varvei showered and Chloe sat down and chatted with Karen and the twins, after the group were done eating Mars went ahead and showed the tired twins to a guest room where they soon fell asleep. Then Mars walked back to the living room and went to bed early since it had been a long time since he slept in proper bed and soon fell asleep... The next morning Mars opened his eyes, he was tired since the girls had woken him up around midnight for some... ''night gymnastics'' Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ''so tired... well it''s not like I have to meet the king by noon so I guess I can relax for a bit....'' Mars laid and stared into the ceiling for sometime until he began untangling himself from the girls and got out of bed and got dressed before he walked into the living room and saw Kaitlin was reading from a storybook for the twins, Mars gave a smile it looked like Kaitlin was still feeling rather guilty about the whole incident yesterday and had put in some effort to befriend the twins and it looked like it was working, Mars gave a smile and greeted them "good morning Lee, Lily and Kaitlin" the twins looked up from the picture book but only for a second before they looked back down again, apparently the story was it its climax and they were unable to pry their attention away, Kaitlin gave a wave to Mars while she read out loud for the twins, Mars walked over to the fridge and pulled out some leftovers, but having learned from last time Elsa caught him he only took a little and didn''t empty the fridge, satisfied with his haul Mars closed the fridge and walked over to the dinner table and began eating. When he was done eating the girls began waking up, going through their usual morning routines, Mars once again helped Elsa with cooking and soon the entire group was gathered around the dinner table and ate, Mars told them he would be heading to Destra to report to the king and no one, not even the twins objected so after he was done eating he walked up to the roof and called out "Victoria, I''m going to Destra do you want to come with?" "sure..." Victoria appeared behind him and rubbed the side of her face on his leg as she walked past him, Mars took a look at Victoria, she looked like she always did with her dark as night fur with red orange stripes and 4 sharp looking horns growing from her forehead, Mars kneeled down and petted her big fluffy ears which resulted in Victoria letting out a long purr "well then let''s go to Destra" Mars opened a portal to King''s city and steeped though followed by Victoria... On the other side of the portal Mars stepped out of the portal and felt something was wrong, it was too quiet to be in the middle of Destra''s biggest city, instantly alarm bells went off in his head and quickly Mars activated [Half-awaken] and even transformed into his half dragon form, then he closed his eyes and focused his other senses and immediately a strong scent of iron entered his nose, whatever had happened here clearly signified a lot of people having been killed for the smell of blood to be this intense, but there was one thing that made the hairs on Mars'' neck stand up ''there''s no bodies or blood in sight...'' what Mars observed was right, there were no corpses or even bloodstains it was just... empty of people. At this moment Victoria steeped out of the portal and when she did she began shaking and all the hair on her tail stood up before she jumped into Mars'' shadow and hid, a few seconds later Mars received a telepathic message from her "Mars... we should... run away" "I hear you..." Mars stood still for the next few seconds before his presence suddenly became weak and he almost disappeared in plain sight before he slowly began walking towards the edge of the city while hiding in the shadows, he would open another portal to get the hell out of here but fear that it would lead whatever that had caused the bloody smell in the city straight to him. Mars calmly walked down an ally and suddenly stopped as he felt a gaze sweep over the city, clearly something had noticed he had arrived and soon he felt something land in the plaza where he had arrived by portal, Mars stood still and swallowed his saliva as he felt the same powerful gaze sweep over the city, Mars froze as the gaze passed over him for a second but was instantly relieved when the gaze continued on before he slowly began moving again ''that was close...'' as Mars took another steep all the hair on his body suddenly stood up and he activated [Instant movement] and bolted from his previous position as he did the ground where he had just been standing instantly carved downwards as an invisible pressure crashed down where he had just been standing, crushing the ground and the nearby wall of the alley into fine dust, Mars reappeared in a spot a few hundred meters away and instantly reactivated [Instant movement] and disappeared just before an even larger area around where he had just been standing got crushed by the same invisible pressure, it looked like a giant invisible hammer smashed into the ground sending debris and dust flying into the air as the ground carved downwards into a perfect half circle, just after the second ''blow'' missed a hysterical voice of a woman spread out over the entire city "STAND STILL!" Mars reappeared and yelled back "no, I don''t think I will!" Chapter 180 Hel let loose 2 *BOOM* once again the ground where Mars just had been standing was crushed, only the area being crushed had expanded to the radius of a couple of homes, indicating the fury of the attacker ''shit, she''s really persistent'' Mars once again reappeared before he almost instantly reactivated [Instant movement] and disappeared again as the ground around where he had just been standing got crushed again "WHY WON''T YOU DIE!?" "cause I like living, obviously!" Mars kept dodging the invisible attacks while sweat dripped down his forehead, the continued use of [Instant movement] was taking its toll ''she''s obviously a living god... never mind that, she attacked me without reason, so let''s kick her down a peg'' Mars changed his direction and charged closer to the frenzied woman while dodging the attacks before he unsheathed his backup bone sword and threw it at her with [Instant movement], the might of [Half awaken] combined with [Instant movement] was not to be underestimated, as soon as he threw the sword a sonic boom sounded out and only an instant later the sword was buried in the chest of the woman that had been flying close behind Mars, she opened her eyes wide as she fell to the ground, Mars took that change to rip open a portal and jumped though... the moment the portal closed the frenzied woman opened her eyes again and pulled the bone sword out of her chest before she threw it aside and spread out her perception and soon detected that space had been torn apart nearby and gave a cold smile "you thought you could escape... just wait, I''ll offer your dead body to my honey in heaven, maybe that will change Information''s mind about bringing him back to me" the woman flew over and with her bare hands she ripped open the portal that had just closed and stepped though... On the other side of the portal a wide expand of white spread out but before she had a chance to take in the sights a giant blazing fireball descended upon her and exploded sending her flying, but due to her insane reaction speed she managed to not die from the impact and quickly scanned the environment for her target, but the moment she stood still a spear made of pure darkness penetrated her back and stomach from behind, looking down at the shadow spear the woman''s expression twisted and she activated [Half awaken] herself and pulled out the shadow spear with her hands, then Mars appeared in front of her, he was wielding his trusty bone sword and wore a set of armor made of pure vermilion blood lust and asked the woman "are you sure you want to continue this? if you do, I won''t hold back just because you are a woman" the woman activated a healing skill and healed the hole in her stomach before she gave a cold smile and said "whether you hold back or not won''t matter, I''ll still kill you!" "fine then I, Mars the living god of energy will kill you before that" the woman gave a cold snort before she suddenly lifted off the ground and began floating "I, Hel the living god of gravity will send you to the afterlife for the sake of my honey!" Mars didn''t waste any more words and kicked off the ground, he had deiced that it would be best to keep his usage of [Instant movement] to a minimum for the sake of energy conversion, not that his speed with [Half awaken] was any less than his speed without it and [Instant movement] activated, as Mars kicked off the ground the area where he had just been standing got depressed by an invisible gravity wave that sent chills down Mars'' spine ''definitely can''t get hit by that...'' Mars began circling Hel with varying speeds, dodging the gravity waves that Hel sent out to crush him while he sent out sword light after sword light, unfortunately they were blocked by some kind of shield that deflected them off into the distance, Victoria''s sneak attacks had some effect as they often hit Hel from behind where the shield was less concentrated and a few times they pierced through and hit Hel, overall the fight was tilting in Mars and Victoria''s direction ever so slightly. Suddenly Hel let out a hoarse scream which caused Mars to brace himself and as the seconds passed just as he started to wonder what she was doing he felt it, the gravity in the surrounding area increased by almost 2 g, which slowed Mars down by a lot ''oh shit!'' just as Mars mentally cursed a gravity wave descended from above and just managed to graze him tearing off the armor on his left arm as it mangled his left arm beyond recognition before it fell to the ground and got crushed into bloody pulp by the gravity wave, Mars gritted his teeth and deiced it was time to end this and activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view and appeared right behind Hel and slashed vertically at her neck hoping to decapitate her, but was surprised when his sword hit her vertebrae and got stuck halfway though ''shit what''s her bones made of!?'' Mars let go of his sword and kicked off Hel''s back to gain some distance, right when he did, he felt a gravity wave descend right where he had just been, that undoubtedly would have crushed him into a bloody pulp, landing on the ground Mars watched as Hel turned around mid air and then grabbed his bone sword that still was left in her neck and pulled it out with a cold face before she summoned a gravity wave that crushed the sword into fine dust before she spoke "what a poor swordsman without a sword, prepare to die!" Mars gave a cold smile and with his one remaining hand he pulled the broadsword off his back and wielded it with one hand and pulled the cloth off the blade of the broadsword with his teeth, when the blade was exposed Hel let out a gasp and for the first time she showed a fearful expression as she exclaimed "adamantite!" "that''s right, come have a taste!" Mars sent out a sword light, only this time it was much stronger than when he had shot off sword lights with his bone sword and easily pierced through Hel''s shield and left a long blood cut on her body, although most of the power was absorbed by the shield and it only left a shallow cut it was still some damage so Mars clenched his hand around the hilt of the broadsword before he kicked off the ground and began circling Hel again while he fired off sword lights after sword light while Hel attempted to crush him with her gravity waves, soon Hel''s body was covered in shallow wounds and her orcatial mocking words to Mars had turned into screams of pain, truly she was in for a death of a thousand cuts if she didn''t change the situation in her favor soon, but after 10 minutes the situation showed no signs of turning around and so Hel yelled out "I will remember this Mars!" then with a sonic boom she flew up above the clouds and disappeared, Mars kept up his guard for a few minutes in case of a surprise attack before he confirmed she was gone for good and lowered his broadsword and let out a sigh as he looked at where his left arm should have been ''the girls are not going to like this... oh well I can grow it out again in a months time'' Mars sat down on the frozen tundra, it had truly been the right call to come here, he had previously suspected that other living gods would be able to open recently closed portals made by other living gods and that suspicion had turned out to be true ''it''s a good thing I didn''t open a portal to Green river instead...'' Victoria appeared next to him as her horns flashed "Mars... are you... okay?" Mars patted Victoria on the head with his remaining hand and gave a smile Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I''m fine, just a little tired... anyway let''s head back to Destra" "we''re not... going home?" "no I need to check if the king still lives" "...and if he... doesn''t?" "then my deal with him would become void and that would be bad" Victoria tilted her head to the side, she was still a little confused but didn''t ask anymore, she just followed him through the portal to Destra... back at King''s city Mars quickly made his way through the empty streets and soon found where all the bodies had disappeared to, in the middle of the courtyard in front of the palace where a giant hill of mangled bodies that reached about 50 meters tall, Mars looked at the hill with emotionless eyes for a moment before he set it alight with his flame and near instantly the gruesome sight turned to ashes, Mars looked at the ashes that spared in the wind and saw a slightly burnt crown, the crown the king used the wear and gave a sigh before he turned to Victoria "let''s head home" Chapter 181 Destra no more 1 The events of the great King''s city massacre was not noted down in Destra''s so far glorious history, as for the reason why an event in which 15.000 people died was not in the in the Destrian history books was simple, Destra was no more. After the great King''s city massacre the front line against the empire collapsed and with local lords fighting internally about who should be the next king it was all to easy for the military faction of the empire to invade and occupy Destra which subsequently won them the civil war by using Desta''s reaming military might with wild abandon, it was simply put horrible for the former Destrian soldiers as they were soon bound by slave collars and sent off on impossible missions were they eventually laid down their lives for a country they hated to the bone. After the military faction won the civil war they renamed the empire into the new nationalistic empire or simply the NNE and with the generals still drunk on their victory in former Destra they invaded a country named Ringe which was rich in mana stone mines to the north but that''s a story for another time. Now 3 years have passed since the great King''s city massacre and in former Destra a young hunter is about to take his first steps as a member of the hunters guild, the young lad was named Terry and so far lived a rather miserable life as he grew up in a state run orphanage which was run by a corrupt director that sold most of the children into slavery, one of the reasons Terry was not sold was that he had a rather large birthmark in the middle of his face which scared off most of his potential ''owners'', Tarry himself was rather found of his birthmark as he knew it was one of the reasons he was not sold into slavery, as for the other main reason... That was a rather sore spot for Tarry most of his life so he did his best to counteract his ''problem'' when he was little but when he grew up and turned 15 he learned that the so called ''problem'' was actually a gift, but that was still a few days till he realized that. Currently Terry had just taken and passed the test for becoming a member of the hunter''s guild so he was in a rather good mood and with his savings of 1500 cel he when out into the town to buy some equipment, walking into the first and best weapons shop Terry called out to the owner "hey uncle I''m looking for a weapon" the weapons shop owner was a man in his late 40''s and had a thick beard on his squarish face, he looked over Terry and gave a frown when he saw how thin and weak looking he was but when his gaze passed over the wooden hunters tag he wore around his neck the weapons shop owner knew he would be unable to chase Terry away and asked with a slightly fed up tone "what kind of weapon do you want?" Terry tilted his head to the side and asked back "what kind of weapon do you think would suit me?" Terry was by no means stupid and knew a lot about observing expressions so when he saw a hint of a pondering expression on the weapons shop owners face he knew that he was actually thinking about his question "hmm... a sword is too expensive to maintain for you, your to thin armed for a club... follow me" "what for?" "hey kid I''m doing you a rare services so shut up and follow me" Terry gave a nod and followed the weapons shop owner out the back into a small backyard where the owner picked up a bow and handed it to Terry before he said "try to draw the sting" Terry gave a nod and grabbed the grip on the bow and tried pulling the string, at first he found it quite hard and looked over at the weapons shop owner to judge his reaction, by the looks of it he was not doing too good. Then just before the weapons shop owner was about to give up on Terry and chase him out of his shop something amazing happened, Terry suddenly felt his mind clear and then he tired to draw the string again and to both his and the weapons shop owner this time he succeeded rather easily and simply drew back the sting until it was pulled back all the way, the weapons shop owner pulled back his confusion and didn''t ask Terry if he was messing with him but simply fetched an arrow and gave it to Terry "now try to put the arrow on the string before you pull back the string... remember to rest the arrow on the arrow rest" "okay..." Terry did as he was asked and once again cleared his mind once more before he pulled back the string this time with the arrow attached and resting on the arrow rest "good now bring your arm holding the grip out straight and the hand holding the string up to your chin" Terry did as he was told and soon took a somewhat amateurish stance with his arrow ready "...now line up the arrow with the fence over there and when you are ready let go of the string" Terry gave a nod and lined up the arrow with the target before he once again cleared his mid and let go of the arrow, sending it flying for a short moment before the arrow struck the target, letting out a satisfying sound, the weapons shop owner gave a nod and told Terry "keep practicing for a bit I''ll be right back" Terry gave a nod and walked over to pick up the arrow before he returned to his previous position and stood ready before he let loose the arrow once again before he repeated the process... Find authorized novels in WebnovelŁ¬faster updates, better experienceŁ¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. a couple hours later the weapons shop owner returned and found Terry in a trance like state where he fird off an arrow before he retrieved it and then he collected it and repeated the process. A glint flashed in the weapon shops owners eyes before he silently walked back into the shop. At some point Terry woke from his daze and looked around, it was dark and his stomach rumbled as it begged for food "you''re finally out of your trance" "oh uncle sorry I was just so caught up in it that I---" "you don''t need to apologize... you can come back tomorrow to practice some more, if you go out and hunt magic beasts like that you will just end up getting yourself killed" Terry knew the weapons shop owner was doing him a huge favor but because of his upbringing he knew people acting nice were just people looking for advantages in the future therefore he bluntly asked "what do you get out of this uncle?" the weapons shop owner scratched the back of his head looking a little embarrassed before he suddenly put on a serious face and spoke "if you get free training here you''ll feel indebted to me right? plus you won''t get yourself killed so soon because you know some skills" "yes... and?" "and then I''ll have a loyal customer that might make it to gold rank in the future, you see where I''m going with this?" "...I see, thanks for the help uncle" "don''t call me uncle, makes me feel so old call me Brian instead" "okay Brian... see you tomorrow then" "see you kid" and just like that though luck Terry found a place where he could practice archery for free, when he eventually found an inn he used 500 cel to rent a room for a week, seeing 1/3 of his total fortune disappear like that Terry knew he had to work hard and work hard he did, during the week he had set off the practice he improved tremendously and when the week was up the weapons shop owner Brian even gifted him the bow he had used to practice with, saying it had lost its value now that he had been using it for so long and therefore he might as well just gift it to Terry instead of throwing it out. Terry then brought 3 iron headed arrows for 200 cel from Brian before he went back and extended his stay at the local inn by another week before he went to bed he made a plan for tomorrow "I need to start making some money so tomorrow I''ll head to the guild and see what kind of herbs they are buying before I head off to the Mother forest" with his plan made Terry slowly drifted off to sleep unknowing that he just had taken his first step towards changing his destiny for the bette Chapter 182 Destra no more 2 Terry took a deep breath before he stepped into the hunters guild, he had only been there once so far and his experience was all that good with the hunters guild, but that was mostly due to his own ''fault''. Anyways he was here now so he might as well take a look inside, stepping into the guild the first thing Terry noticed was the smell of leather armor and the bustle of the place, simply put, there was a lot of people moving around making the guild seem more narrow than it actually was. Terry pushed his way through the crowds and soon arrived in front of the request board where all kinds of requests were posted, from hunting wild game to gathering wild herbs and plants, Terry looked at the common requests that had pictures drawn of the herbs/plants and memorized their looks before he squeezed his way out of the guild again ''good... now let''s head into the forest...'' Terry made his way out of town, showing his guild tag at the gates before he made his way over the grass fields on his way to the forest, specifically the Mother forest, Terry looked up at the expanse of green and thought to himself ''they say there''s elvers living deep in the forest and sometimes they come out to hunt people in the other forest... best to keep my wits about me and stay alert...'' Terry stepped into the forest and began searching for wild herbs and plants, at the start he was quite lucky and found a patch of wild garlic which he harvested and put into his pouch ''6 wild garlic that''s 60 cel right there, guess I''m pretty lucky'' soon his ears picked up some movement and he quickly got his bow off his back and drew an arrow and pointed it in the direction where the sounds came from ''maybe it''s a rabbit... I hear the pelt alone is 200 cel'' Terry stood completely still and waited as the source of the sound came closer, he did his best to calm his beating heart as he waited but soon he was disappointed as it turned out that the source of the sounds were a group of hunters leaving the forest, they all walked right past him yet none of them looked at him, this was his ''flaw'' at work again. Terry walked deeper into the forest on the way he found a couple of wild herbs which sold for about 100 cel in total and then it happened, his ears once again picked up some sound and he quickly stood ready with his bow and arrow as he waited for the sound to come closer ''it''s probably just some other hunters again...'' not overcome with expectation this time Terry stood ready with his bow and waited and soon it appeared, Terry''s eyes bulged as he stared at it ''it''s actually a rabbit!'' Terry carefully took aim at the brown rabbit that had hopped its way about 10 meters in front of him, Terry knew that his hit ratio at this distance was not all that good so he let out a silent prayer before he let the arrow lose that then flew through the air before it stuck the rabbit right in the heart ''I did it!'' Terry almost jumped for joy but before he got completely carried away he ran up to the rabbit and confirmed it was dead before he pulled out the arrow and threw the rabbit into his pouch and looked up at the sun "...I''ll better start heading back" having made his decision Terry began making his way out of the forest by following his footsteps, he didn''t want to risk getting lost by taking another route out of the forest, even though he knew he was unlikely to find anymore wild herbs or plants by taking the same route back he didn''t know the forest well enough yet that he wanted to test his luck, plus his harvest for today was rather good. On the way back Terry passed tough a clearing and suddenly herd a cry from his back and turned around, there stood a short green skinned figure with a primitive spear in its hands "shit a goblin!" Terry quickly took his bow off his back and readied an arrow, meanwhile the goblin closed in on him with its spear pointed toward him, when it was about 15 meters away Terry let loose his first arrow which missed by a wide margin "shit!" Terry quickly pulled out another arrow and drew the string again before he let loose arrow number two which struck the goblin in the stomach causing it to let out an enraged roar as it continued closing the distance "fuck!" Terry drew out his last arrow and put it on the arrow rest as he drew back the string of the bow, just before he let loose the arrow he felt his head clear, then he let loose the arrow which flew through the air for less than a second before it struck the goblin right in its left eye as it fell over backwards and twitched a few times before it laid silent, Terry felt the strength in his legs leave him as he sat down on the spot as cold sweat dripped down his forehead and he tried to catch his breath for a few moments before he suddenly stood up again ''I need to leave fast, goblins are pack magic beasts!'' Terry quickly fetched his arrows including the one he had missed with first before he pulled out the two that still sat in the goblin before he pulled out a dagger which he had received from Brian and cut off the long goblin ears before he stabbed the goblin in the chest and cut it open and retrieved a small magic beast core "I''m rich!" then he dried off most of the blood on his hands on the grass before he got on his feet and quickly left behind the clearing behind... Back at the guild Terry pushed his way through the crowds again and walked up to one of the empty reception desks where a bored looking guild employee sat on a chair and messed with her nails, Terry walked all the way up to the desk and spoke up "excuse me" the guild employee looked up and gave a slight frown when she saw Terry''s face, Terry however ignored it and put his pouch up on the desk as he spoke "I would like to sell some stuff" "sure let me have a look..." the guild employee pulled out the things from Terry''s pouch and counted them "herbs and plants for a total of 160 cel, a whole rabbit 350 cel and finely a goblin set of ears and magic beast core 400 cel, for a grand total of 910 cel" the guild employee then took out 9 silver coins and a single copper coin and handed it over to Terry "here you are" "t-thanks" Terry took the cel with slightly trembling hands before he stuffed them down in his coin pouch and made his way out of the guild and made his way back to the inn where he was staying and extended his stay by another week by paying 500 cel before he walked up the stairs to his room and collapsed into his bed and soon fell asleep... the following week Terry went to the forest every day and grew his fortune to about 3000 cel, which was considered excellent for a newly started hunter, he used that cel to buy an additional 3 iron headed arrows from Brian for 200 cel as well as a short sword for 500 cel as a bonus form Brian he also received a whetstone and a cleaning cloth in his purchase for free which he was grateful for, he also purchased a set of light leather armor which cost him 800 cel so he no longer needed to go into the forest with his usual clothes which speared him some embarrassment, plus the light leather armor was more likely to stop a primitive spear than his usual clothes. The time right now was early morning and Terry was in the process of inspecting his equipment for damage, he went over each arrow with matriculate care and attention before he carefully but them into his quiver, when he was done he gave a nod "good" next was his bow, he studied the string for damages and the grip for nicks, after finding it in tip top from he went over his light leather armor and his new, yet to be used short sword, there was not much to be seen on the blade of his short sword since he had yet to use it. Finished inspecting his equipment he wore his light leather armor and fastened the sheath of his short sword to his hip were he could easily draw it then he fastened his quiver to the other side of his hip and swung his bow over his shoulder and gave a nod "well then let''s do my best again today" Chapter 183 Destra no more 3 As Terry walked off the dirt road into the more wild forest his breathing unknowingly began to slow down as well as his heart rate, he stepped on the moss covered forest floor while he scanned the trees and forest floor around him for wild plants and game as he walked deeper into the forest ''steady now...'' a change from when he first set foot in the forest was that he had his bow in his left hand with an arrow ready on the arrow rest so he only needed to draw back the string to fire it off instead of having to retrieve it from his quiver first,this tactic was by no means uncommon and had already netted him 4 rabbits and a forest bird so this had become the new norm for him whenever he was in the forest. Right now he stood and leaned up against a tree as he took aim at a bird sitting on a branch a few tens of meters away, a few seconds later he let the arrow fly and quickly it struck the bird that fell down on the forest floor ''yes!'' Terry did a fist pump and began walking over towards his kill but suddenly felt something watching him and stopped walking as he looked around, but after a few seconds the feeling disappeared again ''...maybe it was just my imagination? well whatever with this forest bird I''m one step closer to reaching stone rank!'' ranks for the hunters guild were like the ones from the mercenaries guild starting from lowest to highest was wood, stone, iron, steel, silver, gold, platinum, mythril and finally adamantite. Reaching stone from wood rank signefired a more than just a leap in one rank, it was often a cruel joke that circled around the upper ranks that the reason the lowest rank was wood was because wood disappeared after a while in the forest, if the lower rank was iron instead the forest floor would be filled with rusted iron tags as being a hunter, especially in the lower ranks was dangerous work, in fact it was only at steel rank that--- "stop right there" Terry nearly jumped up from surprise but did as the voice that sounded out right behind him asked and stopped moving "good... now drop the bow" Terry reluctantly dropped the bow and arrow on the forest floor before he raised his hands above his head, it was only now that he realized that the voice that was speaking to him in the common language had a heavy accent ''don''t tell me it''s an elver..!'' "good now turn around" Terry slowly turned around and came face to face with what he feared an elven woman clad in leather armor that was pointing an arrow towards him, but beyond shock there was also amazement ''she sure is beautiful...'' the elver had pale smooth skin and shoulder length blonde hair and emerald green eyes, her figure was somewhat slender but she still had curves in all the right places "(by the 13, what''s that on his face!)" the elver spoke something in elvish which Terry didn''t understand as she frowned, although Terry didn''t understand what she was saying he had seen those eyes and that frown before and explained "this is a birthmark, I was born with it" the elver cutely tilted her head to the side as she repeated after Terry "birth.... mark?" Terry gave a nod and pointed at his birthmark "this is a birthmark" "I see... wait keep your hands up!" Terry quickly put his hands up again and stared at the elver while he waited for the next instruction, he knew she was unlikely to kill him as long as he followed her instructions as she could have easily killed him when she had snuck up behind him "now walk that way" the elver gestured to the way she wanted Terry to walk and Terry gave a nod and began walking for a bit before he stopped and slowly turned around to face the elver again that had a frown on her face "what is it human?" "my name is Terry... could you pick up my bow, it was a gift from someone" the elver gave a deep frown but eventually she picked up the bow and carried it with her "thank you" "....now move!" "okay, still this way?" "yes now move!" "okay" Terry began walking with his hands raised above his head, after walking for about 15 minutes he arrived at a clearing where a bunch of elvers was gathered along with a group of hunters that was sat down in the middle of the clearing, Terry was ordered over and sat down next to the other hunters and waited, the other hunters were pale, clearly they expected to be killed by the elvers but Terry closely opsevred the elvers facial expressions and was pretty sure they weren''t going to kill them... A couple hours later the group of captured hunters had grown to about 50 people, at this point the elvers got them all on their feet before they began leading them further into the forest, while they walked the hunters whispered to each other as they began formulating an escape plan in secret, however no one shared the plan with Terry, he of course knew that it was his ''flaw'' that was at work again and simply ignored it, anyways he knew the elvers were not going to kill them anyways so why risk his life by trying to escape? After walking for about 30 minutes the group arrived at an even larger clearing where a group of elvers stood ready to receive them "(line them up and let the captain have a look at them!)" one of the elvers yelled something which the other elvers reacted to and soon the group of about 50 hunters were lined up in a single file "look over there a human walking with the elvers!" Terry looked over and saw a person walking with two elvers, one on each side he had short black hair and blue eyes and wore casual clothes, he also carried two pale swords on his right side, each in their own sheath, but what took most of Terry''s attention was that he seemed to be speaking elvish with the elvers that walked beside him. Soon he arrived and stood in front of the lined up hunters and spoke "err... sorry about the inconvenience, as long as you follow the orders I, or the elvers give you will be set free and your weapons will be returned to you in due time" the other hunters let out sighs of relief, but some of the hunters were dissatisfied and began yelling at the man "who do you think you are, I''ll have you know that---" the hunter that yelled would most likely have continued yelling at the man but before anyone noticed the man was right in front of the hunter and grabbed the hunter by the neck before he lifted him up into the air and spoke out in a slightly chilly tone "or you can not follow the orders you receive and end up being squashed like a bug, you choose yourself" the man let go of the hunter that began coughing as soon as he was free and the man slowly walked back to his original position and began looking the hunters over from left to right, Terry tensed up when he walked in front of him but thankfully he didn''t stop and kept walking ''thank the 13...'' just as Terry was feeling relieved the man stopped and walked backwards until he stood in front of Terry and suddenly showed a smile before he asked "what''s your name kid?" ''what do you mean kid? you are not much older than me... right?'' "my name is Terry" "I see..." the man looked over Terry and suddenly grabbed towards his neck, just as Terry closed his eyes in fright he felt his guild tag being lifted up and slowly opened his eyes and saw that the man was inspecting the guild tag before he asked "are you a new hunter?" "y-yes I started two weeks ago" the man gave a nod before he showed a smile and said "you''re coming with me" the man ignored Terry''s confusion and looked back as he asked something in elvish "(who caught this one?)" the elver that had caught Terry raised her hand, the man gave a nod before he spoke again "(good you are also coming with me, as for the rest of them let them loose)" the man began walking a few steps before he turned around to face Terry that stood still "as I said you''re coming with me kid, so please follow after me" "...okay" Terry began following after the man that walked across the clearing and turned around and stood and waited for the other hunters to get out of the clearing before he gave Terry a clap on the shoulder with a gentle smile on his face "don''t worry I won''t harm you little brother" Chapter 184 Destra no more 4 While they waited for the hunter to clear out of the clearing the man introduced himself as Mars and for some reason he kept calling Terry ''little brother'', he also introduced the female elver that had caught Terry originally as Helene then he fell silent, he seemed to be waiting for something, then suddenly he gave a clap and said "well then let''s get going..." then something.... unbelievable happened, first Mars'' hand began changing the nails growing longer into claws and the rest of the skin on his hand got covered in red half transparent scales, then he slashed out into empty air with his transformed hand and a thin line was formed in the air before it expanded into a person sized black hole that just floated in the air "Ill go first, Helene make sure Terry follows" Mars then walked over and stepped through the black portal disappearing from the clearing, Terry struggled with closing his gaping mouth and looked over at Helene that let out a giggle when she saw his face, Terry blushed a little and closed his gaping mouth before he asked Helene "am I supposed to walk though that?" Helene gave a nod and gestured for Terry to go first "well then..." Terry swallowed his saliva and walked over to the portal and inspected it from close range, then he put his hand into the portal and pulled it out again before he gathered his courage and stepped though... On the other side of the portal Terry opened his eyes and looked around before he muttered "are those... buildings?" Mars gave a smile but didn''t explain, Helene was the one that explained while looking rather proud of her home "we call the tallest buildings sky trees, like that one over there, that''s the captain''s building" Terry looked over at Mars with wonder in his eyes "you own a building Mars? that''s amazing!" "well I am rather amazing myself you know, well whatever let''s head to the temple and have a chat with Info" Terry didn''t know who this ''Info'' was but assumed that it was one of the priests and followed after Mars through the busy streets of Green river, on the way Mars noticed people kept bumping into Terry and asked about it, Terry scratched his nose for a bit before he spoke about it "well the truth is I was born with two flaws, one of them being my birthmark, the other being people have a hard time noticing me" "I see..." Mars nodded along meanwhile Helene suddenly spoke up "I knew there was something like that, I had a really hard time finding you in the forest even when I knew you were there" soon the group of 3 arrived at the temple where Mars lead the way inside and while he spoke with the priest did Helene ask Terry something that was bothering her "you never been to a temple before Terry?" "no it''s too expensive" Helene tilted her head to the side as she repeated "expensive?" Terry gave a nod "yeah in Dest--- no I guess it''s the NNE now, anyway it costs cel to visit a prayer room so it''s often only high rank guild members or nobles that can afford it" "then how do you get your job?" Terry gave a sigh and slowly shook his head "we don''t get a job, it''s not unusual to see a person live their whole life without getting a job" "that''s really strange..." "well that''s how I''m used to it" a job was something the 13 had blessed the people with, to get one one simply had to visit a prayer room inside a temple after one turned 15 to see what kinds of jobs were available to choose from, then one could pick a job, for example a job named ''novice bowman'' that would help a person learn about how to handle a bow and help a person improve their accuracy by up to 5% while one leveled up the job. Once a job reaches level 10 one would be able to change it to a more advanced version of the same job, for example from ''novice bowman'' to ''beginner bowman'' which would help improve more than the novice version of the job, this however was to far away from Terry as the NNE had passed a law which made it impossible to enter a prayer room without paying upwards of 3.000 cel of cause this price would be void if one was a member of the temple or the military, so he had never been in a temple much less a prayer room before. Soon Mars finished his talk with the priest and walked over to Terry and Helene "Terry come with me, Helene wait here for us to return" "yes captain" Terry gave a nod and followed after Mars further into the temple, after descending some stairs and making some turns they arrived in front of a large door which Mars opened before he walked inside to room, Terry followed after and observed the inside of the prayer room, it was luxuriously decorated to say the least which made him feel greatly out of place as he carefully stepped on the soft carpet inside the room, meanwhile Mars walked in like he owned the place and walked up to the crystal ball in the middle of the room and put a hand on it, Terry felt a sudden gust of wind as the door slammed shut right behind him and robotic voice sounded out inside the room [SUBJECT NUMBER 4 AND NUMBER 5 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] "I knew it..." "knew what Mars?" Mars turned around and looked over Terry once more, only this time there was a different look in his eyes as he asked "hey Terry would you like to move to Green river?" "...why would you say that?" Mars gave a sigh and put on a slightly angry face "are you still going to play stupid? I''m subject number 4 and you are the brand new subject number 5, in other words you''re the same as me... well whatever let''s just call her, request descend" at this point in time Terry was very confused and even slightly afraid, he knew Mars was angry at him he just had no idea why he was angry [SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST CONFIRMED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, STARTING DESCEND...] suddenly he felt it, something was coming Terry shifted his gaze to the lifeless avatar that lay on the altar as he unconsciously took a step back and asked Mars with a slightly trembling voice "M-Mars what did you just do?" Mars showed a slightly teasing smile and shrugged his shoulders "I just called her" "w-who?" "Info" "...Info?" meanwhile the pressure surrounding the avatar got increasingly heavy as... something divine was descending into the avatar, which made him increasingly uneasy, Mars once again shrugged his shoulders "oh right her name is Information, one of the 13" Terry heard the words coming out of Mars'' mouth but was unable to comprehend what they meant and just stared at the avatar that slowly lifted off the altar and looked at the two of them with its glowing eyes and gave a smile "welcome Terry, we have a lot to talk about" Terry pointed to himself, could it be that the avatar had confused him with some other great hero named Terry? "m-me?" "yes you Terry" Terry fell silent but gave a nod "now let''s sit down and talk... Mars you can stay if you want" Mars gave a nod and looked over at Terry before he asked "do you want me to stay Terry?" Terry gave a weak nod which caused Info''s gentle smile to shine even more before she waved her hand and said "that''s good that there''s such a good relationship between you guys already" then Info waved her hand and a table and 3 chairs appeared in the prayer room, Mars took quickly took his seat and Terry followed rather slowly while staring at the furniture that appeared out of nowhere but still took his seat and looked over at the avatar that floated over and also sat down at the table "well first off I should introduce myself, I am Information or as Mars calls me Info" Info showed a brilliant smile as she introduced herself which stunned Terry a little but he quickly pulled himself together and gave a nod, he had a hard time accepting that one of the 13 was sitting across the table from him but decided to get to the matter at hand "so lady Information, why did you want to see me?" "well that''s because you have been chosen as a new living god" "....a living god?" "yes actually you were chosen 3 years ago when Mars killed off Yirmir, another living god but you have never visited a temple... if you had not shown up I would have descended in front of you in a couple of days" Terry felt his head spinning but after a little while he asked "....so what is a living god?" Chapter 185 War once again 1 "...what is a living god?" while Terry asked that question he gave a sidelong glance at Mars that sat and behaved himself, looking nothing like the so called ''living god'' Info had just said, hell he himself had been a living god for 3 years apparently and just didn''t realize that Terry was a little skeptical to say the least, could this all just be some elaborate prank? Perhaps sensing Terry''s mistrust Info gave a slight frown before she explained "a living god is one of 5 supreme beings that roam Alfan they all have 2 things in common, they are semi immortal and all of them have a specific class" "semi immortal? what do you mean semi immortal?" Info gave a smile "well basically they don''t die if you kill them... I think it''s easier to explain if I show you your status first... try chanting ''status''" Terry gave a nod, he had learned how to chant in the orphanage although he had no idea what his natural element of magic was, looking back at it that was probably on purpose so the staff could easily control the children, after all nobody wanted to deal with a 7 year old fire mage throwing a tantrum "....status" Terry chanted and as he exhaled a wisp of white smoke was expelled from his lungs and began forming letterers in the air in front of him which read: Name: Terry Age: 15 Race: Human Titles: [Living god of hunting] Class: [Hunting] Class level: 0 Status points: Strength [1/100] Constitution [1/100] Dexterity [1/100] Intelligence [1/100] Wisdom [1/100] Charisma [1/100] Active skills: none Class skills: [Bow mastery] Passive skills: [Stealth lv 7] "what is this..?" "that''s your status" Mars peaked over and gave a slight frown, Terry''s starting status was simply to far from his starting status, not only did he have way more skills he also had way higher status point caps, Mars gave a sigh and thought to himself ''I guess the world really is unfair...'' meanwhile Info continued explaining about the status "can you see the values under the status points section? if you were to die they would decrease by a factor equal to the blow from your death, then if even one of them is still above one you would simply come back to life again" Terry swallowed his saliva and stared blankly at his status before he asked "...then what if they all become equal to 0?" "then you die for real" "....I see, so that''s what you mean with semi immortal" "yes it''s good that you''re a smart child" being a 15 year old teenager Terry monetarily felt his pride being hurt by being called a child but dealt with it without showing it on his face, then Mars spoke up "wait why wasn''t Terry reincarnated into a vessel like me?" Info gave a smile "that''s because Alfan have run out of empty vessels, so we created a new one with Terry''s body... well all I can say is that it has been a trend to destroy the vessels of living gods after they die so very few living gods nowadays is actually reincarnated like you Mars" "I see..." Terry looked over at Mars and asked "wait Mars how old are you then?" Mars leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment "well... if you don''t count my past life then I''m 3 years old, but if you do then I''m 226 years old" "I see... well that explains a lot" Info let out a small giggle and smiled before she said "well in my eyes you are both just children" both Mars and Terry gave a sigh before Info turned and looked at Mars "I''m sorry Mars, next I need to talk privately to Terry about his skills so could you leave first?" "sure" "then off you go" Info waved her hand and then space warped around Mars and the next instance he was standing in the lobby of the temple "captain you have returned, where is Terry?" Mars looked over and saw Helene and gave a smile before he walked over and took a seat on the bench she also was sitting on "he''s still talking with her" "oh... I see" looking at Helene growing visibly disappointed that Terry was not back yet Mars'' smile grew a bit but he decide not to tease her about it and painterly sat and waited with her until Terry walked out into the lobby half an hour later, Mars gave a refreshing smile and walked over and clapped him on the shoulder and asked "confused?" Terry gave a nod "a little... I think I need to sleep on it for it all to make sense..." "then why don''t you stay at my place tonight?" "sure..." Terry still seemed rather distracted, most likely he was still trying to figure the whole thing out and that would take time "well then let''s be off, Helene your coming too" "m-me?" "yes you, don''t tell me you are going to refuse my gracious invitation?" Helene visablely panicked before she quickly gave a salute and half shouted "no it would be my honor captain!" "I see, well then let''s go" Mars lead the way through the crowds of Green river and just as the sun was setting they reached his building and took the mana powered elevator up to Mars'' penthouse (the elevator was Mars'' own design and was currently in a testing period before he would sell copies to other buildings in green river) as soon as they stepped off the elevator Mars was jumped by two figures ""it''s Mars!"" Mars gave a slightly helpless smile for a moment before he patted the twins on the head, after Destra had fallen Mars offered the twins and Karen to stay in Green river which all 3 agreed on, currently the twins were living with Mars and Karen had moved out to live with her girlfriend. After 3 years the twins had grown a lot, that was understandable as they now were 14 years old and in their growth spurt and even outsiders were starting to be able to tell them apart as Lee grew more masculine and Lily grew more feminine, but one thing still had not changed they were still attached to Mars and currently showed no signs of entering the dreaded rebellious phase of their teenage years, they had also grown 2 heads taller with Lily being a little shorter than Lee but both of them reached up to Mars'' chest, after Lee was done getting his head pats he looked over and saw both Terry and Helene "hi Helena" then he turned to Terry and introduced himself while he reached out his hand "hello my name is Lee" Terry shock Lee''s hand and introduced himself "my name is Terry, it''s nice to meet you Lee" Lee gave a smile and looked over at Lily and introduced her "this is my twin sister Lily" Lily was a little shy and simply gave Terry a quick bow before she ran off, seeing this Lee scratched his cheek a little awkwardly "don''t mind her, she''s just a little shy" Terry gave a nod, he certainly was not going to take offence from such a thing with all the stuff he had been through in the orphanage, then Mars asked Lee "are the others home?" "yeah, Elsa is cooking and the others are lazing around in the living room" "I see, well then let''s go in and greet them" Mars once again lead the way from the mana elevator into the living room, while they walked Lee talked a lot with Terry as he had longed for a male friend for a long time since it was a woman dominant household when they reached the living room Mars found 3 couch potatoes, one on each couch lazing around, seeing this Mars gave a sigh and simply said "I''m home" then the 3 couch potatoes, or rather Varvei, Chloe and Mary sprang to life and jumped up from their couch before they ran over and hugged Mars, then Mars turned to Terry and introduced them "this is Varvei, Chloe and Marry They are my women" only now did the girls notice that there was a stranger in the midst of the group and turned their gazes at Terry, after looking at him for a few seconds Chloe gave a sigh "thank god it''s not another woman..." Varvei was quick to agree and nodded her head, so did Mary, this caused Mars to be a little grumpy as he protested "hey I do have male friends you know" Chloe narrowed her eyes and asked "like who?" ".........like Alvin" "that took you way too long... well whatever" then Elsa walked out of the kitchen and also joined the group hug while Mars introduced her "and finally this is Elsa, she''s also my woman" Terry was a little embarrassed meeting all these beauties at once and blushed a little as he introduced himself "my name is Terry, nice to meet you all" Chapter 186 War once again 2 After Terry had lived with Mars and the others for a few days he seemed to have accepted his new identity as a living god and sought out Mars that was lazing around on the roof, he was laying in the sunshine with Victoria on top of him and lightly sleeping but woke up when Terry walked over and looked up at him with a smile on his face, during the past days Mars had showed great care to Terry truly treating him like a little brother "hey Terry" "hi Mars... can we talk for a bit?" "sure" Mars sat up and turned to face Terry with Victoria on his lap purring away "so what do you want to talk about?" "....it''s a little embarrassing to ask but could you train me in archery?" Mars gave a slight frown and said in a slightly stern tone "don''t ever be embarrassed about seeking out ways to get stronger... while I don''t know a whole lot about archery there''s another thing I could teach you how to use, yeah let''s do that" Mars nodded to himself and gently lifted Victoria off his lap before he stood up and began walking towards the stairs but stopped seeing as Terry was not following him and said "come on Terry, I want to show you something" "okay Mars" Mars lead the way down the stairs and after walking through the hallways for a few minutes they reached his workshop where Mars opened the door and walked in, Terry followed after and was amazed at how cluttered the workshop was, there was drawings and mathematics formulas on the walls and loose parts all over the tables, the only saving grace was that the floor was clean and tidy, Mars began to dig tough the parts and eventually pulled.... something out of the heap, at first glance it looked like a rectangle with a leather stock in one end and a narrow metal tube sticking out the other end, there was also a grip with a trigger positioned under thing right in the middle, Mars picked it off the table and took a stance before he gripped the grip and pushed the leather stock against his shoulder and lined up his eye with the sight before he pointed it at a reinforced wall and slowly squeezed the trigger before a click sounded out and Mars quickly took the thing down from his shoulder and removed a part of it and took a magic beast core up form a nearby table and inserted it into the removable thing before he put the removable thing back into the rectangle and took a stance again and slowly squeezed the trigger, this time Terry just managed to fell a wave of odd before a spike shot out form the from the rectangle and hit the reinforced wall, boring itself deep into the wall, then Mars turned to Terry and asked "what do you think?" Terry didn''t answer and walked over to Mars and revived the rectangle thing from him before he himself took aim at the reinforced wall while mimicking Mars'' stance from before and also pulled the trigger while aiming at the reinforced wall and with a bang a spike once again shot out and hit the reinforced wall, Terry gave a nod and said "I like it" Mars also gave a slime and took the rectangle thing from from Terry before he flipped a switch on the side of it and laid it back down on the table "this is called a spike gun, it''s my own personal invention and it''s powered by magic beast cores or mana crystals" "....so that''s why I have never seen this kind of weapon before" "yeah it''s something from my past life that has been adapted to this world.... let''s go on a hunting trip" "a hunting trip?" "yeah what better way to get adjusted to a new weapon then actually using it?" Terry gave a nod and after a basic course about how to use the spike gun Mars was about to open a portal when Kaitlin ran into the workshop, she looked greatly distressed but as soon as she saw Mars she seemed to calm down a bit before she spoke "Mars the elders have called for you" Mars clicked his tongue in annoyance before he bluntly asked "what does dose undead geezers want now? I''m about to head out with Terry so if it is not important I''ll ignore it" "the NNE have invaded the Mother forest" "...shit that does sound important, sorry Terry our hunting trip will have to wait" Terry gave a nod and Mars was about to walk out of the room when he remembered something and turned back to Terry and asked "have you decided if you want to live in Green river Terry?" "eh..? erm... I think I want to stay" "that''s good enough, then follow me I''ll introduce you to the elders" "okay... but who are the elders?" "they are the governing body of Green river, basically they rule the place" "eh...?" After having met with the elders Mars and Terry arrived in the lobby of the giant tree, Terry looked like his soul had left his body, basically during the entire meeting he had been so tense he actually jumped into the air a few times when Mars poked him on the shoulder and now after the meeting Terry could only mumble "a building.... my own building..." the elders as soon as they discovered Terry was also a living god had offered him a building in central Green river as long as he helped repel the invaders from the NNE that had entered the barrier forest only a few hours ago, they probably thought they were being sneaky by invading without declaring war first unfortunately for them the elders from Green river were very paranoid and had the entire of the barrier forest covered by a detection formation so they knew exactly what was going on in the barrier forest at all times, thus unless the NNE opened a portal directly to the inner forest they would never escape detection so thus the about 10.000 strong invading troops (they sure as hell was not there to deliver gifts to Green river) probably had no idea that they already were found out and was about to be intercepted by an assault group lead by 2 living gods "well then let''s head over to the mirror and meet up with the assault force" Terry''s soul looked like it had returned to his body and sure enough he reacted with a nod and he also spoke up "but Mars... I don''t think I''m able to kill people..." Mars gave a small sigh and ruffled Terry''s hair before he looked him in the eye and spoke "you don''t have to kill... the deal you made with the elders was to ''repel'' not ''kill'' the invading force" "I see..." "leave the killing to me, I''m used to it..." "okay..." "and chin up okay, you are about to be the owner of a building you know?" the light returned to Terry''s eyes, he was now fully awake again and gave a nod "yes Mars!" Mars inspected Terry''s face and soon gave a big smile "that''s more like it" In the west part of Green river was most of the military installations, it was also home to the so called mirror where Terry and Mars were heading, on the way there they acted not like they were going to war but like they were on a stroll through the city, buying street food along the way and joking with each other, Mars could see Terry was a little afraid of the upcoming battle but admired his resolve. Soon both of them arrived at the building that housed the mirror and walked in, after walking down some stairs, they came to a giant underground space where a giant, more than 100 meters across ''mirror'' lay on the ground with walkways above it, Mars and Terry walked up on the walkway and soon Terry looked down on the mirror and was stunned for a moment before he asked Mars "is that... the barrier forest?" "yeah it is, neat right?" on the mirror were a map over the entire barrier forest with various green, blue, orange and red dots on it. The blue and orange dots were spread all over the map of the forest, the green dots were in clusters of 4 and also spread all over the forest while the red dots were contrasted at the entrance of the forest, Terry looked over at Mars and asked "what are dose dots?" "well the green are friendlies, most likely squads of forest patrols, the blue and orange are magic beasts the blue are non hostile while the orange are hostile and then there''s the red dots..." Mars pointed over at the red dots while a cold light shone in his eyes "they are enemy invaders" Chapter 187 War once again 3 Mars walked over to a control panel on the walkway and swiftly manipulated the mirror so it zoomed in on the red dots, then after observing the red dots formation for a few minutes Mars reset the mirror and walked over to Terry "let''s go meet the troops" "sure..." Mars noticed Terry was getting more tense and clapped him on the shoulder before he walked with him back up the stairs and out of the building to another building where the troops were waiting, Mars lead the way into the building that looked like a sports hall on the inside where about 1.000 elvers stood at attention in neat rows and waited for Mars to arrive, they were not clad in the usual leather armor but instead wearing what looked like full plate armor made of polished wood carved with formation runes that glowed softly in the slightly dim sports hall, Mars walked up and stood on a slightly elevated platform in front of the formation of elvers that were combat ready and looked them over in silence for a moment before he started talking "it has not happened for almost 600 years but now it has happened again... the outsiders have decided to invade our lands, our forest..! and why is that? they must think we are weak... well they are in for a rude awakening!" """""""""OOOOOHHHHH!!!""""""""" "we will fight them in the forest, in the clearings, on the ground and in the mud, nay we will not fight them... we will annihilate them! break their bones, cut their flesh and spill their blood! we will show them that we are not weak and that their invasion will only end in one way, the same way it has always ended!" """""""""IN THEIR DEFEAT!!!""""""""" the sports hall shock slightly under the elvers roar Mars showed a satisfied smile and gave a nod, even though the numbers were 10:1 in favor of the enemy the elvers showed no signs of fear, part of that was because the 1.000 elvers gathered in the sports hall were the elites of the elites another reason was the armor they were wearing "...very good, Alvin squad report to me the rest of you go get your weapons and be ready to deploy in 10 minutes!" Mars stepped down from the platform as the elvers began moving to gather their weapons from storage, Mars walked over to Terry and watched the elvers moving when 4 of them walked up to them and saluted Mars before they removed their helmets, Mars gave a smile and introduced them "this is Alvin, Rex, Isabel and Helene you know already" Alvin asked while he looked at Terry "is this you so called little brother Mars?" Mars gave a nod and patted Terry on the shoulder before he spoke with Alvin "I am assigning him to your squad during this mission, so look after him and make sure he doesn''t die too many times" a light shone in Alvin''s eyes before he showed a shocked expression and looked over at Terry again "I see, so he''s also..." "yes he is, now help him suit up and be sure to look after him" """"sir, yes sir"""" Mars gave a nod and saw off Terry before he sat down on the ground and cleared his head for sometime before he stood up again and looked over the reassembled troops that were armed with various weapons, some carried swords, other carried spike guns or crossbows while some carried normal great bows and arrows, Mars stretched before he transformed his arms and began ripping open portals to the barrier forest only stopping when there was 16 open portals "now move out" the 1.001 troops began moving, spitting up into smaller groups and then they went through the portals, soon only Mars was left in the sport hall as the portals closed, Mars gave a sigh and opened another portal "time to work...." then he unsheathed one of his bone swords and stepped through the portal... On the other side of the portal Mars stepped out and after confirming his direction he began walking towards the invaders camp, right now it was twilight and there was a slight cloud cover over the forest, combined with the natural darkness of the forest it was dark as night in the forest, Mars even had to transform his eyes to be able to see where he was going, after walking for a few minutes he spotted the first sentry that guarded the outline of the invaders main camp, Mars looked at the flickering light of the touch the sentry was carrying and quickly formulated a plan to deal with him before he activated [Instant movement] and reappeared behind the sentry like a ghost before he stabbed his bone sword right through his neck and snuffed out the touch with his other hand in one movement before he slowly kneeled down with the guard and laid him on the forest floor, after confirming he was done for Mars rose to his feet and looked around ''the assault force should be standing by at the edge of their camp right now... I need to hurry'' Mars began jogging lightly through the forest, killing any sentry he came across with brutal efficiency by either snapping their necks or stabbing them through the throat, soon he reached the outskirts of the camp, in front of him were a giant tent town big enough to house 10.000 troops, sentries patrolled the edge of the encampment in pairs, Mars waited for a few minutes before he decided it was time and began circulating his mana as he commanded the odd in the air to spread out, after a few moments he had silently covered the entire camp and found all the targets he was looking for and closed his eyes ''5048 touches and or candles... this is going to take a lot out of me...'' just as Mars was focusing he felt something brushing against him, if it was not because he knew the sensation of that fur so well he might have panicked just then but alas he managed to keep his cool and the control over the spell he was casting "....why are you here?" "because... it seemed like... fun" "I see..." still with his eyes closed, he reached out with his hand and soon felt the familiar fur of Victoria and gave her a few strokes before he pulled his hand back and went back to focusing on the task at hand, soon the light over the entire camp dimmed slightly before it suddenly went out all together at once plunging the entire encampment into darkness then Mars stood up and looked over at Victoria and said "keep close to me and don''t get hurt" "who... do you think... I am?" "my adorable partner of cause.... let''s go!" Mars began walking towards the encampment and activated a couple of skills, first he was covered in vermilion plate armor from his neck and to his feet and then he silently lifted off the ground and began floating through the air with the help of a skill named [Living god: wings] which he had unlocked when he reached level 100, he also activated his [Energy: sense] skill and tuned in on signs of life in the encampment before he swung his sword and sent out a sword light which decapitated an enemy soldier, at the same time the assault force form Green river made their move and began taking out the confused sentries around the encampment in silence while they moved closer to the camp, meanwhile the enemy was still caught in confusion and still had not noticed the start of the attack. Turning time back a bit to before the assault force deployed Terry was following after Alvin that walked in front of him while he was talking with Rex "....so Mars was a caveman?" "still don''t believe it? I tell you it''s true" "no it''s not that I don''t believe you Rex.... it''s just... you know he owns a building now right?" "yeah I have been there shopping a few times, there''s this store that sells the best blended green tea" Alvin that was walking up front gave a sigh before he stopped and turned around "we''re here, Helene help him suit up" Helene gave a nod and walked over to a platform that was slightly raised from the floor, Terry looked around but failed to see any armor like the ones the others were wearing seeing Terry''s confusion Alvin gave a smile and said "we were just like you the first time we had to put on this armor... Helene stop giggling at him and help him out" "yes squad leader, come terry stand over here..." Helene pointed to the slightly elevated platform and Terry gave a nod and stepped up on it and saw two foot outlines that was inscribed on the platform "Terry you just have to stand on the footmarks and the machine will take care of the rest for you" Terry gave a nod and swallowed his saliva before he walked over and stood on the marks and with a click the marks sunk a few centimeters into the platform and locked around his feet so he could not move before a voice sounded out form the platform "(please hold still)" "wait what did it say?" "it said you have to keep still" "oh, okay" Terry did his best to hold still but what happened next stunned him still anyway, the platform sprung to life folding upwards and splinting into various parts as a vertical panel sprung up from the floor where the polished wooden plate armor were fastened on before maniacal arms began moving the parts of the armor and putting them around him and in a few minutes he was wearing the same armor the other elvers were, Terry stood there stunned for a few moments before he asked "did Mars come up with that?" Alvin gave a nod along with the other 3 "yup, he said he wanted to recreate something from an old movie.... whatever in the world a movie is I don''t know" Chapter 188 War once again 4 Terry controlled his breathing as best he could as he looked out into the forest though his helmet, he was nervous to say the least when suddenly he felt a pat on the shoulder and looked over to his side "....you''re.... Isabel right?" "yes, come sit down with me for a moment" Terry did as he was asked and sat down on the forest floor and so did Isabel before she removed her helmet and gestured for Terry to do the same, he hesitated for a moment before eventually he also removed his helmet and felt the cold evening air of the forest which cooled his swelling thoughts down somewhat "are you scared?" "yes, I am scared" Terry answered almost reflexively as it was the same thoughts that had kept repeating themselves in his head, then he held up his hand and looked at how it was shaking and showed a wry smile "I don''t think I can hit anything like this" Isabel took his hand and held it for a moment before she let go again, now his hands were not shaking anymore "you know, we have known about the NNE''s invasion for sometime actually the mission where Mars picked you up was a mission not to scare random hunters, but to hunt for enemy scouts" "...why are you telling me this?" Isabel gave a wry smile and played with her graying hair for a bit before she answered "we are also scared, not of the invaders but what would happen if we fail, what would become of our home if we fail" "...I see" "no you don''t, I would like you to think like we do, to think of Green river as your home" "but.... I have never had a home before" "that''s all the more reason to take Green river as you home" "...am I really allowed?" Isabel gave a gentle smile "yes, of course you are but first you have to fight for your new home" "...fight" Terry looked over at the spike gun he held in his left hand, suddenly it didn''t seem so heavy anymore, he also noticed he had stopped shaking and suddenly was a lot more calm and then he looked over at Isabel that still had her gentle smile on her face "thank you Isabel, I''ll fight for my new home" Isabel gave a nod and put her helmet back on and raised her crossbow, Terry followed suit and put his helmet on before he also raised his spike gun towards the invaders encampment, just then all the light went out and then Alvin''s voice sounded out in Terry''s helmet "that''s the signal, squad move up" "Rex here, copy moving up" "Helene here, I copy" "Isabel here, roger that" "...Terry here, I''m moving up" As they moved up they began taking out the confused sentries, Terry also shot a few of them without feeling much guilt or remorse, this impressed the rest of the squad as he pulled off more and more impossible shots that always instant killed the enemy soldiers, this prompted Alvin to speak out "come on Terry leave some for the rest of us" of course Alvin was not dissatisfied about not having killed his share instead he was worried that Terry would break down suddenly under the weight of the lives he had taken, but instead he got a calm response from Terry "while a hunter does not take pity on his pray he still wishes for it to die painlessly and quickly" "I-I see" getting a cryptic response form Terry threw Alvin out the loop for a moment until he heard Terry giggle over the radio and knew he had fallen for a poor joke and let out a flat laugh "hahaha very funny Terry" the rest of the squad also let out laughs for a moment before they fell silent again and focused on the task at hand, Terry was in the lead with the rest of the squad behind him, he peeked out from behind a tree and quickly pulled back as an arrow landed right were he had just put his face out then he calmly said "one with a bow, approximately 50 meters away behind a tent, Rex you should be able to see him, mind taking him out?" "sure thing kid" "thanks" the twang of a bow later Terry heard the enemy soldier fall to the ground and once again peeked out from behind the tree before he brought his spike gun to bare and slowly pulled the trigger and sent out a spike that hit another enemy soldier right in the heart instantly killing him as he fell over on the forest floor "nice shot Terry" "thanks" Terry didn''t know why he was so calm about the whole killing thing but didn''t feel like stopping and thinking about it in the midst of a combat situation so he simply kept his head in the game and focused on the task at hand as he moved from cover to cover, picking off enemy soldiers with his spike gun until suddenly he saw a light off in the distance and stopped to look before he asked "what''s that?" there was a silence on the radio for a moment until Helene''s voice sounded out in Terry''s helmet "that can only be the captain" "so that''s Mars huh..." Terry looked off into the distance at the lights that flew rapidly around Mars flew in between the trees as he repeatedly used [Instant movement] on his sword arm sending out a flurry of sword lights that blinded the enemy for a brief moment before they decapitated them sending them swiftly to the wheel of reincarnation as their bodies fell to the cold forest floor, the invaders from the NNE had yet to from a proper front line, in fact they had yet to mount a proper defense against the assault force from Green river with small scale spontaneous skirmishes being the only response they had mounted so far, but who could blame them, they were after all against a high level living god that was flying around acting like an angel of death and if that was not enough, they were also against the most elite force Green river could muster that had highly advanced and reliable weapons. Almost half an hour after the attack had begun did the NNE finally begin mounting a proper defense, they also finally brought out their active mana armors, but as the elvers from Green river had long since expected them to appear they had prepared countermeasures in advance so the active mana armors proved less effective then the invaders were hoping and counting on and so 45 minutes into the fight the front line they had established collapsed and the invaders from the NNE began fleeing into the forest, form there it was a massacre, well not a pure massacre as most of the cornered soldiers from the NNE surrendered "I guess that''s that..." Mars sheathed his bone sword and took out a short range communicator and dialed Alvin''s squad before he spoke into the mic "are you okay little brother?" "....yeah I''m fine Mars" Mars gave a smile hearing Terry''s voice before he asked "so how did you hold up?" "...well I was fine during the whole mission but now I feel kind of sick" "it''s okay just try to keep calm, try to keep your helmet on until we''re back but if you feel like you have to puke take it off else you have to clean the inside of your suit for vomit and that''s not so nice, trust me I have tired it" "...okay, I''ll try to hold out for a bit" Mars turned off the communicator and gave a sigh before he slowly touched down on the forest floor and sat on the forest floor and relaxed soon Victoria jumped out of the darkness and laid down on her usual spot on his lap and began purring "good job Victoria" Mars petted Victoria on the head while he waited, if it was not for the strong scent of blood in the area it would be a pretty calming experience of relaxation in the night forest, Mars closed his eyes and did his best to calm down as he waited for the troops to regroup and get the prisoners together for transport, soon he gave another sigh "...guess it''s time" Mars stood up again, about 1 hour had passed since he had sat down and the assault force should have put everything in order "let''s go Victoria" "okay..." Mars began walking back towards the gathering point where he soon arrived, the gathering point was a clearing as soon as Mars arrived he saw about 2.000 captives that were sitting on the grass while being watched over by the elvers, the captives also noticed Mars and some of them looked at his with surprise when some of the elvers saluted him and called him captain, Mars gave a nod and yelled out "wrap them up, we''re moving out!" """""yes captain!""""" Chapter 189 War once again 5 The new nationalistic empire or simply the NNE was massive, as such it was divided into semi self ruling provinces, one such self ruling province was the province of Ichma that covered most of the former Destra including the Mother forest, you see the NNE didn''t recognize Green river as a self governing entity they regarded it simply as a tribe to be put under the fold of the NNE and such they had sent a ''negotiations'' force to ''persuade'' the tiny tribe to come under NNE protection, of cause when they last revived daily reports from the force they were happy that everything went according to plan but now that the communications had suddenly stopped after they reported that they were engaged in combat. Now the ruler of the province Ichma, James Ichma was sitting in a meeting with his generals "---as I said we should have never attacked Green river without doing proper recon!" one of the other generals gave a humph and spoke "what? you really think the puny Green river have something to do with it? my guess is that they ran into a class 10 magic beast, no way the puny elvers that have always been hiding in the Mother forest had anything to do with it!" "Frank! are you really that afraid to admit that we kicked a steel plate by doing a premature invasion of Green river!?" "what steel plate!? they are just elvers no way that they could mount any forms of resistance!" now James Ichma was a patient person, but anyone would be driven mad by listening to the two generals argue and so he raised his hand and silence soon descended over to room then he took a long look at both the arguing generals and spoke "what''s done is done.... send a scouting party to find out how big a steel plate we kicked this time and also make sure to---" "reporting!" James looked over at the messenger that suddenly had appeared in the doorway to his office "what is it?" "messengers from Green river have arrived and is seeking a intimidate audience with you sir!" "...then send them to the meeting room on this floor and have them wait there" "yes sir!" the messenger departed and James looked over at the generals and asked "your thoughts?" "sir, I think it is best to proceed with caution in the upcoming talks, the elvers might very well have taken prisoners" James gave a nod and looked over at the more aggressive general Leon "humph, I say we capture the messengers and interrogate them for answers about our troops!" "again with your extreme opinions Leon! what if they have taken prisoners!?" "as if they are able to fight our troops at all Frank!" "stop both of you... You can come with me, but I expect both of you to keep silent during the entire thing" ""sir, yes sir!"" "very good, now let''s go meet the messengers" Mars leaned back in the way to soft couch and let out a yawn while he stretched, he was not at all intimidated by the armed guards that stood around and behind him in the room "(Mars take this seriously please)" "sure sure..." Mars let out another yawn, but who could blame him? the couch was after all way to comfy, Mars laid down to the side and rubbed his face against the couch while letting out a small moan but then suddenly he sat up straight and looked over at one of the doors before he spoke in elvish to Alvin that was sitting besides him "(here they come... 3 people, all of them military)" "(...how can you tell they military?)" "(from the way they are walking, it''s like they are matching)" "(oh... I see)" soon the door to the room opened an in walked 3 demon men, two of them were clad in military uniforms with a lot of medals hanging on their chests while the last one wore a suit, the one wearing a suit sat down on the couch in front of Alvin and Mars while the two others stood behind the couch and watched Mars and Alvin with sharp and clearly combat honed eyes "thank you both for coming all this way from Green river, my name is James Ichma, I am the governor" "well met governor James, my name is Alvin and this is Mars my guard" Mars gave a nod, during this negotiation he had decided to act as a ''guard'' and not as the commander of the entire Green river military forces which was the title the elders had given him about a year ago after he made the mirror and designed the polished wooden armor for the military, but that''s a story for another time, Mars focused on the task at hand as he pretended to be a guard for Alvin while Alvin lead the negotiations, he of course would step in if necessary "well then first off let me put the cards on the table, I''m sure that you governor James are a busy person and would like this over with as fast as possible, yes?" "....yes why don''t we cut the bull and cut straight to the point" "good seeing as governor James is in agreement, let me state some numbers for you, first number 8.540, second number 1.460 and the most important third number 14" the governor looked confused and so did the two generals but Alvin ignored them and continued "now which number would you like to know what is first?" "...the most important number then" Alvin gave a nod and removed the diplomatic smile from his face "14 is the number of elvers laid down their lives to stop your invasion, of course we would like you to compensate us for this but that can wait, pick the next number please governor James" James narrowed his eyes for a moment before he spoke "the second number then..." "1.460 is the number of new worker slaves Green river has received from your invasion, of course if you want your slaves back that can be arranged but I would do it quickly before they... expire" the governor paled slightly meanwhile one of the generals could not take it anymore and yelled out "outrageous! guards arrest those two!" the guards moved, but just not very far as they were stopped by a chilling sensation at their throats, a small double bladed knife made of some kind of vermilion metal floated in front of them and pressed against their throats not only at the guards but also on the two generals the governor looked around and soon saw that Mars'' hand was covered in the same vermilion metal "Mars was it? could you please lower your weapons, I''ll discipline my general later" "I don''t take kindly to threats, this will be the last time I show mercy remember that" then Mars waved his hand and the vermilion metal dissolved into vermilion smoke and disappeared, then Alvin spoke up "now for the last number, 8.540 that is the number of fresh bodies that will fertilize our forest, that will be all send a proposal for ransom and compensation to the Mother forest deeper parts in a week, Mars let''s go" "...sure" Mars stood up and was about to walk out the door when he turned and looked at the governor for a moment and asked "have we meet before?" "...I don''t think so" "oh... okay" Mars then followed after Alvin out of the room that descended into silence until along while later when the governor gave a soft sigh and spoke "if you ever pull something like that again Leon I''ll have you beheaded is that clear?" "...yes sir" the governor gave another sigh and looked up into the ceiling as he muttered "looks like we really kicked a steel plate this time around... Frank have someone calculate the expenses from the ransom and compensation" "yes sir" back at Green river Mars and Alvin stepped out of the portal which closed after them then Alvin gave a sigh and walked over to a nearby bench and sat down, Mars gave a grin and asked "are you tired old elver?" "...shut up, I''m not that old... anyways that was something right?" "sure was" Mars walked over and sat down next to him and for a while both of them acted like men their age and just sat there doing nothing other than looking at the people walking by until Alvin stood up and stretched "...anyways I''m going to head home, what will you do Mars?" "hmm... I think I''ll head over and visit Terry in his new building" "I see... well then see you in a week Mars" "sure, at the negotiations" Mars sat on the bench for a little while more before he stood up and began walking towards Terry''s building, on the way there he transformed his face and grew out his horns so he would stop receiving the usual ''is that a human!?'' gazes Chapter 190 War once again 6 Mars made his way through the busy streets of Green river and soon made his way to Terry''s building, on the outside it looked a little different than his building but not that different, but when Mars steeped into the building he felt a difference from his, there was a sort of uncertainty in the air ''theses people feel... on edge'' a little confused about the atmosphere inside the building Mars began climbing up further in the building while visiting the shops he felt interesting, on his way up he found a spirits shop and walked inside to take a look "welcome" Mars greeted the employee with a smile "can I help you with finding something?" "hmm... in that case do you have any mellow and sweet rum?" half an hour later a slightly tipsy Mars walked out of the shop with a paper bag filled with clear glass bottles filled with all kind of spirits, he had revived way to many free samples and as a result ended up buying whatever he found good leading to the current result ''hmm... I hope the girls like spirits or else I''ll have to work though all theses bottles by myself'' soon Mars remembered his current goal in visiting this building and made his way up to the entrance to the penthouse and rung the bell, after he had waited for a few minutes he picked up footsteps and soon the door was opened by a female elver Mars didn''t know, she clearly didn''t know Mars either cause she gave a slight frown when she saw him and smelled him "can I help you with anything?" Mars gave a nod "yes I''m here to visit Terry" the elver narrowed her eyes before she spoke again "wait here while I confirm with master Terry, who should I say you are?" "just tell him Mars is here to visit" as soon as Mars finished talking the elver shut the door in his face and walked away from the door, Mars felt his eyelid twitch slightly as he held down his rage and urge to kick in the door ''she know I''m a guest of Terry''s so why didn''t she let me in?'' Mars of course didn''t know he smelled terribly of alcohol, that in combination with his casual clothes and him being a non-elver had given the elver a horrible first impression of him, Mars gave a sigh as he let go of his rage by imagining the elver getting hit by a truck and sent to another world and sat down leaning against the wall next to the door and waited, about half an hour later Mars once again picked up footsteps walking slightly fast towards the front door and stood up again ''she better let me in this time...'' Mars stood and waited in front of the door until it got opened again by the same elver, she still had an indifferent look on her face but Mars could tell she was slightly panicked "please come in sir Mars" "sure..." Mars walked in and without waiting for the elver to lead him he walked towards the living room "please wait sir Mars" "don''t worry, I know my way around this kind of penthouse" "eh..?" Mars turned around and gave a smile as he pointed out of a nearby window "you see I own that building over there" the elver followed Mars'' finger and saw his building in the distance and slightly paled, at this point she knew she had fucked up by shutting the door in Mars'' face but before she had a chance to apologize Mars had walked onward further into the penthouse leaving the elver to slightly run to catch up with him, of course, Mars didn''t know his way around the penthouse like he said he did, he simply followed the sounds of conversation from further in the penthouse and soon he opened the door to the living room and became the center of focus for about 20 elvers, Mars ignored their puzzled gazes and looked over at Terry and raised his paper bag "Terry I brought you some housewarming gifts" completely ignoring the air in the room Mars walked in and sat down on the couch before he pulled a bottle of rum out of the paper bag and cocked open the bottle before he took a swig straight from the bottle before he patted the spot beside him and called out to Terry "come sit down little brother you have to try this" Terry gave a sigh, he knew that when Mars got like this one should follow orders and quickly if one wanted to keep all their teeth, of course, that might be a little much but you get the point, anyway Terry quickly fetched two glasses and sat down next to Mars as Mars pureed them both half a glass of strong rum and then proceeded to down it in one go "ah... that''s the stuff" "come on Mars you are supposed to enjoy it slowly" "I enjoy it too, just a little faster than you do" at this point the elvers in the room woke up from their stunned silence and began whispering among themselves "(who''s this?)" "(I think I have seen him before... just can''t remember where...)" quickly they decided that Mars was a nuisance and he had to leave, Mars of course heard and understood everything they were saying and let out a faint smile as he purred more rum into Terry''s glass this time from another bottle while saying "you gotta try this too" meanwhile the elvers decided on a representative and one elver walked forwards and asked Mars "excuse me, who might you be?" "names Mars, I''m the leader of your military appointed by the elders themselves.... and who might you be?" the repetitive paled for a moment before he let out a short laugh, he obviously didn''t believe that this random drunkard was the leader of the military, he had heard that the new leader of the military were a bloodthirsty man that would kill you if you so much as locked eyes with him "my name is Ramos and I represent the 33th floor''s shops and I am here to negotiate a new leasing agreement with master Terry, behind me is the representatives of the other floor''s shops" Mars gave a nod and purred himself another glass of strong rum and downed it before he looked over at Terry and asked "so how''s the negotiations going?" Terry normally would just have given a smile or said something like "they''re going good" but now he was slightly tipsy and quickly kicked up a fuss as he half yelled out "they''re going horrible, they want the rent that''s half of that of other buildings in the area, can you believe that Mars!?" Mars gave a nod and looked over the elvers again, looking at their eyes filled with greed, they probably thought Terry was easy to bully he instantly lost all respect he had for them and whispered to Terry "are you going to take that lying down Terry? or are you going to put them in their place?" "but what should I do Mars?" "well how about this---" Mars told his master plan to Terry that then gave a nod and stood up from the couch and wobbled slightly before he pointed at the shop representatives and asked "who here is satisfied with their current arrangement?" none of the representatives spoke up, this caused terry to narrow his eyes as he continued speaking "then please tell your tenets that they have till the end of the month to clear out of their assigned areas" the representatives all paled before one of them yelled "that''s unfair, you can''t just throw us out!" Terry gave a nod "sure I can, the elders assigned me this building so I can do what I want with it, now negotiations have broken down, please leave" "come on now master Terry you don''t have to be like this, what about a 35% decrease in rent?" Mars narrowed his eyes and looked over at the female elver that had shown him in and gestured for her to do something, the elver gave a nod and spoke up "please leave master Terry is tired... if anyone of you want to accept the terms laid out by master Terry please come by my office or be prepared to clear out before the start of the next month" the representatives all glared at Terry before they took their leave and soon the only ones left in the living room was Mars, Terry and the female elver, Mars looked over at her and praised her "well done, you acted exactly like I thought you would.... that reminds me I never got your name?" "my name is Annabel, I''m the manager of this building" "Oh, in that case do you know Kaitlin, she''s the manager of my building?" "yes... we have meet before... I''m afraid you will have to take your leave now Mars" Mars looked over and saw Terry had nodded off and gave a wry smile ''I''ll have to work on his alcohol tolerance won''t I?'' Mars stood up from the couch and picked up his now considerably lighter paper bag o'' booze and said goodbye to Annabel before he walked out of the penthouse Chapter 191 War once again 7 A week passed uneventfully for Mars, other than helping Terry out with his greedy tenants and getting him drunk every other day nothing interesting happened during the week other than Terry''s tenets eventually caved in and accepted his terms, after all no one among them wished to be thrown out of the building... anyways a week had passed and it was time to accept the compensation from James Ichma the governor of the Ichma province, Mars arrived at the mirror building and was greeted by a elver that showed him in "it''s just like you said chief they showed up yesterday evening and have not moved since" "I see.... good work" Mars walked up on the walkway over the mirror and walked over to a control panel and manipulated it to show the outer edges of the barrier forest and soon found a group of red dots that had set camp in an area he was quite familiar with then he asked the elver beside him "is Alvin ready?" "yes he is waiting outside along with the rest of his squad" "I see... okay then let''s do this, be sure to contact me over the communicator if other red dots show up" "yes sir" as Mars walked out of the building over to where Alvin''s squad stood ready he called out "Victoria, how long are you going to hide in my shadow?" "I''m not hiding... I''m sleeping" "oh... well I might need your help in a bit" "I see... call me... then" "sure" Mars gave a sigh and walked over to the adjacent building and meet up with Alvin''s squad and told them where the group from the Ichma province were waiting for them "...really?" "well it is a nice spot, got a cabin and all too" "yeah I know, I made that cabin" Helene was a little confused and asked "you really know this place Mars?" "yeah I used to live there about 4 years ago..." "eh..? but that''s a cave?" "yeah and I lived in said cave" At the cave a group waited on the envoys from Green river, along with the group of diplomatic envoys were a sizable group of mercenaries, hunters and a small number of soldiers, after all they were in the barrier forest and they had fought a lot of magic beasts on the way there, one of the less, shall we say... ''idle'' hunters asked "how long are we supposed to wait here anyways? I mean do the elvers from Green river even know where we are?" one hunter asked his friend but said friend just shook his head he was thinking the exact same thing, how were the elvers suppose to find them? or had they been trailed since they entered the forest? "stop the idle chatter and keep focused" "come on don''t tell me you are not interested mister soldier?" the soldier kept silent, he was wondering the exact same thing but before he could say anything the governor''s representative walked out of the small cabin and spoke "since they have told us to be here they will naturally come find us" "yes lady Vanessa" the representative looked around and asked "have you finished checking the cave yet?" "yes... we found the hide of a giant magic beast in the end of the cave along with a pile of sharpened bones and failures of what looked like bone swords" "bone swords you say?" "yes, it looked like the former owner of this cave used the bones of a giant magic beast to make a bone sword, we found the practice attempts in the cave" "I see... bone swords huh..." "is something wrong lady Vanessa?" "no it''s just that I worked with a student form Destra under the golem war that used a sword made from bone...." at this point in time a portal suddenly opened in the middle of the encampment startling everyone, quickly a soldier yelled "enemy attack, defensive position!" the soldiers, mercenaries and hunters all moved quick and formed a perimeter around the portal and soon someone stepped out of the portal "...well this certainly is a warm welcome" carrying a confident smile on his face a youth with black hair and blue eyes stepped out of the portal, he was wearing a pale suit and had a pair of bone swords sheathed on his hip, he scanned the surrounding soldiers, mercenaries and hunters and whenever his eyes passed over them they would tremble just a bit, soon his eyes landed on Vanessa that also stared at him with her jaw hanging open, Mars gave a nod and spoke "those clothes suit you much better than a military uniform Vanessa... guess it paid off for you, you know the whole civil war thing" Vanessa quickly picked up her jaw from the floor while Mars looked around at the surroundings, other than some plant growth it looked just like it did before he left "Mars... you are with the elvers?" Mars gave a smile in response just as Alvin and the other elvers stepped out of the portal, they gave light frowns when they saw that they were surrounded and inched a little closer to Mars that spoke up "now is this how governor Ichma''s representative treat diplomats?" Vanessa gave a sigh and quickly gave an order "....stand down" the mercenaries and soldiers lowered their weapons but some of the more experienced hunters kept alert and looked around which caused Vanessa to give a frown "I said stand down!" "miss Vanessa there''s a high class magic beast nearby, I can sense it..." Mars looked over at the hunter, he was slightly amazed, he certainly didn''t expect that kind of senses from a mortal and spoke up "oh... that''s probably Victoria..." Vanessa blanked for a moment before she looked down at Mars'' shadow and gave a nod before she looked over at the hunter that had spoken up "that''s a tamed magic beast" "...I understand" the hunter lowered his bow Vanessa gave a nod and looked over at Alvin and asked "I guess you are Alvin?" "yes I am" "good, my name is Vanessa Ichma and I''m here to negotiate the release of our soldiers as well as compensation for the soldiers of Green river as a representative of my father James Ichma" Alvin gave a nod and spoke with a diplomatic smile on his face "very good, why don''t we step into the cabin and talk?" "sure" Mars followed along and stopped by the entrance of the cabin and stood guard, meanwhile Alvin negotiated with Vanessa "oi you" Mars looked over and saw a soldier from the Ichma province was calling him, Mars half wanted to ignore him, but then again he was bored so he might as well play with the mortals "what?" "you with the elvers right? you know what happened with our troops?" Mars gave a cold smile "well about 2.000 of them surrendered... the rest were killed in action" the soldier trembled for a bit before he let out a sigh and nodded to another soldier that walked away and whispered something to another soldier, Mars watched them with a cold look in his eyes, they were clearly up to no good ''are they targeting Alvin and the others?'' Mars thought for a bit and decided to let them play the first hand and save his for later, besides as long as they didn''t instant kill the elvers he could fix them right up, this might seem mean on Mars'' part but he simply disdained moving first against mere mortals, he saw them as nothing more than children making schemes ''this will be good entertainment...'' Mars stood with a cold smile on his face and waited for the soldiers to get into position but quickly got bored and walked into the cabin, Alvin looked over at him with a questioning gaze when he walked in, Mars sent a few hand signals to him signaling him to be careful of the soldiers before he walked back out of the cabin and stood guard, soon a group of soldiers and a few merc''s walked over towards him and the entrance of the cabin ''here they come...'' Mars gave them a cold smile before he took a few steps and stood in the middle of the doorway and put a hand on the hilt of his sword, one of the soldiers saw him standing in the way and called out to him "move aside, fucking guard dog of the elvers" "hmm... I don''t think I will, also if you call me a dog one more time I will make sure you will regret it" the soldiers all gave an unpleasant smile before one of them looked back at one of the merc''s and called out "go test him" "fine, but then I''ll get first turn with the one of the elvers" "sure, just kill this kid first" the mercenary gave an unpleasant smile and looked over at Mars "don''t blame me for this kid" Chapter 192 War once again 8 Mars looked over at the mercenary with a hint of pity in his eyes that quickly got replaced with anger, had he not stated he was a guard for the elvers? or was this puny mortal simply deaf? "...well now you have pissed me off" Mars unsheathed one of his bone swords and took a stance before he spoke again "any last words?" the mercenary stared dumbly at Mars for a moment before he burst out laughing "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ''any last words'' he says!? AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" the mercenary clutched his stomach and laughed out loud, the rest of the soldiers also wore mocking smiles on their faces as they looked at Mars like he was an idiot, as the mercenary laughed Mars'' smile widened slightly before he sheathed his sword and took a boxing stance, this of course only caused the mercenary to laugh even louder as he took a big ax off his back and took a stance still laughing a little, then Mars asked "are you sure you are ready for this?" "ready? of course I''m re---" those were the last words that the mercenary spoke as Mars instantly closed the distance and hit him right in the chest with a jab and with a crack the mercenary''s sternum fractured into tiny pieces as he was sent flying backwards while spewing an arrow of blood, he then crashed into a tree where he was impaled on a low branch before he widened his eyes and struggled to say something before he passed out to never awaken again, Mars looked over at the rest of the soldiers that still had silly mocking smiles plastered on their faces as he asked "who''s next?" the lead soldier was the first to wake up from his daze and yelled "get him, then the damned elvers!" the soldiers and mercenaries unsheathed their weapons and jumped at Mars all at once, but Mars simply put a hand on the hilt of his sword and activated [Instant movement] on his sword arm as a flurry of lights shot out from the blur that was his sword before a movement later he sheathed his sword again and gave a sigh "...guess I did it again" Mars gave yet another sigh as the door to the cabin shot open and Vanessa jumped out "what happened!?" "well I performed my duty as a guard" Vanessa ignored Mars and once again yelled at the soldiers "answer me, what happened!?" Mars gave another sigh and spoke in a low tone "they can''t hear you anymore" "what...?" Vanessa looked over at Mars then she heard something she will never unhear, the sound of small chunks of people slowly sliding apart, Vanessa looked over and instantly lost her lunch and puked on the spot at the bloody sight Mars held her hair so it would not get dirty, even though Vanessa was a former soldier she had never seen such a bloody sight and when she was done puking she weakly punched Mars as she asked "...why did you do that?" Mars gave a cold smile "as I said I simply performed my duty as a guard, they were going to attack Alvin and the others so I stopped them, that''s all... you can ask the other hunters as soon as they are done puking" at this point in time Alvin also stepped out of the cabin and was confronted at the bloody sight but unlike the rest of the people around he didn''t puke or go pale he simply frowned a bit and asked Mars "did they act up like we expected?" "yup" "I see... well then Vanessa Ichma, I''m afraid to say that we must continue this at another time after the loyalty of you soldiers have been confirmed" Vanessa gave a weak nod as she looked over at the bloody sight "well then Mars if you would, please open a portal to Green river... we will be back again tomorrow" "...yes" Mars ripped open a portal and steeped tough without looking back at Vanessa... Back at Green river Mars dismissed the squad of diplomats and walked back to his building, despite his ability to fly and open portals he still quite enjoyed walking through the busy streets of Green river, they weren''t quite as crowded as the city''s from his past life but there certainly was a lot of activity in the streets, along the way some elvers greeted Mars and Mars greeted them back with a nod and a smile, he was beginning to get know in Green river although mostly by way of the girls that solsailzed way more than he did, also everyone in Green river that had anything to do with the military knew his name at the least ''not that I want to get famous anyways... but still it''s nice to be recognised'' Mars returned home and walked into the living room when he heard Chloe call out "Mars is home!" Mars turned and saw Chloe laying on a couch and walked over to her and gave her a kiss before he asked "what''s up?" "I''ll tell you when the others get home" "oh... I see, I''ll wait until then" Mars saw that Elsa was working in the kitchen and walked over and hugged her from behind before he asked "anything I can help you with?" "my oh my, what''s wrong with you Mars, you usually never want to help me in the kitchen?" "well let''s just say I''m feeling good today so I want to help out" "okay then can you cut those vegetables?" "sure" Mars helped out in the kitchen until the dinner was done and it was time to eat, while eating Mars asked "so what was it you girls wanted to tell me?" Chloe laid down her cutlery and looked at Mars "we all have decided to visit our mother in law for a month" Mars paused and before he simply asked "...why?" this time Elsa spoke up "we feel like we can''t follow you everywhere you go anymore... it''s like you get further and further away from us" "I see... and you all feel this way?" Mars looked around the table and saw four sets of determined eyes and gave a sigh "...next time there''s anything bothering you girls be sure to tell me sooner, this has been going on for sometime, right?" Mars clenched his hand under the table, he blamed himself for this even though there was nothing to blame himself for "when do you plan to leave?" "tonight" "I see... I''ll send you there then" The next day Mars woke up in an almost empty bed "....good morning Victoria" "good... morning Mars" Mars looked over at the big wall sized window at the slowly rising sun and estimated the current time ''I still have sometime before I have to meet Alvin and the others... let''s get something to eat'' Mars rose from the bed and walked over to his closet and picked out some clothes to wear before he put them on, the bedroom seemed a lot more empty than usual with the girls not being there ''...shit'' Mars decided to stop thinking about it and walked into the living room and found some food in the fridge and sat down at the table and began eating, meanwhile Victoria walked out of the bedroom and walked over to Mars and rubbed her whiskers against his leg while her horns flashed slightly "don''t feel... so down" "yeah I know... it''s only for a month" Mars finished eating and got ready to leave "do you want to come with Victoria?" "...sure" Victoria didn''t jump into his shadow as Mars expected but simply walked after him ''what''s up with her? she''s usually too lazy to walk by herself'' "are you thinking... something... rude right now?" "nope, not at all why do you ask Victoria?" "because you... made that... face" "I see, well I didn''t think anything rude" "good..." Mars wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, he had once pissed off Victoria which resulted in him getting the cold shoulder for almost 6 months, as Mars reminded himself to keep his thoughts pure around Victoria the two of them arrived at the building next to the mirror building and walked in and said hey to Alvin and the rest of his squad before Mars ripped open a portal to the barrier forest and stepped though... On the other side of the portal Mars was meet with the remaining hunters and mercenaries surrounding the portal, when they saw Mars some of them took a step backwards in fear, Mars gave a nod thinking they should be too scared to act up anytime soon, of cause scaring them more would be bad too ''well let''s just hope Alvin can make a deal today...'' next came Victoria through the portal, she looked around at the hunters as her horns flashed "they have... killing intent... can I play with them?" "no endure it for now, but if anyone does anything funny to you you can kill them if you want" "okay..." next came Alvin and his squad, they didn''t even look at the surrounding hunters and mercenaries they just walked straight into the cabin to continue talks with Vanessa, Mars also walked over to the cabin and sat down leaning against the wall right beside the door and patted his lap, soon Victoria came running and laid down on his lap and began purring ''today looks like a peaceful day...'' Chapter 193 Envoy 1 The negotiations went much better than the day before, without the rude interruption from the now dead mercenaries and soldiers, Mars spent most of the day with Victoria on his lap as he sat guard besides the door to the cabin and enjoyed the sunshine while he kept a watchful eye on the remaining mercenaries and hunters ''yup sure is peaceful today...'' at least it was until around noon where the hunters on the perimeter sounded an alarm as he watched his friend get hit by something that quickly melted his body into paste, one of the more experienced hunters that happened to see it quickly yelled "stealth spiders! watch out for the acid spit!" Mars woke up from his sunshine induced daze and looked over "that''s slightly nostalgic... do you remember Victoria? when we had just met and killed stealth spiders together?" "yeah... that was a... long... time ago" while Mars and Victoria was talking about the good ol'' days the casualties steadily increased among the hunters, their screams caused the people inside the cabin to steep out, Vanessa asked Mars "what''s happening?" "stealth spiders'' happening, please go back inside for your own safety" Alvin gave a frown as a former leader of a barrier forest patrol team he knew how annoying a group of stealth spiders could be and gave a sigh before he asked Mars "can you take care of them?" "sure... one moment please" Mars stood up and stretched before he put a hand on the hilt of his sword and took a deep breath before he activated [Instant movement] on his sword arm and sent out a flurry of sword lights that flew past the hunters and into the forest, then he gave a yawn and sat down again, Alvin gave a nod and walked back into the cabin but Vanessa did not instead she asked Mars "could you not have done that from the beginning?" "sure I could, I could also have annihilated the stealth spiders when they picked up our scent about an hour ago, but I didn''t... and you know why?" "...why?" "because I was not ordered, you see my top priority is not to keep your escorts alive it''s to keep the elvers alive until they are done with their work, then I have to return safely them to Green river" "...you turned into a real asshole you know that Mars?" "yeah I know, it comes with not being mortal now go back in there and negotiate" Vanessa gave Mars one last cold look before she walked back into the cabin, Mars gave a sigh just as Victoria''s horns flashed "why... are you being... mean?" "...well I guess it''s because the girls left?" "are you... lonely Mars?" "a bit, but not as much as I could be" "why..?" "because I got you Victoria" "...I see" Mars felt like Victoria purred a little louder than usual but put it out of his mind as he leaned back and enjoyed the sunshine About 700 Kilometers away from Mars'' current position laid his mother''s island, she was currently in her human from looking at the 4 girls in front of her with a bored look on her face, they had arrived yesterday and asked her to make them stronger so she did what she had done to Mars, she gave them dragon blood. While dragon blood a surefire way to increase one''s strength in a short amount of time the method was also extremely painful and was also likely to kill the person taking the blood if their willpower was low, she had half expected at least one of the girls to kneel over dead by now but surprisingly they were all still alive which was the cause of her boredom she heard a low growl from her side and looked over and saw her child, a big red dragon that was lying with its head down on the ground while wagging it''s tail from side to side like a big dog and gave a sigh before she spoke "no you can''t eat them, they are Mars'' mates... of course if you do Mars is likely to kill you and eat your magic beast core" the red dragon let out another low growl which caused her to give yet another sigh before she spoke in an irritated tone "yes I''m sure he will notice if they are missing a limb so you can''t taste them either" the red dragon let out another low growl and stood up and walked past the girls and out of the cave, Mars'' mother gave a sigh and sat down on the ground before she looked them over again half expecting one of them to have died while she was not looking, but alas they were all still alive, although how close they were to fall over dead differed a lot ''best I soupse is the half dragon... then comes the two elvers and finely the one that is closest to dying is the beastwoman...'' Varvei had some dragon blood in her already so she was naturally doing best with enduring the side effects, Marry and Chloe was both extremely physically fit and had both lived long lives so their mental and physical toughness was pretty good and then there was Elsa.... Elsa was by far the youngest of the 4 and her physical fitness was not as good as the elvers therefore she had the most trouble, Mars'' mother looked over at Elsa that was covered in sweat and seemed to have trouble breathing and gave a yet another sigh ''she probably won''t last the night... how do I explain this to Mars..?'' Back at Green river Mars returned by portal, the negotiations were done and both the compensation and ransom they were set to receive was pretty good all things considered there was just one problem ''....now I''m bored again'' Mars had lost his work so now he was bored again and with the girls not being home he was feeling even more bored by the minute "....let''s go visit Terry" Mars got up from the couch he was lazing around in and was about to walk out the door when he remembered something "oh right, he''s leveling up at the moment... shit what should I do now..?" Mars still left the penthouse but he just wandered aimlessly around the city until he arrived at the giant tree in the middle of the bridge and thought ''maybe the elders have something for me...?'' Mars went inside and instead of going up to the reception he went straight ahead further into the giant tree, having been here so many times already he knew the way pretty well and didn''t need anyone to guide him anymore, besides the elders themselves had said he was free to visit anytime he wanted and thus after walking for about half an hour Mars arrived in front of the door to the elders chamber and walked in without knocking and found that the elders were already discussing something "---but still we must honor our agreement" "it expired ages ago" "I agree there''s no reason for us to send them without any gain, besides how is a elver supposed to pass though the NNE at a time like this?" "oh... welcome Mars" "sorry we were discussing something, do you need anything?" Mars walked up and sat down on a chair facing the 8 thrones were the elders were sitting and asked "what were you discussing?" one of the elders gave a sigh and spoke "well the truth is we received a request for aid from one of the other elven settlements here on Salen" "oh... now I''m interested, tell me more" "well it''s not all that interesting, they need to borrow our military to reconquer some of their territory, specifically the planes around their forest which has been annexed by one of the NNE''s vessels" "but we have no way of transporting that amount of troops over land or by sea" "besides, we are not sure if we should honor such an old agreement in the first place" Mars gave a nod and pointed at himself "why not send me?" the elders fell silent and a few moments later, one of them spoke "we could do that" "but are you willing to help Mars?" Mars gave another nod "sure I''m bored anyways so let me meet with the envoy first then I''ll decide" "how long am I supposed to wait here!" Amelia yelled at the guard that was watching over her, she was an elver alright but that''s were all similarity with the Green river elvers ended, she had tanned skin and a no-so-slender figure that put the slender Green river elvers to shame and her eyes were red as a ruby, she was what Mars would call a dark elf "as I''m waiting here my comrades die fighting against the invaders! tell me if you plan to help already!" she yelled at the guard once more, but the guard remained silent, he was indeed getting paid enough to endure being yelled at by Amelia, at this moment the door to the room was opened by Mars that walked in and laid eyes on Amelia and was stunned at her busty figure and was half about to ask ''are you really an elf?'' but when she laid her eyes on him she drew her sword and slashed at him with rage while she yelled "die you dirty human!" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly as time slowed down around him before he reached out for the sword on his hip and in the next moment blood splattered thought the ai Chapter 194 Envoy 2 Blood splattered as the sword Amelia held flew off along with the hand holding her sword "AAAGGGHHH!!!" an agonized cry sounded out in the room as Amelia kneeled down clutching her right arm, Mars shock the blood off the blade of his sword and sheathed it again before he spoke "you know I really hate being mistaken for a human so don''t call that again, understood?" "I''ll kill you I swear I''ll kill you!" "apparently not..." Mars gave a sigh and picked up the severed hand from the small pool of blood it laid in before he walked over to Amelia "don''t come any closer!" "come on now, I mean no harm" with that sentence Mars ignored Amelia cries, punches and kicks as he grabbed her right arm and pressed the severed hand against it before he activated his [Energy: healing] skill and reattached her hand "there, all better" "eh..?" Amelia looked down at her hand that had been reattached with wide eyes, Mars ignored her wonder and amazement and looked her straight in the eyes before he commanded "try moving your fingers for me" "o-okay..." Amelia''s fingers moved, but slowly and without much strength which caused Mars to click his tongue "shit the tendons are still severed... hold still" Mars grabbed her arm again and reactivated his healing skill, this time with the max amount of energy units, a soft glow enveloped Amelia''s arm for a moment before Mars began feeling her arm as he once again commanded "try moving you fingers again" "okay..." Amelia moved her fingers again, this time there was no problem, Mars gave a nod and looked into Amelia''s ruby eyes and said with a wide smile on his face "next time you point a blade against me I won''t heal you afterwards" "o-okay" Amelia gave a meek nod as she watched Mars with wonder in her eyes, she had never seen a healing skill so powerful as the one Mars had just used, plus she had been practicing with her sword ever since she was able to hold it and she could just barely see Mars'' sword, to put it simply they were on different levels, there was also the faint pressure she felt whenever she looked at him. Amelia considered her next words carefully before she eventually decided to introduce herself "my name is Amelia, I''m here as an envoy to ask Green river for help" Mars gave a nod "my name is Mars, I''m the leader all of Green river''s military personal and technological development, I''m here to hear you out in place of the elders" Amelia paled slightly, if she knew Mars was such a high ranking person in Green river she would never have attacked him when he walked into the room "...sorry" "oh you''re sorry? about what?" "...never mind" Amelia lowered her head when she saw Mars'' serious expression, he clearly didn''t want to accept an apology from her so she decided to drop it and took a seat at the table, Mars followed suit and also sat down and looked at Amelia for some time until she began speaking "Elvers are normally bound to their forest but my people use the plains around our forest to raise livestock" "I see so the plains are important to you guys..." "yes, in fact our ablilty to feed our own people have been significantly reduced since Ule annexed the plains around our forest, the cowards also took meany of our people hostage and threatens to sell them into slavery" ''so there''s a hostage situation too...'' Mars listened as Amelia explained the situation in detail, it took about an hour for Mars to understand all parts of the conflict, then Mars gave a nod "I understand now, since the elders have left this matter to me I''ll decide if Green river gets involved in it or not, you understand that right Amelia?" "...yes" Amelia gave a heavy nod as she looked at Mars that closed his eyes and thought for a few minutes before he opened them again and said "alright, I have thought of a plan, however I''m not going to share that with you, I''m going to go and tell your elder of it directly, it will be up to them if they accept" Amelia''s expression lightened up as she gave a nod "I see... when are you ready to leave?" "in 10 minutes, wait here..." Mars stood up from his chair and walked out of the room before he opened a portal to his penthouse and picked up his bag and told Victoria he would need her help in a few days and that she should go to Alvin when she was hungry before he picked up his pre packed backpack and opened a portal back to the giant tree and walked back into the meeting room where Amelia waited for him exactly 7 minutes after he had left "let''s go" "don''t you have to inform the elders of you decision first?" "nah I don''t need to, they entrusted me to handle this matter" "....they must trust you a lot" "sure they do" Mars followed after Amelia until both of them reached a park and Amelia took out a flute and blew it, just as Mars was about to ask what she was calling a giant hawk with a wingspan at least 20 meters wide descended on in the park and landed in front of Amelia and petted it''s beak before she jumped onto its back and looked over at Mars "come on, she doesn''t bite" "no need" Mars slowly lifted off the ground to Amelia surprise and began hovering "....so you can fly?" "yup" "...is there anything else you can do that I should know?" Mars gave a smile but didn''t answer, instead he raised his altitude fast and soon disappeared above the clouds Amelia gave a sigh and patted the hawk on its head and it let out a screech and lifted off the ground with a mighty flap of its wings and soon it also lifted above the clouds were it quickly found Mars that was waiting for them "lead the way" "okay!" Mars followed after Amelia on her giant hawk and surprising had no problems keeping up with the giant hawk as he even flew around the hawk a few times just to demonstrate his superiority which seemed to piss the hawk off "easy girl, he''s just teasing you" Amelia petted the feathers of the hawk while she looked over at Mars that wore flight goggles and flew with his arms stretched out in front of his head and gave a sigh while she thought ''not only does he have a high level of swordsmanship and a healing skill which is able to reattach severed limbs he can also fly faster than a giant wind hawk... that and the immortal elders of Green river seems to trust him, I wonder just who is this Mars? and what more can he do?'' After flying the entire day Mars, Amelia and the giant hawk landed in an underpopulated area and made camp for the night and soon Mars and Amelia sat down on their side of the campfire, they had just eaten some provisions and a little ways away was the giant hawk, it was already sleeping but was likely to wake up if anything approached the camp so Mars and Amelia could sleep without having to stand guard in swifts which was nice, Amelia loosened her tight fitting leather armor while Mars did his best not to stare "hey..." "what is it Amelia?" "you said you have a plan, how likely is that plan to succeed?" "hmm... well it''s more likely to succeed than not, let me just say it like that" "I see... what are you going to do if the plan fails?" "well the plan is mostly how to make sure Ule or another power doesn''t want to annex your land again, so if the plan fails I''ll just turn the capital of Ule into a ghost town as a deterrent to others" "...are you serious?" "yup, anyways I''ll head to sleep now, see you in the morning" Mars got up and walked away from the campfire leaving Amelia alone at the campfire, for a time she just looked into the fire trying to figure out if Mars was serious about turning a city into a ghost town by himself ''no way, he must be joking...'' Amelia shook her head and looked up at the stars while thinking of her homeland that was mostly in the hands of invaders and gave a long sigh ''guess I''ll go to sleep too...'' It took Mars and Amelia 4 days of flying to reach Amelia''s home forest, the forest called Black woods and soon both of them landed in a clearing outside of the city that also was called Black woods and after the giant hawk flew off by itself Mars and Amelia began moving towards the city walls, on the way there Mars transformed into his half dragon from to avoid a repeat of what happened with Amelia Chapter 195 Envoy 3 Amelia looked over at Mars and was a little surprised at his transformation and thought for a moment before she slightly bowed her head "now I see why you don''t like being called a human, sorry" "well what can I say? Dragons are proud creatures after all" Amelia gave a meek nod "...I''m sorry about pointing my blade at you" "it''s fine" "but---" "I said it''s fine, okay?" "....okay" "just don''t do it again" "....okay" Mars gave a sigh, he was a little frustrated about how meek Amelia was being, suddenly an arrow landed at their feet, Mars looked up at the walls and slightly narrowed his eyes and soon spotted the elver that had fired the arrow, like Amelia he had tanned skin and ruby red eyes "wait here Mars, I''ll go explain your an envoy from Green river" "sure... but if he fires another arrow I might get annoyed and fire something back" "I got it" Amelia began running towards the walls afraid that the elvers on the walls would fire more arrows at Mars and he would retaliate, Mars stood in the same spot for sometime before he sat himself down and waited for Amelia to return, after waiting for about 5 minutes Amelia returned accompanied by a group of armed elvers, Mars got on his feet and waited for them to get closer which they soon did, then one of them spoke "you must be Mars, I''m here to take you to the elders" Mars slowly shook his head before he spoke without looking at the elver "my deal is with Amelia not you, the same terms might not follow if I have to make a new deal with you" "...fine Amelia show Mars to the elders" "yes sir" Mars and Amelia walked towards the walls leaving the group of elvers behind "...why did you do that Mars?" "because I wanted to, bedsides I have seen eyes like his way too many times" "...what kind of eyes did he make?" "the kind that only care about me because of the people that stand behind me, I really hate being looked down upon especially when I''m here to help" "...I see, well then I''ll show you to the elders" Mars followed after Amelia past the gates of Black woods and into the city, Mars looked around at the buildings and was not so impressed with what he saw, the buildings were mostly wooden huts which made the sky trees of Green river seem like a distant dream, besides the streets were filled with refugees from the plains around the Black woods that had fled here when Ule took over the plains but to Mars'' surprise the refugees were cared for by everyone and he frequently saw elvers helping out the refugees with both food and shelter, this put a warm smile on Mars'' face, at least the elvers were better at this than the humans "we''ll be there soon" "okay" Mars put his focus back on Amelia that lead the way and started to ignore the elvers around him as he formulated a plan for the upcoming talks, soon they arrived in the center of the city were a big wooden building stood "this is the building of the elder council" Mars gave a nod "let''s head inside then" Amelia lead the way inside the building and after talking with some other elvers inside the building she lead the way further inside the building and soon both of them arrived in front of a closed reinforced door which Amelia pushed open before she walked into the room and bent down on one knee and spoke to the elders that sat in chairs around a table in the middle of the room "elders I, Amelia bring Mars the leader of Green rivers military and military technological development as a envoy" the elders stopped talking and looked over past Amelia at Mars, Mars gave a confident smile and walked into the room and decided to strike first "as Amelia said I''m Mars leader of Green river''s military and military technological development, but I also have another identity I am the living god of energy" Amelia looked slightly confused, clearly she didn''t know what a living god was but the about 20 elders all hardened their faces as they looked at Mars for a few long moments before one of them spoke up "we didn''t know that a living god was living in Green river" Mars gave a smile and raised two fingers "not one, two" the elder stood up from her seat, the other elders also looked stunned "two!?" "yes and both are willing to help you reconquer your land, now what do you say?" The talks with the elders of Black woods went way better than Amelia had expected, after Mars said he was a so called ''living god'' the elders practically kneeled over and began kissing his feet, Amelia was of course confused by this but she knew it was not her place to ask questions so she just half knelt forgotten by the elders that were busy fawning over Mars for about an hour until Mars had reached an initial agreement with the elders, then one of them rudely asked "what, are you still here Amelia?" to which she could only lower her head further, until Mars walked over and clapped her on the shoulder "come on Amelia let''s go" "eh..? yes" Amelia got on her feet and without complaining over her numb legs she walked after Mars leaving the elders behind that exchanged thoughtful looks "so Amelia what do you think I should do now?" "....about what?" "what do you think I should start with?" Amelia thought for a moment before she answered "rescue our people that is being held hostage" "....hmm... sure I could and probably should start with that, do you have knowledge on where they are being held?" "yes because I was made a messenger I was told all that we know about the whole situation" "I see, well then let''s head back to Green river to pick up Victoria..." "are we going back to Green river?" "yes just for a bit" "okay I''ll go call my hawk" "no need, I know a shortcut" Back at Green river a portal opened on top of Mars'' sky tree, Amelia walked out of the portal and looked around dumbfounded before she muttered "....it really is Green river" Mars stepped out of the portal behind her and gave a smile before he asked "what, did you doubt me?" Amelia lowered her head and mumbled "a little..." after a while Amelia recovered from her shock and asked Mars that was watering his vegetable plants on the rooftop garden bedside her "what are we here for?" "to pick up someone" "....who?" "someone that will help a lot with rescuing your brethren, she''s an expert in stealth skills" Amelia gave a sigh "we have a lot of stealth experts in Black woods too, so why did we have to come all the way to Green river?" "well you have no one this good" "how good is she?" "well she has been watching us since we stepped out of the portal" Amelia suddenly felt a chill down her spine and began looking around the rooftop garden trying to spot the so called ''expert'' "...do you mind if I look for her?" "sure be my guest, just don''t break anything" Amelia went around the rooftop garden looking for the so called ''expert'' for a few hours until she came half crying back to Mars that was enjoying the evening sun by laying flat on his back on a patch of grass, Mars opened his eyes when Amelia came near "oh, welcome back did you find her?" "...no" "I see, do you believe me now?" Amelia pouted like a little girl but still answered orbetiantly "...yes" "that''s good, now do you want to meet her?" "sure" "okay..." Mars patted his stomach and soon an unnatural shadow moved into the sunlight and passed right by Amelia before it hovered bedsides Mars and suddenly Victoria jumped out of the shadow and landed on Mars'' stomach while Amelia stared blankly before suddenly she trembled and took a step backwards and quickly asked Mars with a slightly shaky voice "i-i-is that a s-s-shadow death p-p-p-panther!?" "oh you have heard of Victoria''s race before, I''m very impressed" in the next moment Amelia began hyperventilating before she eventually collapsed on the grass "....guess she fainted?" "did I do... something... wrong?" "no you didn''t Victoria don''t worry" "okay..." Amelia slowly awoke and opened her ruby eyes "...an unfamiliar ceiling?" "yo you''re awake" "oh, Mars... how long was I out for?" "about an hour" "I see..." Amelia laid her head back on the couch and looked up into the ceiling for sometime until she asked Mars without looking at him "...Mars what are you wearing right now?" "oh, this? this is my raid suit" Mars wore a full suit made from dark leather that seemed to absorb the light around it, Mars also had one of his swords unsheathed and was applying some kind of dark paint to the pale bone sword, making it roughly the same color as the suit "why are you wearing that?" "because we''re going on a night raid now" "right now?" Mars gave a nod "yup right now, you''re coming too" Since some(one) of you asked for it here''s Mars'' current status: Name: Mars Age: 3 (vessel 5223) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 112 Status points: Strength [937/1000] Constitution [1012/2000] Dexterity [1114/1500] Intelligence [600/600] Wisdom [900/900] Charisma [50/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 6] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 2600/112.000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] [Energy: sense] [Living god: presence] [Living god: half awaken] [Living god: wings] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] now please forgive me if I missed a skill or two(this is why I don''t do the status anymore), also to those confused by the status here''s an example: one point in strength is equal to one average person of the same race''s total strength, so Mars has 937 half dragons worth of strength(although only when he uses [Living god: half awaken] normally he uses about 30% of all his status) please tell me if you have other requests my dear readers as I will(as long as they are not to ridiculous) try to fulfill them Chapter 196 Reconquest 1 "As I said keep fucking quiet or I''ll kill you!" The elvers behind the iron bars quieted down at the angry guard''s threat "all mighty 13, those elver sure can squeal..." the guard sat down on his chair again and began to nod off, the current time was a little before midnight, the two moons were both in their darkest and a thin cloud layer covered the stars light from shining through, it truly was a dark night. As the guard began nodding off again the elvers in the prison cells began whispering to each other again, they were reassuring their loved ones that everything would be okay and that they soon would be rescued, this was one of many temporary prison camps that had been set up in the plains around Black woods to house the elvers that had been captured during the conquest of the plains, as for the reason why the prisoners had not been moved further into Ule was actually part of a scheme hatched by some of the top leaders in Ule that went like this: so far public sentiment was against conquering the entire of Black woods as the cost simply would outweigh the gain, but if the elvers were to say launch a bloody retaliation strike and try to get their people back there would likely be created a blood feud that the leaders of Ule could make use of to justify the conquest of Black woods. the guard moved slightly in his sleep and awoke again after sleeping for about half an hour and yelled "would you dirty elvers shut up already!?" the guard rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked over at the prison and nearly dropped his jaw when he saw it was empty, a hole had been bent in the iron bars, the guard quickly took a deep breath and yelled "alarm!" the entire camp quickly sprung alive and seach parties was sent to try and find the escaped elvers but to no effect, the elvers seemed to have disappeared completely, unknown to the camp 2 sets of eyes watched them from above "....hey Mars, can we move on already?" "in a moment Amelia.... bedsides we only have one prison camp left" Mars was floating mid air while holding Amelia in a princess carry, it had been about 6 hours since they had started their night raids and the horizon showed signs of the morning coming, but Mars ignored that as he watched the soldiers from Ule move around in the dark below them ''their movements are about the same as the last camp...'' "Mars, I see a fast horse leaving the camp" "okay then it''s time for us to move on to the last camp..." Mars flew through the night while carrying Amelia in his arms and soon they arrived over another camp "looks like Victoria already started" below them the guards walked around with a haze of darkness around their heads, although nobody seemed to notice this, Mars touched down at the edge of the camp and began walking through the camp at a leisurely pace with Amelia following after him with a drawn sword, soon they ran into a guard caring a touch but he didn''t see them even though he walked right past them, Amelia looked at the guard and mumbled "....Victoria is pretty amazing" Mars gave a nod "that she is" moving further into the prison camp and found the room where the prisoners were kept, Victoria was sitting in front of a sleeping guard while her horns glowed slightly as she maintained the spells keeping the guards oblivious and this one sleeping, Amelia walked in and calmed down the elvers before Mars walked over to the iron bars and bent a hole in the bars and walked into the cell before he opened a portal to Black woods that the elvers quickly walked tough "well then, that''s that... come on Victoria we''re done here" "did I... do a good... job?" "yes you did a very good job" Mars petted Victoria on the head which resulted in her letting out a long purr "well then Amelia are you coming?" "...sure" Mars, v and Victoria walked through the portal to Black woods leaving the sleeping guard to his dreams.... Back at Black woods the night was anything less than quiet, a giant banquet was being held in one of the city''s central plazas and the main guest of this banquet was Mars, this was understandable he had just rescued about 2.000 elvers from the clutches of Ule and he had also promised the full support of Green rivers military to help reconquer their land so the elvers of Black woods were to say the least excited and kept toasting Mars all night, when the morning came Mars awoke with a splitting headache and a mouth that felt like dried sand ''need... water and then shade'' Mars picked himself up from the banquet table he had been sleeping on and menurvred around the elvers that were sleeping on the ground and soon reached a well, after dropping down the bucket Mars soon pulled up a bucketful of water and began drinking straight from the bucket, half a bucket later he once again felt alive, at least somewhat and began searching for the next priority: shade, even though the sun had only just risen the heat was unbearable for a hangover Mars, soon Mars vaulted over a fence and walked into a private garden and laid down in the shade of some brushes on the grass and closed his eyes to get some sleep ''so sleepy...'' Mars curled up in a ball and soon entered the gates of dreamland once again... Mars didn''t know how long he had been sleeping but soon he felt someone shaking him sightly and so he displayed a weak resistance by culling up further and let out a haunting groan as he tried to remain in dreamland, but alas the shaking continued and so he regretfully opened his eyes and came face to face with an elven child that had tanned skin, ruby eyes and short pale hair "ah he''s awake!" the child took some distance from Mars, clearly he didn''t actually expect Mars to wake and ran into the house while yelling for his mom "mom there''s a stranger in the garden!" Mars turned over and laid down on his back and looked up into the sky ''about mid day...'' Mars estimated the time from the position of the sun and sat himself up and looked around, there was neatly arranged flowerbeds and bushes in the garden "...this is a really nice garden" "why thank you" Mars looked over and saw the child from earlier hiding behind an elven woman that looked to be in her 30''s, Mars greeted her "hello" "you must be Mars, am I right?" "yup, in the flesh" "...that''s good, I thought some unknown man had invaded my garden for a moment" "....sorry about that" "I don''t mind, now I can brag to the neighbors that the Mars slept in my garden" Mars gave a nod and rose to his feet and wiped the loose grass off his pants when the woman spoke "why don''t you join us for tea?" "...sure" Mars followed after the elven woman and child which he still didn''t have the names of ''well whatever, it''s not like they are a threat to me....'' Mars sat down at a small table in the other end of the garden where the woman served him some tea, Mars took a sip and discovered it was fruit tea that both had a wonderful taste and aroma "this is very good tea..." "thank you Mars" Mars spent about half an hour by chatting and sipping tea until a sound was heard from above and Mars looked up "I see, so that''s what a hawk cry sounds like..." Mars looked up a giant hawk that was circling above him and then he quickly downed his tea and looked over at the elven woman "thanks for tea" "you''re very welcome Mars, be sure to stop by again sometime" "sure... see you kid" "....bye" Mars said his goodbye to the two of them and then he began floating before he flew up to where the hawk was circling "good morning Mars" "morning Amelia, are the elders calling?" "yeah..." Mars was a little surprised to have guessed right "oh.... well then I''ll race you there" Amelia gave a confident smile "you''re on!" a few moments later a strong gust of wind blew at the elders building as Mars touched down right in front of it and let out a sigh as he looked behind him and watched as Amelia and her hawk slowly came into view and landed a moment later, Mars gave a smile and walked up to the hawk and patted it on its beak "now now, don''t feel bad you were after all against a real living god" Chapter 197 Reconquest 2 Amelia gave a sigh and jumped down from her giant hawk and came face to face with Mars'' smug face and gave another sigh "yeah you win..." "come on now it was not a contest" "oh... I see in that---" "cause you never had a change in the first place" Amelia looked at Mars'' smug face and was slightly stunned before she suddenly had an urge to punch him in the face, but before she had a chance to act Mars turned around and began walking into the elders building which left her stomping her feet in rage for a few moments before she gave yet another sigh and followed after Mars... After a long and tedious meeting with the Black woods elders Mars found the nearest bar and ordered some beer from the barkeep and sat down at the bar and waited, Amelia sat down next to him and leaned on the bar while she ordered something strong to drink for herself, even though Mars had been drinking all night he felt fine and in need of a beer ''wait, I''m not turning into some kind of alcoholic am I?'' Mars shook his head and reassured himself that it was fine, just then his beer arrived and Mars took a swig of the clod beer and felt his very soul rejuvenate "that''s the stuff!" Mars then proceed to down the rest of his beer before he ordered another and gave a sidelong glance at Amelia that was tracing the rim of her glass with her finger, Mars gave a small sigh and asked "something on your mind?" Amelia stopped tracing the rim of her glass and took a sip before she gave sigh "yeah it''s about your plan... what did you call it again?" "the grand master plan where Ule gets destroyed on a battlefield of death?" "yeah that... is it really necessary to spread those what are they called..? flyers?" "yes, that''s a completely necessary part of the plan of the reconquest" Amelia gave a sigh "I just don''t understand how announcing our intentions to attack is going to help?" "well it''s certainly unwise from a pure militaristic standpoint... but we need to prove that what Ule did was unethical and cowardly to the citizens of Ule" "....but why?" "because that will lower their morale to a point where I need it" "I see...." Amelia still didn''t understand and quietly sipped from her glass of whiskey while Mars downed his 3rd beer and swiftly ordered another before he spoke up again "you know how there''s 4 main cities we need to reconquer right?" "yes one in the south, west, north and east" "what do you think will happen if we announce to attack the northern one first?" "well if they believe us then they will muster troops in the northern city right?" Mars gave a nod before he took a swig of his beer and spoke "exactly" "...but why is that a good thing?" "because you have me there, it doesn''t matter how many of them there is, plus there''s another living god that will be joining on our side too, so they will have no change anyways" "I see... but are you really sure it''s for the best?" "yeah, bedsides it''s better if we crush them quickly, have something to do in 25 days" "okay..." Amelia stood up from her chair and downed the rest of her whiskey before she turned to Mars "I''ll go inform the elder council of your decision" "sure... you know where to find me afterwards" Mars gave a small wave to Amelia that walked out of the bar before he downed his 4th beer and swiftly ordered another... Early the next morning Mars made a trip back to Green river with Amelia, after they stepped out of the portal they made their way towards the central elders tree, on the way there Amelia could not hold back her curiosity and asked "what are we doing here?" "we need to borrow the press" "what press?" "the printing press, no way I''m making all those flyers by hand" "I see... but what''s a printing press?" Mars gave a smile "you''ll see don''t worry" Mars made his way into the giant tree and swiftly walked further into the hollowed out tree and soon arrived at a door which he opened and walked in, Amelia covered her ears as there was some loud noises coming from the room as she walked in "what''s that Mars?" "that''s the printing press, one moment I''ll go talk with the manager" Amelia waited for Mars to return, meanwhile she watched the big machinery work with slight confusion visible on her face as she tried to figure out how it worked but all to soon the machine shut down and an elver walked over and began doing something with the machine "....what''s he doing?" "he''s changing the letters so they match these" Mars held up a flyer which read: We condemn Ule''s cowardly sneak attack and hereby announce our intentions to reconquer what is rightfully ours. The reconquest will start in 3 days with the northern city being the first followed by the southern, western and finally the eastern city, be advised that during the reconquest anyone found inside the city''s will be considered an enemy of Black woods and if they are not killed they will be taken prisoner "...I still don''t see how a flyer like this is going to help" "well it won''t help with the first city... but try to think, what will happen to the morale in the other cities after we reconquer the first?" "....it will drop right?" "yup, unless they have soldiers made of steel" "I see..." Amelia gave a nod meanwhile the printing press started printing the flyers... After the flyers were printed they were spread over the 4 cities where they were mostly treated as a joke just as Mars had predicted after all Black woods were not known for their military so people thought reconquest would be unlikely at best and if it really did come the elvers would just be throwing their lives away, around noon on the 3rd day two figures showed up from the direction of Black woods both of them were walking while chatting and stopped around 50 meters from the closed gates, just outside of arrow and spell range "well then Terry show me what leveling so much have gotten you" "sure... watch this!" Terry took a reinforced compound bow off his back and nocked an arrow before he drew the sting back and took aim for a moment before he let the arrow lose, at the moment he did a sonic boom sounded out as the arrow broke past the speed of sound and an instant later hit a guard standing on top of the city walls, Mars gave a nod "nice" "thanks Mars" "well then I think we have announced our intentions, now let me call the troops..." Mars transformed his hand and ripped open space, soon about 2.000 troops from Green river and about 1.000 from Black woods walked out of the giant portal and lined up behind the two living gods, of course at this point in time the guards on the city wall had already sounded the alarm and almost 5.000 troops were beginning to muster inside the city as archers and spell casters lined up on the walls "well then I''ll go knock on the front door" "good luck Mars" "thanks Terry" Mars cracked his knuckles as he was swiftly covered by vermilion armor, then he made a shield from the condensed blood lust and began to hover in place as he activated [Half awaken] and flew towards the walls with break neck speed, when he reached the midway point he suddenly accelerated making a sonic boom sound out as he broke past the speed of sound and flew directly into the gate that simply exploded from the impact, Terry gave a sigh and thought ''I want to be able to fly too...'' then raised his bow up high and yelled "CHARGE!" """"""""OOOOOHHHHH!!!"""""""" the elvers from Green river obeied Terry''s orders and began charging, a little late the elvers from Black woods also began charging, but who could blame them after all they had just witnessed the might of a living god for the first time. Inside the city Mars flew around over the walls like an angel of death sending out a flurry of sword lights that cut the defending troops into pieces, swiftly he mopped up the troops on the walls and flew towards the fortress in the middle of the city and landed in the courtyard where he was quickly surrounded by enemy soldiers "take me to your leader" "kill him!" "guess not..." Mars activated [Instant movement] and swiftly dealt with the enemy soldiers in the courtyard before he walked in the front door to the fortress ''now if I were an enemy general where would I be hiding?'' Chapter 198 Reconquest 3 The reconquest of the northern city was over in just 2 hours, Mars stood and overlooked the city from a room in the central fortress, he had just finished negotiating the terms of surrender with a surprisingly sensible general that knew he had been beaten, Mars walked out of the room as his vermilion armor disintegrated into red particles ''I need a drink...'' Mars walked out of the fortress just as Amelia on her giant hawk in the courtyard "good timing... want to go and grab a drink?" "again today?" "come on you hardly drank anything yesterday" "...fine then" Mars gave a happy smile "good, I''ll go find Terry then we can go" Mars quickly flew off in search of Terry and no even a minute later he and Terry returned by portal to the courtyard where Amelia stood and waited "Terry this is Amelia, Amelia this is Terry" "hi" "hello" the two of them exchanged greetings, Terry being a little shy and only stealing glances at Amelia while Amelia carried a warm smile "well then let''s go hit a bar, I''ll give the first round" Amelia gave a sigh before she spoke "sure Mars, just don''t drink as much as last time..." Terry also gave a wry smile and spoke to Amelia "is this the first time you drink with Mars?" "no it''s the second, why do you ask Terry?" Terry gave a sigh as Mars ripped open a portal "because I gave up reminding him the third time we went drinking together..." "oh... I see" "come on you two, the beer is waiting!" ""yes Mars..."" and so Mars and his two drinking buddies(forced) went drinking, this time in Green river at Mars'' usual bar which he had been visiting pretty much everyday since the girls left for the island about 10 days ago, having ordered a round of beers Mars brought it over to the table and sat it down before he grabbed his mug of beer and downed it(while he was still standing, of course) "ah that hit the spot..." and so without even sitting down at the table he walked back to the bar and ordered another beer, leaving Terry and Amelia alone "has he always been like that Terry?" "well I have not known him for so long but... it probably has to do with his girlfriends not being home" "oh? what''s the story there?" "well something about them wanting to get stronger so they could help him better" "what so they''re not fighting and he''s still drinking like that?" "yup... even though Mars looks and acts strong he gets lonely pretty quick" "I see... well then let''s do our best to accompany him" "yeah let''s" Terry and Amelia both raised their mugs and downed their beers as best they could before they joined Mars at the bar... the first Mars felt when he awoke was his head hurting and his mouth being dry "...water... I need water" Mars sat himself up and opened his eyes and found himself in a pure white space "...shit" the thing Mars was cursing about was not the pure white space but the person that stood right beside him, well person was not the right word god was more appropriate, Mars quickly got on his feet and put a hand on the hilt of his sword as he gave a cold smile "hello Hel, how''s your face" it was Hel, the only difference from the last time Mars saw her was the long scars that ran down her face no doubt they were cursed by his adamantite broadsword "I''ll kill you Mars, but now is not the time" as the two of them spoke a figure in a golden robe floated down, she had a gentle smile on her face when she saw Mars and called out to him "my you are awake little brother" Mars gave a smile "long time no see Tatiana" it was indeed Tatiana the living god of mana just as Mars was about to ask what was happening, someone clapped him on the shoulder from behind, Mars looked back and saw Terry "Mars what is this?" "hmm... I don''t know but it seems like someone gathered us here?" "us?" "yeah living gods" Terry looked confused for a moment then she looked over at Hel and Tatiana and suddenly his gaze sharpened and he took his bow off his back and nocked an arrow, Hel gave a mocking smile and spoke "now that I know you''re with Mars I''ll kill you too little puppy" Terry pulled back his bowstring and took aim and spoke "I would like to see you try you disfigured hag!" both Mars and Tatiana was surprised for a moment, Terry sure had some balls on him to call the most mentally unstable living god for a ''disfigured hag'' "YOU! I''ll send you to hell along with Mars!" Tatiana stepped in and pulled both Terry and Hel from each other with pure mana before she spoke "now now children behave, at least until we find out why we are here" Terry gave a nod and lowered his bow, meanwhile Hel also relaxed the gravity around her, just then a man''s voice was heard "my my, guess we''re all here" Mars looked over and saw a man in his fifties walk over, he wore a suit and carried a sword on his hip, at closer inspection his ears was a little long for a human so Mars realized his vessel was at least 1/4 elver, Mars gave a smile and spoke "you must be the eldest of us all, my name is Mars" the man looked briefly at Mars before he put all his focus on Tatiana and gave a warm smile and walked over and took her hand "Tatiana my dear we have not meet in almost 300 years now" Tatiana gave a deep frown before she yanked her hand free and spoke in a cold tone "Daniel I see your manners is as bad as ever" the man, or rather Daniel gave a laugh, just then a formless pressure appeared and drew the focus of all 5 living gods and soon a voice was heard "good you''re all here" Mars gave a smile and so did Terry but Hel gave a deep frown and yelled "Information you bitch! where is this and what do you mean ''good you''re all here''!? you were the one that brought us here right!?" the formless pressure grew colder for a moment, but only for a moment before it returned to normal and spoke again "I see you still are as caught up with the past as always Hel... but rejoice for I bring you good news, the administrator has agreed to revive your loved one as long as you help with the upcoming conflict" Hel gave a happy smile, she had tuned out all that came after ''revive your loved one'', meanwhile both Mars'' and Tatiana''s expression sank, but Daniel was the first to ask "what conflict?" Info paused for a moment before suddenly information was transferred to all 5 living gods that made all 5 show grave expressions and for a few long moments all 5 of them tried to comprehend the information that had just been transferred to them but eventually Mars muttered "Alfan is being... invaded?" "yes currently the Kafer continent is under the invaders control" "...and what do you want us to do about Info?" Mars felt that the formless pressure smiled for a moment "of course I want you to take the invaders and drive them back to their dying world" Mars fell silent and sat down on the floor and thought for a moment before he flatly said "no way" "of course I''m not telling you to do it alone" Mars gave a sly smile and asked "then you''ll help?" "no I''m busy with the archangels of their world... they are giving my quite the trouble" at this point in time Daniel spoke "what about the all mighty administrator?" "busy with their administrator" "I see... well then..." all five fell into thought for a few long minutes before Mars spoke up "I can do it, just give me a day to wrap something up" Terry gave a nod before he spoke as well "I''m in too" Tatiana gave a smile and looked over at Mars "well it does sound interesting... so why not?" Hel gave a sweet smile, perhaps she was thinking of her darling which soon would be back with her "I''ll do it, as long as you hold up your part of the barging" Daniel shrugged his shoulders and spoke too "sure I''ll go clean up your mess" Mars once again had a feeling that Info was smiling for a short moment before she spoke again "good, I''ll give you a day since Mars asked for it" then the white world around them began fading and Mars woke up again this time he lay in his bed "well then, let''s get to work... but first... water" Mars massaged his aching head as he got out of bed Chapter 199 Reconquest 4 Suddenly on a tight timetable Mars wasted no time and got to work with rounding up the troops so he could reconquer the rest of the 3 cities "err... next was the southern city right?" "yeah but I plan to have all 3 cities reconquered by sundown" "by sundown!?" Mars looked over at Amelia that suddenly yelled and gave a calm nod "yes something else came up" "...what something?" "hmm... I''m not quite sure I can tell you..." "oh... I see, I won''t ask in that case..." Mars gave a nod, sometimes it was better not to know that your world was being invaded by a foreign world and that one of the 12 continents had already been taken over by said invaders, if Amelia were to believe him she would undoubtedly be affected negatively in some way, while Mars was having such thoughts the troops finished gathering, Mars looked them over and gave a nod as a confident smile formed on his face "let''s go" the southern city was reconquered in less than 3 hours, the western city took only 2 hours and finally the eastern city took only half an hour, this of course was because the enemy surrendered without any resistance, just as Mars had expected the morale had hit rock bottom when they were informed that the 3 other cities had been reconquered, Mars stood and overlooked the city from the walls and gave a nod "I guess that''s that..." as Mars stood and overlooked the city that was dyed in the colors of the sunset Amelia walked up next to him and also stood and overlooked the city for sometime until she spoke "...are you leaving?" "yeah in a minute or two" "you don''t want to go grab a drink?" "sure I do but now''s not the time I''m afraid..." "I see.... so it''s that serious?" "yup, end of the world for some" "I see... then I guess this is goodbye?" "yeah... but don''t worry I''ll come visit sometime" "...really?" "really really" "I see, that''s good..." both Mars and Amelia fell silent as the minutes passed by until Mars gave a sigh and turned to Amelia "see you around" "see you Mars" Mars ripped open a portal and disappeared from the top of the walls leaving Amelia alone, she stood there for a while looking at the spot where Mars had ripped space apart until eventually she gave a sigh and walked down from the walls... Back at Green river Mars returned to the empty penthouse, well almost empty "welcome... back" "yeah I''m back Victoria" Mars kneeled down and petted Victoria on the head before he walked into the master bedroom and packed his backpack, when he was done he walked over to the workshop and grabbed a few things before he walked back to the bedroom and sat down on the bed and called out "Victoria" "what...?" Victoria appeared from his shadow and jumped up into the bed and sat down "tomorrow I''ll be heading to the biggest battlefield I have been to this life... do you want to come?" "of... cause, I do" "I can''t guarantee your safety" "I''m your... partner... remember?" "sure I do... in that case your welcome to come with" "okay... where are we... going?" "to some continent far away, Info is sending us off" "okay..." Victoria laid down on Mars'' lap and began purring and for sometime both of them said nothing before Mars gave a sigh "I should go get the girls" "okay... see you soon" "yeah, see you Victoria" Mars got up from the bed and ripped open a portal to his mother''s island and steeped though... When Mars arrived on the island it was dark, but the stars and the two moons were out and with his eyes he had no problem seeing even in pitch darkness so it was like day for Mars, he had opened his portal close to the cave so he soon arrived and stepped into the cave while he called out "mother? are you here?" Mars waited and soon his mother appeared in front of him, she carried a grave expression on her face when she faced him, Mars could tell there was something wrong and asked "what''s wrong?" "you''re here for the girls right?" "yeah" "I see, I was afraid that was the case..." Mars got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and ran past his mother into the cave, soon he saw light further ahead ''please be okay...'' Mars arrived in the deepest part of the cave and saw... Chloe, Elsa , Varvei and Mary all sitting around a campfire stuffing their faces with food, Chloe was the first to spot him and called out "ah, it''s Mars!" at her call the other girls put down their food, stood up and jumped him hugging him close for a few moments before Mars noticed something weird "your eyes.... they are like mine?" Mars looked at their eyes, they were vertical split like that of a reptile or a dragon, even Varvei''s eyes that were vertical split in the first place had changed, she now had red scales around her eyes, Mars quickly put two and two together and yell while his eyes turned crimson "she gave you girls dragon blood!?" Mars was truly enraged, he knew the dangerous of receiving dragon blood having done it himself so he was mad to say the least not only at his mother for giving them dragon blood but also for not realizing that is what would happen when he sent them here to his mother''s island "Mars calm down" it was Elsa that called out to him and tried to calm him down, soon all the girls latched onto him to try and keep him still, as Mars tired to get free so he could go yell at his mother he discovered that the 4 girls had significantly more strength than before, not wanting to hurt them Mars stopped struggling and calmed himself down a little before he muttered "it''s good that you''re all safe..." the girls gave sweet smiles all around from seeing Mars calm down a little and then Mary spoke "we were told that a least one of us would die if we all took the dragon blood, but we all survived, can''t you be happy for that instead of being mad?" "...I guess I can" Mars relaxed fully and his eyes turned blue again as he calmed down and gave a sigh before he gave each Chloe, Elsa, Varvei and Mary a kiss and sat down with them around the campfire and looked into the fire for sometime until he spoke again "I need your help with something" all the girls lit up, this was precisely the reason why they had taken the risk to get stronger by taking dragon blood, so that Mars would rely on them more, Varvei was the quickest to ask "what is it?" Mars gave another sigh and explained the whole invasion that Alfan was currently facing and how he and the rest of the living gods had been assigned the task of driving the invaders back though the giant portal that connected the two worlds, Chloe gave a sigh when Mars was finished and spoke "that sounds serious..." Elsa also gave a sigh and spoke "yeah it does sound super serious, but that''s why we got stronger so we could help you with stuff like this" Varvei gave a nod "I have surpassed the combat powers I had when I was the flaming rose general so you don''t have to worry about me Mars, I''ll take anything they can throw at me as long as its mortal" Mary also gave a nod "I have also grown stronger... while I don''t know how strong I am at the moment I look forward to finding out" while Mars was snuggling up with the girls around the campfire his mother returned still carrying a grave look on her face while she asked "are you really leaving?" "yeah we have some things to take care of mother" his mother gave a sigh "guess this is goodbye for now... goodbye good food..." "wait is that the reason you look like your dog have died!?" "but Mars I really can''t help it... Elsa''s food is so good..." Mars wanted to yell at his mother, mostly for giving him a scare earlier but he shut his mouth knowing he should not piss her off to much or else he might die for real, but then he got an idea "why don''t you follow us then? you can eat Elsa''s food" "no can do I''m afraid Mars, I have to stay on the island until your younger brother gets big enough to take care of himself" "I see..." Mars gave a sigh, it would have been good to have an ancient fire dragon as support but he knew he should not be too greedy "well then we''ll take our leave now mother, take care" "I will" Chapter 200 Landfall 1 When Mars opened his eyes again he was once again in the pure white space but he was not alone this time, next to him were the girls and Victoria that all had agreed to come with the night before, Mars sat up since he was laying on his broadsword which was not so pleasant and looked around for the other living gods but before he found them Mary called out to him "Mars where is this?" Mars thought for a moment before he plainly answered "hmm... I don''t know?" "....you really don''t know?" "well I know Info was here last time but apart from that I don''t know anything about this space..." at this moment Chloe spoke up "wait so Information was here then this can only be the divine space right?" Mars gave a sight frown and asked "what''s the so called ''divine space''?" before Chloe could answer a voice was heard from above "it''s the palace where souls are taken before they reincarnate" Mars and the girls looked up and saw Tatiana slowly descended from above with her golden robe moving slightly even though there was no wind, Mars raised a hand and greeted her "hello Tatiana" Tatiana gave a warm smile and greeted Mars back "hi Mars, is this your girlfriends?" "yeah they are" Mars and Tatiana exchanged smiles but just as the mood was getting good Mars felt someone pinching him and asked without looking to see who it was "....what is it Chloe?" Chloe let out a humph and asked in a clearly displeased tone "who''s this woman Mars? what is your relationship?" just as Mars was about to answer he felt something soft envelope his left arm and looked over and saw Tatiana had hugged his arm while having a teasing smile on her face, this of course displeased Chloe and the rest of the girls and almost immediately Mars felt another 3 pairs of fingers pinch him in the side, also since the girls had taken dragon blood their pinches hurt a lot more than usual, Elsa spoke in a slightly dissatisfied tone "don''t tell me you seduced another woman?" Mars gave a sigh and looked over at Tatiana that had a wide smile on her face and asked "don''t you think that''s enough big sister Tatiana?" "my oh my, what do you mean Mars?" "...please stop before they kill me by pinching" Tatiana let out a giggle and let go of Mars and apologized to the girls "sorry about that girls, I just could not resist teasing Mars a little" Varvei was the first to let go of Mars and stop pinching him as she gave a smile and asked Tatiana "so what exactly are your relationship with Mars?" "I''m his big sister of course" "big sister... wait as in a living god!?" Tatiana gave a big smile "correct, so call me sister in law from now on" Mars gave a sigh while the girls gave serious nods "girls you can stop pinching me now right?" Mary, Chloe and Elsa let go "oh sorry Mars" "yes very sorry" "...sorry Mars" "it sure is lively in here" "oh hey Terry" "hi Mars, Tatiana" Tatiana gave a smile and so did Mars and the girls when they saw Terry, Mars asked him "did you bring your stuff?" "yup it''s all here..." Terry showed off his reinforced recurve bow as well as the throwing knives he had brought with him, but Mars noticed he carried no arrows and asked about it "what about arrows?" "hehe let me show you something Mars" Terry put on a smug face and took his recurve bow off his back and drew back the string, as he did some kind of energy formed an arrow on the string "so what do you think? it''s my newest skill" "....neat" Tatiana also gave a nod which caused Terry to be over the moon, but his mood was soon brought down again by the figure that landed next to them: Hel, she looked over at Mars with her usual resentment before she looked at the girls that was next to him and showed a mocking smile before she turned her head away, Chloe got angry and asked Mars "what''s with that woman!?" "don''t worry she''s just someone that ran away like a defeated dog last time we fought" "what did you just say Mars!?" "but it''s true right Hel? last time I didn''t have my wings so I was unable to finish you off but this time it''s different" Hel got red in the face from anger but kept her mouth shut at that moment Daniel floated down, besides giving a displeased look at Tatiana standing what he considered to be too close to Mars he remained civil and didn''t open his mouth, now that all the living gods were gathered Information showed up as her usual formless pressure from and greeted them "Terry, Mars, Hel, Tatiana and Daniel it''s good that your all here... now I''ll tell you a bit about the current situation, currently the Kafer continent is almost completely under the invaders control, with only a few spots of resistance remaining, the closest continent to Kafer is the Jamar continent and that is only about 20 kilometers away by sea so that''s where we expect the invaders to set their sights next... it''s also were you guys will be sent, currently the Jamar continent has come together to reconquer the Kafer continent so I will be sending each one of you to one of the 5 ports that currently are mounting an assault on Kafer, any questions?" Daniel gave a nod and asked "where will we descend?" "in the temples of the port cities, there should already be a group of representative waiting for you there" Mars raised his hand and asked "what is the overall victory condition? do we need to slaughter all the invaders or just close the portal?" "just closing the portal will do" Mars gave a nod "anymore questions?" nobody spoke up and Mars once again had the impression that Info was smiling before she suddenly turned stern and spoke "I don''t believe I have to tell you this, but any infighting before this is over will result in harsh consequences" Hel''s face turned cold before she gave a snort and looked away from Info "good now that''s out of the way, I''ll send you guys along best of luck" Mars'' and the rest vision turned white before it then turned dark and they disappeared from the divine space leaving Info alone that gave a sigh before she muttered "....hopefully they won''t attract attention from the enemy archangels" "how long are we supposed to wait here anyways?" Alfred gave a sigh, this was the nth time he had heard someone mutter this ''we are the ones asking for help, it''s only natural that we should receive this help as soon as it arrives...'' he really wanted to state his thoughts out loud but unfortunately he was the lowest in the pecking order of the ones currently in attendance so he just gave a soft sigh instead and massaged his aching legs, he and the rest of the port city of Kirt''s elite had been kneeling for the past hour waiting inside the temple while facing a sealed door, supposedly a so called hero was about to emerge from the sealed door or that''s at least what the head priest of the temple had told them, he had received a divine message from above telling them that their reconquest had been blessed with not one but 5 hero''s that would be descending in the port cities sometime today, if not for the fact that this had been confirmed by the other 4 cities head priest''s most of the people kneeling here would not have shown up in the first place as the were busy fighting over how to divide the Kafer continent once it had been reconquered. ''anyways... I hope they show up soon, my old legs can''t really take much more...'' perhaps Alfred''s prayers were heard because soon the runes on the sealed door began to light up, this instantly silenced the ones that were complaining, after shining for about a minute the door suddenly dissolved and a young man stepped out of the door, he wore a pale suit and carried two one handed swords on his hip and a broadsword covered in cloth on his back, he scanned the people kneeling in front of him with his blue vertical split eyes, whenever his eyes passed over a person that person would suddenly begin trembling, soon his eyes reached Alfred and stopped on him, Alfred suddenly understood why the others were trembling, it was like being stared down by a high level magic beast soaked in the blood of its very recent victims ''this young man smells of fresh blood...'' Alfred didn''t cower but instead gave a smile back at the young man, the young man''s eyes widened slightly before he also gave a wide smile and pointed at Alfred and spoke "you I need, the rest may leave" his words stunned the people present Alfred included Chapter 201 Landfall 2 "you I need, the rest may leave" Mars pointed at the elderly man in the back of the people that was kneeling in front of him, at the same time the girls and Victoria walked out from the previously sealed door, this surprised the people that were waiting for the so called ''hero'' because they had heard that there would only be one ''hero'' so why was there 5 of them and a magic beasts? anyway, the big shots of Kirt were very confused perhaps that was why one of them spoke up "what to you mean with we may leave, this is outrageous we have been waiting for an hour already! and now you just dismiss us like some kinds of servants!?" Mars looked down at the one that was yelling and released a tiny amount of his blood lust which made the person turn pale before he repeated himself "as I said, the rest may leave" just as he finished speaking the person he glared at was the first to get on his unsteady feet and half ran out of the room on his still slightly numb legs, the rest of the people also got on their feet and while letting out quiet grumbles they also left the room, thus the only person left in the room was Mars, the girls, Victoria and the elderly man that for some reason was still kneeling in front of Mars, Mars gave a smile and walked over to the man and reached out with his hand and grabbed his shoulder before he lifted him up on his feet and once again reached his hand out to him, only this time in greeting as he shook his hand while introducing himself "my name is Mars, this is my girlfriends and the magic beast is Victoria my partner" the man gave a smile and bowed slightly before he introduced himself "my name is Alfred, I serve this city as a secretary to the minister of housing" ''a secretary huh...'' Mars inspected Alfred once more and gave a nod, he certainly looked like a secretary with his neat white shirt and winkle free black pants "well then Alfred why don''t you show us around the city first?" "sure it would be my pleasure, this way please" Mars gave a nod and followed after Alfred out of the temple and was slightly stunned by what he saw outside on the streets and asked "are those... cars?" "yes I''m surprised you knew of them Mars, do they also have cars from where you are from?" "yeah well something like that..." Mars looked in wonder as a car passed them on the streets, well it was not really a car, not like Mars knew them anyways, Mars activated his [Energy: sense] and looked over the car for a moment before he muttered "...I see a steam powered engine that is further powered and supported a mana stone..." "that''s right Mars, but how did you know?" "well I used a skill" "I see, a skill..." the girls walked out of the temple and was also stunned by the cars on the streets that were letting out puffs of steam from funnels on their roofs, Varvei was the first to pull herself together and asked Mars "Mars what are those?" "cars... you can think of them as steam powered carriages" "I see, so like a carriage but powered by steam? wait how does that work?" "hmm... it''s a little hard to explain..." "oh I see, then don''t worry about it Mars" "okay, well then Alfred where to next?" Alfred thought for a moment before he eventually asked "what about visiting the port first them?" Mars gave a nod "sure lead the way" AS Alfred lead the way down to the port Mars looked at the buildings around him, they were mostly 2 or 3 story brick buildings with few windows which gave the city a slightly cold feeling, when they reached the port district Mars was not so surprised to see giant ironclad ships with steam engines at the docks "are there normally this many ships in the dock Alfred?" "no, normally they would leave for Kafer as soon as they had loaded new cargo but with the invasion going on most of them have been in port for sometime now..." "I see" Mars and the others looked around on the port some more before Alfred brought them back into the city and showed them around, after some time Mars got bored of seeing the same brick buildings over and over again and asked Alfred "Alfred, I''m starting to get hungry do you have any recommendations on where to eat?" "hmm... I''m afraid I don''t eat out much but there is this place near where I work I sometimes go when the work nights gets long" "That will do, lead the way" "yes, at once" "we''re hungry too" Varvei and Mary both spoke up, apparently hunger had found them too "well then I''ll lead the way" Alfred let the way through the streets that were surprisingly empty streets, Mars understood why, nobody wanted to live in a city that could be attack at any moment, most people they saw were the old that had nothing to lose or perhaps were too attached to the city to run form it "well then we''re here" Mars stopped his idle thoughts and looked over before he asked "Isn''t it too early to be drinking? well not that I mind though" "it is indeed a bar Mars but their food is also very good, anyways this is the place I recommend" "okay then let''s see what they have..." meanwhile in a not so distant location a woman stood and overlooked the port from a vantage point on top of a building, she carried a spear and was clad in light metal armor that covered all but her back where 2 sets of wings were growing from, she clearly was not of this world or in other words she was an invader "commander" a subordinate spoke up from behind her, he like her had 2 sets of wings growing from his back, clearly he was of the same race "...what is it?" "we have managed to gain control the ships left in the harbor and are ready to invade the landmass beyond the sea" the commander gave a nod before she fell quiet and after thinking for sometime she spoke "is it really for the best?" "commander?" the commander fell silent again, after a few moments she spoke again "greed was what drove our old world to ruin, so is it really for the best to be greedy once again?" the subordinate lowered his head and spoke with clenched teeth "bu commander the earthen tribes have already claimed the most fertile land, at this rate our people will starve" the commander gave a sigh and after a few more moments of silence she spoke again "have our troops get familiar with the ships first" the subordinate''s eyes lit up and lowered his head deeper before he spoke "yes commander!" "good, you may leave" the subordinate rose to his feet and with a flap of his wings he flew off towards the port leaving the commander alone, she gave another sigh and took off her helmet and let her long white hair flow out before she sat down on the edge of the roof and looked east towards the unknown landmass they soon would be invading and muttered "is this really for the best..?" the wind carried her voice out to the sea where it disappeared among the rolling waves... Mars opened his eyes, an unknown ceiling was above him ''where is this again..?'' Mars slowly sat up in his bed and looked around, he was in a small room with a single bed where Varvei was laying along with himself ''oh right.... the reconquest starts today...'' the memories of last night slowly returned to him, after they had eaten they had returned to Alfred''s house where they meet his elven wife Christina and then after finding out there was only one bedroom with one bed the girls had played games to decide who would have to honor of sleeping with Mars and who should sleep on the couch, after a long fight Varvei emerged victorious. ''and then she dragged me to bed after that and hugged me tight before she fell asleep...'' it might sound like Mars was complaining but he was actually quite happy being used as a body pillow and he had slept better than he had the past few weeks ''well whatever... time to get up...'' Mars tired to get off the bed but found himself unable to as Varvei still had him in a death grip ''well I guess this comes first'' Mars began poking her soft cheek and after awhile Varvei slowly opened her eyes and stared at Mars with her vertical split red eyes for a little while before she wrapped her arms around Mars and dragged him down again before she closed her eyes again as she snuggled up to Mars ''well I guess we can sleep in for a bit...'' Chapter 202 Landfall 3 "Ugh... I feel sick..." Mars patted Chloe on the back as she was hanging at the railing on the ship looking down at the waves as she tired to fight back her nausea "just a little bit more Chloe" "I don''t think I''ll make it..." Mars found it to be no surprise that Chloe got seasick, after all sailing was a joke in Green river with the navy of Green river only consisting of one ship, the very ship that had taken Mars to his mother''s island "just hold on a little more" currently Mars and the rest were on a battleship that was on its way towards the Kafer continent, the fleet consisted of 5 ships that carried 1.000 landing troops which job was to secure the port and then hold on until reinforcements could arrive, currently the enemy port was within viewing distance so the situation on deck was tense, well except for Mars that was as relaxed as he could be without shitting his pants, he had done ''landings'' like this one too many times in his past life so he was not tense at all... "reporting, enemy fleet approaching!" the commander sat and overlooked the port when one of her subordinates reported to her, she calmly cut her nails and responded "prepare the strategic class spell" "yes commander" the commander was not at all worried about the approaching enemy fleet and while her subordinates prepared the magic circle she sat on the edge of the roof and filled her nails to perfection, by the time she was done with two fingers a subordinate landed behind her and reported "the strategic class spell ''heaven''s fury'' have been prepared" "fire at the approaching ships" "yes commander!" out on the ship Mars suddenly got a bad feeling and looked up before he quickly took his broadsword off his back and quickly unwrapped the cloth that covered the blade "Mars, what''s wrong?" "tell people to get under deck now!" "eh..? yes right away!" Chloe ran off on her wobbly legs and yelled at the soldiers on deck to get under deck fast, of course nobody but those Mars brought with him listened to her and simply laughed it off as some kind of joke, meanwhile Mars flew off towards the sky and when he breached the clouds he felt and saw a giant beam of volatile energy was descending upon the ships below and acted quickly by activating his [[Energy: reactive shield] before he directed it under the beam making it reflect most of the energy away from the ships, meanwhile he sent sword lights towards the part of the beam that passed by the reactive shield "what..!" the commander widened her eyes as she looked out towards the sea, the strategic class spell heaven''s fury had descended on the fleet of enemy ships but the results were far from favorable as only one ship had sunk and one had taken minor damage "how did they defeat heaven''s fury!?" as the commanders face warped in disbelief and rage a subordinate landed behind her "r-reporting the strategic class spell ''heaven''s fury'' have ended, one ship sunk one damaged" "....round up the troops, tell them to follow me" the commander put on her helmet and picked up her spear "yes commander!" then she jumped off the roof and spread out her wings as her mana began circulating in her four wings and with a gust of wind she flew out over the port city while yelling "follow me!" from below her troops flew up and formed up behind her as a giant flock of them began to fly out over the sea, but just when they were about to reach the fleet one of her subordinates suddenly pushed her aside before he was bisected by a light that hit him from above, the commander looked up and saw a youth in a pale suit caring a dull red broadsword before she yelled "above!" she stopped mid air while her troops flew up towards the youth that suddenly showed a smile before he swung his broadsword and sent out a light that passed through a couple of her subordinates cutting them into pieces, this drove the commander into a rage and she yelled "bring me that wingless creatures head!" just as she yelled the youth disappeared from view before he reappeared right in front of her with a wide smile on his face "commander found" the commander recreated fast and stabbed out with her spare time and time again, unfortunately for her all her stabs and swipes were easily blocked and the youth also had leeway to send out sword lights that killed off her subordinates "focus on the ships, I''ll handle this guy!" """""yes commander!""""" her subordinates flew off towards the ships while she focused on the youth in front of her that still carried a wide calm smile on his face, they exchanged several more moves before the commander spoke "state your name!" the youth gave a smile before he pulled back slightly and spoke "normally one has to give one''s own name fist" the commander narrowed her eyes before she eventually spoke "Yel, commander of the 112th valkyries" the youth gave a nod before he spoke "Mars, the current living god of energy" the commander gave a mocking smile "you really believe yourself to be a god?" Mars narrowed his eyes before he disappeared from view again, the commander raised her guard but then she noticed that all her subordinates had suddenly stopped moving before Mars reappeared in front of her with a smile on his face "do you believe me now?" as Mars finished speaking all her subordinates suddenly began falling from the sky while turning into tiny pieces, before Yel had a change to answer Mars suddenly appeared in front of her and knocked her out with a well placed jab... "ugh.... my head..." Yel tired to rub her arching temples but found her hands were bound, then she heard a sound and looked over and suddenly locked eyes with an unknown person with strange beast-like ears on top of her head "you''re awake... I''ll go get Mars" Yel waited for the person to leave the dark room before she suddenly began struggling to get out of her bindings, as a result she knocked over the chair she was bound to and fell to the floor, then she heard slow footsteps approach and increased her struggles but alas the door opened "oh... you certainly are a feisty one" Mars walked in and over to her and grabbed the chair before he lifted it upright again, all the while Yel glared at him "what, got something to say?" "I''ll kill you, you monster" "oh... what should I do Elsa? she hurt my feelings" Mars half collapsed on the floor looking hurt "ehh..? there, there?" Elsa patted Mars on the head while he fake cried, before suddenly he showed a smile and grabbed a chair and sat down right in front of Yel and asked her a question "Yel do they have enhanced interrogation where you come from?" Yel remained silent, she had not heard of that term before so she looked slightly confused before she asked back while feeling a slight amount of dread "...what''s enhanced interrogation?" Mars showed a smile and shrugged his shoulders "it''s just a fancy word for torture, now I don''t want to torture you, you see my girlfriend behind me is here to make sure I don''t do any funny stuff to you and she''s pure at heart not the kind that has the stomach for torture, so will you do me a favor and just answer my questions?" Yel shut her mouth and ground her teeth before she spat out one word "...coward" Mars gave a sigh and unsheathed his sword before he began cleaning it, the pale blade glimmered in the dim room "you see I''m half immortal and thus I have a lot of time on my hands... so why don''t we start out easy, where are you from?" Yel closed her mouth and glared at Mars with all her might, meanwhile Mars had all his focus on the blade of his sword which he wiped over and over with a piece of cloth while he asked another question "how many of you are there?" Yel glared at Mars but she kept silent while Mars continued asking "what kind of social structure do you guys have?" Yel remained silent while Mars pulled up his sword and breathed on the blade before he continued wiping it with the same piece of cloth before suddenly he stopped and looked up at Yel with a cold look on his face "come on now, I asked you for a favor can''t you just play ball?" "...fuck you" Mars gave a sigh before he stood up from the chair and cracked his knuckles "well then let''s get started... no fuck this, I''ll do this my way" Mars walked around Yel and unbound her arms before walked in front of her and he took a stance with his fist raised "come at me, if you kill me once I''ll let you go free" Yel stood up from the chair and also raised her arms before she shouted "I''ll kill you Mars!" Chapter 203 Landfall 4 Yel fell to the ground, she felt her ears ringing and her vision was blurred ''why can''t I beat him?'' she knew it would come any moment now so she prepared as best she could and come it did in one moment she felt a warm feeling spread over her body and then the ringing in her ears stopped as well as her dizziness but before she had a chance to enjoy it she heard a voice spoke up from above her "get up" Yel got on her feet and glared at Mars that had just healed her and took her fighting stance again, this caused Mars to give a sigh "still not ready to give up yet?" "I will never surrender!" "yes, yes I know I heard it the first 20 times you said it..." Mars also took a stance and stood ready, Yel stretched her attention to every corner of the small room, she had already tried to escape out the door, this ended in her getting her right arm dislocated at the shoulder and elbow as a ''penalty'' for being an ''naughty girl'', she had also thought about taking Elsa hostage but she felt a cold chill down her spine when she thought of the penalty for misbehaving once more, anyways she raised her arms and took a stance before Mars asked once again "ready?" "...I will kill you eventually Mars" just as she finished speaking Mars showed a slight smile as he disappeared from sight, Yel scanned the room and spread out her wings to feel the airflow in the room, but alas Mars appeared in front of her and placed a jab right on her chin before she could react however she was prepared for that so she managed to stay on her feet and returned a punch to the to Mars, or at least she tried to because he disappeared again so her hand only hit air before Mars reappeared to the side and punched her in the pit of her stomach which forced her to kneel over as she tried to keep her food down meanwhile Mars gave a sigh and asked "where are you from?" "fuck... you..." Mars gave another sigh and grabbed her by the shoulder and raised her up again before he asked "how many of you are there?" Yel punched out trying to hit Mars in the face but to her surprise he didn''t dodge this time and simply took the hit with his face before he asked "what''s you guys social structure like?" then Mars grabbed her arm and throw her over his shoulder slamming her down on the wooden floor knocking out all the air in her lungs before he sat down next to her and asked again "where are you from?" "I''ll... kill... you..!" Mars gave yet another sigh and stood up again "you know what let''s stop for today... Elsa the collar" "yes here Mars" Mars took the collar and placed it around Yel''s neck and watched it lock with a click before he spoke "this is a mana sealing collar, I have modified it so that if you move more than 5 meters from this spot it will begin shocking you with an electric current so be a good girl and wait here until I have time to play with you again" Mars got up and walked out of the room along with Elsa leaving Yel alone in the room "...shit" Yel cursed and sat up before she mumbled "I will definitely kill him..." Outside of the small room Mars ran into a group of soldiers that looked like they were up to no good, one of them took a swig of the bottle he was caring before he called out to Mars "oi hero, the general is calling for you" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly but gave a nod before he whispered something to Elsa that ran quickly gave a nod and ran off, meanwhile Mars asked the soldier "where can I find him?" the soldier let out a vulgar laugh along with his friends before he answered "he''s down at the port, go on, run along now hero" Mars gave a sigh and turned before he walked away meanwhile the group of 4 soldiers looked around before one of them asked "are we really doing this?" "what are you scared?" "no it''s just..." one of the soldiers warped his arm around the neck of the hesitant soldier and persuaded "come one now we''re just borrowing the prisoner for a bit" another one of the 3 chimed in "that''s right, we''ll just use her for a bit to feel good" the hesitant soldier thought for a moment before he gave a nod while an obscene light shone in his eyes when he thought of the not so slender figure of the prisoner had, he swallowed his silva before he spoke "okay then.... let''s do it" "now that''s what I''m talking about, come on guys!" the 4 soldiers forced their way into the into the small shack where Yel was imprisoned, she sat on the floor with her 2 sets of wings covering her, she gave a frown when she saw the soldiers that had forced their way in "who are you!?" one of the soldiers looked at her and asked his friends "...can I go first?" "sure I call second" "hold her down" the soldiers approached Yel who at this point had figured out what they were trying to do and quickly got on her feet and took a fighting stance "oh looks like she''s a feisty one" "get her! and then hold her down!" the soldiers jumped Yel, if prehabs she had been in top fighting from she would have stood more of a change but she had just been beaten by Mars so she had little strength and all too soon the soldiers managed to pin her down "that''s good, hold still bitch it will all be over before you know it" Yel struggled as best she could but she knew it was futile and just as one of the soldiers was about to pull down his pants a pale sword suddenly stabbed him through the neck spraying blood all over the floor, then the body was sent flying and hit another of the soldiers that panicked and drew his sword and faced the intruder before he managed to get his eyes on him he suddenly felt something warm flowing down his neck and collapsed "two left..." a cold voice spoke out in the room as the soldier that was knocked over by the body of his comrade shoved said body aside and quickly got on his feet only to see a flash of light before his vision suddenly shifted to the downwards before it went dark as his head fell to the floor, the final soldier had drawn his sword and hid behind Yel as he held his sword up to her neck, but Yel didn''t care about the sword in the slightest her eyes were locked on Mars that had slaughtered the 3 soldiers without hesitation, only blinking slightly when a sword light shot out killing the final soldier, then she asked "....why?" Mars gave a smile but didn''t answer, first he released a flame that burned the bodies to ash, then he turned on his heel and was about to leave the room when Yel called out to him "wait Mars" Mars turned again as he stood in the doorway and asked "what is it?" "why did you kill them, weren''t they your comrades?" "no they weren''t besides my mission is different from theirs" "...what is your mission?" "to close the portal, I don''t care for who settles this continent whether it''s your people, whatever your race is called or if it''s one of Alfan''s races I don''t really care" "...I see" Yel stared at Mars for a moment before she spoke again "we''re called sky people" "...I see" "the world I come from is called Beta and we are guided by an elder council" Mars gave smile and raised his hand as he turned and walked out of the room while saying "I or one of the girls will bring you some food later" Time passed and around evening the door to the small room was opened again, Yel looked over and saw a woman she didn''t know, she had horns, a long red scaled trail and carried a spear along with a basket, she stopped in the doorway and called out to Yel as she raised the basket "I brought you some food" as on cue Yel''s stomach let out a cute grumble which caused her to go red in the face Varvei gave a smile and sat the spear in the doorway before she walked in and sat down on the floor across from Yel and removed the cloth covering the basket and took out some bread and handed it to Yel "here have some" "...thanks" Chapter 204 An oath 1 Yel munched the bread down while Varvei watched her and asked "is it good?" Yel got embarrassed and slowed down her eating speed while Varvei gave a grin, just as she did Yel began choking on the bread and so Varvei handed her a water skin to clench her thirst, after Yel finished drinking from the water skin did she ask Varvei "...do you know if Mars spoke the truth? about his mission being closing the portal I mean?" "well, as far as I know his mission is to close the portal, nothing more, nothing less" "....not to wipe us off the continent?" "he asked about that but Information said no, his mission is only to close the portal" "I see..." Yel feel into thought Varvei took this as her cue to leave the room, which she did leaving Yel alone in the dim room... "oh you''re already awake" Mars was surprised to find Yel awake when he walked into the small room, not only was she awake she was also sitting on the chair she originally had been bound to looking like she had waited for his arrival with a serious expression on her face, Mars walked over and took a seat on the chair in front of her and waited for her to speak up which she did a few moments later "I want to challenge you to a duel" Mars gave a nod "sure" "wait are you going to agree just like that!?" Yel stood up from her chair and yelled at Mars continuing "a duel is a very serious affair in my culture and you just agree like that?" "well I didn''t know that..." "oh... sorry" Yel got red in the face from embarrassment and sat down on her chair again, then Mars asked a question "so what are the stakes of this duel?" "life and death" "...you know I have no intentions of killing you right?" "it''s not death like that, the winner gets the losers life, to act as a servant for life or to take after the duel in my culture this is a very serious event" "I see, so basically you are asking me to make you my servant? but why?" Yel thought for a moment on how best to explain but then she asked a question "your objective is to close the portal right?" Mars gave a nod "that''s right" "then my survival is none of your concern right?" "well you are both pretty and a strong woman so that''s not quite true..." "eh...?" Yel processed what Mars had just said and went completely red in the face before she averted eye contact and muttered "...you and your smooth words" Mars gave a grin and watched Yel for a while until she cleared her throat and spoke again "well that aside... I will help you close the portal" Mars narrowed his eyes, all traces of his earlier playfulness and smooth words gone as he simply asked "...why?" "because my race was the first to evacuate and have are already all here in this world, besides we we''re not the ones that ruined our old world..." Mars kept silent clearly he was not convinced yet so Yel kept speaking "with me as your servant it will be easier for you to move through the sky people territory as the master of a servant is a member of our people even if he or she is from another race" "...so you want to tie me to your ship?" Yel gave a nod and admitted it "basically" Mars crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in his chair "I see... I still don''t get what I get out of it" Yel bit her lip and with a flushed face she pushed up her plentiful breasts trying her best to look seductive as she spoke with a slightly shaky voice "you get me... and my eternal gratitude..." Mars bilked twice before he burst out laughing "hahahahahaha! I see your ''eternal gratitude'' HAHAHAHA!" Yel became even more red in the face, but this time it was not from embarrassment but fury as she rose from her chair and slapped Mars on the face, or at least she tried to as Mars caught her hand and stopped laughing, afraid he would slap her back Yel closed her eyes but instead of a slap she felt her cheek get pinched and open her eyes and saw Mars with a warm smile on his face "well it certainly sounds interesting so why not?" this time Yel got even more angry and yelled "what do you mean ''why not''!? this is a sacred tradition going back to our forefathers!" Mars suppressed a laugh which caused Yel to stomp on the floor out of anger until Mars asked "so when are we doing it, I mean the duel?" Yel blanked for a moment before she said while still being blank in the face "...right now?" "sure, wait here" Mars left the room with fast steeps meanwhile Yel collapsed down on her chair exhausted while she muttered "....I did not think that would actually work" while Yel was dazed time passed and Mars returned along with 4 women which Mars quickly introduced as his girlfriends "this is Chloe and Mary, Varvei and Elsa you know" the girls smiled at Yel but remained silent as Mars handed Yel her armor and spear before reached out and removed the mana sealing collar on her neck "so where are we having our duel?" Yel gave a smile and pointed up as she asked "where else but the sky?" "I see, makes sense...." Mars turned to the girls and smiled "I''ll be right back" Then he walked out the room followed by Yel before both of them swiftly took off and flew into the sky, after flying above the clouds Mars stopped and waited for Yel who arrived a few seconds later and floated without moving her wings, Mars briefly activated his [Energy: sense] and looked at Yel''s wings and noticed that the mana flow was complex almost like her wings were very complex magic formations covered in runes "...Mars?" "it''s nothing, let''s begin" Mars drew his bone sword and took a defensive stance as he floated mid air right before Yel shot forwards with a mighty flap of her two sets of wings and with a loud clang as the two weapons collided, Yel pulled back slightly before she let out a flurry of stabs with her spear which Mars parried effortlessly before he ''sidestepped'' the last stab and closed the distance sending out a slash with his sword which Yel blocked with her spear, while they had locked weapons Mars asked "so how''s the victor deiced in this?" "well if you can disarm me I''ll probably surrender" "I see, well then I guess I''ll get a little serious" as Mars activated [Half-awaken] Yel felt the pressure she felt from Mars tipple in a few breaths of time and widened her eyes slightly "here I come Yel!" Mars temporarily disappeared from view before he reappeared right in front of Yel and sent out a slash, Yel raised her spear to defend as she had no time to dodge and then a deafening clang sounded out as Yel''s spear was sent flying while spinning in the air as it flew, red blood dripped from Yel''s hands as she stared at Mars with wonder in her eyes as Mars slowly raised his sword to her neck and asked "do you surrender?" "....I do" "good..." Mars breathed out as he deactivated [half-awaken] right before he activated [Instant movement] and retrieved Yel''s spear and handed it to her before he took her hands and healed them as the two of them slowly descended to the ground and landed in front of the small room where Yel had been imprisoned, as soon as they landed Yel kneeled down in front of him and asked "master, my life is now yours, what is your command?" Mars thought for a moment before he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her up "for now no more kneeling" "but---" Mars narrowed his eyes and asked "are you disobeying your master?" "no, but our sacred traditions state that---" "...are you disobeying your master?" "... are you perhaps a bully master?" "yup that I am" while Mars and Yel were talking the girls approached Mary walked over and grabbed Yel''s hand, Mars looked on and gave a small wave as Mary dragged Yel away into the small room, the other three followed after while giving smiles to Mars ''guess I should leave them alone...'' Mars gave a sigh and walked off ''now to handle the annoying stuff...'' Mars walked off towards the port and soon arrived at one of the surviving ships and walked aboard before he walked over to the captain''s cabin and knocked on the door and soon heard a voice "come in" Mars opened the door and walked in, the inside of the cabin was small but luxuriously decorated and behind a desk sat a man in the prime of his life, he was Dan, the general assigned to reconquering the port city they were currently in Chapter 205 An oath 2 Dan the general looked up from his paperwork and saw Mars and gave a slight smile, he owed Mars a lot, if not for him the reconquest would have taken a whole lot more blood to achieve "oh Mars, what is it?" Mars straightened his back as a reflex and spoke out "I''m here to announce something" "...go on" "first off I will be leaving the main force tomorrow, second I will be taking the prisoner with me" Dan narrowed his eyes, he was not troubled by the first thing, while it was a shame to lose Mars as he was a valuable military asset it was not the end of the world, but the second thing was unacceptable for Dan as he had already sold off the prisoner to a wealthy merchant for an insane amount of cel, Mars of course didn''t know this at the time "you are free to leave but the prisoner stays here, that''s the end of it" Dan lowered his head again and returned to his paperwork expecting Mars to let it go and leave (obviously he didn''t know Mars very well) but suddenly he felt an insane amount of blood lust directed at him and looked up from his paperwork again and saw Mars now had a faint smile on his face as he asked "who was it that captured the prisoner?" Dan didn''t back down "so what if you captured her! she stays and that''s that" Mars gave a sigh as he looked at the general, he could see the greed in his eyes so he knew something was fishy "you are free to try and stop me, I''ll just carve a bloody path through your futile resistance" finished saying what he wanted Mars turned on his heel and left the room, leaving behind Dan that ground his teeth in forstation ''and that''s the annoying stuff over with... hopefully it ends with this...'' Mars walked back off the ship and into town passing by some soldiers of patrol he arrived at the small room and walked in without knocking... covered by the nights darkness soldiers were moving quietly and as quickly as they could stacking up outside the small room where Yel had been last seen entering, the lead soldier raised his hand and began counting down from 5 as silently he could "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... GO!" at the go signal the front soldier kicked in the door and another soldier fired a fire spell thought the now open door and that exploded inside the room with a bright flash before the soldiers stormed in with weapons drawn and found.... nothing inside, there was no trace of anyone inside, the soldiers lowered their guard, just as they did a pair of blue eyes showed up in the corner of the room watching the soldiers with cat like curiosity before suddenly a lance as dark as the night shot out from the corner, while in flight the lance shot off smaller projectiles, small needles of darkness that all struck the necks of the 15 soldiers inside the room, piecing their throats sending them swiftly off to the wheel of reincarnation while as they choked on their own blood and collapsed on the floor and then were quickly absorbed by a sticky shadow that covered the floor of the small room "nicely done Victoria" Mars emerged from the corner of the room as he praised his partner Victoria, then Yel also walked out of the darkness and looked around at the bodies that were slowly sinking into the sticky shadow with amazement clear on her face, then Victoria walked over and rubbed her leg with her whiskers while purring, Yel gave a smile and kneeled down to pet Victoria on the head while she praised "very well done Victoria" "thank... you Yel" the other girls also emerged from the shadowy corner one, Varvei carrying a long spear, Elsa wielding twin daggers and Chloe and Mary each wielding their own long sword, Mars returned from checking the outside and called out to them "let''s move" "yes master" "just nodding will do Yel, you don''t have to call me master all the time" "o-okay..." Yel looked a little disappointed but stayed obedient and gave a nod as she followed behind the rest of the girls and Mars out the door to the small room, outside it was lit like daytime as a group of more than 500 soldiers stood and formed a perimeter around the small room with touches and swords ready, behind them on a roof stood Dan with his spear and overlooked the situation with a calm smile on his face, then he yelled "surrender and you will survive" Mars clicked his tongue he was just about to say the same thing, a little annoyed Mars drew his sword and stood ready "...girls show me the result of your training, I''ll cover you back so don''t worry about anything and go wild, Yel observe and fall in when you are ready" """"yes Mars!"""" "yes master!" Varvei was the first to kick off the ground and charge with her long spear, using her superior range she stabbed and swiped down the soldiers all the while making sure nobody could sneak up on her from behind, she didn''t need Mars to cover her back which was fair given that she was the one most experienced with with cold weapon combat in the group, Mary and Chloe did pretty good too, one was a former gold class mercenary while the other was once part of the most elite force in Green river plus since they and received the dragon blood their strength shot through the roof and they were both nearing Mars'' non [Instant movement] speed, since they were good friends they covered each others back as they slaughtered the soldiers with their swords and superior strength, out of them all Elsa did the poorest, not to say that she did badly but she was lacking in training and experience, while she had severed the Orbarge household she had received basic training with twin daggers which she used to great effect in the current battle, the dragon blood helped her get an edge over the mostly human and demon soldiers which in turn helped her rack up a significant body count while Mars covered her back "this can''t be..." Dan watched as his soldiers were slaughtered with great dismay, he was losing faith in himslef and eventually he decided to try and take a hostage to somehow turn the situation around but he didn''t get very far as Victoria silently appeared and sat in front of him "a magic beast?" before he had any change to react a shadow spike shot up from the ground and buried itself deep inside his chest destroying his heart with one strike, Dan''s eyes were wide open as the light within disappeared and his corpse fell over, Victoria licked her paw for a bit as the sounds of battle gradually died out behind her before she jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, walking around the polls of blood she eventually arrived next to Mars and rubbed her face against his leg as she sent a telepathic message "did I... do well?" "yeah you did great Victoria" Yel looked at the carnage around her, sure she had expected that the girls were strong but not to this degree looking at the girls gathering around Mars to hear his praise Yel thought ''I got to work hard in serving my new master!'' then she also ran over and joined the circle around Mars... the next morning at dawn the supporting troops arrived to an empty port city, the only thing of note was the ash that blew in the wind around the city, there was no sign of Dan or his troops leaving the command very uneasy as they cautiously combed the entire city for answers, but let alone answers they didn''t find any people at all... Mars, the girls, Victoria and Yel were on the road, after ''borrowing'' some supplies from Dan''s warehouse they had left the port city and headed further into Kafer on foot, the journey would be a long one, after all they were heading from the edge of a continent to the center of said continent where the portal was located, on the way there Mars asked his new servant some questions "how many races of people are there in Beta?" Yel thought for a moment before she counted on her fingers "there''s us the sky people, then there''s the tripe of men, then the earthen tribe and finely there''s the water tribe" "can you tell me details about them?" "sure... us, the sky people lived in the hills, mountains and plains of Beta, we were a warrior tribe proud of our fighters. Then there''s the tribe of men which were the most numerous and lived in giant cities and towns all over Beta. Then there''s the earthen tribe, they look like the tribe of men but are short with powerful builds and are known as master crafters, they lived in the plains and mountains of beta. Then there''s the water tribe which lives in the lakes and seas of Beta... I don''t really know a whole lot about them and only a few have come through the portal" Mars gave a nod before he asked "I see and who is it that is responsible for Beta''s doom?" Chapter 206 An oath 3 "I see, and who is it that is responsible for Beta''s doom?" Yel stopped walking and so did the rest of the group as they waited for Yel to answer Mars'' question which she did a few moments later with hate clear in her eyes "it was the earthen tribe along with the tribe of men" "I see so the humans and the dwarves..." "dwarves?" "oh sorry you call them the earthen tribe right?" "still... dwarves, master has a rather good naming sense" Mars was about to tell Yel that he was not the one that came up with that name but didn''t bother in the end and just kept quiet while Yel admired him for some time until she asked "you''re not going to ask how they did it?" "did what?" "....ruin our old world" "oh that... I think I have a pretty good idea already, they found a way burn odd for unlimited energy right?" Yel stopped walking and narrowed her eyes before she asked "...how did you know?" "well it simple if you have the knowledge I do... that said I know better and have not attempted to carry out the principal" "I see... that''s good..." Yel looked a little to relieved so Mars asked to confirm his suspicions "what if I had carried out experiments?" "then I would have given my all to kill you at once" "I see... then I guess the ones that made the device to burn mana have already been killed and any knowledge about the device have been destroyed?" "yes it is as you say..." "well I guess that''s fair... seeing as it destroyed your world" "I''m glad you agree master" Turning time back a bit to the day before landfall Hel was standing on the deck of the ship with soldiers watching her from afar, now it was not because she was a beauty (despite her facial scars) that the soldiers were watching her it was because of an incident that happened right after she had arrived in the port city, a minister had touched her shoulder and Hel had responded by instantly turning him to mush with her [Gravity control] skill, this not only caused the other ministers to grow fearful of her but it also caused the generals to see her as a valuable military asset despite her obvious metal problems and so in the end she was sent off towards the Kafer continent despite her having turned a minister into mush ''ah... I wish darling could see this scene...'' Hel stood and watched the sea with an absent mind when suddenly a low ranking soldier called out to her "miss Hel, we have incoming" Hel half wanted to crush the soldier for talking to her but knew keeping the soldiers alive increased her changes of successfully completing the task Information had assigned her and thereby bringing back her darling to life "I got it..." Hel began floating and tuned to the front of the ship where she saw a few enemy ships approaching and flew off towards the ships while activating her [Gravity control] to make a repulsive field around her to protect her from the arrows and spells that already flew towards her from the enemy ships, without even looking at the people down on the ships she raised her hand and brought it down again along with a giant wave of increased gravity that crushed the first ship into tiny pieces of driftwood in a matter of seconds before she turned to the second as she let out a yawn and crushed it with another gravity wave, then she looked over at the 3rd and final enemy ship and effortlessly crushed it and the people on board with another gravity wave before she floated down on the ship again and looked out over the sea absent minded like before... At Daniel''s side the things were not so tense, he had mingled with the ministers and gotten on their good side (unlike Mars and Hel) so when he set off by ship he was spending his time chatting with the soldiers and sailors on board the ship, overall it was some pleasant conversations with lots of laughs and happy moments as Daniel shared some of his stories, that was until a sailor rushed over and reported "sir Daniel we have incoming ships" "oh... don''t worry lads, I''ll be right back" Daniel began floating and flew off towards the enemy ships, there was 3 in total, on the way there he unsheathed his sword which glimmered with a dull red shine as the blade was made of adamantite, while defecting the occasional arrow and spell Daniel arrived in the space between the 3 ships and suddenly yelled out "suffer!" as soon as he yelled the people on the ships suddenly began screaming as blood purred out of all their orifices and collapsed on the spot, a few of them twitched a couple times but they were all dead as rocks, Daniel gave a small smile before he returned to the ship and continued chatting with the sailors and soldiers... "they sure make easy targets..." Terry stood on the front end of the ship and fired off energy arrow after energy arrow towards the horizon while the soldiers and sailors on board had no idea what he was firing and so eventually the general made his way up to the front end of the ship and asked Terry about it to which he answered "the enemy of course, they looked like they were preparing some sort of spell so I interrupted them, then they began charging out of the city towards us so I shot them down on by one" the general gave a nod, he didn''t dare underestimate the young man in front of him, Terry looked to the front again and fired off one final arrow before he spoke to the general "please tell the ships to speed up, I have just captured one of them for questioning... it would be a shame if they bleed out before we arrived" "yes at once sir Terry!" the general ran off meanwhile Terry looked to the front of the ship again, it was unknown what he was looking at this time... On Tatiana''s side things were pretty much the same, the ships they were sailing in were unknowingly headed towards a ambush set by sky people, but there was one thing the sky people didn''t know and that was using magic in front of Tatiana was suicide, so when they started to prepare the spell Tatiana knew at once and waved her hand as the spell instantly completed and descended upon the sky people instead of their intended target... Back at Mars'' side a few days had passed uneventfully and right now they were about to arrive at the sky people''s territory, Yel looked somewhat tense but Mars and the girls were relaxed and flirted while they walked at a leisurely pace, they were currently walking on a dirt road that went through a plain, suddenly Mars looked to the front, in the distance he spotted a group of sky people flying their way with weapons ready, how they had been detected Mars didn''t care, now that they were he just looked over at Yel and said "here they come" "...yes master, I will stop them" Yel took flight and flew towards the sky people while Mars and the girls waited on the ground, after flying for a few moments Yel stopped and waited for them to arrive which they did a few moments later, Yel widened her eyes slightly when she saw her younger sister among the patrol but remained silent as others among the patrol recognised her and called out "Yel it''s you... where is the rest of the 112th Valkyries?" "they have gone to the wheel" the sky people in the patrol looked sad for a moment before they smiled as the one form before asked "did they have a glorious end?" Yel gave a nod with a slight smile "that they did.... they died to my master" Yel''s little sister spoke up with amazement on her face "sis you have a master!?" the other sky people also looked amazed, one of them spoke up "they must be some warrior... I would very much like to exchange pointers with them" "hey me too!" Yel gave a smile, having a strong master was a servants pride "come I''ll introduce you to my master" Yel flew down and kneeled in front of Mars while the other sky people followed and landed behind her "master I have completed my task" Mars spoke out with a smile on his face "well done Yel" the sky people behind Yel looked at Mars with inspecting looks on their faces until one of them stepped forwards Mars looked at her, she looked like Yel only younger in other words she was beauty after she locked eyes with Mars she spoke up "my name is Mel, I am Yel sister" Mars gave a nod "I am Mars, the current living god of energy and also Yel''s master" "a living god?" Yel spoke up "yes, master is indeed a living god" Mel looked surprised and looked form Yel to Mars a few times before she regained her composure and spoke again "be that as it may... as a member of Yel'' family I will have to make sure Yel''s new master is strong enough to be her master... thus I challenge you to a duel Mars! do you accept?" Mars showed a confident smile and shrugged his shoulders "sure, why not" Chapter 207 An oath 4 "sure, why not?" Mel narrowed her eyes slightly at Mars'' casual attitude and drew her sword as she stepped forwards, ready to duel him "master good luck" "yeah, I''ll be right back" Mars also walked forwards and unsheathed one of his bone swords before he spoke out to Mel "whenever you''re ready" Mars didn''t even take a stance he just stood with his sword down low, this really seemed to piss off Mel that clicked her tongue and kicked off the ground to charge at him with her sword ready, but before she managed to take more than a few steps Mars reappeared in front of her with his sword to her neck, all the while still having the same casual smile on his face, this mad Mel realize something: she really was facing a god that could crush her in an instant if he wanted to "...I surrender" not only the girls but also the other sky people cheered at the (un)expected result of the lightning fast duel and before Mars knew it he was surrounded by exited sky people that asked him all sorts of questions "what kind of skill was that?" "how did you become so fast?" "may I see your sword?" Mars was a little taken aback but quickly answered their questions while the girls watched over him, but soon they were also dragged into the conversation when the sky people noticed they were carrying weapons of their own, and so time passed until night time were the group had set up camp in the plains and were sitting around a campfire and eating their provisions, well most of them were, some of them were busy with other things "please sir Mars, just one more time!" "sure sure Mel... and as I said you don''t have to call me sir" "but sir Mars you are the master of my elder sister, I have to call you sir!" "fine... well call me whatever you want... now, kick off the ground as hard as you can again while focusing your mana in your leg muscles" "yes!" Mel kicked off the ground again, she was nearing Mars'' non instant movement speed, which in and off itself was a thing she could be proud of but it wasn''t what she was going for, she was trying to learn the skill Mars had used to defeat her [Instant movement], Mars only agreed because he knew for a fact that mortals were able to use the skill too (since the emperor of the old empire had fought him with it) and thus the last few hours had been spent with teaching Mel all about [Instant movement] "okay let''s stop here for today Mel" "but---" "overdoing it isn''t good" "....fine" Mel reluctantly stopped practicing and walked over and sat down at the campfire with a pout on her face, Mars gave a sigh and walked over and sat down next to her and ruffled her pure white hair before he spoke "there''s a day again tomorrow" "...okay Mars" "very good, now let''s get some food in you before you starve" "I''m not starving---" *grumble* before Mel managed to finish her sentence a cute grumble sounded out from her stomach which made her go red in the face this also made the people around the campfire give warm smiles which only made Mel more embarrassed before she grabbed a bowl of soup and began eating to hide her embarrassment, Mars patted his legs two times and then Victoria appeared and laid down on top of his legs before she began purring, then he leaned back and laid down on his back and looked up at the stars as the night grew longer... The next morning Mars was dragged out of dreamland by Mel that woke up early and wanted to practice, so practice they did all the while they moved further into the sky people territory, Mel gradually got better at [Instant movement] and on the 3rd day she managed to disappear from the mortals sight for a moment and got excited only to get put down by Mars that told her he still was able to track her with his eyes, in response Mars got a proud laugh from Mel before she stated "Mars you don''t count" "....why not?" "because you aren''t mortal" "...well that''s fair, does that mean you''re done practicing?" "no, not by a long shot!" "...figured" at this point Mars was already very familiar with the sky people''s temperaments and so of course he knew Mel would not be satisfied before she managed to go so fast that he himself could not track her with his eyes of cause whether that was plausible was yet to be seen "master we have another patrol incoming" "roger go great them will you Yel?" "yes at once master" Yel flew off towards the incoming patrol and a few moments later she returned with a slightly angry look on her face "master, I''m sorry to annoy you but one of the sky people in the patrol are demanding to see you" "...okay, Mel practice by yourself for a bit while I go see what''s up" "okay Mars" after Mel sent him off Mars took flight and met up with the group of sky people that were floating about 10 meters off the ground, they were surprised when they saw Mars fly up to meet them, one of them whispered to another "what do we do now?" "shut up let me handle him" of course Mars heard all that they said and knew at once that they were up to no good but kept a straight face as he approached one of them and slowly but suddenly grabbed one of them by the neck as eerie vermilion particles formed around him and condensed into armor as he spoke "and how exactly are you going to handle me?" "ugh..." "please tell me, I''m very curious" "you! take your hands off him!" one of them drew a sword and slashed down on Mars only to be completely ignored by Mars *clang!* ass the sword struck Mars'' neck that was covered by red scales a sound of metal meeting metal sounded out and the sky person holding the sword dropped it from the recoil and glared at Mars but before he had a chance to do anything a piece of sharp vermilion metal flew out and pieced into his neck making a small bloody hole thought his neck, the sky person grabbed his neck as he in vain tried to stop the flow of blood and just as he was about to pass out another piece of vermilion metal flew out and fused with the wound stopping his bleeding meanwhile Mars spoke out "I''m in a good mood so I''ll spare your life, now scram!" Mars let go of the person he was held by the neck and the group of sky people quickly grabbed their wounded friend and flew off not daring to look back, Mars gave a sigh as the vermilion armor around him dissolved into vermilion partials that floated off in the wind "well that''s that... what''s wrong Yel?" Yel was pale as a ghost and trembled slightly before she suddenly kneeled down mid air and yelled out "please forgive me master!" "...what for?" "for failing to protect you!" "...raise your head" "but---" "are you disobeying me?" "...no" Yel raised her head, her eyes were stained with tears, Mars gave a sigh and floated over and wiped away her tears before he spoke "I''m not so weak that I need your protection in the first place... even if I were my pride would not allow me to be protected by a woman" Yel gave a sniff as she looked at Mars with her silver eyes "...master may I ask you a question?" "sure" "...what do you see women as?" "contradictions, they are to be cared for but are strong enough not to need anyone''s care" "I see..." Yel looked a little relieved, Mars gave a grin and asked her "what did you think I was about to degrade women by calling them less than equal?" Yel looked away "n-no I would never think of my master like that" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly "...I see, well we will leave it at that... for now" Yel shivered slightly and mentally reminded herself not to think badly of her master again as the two of them landed, Mel that had watched to whole thing walked over and asked Mars "was that for the best?" "...what, you want me to kill them all or something?" "well the one you grabbed was the son of one of the most powerful elders currently in the council" "...seriously?" "yup seriously" Mars kneeled down on the spot and grabbed his head as he felt a headache coming on before he suddenly recovered and stood up again and asked Mel "so what?" "so... what...?" "yeah, so what if he was the son of a powerful elder? I am Mars the current living god of energy, if they get in my way I''ll just crush them" "wow... so cool master!" Mars let out a laugh as Yel praised him while Mel looked out into the horizon and gave a sigh Chapter 208 An oath 5 As the sun was slowly rising in the horizon Mars slowly opened his eyes, he was lying in his bedroll with Victoria on top of him, she was covered in morning dew that stuck to her fur and glistened in the emerging sunlight, Mars watched her for a few moments before she also awoke and looked back at him with her big blue eyes for a little while until her horns lit up "good... morning Mars" "morning Victoria" then she jumped off him and began licking the morning dew off her fur, Mars sat up still wearing his bedroll and looked around and saw Yel that had the last night watch sitting by the campfire, Mars crawled out of his bedroll and joined her by the campfire "good morning master" "yeah morning Yel" as time passed more and more people joined them by the campfire and soon everyone was up and so they began eating breakfast which consisted of dry biscuits and water from a nearby stream, after eating the group packed up camp and began moving again towards their goal Skyreach, a mountain. On the way there Mars watched over Mel practice, but soon some annoyance showed up, a pack of wolves, Mars was the first to spot them and called out for the rest to stop before he lifted off the ground to get a better look at the minivan sized wolves, now the silver lining was that they weren''t magic beasts so they were unable to use magic but just their size and numbers was enough to send shivers down any normal person''s spine, any normal person that is "looks like meat''s back on the menu!" "don''t let them run away!" Mars was surprised to see the sky peoples eagerness but then he gave a sigh, of course they were eager, the had been on patrol for about a month and have been living off biscuits, Mars asked Mel that stood bedsides him "how confident are you guys that you can take them all down?" "hmm... one or two might get away" "I see... in that case can I handle them all?" "sure as long as we get to eat some eat we''re happy" "good, then I''ll be right back, oh and be sure to watch closely as I will be using [Instant movement]" "yes Mars!" Mars leisurely walked out to meet the wolves that was running towards them ''just a little closer...'' Mars walked a couple of steps closer before he stopped and put a hand on the hilt of his sword, meanwhile he counted the wolves ''...8 in total'' Mars then breathed out as time slowed down around him before he momentarily disappeared from view before he reappeared again on the same spot and gave a sigh, meanwhile the giant wolves that had been running towards him suddenly fell over as they stumbled all at once and tumbled over as they slid on the grass a few meters before they all came to a halt, they all had cuts on their necks, mars sheathed his sword and turned back to see the sky people all had dropped their jaws on the floor Mel included, only Yel somewhat kept her composure as she had seen the power of [Instant movement] once before, the girls and Victoria were of course unaffected by Mars'' display of power as they had seen it before, Mars gave another sigh and called out "come on we have to drain the blood" Mel was the first to wake from her daze and urged the other sky people on as they quickly started digging ditches to drain the blood from the wolves, Mars saw Mel had a stupid smile on her face and so did Yel, but he decided to leave the two sisters to their thoughts and began dragging the wolves over so they could drain the blood from the copses... Inside a room and of wood with simple furniture kneeled a sky person, if Mars was here he would be able to recognise him as the one he had grabbed by the neck. He was Ule the son of one of the most powerful elders on the council Tor, while the name of the council was the elder council most of the people on the council were in fact in the prime of their lives, this was because most of the seats were decided by combat powers with one being able to challenge any sitting person and if they won they would take their place on the council. Ule had always been living a sheltered life with his father being on the council most of his life he had turned into a spoiled brat thus mars grabbing him by the neck had really pissed him off of course this was despite him wanting to kill Mars and **** his girlfriends Yel included (of cause even if he somehow managed to kill Mars once he would still be doomed, but Ule didn''t know that) "did you just say that Yel of the 112th Valkyries have taken on a master?" "yes father not only that but the master is also one native to this world" Tor looked like a gentle middle aged man with white hair, silver eyes and 2 set of wings that spurted from his hips, but Ule knew better, behind his father''s gentle looking exterior was a battle honed warrior "a native..." Tor fell silent for a few moments as he thought before he gave a sigh "well there''s nothing in the traditions that say a masters has to be from Beta" "but father he''s a dirty native, surely there must be something we could do!?" "oh, shut up already!" Ule closed his mouth as Tor continued "him hurting you is entirely different matter" Tor gave a nod he was not going to let Mars go for hurting his son, even though his son were a useless pile of hot garbage he was still his son and hurting him would have grave consequences no matter who did it... Meanwhile Mars and the others were finished with the wolves and were preparing for a feast, of course Elsa volunteered to do the cooking part and cook she did, a quarter of one of the minivan sized wolves disappeared over the evening the sky people were the most glutenous they each ate 3 or 4 servings by themselves, of course this was only because Mars held back a bit and didn''t stuff himself completely since he had the first night watch and knew that if he ate too much he would be sleepy during his watch. Time passed and soon everyone except for Mars was fast asleep, Mars sat in front of the campfire and warmed his hands when suddenly he heard something moving behind him, he didn''t look back as he didn''t need to he just simply asked "can''t sleep?" "...no, I am having nightmares" "I see..." Mars sat and warmed his hands and soon Chloe joined him at the fire and sat down next to him before she latched onto his arm, she looked at the side of Mars'' face for a few moments before she asked "something wrong?" Mars gave a sigh and looked at Chloe "no it''s just... I have never been a ''master'' before so I''m just thinking about how to handle a few possible situations..." Chloe gave a soft sigh and slight tightened her grip on Mars'' arm "so in other words you are overthinking?" "yeah basically, hey that''s what I do best" "no it''s not" Mars fell silent before he asked in a low voice "is this really for the best?" "of course you make a splendid master" "...I see" The next morning all (but 2 sky people which was left to watch the corpses of the giant wolves) left for Skyreach which they were set to reach before the day was over, the journey was uninterrupted and so at about noon the group arrived at the foot of Skyreach where a village was being built, Mars looked at the buildings and found they were simple wood and stone huts, nothing like the sky reaching buildings he had imagined and was a little disappointed, Yel perhaps having picked up on his disappointment spoke out "you should have seen our former home... compared this that this is just..." Mars gave a sigh, looks like he made his servant uneasy again "I don''t doubt it Yel" "thank you master" there was no wall to separate the outside and inside of the village so Mars and the rest could just walk into the village, Mars dragged Yel to the side and asked her "so what''s next in you master plan?" before Yel had change to speak out Mel that had overheard Mars'' question spoke out "big sis you probably have to visit mother and tell her about your new master" Yel paled slightly which caused Mars to ask "what''s so special about your mother?" "well... she''s the most powerful elder on the council" "oh... I see" Chapter 209 An oath 6 Mars walked up to the building and knocked on the door, a few moments later did a response come from inside "come in" Mars looked back at Yel that were even more pale than before and gave a sigh before he gently took her hand and before she had a change to react Mars opened the door and stepped into the wood and stone hut half dragging her behind him, inside the room sat a woman that looked to be in her late 30''s on a floor cushion, she was sewing something with a bone needled and overall she looked like Yel and Mel with her white hair and silver eyes, her figure was also as Mas would desicpe it as ''pretty good'', she only had slight wrinkles in the comer of her eyes, she gave Mars an inspecting look when he walked in and when she saw he was holding her elders daughter by the hand she gave a smile that somehow made Mars'' hair stand on end, if he had not been warned of that she was the most powerful elder in the council before he would have reached for his sword already but he managed to keep his actions under control as he also gave a smile and walked over and sat down on the floor a few meters in front of Yel''s mother, Yel sat down besides him and looked down into the floor as her face paled further "....you I don''t know... but given that you hold my daughters hand you must be prepared?" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he gave a nod, Yel''s mother gave a soft sigh before she suddenly looked sight at Mars before her eyes suddenly turned golden, Mars locked eyes with her still carrying his wide smile on his face, suddenly Mars felt dizzy and then he felt a heart wrenching pain shot through him, like his heart was being ripped out of his chest and gave a slight frown but that was all he showed outwards as he still kept his wide smile and then the pain subsided and so did the golden color in her eyes faded and her eyes turned back to their silver color as she gave a sigh "you pass, what''s your name?" "normally one must give his own name before one asks for it" "...fine, my name is Xel I am the mother of Yel and Mel" "my name is Mars, I am the current living god of energy.... and also Yel master" "a living god... well you did handle the pain of dying like you had done it before so I''ll believe you for now... but you being Yel''s master is news to me" "well this is the first time we meet" "of course... Yel how long are you going to keep silent you are embarrassing your new master" "mother... the 112th Valkyries are gone" "yes I figured that out since you are sitting in front of me instead of obeying you mission to conquer new land" Yel fell silent again and Xel gave a sigh before suddenly her hand moved at amazing speed a cut suddenly appeared on Yel''s ear, the rest of the people in the room might not have an idea how this happened but Mars saw it, Xel threw the bone needle in her had at amazing speed cutting Yel''s ear "that''s for losing the 112th Valkyries" then Xel stood up and walked over and kneeled down in front of Yel and gently hugged her "and this is for surviving... welcome home my daughter" tears slowly spilled out of Yel''s eyes for a moment before she hugged her mother and sobbed for sometime until Xel let her go and looked over at Mars and asked with a serious look on her face "so when can I expect some grandchildren?" "....not for a few years" Xel clicked her tongue and walked back and sat down on her floor cushion before she looked over at Mel and asked "how did your patrol go?" "good we, I mean Mars got us 6 wolves" "I see that''s good, you may arrange for transport now" "yes mother" Mel and the rest of the sky people patrol bowed deeply before they took their leave, leaving Mars, the girls, Victoria and Yel alone with Xel that looked them over one by one and stopped on Varvei before she asked "what''s your name?" "my name is Varvei" "hmm... you must be Mars'' first wife right?" Varvei blushed for a moment before she nodded with a happy smile on her face "yes that''s righ---" "don''t lie Varvei" "...sorry Chloe... well we''re not married... yet" Xel looked over at Mars and gave a deep sigh before she complained "what kind of spineless person did my daughter find as master...? not only have you not married such a strong woman as Varvei, but you tell me to wait a couple of years to see my grandchildren?" "well I have a lot on my plate okay, it''s not easy to be a living god" "ah, more complaining! just pump a baby in her it''s that simple... ah Yel you should have found a living god of sex!" Yel''s face flushed with embarrassment at her mother''s dirty language, but on the inside she was happy, after all this is exactly the way her mother used to banter with her father, the only person to ever defeat her or in other words her equal. Mars and Xel continued to banter for a few more minutes until Mars turned his head towards the door, Xel was about to question him when suddenly she also turned her head towards the door with a frown on her face and soon there was a knock on the door and Xel yelled "go away Tor, you are not welcome here!" ignoring Xel shouting the door opened and a gentle looking middle aged sky person stepped in and looked around before he asked "I''m not here for you Xel... which one of you are the master of Yel?" "I am" Mars stood up and faced Tor, the two men stared at each other for a little bit before Tor spoke "your name?" "normally one must give one''s own name before asking about another''s" "...fine you win, my name is Tor I am an elder on the council, now state your name" "Mars" "good, very good Mars I challenge you to a duel to the death!" "....have I offended you in someway?" "hurmph a dead man doesn''t need to know his sins" with that as his closing statement Tor turned and left leaving Mars slightly stunned before he gave a wide smile and asked Xel "do I have to honor the duel?" "no technically you don''t but not honoring a duel means you have to give up your citizenship and thereby become an outcast, of course you lose the right to have servants too so Yel must leave you, are you okay with that?" "...when will the duel held?" "at the next elder meeting in 2 days, so what do you say, are you running away?" "no... this is perfect actually" "oh how so?" "well I was looking for a way to get on the elder council, and this foolish mortal has just presented me with a perfect way to do so" "interesting... looks like your master has some spine Yel" "of course mother, my master is splendid" Mars gave a slightly sinister smile as he thought on how to show this foolish mortal what exactly a living god is... Two days passed in a flash, during the two days Mars trained Mel, spent time with the girls and accompanied Xel. and so as the night drew near Mars stepped out of the house along with Xel, they were heading to the elder meeting, on the way there Xel asked Mars "how confident are you?" "well let''s just say that even if he manages to kill me I won''t die" "right you are immortal..." "well only half immortal" when Mars and Xel arrived at the central plaza he saw a crowd of sky people, they were sitting on the roofs of the surrounding buildings and stranding around the plaza, Mars asked Xel "is this normal?" "no... Tor must want to make an example out of you" during the past two days mars had figured out that Tor was the father of the sky person he had grabbed by the neck a few days ago and thus he put two and two together "well I don''t mind a audience" Mars and Xel walked up to the plaza and found 10 so called elders sitting in a half circle with Xel being there too there was 11 in total, when Mars arrived Tor stood up from his floor cushion and walked towards Mars and stopped right in front of him and Xel before he gave a degrading look at Mars and spoke in a loud voice "I see you didn''t ruin away" his voice drew the attention of the other elders as well as the other sky people, Mars gave a smile and spoke back in a loud voice "I''m here to send you to the wheel old man" Chapter 210 An oath 7 "the wheel he says! AHAHAHAHAH!!!" the sky people around the plaza broke into laughter as well, well it was natural after all Tor was an elder and he was an unknown wingless, they could not be further apart in status and prestige. Tor walked into the center of the plaza and took a spear that was stabbed into the ground before he took a stance "let''s get this farce over and done with so we can start the meeting" Mars gave a sigh and took off his t-shirt exposing his bare upper body before he suddenly began growing out his horns as his upper body was covered by red scales, this stunned most of the sky people present Tor included, Mars gave a sneer before he spoke "what..? never seen a half dragon before?" Tor was the first to wake from his stunned state before he sneered back "it doesn''t matter what you are, you''re still a dead man" Mars gave a sigh and activated [Half-awaken], you know just in case something happened then he drew out his sword and spoke in a loud voice "I will give you the first 3 moves to realize the difference between us" Tor expression hardened and so did the rest of the elders Xel included, then without a word Tor kicked off the ground and stabbed forwards with his spear right for Mars'' heart, but instead of spewing out blood like Tor had expected the sound of metal meeting metal sounded out as he was violently propelled backwards and even almost fell over, then Mars spoke out "fist move" Tor''s face flushed red in half embarrassment and half fury when he realized Mars was still alive after his first strike and kicked off the ground again to kill Mars as swiftly as possible, this time he aimed for the neck but just as he reached Mars he found that he had stabbed into an afterimage which caused him to stumble slightly almost falling on his face, then he heard a voice from behind "second move" Tor swiftly turned around and saw Mars standing with his hands behind his back with a slight smile on his face, then he flew into a rage and stabbed forwards with his spear once again with a loud yell only to have Mars grab the tip of the spear with one hand "third move, goodbye" before Tor had a change to react Mars stepped in and put a hand on his chest before he discharged the stored energy and blew a hole cleanly through his chest, Tor had a look of disbelief on his face as he fell to the ground never to rise again, Mars gave a sigh and looked around at the sky people that lowered their heads in respect of their new elder, then Mars sheathed his sword and walked over before he took a seat on Tor''s floor cushion, as he sat down the silence in the plaza suddenly lifted and the sky people began speaking up discussing what they had just seen, the elder included, the one next to Mars reached out his hand to Mars with a smile on his face and said "welcome elder Mars" Mars grasped his hand and shock it with a calm smile on his face "thank you elder" and so the elder council began the elders discussed hunting patents and where to gather wild plants for about two hours, at this point the meeting was almost over, then Mars raised his had and the other elders fell silent, the Mars lowered his hand again and rose from his floor cushion and walked into the middle of the half circle before he began speaking "I propose the moving of the entire sky people village to another content" the elders all fell silent until Xel asked "and why do you propose that elder Mars?" "well there''s a couple of reasons, but in order to understand those first I have to talk about this world for a bit" another elder spoke up "continue elder Mars" Mars gave a nod and thought for a moment before he spoke "first off my strength is abnormal, the reason for that is that I am a so called living god, now I don''t believe you will believe me when I say this but I am half Immortal and don''t die when I''m killed" the elders fell silent again until Xel spoke up "it''s true, he certainty handles the pain of dying like he''s done it before" all the elders knew of Xel skill called [The golden eyes of death] that would simulate death upon all she gazed at with the skill activated, a few of them had even experienced it for themselves before so the elders all gave slow and steady nods as they chose to believe Mars for now, then one of the elders asked "why do you tell us this and how is it relevant to moving our village?" "well the natives reconquest have started, I believe you all know this right?" the elders nodded again then Mars continued "right now there are 4 forces moving further into Kafer and they are all lead by living gods like or even more powerful than myself, now I can maybe convince 2 of them not to annihilate this village but the other 2 are certain to strike against this village" some of the elder paled slightly, they now understood why Mars was proposing to move the village to another continent and one of them spoke up in a panic "but how will you move our village?" "with this" Mars transformed his hand and ripped space apart besides him, as soon as he did a portal formed and Mars steeped though it and reappeared along with Yel, this stunned most of the elders again(of course Yel was just as confused) but soon they calmed down again and one of them gave a nod "I see now, but where would you move the village to?" Mars gave a smile "how does a mountain range next to a lush forest sound? I will personally negotiate with the owners of that place and I''m sure they will agree to my request, they will also aid with the construction of the village itself" Xel gave a nod before she spoke with a teasing smile on her face "so you believe we should run away elder Mars?" Xel spoke most of the doubts that was hanging in the air, the sky people were a warrior clan first and foremost, so the concept of moving their village just because they might get annihilated was foreign for most, if Mars had not been present in this whole situation the sky people faced then the sky people would have fought to the last man woman and child in repelling the invaders "well I believe true strength lies in how and when you choose your battles, not only for your sake but for the sake of your families... now I believe you all have been informed of the situation, let''s have a vote" Green river, in the central tree a portal suddenly opened but it was swiftly surrounded by elven guards in ceremonial armor that pointed spears towards the portal, but the spears were quickly lowered when Mars stepped though, the guards gave a bow to Mars before they stepped back to their positions, the after Mars came the 10 other members of the elder council and Yel that had been ordered along by Mars, the sky people looked around the hall with curiosity but made sure to follow after Mars that swiftly walked further into the giant tree, after some debate had the elder council agreed to Mars proposal and then the had decided to follow after Mars to witness his debate with the elders of Green river on the way there did Yel walk up to the side of Mars and whispered to him "thank you master" Mars gave a smile as he lead them further into the giant tree though complicated hallways, twists and turns until finally they arrived in front of a giant door which Mars pushed open before he walked into the dim hall with the 5 thrones "Mars you''re here" "we believed your mission in the Karfer continent would last longer?" "oh, who is it you have brought to us this time? they don''t look native to Alfan..." "what is the meaning of this Mars?" Mars gave a smile and spoke "I need a favor, I don''t believe that will be a problem will it?" "...certainly not" "it''s just we are a little confused about the people you have brought with you" "what are their race called?" Mars sat down on the chair and spoke "they are called sky people, they are a warrior tribe from Beta, the world that has connected with Alfan... and I am here to talk with you about resettling them here in the Mother forest" "that''s... possible, as long as it''s not within the city" "but why do you go so far for them?" "we don''t see what''s so remarkable about them at first glance?" Mars shrugged his shoulders "first off the fly freely through the sky, secondly they are an honest people just looking for a home, thirdly and most important they did not cause the ruin of Beta of their old world" "we see... where did you plan to resettle them?" "near the mountain range to the east with in the Mother forest" the elders of Green river fell silent for a few long minutes before one of them gave a sigh "well we owe you so much so we can agree to this favor of yours..." "very well, we will help them settle in the eastern mountain range" "and we will also support the building of their village with weapons, materials, manpower and food" Chapter 211 The earthen tribe 1 After the meeting of the Green river elder council and the sky people elder council the move began at once, messengers were sent out to the various sky people fighting forces telling them to return home at once, meanwhile on Green rivers side forces were sent to clear out the most vicious and dangerous magic beasts in the new settlement area before engineers were sent out to build primitive shelter and so in just two days the first sky people left their village thought a portal to start the building of their new home with their own hands, it was also then that the first of the fighting forces returned to Skyreach, surprisingly none of them complained about the move as it was something that the elders had decided and almost all of them volunteered to work security on the site of their new village and were thus sent through the portal while the few that remained spent their time patrolling the outskirts of the village, now the sky people were primarily a warrior tribe so almost 3/4th of the villagers were out of the village on any normal day, either as part of a fighting force or as hunter gatherers so recalling them took longer than Mars would like but after a week all sky people were accounted for and so the last sky people left their old village to begin building their new "well that''s that... are you sure you don''t want to go with them Yel?" "my place as a servant is at my master''s side" Mars gave a sigh, he still was not used to having a servant but reluctantly agreed. "...okay then" Mars looked over the empty village once more before he floated down to the girls that were waiting down below, Yel followed after him, floating a few step behind him. "well then let''s move" Mars, Chloe, Elsa, Varvei, Mary, Victoria and Yel left the abandoned village and headed further west, further into Kafer after walking uneventfully for about a month, seemingly having made no progress in the seemingly unending plains they were forced to return home because they had run out of supplies and so Mars ripped open a portal to Green river and the group walked though... Mars slowly opened his eyes, it was the morning after they returned to Green river and as always 5 very naked figures lay on the master bed except this time a 6th person had joined the fray, Yel had originally been against sleeping with Mars, not because she did want to but because she thought she had to earn the position in the way too big master bed, this Mars didn''t agree on and stated ''you are my woman Yel and I want to sleep with you'' after that he half dragged Yel to bed and found that after her initial reluctance she was more than eager to engage in ''nightly gymnastics'' along with the rest of the girls and so the long night had now passed with only a small red stain to tell of the nights affairs, Mars sat up and looked around before he before he gave a quiet yawn and crawled out of bed and put on a pair of boxers before he walked in a half sleeping state towards the toilet, after he was done at the toilet Mars returned to the living room and found that the girls were up, well mostly up, Chloe and Mary laid on the couches still half asleep while Varvei helped out Elsa in the kitchen with making breakfast and Yel sat on a cushion on the floor with her 2 sets of wings spared out and her eyes closed, at first glance it looked like she was meditating so Mars planned to leave her alone but when he walked into the living room she opened her eyes and look at him with a sweet smile on her face, Mars returned the smile and walked into the kitchen to help with making breakfast and soon they were all gathered around the dinner table. After eating Mar brought Yel to the sky people village by portal, when they stepped through the portal they arrived at the village and was immediately startled by shouting further ahead, Mars gave a frown and walked ahead after he grabbed Yel by the hand as he approached the source of the shouting and found a group made up of both elvers and sky people surroundings something "we''re going to fly Yel" "yes master" Mars flew up along with Yel and got a view of the situation, it looked like an elven soldier fighting a sky person surrounded by the crowd, Mars was about to step in when Yel held him back and called out to him "wait master" "...okay" Mars waited as Yel told him and despite it begin a fight Mars noticed that both sides were smiling and laughing as they exchanged moves, Mars gave a smile as he realized it was a friendly fight and gave Yel''s hand a squeeze as he thanked her "thanks Yel, without you here I would have made a fool of myself" "it''s my pleasure to be of use master" Mars turned around and petted Yel on the head before he gave a wide smile and said "let''s go see your mom" "yes master" Mars and Yel flew off and soon they arrived at Xel house and Mars knocked on the door "come in limp dick" Mars'' smile stiffened slightly at the new insult Xel had decided to address him with but opened the door still and found Xel sitting on a floor cushion and sewing clothes, Mars and Yel steeped in and sat down across from her before Xel gave a sniff and looked at Yel then at Mars and then at their hands which were still together and gave a smile "looks like I can''t call you limp dick anymore Mars" "...mom please" Yel went red from embarrassment while Mars just gave a smile and asked "how have you been since the move Xel?" "good, but less about me we have elder stuff to talk about" Mars straightened his back and for the next hour or so Mars and Xel talked about things related to the elder council, there was some things to catch up on since Mars had been absent from the last few meetings but nobody faulted him since the sky people had been told about his divine mission to close the portal that connected the two worlds, after going over topics such as hunting patterns and local wildlife in the forest which mars knew a lot more about than the sky people Mars and Xel spent some time hurling insults at each other with smiles on their faces before Yel eventually spoke up "master, mother can''t you just speak normally to each other?" Mars and Xel locked eyes for a moment before they said in perfect sink ""this is pretty normal though?"" Yel gave a sigh before she stood up and walked out of the room with a twitching smile on her face, leaving Mars and Xel that both laughed for a bit before Mars stood up and said "I''ll better chase after her" "you do that Mars, it was nice seeing you two" Mars raised his hand in farvel as he walked out of the house and began chasing after Yel, luckily she had not run very far, Mars found her a few meters away from the house and bluntly asked her "are you mad?" "...I''m not mad master" "you look pretty mad" "...I said I''m not mad" "okay then..." Mars walked over and poked her puffed cheeks a few times before he apologized "sorry Yel" Yel gave a sigh before Mars took her hand and gave it a light squeeze "let''s head back, it''s about noon anyways" "....yes master" Mars and Yel went back to Green river by portal and ate lunch along with the rest of the girls before they all went out shopping for supplies for the road and by evening they all returned to Mars'' building and ate dinner before they went to bed... early the next morning a portal opened in the eastern plains of Kafer and the group of 7 stepped out of it before it closed before they began walking east, it was not for long though as Mars suddenly heard a sound he had not expected to hear in this life "...stop here, we have incoming" Mars kneeled down and so did the rest of the group, then Mars transformed his eyes and looked ahead and saw... an off road car, it looked like something from an old movie his father had once shown him called Mad Max, it had spikes and a gun turret with what looked like magic powered hot weapons "sure sounds like a combustion engine" "....Mars what''s a combustion engine?" Mars pointed ahead at the car that was speeding towards them and simply said "that is a combustion engine" Chapter 212 The earthen tribe 2 The off road car gradually approached, Mars was ready as he already had activated [Half awaken] and the first sign that the gun turret would open up he would activate [Instant movement] and get in the way of the fire, but to his surprise the gun turrets didn''t open up as the car stopped a few meters in front of the group and a short figure stepped out of the vehicle, Mars looked at the figure and thought to himself ''they really are dwarves...'' the person that stepped out of the vehicle was clearly a member of the earthen tribe as he only reached up to Mars'' chest in height and had a very solid build that was visible even though his clothes, Mars looked at his face and saw that he was slightly panicked as he greeted the group "you must be travelers, is anyone of you a doctor?" Mars kept silent, even though he had a miracle like healing skill he didn''t feel like using it for some stranger, bedsides he had been somewhat low on energy units for sometime now, then suddenly Yel spoke up "I have received basic training from my mother" "oh a sky person thank the heavens, please help my wife she''s giving birth!" "y-yes" Yel agreed but didn''t move from the spot as she looked over at Mars, Mars could feel her gaze and gave a sigh before he spoke "it''s fine Yel go help" "thank you master" Yel disappeared into the vehicle and the nervous soon to be farther paced around outside the vehicle for some time without speaking to Mars or the others, Mars gave a wry smile and put down his backpack and sat down on top of it, the girls also let their baggage fall to the ground before they sat down and waited, Mars looked at the dwarf that paced back and forth and thought about when it would be his turn to look that nervous but dismissed the thought he was always using prevention so he doubted that it would be his turn anytime soon ''...well you never know in life'' soon a loud woman''s cry was heard after that of a baby, the dwarf stopped pacing and looked over towards the vehicle before he rushed over just as Yel stepped out, the dwarf asked Yel with fervor "how is she? is my child alright?" Yel gave a smile "they are both fine, congratulations you''re now the father of a health baby girl" "a girl... a girl... I see..." the dwarf looked spellbound as he repeated the words a few more times before he ran into the vehicle, Mars gave a smile "good work Yel" "thank you master" time passed and soon it was evening, Mars and the group had set up camp a little away from the vehicle and was in the progress of eating dinner when the dwarf couple walked over, mars looked at the woman and found she looked like a slightly short human teenager which looked weird since she was carrying a baby warped in a cloth, the dwarven woman saw Mars staring at her and gave a smile, Mars also gave a smile and stood up as the couple walked over, then the man spoke up "thank you all very much for your help" "we only did what was right" "I see... my name is Mike and this is my wife Ulla" both Mike and Ulla gave a bow before Mike spoke again "even if you say you just did what was right at least let me return the favor... how about we take you all to the nearest city?" Mars thought for a moment before he gave a smile and a nod "well we would certainly appreciate it" "great, then we leave at dawn" Mike and Ulla both gave another bow before they walked back to the vehicle, Mars sat down again and Victoria jumped onto his lap and laid down as he looked into the fire as the night grew longer... "ugh... I feel sick..." "somehow I knew this would happen..." Chloe sat at the window seat and looked out at the terrain that rushed by, she was turning paler by the minute, she was prone to being motion sick so Mars decided to keep the travel by vehicle to a minimum, but for now she would just have to endure it, the inside of the vehicle was a little cramped with it being made to fit dwarfs, but it was not so bad, plus the suspension was a work of art so one barely noticed that the vehicle was moving even as it was traveling about 150 kilometers an hour on rough terrain, clearly there were no laws against speeding in Beta, at least not outside the cities and towns, Mars gave a sigh and turned to look at the ones that clearly were having fun and that would be Varvei and Victoria, both had stock their heads out of the window like two over sized dogs "do it in moderation please...." of course they didn''t hear him as their ears were blocked off by the wind, in fact only Yel that sat next to Mars answered him "is something wrong master?" "no it''s nothing Yel sometimes I just wish everybody could be as well behaved as you..." "thank you master, for your compliment" just as Mars and Yel shared a moment together Mars felt the vehicle gradually begin to slow down, this caused Chloe to give a sigh of relief before she asked Mike that was driving "are we there soon Mike?" "yes we are nearing the city now, about 5 minutes then we should be there" "thank the 13..." Chloe sank into her seat as she bethedved out another sigh of relief and just like Mike had said the the vehicle came to a stop about 5 minutes later just outside the walls of a city, Mars'' group stepped out of the vehicle and thanked Mike for the lift before Mike drove off into the city, Mars and the others went to line up at the queue for entering the city, Mars and Yel passed fine but when it was Varvei''s turn the the guards insisted she should wear a necklace with a number on for her own safety Mars walked back to the guards and asked them "is there a problem?" the guard glanced over at Mars before he went back to trying to convince Varvei to wear the necklace which she did after the people behind her in the queue began yelling at her, the same happened with Mary and Chloe, when the group was finally able to enter the city Mars walked up to Varvei and grabbed the necklace "what''s wrong Mars?" "....there''s something fishy with this necklace" Mars looked at the necklace with his [Energy: sense] for a bit before he drained the energy from it with another skill, then he did the same with the rest of the necklaces, just to be safe "there... let''s go get some food" Mars lead the group further into the city and soon they found a place that accepted cel, all other places only accepted kwl which was Beta''s currency, then the group soon found a table and ordered some food, as they ate a group of rowdy customers entered the establishment and was shown to the table next to Mars and the others, the group was about 10 people and consisted of humans and dwarfs and looked to be in marry mood as they yell and laughed loudly, Yel was about to tell them to quiet down when Mars raised his hand and shook his head, signaling for her to leave them be, Mars and the others quickly finished their meals and left the restaurant behind, after finding an inn for the night Mars and the rest settled down for the night... Mars'' eyes snapped open, there was something wrong, he quickly sat up in the bed and looked around with transformed eyes, though his perfect night vision Mars saw that everything inside the room was calm, there were no intruders, Mars calmed down a bit and laid back down in the bed and right when he was about to fall asleep he had this weird feeling that something was wrong and sat up again and looked around once more, this time he got out of bed and walked over to the window and looked down onto the street "what the fuck!" the street was filled with people that seemed to be walking towards the center of the city, all of them wore a necklace similar to the ones that Varvei, Chloe and Mary had been given when they entered the city, Mars turned around and walked over to his bed and woke up Victoria that was sleeping in the corner of his bed "what''s... wrong Mars?" "can you find out where the people on the streets are going?" "sure... which one of... them?" "the ones with necklaces around their necks, I''ll follow you when I have woken up the girls" "okay..." Victoria jumped off the bed and when she landed on the floor she disappeared into a shadow Chapter 213 The earthen tribe 3 Victoria followed after the people with the numbered necklaces on the street, on the way she tired to poke a woman with her shadow but got no response as the woman seemed to be in a daze. ''weird...'' The near formless shadow formed into a fist and just as it was about to smack into the woman the fist stopped as Victoria suddenly remembered something Mars had said. ''Right... One may only hit a woman if she asks for it specifically... There''s a man, he will do." The shadow fist neared a man that also walked in a daze before it suddenly smacked him on the side of the face, the man''s head flew to the side as he fell over from the force of the shadow fist. Victoria observed form her shadow as the man slowly got onto his feet again before he once again started walking along with the rest of the people. ''So hitting... them doesn''t work...'' Victoria was at a loss for what to try next before she suddenly formed a shadow boot. ''Let''s see... if kicking them... works...'' But alas before Victoria managed to carry out her experiment Mars arrived and asked. "...What are you doing Victoria?" In response to his hash question Mars got an innocent sound transmission. "I''m just... trying to... wake them up?" "Oh.... I see, well Victoria I don''t think we want to wake them up right now.... How about we figure out where they are going first?" "Okay..." Along with Victoria''s slightly disappointed sound transmission the shadow boot dissolved into nothingness. Mars gave a sigh and looked at the people that still was walking mindlessly past them without giving them as much as a glance, and noticed most of them were beastmen and some elvers and quickly came to a conclusion. "So they are targeting natives of Alfan..." Mars then walked over and activated his [Energy: sense] as he watched the necklaces they were wearing and gave a nod. A few minutes later before he turned to Victoria and the girls that had showed up before he said. "Leave the city for now, I will follow after I find out what''s going on with these people." The girls gave nods, only Yel looked a little anxious but she eventually also gave a nod and spoke. "Only the earthen tribe is knowledgeable enough to make those necklaces, be careful master." "I will, oh hand me one of the necklaces I drained of energy." Mars received a necklace and quickly put it on before he joined the rest of the people walking mindlessly towards the center of town. After walking slowly for about half an hour before they reached a central plaza where big off road cargo vehicles waited. Mars slipped out of the crowd and into a dark alley, before he transformed his eyes so he could take a closer look at the situation. The crowd of people that wore the necklaces stopped and lined up in a row before the cargo vehicles and waited. A few minutes later a group of humans showed up, they were carrying a large number of boxes with them. They stopped at the ones that were at the front of the rows before they opened the boxes and pulled out a.... Collar before they removed the necklace from the one first in the row and put on the collar, then the person stepped into the cargo vehicle and the prosses repeated itself until there was no more people with necklaces, then the humans closed the cargo holds on the vehicles and they drove off towards the edge of the city. Mars watched all this happen from the edge of an ally with a deep frown on his face before he pulled off the necklace and threw it on the ground. Flying up into the air he watched as the cargo vehicles left the city from the west gate and continued out into the night. ''west huh... that''s the direction of the portal...'' Mars shook his head and flew out of the city, could he save all those people form their unknown fate? Sure he could, but then what? Should he send them to Salen? Towards a continent they had never knew of? Mars shook his head and thought. ''I am the master of my own fate, not the master of theirs... If it''s convenient in the future I will save them, else they should curse their own fate.'' With such slightly cold thoughts Mars flew out of the city and landed next to the girls and continued walking west while he shared his findings with the group. None of the girls objected with not saving the people, at least not on the surface, Mars looked over at Yel and asked her. "Yel what are your thoughts?" Yel collected her thoughts for a moment before she began talking. "Back in our old world the earthen tribe had the biggest united empire on Beta. They also had the most advanced cities with advanced infrastructure so they probably need labor forces to rebuild here in Alfan..." Mars continued. "And so they need a labor force that can work until they die of exhaustion without anyone complaining about it so they quickly can return to their convenient lives?" "....Yes it''s probably as you say master." "I see..." Mars added the earthen tribe to his mental list of ''to be destroyed eventually'' but didn''t do anything other than that. When the group had walked a sufficient distance from the city they made camp and went to bed again... The next day the traveling continued, the only difference was that this time they had made it to the edge of what once was the biggest empire on Kafer and that meant roads, lots of roads! Walking on the roads their speed was significantly faster and they covered a lot more ground in a single day, and so the journey continued for another month until they reached the former capital of the empire and decided to take it easy for a week or so. At least that was the plan when they saw the walls in the distance, as they made it to the walls and lined up to enter the city Mars showed his mech tag to avoid having to pay to enter the city but as a result he was pulled aside and made to wait in a room alongside the rest of the girls. After they had waited for about half an hour Mary broke the silence. "...I wonder what they want with us?" Mars thought for a moment before he answered Mary''s question. "Well they reacted to our mech tags so probably they want us to take on some kind of mech work?" "Master there''s also the possibility that they want us dead because most of us are natives." Mars looked over at Yel and patted her on the head before he spoke. "Relax Yel, if they wanted that they would not have brought us into a room and made us wait right?" Yel slightly tightened her grip on her spear but did her best at obeying her masters orders to relax. "Okay, if you say so master." "Bedsides if they want to kill us we will just fight our way out." Yel gave a nod, soon the door to the room opened and a nobleman steeped in. He wore fine clothes and Mars was able to smell his perfume from across the room which caused him to give a slight frown but his non arrogant look gave Mars a positive feeling about this particular nobleman, the nobleman walked over and took a seat and watched Mars and the girls for a moment before he spoke up. "my name is Alex, I am the mayor of this city." Mars gave a slight smile and also spoke up. "my name is Mars." "I see... And I assume you will be speaking for your group?" "Yes." "Okay.... Mars I was informed that you are a gold rank mercenary is that correct?" Mars pulled out his tag and showed it to Alex, that breathed a sigh of relief before he then asked. "In that case would you be willing to do some work for me personally? Of course you will be handsomely rewarded." Mars rubbed his chin for a few moments before he looked to the girls and then back at Alex. "That depends on what kind of work it is." Alex''s face lit up, this was the first time he was not directly refused out of the 10 or so mercenaries he had met with. "Well it''s quite simple, there is a group of bandits I want you to kill." "A group of bandits... tell me more about them." "Well the truth is that they are what remains of this counties original army from when we invaded... They have since turned to banditry and are robbing caravans and pillaging villages." "So standard bandit stuff... I see, what else?" "Well truth is a week ago they kidnapped my daughter and they are now demanding ransom for her." "What kind of ransom? I mean could you not just pay it?" "...Well they are demanding this city as ransom." "Oh... I see." Chapter 214 The earthen tribe 4 "So they want this city... I suppose they want to rebuild their country or something?" Alex gave a smile before he spoke. "I don''t care what they want as long as I get my daughter back in one piece." "yeah... Okay I''ll do it." Alex''s face lit up in happiness right before he nearly let out tears of joy, Mars gave a sigh and said. "Save those tears for when I return with your daughter... Now tell me the details, where was this bandit group last spotted, how many of them are there? and most importantly how do you plan to compensate me?" After ironing out the boring details Mars and the group entered the city and found an inn to stay at, then Mars left the city alone to rescue the mayor''s daughter. Once he walked out of the gates he quickly ran into a problem as a group of knights surrounded him, Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword before he asked. "What?" One knight removed his helmet and spoke in an arrogant tone. "Rejoice mercenary for we have been told to follow you into battle against the vile thugs that have taken miss Emma hostage." Mars thought for a moment before he gave a sigh and removed the hand from the hilt of his sword. "Fine those of you that are able to follow me may..." With those words Mars slowly lifted off the ground, as he began flying towards the sky leaving the knights dumbfounded as they looked up after him before eventually Mars disappeared beyond the clouds. Now in the air Mars took his flight googles out of his pocket and put them on before he began flying south with his top speed, soon a sonic boom was heard over the capital of the former empire, this scared and confused some of the inhabitants but bedsides a small article in a local newspaper nothing was done about it... A few hours after Mars left the city he began to slow down and dropped down below the clouds, and had already arrived in the area where the bandits were last seen. Below him was a small village when he looked down Mars slightly narrowed his eyes before he said. "Bingo" Mars flew down to the village that was currently being pillaged by a group of about 10 bandits, he unsheathed his sword as he flew down close to the ground and canceled his flying skill before he walked into the village and sent a sword light flying which decapitated one of the bandits. This got the rests of the bandit''s attention as one of them let go of the villager he was tormenting and yelled. "Get him!" 5 or so bandits stormed Mars that calmly walked forwards with his sword unsheathed, the process was swift and soon the bandits were fleeing. Without even talking to the villagers Mars once again took flight and followed the fleeing bandits hoping they would lead him to the rest of their group. Just as he had hoped after following them for almost an hour they entered a forest where Mars could see a lot of activity from above, Mars landed and followed after the bandits on foot and soon he hid behind a tree and peeked out. ''One, two, three sentries... This will be easy.'' Mars spotted three sentries at what looked like a makeshift gate where the fleeing bandits just passed though. Mars took a deep breath and activated [Instant movement] before he disappeared from view and reappeared in front of the gate at the same time the three sentries collapsed. They were all dead, Mars walked past the gate and soon he had made it somewhat far into the encampment but then he was spotted and the bandits began running at him in doves, The living god gave a sigh and sent out sword light after sword light that cut the bandits to pieces as he slowly walked forwards further into the encampment while giving a yawn. Soon a bandit appeared that looked like the boss, he was holding a teenage girl in his hands and held a sword up to her throat as he yelled at Mars. "Stop right there!" Mars did as he was asked and stopped walking and looked at the girl, she had the same hair color as Alex but he still asked to be sure. "Are you Emma?" The girls eyes lit up and so Mars gave a smile and said. "Don''t worry I will bring you back to your father Alex." "Hey don''t you dare ignore m---" It happened in an instant. The head of the bandit boss exploded as it did Mars'' pupils shuck to the size of pinholes as he quickly activated [Half-awaken] and dodged to the side as a bullet flew right past his head with supersonic speed and buried itself into a bandit that was standing behind him. Mars activated [Instant movement] and disappeared from view as a hail of bullets flew down and killed every bandit in sight, then he reappeared next to Emma and swept her off her feet as he carried her and quickly took flight disappearing beyond the clouds in an instant... After a while a group of dwarfs appeared in the clearing, they were carrying guns with sound suppressors on and were dressed in camouflage gear. "Primary target not in sight..." "Damn it.... who, what was that, it dodged my bullet!" One of the dwarfs looked over the bodies again before he gave a sigh. "Anyway it got the primary target, let''s get out of here before beasts come." """"Yes captain."""" Mars flew above the clouds, he was on the way back towards the city with Emma that had fainted in his arms. Mars had never seen anything like what happened in the clearing, he was just happy that the group of dwarfs had mistimed their firing else he might have died. "Never seen anything like it.... Damn it was sloppy work, that first shot was just too poorly timed and the follow ups might as well have been half a minute later... Whoever trained those soldiers how to use guns should be ashamed." As Mars grumbled Emma slowly awoke and looked around, when she realized she was flying she momentarily panicked and struggled to get free. Luckily for her Mars had a firm grip on her so she didn''t fall, when she stopped Mars asked her. "Have you calmed down princess?" Emma blushed from being called princess but still managed to apologize. "...Yes, sorry about that, where are we at the moment?" "On the way back to your father, we are about half an hour out." "Okay... I never got your name." "My name is Mars, I''m a mercenary your father hired." "I see... Mars can I ask you a favor?" "What is it princess?" Emma blushed again and kept silent for a moment before she asked. "Can you fly below the clouds? I want to see the landscape." "...Sure, but before that..." Mars shifted Emma over so he held her in one hand before he fished out an extra pair of flight goggles. "You better put theses on." "Okay..." Emma put on the flight goggles and then Mars began lowering the altitude and soon the two of them was below the clouds, Emma let out a sigh of admiration as she looked at the landscape below before she muttered. "I don''t think I will ever forget this view... Thank you Mars." "You are very welcome princess Emma." After half an hour of flight the city appeared in the distance and even though Emma looked a little sad that their flight was over, but she didn''t complain when Mars flew into the city and landed right in front of the lord''s manor. Mars put down Emma and walked together with her into the manor, as soon as they stepped inside Alex came running down the stairs and hugged his daughter tight for a few minutes before he turned to Mars. "Thank you Mars, I am forever in you debt." Mars gave a smile. "Well as long as you pay me what we agreed on we will be even." "Yes come with me up to my office and I will pay you." "First there is something I should mention, I had a run in with the earthen tribe." Suddenly the smile disappeared on Alex''s face, then he kissed his daughter on her forehead and told her. "Return to your room, I have to talk with Mars in private." "Yes dad." Emma took one last glance at Mars before she walked away, Mars and Alex walked up to his office where Alex shut the door and offered Mars a seat. After Mars sat down and so did Alex and for sometime Alex stared into the floor before he began talking. "Truth is the earthen tribe have approached me several times in trying to buy this city and the surrounding land." Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before he asked. "Do you think they had a hand in the kidnapping?" "...Yes." Mars leaned back on the couch and thought for a few minutes before he said. "Well I will be staying in the city for about a week more, if anything comes up you are welcome to contact me." "...Thanks Mars, I appreciate it." Chapter 215 The earthen tribe 5 Mars opened his eyes and looked up into an unfamiliar ceiling, as he laid there memories from yesterday slowly returned to him. Yesterday he had saved Alex''s daughter Emma from bandits while nearly getting his head shot off in the process, then after he had returned Emma he had received a hefty reward from Alex, then to celebrate he had taken the girls out for dinner and then they had returned to the inn and went to bed, bringing him to his current location. ''....What time is it anyways?'' Mars raised his head a little and looked out the window and saw that the sun had risen about an hour ago and laid his head back down on the bed again and closed his eyes again. ''Nothing like sleeping in...'' Mars laid in complete bliss for about 5 minutes before he sat up in the bed and swung his legs out over the side. ''...Toilet, where was it again?'' Mars quickly put on some clothes and quietly left the room where the girls were still sleeping and steeped out in the hallway and quickly found the toilet. After he finished his business he walked back to the room when he opened the door, he saw that Mary was sitting up on her bed and gave her a quick wave as he walked back to his bed and waved Mary over. Mary looked a little confused but still came over and stood in front of Mars, then Mars embraced her before they both fell down onto the bed, Mary struggled a little but eventually quietly accepted her role as a body pillow with a smile on her face as Mars hugged her and slowly drifted back to sleep... When Mars awoke again he found that Mary right in front of his face, he was so close he could count her individual eyebrows. She was breathing quietly as she was still asleep, Mars half wanted to play a prank on her and half just wanted to watch her sleep but as he was struggling to make a decision she quietly stirred as her eyes trembled for a moment before they opened and stared into his eyes for a short moment before she gave a wonderful smile and warped her arms around him and hugged Mars tight. "Good morning" "Morning Mary" "Oh... so you are awake" Mars turned his head and Chloe standing next to his bed watching him and Mary with slightly envious eyes, Mary also looked up at Chloe before she gave a teasing smile and hugged Mars a little closer, Chloe gave a sigh and looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall of the room and said. "There''s about 10 minutes left until breakfast is over, well I have already eaten..." "Shit..." Mars looked at Mary again and asked her. "Want to go grab a bite to eat?" "Okay..." Mary unwrapped her arms from Mars and sat up on the bed before she walked over to her bed and began putting on some clothes, Mars followed her example and sat up in the bed before he discovered he was still wearing clothes from when he visited the toilet earlier. "Well then let''s go" "Yes Mars" "Want to join us Chloe?" "...Sure" A few days passed with Mars and the girls doing absolutely nothing but eating and sleeping, resting their tried bodies from the road. On the 4th day of relaxing Mars was summoned to the lord''s manor by Alex, following after the butler that had summoned him Mars wondered what Alex wanted now. Soon he arrived at the lord''s manor and stepped inside and was met by Emma that looked like she had been waiting for him, she gave a smile and spoke briefly with the butler before she walked over to Mars and gently took his hand before she proceeded to half dragging him after her. "Come my dad is waiting." Mars followed after Emma with a wry smile on his face, it sure looked like him saving her from bandits had a big impact on her since she treated him like this. After walking for a few minutes Mars and Emma arrived in front of Alex''s office where Emma knocked before she called out. "Dad I have brought Mars." "Bring him in." Emma was about to open the door but then she remembered she was still holding Mars'' hand and blushed before she let go and then she opened the door and walked into her dad''s office. Mars followed after her and stepped into Alex''s office, Alex sat behind a solid wooden desk with a deep frown on his face that eased a little when he saw Mars and his daughter. "Oh good you''re her Mars... Would you be willing to help me out once more?" Mars walked over and sat down in a couch before he answered. "That depends on what you need." "Well the truth is that I have just received word that a convoy of armored, and armed vehicles are heading to this city and will arrive within a couple of hours... Now I don''t know what their intentions are so you would just be an extra insurance in case something goes wrong..." Mars thought for a moment before he gave a nod. "Sure... I want to have a look at the earthen tribe anyways." Alex gave a sigh of relief before he thanked Mars, the two of them then proceed to talk about Mars'' reward. Mars suggested that he be paid less if nothing happened and after awhile Alex agreed to this and soon the talk turned less serious with them talking about less important idle talk getting to know each other until about an hour after a butler knocked on the door and informed that the caravan from the earthen tribe had arrived. "Well then let''s go." Mars was the first to get up from his seat before he waited for Alex and Emma to walk in front before he followed on Alex''s left side a few steps behind him. Soon they stepped out of the manor and out into a courtyard where a convoy of 6 vehicles were parked, the vehicles were armed and armored and frankly look like something from mad Max with their gritty looks and armor spikes. Alex stopped a few meters from the vehicles and soon the doors all opened at the same time and a group of about 15 dwarfs stepped out of the vehicles, most of them were armed guards that carried what looked like assault rifles with big drum magazines attached to them. Mars noted that the rifles had a large caliber and most likely was able to bring down a big magic beast in a few rounds. The rest of the dwarfs were dressed in suits and carried no weapons, Mars figured they were diplomats while the rest were simple guards, with assault rifles that is. Alex stepped forwards and shock hands with the lead dwarf and spoke with him briefly but Mars didn''t focus on that but on the guards, a few tense moments passed before Alex showed the dwarfs into the manor. Mars followed after Alex but still tuned out most of the conversation Alex and the dwarf had as they walked into the manor and eventually arrived in a meeting room where Mars stood behind Alex and eyed the dwarven guards for the best part of an hour before Alex called out to him. "Mars?" "...Yes, what is it?" "Solomon is trying to talk with you." Mars looked down at the dwarf that had been talking with Alex for the best part of an hour already and bowed slightly. "Sorry my mind was elsewhere." The dwarf gave a smile. "I don''t mind... you name was Mars right?" "Yes that''s right." "You seem very interested in our rifles, would you like trying shooting one?" Mars looked over at Alex that gave a nod then Mars also gave a nod. "Sure, if the situation arrives." Solomon went back to talking with Alex and Mars once again tuned out the conversation as he watched the guards with a hand on the hilt of his sword... After the meeting Alex, Mars and Solomon with his guards walked out behind the manor where a shooting range was located. Normally the range was used by knights practicing their archery but after the servants put up some new targets it was ready to be used with high caliber rifles, Solomon called over one of his guards who handed his rifle to Mars that took in in his arms. The living god immediately checked the how much ammunition that was in the magazine by quickly releasing the magazine and looking down into it, before he put it back and pulled the bolt back to check for a round in the chamber. As he did that the guard as well as Solomon looked more and more stunned as they had assumed that Mars had never used a rifle before, Mars took a stance with the rifle raised and took aim before he slowly squeezed the trigger and fired off a round towards the target a few seconds after the shot landed Mars gave a frown and mumbled. "It pulls a little to the left..." Then he proceeded to fire off burst after burst at the targets until the magazine was empty, then he lowered the rifle and looked over at Solomon and the guard that both were stunned at his performance and asked. "What?" Chapter 216 The earthen tribe 6 Mars handed the rifle back to the stunned guard, then Solomon woke up from his daze and quickly asked Mars. "Where did you learn to fire a rifle with such grace?" "Well on another continent for starters, it was also a lifetime ago..." Solomon thought for a moment before he asked. "It may be rude to ask, but how old are you exactly Mars? when you say a lifetime ago how long ago do you mean?" Mars thought for a moment before he answered the question. "Me? I''m a little over 220 years old... I suppose it was about 100 years ago that I learned how to fire a rifle." Technical it was in his past life but Mars was not lying about it. "You... you''re not human are you?" "Nope~" "I see... sorry for asking such questions." "I don''t mind." From there and until the dwarfs left Solomon no longer spoke to Mars and at about sundown the convoy left the city and Mars received his reward from Alex. "Oh and Mars, if you ever think about settling down I can offer you a discount on a house or villa in this city." "...I''ll think about it." With such words Mars left the lord''s manor and walked back towards the inn. As he walked down the busy streets he felt someone following after him and gave a slight smile, before he stepped into an alley and slowed his walking speed down until someone called out to him from behind. "...You, mercenary stop right there!" Mars stopped and turned around and saw one of the knights he left behind when he set off to rescue Emma a few days ago, before Mars was able to ask what the knight wanted did the knight suddenly begin yelling. "YOU! It''s all your fault! Thanks to you lady Emma won''t look at me like she used to!" "....Okay and how is it my fault?" The knight got even more enraged and continued yelling. "Do you have any idea how many years I have spent trying to get lady Emma to like me so I could take over the household by having her marry me!?" "...No?" "And it''s all ruined just because of you!" The enraged(crazy) knight drew his sword and screamed. "DIE!" A glint of light flashed in the dark alley and the knight fell over, he was dead of course. Mars gave a sigh and summoned a small flame that quickly burned the corpse to ashes before he continued on his way back to the inn. After another day of relaxation Mars and his group was about to leave the city when suddenly all traffic ground to a halt Mars gave a frown and lifted slightly off the ground to what was up and saw that the gates were closed, worse yet the gates seemed to be manned by dwarfs. "Shit..." "Master what''s wrong?" "Nothing for now but let''s get off the streets... Over to that cafe for now." The girls were confused but followed Mars'' orders, then when he reached the cafe he spoke again. "Stay here and stay safe, I''ll be right back." "Be safe master." Mars activated [Half-awaken] before he lifted off the ground again and flew towards the lord''s manor, landing right outside the gates and walked in. "Shit..." There was blood all over. Knights and servants lay in their own pools of blood Mars took a sniff and smelled gunpowder in the air before he quickened his steppes slightly as he walked into the manor, but still kept them completely silent as if he was a ghost floating around. As Mars stepped into the manor the smell of gunpowder only got heavier as did the smell of blood, Mars'' ears twitched slightly as he picked up the sound of suppressed gunfire. ''Those sure are some good sound suppresses... I gotta hurry...'' Mars lifted off the ground again and began flying up the stairs up towards Alex''s office which he soon reached and stepped inside. Inside the office were a group of 5 dwarfs that all pointed their guns at Alex and Emma, Mars didn''t make any sound when he came in so they had not noticed him yet. Mars gave a reassuring smile to Alex and Emma before he activated [Instant movement] and cut down the group of dwarfs before he reappeared in the same spot with a hand on the hilt of his sword, the bloody sight of the dwarfs being killed made Emma pale slightly both of them were drenched in cold sweat but looked at Mars with thankful expressions, Mars spoke up. "As I see it right now you guys have two choices, one to follow me without questioning anything, the other is to wait here for the next group of soldiers that are approaching from the left hallway." Alex spoke up. "We will follow you Mars." Mars transformed his hand and ripped a hole in space before he looked over at Alex and Emma "good, then into the portal you go." After the portal closed Mars sat himself on the desk and waited for the next group of darwen soldiers to approach. This time it was a group of 6, they quickly stepped into the room and flanked Mars while keeping their rifles pointed at him, one of them spoke up. "I did not expect to see you here Mars." "Good day to you too Solomon." Solomon was a little startled as he didn''t expect Mars to recognize him with his tactical gear on. "...Where is the lord and his daughter?" "Gone" "....I see... Any last words?" "A question, if you will answer it?" "...Sure" Mars gave a cold smile and asked. "Is this always the way the earthen tribe dose things?" "Of course, if we can''t buy it, we will take it by force." "I see." Mars gave a nod and disappeared from view and a moment later another 6 dwarfs hit the floor with their heads severed from their bodies, he gave a sigh and picked up a few rifles before he threw them into a portal along with a few magazines. Then he summoned a small flame and set fire to the office before he flew out the window, after flying back to the cafe he found the girls eating cake and other sweet things and gave a wry smile. Varvei was the first to spot him and asked him. "Where did you go Mars?" "I just had to check something real quick... I don''t think the gates will reopen today so let''s head back to the inn." "Okay, but first you have to try this cake, it''s out of this world." Mars gave a wry smile once again. "Sure." With their departure delayed another day Mars and the girls spent the evening relaxing before they went to bed and left the city early the next morning... Back on the road time passed quickly and soon another week had passed, the group still enjoyed the former empires roads but more often than not found themselves traveling on the side of the road as the vehicles that drove on the road were less than merciless and with Victoria almost getting run over, which resulted in the vehicle turning into a wreck on the side of the road with its passengers beheaded on the side of the road. Mars opted to leave the well maintained roads and take some of the less traveled roads, this of course meant more magic beasts to fight which in turn meant that the group used less supplies on the road and more magic beast cores for Mars. He even managed to level up to level 113 which made Mars a very happy camper to say the least, he also found another benefit of being on the road and that was that he could flirt with the girls as much as he wanted as there was nobody around to care, this Mars of course took full advantage of (without going too overboard.) ''I am no caveman anymore, when I make love to my women I do it in the comfort of my home...'' As Mars was thinking useless thoughts something was sneaking up on the group in the cover of some nearby tall grass. It looked like a big wolf the size of a small car, it had brown dotted pelt and was commonly known around these parts as a spotted earth wolf, as it was capable of using earth magic it was of course a magic beast and a class 6 magic beast at that. As the group walked Elsa''s ears twitched on the top of her head before she suddenly sighed. "Meat again today... I don''t know if I can take it anymore..." Varvei walked over and patted Elsa on the shoulder. "Don''t worry Elsa I''ll help you out with cooking" "Thanks Varvei..." Just as Varvei was comforting Elsa the spotted earth wolf took its change and pounced on what it considered the easiest target: Yel. Little did it know that it had been discovered way before it had discovered the group also the meat that Elsa spoke of was to be itself, after all Yel knew it was there and was ready for it. The moment the spotted earth wolf jumped off the ground Yel turned around and kicked off the ground, before she swiped with her spear cutting open the chest and gut off the spotted earth wolf and cutting its heart into two. The poor thing was dead before it hit the ground, as it fell to the ground with a bang Mars stopped walking and put down his bag before he gave a nod. "Let''s make camp here for tonight." Chapter 217 Approaching the portal 1 Mars rolled the magic core from spotted earth wolf around on the palm of his hand. It was smooth and felt cold to the touch, just like the many other magic beast cores he had absorbed before. "Oh well..." Mars clenched his hand around the core and activated his energy drain skill before he then opened his had again and saw how the magic beast core crumbled into dust. Having drained the core he then tilted his hand to the side and let the dust fly off in the wind, with this core absorbed he was about 1/4th full on energy units. "This will have to do for now I guess...." Mars looked west, towards where he knew the portal was. As a living god of energy he was able to feel it by now, even though they were still a couple of months away from the portal, he was starting to get a little tense about it. Iis it really the right thing to bring the girls..?'' "Mars... Mars?" As Mars was lost in thought Elsa called out to him, when she didn''t get a response she pouted slightly before she walked up behind him and hugged him from behind while putting her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?~" Mars woke up from his daze and gave a smile as he removed her hands from his eyes and asked. "What are you doing Elsa?" Elsa leaned her head on his shoulder before she asked. "What were you thinking about?" "Well... It''s just that I am beginning to be able to feel the portal and then I was thinking about the safety of you girls." "I see... You think it''s best for us not to approach the portal?" Mars gave a slight shrug before he answered. "I think your safety is more important than the mission, although staying with me for another month should not be a problem." "Okay... I''ll tell the others. By the way I wanted to ask you if you wanted another serving?" "Sure." The night passed uneventfully and so the next morning the group continued west, after about a week of traveling they reached the edge of the earthen tribes territory. The earthen tribe being the brains behind the portal had claimed (and swiftly conquered) all land around the portal and proclaimed it as their new home. Now Mars didn''t have the best impression of the earthen tribe at the moment, not after what happened to Alex and Emma anyways so he didn''t look forward to entering their territory. Even now he was thinking about how to make a nuke so he could wipe them all out, the girls picked up on Mars'' bad mood and did their best to comfort him as they got closer and closer to the edge of their territory. Doing that time they began running into refugees that were moving in the opposite direction form the group, Mars noted how miserable they looked as he hardened his resolve about closing the portal for good, after all the longer the unstable portal was open the bigger the change for something to go horribly wrong. ''They have no idea what forces they are playing with...'' Soon the small roads also became filled with vehicles that where entering and exiting the earthen tribes territory Mars and the girls were forced not to walk on the road altogether. Instead they walked beside the road, this slowed down their walking speed significantly, but it was better than risking being run over by a vehicle. After traveling for another week the group reached the edge of the earthen tribes territory, the changes were not obvious at first but as the days passed Mars noticed how they didn''t meet any magic beasts or beasts in general. The sides of the road where also filled with semi industrial farms where giant framing vehicles that worked the fields and then one day Mars'' mood hit rock bottom when they reached where the new modern roads where being built. ''This is beyond fucked up.... Since they have such vehicles and technology they could easily do this without slave workers.'' The roads were being built by slaves, it looked like they were all natives from Alfan that had been enslaved from the other cities like the thing the group experienced when they had entered the earthen tribe controlled city a few months back. Mars and the group moved further away from the road to pass by the construction but then they were stopped by one of the guards that overlooked the slaves. "Stop right there." He pointed his gun at Mars and the others which pissed Mars off so he yell back. "What''s your problem!?" The guard, not happy about being yelled at, also raised his voice. "All natives are to be brought to a processing facility, so obediently surrender yourselves!" Mars gave a sigh and activated [half-awaken] along with [Instant movement]. When he reappeared the 10 or so guards fell to the ground, Mars then ripped open a portal and turned to the girls. "Sorry but it''s time for you guys to go home." The girls gave nods and walked through the portal, then he turned to Yel that still stood in place. "You too Yel." "...Okay master." When Yel walked through the portal Mars was left alone with the slaves that had stopped working and turned to him, Mars gave a slight smile and asked. "Do you guys want to be free?" The slaves, unable to speak gave nods in response. Mars walked up to one of them and drained the energy from the slave collar before it unlocked with a click, the slave a young boy fell to his knees but Mars quickly pulled him up as he ripped open another portal. "Quickly we don''t have much time." The boy gave a nod and walked through the portal, then Mars freed the rest of the 20 or so prisoners and sent them through the portal before he took flight and began flying west... Shortly after a vehicle stopped by the road construction sight and discovered the bodies... After flying west for the best part of a day, Mars landed and decided to stop by a city he could see in the distance for a place to sleep. After a few minutes of walking Mars reached the city and lined up to enter the city, knowing this was earthen tribe territory Mars didn''t show his merc tag but paid the fee like a normal person. Stepping into the city the first thing Mars noticed where the modern lighting he assumed came from the mana powered generators he could sense in the middle of the city. ''Electricity.... Sure been a long time...'' Looking up at the neon like lamps Mars gave a sigh and moved further into the city before he found an inn and stepped inside. The inside of the inn look more like a modern motel than a fantasy like inn but Mars didn''t mind it too much as it hopefully meant that the beds would be comfy. "Excuse me, got any free rooms?" The innkeeper turned to Mars and gave a business smile "Yes a few, do you have any preference?" "No not as long as the beds are clean." "I see, we should be able to handle that." After Mars paid he was showed to his room which turned out to be exactly like Mars expected. A cheap motel lookalike with a single bed and a small desk and chair as the only furniture inside, Mars gave a nod and turned on the light in the room before he threw the key over on the desk. Setting down his backpack he walked over and closed the small window that stood open, then he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes for a few seconds before he sat up again. ''Worth the price but nothing more I guess...'' Mars took off his shirt and pants before he turned off the lights and laid down on the bed and closed his eyes as he took in the sounds around him for a few minutes before he turned over and began calming himself down before he fell asleep a few minutes later... The middle of the night Mars'' eyes snapped open, he had a sense of unease that chilled his bones, like he was being stared down by a class 20 magic beast. He sat up in the bed and looked around, the room was empty except for a woman that sat in the chair at the small desk. she had long white hair and golden eyes that glowed in the dark as she stared at Mars, when Mars locked eyes with her he instantly activated [Half-awaken] before he asked. "....What can I help you with?" The woman stared at Mars for a few long moments before a voice appeared in Mars'' head. "Inquiry: Why are you approaching the portal?" Mars gave a sigh and began putting on his clothes as the voice appeared in his head once more. "Inquiry: Why are you approaching the portal?" "Can I ask you something first?" "Acceptance: Ask away." ".... What are you?" "Statement: I am an angel of Beta, serial number #10012." Mars froze up slightly before he buttoned the last button on his shirt and stood up from the bed "Well I might as well be honest here... I am going to close the portal." The angel also stood up from the chair and a voice appeared in Mars'' head again. "Statement: Then I am going to destroy you." Chapter 218 Approaching the portal 2 *BANG!* A loud bang was heard as the wall of the second floor motel room exploded, Mars having dodged the golden projectile that smashed the wall garbed his bone sword and sent out a slash towards the neck of the angel. *CLANG!* "Shi---" The blade shattered as it hit the neck of the angel and it didn''t miss its opportunity, forming another golden projectile that it fired off point blank into Mars'' stomach which sent him flying out the broken wall. Mars flew straight through the building on the other side of the road before the next building finally stopped him, with another loud bang did he sank into the wall of the house. "....Ouch." Mars pulled himself out of the wall and activated his flight skill as he flew into the air while sending sword lights after the pursuing angel that suddenly had golden wings, which it used to fly after Mars. The sword lights seemed ineffective on the angel that gradually closed in on Mars while he flew upwards, just as the angel reached out after Mars as he disappeared from view and reappeared behind it before he laid a hand on its back and discharged his stored energy units. *BANG!* The angel was blasted off but Mars didn''t pursue it instead he quickly flew back to his room and picked up the adamantite broadsword, quickly unwrapping the cloth that covered the blade before he flew off into the air, just then a cold voice entered his head. "Statement: your resistance is futile." Mars quickly dodged to the side as a golden projectile landed right where he had just been standing, in response he sent a sword light back the way the projectile came before he quickly flew back into the air, slashing out at the angel that was waiting for him while he poured his mana though the blade of the adamantite broadsword. The blade let out a soft hum as it began glowing dull red before it passed right through the neck of the angel, swiftly decapitating it before it began falling towards the ground while dissolving into golden particles, Mars gave a sigh just as another cold voice appeared in his head. "Statement: Your resistance is futile." Mars dodged to the side, just barely avoiding another golden projectile and saw that there now was 3 angels floating above him with golden short swords in their hands. "...I can do this all day." "Statement: So can we." Mars flew off towards the angels and slashed out with his broadsword sending out a sword light that all 3 angels dodged before they came at him from 3 different directions. Seeing the angels close in Mars gave a slight smile before he once again disappeared from view, before reappearing behind the leftmost angel and slashed it in half from top to bottom with his broadsword. Immediately after he dodged to the side as 2 golden projectiles once again flew towards just barely missing him, then the two angels flew towards him again with their short swords raised. Mars sent another sword light towards them, which caused them to split up again before he reappeared in front of one of them and sent out a slash with his broadsword. The angel blocked with its golden short swords, but they were swiftly sliced though by the broadsword before the angel also was sliced in half. Just then Mars felt a chill down his spine and dodged to the side, but not fast enough as a golden short sword buried itself in his back. "Fuck!" Mars turned and slashed out with his broadsword cutting the angel behind him in half, before he pulled the short sword out of his back and activated his [Energy: healing] skill which quickly closed the wound. Just as it did Mars sensed a presence and looked up and saw five angels looking down on him, this time two of them were carrying bows while the other three were carrying long swords. "Statement: Your resistance is futile." "Yeah yeah I get it, now come on!" The two archers fired off arrows at Mars which he easily dodged by tilting to the side, but just as the arrows passed him they exploded, one on each side of Mars. When the smoke cleared up Mars'' clothes were filled with holes as he himself threw up a mouthful of blood then swiftly activated his healing skill before he disappeared from view and reappeared right next to the archers before he decapitated one of them, quickly reactivativating [Instant movement] and when he reappeared the other two archers heads fell from the sky as they dissolved into golden particles. Then without giving Mars a change to react the two angels carrying long swords appeared one on each side of him and stabbed at him with their swords but all they hit was an after image then Mars appeared right behind one of them and impaled them both with his broadsword. Just after the two angels dissolved into golden particles another cold voice sounded out in Mars'' head. "Offer: Surrender and we will make it quick." Mars looked over and saw ten angels this time, three with bows, three with swords and four with lances. In response Mars breathed out before he disappeared from view, the angels raised their guard but even after 10 seconds Mars didn''t reappear and then they felt a spatial tear a few kilometers away before they lowered their guard and flew back towards the portal... Back at Green river Mars tumbled out of a portal on the roof of his building. "Well... I got beat up." Mars laid on his back and looked up at the starts for a few moments before he got on his feet and flew off towards the Green river temple where he soon arrived. The temple was closed at this time of night, but after he simply showed his necklace of the apostle and the doors opened and closed again after he walked in. Mars walked sight into the best prayer room and shut the door after him before he laid his hand on the crystal ball that stood in the middle of the room and then a robotic voice sounded out in the room. [SUBJECT NUMBER #4 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] "Yes." [POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, STARTING DESCEND...] Mars looked over at the avatar where a formless pressure descended, filling up the doll like avatar that soon sat up and gave a slight frown before it opened its shinnying eyes. "What is it Mars?" Mars was a little taken back and asked. "Is now not a good time? I can come back in the morning if it is better for you." Info''s expression eased a little before she gave a sigh and floated off the altar and waved her hand as she summoned a table and some chairs and sat down. "Sorry about that Mars, I am a little stressed right now." Mars gave a smile and sat down at the table. "In that case, I''ll try to be quick." Mars quickly explained his current situation about how he was unable to get closer to the portal because of Beta''s angels. "Hmm... That''s a problem..." "Yeah so I was thinking can you send me off to the other living gods so I can get their help? I doubt any one of them got closer to the portal than I did." "Sure... But are you sure you want to go find your siblings looking like that?" Mars looked down at his clothes and saw how tattered it was with big and small holes in it. "...Can you help me out?" Info gave a smile and waved her hand then new clothes appeared on Mars'' body, then Info asked Mars. "Are you ready to go now? I''ll send you to your little brother first." Mars gave a nod and then Info waved her hand and Mars disappeared from the prayer room... Mars appeared in the sky and quickly activated his flight skill and looked down, below him was a city that an army laid siege to, Mars transformed his eyes and began scanning the crowds for Terry which he soon spotted on the walls of the city firing off arrows towards the invaders. Mars flew down and landed a few meters behind Terry, but right before he could call out to him a spear suddenly appeared in his field of view rapidly stabbing towards him. Mars grabbed the spear with ease and saw the wielder of the sword was a female sky person. "How dare you sneak up on master!" Mars gave a smile and kept his grip on the spear as he called out to Terry. "Hey Terry, want to tell your servant not to stab at me with her spear?" Terry turned around when he heard Mars'' voice and after his confusion disappeared he gave a sigh and spoke. "Mal it''s okay, he''s my elder brother" The sky person tired to pull back her spear but found that Mars had a firm grip on it as he gave a smile and asked. "What do you say when you accidentally stab at a person with your spear?" "...Sorry." Chapter 219 Approaching the portal 3 ''I wonder what kind of face she would make if she knew I was an elder...'' As Mars wondered while he stared at Mal Terry asked. "So what brings you here Mars?" "Well I am here because I need your help." Mars briefly explained the situation and how close he was to the portal to which Terry asked "How are you so close to the portal already? did you drop off your escort somewhere?" "Well... We kind of had a disagreement so I killed them all." Terry breathed a sigh before he spoke. "Of course you did.... I would not expect anything less from my elder brother." "Hey was that sarcasm? You sure have grown bold joiner brother." Mars instantly closed the distance before he took Terry into a headlock under his arm and messed up his hair. That is until he felt a strong killing intent and looked over at Mal that tightened her grip on her spear as she glared at Mars, then he released Terry and asked. "So will you help me?" "Sure Mars, the quicker we close the portal the better." "Okay then... let''s go." Just as Mars spoke a portal opened nearby on the wall and the three of them walked through it together before it closed behind them... The next stop was in the middle of a forest, or more specifically in the middle an army encampment in the middle of a forest. Mars and Terry both turned their heads in the same direction before they began walking towards a big tent that surprisingly had no guards outside it, Mal looked around curious as she followed behind them, then Mars called out. "Hel, you in there?" Some time passed before Hel exited the tent and looked at both Mars and Terry with obvious hatred in her eyes, then she asked. "...What do you want?" Mal was about to yell at Hel but was stopped by Terry that shook his head slightly, then Mars spoke. "Well I have a portal about 5 hours away from the portal by flight and I wondered if you wanted to come with?" Hel thought for a moment before she turned her head to the side and gave a nod. "...Fine" "Good then" Then just as they finished talking a portal opened up nearby which the group stepped though... The next stop was on an open plain where a military encampment was set up, the group arrived in the middle of the encampment before Mars once again took the lead and walked over to a big tent where guards were posted. The guards spotted Mars and the others and drew their weapons before one of them yelled. "Who are you!?" Mars was about to speak but then Hel gave a snort as she waved her hand and instantly all 5 of the guards were crushed into bloody paste, Mars looked over at Hel and asked her. "Can''t you show some resistant?" "Why should I? they are just mortals." Mars gave a sigh and dropped the subject before he called out. "Elder sister I need to talk with you." Soon Tatiana stepped out of the tent, she was as always wearing her slightly loose fitting golden robe. She gave a smile when she saw Mars and Terry, although that smile stiffened slightly when she saw Hel and how her guards had been transformed into bloody paste. Mars followed her line of sight and felt like he had to apologize for Hel. "Sorry about that." Tatiana gave a sigh before she spoke. "They were some good children... Well never mind that, why are you here Mars? I know you didn''t just come to see me, so what is it? Something interesting perhaps?" "Well the truth is I need your help, I have gotten close to the portal but there''s something keeping me from closing it." "I see... well say no more I am in." Mars gave a smile. "Good then, let''s go." Another portal opened next to the group which they all walked through before it closed behind them... When the group stepped out of the portal they arrived in a city before the four living gods turned the same way and began walking, soon they reached a pub where loud voices and laughter could be heard from. The group walked in and spotted Daniel in the middle of a group of soldiers, he was drinking and making merry by the looks of it, Mars and the others walked over and Mars called out to him. "Hey Daniel." Daniel looked up and saw Mars and the others but soon his eyes focused on Tatiana before he stood up and walked over to her as he spread his arms wide making it clear he wanted to hug her. Tatiana gave a slight frown and pushed him back slightly making it clear that she had no intention of hugging him, then Daniel looking a little sad looked over at Mars and gestured towards the outside of the pub with his head. Mars gave a nod and soon the group of living gods were all standing outside the noisy pup where Daniel asked Mars. "So what is it?" "I need some help, I have a portal spot close to the portal but I need some help getting there so I can close it." Daniel gave a nod and thought for a moment before he spoke. "I don''t feel like it, I am rather enjoying this reconquest so I am afraid I won''t be joining you." Mars gave a smile and a nod. "I see... Well then have fun." "I will, bye bye Tatiana, you can always come find me." Daniel raised a hand and walked back into the pub leaving behind the group of four living gods and a single sky person. In response Mars gave a shrug and transformed his hand before he opened a portal and looked at the three living gods in turn. "I can feel the portal so follow me once we get though... Mal can you carry your master and fly?" Mal gave a nod, then Mars unsheathed his adamantite broadsword from his back and stepped through the portal as the first, the rest followed after swiftly before the portal closed... A portal opened just outside of the city where Mars had been attacked by the angels of Beta, he wasted no time and flew up into the air and began heading towards the portal. The other living gods followed after him as they all swiftly breached the thick cloud layer and was bathed in the moonlight as the group flew west for a few minutes until a cold voice appeared in all their heads at the same time. "Warning: Move further towards the portal and you all will face our wrath." Terry being carried by Mal with his bow in his hands asked Mars. "Ehh... Mars what was that?" "That''s the problem I mentioned." Tatiana gave a slight frown and asked. "Could you be more specific Mars?" "They are, or at least pretend to be angels of Beta." "What else?" "Well they have seemingly unlimited numbers and are just as hard to kill as you would expect of an angel." Tatiana gave a sigh before she showed a fierce smile as she laughed. "Sounds interesting!" Soon a group of angels showed up in front of the group. There were about 10 and they carried various weapons all of which were pointed towards the group of living gods, soon a volley of arrows were fired and Mars yelled. "Watch out their arrows explode!" The group of living gods broke their formation as Terry fired off arrows that intercepted the golden arrows by hitting them directly, meanwhile Tatiana formed a spell structure at amazing speed before she fired off silver spikes at the angels that all hit them right in the head. The angels hit dissolved into golden particles while the ones that managed to dodge charged at the group, but as soon as they got somewhat close they all stopped before they suddenly flew towards each other and were compressed into tiny balls by Hel''s [Gravity control]. Hel gave a snort and asked in a disdainful tone. "Mars where these the ones that gave you so much trouble?" Mars gave a wry smile and pointed ahead where there was a group of about 50 angels, Hel followed his line of sight and shut her mouth. Mars tightened the grip on his adamantite broadsword and commanded. "Terry and Tatiana focus on the ones that are far away, Hel take care of the ones that slip through, I will take the ones that reach melee distance!" The group of angels neared as Tatiana fired off spells and Terry fired off arrows of light, when they got with in Hel''s range most of the angles were crushed into tiny balls. But there was still a few that made it through which Mars swiftly took care off with his adamantite broadsword, the golden particles rained down from the sky in a seemingly endless number dying the sky below the clouds in a golden color. Chapter 220 Approaching the portal 4 Mars dove into the range of a angel as he stabbed it in the stomach with his adamantite broadsword before he turned half to the side and sliced the blade upwards through its head. The adamantite blade tasted the free air for about two seconds before it was once again buried in an angel, this time Mars stabbed it right into the head of the unfortunate angel and twisted, even before he pulled it out had the angel began to dissolve into golden particles. After that Mars reactivated [Instant movement] and reappeared right in front of another three angels which he all cut in half with a mighty slash, at that moment Hel called out to him. "Mars how much more until the portal?" Mars stabbed his sword into another angel before he answered. "At our speed, about 10 minutes!" Now it might seem like the other living gods were doing nothing since Mars was so busy but that was in fact not the case, in fact they were killing way more angels than Mars. The answer as to why Mars was so busy was found in the sheer amount of angels were around them on all sides, they clearly blocked out the sky as they came at the living gods from all sides. Terry and Tatiana were both spun around firing off spells and arrows of light at lightning speed, Mars called out to them. "Elder sister, Terry how are you holding up?" Tatiana was the first to answer. "I''m fine just a little dizzy." Then terry also yelled back. "I''m good too, but Mal might not hold until we reach the portal." "Got it... give me a second." Mars cut down another two angels before he flew up and matched Terry''s spin and put a hand on Mal''s back as he activated his healing skill at full power before he went back to slaughtering angels at full speed. The minutes snailed by as gradually more and more golden particles filled the sky, but then suddenly it happened. The angels suddenly switched tactics all at once and transformed their golden weapons into bows before they all took aim and fired at the same time. "Shit!" Mars fired off a flurry of sword lights to intercept the golden arrows, Tatiana quickly formed defensive spells that covered all the living gods, Hel panicked and formed a repulsive skill around herself and Terry fired off arrows of light that intercepted the golden arrows. But alas the swarm of golden arrows all approached at high speed and soon they hit their targets which resulted in a giant explosion as they all exploded at the same time. Mars just managed to use his [Energy: absorb shield] skill so when the dust settled he was relatively okay, the same could not be said for Terry and Mal that both fell from the sky. Mars dove down after them while charging his healing skill, the other two living gods Hel and Tatiana knew that if they split up they would be doomed so they followed Mars as all four living gods breached the clouds at the same time. Mars grabbed Mal and Terry and began healing both of them at the same time, Terry was the first to wake after a few seconds. "Thanks Mars, how''s Mal?" "She will be fine but I am afraid we have more problems." Mars looked up and so did Terry, both of them watched as the clouds were pierced by swarms of angels, but it was not all bad as in the distance appeared a giant portal. The portal itself looked like a black mirror and stood on a hilltop in the middle of a modern looking city, around the portal floated four giant obelisks that Mars guessed worked as stabilizers or maybe batteries for the giant portal, Mars looked at the other three living gods and yelled. "Dash!" Hel and Tatiana nodded as they speed up and flew towards the portal at higher speed than before, the angels all let out screams of hatred that sounded like glass being shattered at the same time as they followed after the living gods while firing off arrows after them. Mars activated [Instant movement], in fact he pushed it more than he had ever before as he neared the portal while he yelled. "Break the obelisks!" Terry climbed onto Mars'' back and held on with one hand to him with one hand while the other held Mal that woke up in this very moment and yelled. "Master!" Mal grabbed Terry and Terry let go of Mars as the two of them began flying under their own power again, Mars being freed from the extra weight speed up even more and within a few seconds he slammed into the obelisk and released the stored energy units as he yelled. "BREAK!" *BANG* As if a giant hammer had just smashed into the obelisk it dented inwards around Mars before it fractured in a cobweb like pattern and soon crumbled into small pieces. At the same time the pursuing angels let out another scream as the portal shimmered like a mirage as it became unstable, Hel was the next to arrive and used her gravity control on another of the four obelisks as it suddenly began cracking into pieces before it crumbled making the portal turn even more illusory. Just after that Tatiana and Terry fired off spells and arrows at the next obelisk shattering it like a piece of glass that fell to the floor, this proved to be the last straw as the portal wrapped in on itself and collapsed. Mars sensed a violent amount of energy suddenly running loose and turned before he cast his [Energy: absorb shield] on Mal right before a flash of bright light shone out from where the portal collapsed, this was the last Mars saw before his consciousness left him... Mars gradually awoke and tried to move, that was his first mistake as pain shot through his entire body, then he felt his body rapidly cooling and heating up and he knew he had died and was in the process of being revived so he kept still as he opened his eyes. It was dark but that proved no problem as he just transformed his eyes and looked around without moving his head, he quickly found out he was buried under some rubble and therefore waited for until his body was done reviving. ''The portal must have exploded after it collapsed...'' Feeling his body being done reviving Mars activated his healing skill on himself at max power before he gradually began cheeking which parts of his body he was able to move. ''Ouch... I think a rebar is piercing though my left leg... And my right arm and shoulder have been crushed under the rubble.'' Mars moved his left arm as he reactivated [Half-awaken] before he began lifting the rubble that pushed down on his chest, then holding up that part of the rubble with his elbow he grabbed the rubble that had crushed his right arm and lifted it slightly before he activated his healing skill a few times on max power before he was able to put strength into his arm again. ''Good then next is my left leg...'' Mars summoned a flame that quickly melted the rebar that pierced through his left leg before he reactivated his healing skill and felt his mobility return to full, then he lifted up the rubble that pressed down on him as he gradually stood up before he activated his flying skill. Slowly floating upwards while lifting the rubble he soon saw sunlight shine down from above and reached freedom before he put down the rubble and looked around. "Tep it sure exploded..." The only thing left of the modern looking city was rubble, Mars didn''t know exactly how many died in the explosion but it was probably in the thousands. ''Well I guess that''s the price of completing my mission...'' Mars looked around before he floated over to another pile of rubble and began lifting the pieces of rubble to the side, soon he had dug a couple of meters into the rubble pile and saw what he was looking for, Terry and Mal. "Well would you look at that, you''re both alive." Terry having healed from begin revived was in somewhat okay shape with some cuts and bruises, Mal however was in worse shape as one of her arms were missing with the bleeding having been stopped by some sort of flame from the looks of her wound, Terry looked up at Mars and asked. "Can you heal Mal''s arm?" Mars gave a smile. "Sure can, it will take some time though." "Did you hear that Mal you will be able to hold a spear again." Mal gave a nod as she held back her tears, being from a warrior tribe getting crippled was worse than death for her and any other sky person so she quickly gave her thanks "Thank you Mars..." Mars reached down and pulled up Terry and Mal, then he looked over at another pile of rubble and walked over and began digging through it. But that proved unnecessary as soon the rubble began floating by itself and Hel was revealed beneath the rubble. She looked at Mars for a moment before she gave a snort and flew off into the distance without saying anything to them, then Mars walked over to another pile of rubble and called out. "Elder sister you need any help?" Mars waited for a few seconds before a response came from beneath the rubble. "Sure if you want to help out." Mars gave a nod and began digging, soon Tatiana emerged from the rubble and thanked Mars with a smile and a hug. "Thanks Mars... Well I will be going now." "Yeah see you elder sister." Tatiana gave a wave to Terry and Mal before she opened a portal and stepped through, then Mars turned to Terry and Mal with a slight smile on his face. "Let''s head back to Green river." Chapter 221 Searching for demons 1 Mars stepped through the portal along with Terry and the one armed Mal, Mal looked around at the high rises around her before she asked Terry. "Master where are we?" Terry gave a smile and patted her on the shoulder before he answered. "Home." Mal looked around at the elvers on the streets and up at the high rises again before she muttered. "...Home, I wonder where my people are." Mars gave a smile and pointed to a sky person that flew by and said. "They are right here in the forest Mal." "Eh..?" "I moved them here." "You did...?" Mars gave a nod and walked over and laid a hand on Mal''s shoulder as he activated his healing skill, watching as Mal''s shoulder grew back a little bit. Satisfied Mars gave a nod before he signaled Mel and Terry to follow him as they walked through Green river''s busy streets, soon they reached Mars'' building and Mars turned to Mal and said. "Come here once every day from now on and I''ll gradually heal your arm." Mal bowed down deeply as she expressed her thanks. "... Thank you very much Mars." Mars gave a smile and turned around and left the two of them behind with a wave before he walked into his building... 2 weeks passed, Mars spent his time with the girls and healing Mal''s arm which was what he was currently doing, there was just one thing that bothered him with his daily sessions with Mal. "--- Anyway he doesn''t even touch me, can you believe that Mars!?" Mal would talk, or rather complain about her master Terry''s lack of... Physical affection towards her. Mars didn''t really want to know about his junior brothers sex life, but when he did ask Mel to drop the subject she only got louder about it and so Mars had decided to just suffer silently through it. "... There Mal, I''m done for today." Mal looked down at her hand which were about half healed, up to about her wrist the only missing her hand and fingers now, Mal moved her arm a little before she thanked Mars "Thanks as always Mars." Then she jumped off the roof and flew off towards Terry''s building. Mars watched her fly away as he gave a sigh before he walked back down into the penthouse as he mentally reminded himself. ''I need to have a rather awkward talk with Terry at some point...'' While thinking such thoughts Mars walked into the living room and collapsed on a couch before he rolled up into a ball by pulling his knees up to his chin, as he did absolutely nothing but breathing for the next half an hour when suddenly he remembered something. ''That''s right... The kel trunement should be going on right now...'' With nothing better to do Mars decided to head to the wasteland for a bit, maybe visit the old demon and the demon princess Velvet. Having decided on his course of action Mars walked over to the workshop and picked up his newly crafted bone sword, opting to leave his adamantite broadsword behind before he went up to the roof and called out. "Victoria." As Mars called out VIctoria jumped out a nearby shadow as her horns flashed. "What is... It Mars?" Mars kneeled down and patted Victoria on the head before he asked her. "Do you want to come and visit Velvet?" "Yes... I want... To go see Velvet." "Well then let''s go." Mars ripped open a portal to the wasteland and stepped through, Victoria also jumped through the portal before it closed again... Mars stepped out of the portal and as soon as he did, he gave a frown before he drew his bone sword and looked around. When Victoria emerged from the portal she lowered her body down to the ground while she raised up her ears before she looked around before her horns flashed. "What... Happened here?" The streets were empty with occasional spots of dried blood on the ground, the sandstone houses looked worn out like they had been abandoned for sometime. Mars took a deep breath before he answered her. "I don''t know Victoria.... I''ll take a look from above, you search for any life down here in the city, okay?" "Sure..." Mars floated up into the air and looked the city over, there were a lot of destroyed buildings and the mighty 15 meter tall walls were breached in several places. ''Someone attacked the capital of demons... More like they raided it and then abandoned it... If the capital is like this the other 2 cities are probably not intact either...'' Mars looked around some more, but didn''t spot any signs of life from the air and landed down again and waited for Victoria to return which she did a few minutes later Mars quickly asked her. "Did you find anything?" "No..." "I see..." Mars fell silent and thought for a moment before he flew up into the air again and looked at the damage to the walls more closely, also examining the surrounding wasteland close to the city and soon discovered carriage tracks leading east and gave a frown before he landed next to Victoria again. "I think I know who did this... It was probably the NNE" "How do you... Know for sure?" "I don''t it''s just a guess for now, but never mind that let''s head east and follow the tracks." Mars flew off, following the tracks with Victoria in his shadow. As he flew out into the wasteland only the occasional big boulder dotted the horizon and perhaps because of the amount of carriages that had driven in one row the tracks were deep and since it didn''t rain often in the wasteland it was easy to follow the tracks east. But even after a day of traveling they were still in the wasteland without having found anything, Mars was about to call it a day when he spotted something up ahead. "Is that... a carriage?" Mars flew closer and looked at the carriage, it was more like a cage on wheels than an ordinary carriage and it looked like it had crashed into a boulder and then been left there. Mars flew a little closer and looked inside the cage. ''Shit... those slaving bastards!'' Inside the cage were a group of decayed corpses with horns, clearly they were demons. The copses also had collars around their necks and they were bunched up in a corner of the cage embracing each other as they had likely starved to death, Mars was now sure that it was the NNE that was behind the attack on the capital of demons, and from the looks of the corpses it was about two weeks ago that they died. "... Let''s head home Victoria." "Yeah..." Mars opened a portal to Green river and steeped though... Mars sat at the table and ate dinner with the girls, but instead of the usual chatter that was around the table it was silent as the girls felt Mars was in a bad mood and thus kept silent as they sent concerned glances his way. After he was done eating Mars gave a sigh and spoke. "The capital of demons are no more, they were attacked by the NNE and the city was razed and the people there were enslaved before they were transported east out of the wasteland." the girls fell silent expect Yel that asked. "Master... What is the NNE?" "It''s an empire that is north of the Mother forest, the reason it exists is because I killed an emperor of the old empire, then a long civil war followed and the NNE was born." ".... Then do you feel responsible?" "A little, I had close friends in the capital of demons, it was only a year since I was there last to watch the kel tournament." "...I see." "Therefore I plan to search for survivors of the attack and free them from slavery." The next morning a portal opened next to the abandoned carriage, Mars stepped out along with Victoria. He breathed in the wasteland air and gave a deep sigh before he floated off the ground and flew east, following the carriage tracks. After flying for a couple of hours Mars gradually left the wasteland behind as the surroundings grew more lush and grass started on the so far barren soil, this proved to be a problem as the tracks got more and more unrecognizable. Mars gave a sigh frown when he no longer was able to follow the tracks, after thinking for a bit he flew upwards to just under the clouds and looked for a city or town in the distance. Soon he found what he was looking for, a border town with high walls in the distance. Mars flew closer before he landed and walked towards the town, soon he reached the walls and lined up to enter the town, and soon it was his turn. "identification or toll?" Mars flashed his golden mercenary tag and the guard stepped aside, then he walked into the town. ''Now where to find information?..'' Chapter 222 Searching for demons 2 Mars walked into the border town as he wondered where he could get the most reliable information about the caravan that most likely had headed through the town about two months ago. ''Well I suppose I could use my two necklacesˇ­ But first let''s try the bar.'' He quickly found a local bar and walked inside and took a seat at the counter as he sharpened his ears and picked up most of what was being talked about inside the bar. "Can I get you something?" Mars looked up and saw who most likely was the owner of the bar behind the counter, she was wearing an apron and was in the posses of polishing a glass with a piece of cloth. "Yes, a beer please." "Okay, one second... Here you go." After the owner served Mars the glass of beer she stood and watched him for a moment before she spoke. "Can''t say I have seen your face before, just arrived in town?" "Yeah something like that, truth is I''m looking for someone." "Oh maybe I can help?" Mars sipped his beer before he spoke again. "He''s a member of a caravan escort, the caravan should have passed through here about two months ago." "I see... Well we get a lot of caravans, can you be more specific?" "It should have been the only one from the wasteland." "Oh... That caravan... Yeah it passed through town about two months ago just like you said, but what is it to you why are you looking for this guy?" "Well he owes me cel and I plan to collect." "I see... Well I am afraid I can''t tell you where the caravan headed, I kept my distance from that one." "Okay that''s fine... Thanks for the beer." Mars downed his beer and left some cel on the counter, before he turned and left the bar behind while he mentally organised his information. ''So it did pass through here two months ago... I''m not likely to get more accurate information from another bar.... Let''s try the guild next.'' Mars walked up the main road until he spotted the two guilds, one on each side of the road, they were the hunters guild and the mercenaries guild, Mars walked into the mercenaries guild and lined up in queue as he waited for his turn at the reception. Soon it was almost his turn but then something stopped him from seeing the receptionist, it was a man in his 20''s, he wore leather armor and carried a sword on his hip. The man stood leaning on the reception desk and tried to flirt with the pretty receptionist, asking her out to eat only to be declined over and over again, but it seemed like this guy''s face was made of stone as he just kept shamelessly asking her out. Mars noticed that the oh so welcoming smile on the pretty receptionist face seemed more and more cramped and gave a sigh before he called out. "Oi." The man turned around, Mars noticed he had a golden mercenary tag hanging out of his clothes for all to see. "What is it, can''t you see that the great me is busy!?" Mars gave a mental sigh before he spoke in a flat tone. "The lady is not interested in whatever you are trying to sell her, so move along before I make you." The man instantly went red in the face before he yelled while spewing saliva. "W-WHO are you to judge what the lady wants you filthy mercenary!?" Mars dodged the saliva with paper thin margins before he gave a sigh. "Don''t say I didn''t warn you..." Mars stepped in and before the man had any change to react Mars punched him ''lightly'' in his stomach, making him kneel over before he grabbed him by the neck and then simply threw him out of the guild making him land face first in the mud on the street outside the guild. After that display Mars turned to the receptionist and gave a slight smile before he discreetly showed her his golden guild tag. "I''m here for some information." The receptionist woke up from her dazed state and gave a nod before she gestured for Mars to follow her into a back room, Mars gave a nod and followed after her, meanwhile another guild employee took over as receptionist. Mars followed after the receptionist into the back room where two couches stood facing each other with a table in the middle, the receptionist sat down in one of the couches and Mars sat down in the other. "First I would like to privately thank you for what you just did." Mars gave a smile as the receptionist continued. "Secondly, I would recommend you leave town as quickly as possible as the one you just threw out of the guild was the son of the local lord." "I see, no wonder he was so annoying to look at... He isn''t really gold rank is he?" The receptionist gave a smile but didn''t answer, this in of itself gave Mars the answer he needed. "Well then... I need information on the caravan that passed though the town about two months ago, it came from the wasteland, I trust you know which one I''m talking about?" "Yes... Give me a moment to collect some documents." Mars gave a nod and waited for the receptionist to return which she did a few minutes later with some documents which she put on the table before she sat down and asked Mars. "So want do you want to know?" "Well... Their destination as well as their estimated time of arrival." "Let''s see... Their destination is the former king''s city and they are set to arrive sometime tomorrow." "I see... Thanks for the information." "you are very welcome... Now I suggest you leave town as quickly as possible." Mars gave a smile and stood up from the couch before he turned and walked out of the meeting room and then out of the guild onto the streets where he found a group of thugs waiting for him. The thugs wielded various weapons but all of them had dried blood on them, in the middle of the group of thugs stood the man with the golden guild tag, the son of the local lord. When he saw Mars he gave a smile and walked a few steps closer before he yelled spewing saliva all over the place. "Did you think you would escape after harming the great me!? Now I give you one change if you kneel down and beg for forgiveness I will let you die with an intact corpse!" ''This kid is really something... Might be worth the bounty just to rid this town of him...'' Mars put a hand on the hilt of his sword before he answered. "If you run away now kid I might spare your life." Feeling the blood lust Mars was emitting the man took a few steps back as his face paled before he yelled. "G-get him, but don''t kill him I want to teach him some manners first!" Mars gave a slight smile as he drew his bone sword and stood ready as the thugs slowly approached him. "You know what? I don''t have time for this." Then he activated [Instant movement] and momentarily disappeared from view before he reappeared again and sheathed his sword, meanwhile the thugs froze up before thin red lines appeared on the necks before they fell over, they were dead of course. The man with the golden merc tag also froze up before he suddenly felt a little ''light'' in his pants before he collapsed clutching what was left of his nether regions as it dawned on him that he would not be able to further the family line anymore, then he passed out as his pants gradually was dyed red by his own blood. "And that''s that..." Mars sheathed his sword and then he ripped open a portal and stepped through, leaving the border town behind... Mars stepped out of the portal a little ways away from the former king''s city and called out. "Victoria." Victoria jumped out of his shadow as her horns flashed. "What... is it?" "Can you help me search for the convoy holding the enslaved demons?" "Sure..." "Okay thanks... Now it should be on one of the western roads leading towards the former king''s city about a day out... I''ll look from the air, so let''s meet up back here about sundown. Sounds good?" "Yeah... So I should... Not attack the... Convoy?" "No let''s do that together, just look for it." "Okay... See you at... Sundown." Mars gave a nod and flew up into the air meanwhile Victoria jumped into a shadow as both of them began searching for the convoy. Mars flew upwards into the air only stopping right before he reached the cloud layer, then he began flying west while looking after convoys on the roads, he spotted a few but none that fitted the size he knew the convoy had to be. Chapter 223 Searching for demons 3 Mars flew just below the clouds as he searched for the caravan of enslaved demons, soon he spotted what could be the convoy he was looking for a lowered his altitude a little as he transformed his eyes and activated [Energy: sense] to get a closer look at the convoy. "... Bingo." The cages were covered with cloth but that didn''t stop Mars from seeing inside them with his [Energy: sense], he took note of the place the caravan where and the speed it was traveling at and estimated a place it would stop for the night before he flew back to the meeting spot where he found Victoria waiting. Mars touched down on the ground before he walked over and patted her on the head as he asked. "Did you find it too?" "Yeah... So you... Also found... It?" Mars gave a nod before he sat down and patted his legs, Victoria took the signal and laid down on his legs before she received some head pats as Mars spoke. "Now we just need to wait until sundown... And then we attack." "Okay..." "Did you count the escorts?" "No... Should I... Have?" "No it''s fine, I didn''t either." "Okay..." Mars and Victoria waited for sundown together and soon the sun dipped below the horizon and Victoria got up from Mars'' lap and stretch. Mars stood up and looked around before he gave a nod, he had been resting his eyes so he had not noticed it was dark already. "Well then, let''s go free some demons." "Yeah..." The sounds of fighting gradually grew faint, the demons in the cages could only wish that their captures had won the fight, after all if they ended up in the hands of bandits their fate would be even worse. Soon a man''s voice could be heard from outside the cages. "Where are the rest!?" "T-t-the good ones are to be auctioned off in the former king''s city in two days." The demons in the cages recognized the voice that was stuttering, it was the leader of the convoy, he was a cruel man that liked to torment them in his free time. But the fact that he now was being pushed told the demons that their fears had been confirmed someone had slaughtered all the caravan guards and they were most likely bandits. "... Where are the action going to be held?" "I-i-in the old castle, the lord''s family hosts the event." "I see... You would not happen to have a have an invitation would you?" "Y-y-yes I do, here you can have it just spare my life!" Sometimes passed then suddenly something heavy suddenly hit the ground and slow footsteps neared one of the cages before the cloth was pulled off the and a young man was revealed outside of the cage, he looked into the cage with sorrow in his eyes before he asked. "Did any of you watch the kel tournament three years ago?" One of the demons widened his eyes before he spoke. "Y-you''re the champion from three years ago!" Mars gave a nod. "Step back from the bars." The demons did as Mars asked and soon a flash of light shone before the bars of the cage fell to the ground and Mars stepped into the cage and grabbed the demon closet to him by the collar. "Hold still for a moment." Then he drained the energy from the slave collar before it unlocked with a click before Mars wordlessly went on to the next demon and soon the entire cage worth of demons were freed. Then Mars went on to the next cage and repeated the process, after about an hour he was done with freeing all the demons and gathered them together before he jumped up on one of the cages and spoke out. "Some of you may recognize me from the kel tournament three years ago, my name is Mars and I now give you two options, first we can part ways here, second option is that I can take you to a city where you will be offered jobs and homes where you can live with what''s left of you families in safety." Mars looked at the demons and none of them showed signs of leaving, he gave a nod and opened a portal to Green river and gestured for them to step though as he spoke. "Come, a new life awaits you all." The next morning came, Mars had not slept yet since he had spent the entire night on getting the demons settled in Green river. After that he returned to his building and rode the mana elevator up to his penthouse and walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch. After sleeping for a few hours he awoke again to the smell of breakfast and joined the girls at the table, after eating Mars made a plan for the auction tomorrow. "Hmm... First I need to move some money..." Mars'' capital was huge, after all each month he received rent from all the people and shops in his building, so buying all the demons and then setting them free should be easy. But first he had to deposit his cash in a bank in the NNE and receive a so called crystal card which could be used to pay at the auction, Mars found this out by reading the invitation. So the first Mars did was visit the local Green river bank and make a withdrawal in the the most concentrated from he could: Platinum coins. One platinum coin was worth 5 minion cel and Mars withdrew 50 of them. This of course drained his finances significantly, but not to the point of ruining him, then he flew back to his penthouse and wore his suit before he opened a portal to the former king''s city and stepped though... Walking on the streets of the former king''s city in a pale suit and with a sword on his hip, Mars attracted a lot of attention all of which he ignored as he walked towards the noble district and quickly found a bank, but not just any bank no this one had it''s sign made out of pure gold. Mars gave a nod and stepped inside and found that the inside was just as luxurious as the outside with gold trimmed marble floors and walls, Mars walked up to the counter and spoke to the receptionist. "Hello, I would like to open an account." the receptionist gave a sweet smile and spoke. "The minimum for opening an account here is 10 million cel, can you cover that at the moment sir?" Mars took his pooch and laid it on the counter making platinum coins spill out on the counter, the eyes of the receptionist widened slightly before she returned to her smile and bowed slightly. "Please follow after me and we will discuss the opening of your account sir." After about half an hour Mars walked out of the bank with a crystal card in his hand, the card itself was made of pure clear crystal and sparkled like a plate made of diamond. "That''s all the prep done... Now all I can do is wait for tomorrow." Mars walked into an alley and ripped open a portal to Green river... The next evening various wealthy people were arriving at the lord manner, they wore all sorts of luxurious suits and dresses and they arrived in sky carriages from all over the NNE. Suddenly a black portal formed and a young man with horns dressed in a pale suit stepped out, after him came a woman with wings on her hip that was dressed in a white loose fitting dress. The pair drew attention from all over the entrance area as they both seemed not to belong to the three main races, another thing that drew attention was the 13 pointed silver star that hang around the neck of the young man, Yel looked around while she thought. ''I''m so glad I won the rock paper scissor competition so I could accompany master.'' Mars took Yel''s arm and walked towards the entrance while he ignored the looks both of them where getting, at the entrance stood a person Mars was familiar with and welcomed the guests, when she saw Mars she gave a deep frown, Mars however kept his smile and walked over and said hi. "Hello Vanessa." "... Mars" Vanessa was dressed in a back dress that matched her black eyes and long black hair, she gave a sigh and asked Mars. "I take it you have an invitation?" "Right here." Mars handed his invitation over to Vanessa that cheeked and doubled cheeked it before she gave a sigh and gestured to what looked like a card reader as she explained. "The seating is arranged by a person''s capital, please insert you crystal car here." "Sure." Mars took his crystal card out of his pocket and inserted it into the card reader that then displayed a number that caused the surrounding people to gasp loudly. "2-250 million cel!" Mars gave a smile and asked Vanessa. "Is there any problems?" Vanessa was stunned, the region that her family was managing on behalf of the NNE was former Destra and they made under 50 million in taxes for a year, so she could only bow her head slightly as she spoke. "N-no please enjoy your evening." Chapter 224 Searching for demons 4 Mars and Yel was led into the venue by a servant. The venue was a big stage with rows of seats in front of it, but that was not where Mars and Yel was going. They were lead up some stairs and was then seated box that was elevated above the regular seats. There were five of these boxes and Mars took note of them from inside his own box as he sat in a comfy couch with Yel sitting besides him. ''Those are most likely going to be my main competition...'' Mars leaned back on the couch and wrapped an arm around Yel''s waist pulling her a little closer as he waited for the auction to start... Meanwhile in the box next to Mars sat a general, he had a mighty imposing figure and a body like a younger man, he sat on the couch and looked down onto the empty stage for sometime then he called out. "Number 17." A figure stepped forwards from the back of the box, it was a young woman with yellow eyes and yellow hair that was cut to shoulder length and was dressed in a military uniform. She had a slave collar around her neck and wore a blank expression on her face as she answered. "Yes master?" "Control your blood lust a little better, I can still feel it from here." The young woman, number 17 gave a short bow as she answered. "Understood master." "Remember this is a civil event, you are just here as insurance. Under no circumstances may you attack with lethal force." "Yes master." "Good, now return to your post." "Understood master." Soon a figure emerged on stage, it was Vanessa again, this caused Mars to give a slight frown, as she said the welcome to the entire venue Yel asked Mars that was still frowning. "Master do you know that woman?" "Yeah... We used to be friends if you can believe it." "Used to be? What happened?" "Well we represented two different sides in a war... From there I slaughtered some of her soldiers during a pacetalk, well they were planning to attack me so I was justified, she just didn''t see it that way." "I see, so she''s what Chloe would call a ''basic bitch''?" Mars facepalmed at Yel''s innocent remark. "What? master was I wrong?" "No just please don''t say that to anyone''s face." "Okay master." Just as Mars and Yel was finished talking Vanessa also seemed to be done with introducing the event and finished off her grand speech with: "--- And so without further ado, let the action begin!" As soon as Vanessa was done speaking the venue erupted in applause, Mars himself gave a few claps as well. Soon the first lot was brought onto the stage, it was a small piece of dull red metal, just as most of the guests were wondering what it was Vanessa started explaining. "Those that have seen it before know what it is, but to those that have never seen it before this is adamantite in its purest form and exactly 300 grams of it! Now the bidding starts at 500.000 cel." Mars was a little disappointed with the first lot as he already had a broadsword made of adamantite and so of course he didn''t bid on it, and soon the lot went to a lucky person in one of the five boxes for a grand price of 1.3 million cel. Next were various pieces of art and such, none of which interested Mars but then in the middle of the auction it finally happened, a cage of demons was rolled onto the stage. There were about 15 in the cage and one of them was Mars very familiar with and stood up from his couch as he struggled with controlling his anger. ''Old demon!'' Oblivious to Mars'' anger Vanessa introduced the lot. "This is one of the main lots from the recent conquest of the wasteland, 15 battle hardened demons that fought to the last when our armies invaded the capital of demons! These may just look like old demons but their individual fighting force is amazing perfect for either a bodyguard or private soldier! now the bidding starts on 1.5 million cel!" Mars was about to call out when a voice was heard from the box besides his. "3 million cel!" Mars looked over and saw a general in military clothes and gave a snort as he called out. "5 million cel!" The entire venue gasped and the general looked over at Mars before he called out. "5.5 million cel!" Mars gave a disdainful look at the general before he called out. "10 million cel!" The general clenched his fists and sat down on the couch, signaling his defeat, then Vanessa called out after waiting for a few moments. "Congratulations to the lucky gentleman in the number 3 box! Now onto the next lot." Mars sat down with a satisfied look on his face as he looked at the cage that was being dragged off stage. ''Just wait a little longer...'' The next few lots were also slaves but not from the wasteland so Mars didn''t bid on them. Most of the slaves went to the general in the box next to Mars for between 1 million to 3 million cel, Mars was rather happy about this as it meant that the general would have less cel to bid on the demons from the wasteland. Another few lots passed, one of which were demons from the wasteland which was brought by Mars for 3 million cel, then something interesting came on the stage. The item sat on a pillow made of the finest silk, Mars stood up from his seat as his skill activated on its own. Class 16 magic beast core Stored energy: 200.000 units Stored status points: 50 Source: ??? Contains skill: ??? This was the first time Mars had seen such a high level magic beast core, while his skill didn''t tell him the source of the core it showed him that it was a class 16 magic beast core, he felt a big amount of pressure from the core. not only that it also contained a skill! This was something Mars had never seen before! "Now the observant among you would know that this is a magic beast core, but it''s not only that it''s a high class magic beast core. In fact our mages were unable to determine what class it was but I can tell you this for sure ladies and gentlemen it''s over class 10! Now the bidding starts at 1 million cel!" "5 million cel!" Vanessa looked up and saw Mars with an enchanted look on his face as he looked at the core and gave a smile before she spoke. "Now the gentleman in box number three has bid 5 million cel! Is there any other bids?" As soon as Vanessa was done speaking another person in box number five that was to the left of Mars yelled. "10 million cel!" Mars looked over and saw a mage like person and gave a grin before he yelled out. "20 million cel!" The mage almost dropped his jaw and looked over at Mars while he mentally screamed ''just how rich is this dirty non human!'' before he gritted his teeth and yelled out. "20,5 million cel!" "30 million cel!" The mage felt faint at the almost immediate callout from Mars and sat down on the couch while he looked over at Mars with hatred in his eyes and thought ''you will regret this you dirty non human!'' Mars gave a smile as he sat down on the couch while he did some mental calculations. ''So I spent 34 million cel so far... Still have over 200 million for the main attraction... She has to be here, or else Victoria is going to be disappointed...'' The next few lots didn''t interest Mars so he just sat back and enjoyed the refreshments in the room with Yel as the lots passed by until there was something that caught Yel''s attention as she suddenly stopped answering Mars and looked at the stage. Mars followed her look and saw a spear. "Now for this lot we have a spear made of mithril by the famous mithril smiths of Dark valley right here in the NNE! As many of you know mitrill is an excellent mana conductor and is able to amplify magic spells! Now the bidding starts at 5 million cel!" The venue was silent as the was towards the end of the auction people were saving their cel for the final lots, except those that had cel to speare that is, the general besides Mars called out. "6 million cel!" Mars looked over at Yel that still had an enchanted look on her face and so he gave a mental sigh and yelled. "7 million cel!" Yel woke up from her daze and looked over at Mars with a blush on her face as she panicked. "Master you don''t have to buy it." As she spoke the price was raised to 8 million cel, Mars gave a smile and yelled while he looked into her eyes with a smile on his face. "9 million cel!" Yel blushed even harder, meanwhile the limit seemed to be 9 million for the general that sat down again and so after a few moments passed Vanessa spoke. "Congratulations to the gentleman in box number three Chapter 225 Searching for demons 5 Mars gave Yel a kiss on the cheek before he said "happy birthday" "eh...? But my birthday is not for another 3 months?" "do you want the spear?" "...yes" "then happy birthday" "...thank you master" Mars gave a nod, he was very satisfied with his gift giving technique and after he secured the mithril spear Mars spent some time flirting with Yel until something on the stage caught his attention, it was a big cage with a cloth covering it, Mars activated his [Energy: sense] and peeked past the cloth before he stood up from the couch "bingo" just then Vanessa began her speech "for our final lot tonight we have the crown jewel from our conquest of the wasteland---" Vanessa pulled of the cloth and exposed a cage that held a single person, she wore a traditional demon outfit that Mars would best describe as a belly dancer outfit and had a blindfold over her eyes, around her neck was a slave collar made of pure silver "--- it''s the demon princess of the wasteland, princess Velvet! Bidding starts at 10 million cel!" Mars was the first to yell "15 million cel!" Velvet heard a familiar voice and ''looked'' up at Mars from within the cage and covered her mouth as her eyes began to moisten, because now she knew that the nightmare she had faced over the last two months was about to be over but just as she felt her hopes go up she head another yell "20 million cel!" Mars gave a slight frown and looked over and saw the mage from earlier that had bidded on the class 16 magic beast core, the mage had an enchanted look on his face as he stared at Velvet, Mars yelled out "30 million cel!" the mage didn''t even look away from Velvet as he yelled "35 million cel!" Mars felt his anger rising but decided to keep it civil for now and continued bidding "40 million cel!" "45 million cel!" Mars clenched his fist, even though he had a lot of cel he was not so happy about them going to the NNE, Mars gave a slight smile and activated his presence "[50 million cel!]" the entire venue went silent as a dominating pressure descended onto it, this also finally caused the mage to look away from Velvet and over at Mars with a look of confusion on his face, he suddenly got cold feet about bidding and stopped up bidding Mars so after a few moments of silence Vanessa spoke up "congratulations to the gentleman in the box number three for winning the princess of the wasteland!" after that the auction ended without any problems and after a rather long ending speech from Vanessa, a servant showed up in Mars'' box and showed him and Yel to a backstage room, after waiting for a little while a servant showed up with a card reader and spoke "your total comes to 93 million cel, please swipe your crystal card here" "...sure" Mas swiped his crystal card and just like that he was 93 million cel poorer "now then please follow after me, I will show you to your won lots" Mars and Yel followed after the servant that first showed them to where they received the mithril spear and the magic beast core, Yel hugged her new spear and Mars hugged his new magic beast core ''this should be enough to bring me to level 114'' then Mars and Yel were shown to where the slaves were kept, Mars walked up to the fist cage and unlocked it, the demons inside walked out and one of them recognized Mars at once and called out "son!" Mars gave a smile and hugged the old demon before he said "I''ll explain later for now get into this portal" "okay son" Mars did the same with the other group of demons he had brought and then finally turned to Velvet''s cage and walked over with a smile on his face "sorry I''m late" Velvet was all slimes as she ''looked'' at Mars but she remained silent as suddenly she looked at something else, Mars followed her line of sight and saw Vanessa that walked over towards him with a smile on her face but before she reached Mars Yel walked in front of her and stared her down, Vanessa gave a wry smile and called out to Mars from where she stood "Mars can I talk with you for a moment?" Mars turned away from Vanessa and looked at Velvet before he spoke "Vanessa did you know that the demons I brought this auction were my friends?" "eh...? you friends?" "yes and to you that sold them to me I feel both garditude and hate... beyond that we have nothing to talk about" Vanessa''s smile disappeared before she turned and walked away, Mars ignored her and opened the cage Velvet was in before he gave her a hand while bowing slightly "princess please excuse this knight for being late on the rescue" "my oh my, I didn''t know I had such a handsome knight" Velvet took his hand and stepped down from the cage then Mars ripped open a portal for her "please step through the portal princess, I''ll join you once I have dealt with something" "...okay, I will see you then" Velvet walked through the portal before it closed, then Yel walked up to Mars and asked "master what is it you need to deal with?" "hmm... human greed maybe? But first..." Mars took Yel by the arm and gave a wide smile "let''s go on an evening date" Yel blushed slightly before she gave a sweet smile "...if master commands it" Meanwhile the general had collected his won lots and was about to arrange for transport when a figure approached him "number 16 stand down, I''m sure he means no harm" the figure gave a smile and stepped closer to the general, the general recognized him to be the mage that were in the box next to his, the maged rubbed his hands together while he gave a smile "general I have a proposal to you" the general raised an eyebrow before he asked "what kind of proposal?" in the former king''s city Mars and Yel walked on the mostly empty streets together, they had just finished a late night rather romantic dinner and now they were just strolling around in the former king''s city "master..." "not yet Yel, let them get a little closer" "...okay master" Yel tightened the grip she had on her new mithril spear as shadowy figure neared them from behind, some of them were on the rooftops while others walked on the street behind them, both Yel and Mars was sure that they held less than honest intentions, Mars had already activated [Half-awaken] and was ready for them to strike when suddenly Mars felt his neck hair raise a moment later he gave Yel''s hand a squeeze signalling her that the time was now. First both Mars and Yel kicked off the ground splitting off in two different directions then a voice sounded out from behind "follow the man, he has the crystal card!" Mars recognized the voice as the mage that had bid on the magic beast core and gave a slight smile as he transformed his hands into claws while he ran into an alley when suddenly a figure jumped out in front of him in the middle of the alley blocking his way, Mars stopped running and widened his eyes "wait you''re H---" a bolt of lightning shot out from the figures finger hitting Mars in the chest interrupting his words and it also momentarily lit up the alley and the figure, she had shoulder length yellow hair and eyes and wore a green military uniform, she seemed no older than 18. Mars clutched his chest and kneeled down, then the figure or rather number 16 approached him while keeping wary but suddenly Mars disappeared from view before he reappeared behind number 16 and grabbed her slave collar and quickly drained it of energy before it released with a click "eh...?" number 16''s eyes gradually turned clear as the slave collar fell to the ground before she mumbled "....where is this?" "it''s good you are awake Hanna" Hanna turned around and saw Mars smiling at her "Mars? where is this... wait what happened..? the last thing I remember... is what?" Hanna looked very confused, Mars gave a smile and patted her on the head before he siad "wait here, I need to take care of something first" "okay?" Hanna still looked very confused but Mars didn''t have time to explain at the moment and ran past her back out of the alleyt the same way he came and stopped outside of the alley and faced the mage and a couple of slave soldiers in military uniform along with the general that had drawn his sword and stood ready "there he is!" Mars gave a wide smile before he looked at the general and spoke "you, it was you that enslaved Hanna right?" the general clicked his tongue "so number 16 failed, useless thing" Mars'' smile disappeared before he spoke again "you have earned my wrath" then he disappeared from view and when he reappeared again the general and the mage fell to the ground while the slave collars of the slave soldiers fell to the ground, the three former slave soldiers displayed similar confusing Hanna did and looked around before they eventually all focused on Mars that gave a nod "if you come with me I can help you piece together your shattered memories" the three gave nodes and Mars gave a smile right as Yel landed next to him with a pout on her face "master you could have saved some of them for me to try out my new spear" "...sorry about that" Chapter 226 The land of Hinode 1 Mars arrived back at Green river with the four slave soldiers Hanna included, since it was late he showed them to the guest rooms and told them that breakfast would be served in the living room tomorrow morning and he would be happy if they wanted to join. Then since he still need to deal with the demons he had brought on the auction he turned and left but was surprised when he heard someone following him and turned around and saw Hanna. "Erm... Mars..." She looked like she didn''t quite know what to say but Mars got the message and held out his hand, then Hanna''s face lit up and she took his hand and walked with him for a few moments before she spoke. "... Thank you Mars." "What for?" "Well... For saving me... For the longest time I have felt like I have been walking underwater, unable to breathe and see." Mars gave a nod while his hatred for the NNE grew by a sizable degree, but he quickly changed gears and put the hatred into the back of his mind before he spoke. "That must have been awful." Mars gave Hanna''s hand a reassuring squeeze before he asked. "How long ago do you think it was I healed you?" "Hmm... maybe a year ago?" "It''s been almost four years." "Eh...?" Hanna stopped walking meanwhile Mars kept talking. "It must have been the slave collar that blurred you sense of time." "O-okay" Hanna gave a nod and lowered her head slightly in thought before she seemed to change gears and asked Mars while she looked left out of the window. "So Mars, where is this even? I have never been in such a tall building." "This is Green river and this sky tree is mine." "You mean you own the whole building?" "Yeah." "... You sure have come a long way." Mars briefly thought back to when he was living in a cave in a forest and gave a nod. "That I have..." Mars and Hanna walked a little more and soon they arrived in the living room where Mars had sent the slaves he had brought. Since there was no room in the couches and around the dinner table some of the demons sat or laid on the floor, but they all stood up when Mars walked in and soon Velvet and the old demon walked out from the crowd. Mars gave a smile and walked over to them while he introduced Hanna. "This is Hanna, she''s a child I have been indebted to." "Hey Mars what do you mean child? I am 18 years old you know?" "Well in my mind anyone under 50 are still children." "... You talk like an old man Mars." "Well that''s because I am an old man over 200 years old." "Eh?... Really?" "Yep, but enough about me, let''s get those slave collars removed..." Mars reached out and touched the slave collar around Velvet''s neck and a moment later it released with a click and fell to the floor, then she ''looked'' directly at Mars and asked. "Mars can you destroy the NNE?" "Hmm..." Mars fell into thought for a moment before he answered. "I could, but not now... I have to wait for the right opportunity" Velvet gave a nod and ''looked'' down into the floor, Mars put a hand on her shoulder and spoke. "Don''t worry, it''s on my to do list." Velvet took his hand and brought it up to her cheek and somewhat nestled into it for a few moments before she let go of his hand and spoke. "Sorry old demon, I will stop taking up Mars'' time now." "I don''t mind princess.... Son could I trouble you to remove my slave collar?" "Sure that''s what I planned to do anyways." Mars spent some time removing the slave collars off the demons before he showed them to some places to sleep, then he and Hanna was left alone in the hallway as they slowly walked back to the guest room he had assigned her. "... I''m missing about three years of my memories." "Yep..." "Umm... do you think you could stay until I fall asleep?" "Sure." Mars then watched over Hanna until she fell asleep before he walked back towards the master bedroom. ''It''s late... the girls are asleep... I''ll just take the couch.'' Mars laid down on the couch and regulated his breathing for sometime until he fell asleep... That night Mars had a dream or at least he felt like he had had a dream when he woke up. It was not a very good one at that, thus he was in a bad mood when he woke up around breakfast time. The living room was lively as both the former slave soldiers and demons joined in. Elsa cocked up a storm in the kitchen with the help of Yel and Varvei, after they had eaten Mars went to the giant tree in the middle of the city to arrange for new homes for all the demons he had rescued in the city. When he was there he was approached by an ancient elf that informed him that the elders wanted to see him, after he made his way through the complicated hallways he walked through the big door and greeted the elders. "Hello, you wanted to see me?" "Oh Mars, it''s good that your here." "Do you remember that incident from three years ago?" "Were a foreign force occupied the southern peninsula." "Hmm..." Mars thought for a moment before he remembered the incident with the people dressed in what looked like wargin states japanese armor. "Oh right that." "It''s good that you remember." "We have received a envoy from their country." "That would like to invite a diplomat of our country over for talks." Mars gave a nod. "And you want me to go?" "Yes." Mars gave a nod after he thought for a moment. ".... Okay sure, it does sound interesting." In a room inside the giant tree sat a diplomat, he wore what Mars would describe as traditional Japanese clothing and had a single edged sword on his hip. Even though he had waited for about three hours he still had a calm smile on his face, soon there was a knock on the door right before it opened and Mars stepped in. Mars was in his half dragon from with his eyes red and his horns out, for a moment the two men inspected each other before both of them gave a nod, Mars reached out his hand and introduced himself. "My name is Mars, I am the diplomat that Green river will be sending." "Nice to meet you Mars, my name is Hide and I will be your guide to Hinode, our country." Mars and Hide shook hands for a moment before Mars asked. "So when do we leave?" "At once if it is convenient." "I see... Well then give me 10 minutes to get ready... Do you mind if I bring some bodyguards?" "No I don''t mind at all, but please bring under 10." "Okay." Mars left Hide behind and opened up a portal to his home and gathered the former slave soldiers together and told them that they would be coming with him on a trip, Hanna and the other three gave nods and soon they were back at the giant three with their luggage ready to depart. Hide took them to the harbor where a ship was ready to depart. "Let''s board the ship... A trip should be good for you guys, it will help you set your minds on something else for sometime." "Erm... Mars?" "What is it James?" James, one of the slave soldiers spoke up, after he thought for a bit he asked his question. "... Do we really have to come?" "James what have you been doing since you regained your mind?" "... Sitting in my room thinking." "My point exactly, you need to get out a little more. A trip will do you good and don''t worry you guys don''t have to fight if you don''t want to I''ll take care of you." "Okay Mars." "Now that''s the spirit." Mars clapped James on the shoulder before he looked at the rest of the former slave soldiers over, seeing that none of them had any more questions Mars board the ship followed by them and joined Hide on the deck. Hide looked at Mars then at his so called bodyguards and gave a slight sigh before he asked Mars. "those are not you bodyguards are they?" "Nope, but don''t worry I''ll take care of them." "... Can you tell me why you are bringing children on this trip?" Mars moved a little closer to Hide and spoke in a low voice. "Truth is they are former slaves I rescued and I don''t want to let them out of my sight just yet." "... I understand, well a few more guests should not be a problem." "Thank you." Mars looked back at the former slave soldiers and gave a nod, this trip was sure to help them a bit with their heavy thoughts, at least that''s what he hoped. Chapter 227 The land of Hinode 2 Mars stood on the deck of the ship and watched as Green river gradually disappeared in the distance, the ship was moving surprisingly fast, but from the hunting of sea magic beast Mars had done by flying around Mars knew that it would be a couple of days until they reached their destination. ''Well I''m fine with that... I can get some sun on the deck.'' Planning his next few days of lazing around Mars was in quite a good mood when Hanna approached him and asked him. "Erm... Mars if it''s not to much of a bother can we go see my parents sometime soon?" "Sure, I''ll make some time after the trip is over." "Thank you Mars." Mars gave a nod and fell silent as he looked out over the sea, a couple of hours passed like this. When the sun was about to go down Mars grabbed one of the sailors and was escorted to his room below deck, it was a little cramped but Mars had seen worse so he was okay with it. Next Mars walked over to his backpack and took out something warped in cloth and unwrapped it, when he did his skill activated. Class 16 magic beast core. Stored energy: 200.000 units. Stored status points: 50. Source: ??? Contains skill: ??? "Sorry it took so long to get to you my friend..." Mars sat cross legged on the floor and began absorbing the energy units in the core, and so after leveling up once to level 114 the magic beast core turned into dust and Mars opened his eyes again and gave a nod. ".... Neat." Mars understood his new skill and half wanted to try it out but decided to wait until he was in a combat situation to test it. "Well I guess that''s it for tonight..." Mars stood up and took off his boots and his boardsword that was strapped to his back before he laid down in a hammock, as he gently swayed from side to side by the waves of the sea Mars closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, soon he fell asleep... A few days passed uneventfully, the only thing Mars did was bake in the sun and check up on the former slave soldiers, besides Hanna and James there was Maire and Jess. Marie had shoulder length red hair and eyes, besides that she had a calm temper and was rather easy to talk to. Jess on the other hand was a little harder for Mars to talk to as she addressed him as ''general'' and all in all acted a little like she still had the slave collar on, Mars suspected that this was because she had had the slave collar on the longest of the four. Her blue eyes also seemed like they were unclear most of the time like a shroud hang inside them. This troubled Mars some but he figured that if he just watched over her she should return to normal as she acted normally sometimes. ".... You guys sure are a handful." "Mars?" ".... Sorry I was just speaking my thoughts Marie." "So you think we''re a handful?" "Yeah, no doubt about that... Not that I''m unable to handle you at all." "...I see." Maire looked a little down so Mars put his hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair a bit before he added. "Don''t worry since I have rescued you I naturally will take care of you until you can handle yourselves." Marie gave a smile and a nod before she also looked out over the sea like Mars did and for some time everything was calm, that is until the problem child showed up. "General." Mars gave a sigh as he turned around and saw Jess, well calling her a problem child was a little overboard. "What is it Jess?" Jess straightened her back and gave a salute as she awaited her next command, Mars gave another sigh and spoke. "At ease." "Yes general." Jess spread her feet to about shoulder with and put her arms on her back as she now stood at ease and waited for Mars to speak. "What is it Jess?" "Sir the sailors have been looking at me for quite some time, but when I approach them and ask what they want they shy away and mumble something I am unable to hear, what should I do about this general?" Mars gave yet another sigh, he had overheard the sailors talk about Jess, the thing was she had... Well quite the figure but her eyes almost always held a sort of intimidating gaze, this was most likely why the sailors acted like teenage boys around her. "Well for now ignore them, but if they begin to harass you and/or yell mean things come back to me and I''ll sort it out with them." "Yes general." Finished say what she wanted Jess gave a bow. "Excuse me general." Jess gave another salute before she walked away, Mars watched her for a bit before his gaze returned to the sea for sometime until he asked Marie. "Do you know where James is at the moment?" "Hmm... He should be in his room." Mars gave a nod, James was a problem he needed to handle, staying in ones room and thinking deep thoughts could be harmful if one did it too much, and this was basically all James did. "I''ll be right back." "Have a safe trip." Mars left behind Marie and walked below deck before he found James'' room and knocked. "... What is it?" "It''s me, do you mind if I come in?" "No I don''t, it''s unlocked." Mars walked into the small cabin and saw James laying in the hammock looking up into the ceiling and gave a sigh before he spoke. "So you are wearing clothes, come join me on deck." "... Do I have too?" "Unless you want to be dragged there, yes." James gave a sigh and ruffled his back hair before he got out of the hammock and followed after Mars up on deck, then he asked. "How long do I have to stay?" "Hmm... An hour should be good." "Okay..." Then James walked off and sat down with his back towards a mast and looked up into the blue sky, Mars gave a nod and walked back over to Marie and continued watching the sea until the sky once again turned dark, Mars was about to leave the deck and go to sleep but on the way he met Hide that stopped him spoke. "We will be arriving tomorrow morning." "I see... Is there anything I should watch out for when we arrive?" "No, we will handle everything. Just make sure to remember your luggage." "Sure." Mars went below deck after he informed the 4 former slave soldiers about the arrival tomorrow, as he walked into his cabin Mars shut the door behind him and took off his boots and laid in the hamrock and regulated his breathing before he fell asleep... In the middle of the night Mars'' eyes slowly opened as someone knocked on his door, Mars gave a sigh and got out of the hamrock and opened the door and found Jess standing outside his door. He found that this time her eyes were clear and she didn''t stand at attention, clearly her mind was clear right now. "Umm... Mars?" "Yeah I''m awake what is it Jess?" "... Do you mind if I stay here tonight?" Mars'' sharpened his senses and noticed she was trembling ever so slightly. "Sure, come in." Jess gave a nod and walked in before she sat down in the corner of the small cabin and hugged her legs. "What happened?" ".... It''s the sailors, they make me... Uneasy." "I see, well you are welcome to stay on one condition." "What is it?" "You get some sleep in the hamrock." "... Okay Mars." Jess got up from the floor and climbed into the hamrock and soon she was asleep, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the wooden floor before he crossed his legs and regulated his breathing and began meditating to pass the time... As dawn broke Mars naturally awoke from his meditation and stood up and stretched before he quietly left the sleeping Jess behind in the room and went on to the deck of the ship. Once topside he met Hide which stood and looked at the morning sea and the ermaging islands in the distance. "Good morning." "Oh good morning Mars, you''re up early." "Yeah well things happened.... So what are the plans for today?" "Well first off we dock, then it''s off to meet the crown prince, he''s you host for your visit I imagine the he has something planned." ".... I see." Mars gave a nod, he looked at the ermaging islands and got a little excited about the whole diplomatic visit, most of all he was excited for the food of cause as one of Mars'' favorite things to eat was fish. Chapter 228 - The land of Hinode (3) Mars and the rest of the group stepped onto solid ground for the first time in a couple of days, Mars looked around, the whole port gave a 1700''s japanese feeling with the buildings looking like something right out of a period drama, the clothes that people wore were also what Mars would call for ''old japanaes clothes'' although he didn''t remember the proper names for the clothes. After making sure that the former slave soldiers were following along Mars asked Hide "how long until we reach the crown prince''s places?" "not long, there should be a couple of carriages here to pick us up... there they are" Hide pointed over to three carriages which was pulled by pure black horses "....neat" "the color black is the symbol of the crown prince, likewise the color white is the symbol of the emperor" Mars gave a nod and decided to be wary of the color white and black while they were in Hinode, after all they were just diplomats and he was the only one that was half immortal, the group boarded the black carriages, they were just able to squeeze into one carriage under Mars'' instructions, he was to say the least on high alert ''how nice would it be if nothing happened for once...?'' while Mars made those wishful thoughts he closed his eyes and expanded his area of awareness to about 500 meters from the usual 200 or so meters, everything that happened in the 500 square meters around the carriage entered his mind and was quickly sorted from useful information. After riding the carriages for sometime Mars discovered a pattern of footsteps of a small group of around 10 or so people that seemed to be following the carriages and opened his eyes before he asked Hide "is there any form of hidden security detail following the carriages?" Hide gave a diplomatic smile before he spoke "I don''t think it''s right for you to be snooping around in our security, am I wrong Mars?" Mars gave a smile before he spoke "oh? so they are not with you guys, then you don''t mind if I annihilate them do you?" Hide''s smile stiffened slightly before he spoke again "if there is any hidden security detail following the carriages they will be highly trained, do you think you can handle them in that case?" "...I don''t know how you do it here in Hinode but in Green river we only give the title of general to the ones that are the highest skilled in combat of all forms" "...and what does that have to do with you Mars? are you not just a diplomat?" "yeah but I am also head of military technological development as well as marshal of Green river" "hahahaha! just must be kidding Mars" at this point in time Hanna spoke up to try and defuse the situation "umm mister Hide I have known Mars for sometime... he doesn''t kid about such things" HIde stared down Mars for sometime until he gave a sigh and knocked on the wall of the carriage three times, then the pattern of footsteps dispersed Mars gave a nod before he closed his eyes again, soon they arrived at a japanese style mansion, there was a high wall all the way around the mansion so it was not possible to see what it was like from the outside but soon the carriages went through a gate and it was possible to see the mansion and what a mansion it was. Mars gave a nod as his expectations of the mansion lined up with reality as it looked exactly like a 1700''s japanesse mansion he had seen in his past life, soon the carriages stopped and the group stepped out from the carriages a group of servants stood ready to receive them and bowed down when they stepped out of the carriages, only one person didn''t bow down so Mars'' eyes was attracted to him, he looked to be in his 30''s and wore a black outfit, as soon as Mars looked at him he gave a smile and spoke "welcome visitors from Green river!" Mars gave a smile, this person seemed to be somewhat aprocable "my name is Satou and I will be your host" Mars gave a wide smile before he introduced himself "my name is Mars, I am the head of Green rivers military development as well as marshal of Green river, I have come today to taste Hinode''s hospitality" Mars walked forwards and shock hands with Satou before Satou turned his gaze to the former slave soldiers "so Mars, who might these children be?" "they are former slaves which I am unable to let out of my sight just yet, I hope crown prince Satou doesn''t mind the extra guests?" "no, not at all! In fact I welcome them to my humble home with open arms!" Mars gave a nod before he introduced the former slave soldiers to Satou "this is Jess, James, Hanna and Marie" the crown prince gave a smile and a slight bow to the former slave soldiers before he spoke "I welcome you to my humble home and please don''t worry you will all be perfectly safe here" the former slave soldiers gave smiles and nods except for Jess that was in soldier mode and gave a salute, the crown prince gave a laugh before he turned to Mars again "please come in, you must be famished from the journey, the chefs have already prepared some breakfast for you all" Mars gave a nod and followed after the crown prince into the mansion, the inside of the mansion had bamboo floor mats and black paper walls which fit with the color of the crown prince, although Mars could see it would be a problem to walk around during night time with the mostly black walls and all. The crown prince let the way into a hall were there had been prepared for a grand meal, the crown prince instructed Mars and the others to take a seat on the floor cushions by the grand obsidian table while he himself took a seat at the end of the table, soon all kinds of delicacies were served and while they ate Mars and the crown prince had a lengthy talk about the two countries, Mars for instance expressed interest in receiving help to build up a navy for Green river while the crown prince seemed interested in the grand sky trees of Green river. After a couple of hours the meal was finished and the crown prince let the way to the outside of the mansion where a shooting range whereas they arrived at the shooting range the crown prince explained "my favorite pastime recently have been archery and so I would like for you all to try it since it has helped me greatly with finding peace of mind" Mars gave a nod and picked up a bow and after a brief introduction on how Hinodian archery worked he fired his first arrow that just managed to hit the center of the target, the crown prince exclaimed "just as you would expect from Green rivers esteemed marshal! Very impressive!" Mars gave a smile "you flatter me Satou, I am sure it''s just beginners luck... Now let''s have you guys try this" Mars called over the former slave soldiers that all quickly received instructions from Satou on how to shoot and soon they were all shooting arrows at the targets, Mars and Satou noticed how James seemed to have a nak for it as he almost at once entered a sort of trance as he fired off arrows at the target, the other three having experience with other forms of archery quickly got the hang of it and soon they were all able to hit the target, the crown prince gestured for Mars to follow him which he did with a nod, after they were a little away from the archery range the crown prince asked him "you said they were former slave soldiers? can you tell me more about them?" "sure... First off I knew one of them, Hanna before she was enslaved and also briefly fought with her to remove her slave collar" "I see... when you say slave collar what do you mean exactly? is it some sort of special collar?" "yeah it''s interlaced with some sort of magic formation that grants the wearer total obedience towards a certain person" "...that sounds dreadful" "it is, lucky I have a skill that allows me to remove the collars without much trouble" "I see... That certainly is lucky... Thank you for telling me Mars, now that I know a little about them I think I can better make them comfortable during their stay here" "that would help, to tell you the truth, I am at a loss of what to do with them other than just watching over them for now" the crown prince gave a nod and spoke "yes that is probably for the best..." Chapter 229 - The land of Hinode (4) A few days passed, James took to the Hinodian archery and so did the rest of the former slave soldiers, just not as much as James that spent all day practicing. Mars however didn''t have that luxury, he spent all day talking politics with the crown prince and touring the city visiting places of importance to learn about Hinode in detail all the while answering questions about Green river, until an evening were the crown prince mentioned something important. "The emperor have summoned you guys, the diplomatic visitors to his castle tomorrow evening." Mars nearly dropped his chopsticks but managed to keep a composed expression as he asked. ".... Do you have any idea about what he wants with us?" "Hmm... Father have been acting unlike himself recently so I really have no idea, most likely he wants to have a short talk with you Mars." "....I see." "You don''t seem that eager Mars?" "Well I have a bad track record with emperors." The crown prince showed a confused expression but didn''t pursue the topic further instead he switched topics and asked James. "James have you thought about competing in the archery contest in 2 days? You could represent my house." James dropped his chopsticks and looked dumbfoundedly at the crown prince before his face lit up. "Can I really?" "Sure, you have long since met the standard so you won''t have to worry about embarrassing yourself." "In that case.... I want to participate." The crown prince gave a wide smile and a nod. "Very good." Time passed and soon it was time to leave for the emperor''s castle, Mars was being dressed in a traditional Hinodian clothes by a few maids with a calm smile on his face, soon he was dressed and gave a noid as he looked into the mirror. The young maids looked at Mars with enchanted looks on their faces but soon they woke up from their daze as a knock sounded out from the door to the room. "Come in." The door was opened and the former slave soldiers steeped in, Mars gave a slight frown as the girls were dressed in white traditional dresses, Marie noticed Mars'' frown and asked. "What''s wrong Mars?" "... Hopefully nothing." Mars suppressed the bad feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach and gave a smile instead before he complimented. "You girls look good." Marie and Hanna gave a smile and Jess gave a salute before she spoke. "General I fear this dress is going to be hard to fight in." Mars looked at Jess and her figure that was being enhanced by the tight fitting kimono-like dress and gave a nod. "Yeah I can see that... Don''t worry I''ll do the fighting for you if any takes place tonight." "Yes general." At this moment the crown prince stepped into the room and spoke. "Are you all ready to leave?" Mars gave a nod and so did the former slave soldiers then the crown prince gave a wide smile. "Then let us be on our way." The crown prince led the way out of the mansion to where a set of white carriages pulled by white horses were, the group boarded the carriages and soon they were on their way towards the center of the city where the emperor''s castle was loctated. The castle was painted pure white of course, Mars felt like it somehow lit up the night sky but shook his head as it most likely just his imagination. The group was led into a waiting room where they were taught basic etiquette when one faced the emperor of Hinode before they were led towards an audience chamber. Mars lead the way after the servant that walked in front, he looked at the walls with a slight glow in his eyes as he studied the magic formations that were interlayed in the walls with great interest, of course this was unknown to the rest of the group. Soon they arrived at the audience chamber Mars and the group walked in and sat down like they were ordered to and soon there was a movement behind the half transparent curtain as the emperor arrived and spoke. "Satou my son, I hear that we have received guests from Green river would you introduce them to me?" The crown prince bowed down before he spoke. "Yes esteemed father. First we have Mars, marshal as well as head of military technological development." The crown prince took a short breath before he continued. "Then we have the former slave soldiers he is looking after Maire, Jess, James and Hanna." "Oh? Former slave soldiers?" "Yes esteemed father." "That seems interesting, Mars would you mind telling us how you acquired the former slave soldiers?" Mars bowed down slightly (just as much as his pride allowed) before he spoke. "I freed them from slavery by using a bestowed skill." "A bostowed skill? Then you also happen to be an apostle?" "Yes." "... We understand, next we would like to talk about the current relations between Green river and Hinode." "I understand." What followed was about two hours of diplomatic talks about the current situation between Green river and Hinode by the end of the talks the emperor seemed to be in a fine mood. "This has been an eye opening talk Mars we greatly appreciate your visit." "Yes this has been a pleasant experience." Mars stood up from his seat and turned to walk out of the audience room when the guards stopped three of the former slave soldiers from leaving, namely Jess, Hanna and Marie, Mars gave a frown and asked. "What''s the meaning of this?" The emperor gave a short laugh before he answered. "Have you not heard it''s common to bring gifts when you visit the emperor? We will graciously take these women as concubines, be thankful Mars." Mars stopped walking and slowly turned around, his eyes were red but he kept a wide smile on his face before he spoke. "You will do no such thing, I suggest you stop with the bad jokes before someone gets hurt." The emperor remained silent for a few moments, perhaps he was thinking about what Mars just said, but ultimately he spoke out. "Guards, remove Mars from the castle and bring me my new concubines." The guards sprung into action the moment they received their emperor''s command, and a pair of them reached out to grab Mars by the shoulders but froze the moment Mars opened his mouth. "[DO NOT TOUCH ME YOU PUNY MORTALS!]" Mars'' presence spread out causing the mortals in the vicinity to freeze up, Mars gradually transformed into his half dragon from as he slowly walked back into the audience room towards the emperor as his body was gradually covered in vermilion armor, at this point in time the emperor managed to squeeze out a voice. "P-protect us!" The sides of the hall was breached and two big golems walked in, they looked like big stone demons as they charged towards Mars with their spears, in response Mars gave a slight smile and disappeared from view. When he reappeared the golems crumbled into dust and Mars calmly walked further towards the emperor, finally the guards unfroze and ran after Mars with their weapons drawn, Mars gave a wide smile before he spoke. "Those who approach me will die!" The guards were unfazed and charged at Mars letting out yells for him to stop and surrender, then it happened when one of the guards reached within about 10 meters of Mars he suddenly let out a scream as his armor let out steam and his skin turned red. A few seconds of screaming later he fell to the floor dead, he looked like a lobster that had been cooked alive. ''It sure works well my new skill...'' The other guards stopped and didn''t approach Mars further, no one wanted to suffer the same fate as the first guard to step within a 10 meter radius of Mars. Mars reached the white paper curtain and slashed it apart with his claws as he stepped closer to the emperor with a wide smile on his face, surprisingly he stopped walking a few meters from the terrified emperor and spoke. "Now I am in a good mood today mortal so if you growl on the floor and apologize I might let you live." "M-mortal..? W-wait you are a---" "Yes I am, now decide if your honor or your life is worth more to you." The emperor now as pale as the white clothes he was wearing gradually lowered his head into a bow before he spoke. "I-I apologize for angering you Mars." "... Louder." "I APOLOGIZE FOR ANGERING YOU LORD MARS!" "Very good, now I expect a formal apology for attempting to kidnap citizens of Green river within a week." Mars turned and walked back to the former slave soldiers that looked at him with shocked faces. "Follow me, we are returning to Green river." The former slave soldiers gave nods and followed after Mars, Mars walked past the crown prince without saying anything to him. ''Oh right I need to collect our luggage...'' Mars walked out of the cattle and back towards the crown prince''s mansion where he soon arrived and walked in the open gate, just then the crown prince returned by carriage and called out to him. "Mars wait a moment." Mars stopped walking and gave a sigh before he turned around. ".... What is it crown prince?" The crown prince bowed down. "I apologize for my father''s actions and hope you won''t take your anger out on the citizens of Hinode!" "... I won''t." Mars gave a sigh as he looked at the crown prince, just a few hours ago they could have been considered friends but now he could see how the crown prince trembled in fear just from being close to him. Mars instructed the former slave soldiers to gather their luggage, soon they returned and found the crown prince still bowed down on the same spot, Marie asked Mars. "... Why are they suddenly so afraid of you Mars?" "Well because I am a living god." Mars ripped open a portal while Marie tilted her head to the side. "... What''s that?" "Well I will tell you later but first... Step through the portal." Chapter 230 - Almost alone in the jungle (1) Mars returned back at Green river along with the former slave soldiers, since it was late at night they all went to bed early except for Mars that suddenly felt a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach and went into the workshop and grabbed his adamantite broadsword before suddenly the feeling got even worse. All the hairs on his body stood up and suddenly space warped around him transporting him to a pure white space were he floated in the middle of emptiness. Suddenly a formless pressure descended, it was way heavier than anything Mars had ever felt before, breathing got impossible and cold sweat broke out all over his body drenching him in mere moments. [...] Mars knew, this... Thing, whatever it was was currently looking at him, observing him like a person observed an ant or a bug while one considered whether or not to crush it. But alas moments passed and he was still alive. [I am the administrator of Beta, and now also the administrator of Alfan.] Mars felt the voice reverberate in his bones as small hair like cracks spread out on his bones from the impact of the voice. [I have decided to punish you for closing the portal that bound Beta and Alfan together, thanks to you 13 billion people will slowly perish on Beta.] Mars mustered all his strength and showed a cold smile. [Oh, you can still move under my pressure... Never mind that, a bug will forever remain a bug... Now for your punishment I will take away your ability to tear space and throw you to the ends of Alfan, whether you survive will be up to you, you may thank me for my magnanimous treatment of not destroying you in an instant.] Mars struggled for a few moments until he realized that any resistance he put up was futile, there was only one time he had felt so helpless before and frankly it pissed him off. [Well then, I tire of seeing your face... Off you go.] Before Mars had a change to do anything space around him warped and Mars clearly felt that he was ''thrown'' across Alfan in an instant before space opened up and green appeared in his vision as he was sent hurrling towards the ground with the force of a meteoroid. *BANG* With a bang Mars smashed into the ground, he felt all his bones shatter on impact as well as his [Energy: storage] absorb a large amount of energy units from the impact, but he didn''t have time to worry about that now as he quickly activated his [Energy: healing] on himself with full power. After a few moments passed he was able to move again as most of his body had been healed, then he opened his mouth. "...Mother f.u.c.ker." Mars sat up and cursed once again. "...F.u.c.k." Mars gradually got more and more angry soon his eyes turned crimson as he stood up and looked up at the sky and yelled. "I WILL F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL YOU, I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FOR LIMP AND F.U.C.K.I.N.G PISS ON YOUR CORPSE!!!" Mars'' chest heaved up and down as he stood and looked up into the sky, soon his ears twitched before he looked to his left into what was in all reality a dense jungle, his ears picked up movement that was closing in on his position along with a pressure not entirely unlike that of a group of angels. "...F.u.c.k." Mars looked around and quickly found his adamantite broadsword and picked it up before he turned and fled in a random direction, sure he could handle something equal in strength to a group of angels but he didn''t have enough information to know whether it was a good idea to fight and possibly draw more attention to this place. He quickly fled through the dense jungle and gradually found it annoying to run on the ground and jumped up 15 meters into the air and landed on one of the lowest branches of the giant trees and began jumping from branch to branch. ''I will survive this... First is clean water, then food.'' As Mars set off from a branch he slipped on some wet moss and fell down to the jungle floor and was surrounded by the beasts that had been chasing him Mars, a little embarrassed by his slip up looked at the creatures that surrounded him as his skill surprisingly didn''t activate. "You''re telling those are not magic beasts!?" Normally magic beasts were bigger than normal beasts but the 3 meter tall panthers that Mars faced were apparently different, still the pressure Mars felt from the three panthers was the real deal, therefore he didn''t wait for them to attack and slashed out with his adamantite broadsword sending out a sharp sword light that cut through the underbrush as it raced towards one of the panthers but just as it was about to hit the panther disappeared from view. "Shi--" Just as Mars cursed the panther reappeared in front of him and sent him flying with a swipe of its claws, Mars flew and crashed into a tree sinking no less than half a meter into the bark of the giant tree. The panthers approached Mars thinking he was dead, after all they never hunted a living god before which proved to be their downfall as Mars surprisingly disappeared from view and reappeared over one of the panthers and sunk his adamantite broadsword into its skull, at the same time the area around the two remaining panthers suddenly heated up so much that their fur caught on fire, they let out screams of pain but within moments they had been cooked through and collapsed on the jungle floor. Mars spat out the blood that had acc.u.mulated in his mouth and pulled out the adamantite broadsword out of the skull of the panter before he gave a smile. "[Energy: temperature control] is truly powerful... And best of all it uses no energy units." Mars gave a nod again, the cel he had spent on the magic beast core that contained his new skill were truly worth the price, after admiring his work for a moment Mars quickly harvested some meat from one of the giant panthers he had killed with [Energy: temperature control] and tasted it. "This is pretty bad, nothing like Elsa''s cooking... But it will keep me alive." Mars cut off a rather big piece after he had stuffed his mouth and quickly left the place where he had killed the giant panthers, a few minutes later an even heavier pressure descended on the place where the giant panthers had been killed, the.... Creature that emitted the heavy pressure gave a snort and began eating the coupses of the giant panthers... The next morning as the sun rose Mars awoke from his meditation and quickly looked around, after he confirmed that there was nothing amiss he heaved a sigh and stood up on the branch he had been sitting on and stretched, as he did he heard an unpleasant sound of his clothes tearing and looked down and found 4 cuts long on his shirt. ''Oh right... This is from the fight with the giant panthers...'' Mars gave another sigh and added making some clothes to his list of survival in this jungle, he looked up at the sun and confirmed the direction he was heading in and began moving by flying up above the treetops, after flying for about 10 minutes he suddenly heard a scream and looked back. "What the f.u.c.k, is that a bird...? Whatever it was, something was rapidly closing the distance on him even with Mars'' eyesight he was only able to see a blur, he reacted quickly and sent a swordlight towards the bird before he dove beneath the tree canopies. Seconds later he heard another scream and something crashing down breaking the trees like they were toothpicks, Mars gave a cold smile. "Got Em." Then he flew towards the crash site and found a giant eagle, or at least what was left of it after the crash, Mars clearly felt that this was a magic beast but no matter how long he waited his skill didn''t activate leaving him puzzled. "Well whatever..." Mars walked up to the dead giant eagle and activated his [Energy: sense] before he began digging after the magic beast core with his sword, soon he found the core and this time his skill activated as it should. Class 16 magic beast core Stored energy: 200.000 Stored status points: 50 Source: ??? Mars gave a wide smile when he held the ash gray magic beast core in his hand before he stroked his chin. "Maybe staying here in the jungle is not so bad of an idea...? At least until I become a little stronger... Strong enough to kick the administrators ass" Even though there was a giant gap between the two of them Mars still felt that it would be possible to cross that gap. "At least that''s my goal for now..." Then Mars began draining the magic beast core of energy and status points with a wide smile on his face. Chapter 231 - Almost alone in the jungle (2) Mary gave a sigh as soon as she woke up, without opening her eyes she knew that he still had not returned, it had been about two months since Mars had mysteriously disappeared from their lives. Mary and the girls were holding on okay since Victoria insisted that Mars was alive and that she could feel him growing stronger at an alarming rate through the contract that bound them together ''But why doesn''t he return home..?'' This was the question that races through all their heads not only Mary''s, but so far none of them could come up with an answer to the question, Mary sat up in her bed and stretched before she looked around for some clean clothes to wear while in reality her thoughts were in another place... "Not today monkey!" Mars dodged out of the way of what could only be described as a monkey, a monkey with long sharp claws that is. It''s long and way to big claws looked almost comical on the monkey and it would indeed be very cute if not for the reason that there was over 50 of them and they all looked at Mars while salivating as they attacked him with their long claws. Now there was a reason why Mars didn''t annihilate them with his [Energy: temperature control] and that was that he was training his senses or more precisely he was getting used to his new heightened status, before he was transported to the nameless jungle his stats were all in the high 500''s but now they all had risen to the low 800''s, Mars dodged the monkey''s claws with a paper thin margin as he had been doing for the past hour "...I think this is good enough, thank you all for entertaining me" Mars activated [Energy: temperature control] and instantly the monkey''s froze, literally froze before they fell down to the jungle floor and shattered, Mars jumped down and collected class 6 magic beast cores and absorbed them leisurely. After he absorbed the 50 some cores he gave a nod, his current level was 149 the prof of his hard work over the last 2 months, another thing that had changed were his clothing, long gone were the times when he wore civilized clothes as they had long since been torn to shreds. Now he wore furs and beast hides just like he once did when he lived in the Mother forest "Well whatever, let''s head back for now..." Mars flew off the ground and started to head in one direction, soon he reached a really tall tree and flew up along the trunk of the tree as he breached the conpeise of the other trees, after he had flown about 10 meter above the canopies he reached a hollowed out place in the trunk and landed on the edge and walked in. The inside of the hollowed out tree was his temporary home in the nameless jungle, inside the hollowed out tree were some simple furniture made out of wood with some furs as bedding, in one of the corners were a pile of bones. Mars walked in and picked up a bone on the way before he sat on the simple bed and transformed his hand and began cutting into the bone while he closed his eyes and hummed a song from his past life, when he opened his eyes a few minutes later a small figure made of bone had been created, the figure looked almost exactly like the monkey''s he had been fighting earlier "This will do..." Mars gave a nod and got up from the bed before he walked over to the middle of the room where a bunch of similar figures made of bone stood on the floor on a crude map, Mars looked at the map for a few moments before he placed down the figure of the monkey down about where he had been fighting them and looked over the map while he thought out loud "So the radius of the jungle is about four hours of flight... The strongest magic beasts here seem to be class 16... I still don''t know what continent I''m on, not like the shitbag adminisator would throw me somewhere close to Salen anyway... Most likely I am on the other side of the globe..." Mars gave a sigh and walked over to the bed and sat down before he folded his legs and closed his eyes and started to clear his head and began to meditate as images of his family flashed inside his mind he slowly entered a state of nothingness... The next morning Mars'' eyes slowly opened, he had been meditating all night and was now somewhat refreshed, he stood up from the bed and stretched before he walked over and picked up his adamantite broadsword that stood and leaned against the wall next to his bed before he walked out of his makeshift home and flew off to find some food to state his hunger, after flying around beneath the canopies for a few minutes Mars spotted some deer walking on the jungle floor and silently flew down, a few seconds later one of the deer entered his range and he activated [Energy: temperature control] and cooked it in a matter of seconds, the other deer fled and Mars picked up his prize before he flew up and landed on a branch and began eating. After about an hour of eating the remains of the deer only amounted to skin and bones as well as a few inedible organs, clearly Mars was not a picky eater "...Time to get to work" After Mars finished eating he flew off into a so far unexplored part of the jungle, after flying for sometime he raised his alert level as he entered unexplored territory and slowed down his flying speed as he looked around with his [Energy: sense] activated, after a few hours of boring and uneventful exploration Mars found something interesting "Is that... a turtle?" it looked more like a small hill than a turtle, its shell was covered by moss and even had other plants growing on it, Mars could feel that it was a high class magic beast but didn''t feel like killing such a graceful creature and so after observing it chew on some leaves for a few minutes Mars flew onwards. Soon he found another magic beast, this time it was a pack of wolves which he had no problem in killing and so after sending out a few sword lights Mars picked up two class 9 magic beast cores as well as a dozen class 8 magic beast cores and absorbed them before he flew onwards, in the distance something appeared which caused Mars to slow his speed significantly before he finally stopped and landed on a branch and looked "That''s definitely a wall, or at least what''s left of it..." In front of Mars was a very old wall that was covered in moss, it was half collapsed here and there but it was still somewhat standing about three meters tall at its tallest. Mars was intrigued and flew over the walls, past the walls lay the ruins of an old city, most of the buildings had collapsed but some of them still stood, Mars flew towards the center of the ruined city while looking around with childlike curiosity he remembered the time when his father in his past life had found a very old movie about a crystal skull, that movie entertained him for weeks and made him dream about exploring ruins "This is exciting, I wonder what''s in the center of the city..." Unknowingly Mars showed a slight smile for the first time in the past two months as he flew towards the center of the city, soon he was able to make out a grand place or at least the ruins of one in the distance and speed up slightly. A few moments later he flew over a grand plaza and landed on the edge of a balcony before he turned around and looked at the grand plaza "I wonder if this is where the rulers of the city addressed the crowds?" Mars looked down at the grand plaza with awe, the plaza was paved with tiles that formed a giant mural that seemed to be about a asian dragon eating its own tail, after admiring the mural for sometime Mars gave a nod and turned around and walked into the palace eager to see what he would find next. As he walked further into the place he found that the furniture and other objects were in relatively good condition, he even got the urge to pick up a chair or something for his temporary home but in the end he didn''t and decided just to look around instead. As Mars walked around the place he was unaware that something was watching him from deep within the palace "Please... help... me..." Chapter 232 - Almost alone in the jungle (3) Mars walked around the palace for about an hour and inspected the pretty furniture and mostly ruined pieces of art, then he arrived in what looked like an audience room, the room was a grand hall with marble floors and in the far end Mars saw an elevated pair of thrones he walked over and sat down in the left most throne and overlooked the grand hall for a few minutes before he gave a nod. "I think that''s enough fooling around, now let''s look for treasure..." As Mars sat on the throne he activated his [Energy: sense] and began looking over the palace from within, in an instant he found what he was looking for, mana conductors inside the walls now it was just a simple task of tracing them to the mana stone that had powered the entire palaces lighting system and snatch it for himself, if his luck was good he would be able to hit level 150 from the mana stone so to say the least he was very excited. Looking around Mars gave a frown as he had traced the mana stone to a bas.e.m.e.nt floor that laid quite deep underground, Mars got up from the throne and walked to a room behind the two thrones which no doubt had to be the rulers private rooms from the decorations and furniture that were several times more luxurious than before, after searching for sometime Mars found a hidden staircase that lead down to the bas.e.m.e.nt. Mars gave a frown and took his boardsword off his back as he walked down the dim staircase. ''A hidden staircase just for a rather big mana stone... This makes no sense, better be careful...'' Mars walked down the staircase with rather slow steeps, soon he reached the bottom and found a reinforced door blocking his way forwards and gave a frown before he took his adamantite broadsword and cut through the door with ease, after cutting the door to pieces Mars stepped through and found his prize: The mana stone, it was rather big about 8 meters tall and 3 meters wide at its widest, but it was not the mana stone that had Mars focus. "What... Are you?" It was a tank in the middle of the room that was made of clear glass, suspended in the middle of the tank were... A person that was hooked up to a bunch of wires and tubes, from the n.a.k.e.d body Mars was able to tell that it was a female but besides that he was clueless as the person had long ears like an elf, horns like a demon, a tail like a beastman, what looked like a high class magic beast core imbedded in the middle of their chest and eerie triangle shaped pupils that looked directly at him with a hidden sense of desperation in them. Mars took a deep breath and gave a slight bow. "Sorry for disturbing you." Before he turned and was about to walk out of the room again when a voice appeared in his head. "Please... Save... Me...." Mars stopped and after struggling for a few moments he gave a sigh and mumbled. "I am after all a gentleman..." Mars turned back around and walked up to the tank where the person still looked at him from within and gave a sigh before he asked. "So how do I help you?" Mars waited for a bit but got no answer still he felt that the erie triangle shaped pupils were trying to convey something to him so he followed their line of sight down to a control panel that was right in front of him and was covered with a thick layer of dust, Mars looked up at the person again and asked. "Can''t I just smash the tank?" The person slowly shook her head from side to side, Mars gave a sigh and mumbled. "It just has to be complicated... Oh well I am a gentleman after all... This should be a breeze." As it turned out it was in fact not a breeze, three hours after Mars began to turn levers and push buttons on the control panel he looked up and asked. "Are you just playing with me?" As Mars looked up at the person in the tank she hurriedly shook her head before a voice once again appeared in his head. "Just... A ... Little... More..." Mars gave a sigh for the nth time before he continued following her instructions, soon some of the wires that were inserted in her body got detached which was the first piece of progges Mars had seen in the tree hours he had been operating the control panel, next were the tubes that detached after another two hours and then finely only the breathing mask was left on her body. "Please... Destroy... The... Glass... Now." "Sure." Mars made a few cuts with [Instant movement] and soon the liquid inside the tank drained out from the giant hole Mars had cut in the tank, the... Woman stood up in the middle of the tank and looked at Mars before she removed the breathing mask and walked out of the tank but stumbled halfway, Mars moved quickly and caught her. "Easy now." "Sorry... I have not been walking in a couple hundred years..." Mars gave a nod as he looked into her triangle shaped pupils from close range, the woman blushed slightly before she asked. "... What''s your name?" "Me? I am named Mars... What''s your name?" "... I have no name, only a number which is 78" Mars gave a nod, this woman was clearly some sort of experiment and from looking at her ears and horns he found no sercial marks which meant that she most likely grew them herself and that they were not transplanted from someone, the same should be true for her tail. "... Well I always liked the number 78?" "... Thank you." Mars gave a sigh before he asked. "So number 78 what do you want to do now?" Number 78 thought for a moment before she shook her head slowly from side to side and spoke. "I don''t know... It''s been so long..." "Well then follow me until you find out, I''ll at least clothe and feed you until you find out what you want to do with your life." Number 78 gave a slow nod and repeated. "My... Life..." Mars gave a nod before he sat her down on the floor and walked over to the mana stone and put his hand on it and drained it off energy, maybe because it had been used as life support for number 78 for hundreds of years it was rather empty, most likely it would only have been able to support her life for another year or two. "What did you just do Mars?" "Hmm..? Oh, I absorbed the energy from the mana stone." Number 78 cutely tilted her head to the side as she sat on the floor stark n.a.k.e.d before she asked. "Why did you do that?" "To grow stronger." Mars walked over and picked her up in a perincses carry before he began walking up the long hidden staircase while he asked her. "Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?" Number 78 lowered her head a bit as she collected her thoughts before she slowly started speaking. "Well I was born on the streets of this city state, the great Kerbal city. Then when I was about five years old I was brought from an orphanage in the city into the palace where they experimented on me, eventually they put me in that tank where you found me..." Mars gave a nod. "I see... Well that part of your life is over now so cheer up 78." "...Okay." Eventually the two of them arrived in the audience hall again where Mars put 78 down on one of the thrones and began rolling up the red carpe, 78 looked at him with a confused expression on her face before she asked. "Mars what are you doing?" Mars spoke while he finished rolling up the carpet and put it on his shoulder. "Well I said I would clothes you and I figured you didn''t want to wear furs like me, so I figured I would make some clothes out of this carpet." "I see..." Number 78 blushed a little when she imagined her wearing a dress made out of the red carpet, Mars picked her up again and walked out of the audience hall with her in his arms and soon he arrived at the balcony that overlooked the grand plaza, 78 looked at the mural with a shocked expression before she quietly mumbled. "So that''s what it looks like from up here..." Mars waited while 78 looked at the mural with awe for a few minutes before she looked up at him and asked. "Where do we go now?" Mars gave a smile and spoke confidently. "Into the sky." Before 78 had a change to question him Mars set off from the balcony and flew through the air heading towards his temporary home. Chapter 233 - Almost alone in the jungle (4) When the two of them returned to Mars'' temporary home Mars began working as if possessed on the dress for 78 to wear, as for why he worked as if possessed was simple 78 had... A great figure and was currently stark n.a.k.e.d and he himself had a two month dry streak. ''Focus... Focus...'' The bone needle moved with amazing speed causing 78 that looked over Mars'' shoulder to be amazed, so much so that she soon leaned on Mars'' back unknowingly pressing her two deadly weapons onto his back while she looked at the sewing process that slowed down before it suddenly stopped. Mars then stood up and picked up 78 before he brought her over to the primitive bed and... Sat her down before he patted her on the head. "Please wait here while I finish your dress 78." 78 tilted her head to the side for a few moments before she gave a nod. "Okay..." Mars gave a smile before he turned around and went back to sewing with odd vigor. About half an hour later the dress was finished and Mars helped 78 wear it along with the two pieces of underwear he also had made, the dress was pretty with lots of fills which 78 enjoyed very much, in fact so much so that she ran up and hugged Mars with all her strength. "Thank you Mars!" Mars gave a smile and patted her on the head which only served to make her more happy which in turn made her increase the strength of her hug. ''... Isn''t she kind of strong?'' Mars felt at least four or five times the strength he would expect from a woman her size and build. Mars waited for her to get her fill of hugging him while her tail wagged from side to side, after about a minute 78 let go of Mars, Mars thought for a bit before he suddenly got an idea on how to entertain 78 and walked over to the pile of bones and picked up a bone before he transformed his hand and began quickly cutting it into a short sword which he handed to 78 before he spoke. "In order to live freely, a certain amount of strength is needed since you have great physical attributes let''s make use of them." 78 held the short sword just like how anyone holding a weapon for the first time would, with slight fear and apprehension, Mars gave a smile and spoke. "Don''t worry, I will make sure you don''t get hurt." "... What about you Mars?" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he spoke confidently. "Don''t worry about me 78, as I am now perhaps only a handful mortals are able to hurt me and I am afraid you are not one of them." "Mortals... Are you not mortal too Mars?" "Nope~" "... Okay then..." 78 tightened the grip she had on the short sword before she stepped in and sent out an overhead slash, Mars'' smile widened to the extreme as he quickly transformed his hands and used his claws to block the short sword while he praised. "Very good 78, again." Number 78 gave a happy smile as she was praised and quickly slashed out again, this time Mars didn''t block but avoided the attack completely causing 78 to stumble forwards and almost fall over, Mars spoke with a slightly stern tone. "It''s good to put your all into an attack but be sure to keep some in reserve to follow up your attack, remberer a sword fight is like a flowing twisting river: Always changing and never the same." "Yes Mars!" After training for about for about an hour 78 sat down on the floor, she was exhausted and was clearly unable to go on anymore, this was not because of her lack of stamina but because of her overuse of her strength which she had a hard time controlling. Mars gave a smile and a nod perhaps it was because of the experiments she had gone through 78''s learning ability was very high, he judged that it would only take a couple of years for her to reach level five in [Swordsmanship] but as for whether she would be able to break through the level cap and reach level six on her own was yet to be seen, although there was one thing he knew for sure was that short swords didn''t suit her at all. ''Maybe a broadsword or at least some kind of heavy sword which she can use her amazing strength on..?'' As Mars was thinking 78 got up from the floor and stood on her slightly shaking legs she kind of looked like a newborn calf learning to walk as she walked over, and sat down on the bed before she wiped off the sweat on her forehead before she looked over at Mars that was in deep thought. After sometime Mars snapped out of his daze and looked over at 78 with a smile and asked her. "Are you hungry?" "Yeah... a bit." "Okay then come here we''ll find some food." "Sure..." 78 walked over to Mars on slightly shaking legs before Mars picked her up and flew out of the temporary home, soon they found a pack of jungle deer and Mars quickly roasted one of them with his [Energy: temperature control] before he picked it off from the ground and sat down on a branch with 78 sitting right beside him with a curious expression on her face as she asked. "Is that really edible?" "What you have never had deer before?" "No, when I lived in the orphanage I only ate thin porridge and then I was put in the tank and didn''t need to eat anymore..." "I see, well have a taste." Mars handed a piece of meat to her, 78 looked at the meat and felt with her hands for a bit before she took a small bite of it, soon she showed an excited expression and wolfed down the meat with a big smile on her face as she chewed in pure bliss. Mars gave a laugh before he handed her a bigger piece and also got to eating, soon the deer disappeared down into their stomachs. After they were done eating Mars flew 78 around the jungle before they stopped at a river to clench their thirst, soon Mars found what he was looking for a high class magic beast, as usual his skill didn''t activate but didn''t mind it and sat down 78 on a branch. "I''ll be right back." "Mars are you going to fight that?" "Yeah, don''t worry it will be a breeze for me." "Okay... Good luck." "Thanks." After showing a reassuring smile to 78 Mars flew down and landed about ten meters away from his target, it was a rhino like magic beast with three horns its eyes focused on Mars before they were filled with rage, how dare this puny creature set foot in its territory? It quickly charged at Mars with its horns down low ready to skewer him, Mars showed a calm smile and stood his ground, as the rhino neared Mars 78 covered her face with her hands in fright only dearing to look out through the gaps in her fingers. Mars didn''t dodge he directly grabbed the horns of the rhino and yelled out. "The bigger they are--!" Mars then proceeded to lift the rhino straight up still holding it by the horns before he then threw it over his shoulder smashing it into the ground with a loud bang. "--- The harder they fall!" 78''s small mouth was wide open as she stared at Mars that had just thrown a several ton rhino over his shoulder, unknowingly her heart started to beat faster but she didn''t notice that as she yelled out. "Amazing Mars!" Mars gave a smile as he flew up and picked her up from the branch and sat her down on the jungle floor before the two of them walked over to the dead rhino like magic beast, since Mars didn''t bring his adamantite broadsword he ignited his claws and cut open the rhino and pulled out a magic beast core, this time his skill activated as he looked at the core. Class 14 magic beast core Stored energy: 150.000 Stored status points: 35 Source: ??? ''This should be enough...'' Mars drained the core of its energy units before he opened his [Energy: upgrade shop] and swiftly leveled up to level 150 before he reopened it to cheek for any new skills. Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: Divine inspiration Class skills currently available: none Mars gave a frown as he looked at the level up price and though out loud. "What the f.u.c.k is divine inspiration?" "...Mars?" "Oh 78 it''s nothing don''t worry about it, let''s head back." "... Okay." Still a little confused Mars picked up 78 and began flying back to the temporary home with her in his arms while he thought about the divine inspiration thing, but even as the sky turned dark, he was unable to come up with anything. Chapter 234 - Almost alone in the jungle (5) Another two months passed, during the time Mars and 78 trained 78''s swordsmanship every day and she improved at a rapid pace, especially after Mars made her a two-handed sword out of bone of course, currently the two of them were training on the jungle floor, Mars blocked 78''s slashes with his claws and acted rather leisurely but a faint trace of sweat on his forehead showed 78 massive improvement over the last two months. While Mars blocked another fierce overhead slash his thoughts drifted for a moment, after spending two months with 78 he had learned more about her temperament, basically she was like a big dog that thought it was still a puppy, she would cling to Mars for no apparent reason and act like a spoiled child at other times, but who could really blame her lack of social skills, she had after all been put into a tank at age five and experimented on for about 20 years before Kerbal collapsed, after that she spent who knows how many years alone in the tank "You''re open Mars!" Mars snapped out of his thoughts and dogged to the side before she closed in on 78 and gave her a small flick on the forehead "Naive" "Ouch! Mars it hurts!" 78 kneeled down and held her forehead where Mars had flicked her with tears in the corner of her eyes "Yeah yeah, sorry... Come on how long are you going to sulk?" "I''m not sulking!" 78 sent out a slash from her kneeling position and almost hit Mars'' legs, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the jungle floor "Let''s take a break" "Humph..." 78 turned her head away with a pout on her face, Mars gave a sigh he knew that when 78 got like this it was best just to wait a little bit and watch an amusing sight in the meantime, it all usually started with 78''s tail that would begin to move a little before eventually the pout on her face would disappear and be replaced with a distressed expression as she thought ''Oh no... what if he hates me now?'' gradually the thought grew in her head and eventually she turned around and looked at Mars with a teary face and asked in a shaking voice "Mars... Do you hate me now?" "hmm..." Mars looked like he was thinking really hard which only made 78 more distressed before eventually he made it look like he just arrive at an important conclusion before he spoke "no I don''t hate you 78" 78''s face gradually turned more teary before she quickly crawled over and clung to him for sometime until she calmed down again ''She really is just like a child... Well I guess that what would happen when you put a five year old into a tank, their emotional development halts...'' Mars silently shook his head before suddenly he looked to his right for a few moments and gave a smile, he had detected a group of people trekking through the jungle, they looked like high class hunters. They each carried at least one weapon and were of all the three main races, the group consisted of two elves, one human, two beastmen and one demon a total of six "Well would you look at that... looks like we need to sleep outside tonight" 78 looked up at Mars before she wiped her tears and asked "Why do we need to sleep outside?" "Because we are following a group of hunters, hopefully they can show us the way to civilization" "...Are we leaving the jungle Mars?" "Yeah we need to start our long journey home" 78 looked at him with wonder for a few seconds before she asked "Can I come too?" Mars looked down and saw a pair of uneasy eyes and gave a sigh before he patted 78 on the head "Of course you can" 78 gave a big smile before she once again hugged Mars tight and so for the next few days Mars and 78 discreetly followed after the group of hunters that were blissfully unaware that a living god and a former human experiment was using them as a GPS to find some semblance of civilization. For the first three days the group of hunters moved further into the jungle but after they made a kill on a relatively high class magic beast they turned around caring as much of the materials and of course the magic beast core with them out of the jungle, but after walking for 5 days they still were not out of the jungle and that''s when their luck ran out as they ran into a pack of wolves like the ones Mars had fought when he first arrived in the jungle "Shit, Johan you got any mana left!?" "No, I''m all out!" the parties tank, a middle aged demon blocked one of the wolves'' charges with his tower shield and was sent sliding back almost ten meters before he yelled out in frustration "F.u.c.k what are thesse things!?" The pair of elves quickly arrived and helped tank on his feet after they repelled the giant wolf before they quickly turned around and faced death as a wolf with its giant maw open had managed to sneak up on them and now was less than three meters away, but suddenly something shot out from the tops of the trees and collided with the wolf''s head sending it flying over ten meters before it flipped and landed on its feet like a cat and growled at the figure that had appeared. The figure was clad in beast hides and furs with a big boardsword over his shoulder as he floated mid air and looked at the giant wolf with a calm expression before he gave the wolf thumbs down and calmly said "bad dog, run along now or I''ll turn you into dinner" the group of six hunters stopped and looked at the figure that had appeared with excitement in their eyes, they didn''t know why but they all felt like they were safe now and all breathed a sigh of relief before the leader of the party, a human middle aged man yelled "Keep your guard up! It''s not over yet!" """""Yes captain!""""" "Oh it''s over, they just don''t know it yet" "Eh..?" The party leader looked at the youth that still was floating in the air a few meters off the ground and spoke "If you can assist us we will be in your debt" "Sure thing" Mars put both hands on his adamantite broadsword and swung it through the air sending out a sword light that lit up the dim jungle before it crashed into one of the wolves cutting it in half, then Mars disappeared from view and reappeared in front of another wolf and swung down his boardsword with lightning speed cutting right through the wolf before the sword smashed into the ground, or at least it looked like it did as it stopped a few millimeters off the ground before Mars suddenly disappeared from view again and reappeared right in front of another wolf and slashed it in half. The remaining wolves let out a howl and turned tail before they ran away and disappeared into the undergrowth, Mars gave a slight smile, since he had level up a lot his strength naturally could not compare with when he first entered the jungle, thus handling the wolves this time was very easy for him. he gave a nod before he looked over at the party leader that still had trouble picking his jaw up from the jungle floor and spoke "Wait here for me, I''ll bring my traveling companion" "...Okay" The party leader gave a nod and watched as Mars flew into the jungle and disappeared from view, soon his companions gathered around him, one of the elves asked "Captain, who... What was that?" The captain gave a sigh before he spoke "I don''t know... But one thing I do know is that he is our saviour and thus we must treat him with respect, regardless of his strengh" The elf gave a nod and looked off into the distance where Mars had flown off Mars flew over to where 78 was waiting and landed in front of her with a calm smile on his face before he asked "are you ready to go?" "erm... wait for a bit" Mars gave a nod as 78 closed her eyes and asked "Which one of the three main races do you prefer Mars?" "Hmm... I don''t know?" "Just pick one will you?" "Okay then the beastmen" 78 gave a nod with her eyes still closed and soon a faint light shone out from the magic beast core that was embedded in her chest, although the light was fiant it still shone through her dress and then a magical change happened, 78 horns and long ears shrank and disappeared before a pair of fluffy ears appeared on the top of her head. Then she opened her eyes again and her pupils that were triangle shaped before had turned round, Mars gave a nod with a smile on his face before he spoke "Well would you look at that..." Chapter 235 - The road to civilization (1) Mars returned to the group of hunters with 78 in his arms, 78 looked exactly like a lesser beastwoman in his arms and her frilly red dress made her look especially vibrant like a blooming rose as she had a wide slightly child like smile on her face, she instantly stone the attention of the four male hunters but they quickly remembered who was carrying her and quickly shook their heads before any ideas managed to spurt in their heads. Mars landed and put down 78 that looked around at the six hunters with curiosity clear in her now round and brown eyes before she turned to Mars and asked "Are they bandits?" Mars gave a sigh before he answered her question "No they''re hunters..." "...What does hunters do?" "I don''t know I am not a hunter, why don''t you ask them?" 78 looked over at the hunters and noticed that they were all looking at her and quickly hid behind Mars'' back before she peeked out at them from behind her cover, Mars gave another sigh before he turned to the hunters, a few of them unconsciously took a steep back when his eyes landed on them but the squad leader a middle aged man and the tank a demon with a tower shield stood their ground. Mars gave a wry smile and introduced himself "My name is Mars, this is 78" the squad leader took a few steps forward and reached out his hand to Mars "nice to meet you benefactor Mars, my name is Allen" Mars shock Allen''s hand before he looked to the other hunters and spoke with a wry smile on his face "I don''t bite unless I am ordered to" Allen gave a laugh and the other hunters also loosened up a little before Allen asked "So benefactor Mars, what are you doing out here in the jungle?" "Training, but I am about done with that so I think I''ll follow you guys back to civilization" Allan gave a nod, then the demon man spoke up as he walked over "Benefactor Mars, my name is Damon" Mars looked over at the demon man named Damon that carried a big smile on his face and shook hands with him "Nice to meet you Damon" Next the only mage in the team a lesser beastman walked over and gave his hand to Mars "My name is Johan, nice to meet you benefactor Mars... you too 78" 78 hid behind Mars'' back when Johan spoke to her and didn''t reply, Mars showed a wry smile and shook hands with Johan "Sorry I didn''t know she was so shy" "I don''t mind, I have a little sister myself that''s also very shy" Mars gave a nod, next came the two elves, they looked like each other so Mars assumed that they were twins, both of them showed wide smiles as they walked over hand in hand "Hello benefactor Mars, my name is Lise and--" "---My name is Marie, nice to meet you" Mars nodded and shook hands with them in turn before the last member of the hunter squad walked over, she was a lesser beastwoman and carried a spear "My name is Juile, thanks a bunch for saving us benefactor Mars!" Mars shook hands with Juile and gave a nod before he spoke "Allen I will have to trouble you showing the way out of the jungle" Allen gave a wide grin and spoke "It''s no trouble at all, anyway let''s move out!" The group quickly began moving in a single file with the elf twins in front acting as scouts, Damon after them, Juile in the middle, Johan after her and then Allen in the back, Mars and 78 followed behind them with a little distance on request of 78 so she could get used to them gradually. Mars held 78''s hand while they walked through the undergrowth following the path that the hunters cleared out, Mars gave 78''s hand a squeeze before he asked her "I didn''t know you were so shy?" "...Is there a problem with being shy? Do you perhaps hate shy people Mars?" "No I don''t hate shy people at all... It''s just from here we''ll most likely be traveling from city to city, so I would be good if you could get a little less shy along the trip, you know just to make it easier for yourself" "Okay..." "I know it''s no easy thing to change who you are, just keep it in mind... I don''t think these hunters are bad people, they should be easy to talk to" 78 gave a nod and Mars gave a smile before he called out to Allen that was walking a little in front of him "Allen can you tell me a bit about where we are going?" "Oh right, we are heading to an outpost and from there we will be sailing from this continent over to another named Heden where we came from" "I see... do you perhaps know of a continent named Salen?" "Hmm... can''t say that I do" "I see, never mind then" Allen walked back into formation, after a little while 78 asked Mars "Hey Mars what''s in Salen?" "My home, that''s where we are headed" "I see..." Mars gave 78''s hand a squeeze when he saw she looked down "Don''t worry, there''s plenty of room and you can get a room of your own" "Okay..." 78 gave a small smile, but just as she thought the mood was getting kind of nice, the ears on top of her head twitched before she looked off into the undergrowth and soon she asked Mars "...Mars should we not do something about that?" "Don''t mind it, the hunters will discover it soon" just as Mars finished speaking Lise, one of the elven twins suddenly looked to the side before she called out "Contact left, 1.600 meters!" Mars gave a nod, the scouts of the party sure were top class to be able to detect a contact from 1.600 meters away and gave 78''s hand a squeeze before he spoke "See, they noticed just fine" "...Yeah they did" 78 gave a smile before she spoke again as she hugged Mars'' arm "You''re so smart Mars!" "Well I try my best to look smart" "Isn''t that the same?" "No not quite, you see the difference is---" While Mars and 78 was talking leisurely the hunters had already set up a formation against the incoming threat, Damon was in the front with his tower shield with the rest behind him in a defective formation ready to strike, soon the contracted neared and when it was about 500 meters away Juile asked Allen "Squad captain, can''t we get benefactor Mars to help us?" Allen looked over at Mars that sat on a boulder along with 78 and was happily chatting before he spoke "Don''t worry, he''ll lend a hand if it gets dangerous, but we still don''t want to trouble benefactor Mars too much we are after all top class hunters, it would be pathetic if the only thing we could do was cling to our benefactor" "...Got it captain, let''s show benefactor Mars what we got!" "That''s the spirit Juile, now let''s do this fast and clean" """""Yes captain""""" Soon the contact broke through the undergrowth and appeared in front of the hunter squad, it was an oversized panther about 5 meters tall with brown fur, just as it appeared Johan finished build a spell structure and fired off an ice spike towards the giant panther. The speed of the ice spike was amazing and even though the panther attempted to dodge it still left a long tear on the side of the panther that let out a ferocious roar before it jumped into the fight and attempted to get to Johan but was blocked by Damon before it swiped at Damon that blocked with his tower shield. the fight gradually tilted in favor of the hunter squad this was only do to their fantastic teamwork, Mars looked at the fight while he talked with 78, soon the panter collapsed dead, it only took the squad of hunters about 5 minutes to bring down the panther, Mars praised "Well done everyone, your teamwork has neared perfection!" being praised by their benefactor the six hunters showed happy smiles before Allen gave a laugh and spoke "Thanks for the parise benefactor Mars, but surely you would be able to kill such a foe in an instant, no?" Mars gave a smile but didn''t confirm Allen speculations Days had passed and the group finally made it out of the jungle from there on it was open plains as far as the eye could see, 78 widened her eyes and ran around happily on the grass as she felt the wind blow, Mars watched over her with a smile and so did the rest of the group while they slowly made their way towards the outpost that had been set up by the sea, which was a little over 4 days away on foot Chapter 236 - The road to civilization (2) After travelling for two days the plains gradually turned into rolling hills, this slowed down the group as they became wary of the possibility of an ambush just over the next hill, Mars as usual brought up the rear along with 78 and chatted while they walked but suddenly he looked to the front. 78 was about to ask what he had found when she suddenly felt his hand on top of her head before he said "Be a good girl and wait here for a few minutes, I''ll be right back" "Okay" Mars then called out to Allen "Allen you guys better make camp here, I have found something troublesome up ahead" Allen signalled for the rest of the hunters to stop before he turned to Mars again and asked "Do you need our help?" "No... You''ll just be a burden" Allen gave a wry smile before he put down his backpack "If you say so benefactor Mars then we will stay here" Mars gave a nod and lifted off the ground as he activated [Half awaken] while muttering "How did you guys even managed to pass through here in the first place..?" Flying up to about 200 meters height he clearly saw it, among the rolling hills some 300 meter long asian dragon laid, it looked at Mars with vigilance. Mars flew closer to the asain dragon while holding his broadsword tightly in one hand while he raised the other to show he didn''t mean it any harm. Soon he landed some 10 meters away from its eye and stabbed his sword down into the ground before he spoke "Hello there" "..." The dragon kept silent for a few moments as it looked at Mars before a deep voice suddenly sounded out that slightly shock Mars'' core "Child, why do you hide your horns" Mars gave a smile before he transformed showing his horns to the dragon that still lay and looked at him "That''s better, now we can have a talk between dragons, where do your dragon parents hail from?" "She is currently on an island close to Salen raising a young one" "Salen..." The dragon looked lost in thought for a moment before it spoke "That''s a long ways away, what are you doing here then living god? Are you here for me?" Mars gave a sigh before he shook his head "No, to tell the truth I had a disagreement with the new administrator of Alfan, thus he threw me here" The dragon gave a slow nod before it spoke again "I have heard of the new administrator and not good things, well never mind that, to get back to Salen you need to cross three continents" Mars gave a deep nod "... I see, thank you for informing me" "It''s nothing, wisdom is meant to be shared, now about the mortals you have following you... There is one that has an particular sent, one of all three main races" Mars gave a nod as he sat down on the hillside "Yes she''s rather interesting, I found her in some ruins west of here, what was it called again..? Oh right Kerbal" The dragon closed its eyes for a moment before it spoke "I see, so Kerbal is in ruins now... Do you have any other news?" "Hmm... Well the mortals have set up an outpost east of here and will probably start cultivating this land" "I see... Well I suppose I have slept for long enough... Time to get going I guess" Mars gave a nod before the asian dragon began floating and suddenly flew up into the sky, its blue scales glistened in the sun, Mars looked up after it but didn''t follow as its voice sounded out one last time "I wish you good luck on your journey young one" Mars gave a slight smile and undid his transformation, pulled his sword out of the ground and flew back to the group of hunters that stood frozen looking up into the sky, as soon as he landed 78 ran up to him and asked "Hey Mars what''s a living god?" Mars gave a smile as he realized that the group was able to hear what the dragon had said, then he patted her on the head and said "I''ll explain it to you some other time" "... Okay Mars" 78 looked a little disappointed but a smile gradually returned to her face as Mars petted her head before eventually, she clung to Mars with a happy smile on her face, Mars looked over at Allen and saw he was still dazed and gave a sigh before he called out to him "Allen" Allen woke up from his daze and looked over at Mars with a weird expression on his face before he asked "Mars... Are you a dragon?" Mars gave a wry smile before he simply said "Only half" "...I see, that explains a lot" Looking at Allen that fell into thought again Mars gave a sigh before he asked "Should we set up camp here for the night?" "Oh... Yeah let''s do that, I doubt my squad will be able to pull themselves out of their daze today so let''s just hunker down" Mars gave a nod "Got it" Allen then spent a few minutes walking around waking the members of his squad from their dazes before they gradually began building camp amongst the hills The next morning the group left for the outpost, the hunters'' shock was still there but they had a better time focusing after having rested for the night as Mars volunteered to stand guard all night. Mars walked with 78 and chatted with her as the outpost became visible in the distance. The outpost itself was protected by wooden walls as the group entered the outpost Mars looked around at the buildings and saw that they were mostly wooden buildings with a central building that was larger than the rest, it also had a second story unlike the rest of the buildings, Allen saw Mars looking at the central building and explained "That''s the guild building, the second story is the outpost manger''s home I have heard he lives there with his daughter" "I see... Where are we going now?" "To the guild, we need to sell our materials and book some beds on the next ship so we can get back to Heden" "I see, well I''ll follow you to the guild" Allen gave a nod and led the way, 78 pulled Mars'' hand and asked him "Hey Mars what''s a guild?" "Hmm... Well it''s the place that employs the hunters and mercs and gives them missions and buys various materials that the hunters and mercs gather from the outside" "I see..." Mars gave a smile and walked along with 78 towards the guild, soon they arrived Mars gathered as many eyes as 78 did, both were because of their outfits Mars were still dressed in furs and 78 still wore the lovely dress made of the vibrant red carpet from Kerbal ''I should make some money and buy some proper clothes as soon as we arrive on Heden... I could sell some magic beast cores now that I can''t use them to level up...'' As Mars thought Allen and his squad reported their findings to the receptionist, they also told how Mars had saved them in the jungle and whispered that they had seen a dragon in the hills just outside the outpost, soon a receptionist walked over to Mars and 78 but right before she spoke the loud voice of a young woman was heard "My what a beautiful dress!" Mars looked over and saw a young woman about 15 years old that had just spoken, her eyes were locked on 78''s dress, she quickly walked over before she spoke in a commanding tone "Sell me that dress, I''ll buy it for a good price" Mars gave a slight frown but didn''t speak, this was clearly the daughter of the outpost manger that he had just heard off, 78 looked at the young woman and spoke "I''m not selling!" "Then you must tell me where you brought it from" "...Not telling!" "Why you! I gave you a command!" Mars gave a slight smile, clearly 78 was more than capable of handling the young woman and so he spoke out to the receptionist "You need me for something?" "Yeah if it''s not too much trouble I need you to verify Allen''s story, please come with me" "Sure, lead the way, come on 78" "Okay Mars, I don''t have time to chat with you" "Humph, I don''t have time to talk with such a rude woman like you either!" Mars followed after the receptionist and soon he was finished verifying the story and received a minor reward, when he stepped out of the room he found the young woman from before, this time she stood with a few guards and pointed at 78 before she spoke "She''s the one that was rude to me!" Mars gave a sigh as the guards walked over before he spoke "Touching her is equal to touching me and I don''t like being touched by strangers" Chapter 237 - The road to civilization (3) Just as Mars finished speaking the guards stopped and looked at him and then at the two broadswords he was carrying before they turned to the young woman with questioning looks on their faces "What are looking at me for, I gave you an order now execute it!" Mars gave a sigh and activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of the two guards and grabbed them before he lifted them into the air before he slammed them into the floor (while holding back a little to make sure they didn''t die, they were after only servants of the young woman''s wishes) then he looked at the young woman and asked "So what now?" "Y-y-y-y-you... Barbarian!" Mars was at a loss before he let go of the unconscious guards and took a step closer to the young woman as he spoke while looking offended "I am a gentleman, with my speed I could have slapped your head clean off, but I didn''t because I am a gentleman!" "Eh?... My head?" The young woman suddenly paled before she took a step backwards before she once again yelled "You barbarian!" Then she ran back upstairs to her private resistance, Mars gave a sigh before he turned and walked over to the unconscious guards and healed them slightly with his skill before he turned to Allen and asked "Is there a bar in this outpost?" "Yeah, of course there is, why do you ask?" "... Care to treat me to a few drinks? I am suddenly in a mood to drink" "... Got it follow me" Mars gave a nod and followed after Allen and so did 78 that quickly grabbed Mars'' hand as she walked along with him and asked "Hey Mars, what''s a bar?" Mars gave a smile "It''s a wonderful place where you can drink your worries away" The next morning Mars awoke in an unfamiliar place, he was sitting on the branch of a tree ''... Oww my head, how much did I drink yesterday..?" Mars looked around and found his broadsword standing by the foot of the tree, he also saw the outpost in the distance ''78 is probably worried...'' Mars picked up his broadsword and put it on his back before he flew back towards the outpost as memories of yesterday gradually returned to him, from when he decided to go to the bar to when he downed beer after beer to when he began singing sad songs from his past life to when he eventually got kicked out of the bar ''Maybe I should keep away from beer in the future...'' Mars landed outside of the outpost and walked past the guards that looked at him funny before he remembered he didn''t know where the rest of the group of hunters were staying and thus he was unable to find them ''.... Let''s just wait in the guild... Hopefully they come and pick me up before they leave by ship later today...'' Mars walked into the guild and felt numerous eyes gather on him and gave a sigh before he walked over to a corner of the room and sat down leaning against the wall and closed his eyes. Time passed and eventually a set of footsteps neared him cautiously, Mars opened his eyes and looked up and saw the young woman from yesterday "... What?" The young woman shrunk back somewhat from his question before she visibly gathered her courage for a moment before she spoke "Barbarian I heard you made a mess of the bar yesterday" "Yeah I did, what does it concern you?" The young woman remained silent for a moment before she asked in a very quiet voice "... Do you want to talk about it?" This time it was Mars that was taken back as he remained stunned for a moment before he gave a nod "... Sure why not?" "Do you mind if I sit down?" "No please sit" the young woman sat down next to Mars and for a while both of them remained silent before she eventually spoke "... My name is Jasmine" "Nice to meet you Jasmine, I am Mars" "... Mars..." Jasmine repeated his name once before she fell silent again until a few minutes later she asked Mars "So Mars, why did you drink so much yesterday?" "Hmm..." Mars fell into deep thought before he eventually answered "Because I miss my family, my lovers" "I see..." Jasmine was about to ask something else but was interrupted by a happy yell "Ah, it''s Mars!" Mars and Jasmine looked over and saw 78 running over, she sat down next to Mars and grabbed his hand before she said with a serious look on her face "Mars, no more drinking for you" "... Fine" Mars also saw the rest of the hunter group and stood up before he turned to Jasmine and said "Thanks for the talk" "... Mars wait" "What is it?" ".... You are heading to Heden right?" "Yeah" "Then do you mind accepting a formal request from my dad, he''ll pay you well" "Depends on the request" "Great then would you mind hearing him out now?" "No I don''t mind, let''s go" Mars followed after Jasmine upstairs after he told Allen to wait for a bit, the upstairs of the guild was the privet resistance for the manager of the outpost, it was simply decorated which gave Mars a good homey feeling as he walked through the hallway after Jasmine. Soon they reached a door where Jasmine knocked and spoke "Dad, I have brought him" "Good, come in" Jasmine opened the door and walked in, Mars followed after her along with 78 that still clung to his arm, inside the room where an office with a solid desk where a middle aged man with an epic beard sat and worked on some paperwork, when Mars walked into the room he looked up and gave a bear like smile before he spoke "Welcome Mars and 78, please have a seat" "Sure..." Mars sat down on the couch that stood in parallel to the desk, Jasmine''s dad got up from behind the desk and sat down on the couch in front of Mars and 78 and once again showed a bear like smile as his daughter Jasmine sat down next to him "My name is Jack, I am the manager of this outpost, so Mars I heard you spoke with a dragon yesterday" "Yeah... I received some information from it" Jack inspected Mars'' face for some time until he gave a nod and spoke "Looks like you''re not lying, to tell the truth I have a request for you Mars, I heard you are heading to Heden is that correct?" "Yeah, I will be crossing Heden" "I see... Then do you mind taking a request from me?" "Sure" "Good, to tell the truth Jasmine here is also heading to Heden to go to school and so I would like to entrust her safety during the trip to you Mars" "Sure, I can do that" "Good, very good" Jack gave a deep nod before he stood up from the couch and walked over to his desk and took out a pouch and threw it to Mars while he spoke "This is you advance, Jasmine will pay the rest when you arrive" Mars opened the pouch and quickly counted a total of 10.000 cel inside the pouch and gave a nod before he stood up from the couch and looked over at Jasmine "Shall we get on our way?" "Yes let''s" Jack gave another nod and walked over in front of Mars and patted him on the shoulder and spoke "I entrust my daughters safety to you" "Don''t worry I''ll take good care of her" "Very good, then I wish you a safe journey" Mars gave a nod and walked out of the office along with Jasmine and 78 and after a quick stop at Jasmine''s room where she picked up her suitcase the group of three walked downstairs again and met with Allen and the rest before they made their way down to the port where a ship lay anchored. The ship looked like an ironclad from Mars'' past life and was outfitted with a steam engine. The group quickly boarded the ship and stored their luggage down under deck in their cabins before they returned above deck and soon the ship set off towards Heden, the nearby continent "It''s so blue!" 78 stood at the railing and looked out on the sea with childlike wonder on her face as the waves splashed up against the ship that was slowly moving away from the cost, Mars stood with her and also looked out over the sea but soon gave a frown before he spoke "78 get away from the railings" "Is something wrong Mars?" Mars pulled his broadsword off his back and quickly unwarped the cloth that covered the blade, Jasmine also walked over and gave a puzzled look at Mars that turned and spoke to Allen "I entrust 78 and Jasmine to you, I''ll be right back" "What have you found Mars?" Mars gave a smile "Well it''s just a rather big fish, nothing to worry about" Chapter 238 - The road to civilization (4) "Just a rather big fish!?" Jasmine looked in horror at the sea monster that looked like a cross between an octopus and a whale that currently was getting slaughtered by giant sword lights that flew down from the sky and cut into the sea monster, Jasmine was not alone in her shock as the group of hunters and virtually all the ship''s crew also stood and watched the showdown with their jaws on the floor, Allen asked Damon that stood next to him "H-hey Damon, didn''t that dragon call Mars a ''living god''" "Y-yeah it did... Now I kind of believe it..." While the two of them exchanged words, the sea was gradually dyed in red from the blood of the sea monster that let out an agonizing roar as it seemed to breathe it''s last breath and collapsed before it began sinking, soon a figure could be seen rapidly descending down before it hit the sea right where the sea monster had sunk. A few minutes later the figure shot up from the sea and flew over and landed on the ship, 78 walked over to the figure and handed him a towel before she spoke "Welcome back Mars" "Thanks 78" Mars took the towel and began drying his hair as he looked around at the people around him and asked "What?" Allen snapped out of his daze before he swallowed his saliva and asked "Mars what''s a living god, no what exactly are you?" Mars dried his hair as he answered Allen''s question "A living god is exactly what it sounds like" "... I see" "I would appreciate if you don''t spread out what you saw today as it might annoy my siblings" "Your siblings?" Mars gave a smile as he took off the hides that covered his upper body and laid them on the railing to dry "The other living gods" Allen and the other hunters gave a nod, so did the rest of the crew that was on the deck, no way in hell were they going to be annoying such a frightening living god. 78 looked at the necklaces Mars wore and asked: "Hey Mars what are those?" "Oh this is my merc tag and this is my necklace of the apostle" 78''s eyes glinted as she looked at the golden merc tag and the necklace of the apostle before she asked "Mars can you make me a pretty necklace too?" "Sure, I''ll make you one soon" "Yay!" Mars looked at the happy 78 for a while before he opened his palm and looked at the magic beast core he had gotten from the sea monster class 9 magic beast core stored energy: 1.200 stored status points: 20 source: ??? ''As usual there''s the ??? on the source... Maybe I should ask Info about this...'' Mars had thought of asking Info about the weirdness of his skill, but since there were no temples on the unnamed continent it was a little hard to meet her "Oh well, hopefully there''s a temple on Heden" "Of course there is, there''s even one in the port city we arrive in" "Okay... Thanks for the info Allen" "No problem Mars" Mars wiped his upper body with the towel when Jasmine walked over, she was blushing slightly when she looked at Mars and his n.a.k.e.d upper body still slightly wet from his trip under the waves, Mars saw her staring but ignored it, she was after all, a girl in the middle of her puberty "What''s up?" "Umm... how exactly can you fly?" "It''s a skill, like the sword lights I can from with the help of a blade" "I see... Here I thought you were an angel or something..." ''Nope but I know an archangel...'' Mars kept his thoughts to himself and spoke "No I am a living god, not an angel" "I see..." Jasmine gave a nod and walked off still a little dazed, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the deck and looked up at the sun before he stretched out his hand and attempted to grasp the sun, only grasping air ''My hands hold nothing... But that won''t continue...'' Days passed and soon the ship had spent five days at sea, Mars had spent his time sunbathing along with 78 and had developed a slight tan on his skin also during the trip he had hunted some more sea magic beast and gotten a class 11 core and a class 14 core which he kept without absorbing them as he would sell them when the ship reached Heden to finance travels over the three continents he had to cross to reach Slaen. He had a lot of time to think during his idle time and often thought of his loved ones as an urge to drink slowly crept up on him, another thing that changed over the trip was he grew a little closer to Jasmine as the two of them would have some light conversations now and then, from those he learned that the school she would be attending were a combined knight and mage academy, he also learned that a railway network lay across the whole of Heden so as long as he could afford it he could travel from one end of the continent to the other along with 78 ''but for that I need cel... and a lot of it, maybe I should teach a bit at the academy...'' The price of two tickets to the end of the continent was a staggering 500.000 cel and the train trip would take about 2 months in total so Mars opted to take the train rather than fly all the way, he was sure he would grow tired of flying before they reached Salen anyways as a railway network was not guaranteed on the other two continents ''Might as well make use of it when it''s there...'' Mars sat up from his spot and looked around, 78 lay beside him and was lightly snoring ''guess I''ll go hunt for a bit...'' Mars walked down to his cabin and picked up his boardsword before he walked above deck again and slowly lifted off the deck before he flew into the distance while scanning for targets as the tip of the boardsword cut open the surface of the calm sea while Mars flew just above the surface while looking around with his [Energy: sense], Mars reached down with his free hand and touched the surface of the water drawing a long line on the surface of the sea. Soon Mars returned to the ship, his harvest this time was nothing but Mars didn''t mind as he was just using hunting to pass time anyways "Oh Mars you''re back" "Hey Damon" "So you got anything interesting?" "Nah, some fresh air that''s all" "I see, you better go look for 78 she was raging that you were gone when she woke up" "I see... Where is she now?" "She went under deck" "Got it" Mars walked under deck and soon stood in front of his and 78''s cabin and knocked on the door "78 it''s me, can I come in?" "..." "Come on now I know you''re in there I can literally see you covering your ears with your hands" Mars of course used his [Energy: sense] to peek through the door, not that he had a hobby to peek at young women mind you, his intention was pure "... I am mad" "I know, I am sorry" "Do you know why I am mad?" "Because I left while you were asleep?" "... Yeah" "Sorry" "... Are you?" "Yeah, can you forgive me?" Mars ''saw'' that 78 got up from the bed and walked over to the door before she opened it and looked down at the floor before she spread out her arms before she said "Hug..." "You really are spoiled... Geez" Mars hugged 78 close and patted her head for sometime until she let go and looked up at his face with a wide smile on her face "Let''s go sunbathe" "Sure" Another two days passed and soon the port city of Larton was within view, Larton was one of the bigger port cities of the country Checa. Overall Heden was mostly what Mars would call a 1800''s continent with technology that was mostly powered through steam and mana, like the ironclad they were currently sailing on which steam engines were powered by a mana stone boiler, Mars looked at the approaching port and asked Jasmine that stood beside him "How far is the academy form Larton?" "it''s a few cities away but we can take the railway there, don''t worry I''ll pay for your tickets" "I see" Mars gave a nod. Soon the group got off the ironclad and entered the port city of Larton and after Mars said goodbye to the group of hunters Mars and the two young (at least 78 acted like she was young) ladies walked to the train station, Mars looked at the train station, the station itself was rather big with 25 tracks for passenger trains and countless tracks for cargo trains, Mars got some looks as he was still dressed in furs and hides but he ignored them as usual Chapter 239 - Academy life once again (1) "Mars... Are you not bothered?" "By what?" "You know... The stares" "Oh that, nah not really" Mars, 78 and Jasmine waited for the train, they had already bought their tickets and were now standing on the train platform while the people around them looked at Mars dressed in furs and hides while they whispered. Mars and 78 didn''t seem to mind but Jasmine seems rather embarrassed, Mars gave a sigh and asked "Am I embarrassing to you Jasmine?" "No! you are the strongest person I know, of course you are not embarrassing!" "In that case is there a problem?" "...No I guess not... But still..." Mars gave another sigh before he clicked his tongue and released a faint amount of bloodl.u.s.t that made the gawkers look away before he gave a nod. Soon the train arrived, it was a steam engine like the ones in the western movies Mars had seen in his past life powered by a mana stone boiler, the trio boarded the train and found their seats and sat down. Soon the train started moving, it was going to take most of the day to reach the academy city so the trio got comfy. 78 looked out at the passing scenery with wonder on her face while Mars rested his eyes, Jasmine also seems rather tired so she closed her eyes and slept while leaning against the window, time passed like this and soon evening arrived and the tiro got off the train at the academy city, Mars stood on the platform and stretched before he asked Jasmine "Jasmine do you mind to accompany us shopping before we head to the academy?" "Sure, I''ll show you the best shops" "First let''s head to the guild, I need to cash in some magic beast cores" "Okay... I think the guild is this way..." The group soon reached the guild and Mars exchanged the cores for about 200.000 cel adding to his 20.000 from the request he now had almost half the required amount of cel for the train fare "Let''s go shopping" Jasmine beamed and yelled "Sure let''s go!" Jasmine let the way and soon the trio stopped in front of an armour shop, Mars gave a sigh before he spoke "Just regular clothes will do" "You don''t need armour?" "I have a skill for that" "Oh... In that case, let me show you a regular shop" Mars gave a nod and after about an hour of shopping Mars was now dressed in a shirt and leather pants, along with his newly made backpack (which he made before he left the jungle) he carried the two broadswords on his back and that was the gear he had, Mars gave a nod and looked over at Jasmine and said "Lead the way to the academy" "Sure! Let''s go" Jasmine let the way into the centre of the city and soon the group arrived at the grounds of the academy, outside the gate Jasmine turned and handed a pouch to Mars "here''s the rest of the cel for the escort request" "Thanks by the way, what''s the tuition for half a year here?" "Hmm... I think it''s 50.000 cel" "I see, in that case it''s not goodbye yet, 78 do you want to try going to school?" "Hmm... Sure!" "Then I''ll apply for a teaching position" Jasmine looked at Mars with a slight smile before she gave a nod and spoke "I think the academy is looking for new teachers... I''ll show you the way to the administrative building" Jasmine showed her student ID at the gate and led Mars and 78 into the academy grounds, Mars looked around and saw a bunch of students walking around and estimated that this academy was about the same size of the old Destra''s magic academy he once attended ''Well good memories as it was let''s not think so much about the past...'' Soon the group reached the administrative building where Jasmine reported her arrival on campus before she turned to Mars and 78 "Good luck on the test Mars, see you soon 78" "See you Jasmine" Mars and 78 waved at Jasmine that walked towards into the campus before they turned to administer building and walked inside and walked up to the reception "Hello I would like to register a new student" "I see, for how long do you want to enrol the student?" "Half a year" "the tuition is 50.000 cel" "Here you are" Mars handed the cel to the receptionist, after she counted it she gave a smile and looked over at 78 and said "Please follow after me" "Umm... Can''t Mars come too?" Mars patted 78 on the head as he shook his head and spoke "78 you have to be a good girl and study well, we can spend time when you have a break" "... Okay" 78 gave a nod and followed after the receptionist, Mars gave a nod and looked over to another receptionist that had been watching the conversation and spoke "Hey I would like to take the teacher test" "Sure, please follow after me" Mars followed after the receptionist into an interview room and sat down on the couch "Please wait here" "Sure" Mars waited and after about 10 minutes a man in his 30''s walked in and sat down on the couch in front of Mars and spent some time looking him over before he spoke "Hello, my name is Rick I am a knight teacher here at the academy" "My name is Mars" Rick gave a nod and leaned back on the couch as he asked "So Mars are you a member of any of the guilds?" "Yeah I am a gold ranked merc" "... Can I see your tag?" "Sure" Mars showed his tag before Rick gave a nod and looked over at the broadswords that stood and leaned against the couch before he gave a nod "What about magic, what''s the highest rank you can use?" "Hmm... For shadow magic I can barely use it, but my speciality is fire magic and I can use some tactical class spells" "... I see, do you have any other special skills?" "Well I am okay at tailoring and I made that broadsword over there out of a magic beast I hunted" Rick gave a nod before he gave a smile "Good from what I heard you should have no problem getting accepted as a teacher here, in fact I''ll go report to the vice principal now so you can get your room tonight" "I appreciate it Rick" "No problem, just buy me a beer sometimes" "Sure" "Well then follow me, I''ll show you around before we head to the vice principal''s office" "Okay" Mars and Rick went around the campus before Rick went in and talked with the vice principal and soon walked back out of the office with a smile on his face and a few doc.u.ments in his hand along with a key all of which he handed to Mars with a smile on his face "This is your teaching schedule and the key to your room" "Thanks, I look forward to working with you" "Me too Mars, come let me show you the way to your room" "Thanks, looks like I owe you another beer" "Haha, I''ll look forward to it!" The next morning Mars awoke in his new room, the room itself was rather roomy and not so tight as he expected, Mars stifled a yawn and sat up in the comfy bed before he stretched ''Today is my first class... What was it again..?" Mars stood up and walked over to the desk where the doc.u.ments laid ''Let''s see here... Oh swordsmanship, that should be fun'' Mars gave a nod quickly got dressed before he walked out of the room and locked the door behind him and stuffed the key in his pocket before he walked off towards the training grounds which was empty this time of the morning ''Looks like I got up too early... Oh well'' Mars sat down and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the morning air for some time until his ears began picking up movements near the training field, but Mars kept his eyes closed until a group of students gathered near the training field, then Mars opened his eyes and stood up before he walked over to them and spoke loudly to the group of students "Good morning everyone! I am your new teacher my name is Mars and I will be teaching you swordsmanship for the next hour, any questions?" A student raised his hand, Mars gave a nod in his direction indicating he could speak "Mars how old are you?" "220, any more questions?" Another student raised his hand and asked before Mars indicated he could speak "What level is your swordsmanship Mars?" "6, any more questions?" "what, level 6!? that''s a lie!" Mars gave a sigh and picked up a wooden sword before he spoke "Watch closely" Then he slashed out with the wooden sword and sent a bright sword light though the air that then hit a straw target and cut it in half before he looked back at the stunned group of students and spoke with a slight smile on his face "That''s what you can do at level 6, any more questions?" Chapter 240 - Academy life once again (2) As soon as the group of students woke up from their daze each and every one of their eyes beamed with awe and eagerness to learn, after all what student didn''t want an excellent teacher and clearly Mars was very skilled in swordsmanship, soon another hand went up this time it was a female student that quickly asked "Mars do you have a lover?" "Yes I have 4 lovers, but I don''t think my private life is anything that interesting... Now let''s start, from into pairs of two and begin sparing" the group of students were rather obedient and quickly formed into pairs and began sparing, Mars would watch them and point out their mistakes and even join them in sparring form time to time and soon the hour of morning swordsmanship was over "Okay we''re done" The group of students all had light sweat on their foreheads, some more than others but they all beamed happy smiles as they improved every time Mars pointed out their flaws "Can''t we continue a while longer teacher Mars?" "Nope not unless you want to miss breakfast" Mars left the training grounds along with the group of students, He chatted with the student''s while they made their way to the dining hall. Mars continued chatting with the students while he ate only saying goodbye to them when they had to go to the next class, Mars gave a sigh as he watched the group of students walk away ''Alright, time to switch gears, onto the next class... What was it again?.. Oh right more swordsmanship'' Mars walked back to the training field and repeated the process of what happened earlier with another group of students just for a longer time, in fact it was until midday where he then once again accompanied the students to eat ''I could get used to this...'' Mars walked around the campus during the midday break and after that he once again trained another group of students swordsmanship, only this time there was someone he knew among the group "Mars!" "Yes, yes 78 don''t cling to me like that... Have you been a good girl?" "Yeah I behaved very well during morning classes" the other students looked at Mars and 78''s intimate behaviour until Mars cleared his throat and spoke to clear up any misunderstandings "I am 78''s guardian, but enough about that let''s get started" Mars then once again thought the group of students swordsmanship (78 included of course) for a couple of hours before class ended again, 78 ran over to Mars she was dressed not in her vibrant red dress but in a student uniform, Mars asked her "Are you done with classes for today?" 78 gave a happy nod "Umm!" "Then do you want to walk around town for a bit?" "Sure!" Just as Mars was about to leave with 78 a teacher Mars didn''t know stopped them "You must be Mars right? There''s a teacher meeting just after this, I was told to fetch you" "I see... Sorry 78, some other time?" "Boo! Mars you stink!" With such words 78 ran off, Mars gave a sigh while the teacher looked at him funny and spoke "Having such a relationship with your students is not advised" "... I am her guardian and was the person that paid her tuition, our relationship is pure" "That... I see, well in that case ignore what I just said" "Well then, there was that meeting?" "Yeah please follow me" Mars followed after the teacher and soon reached the administrative building where both of them walked into a meeting room and sat down amongst a lot of other teachers, Mars only knew Rick there and gave him a wave when he spotted him, Rick gave a nod back ''let''s see what they have to say at this meeting...'' Soon a middle aged man arrived and sat down at the end of the table and spoke "Sorry for the wait everyone, for those of you that see me for the first time I am the vice principal my name is Michal, I was told we have a few new teachers amongst us so let''s do an introduction round" The introductions started, Mars paid attention and tried to remember all the new names and faces of his fellow teachers and soon it was his turn to introduce himself and so he stood up and spoke clearly "My name is Mars, I am a new teacher here and plan to teach for half a year, I teach swordsmanship and I am also a gold ranked merc. I am the guardian of 78 and I hope to get along with you all" Finished with his introduction Mars sat down again as the round of introductions continued and after another five minutes the round was finished and Michal spoke again "Good, the reason I have gathered you all here is to discuss the upcoming event: The yearly field trip, for this year we will be heading to a nearby town by train before we head out into a forest and make camp there for a week, during the field trip all teachers are expected to contribute to the collective safety of the group so I expect much from you all, especially those of you with merc or hunter backgrounds" Mars gave a nod, he certainly was not going to let anything happen to the students, now that he was a teacher (although only a temporary one) he knew his responsibilities and was going to uphold them. What followed were a more detailed briefing about the field trip as a whole, Mars listened with interest and soon the meeting was over Mars got up and stretched before he left the meeting room and headed out to find 78 ''Let''s see... She''s not around here... I wonder where she went..?'' Mars walked around campus, greeting the students he knew but after having made a round around campus he still had not found 78 ''.... Well maybe she''s with her friends... Whatever let''s head into town alone then...'' Mars left campus behind and headed into the city and looked around various shops, stopping to have some food at a cafe and all in all, just enjoying himself for a bit until the sky turned dark then he decided to head back to the campus and after showing his teacher ID at the gate he went back to his room and went to bed The next morning Mars woke up early and got dressed before he went towards the training field and sat down and meditated for a bit until the students showed up, when Mars opened his eyes he was a little surprised because there were a lot more students in the group then there had been yesterday so he quietly muttered "Why are there so many of you compared to yesterday?" Then he gave a sigh and addressed the students "Good morning and what a wonderful morning we have here today, let''s start with some light warm up, everyone grab a wooden sword" The student quickly grabbed wooden swords and one of them even grabbed one for Mars and handed it to him "Thanks, now let''s start off with some light overhead swings to warm up, watch my example" Mars took the sword with both hands before he raised it above his head and swung it down where it stopped right before the ground before he raised it up again and looked at the students "See looks easy right? So let''s start with 50 swings" Mars watched the students perform the overhead swings before he also started and quickly did 50 himself (so fast that the wooden sword turned into a blur) before he put on a smile and spoke to the students again "Good, now line up in a single line" The students quickly lined up and Mars took the wooden sword on his shoulder and spoke "Now, the first one in the line accompany me for a light spar" "Yes!" A female student that looked to be in her late teens stepped forward and raised her sword before she swung it at Mars, Mars easily blocked before he spoke "Come on, I know I said light but put some power in those swings!" "Y-Yes Mars!" Mars spared with the student for a few minutes while giving her instructions on how to improve before ended the spar and praised her "You have natural talent but remember to work a little on your footwork" "Okay, will do Mars!" "Good, now the next one in the line" Mars spared with the entire group of students one on one without breaking a sweat, when he was done he put the wooden sword on his shoulder and gave a nod "Good, that''s it for today, now let''s go get something to eat" Mars put his wooden sword back and walked off towards the cafeteria with the group of students while chatting with them before they all gathered at one table and ate breakfast when a student that wasn''t part of his morning class approached him "Mars can I talk with you for a moment?" "... Sure" Mars walked with the male student, a young man in his late teens over to a corner of the cafeteria(he regnonised him from one of yesterday''s classes) "What''s your name?" "My name is Gorge" "Okay Gorge what is it you want to talk about?" "Well the truth is I want to ask for some of your time in the afternoon for some more swordsmanship training... Would that be okay?" Mars thought for a moment before he gave a nod "Sure I am here to teach after all, say bring some of your friends too if they want to come" Gorge''s face lit up into a smile before he gave a nod "Yes I''ll do that!" Chapter 241 - Academy life once again (3) The day of teaching quickly passed and soon it was afternoon and it was time for the extra training with Gorge and his friends. Mars sat on the training field, behind him were the bone broadsword stabbed into the ground as he expected 78 to show up at some point, soon Gorge arrived along with 3 other students. Mars opened his eyes and looked at them, they were two young men and two young women, Gorge was human and the two women were lesser beastmen and the other young man was a demon. Mars stood up and walked over to them, Gorge quickly greeted Mars "Hello Mars, thanks again for taking the time to train us" "It''s fine, I am after all a teacher" Mars looked at the other three and found that they weren''t part of the classes he had thought, they also looked at him and inspected him with curiosity, soon one of the girls asked "Hey how old are you Mars?" "I am 220ish" "220ish? But you look like a human youth?" Mars closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them again, when he opened his eyes they were crimson red, the four students each took a couple of steps back as they looked frightened, Mars gave a slight smile before he spoke "I may look human but I am not, remember that. Also the skill I have in swordsmanship is hard cultivated over a number of years, so don''t expect levelling up easily and lose sight of your own goals" Of course his swordsmanship skill was acc.u.mulated by the previous host of his vessel but Mars didn''t say that, Mars undid his transformation as Gorge spoke "Y-Yes Mars" Mars gave a warm smile before gave a nod and looked at the three students he didn''t know and asked "So what are your names?" The demon youth was the first to speak "My name is Kelvin" Then the two beastwomen girls spoke "I am Freya" "And I am Katrina" "Good so Gorge, Kelvin, Freya and Katrina... Let''s start with evaluating your individual levels of skill" Gorge gave a slight frown before he asked "Can''t we just tell you our levels in [Swordsmanship]?" "Levels are not everything, experience say a lot" Gorge gave a nod before he looked like he suddenly remembered something "Oh right, that''s what my dad also used to say..." "I see, he sounds like a wise man, now let''s start with you Gorge" "Yes, please guide me well!" Gorge picked up a wooden sword and Freya handed another wooden sword to Mars, Mars took a light stance and spoke "Come at me with all you got" "Sure!" Gorge kicked off the ground and swung down at Mars with his wooden sword, Mars tilted his body to the side and made Gorge''s sword only hit air before he continued to fall back dodging. The swings that got faster and faster before he suddenly struck in between Gorge''s swings causing him to panic slightly as he blocked with his sword "Good offence, poor defence!" Mars pushed back Gorge with slow but well placed swings of his sword while leaving some openings for Gorge to counter, but to Mars'' disappointment Gorge didn''t seem to spot the openings ''Maybe I should lower my level a bit more...'' Mars gradually slowed down his swings until they were about half the speed of Gorge''s form there Gorge was gradually able to put up a fight and about three minutes of exchanging blows later Mars lowered his sword and gave a nod "Good, I got your level of swordsmanship down now, next one plea---" "You''re open!" Mars disappeared from view as a bone broadsword slammed down where he had just been standing kicking up a cloud of dust, Gorge that was standing close to the cloud coughed as he breathed in the dust, while he did sounds of a high speed sword fight spread out from within the cloud of dust until suddenly a loud clang sound out and a bone broadsword flew out of the cloud and landed on the ground. When the cloud of dust settled the group of four students could see Mars again along with a beastwoman they didn''t know. Mars had the wooden sword pointed at 78 that had a cute pout on her face as she spoke "Boo! Mars you''re such a meanie!" "Says the one that sneak attacked with enough power to kill" The four students snapped out of their daze and Kelvin quickly asked "Mars, who is this?" "This is 78, I am her guardian and have been training her swordsmanship for four months now" Gorge''s jaw dropped before he stammered "F-Four months!" From what Gorge could see 78 was levels above him that had trained for more than ten years, the other three also looked stunned, Mars gave a wry smile "Don''t compare yourselves to 78, she has the best talent in swordsmanship I have ever seen" "Hehe Mars praised me!" ".... Her temperament is something I am working on however" Gorge gave a nod before he suddenly remembered "Right 78 is a new student right? I heard how she beat up an upper classmate that harassed her" Mars gave a slight frown and looked over at 78 and spoke "I have not heard that story yet... Let''s talk about it later 78" "Boo..." "Well then let''s continue, Kelvin you''re up" "Yes Mars!" Mars evaluated the four''s level in swordsmanship in about an hour, after he was done he gave a nod "I more or less got your levels down now... Let''s continue tomorrow, I''ll have a training plan for the four of you done by then" Gorge gave a nod and so did the rest of the group before Mars turned to 78 that sat by the side and looked bored and asked "78 do you want to take a walk with me in the city?" "Sure!" Mars then exchanged goodbyes with the 4 students and walked into town with 78, as they strolled around Mars asked her "So what''s the story with the guy you beat up yesterday?" 78 gave a frown before she loudly complained "He was annoying and kept trying to grab my hand and kiss it saying something about it being fate that we meet, so I kicked him around for a bit" "I see..." Mars gave a nod and decided not to scold 78 over this incident as it was her that it was her that was harassed and not the other way around. The two of them passed their time in peace as they strolled around the city while chatting until a yell suddenly sounded out behind them "78 my belle! To think I would meet you here is really my good luck!" Mars and 78 turned around and saw a male student that had slick blonde hair, 78 showed a deep frown before she ignored the poor guy and began dragging Mars along "Mars, let''s go to that shop over there" "Wait 78, my princess don''t leave!" the guy walked up and grabbed 78''s left hand to stop her from leaving, this caused Mars to frown before he said "Oi, hands off the lady" The guy completely ignored Mars as he spoke to 78 "Come now 78, my princess let''s go on a date!" "No! let go of me!" "Now don''t say that I promise I''ll make you happy now come along my princess!" ''This guy really has thick skin..." Mars reached out and grabbed the student before he tore his hands off 78 and lifted him into the air "You! Let me go, can''t you see I am talking with my princess!" Mars gave a sigh and half wanted to see how far he could throw him but quickly changed his mind as he was a teacher now so murdering a student would not look so good on his CV "Listen here you little shit, 78 doesn''t like you now stop harassing her and run along" "What are you saying! Can''t you see that she''s just playing precious, we''re madly in love!" Mars gave another sigh before his eyes went cold, with this kind of thick skin the only thing to do was to peel off a layer, the atmosphere suddenly changed and the temperature dropped as vermilion armour shards materialized mid air before they began closing in on the guy threateningly, looking at the sharp armour shards the guy paled while Mars gave a sigh "Now I am 78''s guardian and I don''t mind peeling off a layer of your skin to get you to understand this, but I''ll ask again just to be sure what are you going to do when you see 78 in the future?" "I-I-I-I will keep away from her!" "very good" Mars gave a smile and put down the poor guy before he clapped him on the shoulder "Now run along" "Y-Y-Yes sir!" Mars looked as the poor and traumatized guy ran off into the distance before he gave a sigh ''Hopefully that will be the end of it...'' "Mars let''s go to that shop over there!" "Sure" Chapter 242 - Academy life once again (4) Mars and 78 walked around the city for a few hours while doing some window shopping and stopping once to eat dinner at a cafe before they continued their stroll, soon Mars stopped and looked at the temple that was right next to them and gave a sigh before he spoke to 78 that was by his side "78 let''s go to the temple, I have someone I want you to meet" "Sure!" Mars and 78 walked into the temple and after Mars flashed his necklace of the apostle they were quickly showed to a top quality prayer room, 78 looked around confused before she asked "Mars who is it you want me to meet?" "Just wait for a bit 78, she''s coming now..." Mars put his hand on the crystal ball in the middle of the room and right after he did a robotic voice sounded out inside the prayer room [SUBJECT NUMBER #3 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] Mars gave a frown, last time he visited a prayer room he was subject number 4 not subject number 3'' ''This means that another living god has died and one that was older than me... Maybe that shitbag administrator also punished the others...?'' "Mars is something wrong?" Evidently the robotic voice scared 78 somewhat as she huddled up to Mars "No it''s nothing... Request descend" [REQUEST CONFIRMED, ERROR MORTAL DETECTED, SMITE Y/N?] "No" [CONFIRMED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST APPROVED, STARTING DESCEND...] As Mars felt the descend start he activated [Half-awaken] just to be safe, after all he didn''t know if the new administrator had changed Information somehow so he decided to keep his guard up just in case. Soon a formless pressure descend into the avatar that lay on the altar, 78 tensed up so Mars carefully patted her on the head to try and calm her down a bit "It''s okay 78, she means no harm" ''... At least I hope she doesn''t'' Soon the pressure all entered the avatar that then sat up on the altar and opened its eyes, its cyan eyes looked at Mars for a moment before faster than Mars could react the avatar sprung forwards and crashed into Mars hugging him tight [Mars!] "Woah there, easy Info" [Are you okay, you still have all your limbs? Do you know who I am?] Mars gave a wry smile as he spoke "I am fine Info, the administrator just took away my ability to tear space and threw me to another content" Info heaved a sigh of relief before she separated herself from Mars and waved her hand which made a table and some chairs appear before she suddenly looked over at 78 and froze for a moment before she floated up and patted 78 on the head as she muttered [What an amusing creature... A mix of all three main races... Is she your girlfriend Mars?] "No I am just taking care of her" 78 gave a pout when she heard Mars'' answer but decided not to complain as it was hard enough to breathe as is under the divine pressure Info was letting out, Mars sat down and asked Info "Could you tune down your pressure a bit? 78 looks like she has a hard time breathing..." [Sure.... There, is that better little one?] 78 gave a nod and sat down next to Mars before she clung to him and looked over at Info with caution, Mars gave a sigh and decided to introduce Info "78 this is Information, one of the 13 archangels" 78 frowned her brows slightly before she gave a nod and said "... Hi" [Oh my, she''s shy how cute] Mars cleared his throat before he asked Info "Info I have a question, what''s divine inspiration? And how do I get it?" Info gave a slight frown and asked [Have you already reached level 150?] "Yup" Info gave a sigh before she muttered [An almost 4 year old level 150 living god...] Info looked like she took it rather hard that Mars had reached level 150, so Mars asked "Is it fast that I reached level 150?" [Do you know what the average age is for a living god to reach level 150?] "No?" [It''s 110 years] "...So in other words I picked a very fast to level up class?" [No there have been living gods of energy before but they... Wait a moment, I''ll look up the records...] Mars gave a nod and waited as Info''s cyan eyes went vacant for a few moments before she gave another sigh [Looks like the [Energy] class just is fast... But still you''re the only one to reach level 150 of the 134 living gods of energy there have been so far, congratulations] "Thanks I guess?" [You don''t get it do you Mars? It took me 246 years to reach level 150] Mars paused, he felt like he just received an important piece of news and asked to make sure "So you used to be a living god?" [Yup, the living god of [Information] to be precise] Mars fell into thought for a moment before he asked again "So what exactly is divine inspiration?" [It''s the essence of your class, only by figuring out what exactly energy is will you be able to receive divine inspiration and advance to a higher, more divine realm] Mars gave a nod and gathered his thoughts before he muttered "... What energy is..." Info looked at Mars for a few moments before a ripple of energy seemed to spread out with Mars in the middle, it passed right through the isolation barrier and slightly shocked the city outside, Info opened her eyes wide as she muttered [... No way] Info quickly waved her hand and 78 was gently pulled away from Mars that sat with glazed eyes and stared into nothingness, then she turned to 78 and asked [How long have you known Mars?] "... A few months" [I see, rejoice 78 for you are about to witness something very few mortals have ever seen] 78 gave a nod and looked over at Mars in silence as energy seemed to be pulled from the surrounding air into him while gradually a halo seemed to form above his head, the halo was dull yellow and soon became smaller and smaller until it disappeared again and then Mars seemed to gradually wake up and soon a calm smile formed on his face as he muttered "Divine inspiration, that was not so hard was it?" [I guess you relied on your past life memories for that, right?] "Yeah the nature of the universe was much more clear in my past life... But why do I feel that it was not enough?" [Why don''t you check your status and see?] "Sure... Status" Name: Mars Age: 3 (vessel 5223) Race: Half-dragon human Titles: [Living god of energy] [Conquer of Salen] [Tyrant King] [5000 year prisoner] [Man that fell from the sky] [Contracted] Class: [Energy] Class level: 175 Status points: Strength [1000/1000] Constitution [2000/2000] Dexterity [1500/1500] Intelligence [600/600] Wisdom [900/900] Charisma [50/50] Active skills: [Dragon-flame magic lv 5] [Swordsmanship lv 6] [Shadow magic lv 2] [Demon dreaming lv 1] [Instant movement lv 2] Class skills: [Energy: absorption] [Energy storage: 10.200/175.000] [Energy: discharge] [Energy: upgrade shop] [Energy: information] [Energy: restoration] [Energy: healing] [Energy: absorb shield] [Energy: reactive shield] [Energy: basic reinforced storage] [Energy basic drain touch] [Energy: sense] [Living god: presence] [Living god: half awaken] [Living god: wings] Passive skills: [Fire resist lv 15] [Commanding lv 3] [Mental reinforcement lv 5] [Pain resist lv 5] Mars widened his eyes slightly at his status, it was the first time ever that all his status had hit their top values, it was understandable though as he had levelled up 25 times from receiving his divine inspiration, Info floated over and patted him on the head [Very well done Mars, you are now more of a god than a living god] "...Thanks Info" [Well what comes next is way harder than divine inspiration though] "... Open the [Energy: upgrade shop]" Energy upgrade shop [Energy] class skill level up price: Divine mandate Class skills currently available: none "... It''s just one thing after the next... Info can you tell me what this Divine mandate is?" [Well if divine inspection is the knowledge of a class then divine mandate is masking the class entirely yours] "I don''t get it?" [You are now a god of energy so you have to form your own mandate, I can''t teach you it... Think of it as your own interpretation of the [Energy] class, for example a [Sword] mandate could be a sword domain where everything gets cut into pieces] "So it''s something like a special move?" [You could call it that... It''s hard to explain but it''s your interpretation of the [Energy] class and it has to be uniquely yours] "... I see" [By the way when you from your mandate you will have the ability to join me in true immortality and become an archangel yourself] "I want to smack around the shitbag administrator first" Info gave a smile and complained [.... You''re so violent as usual] "Well it''s in my blood" Chapter 243 - Academy life once again (5) "Oh right Info, I got another question for you" [What is it Mars?] "It''s about my skill that identifies magic beasts, it doesn''t work, why is that?" [Well it''s probably because it draws the information from the hunters and mercenaries guilds records, if there''s no record it will not show anything] "I see... Well that makes sense..." After chatting a bit more with Info Mars left the temple with an unusually quiet 78 in tow, the two of them walked back towards the academy grounds when 78 suddenly asked "Mars are you going to leave me behind?" "No, I am not going to do that" ".... But weren''t you going to join Info?" "That''s... Not going to happen in your lifetime" "... Promise?" "Yeah I promise" 78 clung to Mars when he promised with a happy smile on her face as the two of them walked into academy grounds and parted ways as it was late already, Mars walked to his room and spent some time to think up a training plan for Gorge and his friends before he sat down on the bed and began to meditate on his divine mandate. Before Mars noticed it was already morning but alas he felt that he had made zero progress on his mandate, he felt disappointed for a moment before he shook his head and thought ''One step at a time... I''ll get the mandate eventually...'' He knew that it wasn''t going to be easy to from his divine mandate so he decided to take it one step at a time ''... Let''s get ready for class'' Mars quickly switched gears and got ready for class by brushing his teeth before he made his way to the training field and sat down and continued his meditation until the students arrived, then he opened his eyes and stood up, or at least he was about to when he felt a stone getting thrown in his direction aimed at his head. Time slowed down for Mars as he quickly identified the student that had thrown the rock and caught it without opening his eyes *Grind* A low sound was heard that made the student that had thrown the rock freeze up as the dumb grin gradually disappeared from his face, Mars opened his eyes, stood up and walked over to the student before he said with a smile "Hold out your hand" "W-Why should I?" "Because I''ll kill you if you don''t" Mars released a moderate amount of killing intent as he spoke, the student instantly paled before he held out his trembling hand, Mars'' smile widened slightly before he held out his hand and slowly let the rock dust fall down onto the hand of the student that began trembling even more "You are no longer welcome in my class, leave" Mars turned around and walked out in front of the students again before he spoke up "I don''t demand much from you, only that you do your best and show me the minimal amount of respect that I demand as a teacher... Now let''s start class, everyone grab a wooden sword" The class went on as usual with the students improving leaps and bounds in the short hour they had to train in, Mars went with the student''s to grab breakfast before he went on to teach his next class which went without much trouble. Soon it was afternoon and Mars was preparing to teach his afternoon class when a teacher came to the training field and called out to him "Mars do you got a second?" "Sure, what do you need Henry?" Mars recognised Henry from the teachers meeting "We got a complaint from a student that you banned from your class" "Ah right, the little shit that threw a rock at my head I assume?" ".... Yes that would be him although he just said that you threw him out of class without reason" "Well if you speak with the other students I think you will see the picture, I won''t explain myself further as I have to prepare for class" "I see... Well I''ll do as you recommended then" Henry gave a nod and left the training field behind while Mars prepared for class, soon the students arrived and Mars taught class of course 78 was there too but instead of trying to get Mars'' attention all the time she spoke with a few friends and helped them train their [Swordsmanship], Mars gave a nod seeing her get a little bit more independent as the afternoon class slowly passed it was time to train Gorge and his friends. Mars as usual sat down and meditated until they showed up ''My mandate... Energy... Home...'' Mars felt numerous thoughts pass through his head, like floating clouds he was able to observe them from afar as they flowed on without distributing his state of mind but all too soon he had to wake up from his meditation as Gorge and his friends arrived "Well then let''s get started" Mars walked over and grabbed some wooden swords before he threw them to the group of four that easily caught them "What are we doing today Mars?" Katrina asked Mars that was doing some light stretches, Mars gave a smile and held his wooden sword up "As warm up we will be having a light four VS one spar, in other words all of you come at me" The four of them looked confused for a second before Katrina suddenly stepped forwards and slashed down on Mars that took a step backwards and narrowly avoided her swing before he yelled at the other three "Come on, move it!" The other three woke up from their daze and jumped at Mars, after about 10 minutes Mars was finished wiping the floor with them, they were all battered and bruised despite Mars not striking them once, the reason for their unsightly appearance was because they kept attacking without looking around them so when Mars dodged they often hit one of them resulting in the current situation. Mars gave a sigh and spoke with a wry smile "Well now we know what to improve on, no need to feel down after all knowing what you need to improve is half the battle" Mars'' words managed to cheer the four of them up somewhat Mars gave a nod seeing that the fire in their eyes still burned brightly and continued onwards with the training, this time it was one on one as Mars directly attacked and lightly struck their weak points while telling them how to improve at the same time, time passed and eventually the four students were all worn out from the training. Mars gave a smile and walked over to Gorge that was sitting on the ground and helped him up before he clapped him on the shoulder "Good work today" "Thanks Mars" Then he did the same with the rest of the group and made sure they were all standing before he spoke to them again "You all have done very well today, but remember that today is only the start on a long journey and that you have to keep it up for sometime before you will be able to see yourself improve... A certain amount of strength is needed to live freely in this world and I believe you all are on your way to obtain that strength... Well then see you tomorrow at the same time, same place" Mars walked off leaving the group of four alone on the training field to catch their breath before they looked at each other with wry expressions on their faces as they imagined doing the same thing tomorrow too but then Freya spoke "Tomorrow too... I don''t even know if I am able to move tomorrow..." Gorge gave a nod and so did the other two before he spoke "Well he is without doubt the best [Swordsmanship] teacher this academy has to offer, so of course his training is hard... Let''s just see if we can keep up with it" Kelvin gave a nod and spoke "My dad always said that strength is hard earned, now I kind of agree... There are no shortcuts" The other three gave nods before Katrina spoke "Well I am starving let''s go get some food..." The group of four left the training field to get some food, meanwhile Mars was starting his meditation without eating dinner and so before he noticed it was morning again and a new day had dawned as he got up and stretched before he walked towards the training field. Weeks passed like this and soon Mars had been teaching at the academy for a month, he was now completely used to his life at the academy, currently it was afternoon and Mars was waiting for Gorge and his friends to show up for training so as usual he sat on the training field and waited for them to show up ''...Tomorrow is the day of the field trip... Hopefully it will go smoothly'' Mars had been to a couple of meetings about the field trip and knew that there had been years where there had been casualties among the students and teachers so he hoped that this year would go okay Chapter 244 - The field trip (1) Mars sat and waited for the group of four to arrive, meanwhile he evaluated his progress so far on his mandate ''...Well it''s almost zero, but not quite'' there had been a tiny amount of progress or at least that''s what he felt ''Well whatever...'' Mars stood up and faced the four students that stood ready with wooden swords, compared to a month ago their temperament had clearly changed, all of them stood straight and the look in their eyes was slightly sharp like that of a drawn sword, Mars gave a nod and received a wooden sword from Gorge before he spoke "Let''s begin today''s lesson" As soon as Mars finished speaking they jumped at him like four hungry tigers, unfortunately for them Mars ate tigers for breakfast so although their attacks were well coordinated and timed Mars fended them off and made it look easy at the same time, of course had it been any other teacher he or she would have been in great trouble, still Mars wiped the floor with them for about 10 minutes as a warm up, then he spoke to them "Tomorrow is the day of the field trip so today instead of training I''ll treat you all to a meal in the city" """"Yes Mars!"""" The four of them answered by reflex so it wasn''t until a few seconds later that Kelvin spoke "Wait... So there''s no training today? Then why did we warm up?" Mars gave a slight smile before he spoke "Because I like to kick you guys around, now put down those wooden swords and follow after me" The four students gave wry smiles and followed Mars into the city and to a popular restaurant where Mars had booked a table "Now let''s get some food order what you want for today, I''ll pay" The students quickly looked at the menu and ordered what they wanted and soon everyone began eating and a good mood soon spread around the table, that was until the sound of glass shattering sounded out in the restaurant and the group looked over "I am very sorry, my hand seems to have slipped HAHAHAHA!" """HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!""" Mars saw a group of thugs, one of them had just thrown a glass filled with ale across the table at one of the waiters, Mars gave a sigh and spoke out to Gorge and Kelvin that was about to stand up "Sit down" "But Mars---" "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of it..." Mars gave a sigh and stood up from his seat and walked over to the four tugs that still were laughing in unpleasant voices and gave another sigh before he spoke to them "I am in a good mood today, if you leave quickly I''ll let you guys keep all your bones intact" The tugs looked over at him for a few seconds until one of them asked "Who the f.u.c.k do you think you are!? Telling us to leave, you know what if you kneel down and apologize I''ll let you die with an intact copse you f.u.c.k.i.n.g brat!" Mars gave yet another sigh, things went pretty much as he expected it to so he decided not to be polite and released a moderate amount of bloodl.u.s.t along with a few vermilion armour shards that formed mid air before he spoke again with narrowed eyes "Leave and I''ll let you keep all your limbs" The tugs exchanged glances before they all got up and quickly left the restaurant Mars gave yet another sigh and tuned down his bloodl.u.s.t again as the vermilion armour shards dissolved into red particles, Mars walked back to the table under the staff''s grateful gazes and sat down when Gorge asked him "Hey Mars, what kind of skill is it that you just used?" "It''s not a skill it''s pure bloodl.u.s.t, when it reached a certain level one is able to use it to form solid objects" "I see..." "Now don''t mind that, eat and be happy" "Sure Mars, you are paying after all!" Mars gave a wry smile and continued his meal. After eating and chatting for a few hours the group left the restaurant behind while the group of tugs from before watched them from a near by alley "Tell me again why we shouldn''t f.u.c.k that punk up?" "Because they are from the academy you dipshit" One of the tugs suddenly showed an unpleasant look before he laughed out loud "What are you laughing about?" "I just remembered, this years academy field trip is tomorrow right? I heard that a large group of bandits are targeting this years field trip!" ".... So you mean that that punk is dead anyway?" "Yeah so we don''t have to move a finger, he''s dead either way!" "HAHAHA f.u.c.k.i.n.g nice!" Mars returned to the academy along with the group of students and after they exchanged goodbyes he returned to his room and sat down on the bed and began meditating as usual... When the sun dawned someone knocked on Mars'' door, his eyes snapped open and he jumped off the bed and opened the door and saw a sleepy looking teacher that gave a yawn before he spoke to Mars "There''s a final meeting in 30 minutes at the usual meeting room" "Got it, I''ll change my clothes and head over" Mars closed the door and took off his clothes before he took a small basin of water and wiped himself clean before he took some fresh clothes on and left the room and headed to the meeting. Mars sat down and waited for the rest of the teachers to show up which they soon did, then the vice principal spoke up "It''s good that you''re all here... We have received some disturbing news, it seems like a large group of bandits are targeting this year''s field trip, that said it''s only a rumour but I would like you all to know in advance so you are prepared" Silence fell over the meeting room until one teacher spoke "Can''t we just cancel the trip?" "Not at this point no, besides we do now bow down to threats and we will protect our students so they can be nurtured up to be the elite of the next generation, that is our task and we will fulfil it, besides the field trip is already underway with the first group of students and teachers have already left so we must follow" Mars raised his hand to indicate he had something to say and the vice principal nodded at him before he began speaking "Can we hire some last minute mercenaries?" "... That''s an excellent idea, I wonder why I didn''t think of it... I will look into it, any other ideas?" Nobody said anything so the meeting ended rather quickly, Mars walked back to his room and picked up his backpack, the adamantite broadsword and the bone broadsword and walked out of the room and locked the door before he began walking towards the training field, he was responsible for a group of 30 students that he would have to take the train with and meet up with the rest of the academy at the city before they all headed out into the forest where the field trip would take place. Soon he arrived at the training field and found the group of students he was responsible for and spoke up "Gather around" When the students gathered a few moments later he gave a nod and spoke again "Some of you may know me, but for those who don''t I am Mars and I teach swordsmanship... Now are there any questions before we head out?" Mars waited but none of the 30 students spoke, Mars gave a nod and looked them over once before his eyes stopped at one student before he asked "Where''s your luggage?" "... Oh shit" Mars gave a sigh before a wry smile formed on his face "Go get it, We won''t leave you behind" "Y-Yes!" The student ran off amongst laughter from his fellow students, Mars put down his luggage before a student approached him and asked "Mars you said you are a swordsmanship teacher right?" Mars gave a nod "Yeah I am" "Do you mind if we spar as we wait for that guy to get his luggage?" "... In fact I do mind, we can spar when we arrive at the forest, no need to tire yourself out just yet" "... Okay that''s fair I''ll find you when we set up camp" "Sure" Mars and the students waited for the one student to return with his luggage, while he did ask if anyone else had forgoten anything but after a few secounds of silence it didn''t seem like anyone else had forgoten anything, soon the student that had forgot his bag returned with a slightly red face, this time he carried a backpack that seemed to have been packed rather quickly "Good, now let''s go to the train station, I trust you all know the way so I''ll keep up the rear" The group began moving and soon they arrived at the train station where Mars pulled out some papers which he need to show to the train personal before he boarded the train ''So far, so good...'' Chapter 245 - The field trip (2) Mars looked over the papers once more to make sure there weren''t any mistakes as he stood on the train platform and waited for the train ''Hmm... Everything looks to be in order now to check on the students, make sure they''re all here... Looks like it...'' Mars gave a nod as the train arrived at the platform, gradually slowing down before it came to a stop "Alright everyone gather around!" Mars called the students that soon gathered then they boarded the train after Mars showed his papers to the personal onboard the train, they were quickly shown to a waggon which was reserved for their use and sat down and waited for the train to depart which it soon did, as the rhythmic sound of the train continued Mars had to struggle to stay awake as he had not slept (but meditated) in the last month, so instead of sitting down he stood up and walked around and chatted with the students for the entire 3 hour trip. Soon the train stopped and Mars along with the group of students got off the train as they had reached their destination, Mars stretched as soon as they stepped out of the train and stifled a yawn before he lead the group onwards out of the city (which name Mars didn''t bother remembering). As soon as they left the gates of the city, the group of students began quieting down as they knew that dangers lived outside the walls of the cities from which they had been raised, as all of them were students of the academy they were from rather well off families thus they had not left the protection of the city walls that often. Mars gave a chuckle at their nervousness, there was only one way to learn how to fare in the wilds and that was something which the academy had planned to teach them during the field trip, Mars tried to ease the tension on the way but had little success as the group of students still looked around looking rather frightened so Mars decided not to bother about it and simply followed the map he had been given towards the meeting point which they reached half an hour later "And here we are, put down your luggage and relax for a bit" Mars also put down his luggage and sat down on the grass as he closed his eyes and began meditating again, or at least he would have liked to as a teacher in charge of one of the other groups approached him "Mars do you have some time now?" Mars reluctantly opened his eyes and gave a nod before he followed the teacher a little ways away from the group of students and asked "So what''s up?" "... Well we have found traces of the bandits already and so we are putting together a group of teachers that will be able to defend in case they attack us before we enter the forest" Mars gave a nod "Count me in, I always love a good fight" "I see, well we''re glad to have you, the signal is going to be ''marauders'', if you hear this word it means that the bandits have been spotted" "Okay, nice and simple... What about the students?" "... As cruel as it sounds they will have to fend for themselves while we fight the bandits, but hopefully it won''t get to that" "It won''t" The teacher gave a wry smile at Mars'' confidence before he also gave a nod "You''re right it won''t get to that..." Mars passed some time trying to sooth the students until it came, a yell in the distance "Marauders!" Mars stood up at once and grabbed his broadsword and began slowly and methodically unrolling the cloth that covered the blade, the group of students fell silent seeing this until one of them asked "What are you doing teacher Mars?" "I''m going to take care of some problems, remain alert and be sure to run instead of fighting and for the 13th sake keep together" "... Okay" Looking at the hardened face that the student had Mars gave a calm smile and stomped his foot instantly burning a large magic formation in the grass below the students, then he took out a magic beast core from his backpack and put it on a designated spot "A formation... What''s it for?" "Just a lucky charm... What''s your name?" "My name is Henrick" Mars gave a nod as vermilion particles began appearing around him and gradually formed into a set of full vermilion armour before he gave Henrick a pat on the shoulder and spoke to the rest of the students "Alright listen up, I''ll go deal with something, until I return Henrick here is the leader so listen to what he says!" Mars looked around and confirmed the student''s expressions before he gave a nod, swung the broadsword over his shoulder and walked in the direction of the shout, after walking for a few seconds he broke into a light sprint and soon arrived where he had heard the shout and found a group of battle ready teachers. Mars looked at the teachers and saw their nervous expressions and quickly called out to them "I take it no one here has any experience fighting in groups?... In that case I''ll take the lead, just follow me and be sure to show them no mercy, they are bandits out for our students. Remember that!" Mars looked around at each and every one of the teachers and confirmed their resolve before he gave a nod and cracked his neck, as he did horns grew out from his forehead which startled the teachers some, his eyes also turned from their original baby blue color to vermilion red like his armour just a shade darker before he gave a low growl as a bloodthirsty smile formed on his face "... Don''t mind me I am just a little excited" Mars looked to the front and took a few steps forward, now standing at the front of the formation of less than 20 teachers. Soon 50 plus bandit like men appeared in front of them, they wore cruel expressions and laughed loudly as they talked about what they were going to do with the young students once they caught them, this made some of the teachers paled while others harden their resolve, soon a large man that seemed to be the leader of the group stepped out front and spoke "Surrender and we might let you guys live" Mars gave a smile and activated [Instant movement] as he swung his broadsword and sent out a sword light that flew with blinding speeds and decapitated the leader bandit and cut into the bandits around him that let out howls of pain and fear, it had simply been too fast for them to react and when they did Mars stood in front of the first bandit and swung down his broadsword cleaving the unfortunate bandit''s body down the middle splitting it in half from one swing of his sword. Mars'' style of sword fighting had changed over the period he had trained 78 now he had shifted from preferring a single edged one handed sword to preferring a broadsword like the one he was using A howl was heard in the distance, it sounded like something a beast would make, certainly not something a person would make, this made the group of students a little nervous as they looked in the direction of the howl with slight fear but Henrick quickly spoke up "Calm down, Mars will be back soon" As he spoke the brushes in front of them shock slightly and a single drunk looking bandit stepped out and scratched his head before he looked over at the students and widened his eyes before he licked his dirty lips and drew out a sword before he began walking over "Don''t come any closer!" Henrick called out to the bandit as a warning but the bandit ignored him as he kept walking with a creepy smile on his face as he imagined how he was going to carve up the first female student he caught "Didn''t you hear me, I said don''t come any closer!" Henrick kept calling out but to no avail and soon the bandit had entered ''its'' range as the magic beast core lit up before it shattered and turned into dust as the energy from it was drained instantly, the energy or rather mana ran through the complex formation that had been burned into the ground with a special flame that left a burned substance that acted like a mana conductor, next the formation really came alive as it lit up with a red glow and a bunch of superheated air began forming above the students quietly like a viper waiting for its prey, then as the bandit crossed the five meter mark and the students were about to run the superheated air suddenly found a target, the bandit and was changed through the air and instantly flowed through the nose of the bandit and down the lungs of the bandit as it cooked his lungs instantly. The only thing the students saw was that the bandit froze and fell face first smelling a little brunt Chapter 246 - The field trip (3) Mars stood with a slight smile on his face, he stood amongst the gore and blood that spread out all over the forest floor as he enjoyed the aftermath of his carnage, as anyone knowing even a little about Mars would know the bandit''s all died horrible deaths with not a single corpse whole. "And that''s that" Mars waved his hand and a flame spread over the forest floor greedily ''eating'' all the corpses, gore and blood splatter turning them into ashes in mere seconds, then Mars gave a nod and dissolved the vermilion armor he was wearing before he walked back to the other teachers that stood and watched him in stunned silence, as Mars walked past them he spoke in a light tone as if he had just finished a light stroll "Call me if there''s any other trouble" Mars walked back to the group of students and found the single pest that managed to slip past but fortunately was dealt with by his magic formation and gave a nod before he waved his hand and turned the corpse into ashes. Then he turned to Henrick and gave a nod before he praised "Excellent work Henrick" "I-I really didn''t do anything..." Mars gave a wry smile and patted him on the shoulder before he walked over to the middle of the group and picked up the roll of cloth and began covering the blade of his broadsword again while he sat on the grass. As time passed more and more groups of students arrived and soon it was time for the academy field trip to begin for real as the group of students entered the forest in groups of 60 (two of the previous groups mixed together) students and two teachers entered the forest, each group were headed to different parts of the forest to set up camp and camp, hunt and generally survive for a week before they would head back to the academy, Mars'' group had been mixed with another group of students under Rick which Mars knew best among the teachers, he had even been out drinking a few times with him so he was happy to see a familiar face "Mars!" Of course there were also 78 in the other group along with Gorge and his friends so Mars felt quite lucky with how the group turned out, if only 78 would stop clinging to him that is... "Yes, yes 78 that''s about enough..." 78 ignored him and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder while she had a vice like grip on his arm, Mars could only give a sigh and try to endure the oh so cold gazes they were receiving from the students, Mars could only give a wry smile and ignore them while he (gently) tried to pull 78 off him In another place in the forest a group of about 200 bandits had made a rather big encampment, currently a small bald man was running through the camp past all the tents as he made his way to the big tent in the middle of the encampment, stopping briefly in front of the tent the man took a few deep breaths before he stepped into the tent and called out "Boss, it''s bad news!" Inside the tent sat a female demon and peeled an apple with a dagger, she had obsidian skin and two pale horns, she didn''t look up from the apple which she was peeling as she answered "What kind of bad news?" The small bald man was about to open his mouth but looked like he remembered something and quickly took a few steps backwards as he spoke "We''ve lost about 50 men boss, it was the vice leader that took a group of men to attack the students from the academy but..." The sounds of peeling stopped but the boss still didn''t look up from the apple as she spoke "But what?" "There was a man there, a teacher who used... The same skill as you boss" The sound of something being grabbed sounded out as the peeled apple fell to the ground and the boss appeared holding the small bald man by the neck as she lifted him up as she calmly asked him face to face "He used this skill? [Instant movement]?" "Not... Only... That..." The boss let go of the small bald man and walked back and picked up the apple from the carpet and dusted it off before she asked "What other skill did he use?" "That''s... He used condensed blood l.u.s.t to make armor..." A light lit up in the eyes of the boss as she spoke in a low voice "Gather the men, we have a new recruit to go get" "Yes boss!" Soon the small bald man returned along with two women and a beastman, they all bowed down to the boss that wore a bloodthirsty smile "Let''s go get our new recruit!" """Yes boss!""" The fire was dancing it''s dance, slowly moving from side to side as it swayed in the light wind, Mars as always sat and absorbed energy from the fire as he thought about stuff and things "Mars..." "Hmm?" Mars turned and saw Kelvin, the demon youth was standing a little away from the fire, Mars gave a smile and asked "What''s up Kelvin? should you not be asleep by now?" Kelvin gave a sigh and walked over before he took a seat next to Mars and likewise held his hands out to the fire before he slowly spoke "... Well I can''t sleep, 78 is snoring in the tent next to mine" "... I see, well sorry about that" The two of them fell silent until a few minutes later when Kelvin asked "Hey Mars, how come that 78 is so... Immature?" "Well..." Mars of course knew about it, it was because she spent 200 years in a tank but he was not going to tell Kelvin that so he shook his head and spoke "78 is an orphan, so she just likes to act spoiled when I am around" "... I see" Suddenly Mars'' ears twitched as he picked up something in the distance and gave a slight smile before he stood up and spoke "Kelvin go back to your tent, there''s something I need to take care off" Kelvin looked up at Mars and saw his serious expression "Okay" Mars gave a nod "Besides you have to be well rested for tomorrow''s training" "... We''re still doing that? I thought we would take a break during the field trip..." "Yeah well you thought wrong, now off to bed you go" Mars walked off towards his tent where Rick was snoring away without a care in the world and picked up a broadsword, the one made of bone before he silently flew off into the forest and soon found the things he had heard from the campfire ''Goblins... Well they have to die now that they''re this close to the camp...'' Mars swung the bone broadsword a few times sending bright sword lights into the night before he summoned a small flame which burned the corpses to ashes, then he went back to camp and sat himself in front of the fire in the middle of the camp again... As the morning sun gradually awoke Mars stood up and stretched before he walked back to his and Rick''s tent and woke up Rick "Morning Mars" "Good morning, now if you don''t mind I need to get some shuteye" "Of course, don''t worry I''ll take care of the students while you sleep" "Good... Well I leave them to you for a couple hours" Mars sat down on his sleeping bag and was about to begin meditating when he felt a wave of dizziness ''Guess 25 days without sleep is still the limit huh...'' Mars had been meditating as much as possible the last month and thus he had not had a proper rest for about 25 days, seeing as this was the limit he opened his eyes again before he opened up his sleeping bag and laid himself into it and slowly closed his eye as he regulated his breathing and soon fell asleep... Outside the tent Rick stretched before he lightly slapped his cheeks and gave a nod "Okay, let''s get this show on the road" Rick then walked up to a nearby tent and opened it up before he loudly called out "Good morning! Get out of bed!" His morning greeting was met with general sounds of displeasure from the four students inside the tent, Rick gave a grin and spoke out "Sure you can sleep a little longer but next time I come around I''ll pour water on your faces, now get up!" The four students gradually sat up and looked somewhat awake, Rick gave a nod and moved on to the next tent where he repeated the process of waking up the students until he had been all the way around the camp, then he gathered the students and began preparing some breakfast with them Chapter 247 - The field trip (4) After Rick and the students had prepared breakfast they gathered around and ate (leaving a portion for Mars of course) and then soon the daily activities began, groups went to gather edible plants and mushrooms while others stayed and practiced setting tents and cooking with limited tools, all in all it was basic survival training, or at least it was supposed to be "Stop running you brat!" Henrick was running, he didn''t know where he was going only that he needed to get away from the bandits that were chasing him, they had laid in ambush and captured a group of students ''Why?... Why? I thought all the bandits were dead!?'' The teachers had mistakenly assumed that the group of about 50 bandits that Mars slew was the whole of the bandit group, a grave mistake the students were now paying for ''Got to get away..!'' Henrick pushed his body far beyond the limits as he panted and felt like his legs had turned into two stone pillars which he was dragging forwards as he ran through the forest while the bandits were slowly gaining on him. Soon he broke into a clearing where another group of students where gathered, Henrick opened his mouth and tried to shout for them to run away, he knew he had brought the bandits straight to them so he at least wanted to tell them to run but his throat and lungs failed him, the group turned and looked at him with wonder and a girl ran up to him and asked if he was okay but Henrick only shoved her away as he finally managed to speak "Bandits!... Run!..." At the same time the group of bandits broke through into the clearing, seeing more fresh prey their eyes sparkled and they ran forwards and tried to grab the female student that had asked Henrick if he was okay but stopped at the last second as a bone broadsword descended right in front of them, the bandits, cowards by nature took some distance which allowed the beastwoman to call out to her friends while she eyed the bandits without much fear "Gorge, Kelvin, Freya, Katrina you guys brought your swords right?" Groge gave a smile and drew out his sword and so did the other three before they moved up and blocked the bandits from the other students, as a fierce fight ensued 78 stood with her bone broadsword over her shoulder, imitating Mars to some degree and eyed a bandit that was giving a different feeling than the rest with a calm child like smile on her face "Hey mister bandit, you''re a bad guy right?" The bandit gave a cruel smile as he drew his sword without answering 78 that continued speaking "Mars said I could kill bad guys so I''ll just assume you''re a bad guy" 78 swung the broadsword a few times with only one hand on the handle looking like she was warming up her shoulder before she put both hands on the handle and lowered her body posture slightly ''No way she can swing that sword around with those thin arms... This is going to be easy, can''t wait to play with her afterwards!'' The bandit didn''t want to give the initiative to what he considered to be prey so he kicked off the ground and charged at 78 and was about to slash down at her when he felt a light breeze and suddenly his vision shifted downwards "Eh?.." 78 gave a shrug as she looked at the dumbfounded expression on the now separated head of the bandit before she kicked off the ground and sprang into the group of bandits while her sword turned into a white blur as it blended the bandits into unrecognizable pieces of blood and gore while she hummed a happy melody with a child like smile on her face, soon the bandits began fleeing from the group of combat able students (mostly 78) but just as the first bandit was about to make it into the forest a blade descended and decapitated him in an instant stopping the others in their tracks as a greater beastman stepped out into the clearing, he looked like a bipedal gray wolf and wielded a scimitar in his hand "You bunch of cowards! How dare you flee from mere prey!" His roar stopped the bandits that now were between a rock and a hard place as they had 78 behind them and their vice leader in front of them, the vice leader looked over the students that remained in the clearing which was just 78, Gorge and his friends then he looked at the copses of his men that laid on the forest floor and narrowed his eyes slightly before he yelled "Let me deal with this" Then the ambient temperature suddenly fell as vermilion particles began swarming around the vice leader and soon formed into vermilion armor that covered his entire body including his head, leaving only a thin sliver where he looked through, the five students looked at the vermilion armor with horror as Kelvin suddenly muttered "It''s the same as Mars''" 78 narrowed her eyes as she found the armor slightly troublesome before she spoke "Run back to camp and get Mars" The four froze for a moment before Katrina gave a nod and spoke "Don''t die 78" The other three also said similar things before the four of them turned and ran towards the camp, some of the bandits ran a big circle around 78 and after them but 78 was not worried about that as they were running towards Mars and therefore also their doom, instead she focused on the vice leader in front of her as she slowly lowered her stance before she asked "Hey are you a bad guy?" "Hehehe..." The vice leader only let out a laugh as he narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly closed the distance to 78 until he was right outside her range before began circling her a few times until he suddenly punched and slashed out with his scimitar *CLANG* The vice leader took a step backwards as his eyes slightly widened while he looked at 78 and then yelled "Looks like you''re not just any prey!" Then he once again closed the distance and let out a flurry of slashes and hacks as he attempted to break 78''s defence, loud clangs sounded out as sparks filled the air while the vice leader slashed at 78 while he laughed loudly before he pulled back slightly and yelled "I haven''t had this much fun in ages!" Then the vice leader continued his assault, 78 kept defensive as she blocked the scimitar with the broadsword with a slight frown on her face, she knew she had to hold out until Mars arrived but she was getting more and more annoyed at the bandits laughs and jeers as she slowly was being pushed back and finally she was unable to take it anymore and began counter attacking. After she reflected a slash from the scimitar she slashed out with her broadsword which counted with the bandit''s vermilion armor which let out a loud clang as vermilion sparks flew into the air and the bandit was pushed back, but instead of taking any real damage he just let out an even louder laugh and yelled "Now we''re really playing! Be sure to entertain me some more!" From there the fight gradually grew more and more one sided with 78 getting winded from poor control over her strength, (un)lucky for her the bandit seemed more intent on causing her pain than actually winning the fight as he cut shallow cuts on 78 as he laughed louder and louder until a few minutes later he became seeming frustrated as he yelled "WHY WON''T YOU SCREAM!?" Then he slashed at the bone broadsword making a loud clang sound out as it was sent flying through the air before he stabbed the scimitar into 78''s stomach, with the sound of flesh being torn the scimitar now dyed red with blood emerged on 78''s back before it was rapidly pulled out before his fist landed on 78''s face knocking her to the ground as she screamed in pain "That''s right! SCREAM FOR ME BITCH!!!" 78 felt the world around her blur from the pain of her wound as her scream was cut short by a solid kick that landed on her stomach which send her rolling as her blood dyed the grass beneath her, as soon as she was able she once again let out a scream from the pain. This of course brought her no solace as another kick landed on her stomach and she once again let out a howl of pain "HAHAHAHA!!! THAT''S RIGHT BITCH SCREAM FOR ME! MAN I HAVE NOT BEEN THIS HARD IN AGES!!!" 78 felt the world around her go blurry as she suddenly was grabbed by her fluffy ear and pulled up on her feet as she came face to face with the bandit that had now removed his helmet to better see her in pain, he leaned in and whispered to her "Why don''t you scream some more?" 78''s blurry eyes suddenly focused as the teeth in her mouth began growing sharper as they transformed before she suddenly opened her mouth and sank her teeth into the neck of the vice leader that widened his eyes before he screamed in pain and pushed 78 away from him which dug out a large portion of his neck, unfortunately for 78 she had not bit deep enough to sever his artery "YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU BITE ME!" The enraged bandit raised his scimitar aiming at 78''s neck but as it descended it hit a plate of vermilion armor that had formed midair, then before he noticed a youth with pale horns appeared in front of him and softly put his hand on the vice leaders chest Chapter 248 - The field trip (5) The bandit leader walked through the forest along with her two female vice leaders, they were in a good mood chatting and laughing along the way when suddenly ''something'' flew right past them and crashed into a tree followed by a loud boom as the tree splintered into pieces "Go check it out!" "Y-Yes boss!" One of the vice leaders quickly ran over and investigated what exactly it was that had crashed into the tree and after a few seconds she let out a scream before she yelled to the bandit leader "Boss it''s Kenny, they killed Kenny!" The other vice leader covered her mouth, she had been in a very good relationship with the beastman vice leader, soon fury lit up in her eyes as she yelled "Those bastards!" The vice leader drew her swords and was about to rush forward when suddenly she received a slap to her face as the bandit leader appeared right in front of her "Calm down!" "But they killed---" "I know that''s why you have to calm down, we can only avenge Kenny if we work together and are calm and collected!" "... I understand" "Good, now let''s go find the son of bitch that killed Kenny, along with our new recruit" ""Yes boss!"" The bandit leader gave a sigh, she faintly felt that their new recruit and the one that killed Kenny were the same person, she of course didn''t say this out loud ''Well with that kind of skill he should be worth two of my vice leaders if not more... This works out too'' The group of three calmly walked forwards and soon they reached a clearing where a single person sat holding a beastwoman in his embrace, the person had long pale horns and the boss knew immediately that this was their new recruit, the one that was able to condense his blood l.u.s.t. Next she turned her gaze to the beastwoman that laid in his embrace and when she saw the amount of blood that was on her clothes she gave a slight smile, she knew the beastwoman had died or was about to "You! Where you the bastard that killed Kenny!?" The youth raised his head and looked at the three women before he raised a finger in front of his lips indicating for them to be silent, this of course pissed off the vice leader even more as she once again yelled "You bastard, I asked you a question, were you the one that killed Ken---" "Annoying, I told you to be quiet mortal, 78 is sleeping" Mars waved his hand at the same time the vice leader clutched her head before she suddenly began bleeding out of her eyes and nose before she collapsed onto the ground, the remaining vice leader and bandit leader both sucked in a breath of cold air, from their numerous experiences with death they were able to tell that she was dead. Moments passed until the bandit leader began speaking with a slightly shaking voice "Hey you''re the one right? The one among the teachers that can condense bloodl.u.s.t right? Just like this..." The bandit leader raised her hand and soon a vermilion armor shard formed floating on top of her hand, Mars looked on undisturbed, this caused the bandit leader to panic somewhat as she quickly spoke "You''re a killer right? since you can condense blood l.u.s.t your thirst for blood must be enormous like mine right?" Mars closed his eyes, the bandit leader took this as him admitting it and grew even more excited as she began yelling "In that case why stay a teacher, join us instead! That way you can kill to your heart''s content! Now swear loyalty to me and I''ll set you free! Come, what are you waiting fo---" "You''re loud" Without a sound the bandit leader also fell over, bleeding from her eyes, nose and mouth, she was dead too. Mars turned his eyes to the remaining bandit vice leader that shrunk back with fear visible in her eyes "... If you manage to leave the forest before 78 wakes I''ll let you live" The vice leader nodded her head and then she turned and ran, leaving Mars alone with 78 in the clearing, he had long since healed her now he was just waiting for her to regain consciousness while he held her in his arms ''...'' Mars'' head was clear, like a clear lake, completely undisturbed but under the surface a storm raced violently as his sword hand trembled slightly. Slowly the lake of his mind began showing faint ripples and soon he couldn''t help but whisper "I almost lost you..." Faces of the people important to him flashed through his head as he could not help but wonder if he already had lost them too? Had he seen his numerous loved ones for the last time already? "No... They are all alive..." Mars quickly convinced himself, they had to be alive, they were safe in Green river, all of them, they had to be safe... Had to be, quickly he felt an urge to give up everything here and just rush back, but quickly he slowly shook his head and thought ''What use is it if that shitbag administrator just throws me away again?... I have to get stronger, strong enough to beat him up so bad that he would not dare to hurt me or the ones close to me again...'' A faint light of revolution shone in Mars'' eyes as he looked up at the sky past the clouds up towards his current enemy, suddenly Mars felt a soft touch at the side of his face and looked down and saw 78 had awoken and was stroking his cheek "Hey... I knew you would save me Mars" "I almost didn''t... Sorry" 78 showed a smile and continued stroking Mars cheek for some time until she spoke again "What about the other bandit''s?" "I''ll get to them in due time, you are more important" "But the other students..." Mars gave a sigh before he spoke again "As I said you are more important, this living god has decreed it so" 78 gave a laugh before she showed a very happy smile, after all the person she loved most called her important, twice. But she knew she could not be selfish for much longer as the other students needed Mars'' help "... I am okay now" "Really?" "yeah... So you don''t have to worry... Go kill the bad guys" ".... Fine, stay here I''ll be right back" Mars put 78 down on the grass before his figure blurred and disappeared from 78''s vision, for the next few minutes the forest was filled with screams before it quieted down and Mars returned to the clearing and sat down next to 78 that still laid on the grass with her eyes closed "Let''s go back to camp" 78 opened her eyes and quickly got on her feet before she reached out her hand to Mars and helped him up, Mars walked over and picked up the bone broadsword before 78 latched onto his free arm and the two of them began slowly walking back towards the camp while chatting... The field trip ended, after all it could not continue in a forest filled with mangled corpses for obvious reasons. Mars used most of the day heading back to the academy with his group of students in tow, the return trip was quiet, none of the excitement from the trip out to the forest remained, after all most of the students had had close contact with bandits ''Well they will get over it... Or they won''t'' While it might seem cold Mars didn''t really care if the students recovered from their trauma, after all to him they were still mere mortals, but 78 was different after all there was a saying that went ''you don''t know how important something is until you lose it'' and as Mars had almost lost 78. Thus he swore to do better in the future as 78 already had taken a solid place in his heart, Mars didn''t realize that yet however, after all, Mars is a very dense person... Back at the academy Mars sat down his backpack and looked around the room he was assigned to by the academy ''4 months left... I should be able to make some progress on my mandate during that time... Well let''s take it one step at a time...'' Mars sat down on the bed and meditated for sometime until a knock sounded out from the door to his room, Mars jumped off the bed and walked over and opened the door and came face to face with Rick that wore a smile on his face as he asked "Wanna go drinking?" "Sure, let me get my wallet real quick... There, let''s go" Mars and Rick walked down the hallway as Rick asked "Where do you want to go?" "Hmm... Let''s just go to the usual place" "Sure" Chapter 249 - Those that were left behind Morning slowly began, Chloe opened her eyes and reached out next to herself, but as she had gotten used to she only felt the sheets, long gone was the warmth that she used to feel that lit up her world ''He''s still not home...'' Chloe sat up and stretched on the bed, while she did her shoulder length blonde hair swayed slightly to the side as she cracked her neck before she jumped out of bed, her green vertical eyes showed a hint of tiredness, ever since she had received the dragon blood her body was in much better shape than it used to be(even though she still lazed around as much as usual, although she had gotten a little more active than before) "Well then let''s do our best today..." With that to motivate herself Chloe got on her way with her day, first off were breakfast which had to be made, another thing which she had gotten better at doing lately, Chloe put on a shirt (one of the ones that Mars had left behind of course) and walked out of her room into the hallway and eventually made her way to the kitchen where another person was in full swing in the kitchen so she greeted her "Good morning Elsa" Elsa''s tail waved slightly from side to side as she tasted the food she was making before she turned to Chloe, like Chloe her brown eyes were also vertically split like that of a dragon, she gave a slight smile when she saw Chloe ''You''re still pushing yourself Elsa...'' Chloe looked into Elsa''s eyes and saw the same grief she knew from the looks she exchanged with the mirror everyday and also gave a smile as Elsa greeted her back "Good morning Chloe" Elsa wore a light brown apron that matched her hair color, she like Chloe had short hair, about shoulder length and two fluffy dog like ears on top of her head that twitched slightly, Elsa handed a light green apron to Chloe and the two of them got to work with breakfast, as they were about to be done with the food the sound of footsteps behind them made both of them take a look "Good morning Elsa, Chloe" Chloe slightly stiffened but soon showed a smile as she greeted back "Good morning Mary, I didn''t know you were home" "Well I returned late last night... anyway I''ll set the table" While Elsa also greeted Mary Chloe sneaked a peak at Mary, as a half elf she had youthful looks but the dark circles under her eyes and her slightly dead eyes showed Chloe that her condition was getting worse. Ever since Mars had disappeared she had been working in a forest patrol were she had once again earned the nickname ''Bloody Mary'' for her ruthlessness when dealing with outsiders, in other words she was pushing herself and was bound to break for real sometime soon, of course things would not get so far if the rest of the girls had anything to say about it "Chloe snap out of your thoughts please" "Oh sorry Elsa..." Chloe woke up from her daze and cracked another egg into the bowl before she stirred it around making scrambled eggs, the dish she was most confident in making so far(she left all the hard to make stuff to Elsa), then she purred the egg mass onto the pan and fired it into scrambled eggs before she took the pan off the heat and brought it over and sat it on mat when Elsa called out "Can you go wake Varvei?" "...Sure" Chloe took off her apron and walked towards the dragon''s lair, Varvei''s room, soon she arrived and after taking a deep breath she knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for a response "Good morning Varvei, it''s time for breakfast" But alas the room was empty, Chloe gave a slight frown before it eased up as she gave a sigh then she set out towards the roof where she knew she would find Varvei and maybe even Yel. Soon she opened the door to the rooftop and stepped out into the fresh morning air, at this point in time Chloe regretted a bit not having worn some pants when she woke up as the only defence against the cold morning air was currently her pure cotton panties, Chloe pulled the shirt down a bit as she walked out onto the roof ''Now where are those two battle freaks at..?" Chloe was about to sharpen her ears when she heard the sounds of metal meeting metal nearby and gave a sigh as she walked over towards the sounds, soon she found Varvei and Yel, both of them had taken the same approach to Mars'' disappearance and that was that he had given up on them because they were weak, so now they were training every moment they were awake, this didn''t help them get stronger it simply wore down their bodies at a rather fast pace as they often skipped meals and sleep in their pursuit of ''getting strong enough for Mars to return'' "Varvei, Yel breakfast is served" The sound of air being cut sounded out as Varvei''s long spear cut through the air narrowly missing Yel that responded with her own mithril spear by sending out a stab towards Varvei that blocked the stab with a swipe of her transformed tail then the two of them pulled apart and looked over at Chloe that gave a smile and greeted them "Good moring" Varvei gave a sigh and looked over at Yel before she spoke "Let''s leave it at this for now and get some food" "...Sure" Both of them put down their spears and followed Chloe down the stairs off the roof, soon the three of them arrived at the dinner table and took their seats before all five began eating in silence while they sneaked peaks at the chair at the end of the table, Mars'' chair... After a very quiet breakfest Chloe walked back to her room and got dressed in a formal suit before she made her way out of Mars'' building, walking on the streets of Green river Chloe made her way towards the giant tree on the bridge in the middle of the city, after greeting the receptionist she made her way upstairs towards her office, Chloe was currently being trained as so she could take over for her father the current day to day leader of the village ''Let''s do my best today too...'' Chloe got to work handling paperwork that was mostly about the expenditure of the village, thus she had a very good idea what the village was currently doing ''War huh... Well with the things Mars made it''s clear that the elders are eager to try them out...'' speaking of Mars a new leader of military technological development had already been chosen, as well as a new marshal of course this wasn''t the same person, only Mars had the capabilities of being both at once. The current head of military technological development was fighting a legal battle with Chloe over the rights to Mars'' workshop which had already been going on for a few months, that bastard was treating Mars as a dead man and his workshop as ''property belonging to all of Green river'' "Shit... Just thinking about makes me sick..." Another thing that made Chloe sick was the elders, they were as usual doing nothing about the blatant greed the head of military technological development showed for Mars'' toys, it was as if they had forgotten that Mars existed in the first place. There were even some movements to size Mars'' building and award it to someone else, this of course was something that would never happen as the elders would basically have to officially declare Mars for dead, something which they wouldn''t do based on the fact it might backfire if Mars suddenly showed up some years from now, their attitude left meany unhappy about Mars and the girls(since they could not complain about the elders they would complain about the girls instead) "Chloe" Chloe looked up from her desk and saw her father had walked into her office and gave a slight frown as she looked down on her paperwork again and asked while she worked "What is it dad?" Chloe''s dad, the current leader of day to day stuff in Green river sat down on a couch inside Chloe''s office and waited for a bit before he asked "Have you given that some thought?" Chloe stopped working and looked up at her dad with anger clear in her eyes before she yelled "LEAVE NOW!" Chloe''s dad gave a sigh before he walked over and laid a folder on her desk before he walked out of her office, Chloe looked down at the folder that was titled ''marriage candidates'' with clear disdain before she picked it up and set it alight with some fire magic and threw it in the bin before she muttered "...Please come home soon Mars" Chapter 250 - Hero summoning (1) Four months passed rather quickly for Mars, he thought, ate, madeitated and sometimes he would sleep. Now he was standing on the platform waiting for the train that would take them to the end of the continent, 78 was standing next to him, she was unusually quiet, most likely she was sad that she would not see her friends from the academy again. There had been a grand goodbye party the day before, all the teachers and most of the students he had educated in the way of the sword had attended and Mars had a smile on his face the entire night, but alas now it was time for him to leave, he said his final goodbyes at the gates of the academy. Mars, dense as he had offered her to stay at the academy while he left with a vague promise to come get her in the future, this got him beat up quite badly by a crying 78, thus he had to promise never to leave her behind again. The train eventually arrived and so for the next long while all they had to entertain themselves were the rhythmic sound of the train tracks as the train passed over it, Mars wanted to use this time to meditate but had to entertain 78 most of the day, thus he could only meditate at night. Thus two more months passed, it has now been a little more than a year since Mars was thrown into the jungle by the administrator, as he realized a year had passed he felt his hatred towards the administrator grow by a sizeable degree but soon rained in his killing intent as the two of them stepped out of the train and as Mars stretched he looked around, this was the far eastern end of Heden, he had arrived at the western end when he arrived from the jungle. "Hey Mars where are we going now?" "Towards the sea... We need to fly quite some way until we reach the next continent according to Info it should take us about a week..." "Okay, then let''s get going Mars" "Sure" Mars and 78 walked out of the town centre and made their way towards the sea, the continent they were heading towards was not known by the citizens of this continent and thus there was no trade between them and no trade meant no sh.i.p.s going between them, so Mars could only fly them there. Soon the two of them arrived at the beach, the wide ocean spread out in front of them, 78 marvelled at the sight and hugged Mars'' arm, Mars looked at the compass in his hand and confirmed the direction they had received from Info before he picked up 78 in his arms, he had spent the last day of the train ride sleeping so he would be able to fly for a week straight and now he was ready to go and so amongst the other beachgoers Mars lifted off and quickly disappeared into the horizon... A flashing light suddenly appeared and swallowed up Jake. Jake was a usual mob A high schooler, he was not very outdoorsy and spent most of his days playing games and reading novels on the net and the next thing he knew was that he appeared in a grand hall standing inside a circle of candles surrounded by a group of robed men and women that all looked at him ''No way...'' Jake immediately realized what situation he was in, from the countless novels and manga he had read he knew that the next words spoken by the robed characters would determine his fate, he felt the seconds stretch before finally one of the robed figures spoke "O hero!" The other robed figures bowed down before they repatriated """""O hero!""""" A smile crept onto Jake''s face before he quickly hid it away and tried to remain calm as he spoke "... Can someone explain the current situation to me?" Some of the robed figures let out gasps of admiration for the hero''s solid mind, most of them would have assumed that the hero would break down in fear or deny reality, the one that had spoken first spoke again "I can explain the situation, but let''s move location first" "... Very well" Jake gave a calm nod and followed after the robed figure out of the room and out onto a grand hallway with luxurious paintings and pieces of art, Jake glanced around as he tried to contain his excitement ''Holy shit, it actually happened! I have been summoned to another world!'' Trying his best to contain his excitement Jake followed after the robed man that turned left into a room, Jake followed after and saw the room were two couches facing each other, the robed man sat down on the couch and pulled down his hood and revealed his aged looks "Please sit hero" Jake gave a nod and sat down and before the aged man had a chance to say anything he spoke "Correct me if I''m wrong but... There should be a demon king invading the human lands right?" The aged man looked surprised for a moment before he gave a nod "It is as you say hero, the demon king certainly is invading the human lands along with the beast empress, but how did you know sir hero?" Jake waved his hand in front of his face "My name is Jake please call me that.... As for how I knew the world where I come from there are stories about everything, I just happened to have read a story about a person being summoned to fight a demon king and I just took a wild guess" "I see... A story huh..." Something flashed in the eyes of the aged man before he spoke in a strong tone "But this is the reality for us" Jake gave a nod "I know and since you summoned me it''s the reality for me too, don''t worry, I know that" "Then will you aid us?" Jake thought back to his old world, no parents, no friends and certainly no lover before he gave a nod and spoke "Since you have need of me I''ll gladly assist" The aged man let out a sigh of relief before began explaining the current situation to Jake "My name is Aguestus Vladimir, I am the current king of the kingdom of Vladimir, currently our kingdom is under attack from two fronts by both the demons and the beastmen. The current situation seemed hopeless but then a miracle happened, we were granted a summoning spell by the archangels of Alfan that brought you here" "I see... I would like to ask a rather serious question, is that okay?" "Sure ask away sir Jake" "What exactly is the advantage of summoning a hero? after all I am but one person, how could I turn the tide against the demon king and beast empress?" The king gave a smile and stood up "For that we will have to change location to the chapel, please follow me sir Jake" Jake gave a nod and followed after the king towards the chapel, as they walked through the hallways Jake sneaked looks at the maids that walked around the castle and bowed down to the king as he walked past, soon the two of them arrived at the chapel and walked into the prayer room that was for royalties use. Inside the prayer room Jake looked around with curiosity and walked up to the altar and was about to touch the avatar when the king grabbed his hand "I would not advise touching the avatar sir Jake, it is known as one of the most painful ways to die" "... Thank you" Jake pulled back his hand and looked at the avatar with his eyes instead of with his hands for sometime before he turned away from the altar and walked over towards the crystal ball in the middle of the room and asked "Is it safe to touch this crystal ball?" "Yes it is, that''s what we''re here for after all, please put your hand on the crystal ball sir Jake" Jake gave a nod and put the palm of his hand onto the crystal ball that soon lit up before words appeared in the air right in front of his face Current Job: [Hero] Job level: 1/10 Job history: none Jake looked at the words with slight confusion and turned to the king that calmly spoke "That''s the reason why we summoned you sir Jake, because your job is that of a Hero" "... I don''t quite understand, can you explain jobs in a little greater detail?" "Sure, let me show you my jobs first" Jake took his hand off the crystal ball and the king put his hand on the crystal ball that then lit up and showed a new set of words Current Job: [Wise king] Job level: 6/10 Job history: [Prince], [Crown prince], [New king], [Experienced king] "Each job you have, both as your current job and those in your job history bring you benefits, for example, my [Crown prince] job gave me a boost in learning the skills [Swordsmanship], [Thunder magic] and [Ruleing]..." "I see... Then what skills are given boosts with my [Hero] job?" The king gave a smile and spoke "All of them" Chapter 251 - Hero summoning (2) "All of them!?" "Yes and if the words from the archangel that bestowed us the summoning spell is to be believed it''s not just double or triple... It''s much more, and that''s just the first [Hero] job..." The king let out a sigh of admiration meanwhile Jake didn''t quite get how much of a cheat he had received, but he did get one important thing, and that was that his job was a growth type job and what he needs most right now was two things, time and proper teachers "...Can you do me a favor Aguesteus?" "I''ll try, if it''s not too unreasonable" "Can you find some teachers for me, I need to get to work at once" A light lit up in the kings eyes before he spoke "...While I admire your spirit it''s already late, I''ll show you to your quarters... It will not be too late to start tomorrow" Jake gave a nod "I understand" Jake was showen to his new room(which was twice as big as the one in his old world) personally by the king and soon he laid under the coweres with a dumb smile on his face as he slowly fell asleep... The next morning, Jake was woken up by a maid which made him realize that he really was in another world and that what he experienced yesterday was indeed not a dream, after refusing the maids help to get dressed and politely insisting that she leaved the room so he could get dressed Jake wore the clothes that were provided to him by the king. The clothes were what Jake would call medieval training clothes, a gray loose fitting pair of pants and a grey loose fitting shirt "...Okay let''s do this" Jake being led by a maid walked through the castle while feeling a little nervous ''What if I don''t meet their expectations...'' Jake quickly shook his head ''The king said that the [Hero] job boosts the likelihood of receiving and learning skills by quite a bit... I should be fine... I hope'' Soon Jake arrived at a courtyard where a group of knights were practicing, nearby stood the king, now dressed in a lot more ''king'' like clothes than the grey robe he wore yesterday and chatted with a knight that had a magnificent mustache. Jake walked over and quickly greeted the king "Good morning" "Oh, Jake you''re here... This is the one that will be training you in the way of the sword, he is the head knight instructor and is named Gunnar" Jaklin, the knight instructure looked over Jake once and gave a nod before he laughed loudly and spoke while he patted the king on the shoulder "I can work with this, don''t worry Aguestes I''ll make a decent swordsman out of him yet!" "I leave it in your capable hands Gunnar, you will have to excuse me Jake I have work to do" After saying dose words the king turned and left the training field leaving Jake alone with Gunnar, Gunnar walked up to Jake with a big bear like smile on his face before he reached out his right hand to Jake "I know the king just introduced us but let''s do this properly, my name is Gunnar I lead the daily training of the carstle''s knights" Jake shook hands with Gunnar while he introduced himself "I am Jake, I''ll be in your care" Gunnar laughed once again before he gestured for Jake to walk with him while he asked "So Jake, have you ever held a sword or practised any kind of martial arts?" Jake shook his head "No I am entirely new to this... I hope you don''t mind" "Don''t worry about it, sometimes it''s actually good to have a blank slate to work with... Let''s start with the basics, finding out what kind of sword suits you the best, this will not only help you find your favorite weapon it will also give you some experience with different swords which will help if you have to pick up a different sword on the battlefield" Jake kept an open mind and gave a nod at Gunnar''s explanation "I see. that does sound logical" "Let''s start with this sword..." Gunnar picked up a wooden sword and handed it to Jake, the wooden sword was a basic two bladed model which was the kind the knights were using to train with currently, Jake received the wooden sword and put both hands on the handle "That looks good, now try swinging it and tell me if it''s too light or heavy" "Okay..." Jake raised the sword up over his head and swung it down, while he did he felt something within him overflow and suddenly the wooden sword''s handle felt a lot more familiar, Jake had a look of shock on his face but quickly swung the sword again, this time his movements were a lot more smooth and stable. Gunnar that were watching let out a gasp before his eyes began shining as he laughed once more and spoke in a loud voice "Good, very good Jake!" "Is this..?" "Yes you have acquired the [Swordsmanship] skill!" Jake got excited and so did Gunnar and after trying out some different kinds of swords and some light sparing Jake was already level 3 in [Swordsmanship], alas the time Jake had to practice with Gunnar for the day passed and it was time for his magic training, after a quick shower Jake wore a new set of grey training clothes and followed another maid towards the esaten most tower of the castle were his magic teacher waited for him. As he neared he got more and more excited after all Swordsmanship was someting he had in his old world bu this was magic, real f.u.c.k.i.n.g MAGIC! to say the least Jake was very excited to meet his new teacher which he accepted to be a bearded old man wearing a grey robe, but when he arrived at the easternmost tower he was surprised at the looks of his magic teacher "My is this the one... He certainly doesn''t look like someone from a different world..." Leaning in and staring at his face was a young, pretty woman with long blonde hair and yellow eyes wearing a robe which poorly concealed her deadly ''assets'' from view, Jake froze up as the woman inspected him with cat like curiosity while she circled around him a few times before Jake managed to wake up from his daze "Umm... My name is Jake, you are..?" "My name is Jacklin, I am a lightning mage like his majesty and will be teaching you magic, but first let''s have a look at your attunements, basically what kind of magic you can use" Jacklin grabbed Jake by hand and half dragged him into the slightly dim room and over to a rather big slightly opaque crystal that stood in one of the six connores of the room, Jacklin rather forcefully put Jake''s hand onto the crystal that soon lit up with three collores, red, blue and yellow "Oh... a triple" "Umm... What does that mean?" "It means you have three kinds of magic you can use, normal people only have one kind, rare people have two and almost none have three, as for four that has never been seen before so I kind of hoped you would have four... But never mind that" Jacklin seemed a little disappointed and just as Jake was about to try and cheer her up she suddenly changed gears and dragged him to another corner of the room and sat him down at a table before she walked over to the other side and also sat down and began speaking "Now the three kinds of magic you can use is fire, water, and lightning. Lightning I know since I am a lightning mage so I can teach you some of my spells but for the rest you will have to use grimoires" "...Grimoires? Like magic books?" "Yes they teach spells, wait a moment I think I have some laying around..." Jacklin stood up from her chair and went digging though the room for a few minutes before she put some ordinary looking books on the table and picked one of them out "Okay, let''s start with this one" She then slid the book across the table to Jake that picked it up from the table and opened it and found it blank and was about to ask Jacklin about it but when he looked across the table he found she had a fox like grin on her face and suddenly he felt very tired and closed his eyes as his head slammed into the table as he had leaned over forwards... Next Jake found himself inside a pure balck space, he looked around but only found pure darkness, after sometime a flame lit up in the distance and soon it closed the distance and floated around him a few times before it flew off into the distance again, next it was a ball of water that shone in a blue light that also circled around him a few times before it flew off, next a bolt of ball lightning floated up to him and around him a few times before it also disappeared. Then finely the ball of fire, water and lightning all appeared at the same time and suddenly flew into him and was absorbed by him, Jake felt the elemental energies crash against each other before they eventually balanced out, then he blacked out once again... Chapter 252 - Hero summoning (3) As Jake opened his eyes again he felt a splitting headache and clutched his head before he suddenly smelled a soothing fragrance and looked up "Is this... Tea?" A cup of tea stood in front of him, the cup had some cute flowers painted on its side, then he heard Jacklin''s voice "Drink, it will help with the headache" "Okay..." Jake put his lips to the cup and sipped some tea and felt his headache slowly disappear as he slowly slipped the tea while Jakclin shuffled her chair closer to Jake''s side of the table with an excited look on her face while she asked "So what did you see?" "Well..." Jake explained what he had seen to Jacklin that gradually lost her excitement and looked disappointed before she spoke "What so just the usual... Oh well, you should be able to use some spells now, judging from what you said you should be able to use basic ball magic, like this..." Jacklin pointed up towards the ceiling and a ball of lightning apparead over her finger for a few seconds before it disappeared, Jake was about the same when he was stopped by Jacklin "Wait hold it! No way you''re trying to use a spell for the first time in my room..! Let''s go to the practice range" Jake gave a nod and followed Jacklin to the practice range which was located next to the practice field, when they stepped out of the castle Jake discovered that it was already dark and the night had come, apparently he had been out of it for longer than he expected when he was learning from the grimoire "Okay, now when you use the spells be sure to tune them down as much as possible... Just... Take it easy okay?" Jacklin walked over behind some sandbags and only popped out her head while she was wearing safety goggles, suddenly Jake didn''t feel very good about using the spells and asked her "What are the changes it goes wrong?" Jacklin gave a nervous laugh and ducked her head a little more down, which in of itself was all the answer Jack needed "Well... No danger, no progess" Jake closed his eyes and held out his hand while he decided to start with the water spell and when he opened his eyes after a few seconds a water ball had formed on top of his hand "Good now you need to activate the second part of the spell structure and fire the water ball at the targets!" Hearing Jacklin''s advice Jake focused on firing the spell for a second until suddenly it fired off into the target, or at least it should have but didn''t it hit the ground half a meter from the target and dug a rather deep hole in the ground from the speed of the water ball had as it impacted ''This is kinda lethal... Well it is meant for combat after all...'' Jake focused and fired off another spell when he suddenly felt something within him overflow just like it had when he was practicing [Swordsmanship] earlier and got excited and yelled to Jacklin "Jacklin I just leveled up!" "Already..!? Well the king did say that you would level up fast..." Jake gave a smile and continued practicing, a few hours later he had leveled up [Water magic], [Fire magic] and [Lightning magic] to level 3, 3 and 2 respectively. As for the reason he didn''t level up [Lightning magic] to level 3 was that he simply had run out of time and it was late, Jacklin even fell asleep(although she wouldn''t admit it) while he was practicing, Jake said goodnight to Jacklin and headed back to his room and soon fell asleep... The next morning Jake woke up feeling oddly motivated to learn again today, this continued for about a week, after a week had passed it was decided by the king that the hero should be shown off to the soldiers that were going to the front to boost morale, Jake was currently getting dressed in a set of mithril armor carved with magic formations that served as enchantments if he imputed mana ''Will this really be alright..?'' Although Gunnar and Jacklin had assured that it would be alright Jake was still feeling a little nervous but soon steeled himself ''This is the first test... And it''s a test I have to pass!'' Soon Jake was dressed in the armor and stepped out onto the practice field the edges of the fields was lined with soldiers that were ready to see the show and when Jake stepped out he was instantly the focus of attention of the entire field but before he had a chance to get nervous the king spoke "Behold the hero, sir Jake!" """""OOOOHHHH!!!!""""" the soldiers let out a deafening cheer which shock Jake to the core, Jake drew his mithril sword and pointed it towards the sky which caused the crowd to let out another cheer, then he pointed it towards a dummy and activated his new skill [Instant movement] and momentarily disappeared from view before he reappeared behind the dummy as the head of the dummy flew into the air """""OOOOHHHH!!!!""""" ''Next is magic...'' Jake then pointed his sword towards a cl.u.s.ter of dummies and gradually the air around him was filled with balls of fire, water and lightning that then flew off towards their targets decimating all the dummies before he sheathed his sword and raised his fist and yelled "I will be joining you on the battlefield soon, so just hold on against the demon king and the beast empress, we will soon push them back, humanity will prevail!" """""OOOOHHHH!!!!""""" to say the least the troops were ecstatic, but a single person was not so impressed with the show and soon a voice spread over the training field "A f.u.c.k.i.n.g race war... classic" Jake and the rest of the people present on the training field looked up and saw a person floating, nay flying in the sky. He looked like a youth with a big backpack on his back along with two broadswords, one of them warped in cloth, the other made of bone. In his hands was a beautiful maiden with two fluffy ears on top of her head that looked on the show below with childlike curiosity, soon a soldier yelled "It''s a beastwoman!" "Enemy attack!" "Protect the king!" the soldiers scrambled into action, meanwhile Mars just watched them move around with a slight from on his face, he had just finished the 7 day flight and was in a bad mood, if not for 78 wish of seeing the ''pretty castle'' up close he wouldn''t even be here, bu8t now he had seen something he could not ignore and slowly lowered his altitude until he touched down on the middle of the training field and pulled the bone broadsword off his back and handed it to 78 "Protect yourself" "Okay Mars" Then he took a step forward and spoke "Who is your king? Under whose orders do you violate the natural order of Alfan!?" As Mars spoke out the practice field got quiet for a moment before one of the soldiers yelled "He has betrayed humanity, kill him!" "I shall test his mettle!" "I''ll assist you Gunnar!" A man with a magnificent muchase and a woman with blonde hair and yellow eyes walked forwards from the crowd, the man held a sword in his hands and the woman had sparks going between her hands, both glared at Mars with anger, Mars gave a sigh and began slowly unwarping the cloth on his boardsword, unfortunately his opponent didn''t give him time to do so as the man rushed and him and swung out towards him, Mars easily blocked the first swing with the bottom of his boardsword before he spoke "Do you want to get die mortal? Because that can be aranged" The man quickly pulled back and a lightning bolt struck Mars instantly making him feel slightly numb before he looked over at the woman wearing a robe and spoke "You''re annoying, would you stop that?" "Never!" "Well at least I asked nicely..." Mars continued unwarping the boardsword while blocking blows from the man while he dodged the lightning bolts from the woman until finely the blade was fully unwrapped and a dull reddish-brown blade shone in the air, Mars used the body of the broadsword to block a ball of lightning before he slashed out at the man that hurriedly blocked but was sent him flying backwards by the force than Mars leisurely turned his back to the enemy and spoke to 78 that was engaged with a dozen soldiers "Don''t kill them" "boo!" 78 stayed her blade and instead of killing the soldiers she just knocked them away, then Mars turned back to the fight with the two people when suddenly he felt something on his back and quickly dodged out of the way with [Instant movement] as Jake appeared and stabbed out where he had just been standing "...Don''t you know that''s it''s cowardly to go for the back?" Jake pulled back his mithril sword and looked at Mars "You''re the one that betrayed humanity!" Mars gave a sigh as suddenly the temperature dropped around him and spoke "Who says I am human in the first place?" Jake gave a shrug before he responded "Well you sure look human, you betrayer" Mars gave a wide smile as the temperature dropped even more before horns gradually grew out of his forehead while his eyes turned crimson "I really hate being called human..." Chapter 253 - Hero summoning (4) Jake narrowed his eyes slightly and flicked his sword as nemours balls of lightning formed around him and suddenly was sent flying at Mars "Come on, is that all you got mortal?" Mars''s boardsword turned into a blur as countless sword lights were sent out and cut the lightning balls into pieces before they reached Mars then Mars disappeared from view and an instant later he reappeared over Jake and swung down his sword on Jake that blocked with his sword *BANG* Jake sunk half a meter into the ground and before he was able to react Mars kicked him in the chest and sent him flying before Mars roared "Don''t test my patience mortals, bring out your king!" In response the man with the awesome mustache charged at Mars again and swung his sword at him "Too slow" "wha---!" With a bang the man was once again sent flying, Mars walked over towards Jake and picked him up from the ground grasping his shoulder before he once again asked him "Where is your king?" In response to his question a lightning bolt him Mars in the side making him numb before Jake shock himself free and slashed at Mars with his sword, Mars blocked and punched Jake in the stomach making him kneel over before he put the broadsword to his neck and challenged mana through the balde making the rust and dried blood fall off the blade as it regained its dull but deadly shine and he raised his head and looked at the crowds before he yelled "Come out or this mortal will become rust on my sword!" the woman stopped attacking when she saw that Mars had Jake in a death hold, the soldiers that 78 was playing with also stopped coming at her which made her give a humph before she put the bone broadsword onto her shoulder and walked over and stood next to Mars "Don''t make me count down, come out!" Mars looked around and soon an older dignified man stepped out from behind the crowds, Mars gave a smile as the king spoke up "What do you want, half dragon?" "I want to know who started this pathetic race war, then I''ll go tell to Information and make her handle the rest, I ain''t got no time to be meddling in this kind of mortal affairs" Something flashed in the king''s eyes before he spoke "You keep calling us ''mortal'' as if you stand above us, why is that?" Mars shrugged ''Because from where I stand you''re simple mortals, insignificant ants ready for me to crush when my patience runs out'' of course Mars would not say that as it would likely make the mortals try and prove him wrong which would be annoying to say the least, the king gave a nod and spoke out loud "Very well let''s talk, but first releash Jake" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before he picked up Jake by the neck and then proceed to throw him to the side before he followed after the king along with 78, as mars left the training field along with the king Gunnar and Jacklin ran over to Jake and quickly turned him over and saw that he was conscious simply staring into the sky, his mithril armor was dentet where Mars had punched him, Gunnar patted him on the shoulder "It''s good that you are alive Jake" Jacklin wiped her tears before she also gave a nod "...Help me up, I am fine" "...Okay" Gunnar helped Jake up, then Jake proceeded to walk into the castle alone, Jacklin was about to follow after him when Gunnar stopped her "Let him deal with alone for now, this is also training in of itself" Jacklin gave a nod and looked after Jake with slight concern... Jake soon made his way to his room and closed the door behind him before he suddenly fell to his knees and began shaking before he touched his neck with trembling hands where the oh so cold blade had been placed a few minutes ago "I...." The shaking got worse as he began crying the scene of the broadsword being placed on his neck played over and over in his mind as the trembling got worse, he had nearly died. For the first time he had had a brush with death and it terrified him. He kept shaking as the tears streamed down his face, suddenly he wanted very much to return to his former world, but only for a moment before a light shone in his eyes ''No I don''t want to go back to that!'' no parents, no friends and certainly no lover, here he had friends, people that needed him "I... Am still alive..." the trembling gradually stopped before he wiped his tears and repeated "I am still alive..." While Jake charether was growing stronger Mars sat in a room with the king and 78 at his side that was having a glare match with one of the maids that stood behind the king, Mars sipped tea while his broadsword stood just within his range soon he put down the cup and spoke "Who started this pathetic race war?" The king remained silent, this caused Mars to give a sigh before he stood up from the couch along with 78 and commanded "Show me to the nearest avatar" The king gave a nod and also stood up and gestured for Mars to follow him "78 stay here" "but---" "no buts, stay" "boo!" 78 sat down on the couch again after letting out a unlady like sound while Mars followed after the king out of the room and though the castle until they reached the chapel where Mars walked past the king and touched the crystal ball that lit up when he touched it and soon a robotic voice sounded out inside the chapel [SUBJECT NUMBER #3 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] the king''s eyes widened but Mars ignored him and spoke "Yes" [ERROR, MORTAL DETECTED, SMITE Y/N?] "....no" [CONFIRMED, POWERING UP ISOLATION BARRIER... COMPLETE, SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST CONFIRMED, STARTING DESCEND] Soon a formless pressure descended into the avatar that laid on the altar, after a few seconds Mars detected something was wrong and activated [Half-awaken] as the avatar opened its orange eyes and looked straight at Mars [Oh... You must be energy] the avatar floated off the altar and looked around and soon spotted the king and seemed to get angry and yelled [MORTAL WHY ARE YOU NOT KNEELING!?] A formless pressure slammed into the king and forced him to his knees before the avatar gave a satisfied nod and turned back to Mars before it spoke again [First you will have to pay for what you did to Yrimir... Do you have any idea how long it took for me to raise him as perfect living god?] Mars scoffed at the avatar before he spoke in a disdainful tone "If that''s what you call perfect then you and me have some talking to do" Mars felt pressure from the archangel, but not as much as he did from the shitbag administrator, this was to a point that he felt he was able to fight it, thus he was not polite with his words [YOU! INSICANIGINAT YOUNG LIVING GOD!] The avatar waved its hand and a sword light shot out at Mars that was ready for it, he activated [Instant movement] and waved his adamantite broadsword and sent out a sword light of his own that hit and overpowered the avatar''s sword light and hit the avatar, this of course pissed off the archangel that was controlling the avatar even more [YOU HAVE ANGERED ME ENERGY! DIE!!!] "Oh you like that? I have more where that came from!" Mars''s boardsword turned into a blur as he sent out a constant stream of sword lights, the avatar was quickly overpowered and pushed back while getting more and more angry [I WILL KILL ALL YOU HOLD DEAR, ENERGY!!!] Mars'' smile disappeared as he disappeared from view and reappeared in the air in front of the avatar and grabbed its neck "If you do that I will find you and make you regret that you chose to become immortal" Once he was done speaking Mars discharged the stored energy units he had in his hand and smashed the avatar to pieces as the formless pressure quickly escaped from the room, after a few seconds of silence a robotic voice spoke out in the room [DESCEND ENDED, LIFTING ISOLATION BARRIERE... COMPLETE, ENTERING SLEEP MODE...] Mars gave a sigh and slowly floated down and landed on the ground again before he looked over at the king and asked "How long are you going to kneel for mortal?" The king that looked like his soul had left his body woke up from his daze when Mars called out to him and quickly got onto his feet and looked over at Mars "You are... a living god?" "Well duh, what did you think I was?" Chapter 254 - Hero summoning (5) "Now I require sleep, prepare a room for me and 78" "Yes at once" The king bowed down and quickly went to arrange for a room for Mars and 78, this stunned the maids and the maid 78 had a glaring match with suddenly lowered her gaze as she paled "Hey Mars, can we take a look around?" "Sure but first you have better change your appearance to that of a human" "Why? I like these ears" "Well... If you are not bothered by the stares then neither am I, let''s go" Mars and 78 spent the next half hour strolling around the castle together before the king found them and informed Mars that a room had been prepared and personally showed him the way there "If you have anything you need please call the maid that is on standby outside your room" "...I will" Mars and 78 walked into the room and after 78 was done rolling around in the large bed both of them laid down on the bed and rested after their long 7 day flight, with a soft body pillow(78) Mars soon fell asleep... While Mars and 78 slept there was an emergency meeting in the castle, the king, Gunnar and Jacklin were just a few names of those that attended the meeting of course the meeting was led by the king that now sat at the end of the table and waited for the people to quiet down which they soon did, then he spoke up "This is a tale told from king to king, I heard it from my father before he passed... I won''t bore you with the details but basically the tale tells a story about five living gods wandering the face of Alfan, some single handedly brought ruin to kingdoms, while others ushered in new eras of peace and prosperity..." A noble from the castle city raised his hand before he spoke "With all due respect what does fantasy tales of ''living gods'' have to do about the current situation, I say we should kill these rude guests in their sleep" A few moments passed before the king spoke again "Still Mars our so called rude guest fought an avatar possessed by an archangel and won... Can you say any mortal is able to do that?" the nobel shut his mouth and paled slightly so did the rest of the people present, this was the first he had mentioned of the avatar being defeated by Mars, a few seconds of heavy silence passed before another nobel let out a nervous laugh and asked the king with a slightly shaking voice "Surely you are joking with us your majesty..." The king gave a faint smile and spoke "I saw it with my own eyes, but if that''s not enough for you, I''ll give you permission to go visit the chapel and see for yourselves" "No I wouldn''t dare doubt your majesties words... It''s just too unbelievable..." "I thought so too, that''s when I remembered the tale about living gods and asked Mars and he indeed confirmed he was a living god" the people at the meeting whispered to each other for some time until a person that had been silent so far spoke: Jake "...How about we recruit him to our side? would the war not be easier with a literal god on our side?" people began whispering to each other again until the king raised his hand and the room fell quiet again and he spoke "What you say is a very good idea... It''s just I don''t think Mars has any interest in our war, after all he said so himself" Jake gave a smile "Well then it''s simply finding out what he wants, isn''t it?" "Very well..." When Mars woke up he found that 78 was still sleeping within his arms when he breathed out her two fluffy ears twitched slightly, after watching her sleep for a bit Mars decided to get up and slowly unwrapped her arms from him before he got out of bed and stretched, now that he was rested he was ready to head onwards on their journey, there was just one problem he had no idea where to go ''Info was supposed to guide us to the next continent... maybe I should head to the local temple...'' Mars quickly decided on his course of action and thus left the room which slightly startled the maid that was on standby outside the room "...Do you have any instructions?" It was only then Mars remembered that the king had said he could tell the maid if he needed anything and gave a smile before he asked "Could you show me to the local temple?" The maid gave a bow and spoke "If you require a prayer room I have been told that the chapel of the castle is open to you" "Yeah... but the avatar there is broken, therefore please show me to the local temple" "Yes at once" Mars was about to leave with the maid when the door to his room burst was burst open by 78 that looked angry and yelled "You''re planning on leaving me behind again aren''t you Mars?" Mars gave a sigh "I was just going to take a short trip, thus I didn''t want to wake you up" "I am awake now so I am coming too!" "Sure..." Mars could only surrender and so 78 happly latched onto his right arm and the two of them followed after the maid into the castle city, the temple turned out to only be a short distance away but with 78''s current looks as a beastwoman the trip took a whole lot longer than it was supposed to as people began yelling and screaming wherever they went, the local town guard was even called which resulted in them getting beat up by Mars. When they finally reached the temple Mars was rather exhausted (although only mentally) and when he was initially denied a prayer room he almost punched the priest in the face, but decided to pull out his necklace of the apostle and showed it into the face of the priest before he was allowed a prayer room Inside the prayer room Mars put his hand on the crystal ball in the middle which made it light up and soon a robotic voice sounded out inside the room [SUBJECT NUMBER #3 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND Y/N?] "Yes" [MORTAL DETECTED, SMITE Y/N?] "No" [CONFIRMED, SENDING REQUEST... REQUEST CONFIRMED, STARTING DESCEND] A formless pressure descend into the avatar that laid on the altar, Mars gave a smile as this was the one that he was familiar with so there was no reason to be on guard like last time, soon the avatar sat up and open its light blue eyes and stared into empty space "Info?" [Hold on a second, I am processing a large influx of information...] Mars waited along with 78 and a few moments later Info''s eyes seemed to regain their focus before she cursed [That f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastrad!] "Info? What''s wrong?" Info seemed the breathing deeply from rage for a few seconds before she calmed herself and shook her head [Well sit down, this is going to take a while to explain...] "Sure..." Info waved her hand and the usual table and chairs appeared inside the prayer room, after the three of them sat down Info collected her thoughts for a moment before she spoke [You remember the time you killed that emperor right Mars?] Mars gave a nod "Sure" [...Do you remember why you killed him?] "Because he hurt Varvei, thus he had to die" 78 peaked her ears up when she heard the name Varvei and she began feeling a little sour, but she was not sure why, as 78 was confused by her own feelings the two ''a.d.u.l.ts'' continued their talk [....Try to remember, that was not the main reason right?] Mars gave a frown but soon he remembered the other reason why he killed that otherworlder and spoke "Oh right, he was planing some pretty through race cleansing, some human surpency bullshit right?" [Yes and do you remember why that was bad?] "Hmm... something about being smited..." [Yes that''s right! The whole problem lies in being smited... Now do you have any idea what it entails to be smited?] "Nope" Info gave a sigh before she waved her hand and a price of rock appeared floating above her hand [Well then let me demonstrate...] Infor focused on the rock for a few moments before it suddenly began distgrating at a rapid pace until there was nothing left [This is what happens when something gets smited, it sizes to exist, plus it''s an extremely painful way to die or so I have heard] "I see... I still don''t see what the current problem is?" Info narrowed her eyes and asked [Who do you think started this race war?] "...Don''t tell me it''s---" [That''s right, it''s your favorite administrator] "....But why would that shitbag of a administator start a race war?" [To test a system that the old administrator left behind... Hey do you know why that codtiend you landed on was beren of people? Because that''s the last place the system did it''s magic] "don''t tell me that the system you are talking about is the smiting kind?" [That''s exactly what it is, a race war happened and that system wipes the continent it happen on... to keep the balance] Chapter 255 - To end a race war (1) "No way" [Come on Mars, be nice] "...Nah" [Please Mars?] "...nope" Info gave a sigh, she had spent the last few minutes trying to convince Mars to stop the ongoing race war somehow, but he was not cooperating, at all [Not even if I tell you it''s beneficial for forming you mandate?] "...Still no, one man can''t stop a race war... Well there is one way" [What way?] "To destroy the other races, simply kill them all, then the race war would be over" [Come on Mars that''s what we are trying to avoid, we are talking about the lives of 3.7 billion, can''t you do something..?] "Hmm.... Nope" Info gave yet another sigh and looked over at 78 that was playing with her hair keeping silent and gestured to her with her eyes that she should say something to Mars, unfortunately 78 didn''t catch her hidden gesture and kept playing with her hair "Look here Info, it''s not that I don''t want to help you it''s more that I have no idea how to stop a race war other than winning it" [...] Info fell silent as her eyes seemed distant for a moment before she spoke again [What if I tell you how to end the race war then?] "I that case sure... As long as it''s a reasonable way that doesn''t involve getting stabbed" Info gave a smile [Don''t worry, it''s really a simple way...] Mars listened to Info speak for a few moments before he spoke purely by refekes "No way in hell I am doing that" [You could also try to unite the races against you by commiting mass genocide?] "Wait I thought you wanted to save the mortals?" [Nah I just want to mess with the administrator''s plans, I only mentioned the number of lives involved to try and guilt you into accepting] "...You sure are cold" [That''s the price of immortality Mars, better get used to it... Well anyway, do you really not want to do the first option?] "...No, I''ll probably just fight in the war for a bit before I leave this continent" [I see... Hmm...] Info looked off into the distance and suddenly asked Mars [Mars did you destroy an avatar near here?] "Yeah I tried to call you but some idiot picked up instead" [...What color was the avatar''s eyes?] "Orange I think, I got the feeling that it was a male achangle... oh and he shot a sword light at me" [You telling me Sword has a presence here?] "Sword?" [He''s one of the 13 and has aligned himself with the new administrator... That explains why I didn''t know about the whole situation here, he was blocking me... This changes things] "...How exactly?" [Well now we know who started the race war, it was the archangel Sword... In that case i have a better idea than seducing the daughters of the Demon king and Beast empress...] "Tell me it''s a better idea than your first two ideas" [It''s quite simple really, visit the temples of the Demon king and beast empress capitals and destroy the avatars there] "What would that help?" [It would remove Sword''s influence from the temples and make me able to send divine messages to try and stop this war... I can already do it here in the human lands] "Oh that sounds super simple, I love breaking stuff" [In that case I am counting on you Mars] Mars and 78 stepped out of the prayer room and was met with Jake that stood right outside the prayer room and waited for them "...What do you want kid?" "I am here to invite you Mars to join the human war effort" "...Yeah, no that''s not going to happen, I am going to end this farce of a race war my own way" "I knew you would say that, wait you said you are going to end the war!? How!?" "by breaking some stuff, now I''ll stay at the castle for a little bit more and rest and then I''ll leave" Finished saying what he wanted Mars walked off with 78 and tow that was being unusually quiet as they walked back towards the castle being led by the maid from before, amongst the yelling and screaming of the citizens that saw 78 Mars asked her "What''s on your mind 78?" "...Who''s Varvei?" "She''s my lover, well one of them anyway" "...I see" 78 lowered her head seemingly in deep thought, Mars gave a sigh as he fended off a pitchfork and kicked the peasant that had tried to stab at 78 in the stomach before he walked onwards towards the castle where the castle guard held back the angry mob that tried to kill 78 or at the very least tried to rip off her ears and tail, as he entered the castle he was met with the king and Jake that had returned before him "Jake tells me you have a way to end the war?" "Sure I do, or at the very least I will deescalate the war" The king gave a deep nod before he spoke again "In that case, allow me to assist you with all my might lord Mars" "Drop the lord, I aint lord over nothing" "...Yes Mars" Mars gave a nod before he let out a yawn, he was still tired from the trip and mentally tired from fending off the people that tried to kill 78 "That can wait until tomorrow... Let''s go 78" "Okay..." After the two of them returned to the room Mars laid down on the bed and regulated his breathing and soon fell asleep... When Mars woke again the only thing he heard was silence, which was odd since he had sharp enough ears to normally hear all that was going on in the castle, Mars however was not distruibed by this and went through his morning stretches before he looked for 78 and quickly found her sleeping in the dobbel bed. ''Well then let''s see what''s going on...'' Mars walked out of the room and noticed that their assigned maid was missing from her post outside the room and opened his mouth to complain "...." Mars then realized he was unable to hear his own voice and then he gave a cold smile as he thought ''So that''s what going on... Let''s mess up whoever''s plan this is'' Mars walked back into the room and unwrapped the cloth that covered the adamantite broadsword while humming a tune he could not hear himself ''Well then let''s go'' Mars then activated [Instant movement] and [Half awaken] just to be safe before he disappeared from the room and reappeared at the end of the hallway where he looked first left then right before he disappeared from view once more, things continued like this for sometime until Mars smell a familiar smell and decided to follow it ''....I knew it'' Mars found a knight sitting and leaning against the wall of the hallway, his eyes were wide open and there were tears in the corner of his eyes ''Looks like it''s too late for you....'' The stomach of the knight was ripped open along with his armor and his internals laid sprayed out on the floor ''From the looks of it the attack happened in the middle of the hallway... and there are light traces of bloodstains leading further down the hallway...'' Mars gave a sigh in this soundless world and closed the eyes of the dead knight before he followed the footsteps that were outlined with slight traces of blood for a little while before he found another corpse of a knight and continued onwards after he said a silent prayer for the knight ''looks like they were fleeing while escorting someone... most likely the king and that kid... this formation is impressive though, looks like I need some more time to understand it through my senses...'' Mars shrugged and leisurely continued on his way with the adamantite broadsword on his shoulder, soon he found the assailants that had infiltrated the castle, they were in the process of trying to force open a door that seemed to be reinforced by a fe overlaid magic formations but most importantly Mars had now identified the assilents from their fluffy ears ''Beastmen huh... Looks like there''s a girl in there too and see seems to be leading them... Don''t tell me... Nah no way'' Mars took a few more steps down the hallway before the asialents spotted him and after sending out some hand signs two beastmen broke off and charged down the hallway at him, their movements were in sync, Mars got a bad feeling about this before he gave a wide smile ''just from their footwork alone they have had extensive training... Looks like this will be interesting..!'' Mars, wearing a wide smile took a stance and decided to enjoy this fight so he tuned down his strength a bit as the two beastmen lept at him and swung their dual swords down, Mars raised his boardsword and blocked them as no sound spread out from their clash ''Clang~'' The lack of sound made Mars make his own sound effects in his head that is Chapter 256 - To end a race war (2) ''Clang~'' ''Whosh~'' The fight continued on as Mars added sound effects in his head, and good as the two beastmen were Mars was starting to get tired of fighting them, so he began focusing on the magic formation that had taken away the sound of the area and activated his [Energy: sense], While fighting the two beastmen. ''Now that''s clever... Looks like the formation uses the mana conduites inside the castle walls, in that case...'' After fighting for about a minute Mars formed a fire spear, the two beastmen readied themselves to receive or dodge it but to their surprise Mars fired it straight into the wall, the two beastmen revealed disdainful expressions when the second and third fire spear hit the exact same spot, but when the fourth one hit the same spot one of them looked like he had figured out what Mars was doing and quickly made some hand signals to the other that then widened his eyes before he looked at Mars with astonishment before both of them began fighting more desperately to try and stop Mars. ''Looks like they figured it out...'' What Mars was targeting was in fact a central part of the formation that just so happened to be made up of the magic conduit that ran in the easten wall of this hallway, in the exact spot Mars was targeting, seeing they had figured it out and was actively trying to stop him Mars dropped acting like he was at their level and activated [Instant movement] and knocked them both out with a hit from the side of his boardsword before he sunk the boardsword into the wall, severing the mana conduit. ''And here we go...!'' Sound rapidly returned to the world, this of course alerted the beastmen that were trying to open up the reinforced door but it also revealed a loud siren that seemed like it had been going for awhile "He broke the formation!?" "How''s that possible!?" Mars gave a smile and swung the adamantite broadsword over his shoulder before he gave a yawn and spoke "Do you guys mind leaving? I am quite hungry and I have basically just woken up..." The beastmen of course didn''t do as Mars hoped "He must be a formation master from the human forces!" "Kill him!" Mars gave a sigh before he activated [Instant movement] and appeared right in front of one of the charging beastmen and smacked him right in the face with the flat side of his boardsword *CLANG!* "Oh how I''ve missed that sound!" At this point the remaining 12 beastmen felt a cold shudder at Mars'' speed and seeming lax attitude made them realize Mars was not at all taking this serious but still wiped the floor with them "Come on now, surrender" The one beastwoman in the middle of the group narrowed her eyes slightly before she asked "I thought you were going to let us go?" "Yeah, well that was before you annoyed me by trying to kill me" "...Say we surrender, can you guarantee our lives?" "Well the human king bows down to me for a reason... so should you princess" The beastwoman widened her eyes slightly before she looked away and spoke "I-I have no idea what you are talking about...." "Wait seriously? You''re the daughter of the beast empress?" Mars felt a headache coming on, but was quickly interrupted by the arrival of a bunch of knights that quickly spotted the beastmen "Beastmen, kill them!" "Yeah, no these are my prisoners" Mars quickly stopped the knights, or at least he tried to as they seemed to completely ignore him, which pissed him off, as they charged past him Mars activated his presence for the first time in a while "[DON''T PUSH MY PATIENCE MORTAL]" The knights froze, most of them passed out but a few of the stronger knights managed to remain conscious but were still unable to move, the beastwoman once again widened her eyes before she spoke "L-Living god, he''s a living god!" "Oh, your mother must have told you about my kind?" "Y-Yes, I have heard the stories but didn''t believe them before today" "So I take it as you surrender right?" "Drop your weapons, we surrender!" the other beastmen obayed the beastwoman and dropped their weapons "Good now let''s go" the beastwoman nodded her head and followed after Mars, so did the rest of the beastmen but she was soon surprised that Mars was taking them upstairs and asked "You''re not taking us to the dungen are you?" "Nah... Besides you won''t run will you?" "We would not dare be disrespectful to you" "That''s good... I like quick witted children" "I am not a child" "Are you under 100? Because in that case you are still a child" One of the beastmen scoffed at Mars before he spoke "Then what are you? an old man?" Mars gave a sigh and before he could do anything the princess quickly apologized "I am sorry about my subordinate, please don''t lower yourself to our level and just treat it as children making trouble" "...Fine, but remember I am not human, no matter how much I look like these uncivilized people I am not one of them" the princess gave a nod before she sent a glare to her subordinate that then gave a nod and spoke "...Understood" "Good, now be quiet I think 78 is still sleeping" Mars opened the door and found 78 sitting in a chair looking displeased, when she saw Mars she gave a huff before she turned her face away ''oh shit... Well here goes my dignity as a living god I guess...'' Mars walked into the room followed by the 15 beastmen (the ones that were unconscious were carried by their comrades), Something flashed in the eyes of the princess when she saw that 78 appeared to be a beastwoman but she remained silent as Mars walked over and asked 78 "What are you so mad about this time?" "...You left while I was sleeping... Again" "Sorry about that, I had to deal with these people" 78 looked over at the princess and gave a pout but before he could say anything there was a knock on the door, Mars gestured for the beastmen to make themselves comfy and went to answer the door and found the king on the other side along with an escort of knights and Jake "Mars have you noticed any beastmen... Never mind, I see that you have... Do you mind if we come in?" Mars glanced at the knights before he spoke "As long as your dogs behave themselves" The king gave a nod and was about to walk in before Mars stopped him "You know what, just leave them outside... I trust you can behave yourself kid?" The king left his escorts outside the room and stepped in along with Jake, the king looked at the beastmen with slight weariness before he took a seat in a couch along with Jake, Mars remained standing and looked at the beastwoman princess before he asked her "What''s your name princess?" "I am Terra" "I see... What started the war with the human side Terra?" "This... I am afraid I don''t quite remember now that you ask..? Wait..." The princess looked confused and so did the king that spoke up "The war started when... Wait, what?" Mars gave a sigh and spoke "The war started when the administration decided to test a system left behind by his predecessor, then he ordered one of the 13 to carry out the test on this contiend" The people in the room all widened their eyes and looked shocked, the human king was the first to calm himself and asked "Then how do we stop the war? If it''s the will of the 13 I am afraid us mortals can''t do anything..." Mars gave a nod and spoke "That''s right, mortal can''t do anything, but I am not mortal, I have talked with Information and made up a rather simple plan which should work" Both Terra and the king looked rather egger for Mars to continue, after all being at war was very detrimental for a country, especially when it was a stalemate like this one "Well it''s simple I just have to remove the divine influence from the countries, this can be done by breaking the avatar''s under the control of the archangel Sword that is running the show behind the scenes... From there Information will take over and de-escalate the war, then the countries involved can sign a peace treaty" Terra gave a nod and spoke "Well it sounds rather simple doesn''t it?" The king gave a nod and spoke "Almost too simple... Are you sure it''s going to work Mars?" "Well I am not too sure and frankly I don''t care... I am just passing through after all, but well, I''ll give it a try" Jake gritted his teeth and spoke with anger clear on his face "Then the only reason I was summoned was so I could help with an experiment?" Mars paused and looked over at Jake "Wait, you were summoned kid?" "Yeah from earth" Mars'' eye lit up before he asked "From what year?" "2012" Mars gave a wide smile before he asked "Hey is it true that pepe the frog was a symbol on the internet?" Jake looked confused and suddenly it dawned on him before he stood up and asked Mars with shock on his face "You''re from earth Mars!?" Chapter 257 - To end a race war (3) "Yeah I am from earth or at least I have memories from earth..." "What do you mean you have memories from earth?" "Well... something went wrong when Info reincarnated me so my memories returned and from there I learned of my past life on earth... That started in 4012" This time it was Jake''s turn to looks shocked for a few moments before he mumbled "4012..? Then how do you know of memes from 2012?" Mars gave a smile "Well my dad was a data archaeologist that specialized in the early information age" Jake gave a nod as he tired to imagine his world 2000 years into the future but soon shook his head and gave a sigh and asked Mars "Then how long did you live on earth?" "Well I died young so only 224 years" "...I see" Jake sunk further into the couch he was sitting in then Terra spoke "As interesting as it is to hear about your former world can we get back on topic..? I believe you said something about destroying the avatars?" "...Yeah, that''s all I got take it or leave it" "We are naturally honored to receive you help... But will it really work?" Mars shrugged "Well who knows? The plan is the brainchild of the archangel Information... so about fifty fifty" The king and Terra looked confused and the king asked out loud "Fifty fifty?" Jake spoke up "It means it will work" Terra looked relieved for a moment before she also spoke "Let''s put our faith in Information" Mars gave a smile and thought ''Well her first master plan was to get me to seduce you and the daughter of the demon king so don''t put too much faith in her alright?'' Mars gave a sigh before he looked at the king and asked him "prepare some rooms for the beastmen... And also prepare some closed carriages for a trip to the front tomorrow" "Understood Mars" The rest of the day was uneventful, Mars spent it talking with Jake about their world and then he used the rest of the time to sooth 78 who was still mad at him but by the end of the day she was back to her usual self clinging to him for the rest of the day The next morning Mars woke up to a slightly numb left arm and looked over ''She really doesn''t let go dose she?'' 78 was clinging to his left arm with a death grip that had managed to slightly stop the flow of blood in his arm, Mars gave a sigh and poked 78 on the cheek to wake her up, after a few pokes 78 opened her eyes and blinked a few times before she focused on Mars and gave a sweet smile before she hugged his arm even tighter "Let''s get some food 78" "Sure!" Mars and 78 order some food from the maid on standby outside their room which soon arrived and as they were eating a knock was heard by the door, Mars was too lazy to answer the door and so he just yelled "The door''s open!" And went back to his food as the door opened and the king walked in along with Jake and the beastwoman princess Terra, the king spoke to Mars as he walked into the room "The carriages have been prepared and are prepared to leave from the frontline" Mars gave a nod as he chewed then Terra spoke "I will guarantee your comfort after we cross the front Mars" Mars gave another nod, still chewing then Jake spoke "Mars I want to ask you something" Mars swallowed his food and spoke "What is it?" "....Can you fight me once before you leave?" Mars gave a nod "Sure, I love beating people up" The king and Jake both gave a sigh at Mars'' response but they said nothing, Terra on the other hand gave a chuckle and walked over and sat down on the couch and spoke "I can''t wait to see that" Jake gave another sigh "Well... You are not the one fighting a literal god" "It was you that asked him" "Yeah... It sure was" After Mars finished eating he waited for 78 to finish, she as always was eating like a squirrel stuffing her cheeks like one anyways, perhaps do to the experiments she had been part of she always ate a lot, even more than Mars but alas she never seemed to get fat soon she finished eating and stood up with a smile on her face "Done eating?"'' "Umm!" Mars gave a smile and ruffled 78''s hair which made her giggle before she latched onto his arm, then Mars looked over at Jake that still stood and spoke with confidence "Let''s get this over with" "Sure" Mars, having already packed grabbed his backpack and walked out of the room he had been staying in with 78, on his back was not only the backpack but also the two broadswords, one made of bone the other made of adamantite covered in a layer of cloth. Mars followed Jake out to the training field where he made 78 let go of his arm so he could fight at full force (Not that he needed to) and stepped out on the training field empty handed and faced Jake that was fully armed "Aren''t you going to use your sword?" "This is more fair" As Mars and Jake spoke the other beastmen walked up to the edge of the training field to watch the fight, on the other side stood the knights that had been training until now, both sides were prepared to watch the show. Jake drew out his mithril sword and stood ready, meanwhile Mars just gave a yawn before he spoke "Just come at me when you''re ready... But remember I don''t have a lot of time so I''ll end it in once exchange" Some of the knights widened their eyes at Mars'' statement before they revealed looks of disdain, after all how arrogant did Mars sound? he was unarmed against a person with a sword and not just any person mind you, a genuine hero! "Okay... Then here I come!" After having prepared himself for a few moments Jake kicked off the ground and almost instantly closed the distance, behind him balls of lightning formed and as he raised his sword to slash down on Mars they moved out to cover his openings, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before he suddenly stepped in and ever so gently brushed the sword that was swung down to the side with his left hand while he put his right hand on Jake''s armor and discharged his stored energy before Jake was blown away, but thankfully not very far as he landed on the field again Mars gave a smile and spoke "I believe this is it right?" "...What amount of power did you use for that strike just now?" "Hmm... 1/10th? There about anyway" Jake looked down at the slight dent there was on his mitrill armor with slight fear before he gave a sigh and walked over to Mars and reached out with his hand "Thank you for going easy on me" Mars shock hands with Jake as he spoke "You''re welcome... Anyway sorry about the armor, I am sure you can get the king to fix it for you" Jake gave a smile before his eyes turned serious and asked "If you were serious how much time would it take to kill me?" Mars'' smile widened slightly before he patted Jake on the shoulder as he spoke "You would not even realize that you had died before it was too late" Jake gave a nod and closed his eyes, when he opened them again his eyes shone with renewed light "...I see" "Oh and one last advice, get yourself a girlfriend or 5" Jake blushed slightly before he gave a nod, then Mars walked off and picked up his backpack before he boarded one of the carriages along with the beastmen, Terra and 78 after a few moments the carriages set off. As the carriage went out of the gate to the castle Jake stood and watched where it had disappeared for a few moments before he gave a sigh and spoke "...Let''s get back to training" Then he walked off towards the training field where Gunnar waited for him with a smile on his face. The carriage rocked from side to side for about a week as the days went by uneventfully, Mars spent most of the time in the carriage chatting with 78 that was excited about the changing scenery that passed by outside the one way window of the carriage, speaking of scenery the landscape gradually changed from general woodland to open plains as they neared the frontline and after the week of traveling by carriage they arrived at the frontline fortress and dismounted the carriages near the fortress and waited for dark to sneak by the front line Chapter 258 - To end a race war (4) As the night fell over the front line fighting over the fortress gradually died down, as the siege engines stopped sending rocks flying through the air darkness gradually fell and the soldiers that wasn''t on night watch looked forwards and prayed for a night of silence as they dragged their tired bodies back to the barracks after forcing down a meal most of them went to sleep. As the night was at its darkest a group of figures passed the human occupied fortress and went towards the beastman encampment, while the beastmen and demons were allied on the surface they kept their distance from each other and they certainly didn''t mix their troops at the same camp, after all who knew who tomorrow''s enemy would be? A beastman sentry suppress a yawn as he stood watch but soon a figure appeared in his view, he was about to yell when he saw the fluffy ears on top of the person''s head and quickly gave a sigh before he spoke "You scared the shit out of me..." The approaching beastman gave a smile before he spoke "We are returning from a mission behind enemy lines, there''s a couple more of us so don''t scream when you see them please" "Sure... Hey good work out there" "Thanks" A couple more people approached the sentry from the dark plains the sentry wore a smile on his face as he watched his comrades return from a difficult mission but soon his smile froze as he saw a youth that appeared to be human and quickly asked "You brought a prisoner?" The commando beastman gave a sigh but before he could speak the youth spoke up "Sorry although I appear to be human I would appreciate if you don''t lump me together with them... Give me a moment" Mars gave a sigh as he grew out his horns which made the sentry give a smile before he spoke "Sorry about that" Mars decided to play along and gave a smile "Don''t be, why do you think I was picked for this mission?" The sentry gave a nod as it dawned on him before he gave Mars a salute "Good work out there" "Thanks, be sure to keep alert" "Sir, yes sir!" "Good" Mars gave a genuine smile, he had a soft spot for proper soldiers as he was one in his past life. The group walked into the encampment and greeted the beastmen soldiers they met on the way, soon they reached the central tent where Terra stepped forwards and spoke "I am Terra, first in line to the throne" quickly the guards that stood outside the tent gave her a salute before they opened the tent door, Terra gave them a smile and walked in along with Mars and 78, inside the tent stood a burly slightly aged beastman and overlooked a map, when he looked up and saw Terra he gave a smile and a laugh "Good to see you again princess! How went you mission?" Terra gave a smile "While we didn''t complete our main goal I believe we have found a way to end the war" The beastman general glanced over at Mars and 78 before he gave a nod, then he called for a soldier and asked him to show Terra and the others to some free tents "Go rest, we will speak in the morning" "Yes, Thank you general" "It''s nothing princess, you must be tired after your mission so please rest well" Terra gave a nod and left the tent with Mars and 78, then they were showed to some free tents and went to sleep... In the early morning Mars slowly awoke, thanks to sleeping in a bedroll his arms were free from 78''s death grip so for the first time in a while Mars woke up being able to feel all ten of his finger tips which was nice ''Well then, let''s get up...'' Mars then slowly crawled out of his bedroll and stepped out of the tent and felt the morning air for a bit before he packed his stuff and sat down on top of his backpack outside of the tent and meditated a bit on his mandate, speaking of his mandate he had the feeling that he was getting close to some sort of tipping point but what lay on the other side of that point he didn''t know ''Well whatever it is will be fine... I hope'' Sometime later Mars felt his left arm getting grabbed and knew it was 78 that had sneaked up on him, a rather impossible task but 78 always seemed to be able to do so nonetheless so therefore he stopped meditating and spoke "Good morning" "Good morning Mars!" Hearing 78 cheerful voice Mars gave a smile and opened his eyes before he stretched and ruffled 78''s hair for a bit before he asked "Are you hungry?" "Yeah a bit" "Okay then let''s go find Terra and get some food" "Umm!" 78 gave a nod and then the two of them went to find Terra which turned out to be still sleeping in a tent next to theirs, after waiting for her to wake up the three of them went to the mess hall and got some food in them before they talked about the next part of the trip "So where are we headed next Terra?" "Well to the capital of course, it''s a week in a carriage so please bare with it" "Sure... Gives me time to meditate anyways" "...If you don''t mind me asking, what are you meditating on?" Mars gave a smile and simply answered "The nature of energy" both Terra and 78 tilted their heads but didn''t ask him about it, soon the three of them left the front line camp and walked on foot to the nearest town where they would take a carriage from, as they walked Mars mostly admired the wide open plains and played tag with 78 (He went easy on her of course so she won sometimes). Also during their trip they met with reinforcements that were headed to the front on foot from the nearest town, the recruits faces were hardened while the veterans seemed more relaxed, Mars greeted them as they walked past each other, they also met with convoys that were filled with supplies for the front. Soon they reached the nearby city, well it was more of a town made into an army camp with soldiers being drilled and not a lot of civilians around as most of them had moved away from the front, those that stayed were mostly old people that had little to lose and young patriots that hoped to join the army. While it took sometime the three of them managed to catch a carriage going further away from the front but Mars ended up having to pay a fee to travel on the carriage since Terra didn''t want to announce herself as the princess, he didn''t really mind though as he had plenty of cel left from his teacher job. "So... Where are you guys headed?" Mars asked the couple that sat across from them in the carriage, the man gave a strained smile and spoke "Well we are headed home... We originally went to try and convince my father to come live with us but he refused saying he would rather die than leave his home..." Mars gave a smile and reassured them "Well hopefully it won''t come to that" "Yeah hopefully... What about you three? Where are you headed?" "To the capital, we have some business to take care of there" "Oh I see..." Mars spent some time chatting with the couple but they gradually ran out of things to talk about so he used the rest of the trip to meditate, Mars was not that good at making small talk but he made an attempt which turned out rather good in his opinion. After half a day of travel the carriage arrived at a proper walled city, Mars said goodbye to the couple and the three of them went to find an inn to stay in for the night... The next morning the group of Three ate breakfast at the inn before they once more went in search for a carriage that could take them to the capital which was rather easy now that they had reached a proper city, in fact they managed to get a private carriage (at Mars'' expense of course) and so time passed uneventfully as the carriage rocked from side to side for another week until the group of three managed to reach the capital, standing outside the walls while waiting for an inspection Mars looked up at the grand walls with awe ''They must be about 50 meters tall... Talk about overkill, well I can properly jump that... Dammit now I kind of want to try...'' As Mars stood and thought about trying to jump the walls the queue gradually moved forwards... Chapter 259 - To end a race war (5) Mars showed his merc tag at the gates of the capital and paid the fee for the princess and 78 before they walked past the capital''s grand walls, now while Mars didn''t care for the name of the capital neither the name of the country he cared very much for the street food that where sold on the busy streets of the capital and so did 78 which just loved eating in general, so the two of them stuffed themselves before Terra was finally able to drag them towards the palace. "So this is the palace?" Terra put on a smug face and asked him "Yes Mars isn''t it grand?" "Sure is..." Just like the walls of the capital, one word could be used to describe the palace, grand. The walls around the palace was about 20 meters tall, but still as close as the were to the palace walls they could still see the palace behind the walls which spoke of the grand scale of the entire palace "Well then let''s head in and meet mother" "Yeah let''s get this over with..." Terra announced herself at the gate of the palace and the three of them was shown into the palace and quickly walked through the hallways. Mars was starting to regret offering to help with the whole race war, after all, who could say what happened at home while he was not there? Was his girlfriends okay? What about his partner Victoria? Was the empire invading again? as the thoughts started to swirl in his head they slowly increased in magnitude until he got a headache ''ugh... I feel sick'' Mars'' Vision suddenly blurred as he felt dizzy and supported himself by leaning against the wall of the hallway, suddenly he realized what was going on as his training from his past life kicked in and he suddenly covered his mouth ''Shit... Gas..!'' "Mars! Mars what''s wrong! Mars!!!" Mars could hear 78''s panicked voice as he gradually blacked out but right before he did he managed to activate [Half-awaken], this kept him conscious, but only just "Mars!!! Wake up!" 78 shook Mars that laid on the floor of the hallway while tears streamed down her face, she didn''t know what was happening with him but knew it wasn''t good, then she realized it, Terra was nowhere to be found and then it clicked "It was a trap!" 78''s eyes flickered with hatred as her ears suddenly picked up movement from down the hallway and she looked over and saw a group of fully armed and armored beastmen soldiers moving closer, then suddenly Mars grabbed her arm and spoke in a weak voice "Get... Me... Outside" 78 gave a nod and picked up Mars and put him on her shoulders in an improvised fireman''s carry before she bent down and picked up the bone boardsword with her one free hand and began running back down the hallway they had come from leaving the adamantite broadsword and Mars'' backpack where they were, after running for awhile with Mars on her shoulders 78 saw that there were a courtyard outside a window she ran past and stopped before she ran back to the window and smashed it open with her broadsword before she jumped through and landed safely in the courtyard "Mars, we''re outside now!" 78 put Mars down and heaved a sigh of relief before she looked around and realized that she was surrounded on all sides by beastman soldiers and yelled at them "You''re bad people, Mars had come here to help you and then you hurt him!?" 78 raised her bone broadsword towards the silent soldiers that were slowly closing in... Mars gradually woke up, he had a splitting headache and he heard faint sounds of swords clashing against each other ''what happened..?'' Mars tried to move but found he was unable to as his entire body burned with pain ''Have... to heal... Myself...'' Mars gradually activated his [Energy: healing] at full power on himself and soon he felt the burning sensation gradually stop and he was soon able to move his body and thus opened his eyes ''What..?'' he saw it clearly, 78 stood in front of him, protecting him from the soldiers, she was wounded and more than five arrows was stuck in her back and there were countless cuts on her body, she was only standing because she was leaning on her boardsword "WHAT..!" Mars roared as his killing intent spread outwards and forze the soldier that was about to finish off 78 with a swing of his sword, then it happened countless small blades made of vermilion formed over the entire courtyard before they ripped every soldier in the entire courtyard to shreds leaving no intact corpse, the soldiers screamed and yelled in terror but not for very long as the smell of iron spread out in the courtyard "78!" Mars quickly got on his feet and ran over to 78, he healed her the instant he reached her and a few seconds later the arrows that were stuck in her back fell to the ground, Mars quickly confirmed she was still breathing before he picked her up in his arms and flew off in the sky, leaving behind the bone broadsword that was stained with blood... "What! He escaped!? HOW!?" The soldier lowered his head even deeper, he was currently in one of the innermost rooms of the palace, the audience room. On an elevated throne sat a beastwoman that had an outraged expression on her otherwise beautiful face, then she suddenly seemed to calm down and gave a sigh before she looked to her side where an avatar floated in place with its orange eyes looking at the soldier down below "I am truly sorry your excenacy Sword... Even after you gave us the formula to the dragon weakening gas we let the living god imposter escape..." [Send out searching parties to look for the imposter... he could not have made it too far] "Yes your excellency... Relay that order! Find the imposter!" Sword was in fact right, Mars had not made it very far, he was currently in an Inn on the outskirts of the capital, he had a clam look on his face as he sat in a chair and looked at the sleeping 78 that laid on the bed, but under the calm expression was boiling rage ''They hurt 78 again... how should I let them suffer before I kill them..? why did they attack us in the first place..? And that gas..'' Mars'' thoughts swirled but where soon interrupted by a cough that sounded out inside the room before 78 slowly opened her eyes, Mars was about to reach out to her but stopped himself as guilt flashed over his face before he suddenly stood up, this attracted 78''s gaze to him, she looked at him for a bit before she gave a smile that soon froze when she saw his expression "Mars..? What''s wrong?" Mars gave a strained smile and spoke in a self deprecating manner as he stroked 78''s cheek "What kind of living god have I become to let you get hurt so many times..?" 78 gave a smile and held his hand as she spoke "But I am okay now, right?" "Yes you are... But you should not have been hurt in the first place" 78 reached up with her free hand and patted Mars on the head, this confused him a bit so he asked "Why are you pressing me?" "Because you did a good job in healing me" "I see..." The two of them spent some more time like this, looking into eachothers eyes before Mars spoke again "I have brought you some new clothes since your dress is beyond repair this time" "Okay..." Mars then stood up and was about to walk out of the door when 78 called out to him "Where are you going Mars?" "Relax 78, I am just going to get an explanation from the beast empress before i skin her alive" "Then I''ll come too" "No you stay here and rest" "But---" "no but''s... stay here" "boo!" Mars gave a sigh before he walked over to 78 and kneeled down and kissed her on the forehead before he gazed into her eyes and said "Stay here, okay?" "...Fine, but only if you kiss me properly" "Sure" Mars kissed 78 lightly on the lips, well it was light at first but before he realized she had pulled him down on the bed as she likewise pulled him into a deep kiss, after a little while she pulled back her lips and spoke with an enchanted and slightly seductive smile on her face "Mars you taste good" At that moment Mars really had an urge to push her down for real but held back as he had more pressing matters to attend to and thus he gave her one last quick kiss and spoke "See you later 78" "...Come back soon Mars" "I will" Chapter 260 - To end a race war (6) Mars walked towards the palace again, this time he didn''t come to talk, he came to kill after all they had tried to gas him and if not for 78 he would have been captured and maybe killed for real, as he neared the palace he grew out his claws and vermilion armor gradually formed around him before he gave a cold smile and activated [Half-awaken] just as one of the search parties spotted him and quickly confirmed he was the one they were searching for "Stop right there!" Mars simple glanced at the soldiers before they fell over dead with a simple use of [Energy: temperature control], a slightly burnt smell spread out, he had cooked the inside of their heads killing them instantly before he continued walking towards the palace, to say the least Mars was in no mood for mercy today ''Now let''s see... to avoid the gas I''ll beter enter on my own terms and the room I enter vented while I am at it...'' Mars gave a nod as he looked up at the palaces walls before he jumped and began flying above the palace, looking down on the palace Mars quickly found what he assumed to be the audience room or at least somewhere of importance "Well then let''s poke a nice ventilations hole..." Mars flew down and touching the roof of the palace as he charged energy units in his hand before he unleashed them partially collapsing the roof of the palace, then he flew down into what looked like a throne room and looked around for a moment before he spotted a beastwoman sitting on a throne and next to her floated an avatar that looked at Mars with hate in its orange eyes before it yelled "Energy!" "Oh if it isn''t Sword..? I see things are starting to make sense now..." "Guards!" Mars ignored the beastwoman that called for the guards and put his focus on the avatar that glared at him with hatred and activated [Instant movement] before he reappeared right in front of it and grabbed it by the face and quickly discharged his stored energy units and so with a bang the avatar once again broke into tiny pieces as the formless pressure quickly escaped leaving behind Mars and the beatswoman that sat on the throne that looked at him in horror as she mumbled "You are not an imposter..!" "Well what did you expect? anyway you must be the beast empress" The beast empress quickly dismissed the guards that had come running before he walked down from her thorne with shaking legs and then she kneeled down in front of Mars and spoke with a slightly trembling voice "Please have mercy on my kingdom..!" Mars thought for a moment before he spoke "You ambushed me and my travel companion as we came here to help you end the war that is going on with the humans... we could have been friends and I could have left this continent quicker... But instead you listened to the one that seek to destroy you continent and ambush me..." The beast empress got more and more pale as Mars spoke and lowered her head even deeper, right now she was mentally cursing Sword for telling her lies about Mars being a living god imposter that had to be killed, but after Mars destroyed the avatar she had no doubts of Mars'' identity "Please forgive me my insolence lord Mars..!" Mars gave a cold smile before he commanded "Stand" "But lord Mars I---" "I said stand!" "Y-Yes at once!" The beast empress stood up, her legs were shaking like that of a newborn lamb, Mars walked over to her and put a hand on her cheek before he stroked it slightly to calm her down as he spoke "Relax I won''t kill you..." The beast empress suddenly looked very relieved right before she felt something was wrong as the strength rapidly left her body and was drained through the hand that stroked her cheek as she suddenly aged rapidly as the energy was drained out of her, when Mars pulled back his hand she looked like an old frail woman, Mars gave a smile and spoke "Now we''re even... I left some luggage and a sword here, where might they be?" The beast empress kneeled down again this time from exhaustion as she was too frail to keep standing but still she spoke to one of the guards that had watched the whole thing "Find... Them... Now..." "Yes!" Mars waited a few minutes before the guard returned carrying his backpack and boardsword that still was warped in cloth, Mars quickly cheeked that they didn''t swap his broadsword with another less valuable one before he looked over at the beast empress and spoke "Now then, I got what I came for, so I''ll see myself out... Enjoy the rest of you life, mortal" Mars then flew out of the hole he had made in the roof and returned to the Inn but paused when he was about to open the door to his and 78''s room ''....What am I hesitating for?'' Mars shook his head and opened the door, but instead of being jumped by 78 as he expected he was met with silence, well not quite silence *SNORE* Mars felt his eye twitch a bit when he looked at 78 that laid across the double bed on her back snoring like an old man for a bit before he gave a sigh and decided to just go to sleep... "Wake up Mars..." Mars felt his body being shaken slightly and opened his eyes and blinked a few times before his eyes focused and saw 78 that was leaning over him, her long brown hair was tickling his face slightly as she showed a happy smile before her face closed in and their lips met, but instead of the long deep kiss Mars was half expecting 78 lifted her face up again relatively fast before she gave a cute giggle and showed sweet smile "Good morning Mars" "Yeah good morning 78..." Mars also gave a smile, it was then that he finally realized that he considered 78 to be his and gave a sigh ''I don''t know if it''s my dragon blood or it''s just a basic nature as a man to be searching for as many partners as possible... oh well'' Mars got up and got dressed before they went down to eat downstairs, while they ate an unwelcome guest showed up, 78 ignored her and so did Mars until he was finished eating and so he gave his second sigh of the day before he asked "What do you want Terra?" Terra bowed down before she spoke "I am here to apologize again and to give you this letter..." Mars looked at the letter and saw it was addressed to the demon king Gregory before he gave a nod as Terra explained "This letter should give you a meeting with the demon king... Please use it when you arrive at the capital of demons" "Fine... Are you done eating 78?" "Yeah" "Then let''s go" Mars picked up his luggage and walked out of the Inn before he picked up 78 in his arms and flew into the air, after gaining about 200 meters of altitude he took on his flight goggles and handed a pair to 78 before he flew west towards the demon lands... After 8 days of relatively boring flight with a few breaks in between the two of them arrived at the capital of demons where they would hopefully get a more open welcome than the one at the beast empress palace, but first there was something more important to do "Let''s get some food" "Umm!" Mars and 78 found themselves a nice restaurant with seats outside and ordered some food before they began eating and chatting, them not being demons attracted a lot of attention from the demon inhabitants of the capital but neither Mars nor 78 was worried about that as they spent time in their own little world while they ate, but soon something they were unable to ignore showed up, a total of 50 mounted knights that escorted a carriage that stopped right out on the road next to the restaurant where they were eating ''....here comes trouble, or at least something annoying'' Mars gave a sigh as he continued eating while keeping attention on the carriage out of the corner of his eye, soon an older demon man wearing ceremonial armor stepped out of the carriage and looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on Mars and 78 as a smile formed on his face, as he stepped down from the carriage he walked straight over towards Mars and 78 that still ignored his presence, the other demons around kneeled down when they saw him however, this caused Mars to be even more alert to him and soon he was standing next to the table and looked at Mars before he spoke "You must be Mars..." Chapter 261 - To end a race war (7) "You must be Mars..." Mars gave a nod and asked "How can I help you your majesty?" The demon in ceremonial armor gave a smile and sat down at their table before he gave a glance at 78 that was busy stuffing her face and seemed to totally tune out his presence before he looked over at Mars and spoke "To tell the truth, we have a problem with our avatar at the palace... We would like to ask you to help out with it" "I see... Oh right I have a letter to you from the beast empress... Here it is" Mars handed the letter to the demon man in ceremonial armor before he went back to his food, The demon man gave a smile and opened the letter and began reading, as he read his face became more and more pale before he looked at Mars in horror and gave a sigh before his face began to regain its color at bit, Mars gave a wry smile as he could imagine what the contents of the letter was "So, what''s the problem with the avatar about?" "Well to tell the truth an archangel seems to have possessed it and has basically taken over as king, ordering us to find a so called ''imposter living god'' and kill it with all our might... I might have followed that message if not for the covert message I received from the beast empress and this letter..." "I see... well then let me finish eating first and I''ll see what I can do for you" Mars and 78 was soon finished eating and then they followed the demon king back to the palace where Mars commanded 78 to stay put while he dealt with annoying archangel Sword, he then followed the demon king to the audience room (while being alert not to get gassed again) "And here we are... I wish you luck Mars" "Sure, just wait a bit" Mars opened the door to the audience room and quickly zeroed in on the avatar that floated next to the throne, its orange eyes widened when it saw Mars before it yelled "Energy! I''ll kill you this time!" Mars gave a smile while he activated [Half-awaken] before he dodged to the side as a sword light came flying across the audience room, next he closed the distance with [Instant movement] and grabbed the avatar by the face before he discharged his stored energy units and completely shattered the avatar and the formless pressure quickly tried to escape when something flashed in the eyes of Mars and he reached out after the formless pressure and suddenly felt like he grasped something before his vision went white. The next thing he saw was an old man weilding a sword rushing at him with killing intent clear in his eyes, Mars dodged to the side of the first slash before he reacted on instinct and stepped into the range of the old swordsman and delivered a palm strike straight to his chest and sent him sliding back a few meters before the old man howled "ENERGY I''LL KILL YOU!!!" "Sword?" Mars felt his confusion clear up a bit as he identified the old man in front of him as his enemy, now he knew what to do and gave a sneer "Don''t get your blood pressure up to high old man" "ENERGY!" As the old man charged again Mars began charging his energy units as he transformed his hands into claws and blocked the frenzied sword slashes from the old man before he saw an opening and closed in before he placed his right hand on the chest of the old man again and discharged the stored energy, with a bang the old man was sent flying backwards before he crashed down into the ground, this time he didn''t get back up. After waiting for a few moments the world around Mars suddenly blurred and he found himself back in the ardiance room, only this time the formless pressure was nowhere to be found, Mars stared blankly for a few moments as his mind raced ''Did I kill him..? No Info said that archangels are immortal... I must at least have wounded him quite a bit, so it''s unlikely he will find trouble for me in the next few days...'' Mars gave a smile and turned around to face the demon king that looked at him with a half fearful and half grateful expression, after all Mars had just destroyed an avatar, something no mortal could do "Well then... If there''s nothing else I will take my leave now" "....Please at least stay for the night Mars, I''ll prepare a grand feast for you and your travel companion to enjoy" "...Sure" And a grand feast it was, but due to Mars'' request not to many demons were in attendance, Mars specifically said "I can''t be bothered if there''s too much bothersome stuff" and so there was less than 50, but those were the most important of the demon country (which Mars didn''t bother remembering the name of) "Mars... can we leave already?" Mars paused and looked over at 78 that looked very uncomfortable and gave a wry smile, she was not used to high class social gatherings like Mars was (kind of anyway) so he gave an apologetic smile to the demon king that gave a nod "In that case please follow after me, I''ll show you to your room" Mars gave a nod and patted 78 on the head before they both followed after the demon king and soon they arrived at a rather big guest room where the demon king gave a light bow before he spoke "Please rest well" "Sure... Good night" The demon king gave a smile and walked back out of the door and closed it behind him, Mars gave a sigh before he felt 78 hug him from behind, two certain mounds pressed against his back but Mars kept a pure mind and asked her without turning around "What''s wrong 78?" "...Can we never do such a thing again?" "You don''t like social gatherings?" "No..." Mars flet 78 rub her cheek against his back and gave a sigh "If you don''t want to then I won''t force you in the future" "Thanks Mars..." After that the two of them went to sleep in the double bed and slept soundly all night... Or at least they were supposed to, while 78 slept soundly Mars rolled around in the bed haunted by nightmares [Mars... Wake up] Mars slowly opened his eyes and was met with two bright shining light blue eyes, still half asleep he muttered "Info..?" [That''s right] Mars then did something Info didn''t expect and reached up and grabbed the body of the avatar and hugged it tight, as Info was fl.u.s.tered not knowing what to do Mars mumbled "Let me sleep a little more..." [Geez Mars... You really are spoiled...] Some more time passed before Mars gradually awoke again, he felt someone stroking his head and heard some quite humming so he slowly opened his eyes and saw the face of an avatar that laid with him in bed and was quietly humming while it was stroking his head "Info?" The avatar opened its bright light blue eyes before a smile formed on the avatar''s face [Good morning Mars] Mars gave a smile before he sat himself up on the bed and looked around, they were alone in the room so Mars asked "Where''s 78?" [She left with the demon king after both of them waited for you to wake up... They were unable to endure my pressure] "I see... Well then it sure is a pleasant surprise to see you here Info" Info gave a happy smile and sat up on the bed next to Mars before she reached up and patted Mars on the head as she spoke [You did a good job ending the race war] "Well I just did as you asked... Wait weren''t this going to help me with my mandate?" Info looked away as she spoke [...Well technically everything helps with forming you mandate] Mars gave a sigh, well it was true though he had made some progress on his mandate and he now felt that he was just on the verge of grasping something, like it was just out of his reach the feeling annoyed him somewhat but he knew that this was a progress that could not be rushed "Oh right, I fought Sword or at least I think I did" Info looked at his face with a somewhat serious face and asked [When he was in an avatar?] "Also that, but when he left the avatar I think I grasped and eliminated some of his... from" Info gave a smile and patted Mars on the head again [Well done, I knew you would figure it out eventually and if you eliminate a part of him he will be on the sidelines for a few centuries] Mars gave a nod and then he asked "Isn''t it time you told me how exactly archangels work?" Info gave a nod and began explaining Chapter 262 - Continent rush (1) Mars gave a nod, he somewhat understood Info''s explanation, basically an archangel was like an AI from his past life, it could separate itself and focus on different tasks at once, which was why Info sounded like a robot when he met her for the first time, she had not allocated much of herself to reincarnating a living god that basically had no hope of surviving or making it to Alfan "So how much of you is here right now Info?" [Hmm... around half, as much as I can freely allocate anyway] "So the rest of you is handling other tasks?" [Yeah, stabilizing reality as you know it... Stuff like that] "I see, sounds important" [Well it''s hella boring too...] Mars gave a laugh before he stroked Info on her head [What?] "You have done well Info" Info looked confused for a moment before it dawned on her that Mars was praising her like she had just done, then her smile bloomed like a sunflower before she leaned against him, for sometime both of them were silent while Mars stroked her head until Info broke the silence [I should tell you about the next continent you are heading to before you reach Salen] "I am all ears" After about half an hour Mars stepped out of the guest room with his luggage and found both the demon king and 78 waiting for him outside the room, 78 latched onto him as soon as he stepped out of the room and rubbed her face against his shoulder, both Mars and the demon king ignored her as they spoke "Thanks for the stay" "The pleasure was all ours, I have to thank you again for solving our problem" Mars gave a nod and gestured for the demon king to walk with him, the two of them talked and laughed while they walked out of the palace into a courtyard where Mars picked up 78 in his embrace before he flew off into the distance... "Are we there soon Mars?" "Yeah this should be the last few hours we have to spend flying for a while... Man I look forwards to sleeping..." Mars and 78 were currently flying over the dark sea, it was night and the 9th day that they had spent flying over the sea, Mars was starting to get really tired but endured while they flew and then finely Mars spotted the shore "Land!" 78 repeated while being just as excited "Land!" Mars sped up and soon both of them touched down and began rolling around in the sand, but suddenly Mars stopped and looked off further inland as the sensation grew nearer until suddenly 78 also seemed to pick up on it and stood up from the sand and looked in the same direction that Mars did before suddenly two blue cat eyes appeared in the darkness and a voice appeared in Mars'' head "Mars..!" Then a bundle of black and red-orange fur shot out from the darkness and hit Mars right in the chest as he fell over backwards on the sand as a loud purring that reberbratied in Mars'' chest sounded out before he gave a sigh and asked "What are you doing here VIctoria? We''re a continent away from Salen..." two pairs of horns flashed softly in the night as Victoria''s voice once again appeared in Mars'' head "I... Missed you" Mars gave a smile and stroked Victoria''s ears and head which resulted in her purr to get even louder, meanwhile 78 looked on from the side for a while before she asked Mars "Mars, who is this?" "Oh right... Victoria why don''t you introduce yourself?" Then a voice appeared in 78''s head as Victoria''s horns flashed "Hello... Victoria is... Victoria?" 78 flet her eyelid twitch for a moment before she gave a nod and slowly reached out and touched VIctoria''s fur and was astonished "It''s sooooo soft!" Then she proceeded to rub her face against VIctoria''s balck and orange red fur which also kicked Victoria''s purring up a notch as she loved the attention she was getting and since 78 and Mars smelled alike she was not wary of her at all and quite happily fawned over her and Mars for the best part of an hour before Mars let out a yawn and patted VIctoria on the head as he asked "Victoria can you take the night watch? I really need some sleep..." "Sure..." "Awesome, thanks Victoria" Mars and 78 quickly made camp and vent to sleep while Victoria guarded the camp... The next morning Mars awoke naturally to the sound of purring and without opening his eyes he reached up and began petting Victoria on the head before he greeted her "Good morning Victoria" "Good morning... Mars" Mars opened his eyes and was suddenly face to face with Victoria''s big round blue eyes as she sniffed his face, Mars gave a wry smile before he asked "How is stuff at home?" "Not... good" "...I see, guess we better hurry on back then" So far Mars top priority had not been returning home as quickly as possible it had been growing strong enough so that he would not have to make the journey again, after all who could say that the shitbag administrator would not just throw him to the ends of Alfan once again? But now that he had heard form Victoria that stuff was "not good" he had to hurry home and thus he woke up 78 and quickly packed the camp down before he picked up 78 and looked over at Victoria and asked "Are you going to be able to keep up if I fly?" "Sure... I might even... Be faster" Mars gave a nod as he looked at Victoria''s slightly proud expression and suddenly had an urge to praise her but in the end he didn''t and just set off and flew after the shadow that moved at blistering speed on the ground ''She sure is fast'' Mars marveled at the speed the shadow that raced past all obstacles on the ground, it was at least as fast as him that was flying with 60% speed ''Then let''s kick it up a notch...'' "78, I am speeding up, hold tight" "Umm!" Mars sped up momentarily leaving Victoria in her shadow in the dust before she also sped up and kept a constant 500 meter lead ''She really was not kidding when she said she was faster...'' Mars gave a smile and sped up a little more, he was happy that Victoria was fast since it meant that he could return, even just a little faster... After flying for an entire 5 days Mars reached his limit and they were forced to stop, thankfully they had just reached a city were they would hopefully be able to find room. Mars and 78 walked down the main road in the city after passing the inspection at the gates and soon they found an Inn where they rented a room and as soon as Mars walked in he collapsed on the bed as Victoria jumped out of her shadow and also laid down on the bed and soon matched Mars'' snoring "...What am I going to do with you two?" 78 gave a sigh as she complained with a smile on her face before she locked the door to their room and also laid down on the bed before she curled up and soon fell asleep too... As Mars slept he was once again was once again haunted by nightmares. "Wake up... You can''t sleep here Varvei" Varvei felt something shaking her, which was annoying since she had just fallen asleep and after being shaken for some time she opened her eyes and stared at Chloe that was shaking her with mild anger before she spoke "Then where should I sleep?" "In your room, not up here on the roof!" "...Che, fine" Varvei got up, she had once again been training until her body collapsed, but in order to not concern Chloe even more she tried her best to hide her shaking legs as she walked downstairs after Chloe while she used her tail to keep her balance as her vision blurred ''Shit...'' But that was the least of her problems because when the two of them reached the living room they suddenly heard a loud bang from the front door, almost as if someone was trying to kick it in, Chloe looked at Varvei and spoke "I''ll go get my sword, can you hold down the front?" "Sure, off you go Chloe" "...Are you really sure you''ll be fine Varvei?" "...Yeah it''s probably just that starker again" Varvei sat down in a chair and waited until the door was kicked in for the 5th time this month and then a loud voice was heard from the direction of the door "Varvei my darling I am here to see you!" Varvei gave a sigh as she stood up from the chair again and transformed her body for combat, she grew out claws, horns and bone spikes on her tail as a handsome young man with horns walked into the living room, he was without a doubt the person Varvei wanted to see the least her so called starker, a half dragon that had arrived in Green river a few weeks ago and had pestered her ever since "Ah, you look just as gorgeous today too Varvei my darling!" "Go back to where you crawled out from you slimy bug!" Chapter 263 - Continent rush (2) The half dragon man gave a sneer for a split second before he went back to what he assumed was a gentleman like face as he spoke "How long are you going to wait on a man that abandoned you Varvei?" Varvei swung her tail from side to side in response before she repeated "Leave now, I want nothing to do with you!" The half dragon man gave a sigh as his patience was running dry before he took a steep forwards, at that moment Chloe showed up with her sword, she didn''t waste words she just slashed at him the half dragon man narrowly avoided the slash and glared at Chloe before he gave a sneer and turned around and left "Thanks Chloe" "It''s nothing, I hate his slimy kind too... Besides he knows that I am daughter of the village head so he won''t touch me" "I wish the same was true for me... I still need more training" Varvei gave a sigh and undid her transformation before she walked out of the living room while giving a yawn "Night Chloe" "Yeah, good night Varvei" Mars gradually awoke before he suddenly jumped out of bed and began packing quickly while 78 and Victoria slept, they however was quickly woken up by Mars that was packing his stuff. 78 considered complaining but when she saw the dark circles under Mars'' eyes she stopped herself as she felt a pang of pain in her chest she didn''t like seeing Mars like this therefore she gave a nod and began helping him pack ''If I just support him along the way every thing will be fine" Mars appreciated 78''s help with packing but didn''t think about why she had decided to help him instead of lazing in bed as usual, after the luggage was packed Mars, 78 and Victoria(who hid in Mars'' shadow) walked downstairs and got some food in them (Mars sneaked some meat down into his shadow for Victoria) after that they left and continued flying east... "I need a break..." After flying for four days Mars was once again worn down and slow decened while he looked for a town but all he saw was forest as far as his eyes saw "Well guess we are sleeping outside tonight..." Mars descended and touched down in the forest before he set up his tent with help from 78 while Victoria cheeked the perimeter of the camp for dangerous wildlife and soon returned dragging some sort of deer by the neck with a ''praise me'' look in her eyes, Mars gave a wry smile and patted her on the head before he began harvesting the deer carcase and cooked it over a fire but the smell of the cooked deer seems to attract something as the brushes shook near the camp and a... evlen child appeared, Mars looked over and asked the child "...Hey kid, are you hungry?" The child gave a nod and walked closer, Mars inspected the child he or she wore some expensive looking clothes that looked worn down and was cut in verious places giving the child an overall hagged look as he/she walked over and sat down by the fire and began eating without being weary of Mars, 78 and Victoria at all "What''s your name kid?" the elven child tilted his/her head and answered "Marie" "Oh, so you were a girl... Marie, where are your parents?" "At home?" "...And where is that?" "...In the center of the forest" "I see... And why are you out here Marie?" Marie swallowed the meat she was chewing on and answered "Because bad men took me from the village" Mars gave a sigh, that meant that the yelling he had heard in the distance to "Find the brat quickly" was going to be trouble and so he stood up from his seat and spoke to 78 and Victoria "I''ll be right back" Mars walked off into the underbrush and soon disappeared from the view of 78 that gave a sigh before she looked over at Marie that still sat and ate like a small animal taking small bits of the deer meat she was eating and gave yet another sigh, then she stood up and walked over next to Marie before she slowly began to pat the child on the head as she spoke "It''s alright now, Mars will get you home again" Marie gave a small nod as small crystal like tears slowly seeped out of her eyes, but only for a moment before she quickly wiped them away before she gave a nod, soon Mars returned and gave a yawn before he sat down by the fire and stared into the flames for a bit before he spoke "I''ll take you home tomorrow Marie so sleep with us tonight so you''re well rested to see your parents tomorrow" "Okay..." Night quickly passed and Mars awoke well rested this time as he didn''t see any nightmares in fact he didn''t see any dreams at all which was rare for him, looking over to the side he saw 78 still sleeping while tightly hugging his arm as usual but he also felt a light weight on his stomach which made him raise his head a bit to look and found Maire that was laying on his stomach and chest sleeping, Mars laid his head back down and gave a sigh as wondered how the twins were holding up with him being gone and all "Oh well, in any case they don''t have to wait all that long now..." Mars'' mumbling seemed to wake up 78 that looked at his face and gave a happy smile before she squeezed his arm tighter and nuzzled her head against his shoulder "Good morning 78" "Umm! Morning Mars" Marie also awoke and quickly crawled off Mars before she also greeted Mars "Good morning Mars" "Yeah good morning Maire" Mars was the first out of the tent and greeted Victoria that lay by the still going fire "Morning Victoria" Victoria lifted her head and looked at Mars before she began purring and walked over to him as her horns flashed "Morning... Mars" Mars gave a Victoria some well deserved head pats before the other two also crawled out of the tent, then Mars and 78 began packing their stuff, when they were done Mars turned to Marie that sat and patted Victoria, feeling her soft fur and spoke "Marie, do you know the way home?" Marie gave a small nod and pointed in a direction, Mars gave a smile and picked up his backpack, then he put out the fire before he also picked up Marie and placed her on his shoulders "Then let''s go" 78 gave a smile and walked over and latched onto Mars'' arm before they left their campsite and ventured into the forest while being guided by Maire... "Get them!" A sword passed right over her head as she dodged by kneeling down before she stabbed forwards with one of her swords, stabbing the man in the chest, impaling his heart with the tip of her sword before she quickly pulled her sword back, blood sprayed out dyeing the already dark red leather armor a shade lighter of red before she kicked off the ground and closed the distance to her next target that looked at her with horror and screamed "It''s bloody Mary!" "Run!" Her target turned and tried to run away, but that didn''t stop her, now that one of them had called out her name they all had to die. Mary turned into a blur as she decapitated the first target before she rapidly closed the distance on the next, before the head of the first target had hit the ground one of her swords was already buried in the back of her second target ''Two left... But one of them is too far away for me to catch up... In that case, here!'' She turned and ran halfway up a tree before she kicked off the tree and backfliped while she threw her sword that swiftly flew through the air before it landed in the back of the one the furthest away before she rapidly closed the distance to the one that were slightly closer and tackled him to the ground before she began stabbing him in the back, taking her time and making sure he didn''t die from just on stab, as the man screamed out for mercy a small smile formed on Mary''s face before it was quickly wiped away by a swing that decapitated the man she was torturing "Keep it at killing them Mary, we have no need for their pain" Mary looked up and saw her captain, the captain of the patrol squad she currently was in and gave a snort before she wiped some of the warm blood splatter off her face and spoke in a slightly cold tone "Yes captain" The elf captain gave a sigh before he gave her a hand and helped her onto her feet, then she walked over and retrieved her sword from the other corpse as she looked at the dripping blood she had a thought as a happy smile showed on her face ''I hope Mars will praise me when he returns...'' Chapter 264 - Continent rush (3) "Well... This is about what I expected..." Mars suddenly stopped walking and raised his hands, 78 was confused for a moment before the fluffy ears on top of her head twitched for a moment, then she also raised her hands... Marie was of course confused by their actions, that is until Mars spoke "Come on stop hiding, we see you... We are here to deliver a lost child" Then it suddenly clicked for Marie and being a smart child she also yelled "I am okay, they didn''t hurt me!" Soon elves with bows raised and pointed towards Mars and 78 cam out from the underbrush, one of them imitadily commanded "Put the child down!" "Sure" Mars picked up Marie that sat on his shoulders and put her down, but instead of returning to her people she clung to Mars'' leg and yelled "You''re bad people! Mars didn''t hurt me and yet you threaten him!" "Marie come over he---" Just as one of the elves spoke another one suddenly yelled "Did you just say Mars!?" The other elves paused and looked over at Mars for a few moments before they lowered their weapons as one of them whispered "It''s really him, Mars of Green river!" Another one of them also wisphered "What is the half-dragon of Green river doing here!?" Mars gave a smile and lowered his hands before he spoke "What I am doing here is a longer story, one that I think your elders would like to hear, right?" The elves gave nods all around and one of them spoke out "We''ll show you the way to our village... I am sure that the elders will thank you for bringing Maire back to us, but let us do it too" Then all the elves kneeled down and spoke out loud """""""We thank you Mars!""""""" Mars gave a nod as a smile formed on his face before he spoke "Please lead the way" 78 that walked besides Mars asked him "Mars what''s Green river?" Mars'' smile widened before he spoke "Home" 78 gave a nod, then the group of four were escorted by the elves further into the forest... "Where...?" "sush lay down again Yel" Yel obeyed the voice that she so often had before and laid down again before the image of her most dear person flashed through her head and she suddenly sat herself up, ignoring the dizziness she felt she spoke "I need to train" "Nope, you need to rest!" Yel, still dizzy felt her body being pressed back down into the soft bed she was laying on before "But mom if I don''t train then Mars won''t---" "Won''t what? Return? Since when have you grown such a pair? I distinctly remember giving birth to a daughter!" "But mom---" "No but''s, have you forgotten what you are!? You dumb girl!" Yel fell silent and stared at Xel for a few moments before she gave a sigh and spoke "I am Mars'' slave" "Looks like you have not forgotten... Now who does you body and heart belong to?" "Mars" "Then who gave you permission to wear it down like this!?" "...No one" Xel gave a sigh and caressed Yel''s forehead before she spoke in a calm voice that seemed to lul Yel to sleep "Then sleep now my dear... Sleep and recover for when he returns..." Yel closed her eyes and soon she fell asleep, Xel gave a sigh and showed a rare tender look as she looked over her eldest daughter... Mars awoke gradually, it was the middle of the night and for a moment he had forgotten where he was before he felt a splitting headache and quickly sat up in his bed as he mumbled "water..." Mars quickly found a water jug standing on the night table along with a glass, Mars pushed the glass asied and quickly drained the water directly from the jug before he mumbled while feeling a little more alive "Those elves sure know how to party..." Then he gave a sigh as he remembered the whole banquet that had happened before he went to bed, the whole thing had lasted a couple of days, he had simply been unable to refuse their hospitality "More likely their fruit wine... damn it was good..." Mars once again laid down on the bed and closed his eyes for a few minutes until the urge he felt was to much to bare and he once again sat up in the bed before he swung his legs out over the side and quickly wore some pants as he mumbled "Where was the toilet again..?" Mars quickly left the room in search of a toilet which he quickly found, (thankfully) after he was done there he returned to his room and laid down on the bed again before he slowly fell into a shallow sleep... A couple hours later Mars detected moment in the room next to his, but as he still was in shallow sleep he didn''t really care about it, it was only when the door to his room was slowly and silently opened that he began waking up and when the intruder crawled onto his bed he slowly opened his eyes and saw... 78 staring into his face from close distance, she sat on his stomach and was leaned down with their noses almost touching, Mars greeted her "Good mo---" Or at least he tried to as his lips were quickly sealed by hers it was only after a few seconds that her lips let go of his and she showed a bright smile "Good morning to you too Mars" Mars gave a wry smile and reached up and grabbed her shoulders, then he instantly flipped their positions so that she was the one laying on her back before 78 managed to really realise what was going on he kissed her deeply for a few moments ''I really do love her...'' Mars remembered this as he realized what he was doing and gave a sigh inwardly before he separated from her again, when he did he looked into her pupils that gradually changed from being brown and round to being gray and triangle formed as she complained "Geez Mars you surprised me so much that my transformation almost came undone... Time for payback!" 78 quickly grabbed Mars and tired to flip him around and thus 78 challenged something she shouldn''t have, this she gradually learned as the two of them fooled around for the best part of an hour, although they didn''t cross the final line both of them were quite exhausted by the end. They both laid on their backs and looked into the ceiling as Mars spoke "Let''s get ready to continue our journey home..." "Okay Mars, I''ll help you pack" "Thanks" After packing Victoria showed up and so the trio was gathered again and ready to continue on their way which they did after saying goodbye to the elves and Marie in particular... "Here we finely are... The coastline..." Mars looked out over the rolling sea, it had been a month since they had left the elves and they had been flying almost non stop since so to say the least Mars was quite exhausted thus they had decided to spent the night before they challenged the journey over the sea to Salen, And so after spending the night by the sea Mars flew off carrying 78 while Victoria''s shadow flew over the surface of the sea and for 7 days the group flew in a straight line towards Slaen until they reached it, the coastline, Mars lowered his altitude but just as his feet was about to touch the ground he suddenly stopped and floated over the sand. Terror had stopped him, what if the shitbag administator whould just show up again and throw him away once more? What if he would kill 78? What if--- "Mars!" "Eh...?" Mars snapped out of his daze and looked at 78 he held in his arms, she reached up and slowly patted his head as she spoke softly "It will be alright" Mars stared blankly at her for a few moments before he gave a nod and touched down on the sand of the beach, and indeed nothing happened, he waited for a few moments, still nothing "Thank the heavens..." Mars gave a sigh and very much wanted to keep flying until he reached Green river which at this point only was about a week''s flying away but stopped himself, afterall he didn''t want to arrive and then pass out, he wanted to return as if he returned from a short trip so he wouldn''t worry the girls to much "Let''s make camp here..." "Okay Mars" "Sure... Mars, do you want... Me to... Stand guard?" "If you would Victoria, just wake me up if you get to tired" "Okay..." Mars looked off into the distance with a look of longing on his face before he looked up into the sky and showed a resolute expression ''I''ll be coming for you soon, you shitbag of a administrator!'' Chapter 265 - Home (1) Mars awoke and looked around, for a moment he had forgotten where he was but then he remembered "Oh right..." Mars was currently in an inn that was located in the easten NNE, he was like a little kid before christmas, unable to sleep ''Hopefully they are all okay...'' This was the last time they had to rest before they reached Green river, so to say the least Mars was anxious after all it had been over a year since he had been home, who could say what had happened since he had been taken away by that shitbag administator ''I should get some more sleep...'' Mars closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but even after half an hour of regulating his breathing and laying perfectly still was he unable to fall asleep, one thing that didn''t help was that 78 that lay beside him in the bed was a rudy sleeper and had a hard time staying still when she slept, currently Mars could feel one of her legs laying ontop of his stomach ''Yeah this isn''t happening.... let''s meditate for a bit...'' Mars crawled out of bed after unwrapping 78 from himself and sat down on the wooden floor with crossed legs and began to clear his mind before he began meditating about the nature of energy and the nature of his mandate... As the sun gradually rose he could feel its energy through the walls of the inn, all of those light seconds away was a giant fusion reaction on going that was fusing hydrogen into helium as those thoughts passed through his head it dawned on him ''Energy is omnipresent...'' Mars flet the nature of his very being change slightly as something within him suddenly clicked then suddenly he heard Info''s voice [I felt that from here... Congratulations Mars, you are have reached the first threshold of your mandate, a task very few living gods before you have managed to accomplish before their life ran out] Mars gave a smile before he opened his eyes that seemed to shine slightly in the still dim west facing room, then he quickly began packing and when 78 gradually awoke half an hour later Mars was sitting on his backpack meditating, when she looked at him he opened his eyes and gave a very charming smile "Let''s go" "...Okay, I''ll get dressed quickly" 78 could feel something was different about Mars, yet she could not really put her finger on it so she decided not to think to hard about it and quickly got dressed, then the two of them checked out of the inn and called Victoria that jumped out of a nearby shadow before they prepared to fly out of the city "...Let''s race until the forest Victoria" "You''re... On" Mars picked up 78 and raced after Victoria that already had set off and within two and a half hours they had reached the Mother forest "Okay.... I admit it, you win Victoria" "Yay..." Mars put down 78 and looked into the forest, then without saying anything he began walking into the forest, 78 followed after him and so did VIctoria, after walking for a few minutes Mars stopped and looked around before he gave a nod "They should have seen us in the mirror by now... Let''s fly again" 78 looked a little confused but still gave a nod as Mars picked her up in his arms, Victoria jumped into her shadow and began speeding south through the forest, Mars and 78 rose above the trees before Mars also began speeding south, after a few hours they arrived in the inner forest and landed again 78 looked around, she was standing in the middle of a plantation along with Mars and Victoria, Mars floated up and picked a fruit from one of the trees and handed it to her "Here try this" "Sure" 78 bit into the fruit, it was very ripe and a taste of mint spread out in her mouth which made her smile "Like it?" 78 gave a nod as her mouth was occupied with eating the mint fruit, Mars gave a smile and began walking south, Victoria and 78 followed after him, soon they could see the walls of Green river, the walls looked like they were made of living trees and was covered with leafs and reached about 10 meters tall, Mars walked towards the walls without bothering with finding a gate, as he neared the walls they suddenly began opening up a small passage where the group of three walked through the walls and emerged on a lively street on the other side of the walls, 78 looked around "This sure is packed with people..." "Yeah, well Green river is a city with a high population density" 78 gave a nod and followed after Mars, but after walking a few hundred meters she walked up besides him and grabbed his arm a little tighter then she used to as she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, tall building reached towards the branches of the giant tree that covered the entirety of Gree river city, 78 had never seen buildings like this and was very surprised quickly asking Mars "Mars, what are those buildings?" "They are called sky trees... I have one of my own with a penthouse in the top five floors'''' "I see... Then which one is yours?" "Hmm... It should be that one over there" Mars pointed to a sky tree that stood a couple of kilometers away, 78 gave a nod and squeezed Mars'' arm a little tighter, soon a group of soldiers in ceremonial armor suddenly showed up, they stopped in front of Mars and 78 and one of them spoke "Mars, the elders are waiting for your arrival" "I see... Well let them know that they aren''t my top priority, let''s go 78" 78 gave a nod and looked over at the soldier before she stuck out her tongue as they walked past, the soldier''s eyelids twitched, if not for the orders he received mentioned not to provoke Mars or the ones around him he would already have slapped 78, but alas he could only give a sigh before he and the other soldiers in ceremonial armor began walking back towards the giant tree to report what they had been told by Mars... "And here we are..." Mars and 78 stopped in front of his building and Mars took a deep breath before he stepped in and walked over to the mana elevator and selected the topmost floor, after a very tense 30 seconds a ding sounded out and the doors opened, from there they stepped out of the elevator and stopped in front of a door "...Mars you''re shaking" "Yeah I noticed..." Mars took another deep breath and reached into his pocket and took out a key he had not used in over a year, sliding the key into the door Mars slowly turned it and unlocked the door before he took another deep breath and pushed open the door before he gave a sigh and walked into his home, at this point 78 let go of his arm and walked besides him instead of clinging to him, Mars didn''t even notice this as he was as tense as he could be, he suddenly felt that the usual hallway was as long as the journey he had undertaken to return to Salen and he very much wanted to run away ''Come on... Move...'' Mars stood still just past the doorway for a few long seconds before he slowly began walking forwards and soon he reached the living room and combined kitchen where he saw the back figure of one of the people he had dreamed about seeing for the past year, she had not noticed him yet as she was working in the kitchen while humming a tune, though suddenly the fluffy ears on the top of her head twitched and she turned around while speaking "Great timing could you help m...e..." a crash sounded out as Elsa dropped the mixing bowl she held in her hands, the bowl broke and spilled its contents on the floor, but she couldn''t care less as she looked at the youth she had dreamed about so many times in the past year that now stood in front of her, a single tear suddenly formed in her eye before it was followed by another and then another, Mars dropped his bag to the floor and slowly stepped closer to Elsa before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close as she cried silently "You''re... home right?" "Yeah" "This is real... Right?" "Very real, want me to pinch you?" Elsa looked up into Mars'' face as she gave a sweet smile as she spoke "No I want you to kiss me" "...Well I can do that" Mars ever so gently kissed Elsa that suddenly shuddered before she suddenly warped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, for a small moment only the two of them existed in a world of their own Chapter 266 - Home (2) Mars and Elsa eventually separated, he wiped her tears away before he gave a smile and asked "How are the others?" Elsa gave a smile "They''ve missed you... I''ve missed you" "Yeah I missed you too... I know I owe you an explanation and I will give you one when we''re all gathered" "Okay... By the way Varvei is on the roof right now, go see her... She''s been training non-stop since you left" Mars gave a nod before he suddenly remembered something and looked back at 78 that stood and watched them "Elsa this is 78" Elsa looked over and gave a nod before she separated from Mars and walked over to her and asked immediately "So what do you like most about Mars?" 78 was not fazed and answered "I like how despite how strong he is he''s still so gentle with me" Elsa gave a nod and a smile before she gestured for 78 to sit down Mars watched them for a moment before he walked up towards the roof, soon he entered Victoria''s usual domain: The rooftop garden. He could faintly hear the sound of something passing through the air and followed the sound until he reached an open area where a single figure practiced with her long viper like spear, Mars stood and watched her practice for a little while but after that small amount of time passed he suddenly felt himself moving out into the practice field, he didn''t know why but his heart ached so before he noticed he was hugging the lonely figure that stood on the practice field "I am home Varvei" Varvei seemed to snap out of her training trance as soon as Mars hugged her and when he spoke she seemed to shudder slightly before large crystal like tears rolled out of her eyes and she whispered "Why..? I haven''t gotten any stronger..?" Mars felt his heart ache again before he poked her small nose "You silly girl I never left because you were weak" "Then why did you leave..?" "Because I was forced to, I never wanted to leave you all alone" Mars tightened his grip on Varvei slightly before she suddenly warped her tail around him and grabbed his face before she spoke in a slightly stern tone "I''ll get very lonely if you ever leave me alone again" Mars smiled before their faces neared each other and they shared a kiss for the first time in a year... After sometime the two of them separated and for sometime the two of them just looked into the others eyes before Varvei gave a slightly strained smile and spoke "You should go see the others now.... Chloe is at work" Mars gave a nod and kissed Varvei a final time before she let go of him with her tail, then Mars gave her another kiss before he began floating and flew off to find Chloe, when he disappeared from view Varvei gave a sigh as she for a moment imagened what it would be like if she had him for herself, but quickly she shook her head and muttered "No I should not be greedy..." Meanwhile Mars arrived at the giant tree and walked into the lobby where he was met by an ancient elf that spoke to him "Welcome Mars, are you here to visit the elders?" "Nope they are not my priority right now... Care to show me the way to Chloe''s office?" the ancient elf gave a sigh before he gestured for Mars to follow him, and then after a few minutes the ancient elf stopped outside a door and gestured to it before he walked back the way he came, Mars gave a sigh and opened the door without knocking, inside the office sat Chloe behind a desk looking down into a bunch of doc.u.ments, when the door opened she glanced up for a moment before she looked back down at the doc.u.ments, she thought she had seen wrongly so she just kept working on the doc.u.ments as Mars walked closer and stopped in front of her desk "Anybody home?" Chloe did a double take, this time she believed her own eyes that widened as she shoot up from her seat "Mars!" Then she ran around the desk and almost crashed into Mars, well actually she did as she embraced him and hugged him tightly, Mars gave a sigh and patted her head and ran her soft hair though his fingers as he soothed her slightly. After sometime Chloe asked while she still had her head buried in his chest "When did you return?" "Today" "Did you bring another woman home" "...That I did" Chloe gave a sigh before she raised her head and looked up into his eyes "I''ll forgive you if you kiss me" Mars gave a smile "Sure" Mars kissed Chloe deeply, when they seperated Chloe spoke "You should go see the others now... I''ll be home by evening" "Hmm... No You''ll be going home now" "Wha---" Mars picked up Chloe and flew out into the hallway and further out of the giant tree, soon he landed on top of his building and put Chloe down, Chloe looked a little out of breath so Mars asked "Are you okay" "Yeah, I just love it when you are being forceful" "I know that''s why I did that" Chloe gave a smile and leaned on Mars for a few moments before she asked "Who have you not seen yet?" "Mary and Yel" "Oh... Then go see Mary, she''s kind of... Unstable" "I see... I''ll go see her now then, where is she?" "She should be home sleeping after she returned from a patrol last night" "Okay, then I''ll go see her now" Mars and Chloe walked downstairs and after Chloe joined Elsa and Varvei in talking with 78 in the livingroom Mars walked off towards Mary''s bedroom, after thinking for a little while in front of the door he softly knocked and gently pushed open the door, the inside of the room was a mess with three pieces of dirty leather armor laying on the floor along with a pair of twin swords that Mars could smell the dried blood that stained the blades and on the bed in the dim room lay Mary curled up like a kitten on the bed ''...'' Mars felt his heart ache and walked into the room and closed the door after himself, inside the dim room Mars maneuvered past the stuff on the floor before he laid down on the bed and hugged Mary''s sleeping figure, Mary moved a little in her sleep as Mars hugged her but she didn''t wake up, perhaps she had subconsciously realized that it was her lover that hugged her and thus she fell even deeper asleep, Mars didn''t mind and also closed his eyes and soon fell asleep himself... After sleeping for a few hours Mars awoke to Mary''s smiling face "Good morning Mars" "...Yeah Good morning Mary" As Mars returned her greeting Mary''s smile widened slightly as she dove into his chest and hugged him tightly for sometime until she began speaking "I''ve been defending our home ever since you left..." "I see... You did good Mary" Mars patted her on the head and ran his hand through her smooth hair, Mary felt her smile widen a little again as Mars praised her as she had imagined so many times in her dreams "When did you return?" "Today... I will explain myself when we''re all gathered" "Okay... Have you seen the others yet?" "I just need to see Yel" "I see... Then go see her now, she''s with her mother" "...Okay" Mary reluctantly let go of him and watched from the bed as he got up and flicked on the light in the room, then she blushed slightly over the state of her room but Mars didn''t seem to care as he returned to the bed and gave her a light kiss before he walked out of the door, once he left the room Mary imdeiatly began cleaning her room. Mars walked up to the roof and flew towards the part of Green river where the sky people lived, the trip was short and soon he landed in front of Xel''s house, after standing in front of the door for a few moments he walked into the house without knocking, as he stepped in he saw Xel sitting in the living room seemingly meditating but when he opened the door she also opened her eyes and saw him and gave a smile before she put a finger in front of her lips and pointed to a door to a bedroom, Mars gave a nod and moved silently and opened the door slowly. Inside the room sat Yel on a bed looking out of the window which faced away from the door, Mars wanted to sneak up on her but when he stepped on the floorboard it let out a creak which drew Yel''s attention "...Hey Yel" Yel stared at Mars for a few long seconds before she got out of the bed and kneeled down as she spoke "It''s good that you have returned my lord" Mars gave a frown and walked over in front of her before he pulled her up onto her feet and hugged her, after not knowing what to do for a few second Yel slowly wrapped her hands around Mars'' back and returned the hug as Mars spoke "I''m back Yel" "....Welcome back Mars" Chapter 267 - Home (3) After searching a hug with Yel for a unknown amount of time Yel pulled back and looked up at Mars "Mars..." Mars got the message and kissed her deeply until he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and looked over, what enters his eyes was Xel with a grin on her face so he pulled back from Yel and asked Xel "How''s things been going in the council lately?" "Oh you know the same stuff as always, but that can wait as I imaging that the elders will want to see you soon" "Yeah they probably will... Let''s head home Yel" "Okay Mars" As Mars and Yel walked out of Xel''s home Xel spoke to Mars "If you come by tomorrow I''ll fill you in on the council stuff" "Okay, will do" Xel then gave a wide smile and spoke to them "Now I expect news of grandchildren soon" Mars thought for a moment before he gave a nod and spoke "Yeah I think it''s about that time" Both Yel and Xel widened their eyes slightly and looked at Mars, Mars exchanged looks with both of them and asked "What did I say anything strange?" Yel blushed and shook her head while Xel gave an old woman smile before she whispered something to Yel that made her blush even more, even though Mars was able to hear it he deliberately closed his ears and spoke "Well then let''s head home Yel" "Yes Mars" Mars and Yel flew off and soon landed on the roof of Mars'' building and went down into the living room where Elsa and the others had cooked up a storm to celebrate Mars'' return, everybody was getting along with 78 too so the mood was harmonious, that is until the sound of the front door being kicked in sounded out followed by a voice "Varvei my dear, I am here to see you" Mars gave a frown and with in a instance he disappeared from his chair and reappeared a few meters away from the front door where he saw a man he didn''t know that had just kicked in the front door, the man was surprised to see him suddenly appear but quickly hid away his surprise and spoke in an arrogant manner "Are you the new man servant? Anyway go get that bitch Varvei, today I''ll make her mine" Mars'' frown deeped before he spoke "Leave, it''s troublesome to clean up a corpse here" "Didn''t you hear what I just said manservant? GO. GET. VARVEI." Mars disappeared from view and before the unknown man had a change to react the sounds of bones breaking was heard "Eh..?" The man didn''t have a change to react as he suddenly realized he was in great pain before Mars kicked him in the chest sending him flying out of the door before he walked over and closed it before he walked back to the living room and sat down in his chair The next morning Mars slowly awoke, he was for certain reasons exhausted after having "warged war on six fronts" last night and thus he really wanted to sleep in, but there was something he could not delay anymore and thus he unwarped the six girls n.a.k.e.d bodies from himself before he got up and got dressed as he left them in their blissful sleep before he stepped out of the master bedroom "Now to visit the eld---" Mars stopped speaking midsentece as he realized that there was someone else in the penthouse, someone uninvited "Looks like that can wait..." Mars walked towards the workshop where a group of elves were seemingly in progress of stealing his toys, and by toys Mars meant very deadly and advanced weapon prototypes "And what the f.u.c.k are you doing?" one of the elves turned around, he wore a white lab coat, when he saw Mars he gave a frown and spoke "I am Alex the head of Green river military technological development and I am here to appropriate these resources, you must be the new manservant, please move aside" Mars gave a smile a very wide one at that before he walked over and grabbed the elf by the neck and lifted him up before he yelled "What the f.u.c.k are you doing in my workshop!?" Alex struggled but eventually spoke "We have... permission from the... Elders'''' Mars'' smile widened before he asked in a low voice "And do you think that will stop me from killing you anyway?" Alex trembled for the bloodl.u.s.t Mars showed but to his surprise Mars let go of him before he spoke "I''ll give you guys 30 seconds to clear out of my home, oh before that I want you to put everything back where you found it, else I''ll kill you all" The elves moved quickly and put back the toys they had picked up before they all ran out of the door and quickly left, Mars gave a sigh before he walked up to the rooftop and flew off towards the giant tree in the middle of Green river, as he walked into the lobby an ancient elf walked up to and greeted him "Welcome Mars, are you here to visit the elders" "Yeah and I know the way" Mars brushed off the elf and continued walking further into the tree, soon he arrived in the innermost chamber and stood in front of a big door which he kicked open and walked into the dim hall "Oh, he''s finally here" "Welcome Mars" "We have been waiting for your arrival" Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before he spoke "You all have some explanation to do" The elders fell quite before one of them spoke "So do you Mars, Where have you been?" "Why did you only return now?" "and why---" "SILENCE!" The elders fell quite again at Mars'' outburst, seeing them shut up Mars gave a nod and asked "Who told you it was okay to touch my stuff?" "Mars we assumed that you weren''t coming back" "If you are angry with us we will gladly apologize" Mars narrowed his eyes and spoke "If you didn''t assume that I would return then why didn''t you protect my women?" "We did, we have---" "If you did then why did I have to kick away a bug yesterday?" "...That particular... ''bug'' is the crown prince of a nation that is twice the size of Green river and has the full support of the NNE, Mars... You didn''t kill him did you?" "No I did not, broke every bone in his body though" One of the elders gave a sigh of relief before she spoke "In that case we can still salvage the situation... Now if you don''t mind us asking, where have you been the last year and why didn''t you return sooner?" "I didn''t return because my ability to tear space have been revoked by the administrator of Alfan, the new one" The expression on the faces of the elders changed before they exchanged glances before one of them spoke "In that case we can shelter you in Green river no more" Mars returned to his home and walked into the living room, Varvei that was lazing around on a couch noticed him returning and felt that something was wrong and quickly got up from the couch and walked over to him before she asked "Mars what''s wrong?" "....can you gather all the others here quickly?" "Sure" Varvie ran off to get the others and soon all six of the girls were gathered along with VIctoria, Mars took a deep breath before he spoke "I am being kicked out of Green river" The girls reacted like one would think, with bevidlement after some time passed Chloe asked "But... Why?" Mars gave a sigh and then explained why he had been gone for so long, about how he had been punished by the administrator and his ability to tear space had been taken from him and then about the elders decision to kick him out of Green river "Basically I am a liability to Green river" Chloe looked like her spirit had left her and walked over and sat down on a couch meanwhile the other girls looked taken aback, Mars gave a wry smile "They did offer to take us out of the forest by sky carriage though... So I guess it''s time to get packing" Mars walked over and sat down next to Chloe while the others began packing, Mars didn''t know what to say at first but then he gradually formed a sentence in his head but right before he began speaking Chloe suddenly yelled "Those damned undead! What ''liability''!? You have protected the city more than a few times over the last five years and now they are just going to kick us out!?" Mars gave a wry smile, it looked like he didn''t need to cheer Chloe up, instead he handed her a crystal card and asked her "Can you go to the bank and transfer all our assets onto this card?" "Sure Mars... Damn undead, I hope their reign will end soon!" Still fuming Chloe took the crystal card and walked out of the living room leaving Mars alone with Victoria "Well then... Victoria want to help me destroy the prototypes that are too heavy to move?" "Sure..." Chapter 268 - Home (4) Chloe walked quickly through the streets of Green river, her destination was just ahead: The only bank in Green river, the Green river bank ''hopefully this goes smoothly...'' she quickly stepped into the bank and lined up in a queue for high class customers and when it was her turn she was lead into a private room where a receptionist stood behind a counter and met her with a perfect business smile "How may I help you today?" Chloe showed the crystal card and spoke with a slight smile on her face "I need you to transfer an amount of cel onto this card" "Certainly, how much should I transfer?" "All of it" The receptionist''s face stiffened slightly before she asked to confirm "All of it? Are you closing your account here?" "Yeah, so chop chop" The receptionist gave a bow before she spoke "I am sorry, closing accounts is something I am unable to do with my authority, I''ll go get the manger so please wait here"