《The Reverse Mana System》


 Chapter 1 - Prologue: System Awakens

    The sound of flesh being pierced reached Alex''s ears as he coughed out another mouthful of blood.


    His handsome face was already covered in cuts and two swords were piercing his chest.


    "Louis, do you think that father will overlook what you are do....ing. You won''t be able to hide my death from him, and when he comes to know about this incident, you will be following me to hel......


    "Cough, cough..." Alex coughed out blood that was struck in his throat


    "You think that this is something I did in the spur of the moment? How very unlike you! Little brother. " Louis laughed with a vicious grin on his face.


    "Do you have any idea how long I have been planning for this day? Do you?"


    "I have waited for this perfect opportunity for seven whole years. Do you believe that I haven''t thought of the consequences of my actions?" Louis continued as he channeled his mana into Alex''s body through his magic sword.


    ''Dammit! What kind of curse is this! Even after transmigrating in the world of magic, I still have to die on my nineteenth birthday. What''s the use of having a second life if I have to die just six years after I transmigrate.'' Alex thought to himself as he knelt on the ground with difficulty trying his best not to fall flat on the ground.


    "Hey! Why won''t you just die even after absorbing so much of my mana! Shouldn''t your body have zero tolerance to mana?Just die already!" Louis screamed frantically as he repeatedly stabbed his swords in Alex''s body.


    The world in Alex''s eyes began reddening as blood covered his pupils, and his eyes began to lose all signs of life.


    Just before he lost consciousness, a screen appeared in front of his eyes. Alex could barely see the words.


    [World energy absorption complete.]


    [Symbiosis level 100 percent.]


    [Mana synthesis complete.]


    [Warning! Host''s lifeforce has fallen to the certain death levels. Highest level emergency measures initiated. Preparing to enter emergency nervous lockdown. All body functions will be stopped to focus on healing the vitals....]


    Before his brain could process what happened, the world suddenly became dark and silent in Alex''s senses and he collapsed on the ground.


    "Dead already! Hahaha.... little weakling. How dare a powerless insect like you dream of ascending the throne that belongs to me? How can father announce you as his heir despite being the most useless one among all his children? You deserve death." Louis laughed viciously as he flipped the dead Alex with his feet to spit on his face.


    "My lord, it''s already three in the morning. The patrols will be arriving soon. You must go, I will dispose of the dead body for you." A shadow appeared beside Louis and whispered in his ears.


    "Alright I will leave it to you." Louis said as he stepped outside the room and vanished in the hallways.


    Early next day, the news of the eight prince''s death at the hands of the fourth prince who had fled from the palace after the murder spread throughout the entire kingdom under the influence of some unknown force.


    "How useless are you people? Even the commoners outside the capital knew about this incident before you all." King Edward roared in the court.


    "Your majesty, please pardon this subordinate for being inefficient, but our investigation signals the involvement of some unknown  organisation in spreading the news of this incident in the capital. Their goal is to spread chaos for personal benefits, but this news has already been spreading from three days ago which is very suspicious. "


    "What about the investigations on this incident?" Edward asked, trying to calm himself down.


    "Though this appears to be a setup, all the investigators have reached the same conclusion that the fourth prince murdered the eighth prince for some unknown reason and fled after killing


    him." The minister incharge of the investigation replied.


    "Why would Alex kill his younger brother? He has no reason for doing this. He was going to be announced the crown prince today, so why would he do this at such a crucial time. Moreover, everyone here is aware of how perfectly he plans his every move. I don''t believe that he would be this careless." The second prince Louis said, trying to act concerned.


    "Your highness is right. There was no motive for this murder, but all investigations show that this is indeed what happened. Even the time spells used for viewing the past depict prince Alex killing the eighth prince. " The minister replied while lowering his head.


    While this heated debate was taking place, a shadow was seen throwing a sealed coffin in a far-away river. Inside this coffin was a dead body with cuts all over the body.


    ''You should be happy that I can''t destroy your body without being discovered by that old man''s spirit, otherwise you wouldn''t have died with a complete body.'' The shadow patted the coffin and threw it in the river.


    All the preparations from his side were complete. Even if the dead prince returned back to life by some miracle,  he would never be able to break free from the sealed coffin and return back to eternal slumber. After this was done, the shadow abruptly disappeared from the spot.


    The coffin was pulled in the water currents and began to move downstream while a large portion of it was submerged under the water.


    After an unknown time, Alex''s consciousness which was in deep slumber started to slowly return back to his body. He suddenly woke up and tried to get up, only to bang his head to the lid of the coffin. Slowly, the memories of what had happened on his birthday began coming back to him and he became clear about his situation.


    ''So, my guess is that right now I am in some sort of sealed coffin and may be buried deep underground. No matter how I think, chances of survival are very low, may even be zero.


    But the thing I am most unsure about is how I managed to survive until now and how did all my wounds heal.''


    Just as he thought about it, a screen popped out in his field of vision.


    ''A system interface.'' Alex was so excited that he nearly jumped in excitement.


    After a moment of excitement he finally noticed that what appeared in front of him was an alarm rather than a welcome notice.


    [System notification: a formation creating corrosive aura is detected in the environment around the host. Body corrosion level is 49 percent.]


    [All bodily functions will stop at a corrosion level of 52 percent. May lead to the host being permanently crippled.]


    [Do you want to activate the one time use special artifact Divine heart?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex was taken aback. "Yes, yes, yes!" He shouted.


    [System notification: Special artifact Divine heart activated.]


    [Artifact expires in 30 minutes.]


    With the sound of explosion, a bright multicolored light came out of Alex''s chest and engulfed his entire body.


    Bang!


    The coffin was blasted into pieces and suddenly, water gushed in from all sides. The pressure of incoming water was enough to kill Alex, had it not been for the light protecting him.


    Just as Alex thought that everything was over, another system notification arrived.


    [Detected corrosive mana in the water.]


    [Initiating mana analysis.]


    [Analysis 1% complete]


    [Analysis 5% complete]


    [Analysis 8% complete]


    .


    .


    .


    .


    [Analysis 99% complete]


    [Analysis 100% complete.]


    Several pop-ups covered the entirety of Alex''s vision followed by the final notification containing the analyzed data.


    [Confirmed the presence of water element.]


    [Mana nature analysis results: ]


    [Corrosive mana 36%]


    [Undead mana 30%]


    [Piercing mana 18%]


    [Miscellaneous demonic elements 16%]


    [For details, select expand report.]


    [Expand report?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex pressed no without any thoughts. He was still trying to survive this new predicament.


    Who had the time to read the composition of the water while drowning?


    He quickly swam upwards towards the surface.


    Upon reaching the surface,his heart shook.


    He was surrounded by bluish black water as far as he could see, and he was sure that there was no way he could reach any shore swimming at his highest speed before the protection of the Divine heart ended.


    And that was the case assuming that he chose the right direction for the nearest shore.


    [ Signs of terrestrial lifeforms detected at an angle of 108 degrees from the current direction.]


    Another system notification appeared and Alex immediately started swimming towards that direction.


    [System notification: searching skills for survival....]


    After thirty minutes, Alex was still struck in his way when the lights covering his body began to fade away. At this instant, another system notification appeared before him.


    [A suitable skill has been created to prevent corrosive mana from harming the host.]


    [Skill name: Aronith''s constitution.]


    [Skill type: passive (body alteration)]


    [Do you want to learn the skill Aronith''s constitution]


    [Yes/No]


    [Cost: 3 skill points]


    [Available: 10 attribute points, 5 skill points, 5 fusion points.]


    Well atleast my system is reliable. Alex thought and pressed yes.


    Immediately a nerve wracking pain invaded his body as he felt like someone skinned him alive and forcefully cut off all his nerves.


    Alex could feel every bit of his skin burning for some time until the pain finally subsided.


    [Environment analysis complete.]


    [Do you want to learn the skill: water movement (basic, level 1)]


    [Skill type : element manipulation (active skill)]


    [Yes/No]


    Cost: 1 skill point


    [Remaining: 2 skill points.]


    Alex pressed Yes because he was unsure of how long he had to remain in the water. That being the case, he decided to get a skill which may be helpful in transversing without much exhaustion.


    His swimming speed drastically increased and he could move in the water without spending much energy.


    Finally, after three hours of continuous swimming, Alex reached the shore of the river.

 Chapter 2 - Acquiring A Mana Core

    After finally reaching the shore of the river, Alex breathed in relief.


    ''Though I always dreamt of adventures, this was a bit too heavy for my taste.'' Alex said under his breath.


    ''Well now that there is no immediate threat, it''s time to check the most important thing.'' Alex thought to himself as excitement was evident in his eyes.


    ''System, open !'' He whispered.


    Immediately, a light blue screen opened up in front of him.


    [Reverse Mana System.]


    [Status: activated].


    [System level: 0 ( premature awakening)]


    [Host name: Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 1]


    [Status: severe exhaustion ]


    [Stats:]


    [Strength: 10]


    [Agility: 12]


    [Endurance: 10]


    [Intelligence: 10]


    [Charisma: 40(15)]


    [Perception: 10]


    [HP:36/100]


    [MP:0]


    [Spells learned: none]


    [Abilities: none]


    [Skills:]


    [Level 1 Water movement]


    [Special skill: Aronith''s constitution (Body alteration) ]


    [added effect: +25 Charisma ]


    [Free attribute points: 10]


    [Skill points: 1]


    ''Seems pretty simple to me.'' Alex thought.


    After closing the system screen, Alex finally had time to check his body condition.


    His clothes were tattered with holes all over and a specially conspicuous hole on his chest.


    Though his skin had no signs of injury due to the newly acquired constitution, but there was still pain felt from the previous cuts all over his body, not to mention that save for his vitals, all the remaining internal organs were also injured.


    And all this was when the system had been miraculously healing his injuries for an unknown period of time.


    Finally, another window appeared before Alex.


    [System installation mission complete:100%] [Integration with the host achieved.]


    [Mission rewards: 0 exp, basic mana core (white) formation, basic mana circuit establishment.]


    [Do you want to receive the rewards?]


    [Yes/No]


    [Emergency mission survival complete: host''s contribution 0.2%]


    [Mission rewards: 1000/200,000 exp (remaining exp will be stored in the system), 3 skill points, 15 free attribute points, 1¡Á spell learning card (basic elemental), 1 upgrade point for existing skills/abilities/spells.]


    [Do you want to receive the rewards?]


    [Yes/No.]


    [Notice: The system has exhausted 30 points of World energy for healing the host and using the skill water movement in the absence of mana.


    The stored exp will be transformed to 0.199 points of world energy.]


    [System shuts down in 50 seconds. ]


    [49 seconds...]


    Alex immediately pressed on yes for both the mission rewards in a hurry.


    Immediately, an intense pain spread throughout his entire body.


    ''Sh*t! I dropped my guard down. This system literally forced me into undergoing the core implantation out here in the unknown place without knowing what dangers there might be.''


    This realization came a second too late as Alex collapsed under the intense pain coming from all parts of his body.


    No matter how hard he tried to stay conscious, Alex could feel waves of drowsiness hit him, and he finally fell unconscious after only a few seconds while his entire body was still aching all over.


    After some hours, Alex woke up again.


    ''Well, I suppose that I am quite lucky considering that I didn''t end up as some beast''s snack despite lying unconscious over here for all this time.'' He thought to himself.


    He got up and scanned his surroundings and finally found out the reason for his well-being.


    There were no signs of life anywhere near him. An area of width of about 2 miles along the river shore was essentially barren and uninhibited.


    There were no signs of plants, animals or any other lifeforms in this zone.


    After scanning the area around himself, he felt an itching sensation all over his body. A smile crept on his face on feeling this.


    He was absorbing mana from his surroundings!


    This was a source of unprecedented joy for Alex.


    Finally! He could finally absorb mana in his body. He had gotten a mana core.


    Alex opened the system interface once again.


    Everything was the same, only this time, there was a new section


    [Mana core (upgradable): white (40)]


    [Mana: 90/100]


    The word upgradable was something Alex had not expected. According to the various manuals and books that he had read, the mana core was divided by colours and was something a person was born with. There was not a single case in the recorded history where someone''s mana core was upgraded.


    '' What can one say... perks of having a system I guess.''


    Alex got ready to move in order to find food or water when suddenly an idea hit him.


    When he didn''t have a mana core, he had never been able to use what he had read in all those manuals.


    What if he tried those techniques right now?


    It should work now, right?


    After these thoughts came to his mind, Alex immediately tried to remember some of the spells he had read.


    He tried the basic fireball spell. After reciting the incantation a few times in his mind, he tried to channel his mana while reciting the spell out aloud.


    After waiting for a few minutes, nothing happened. All the excitement vanished from Alex''s face.


    At this time, a notification from the system appeared


    [Incomplete incantation detected ]


    [Level 1 basic fireball.]


    [Would you like to use 800 exp to complete the spell and learn it?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex was surprised. He had not expected the system to be able to complete these spells.


    ''It does cost exp though.''


    After some contemplation, Alex decided not to complete it. Like any other teenager in his previous life, Alex was also interested in all sorts of games. He was well versed on the use of exp and its significance.


    Learning a spell sounded interesting, but he could just learn a spell from the system which he had received as a mission completion reward.


    ''Let''s try this then.''


    Alex opened his system panel and scrolled down to the rewards section. After activating the spell learning card, a list of five spells appeared before Alex.


    [1. Wind blades: Gathers the air fortified by mana to form a blade which can be used as both melee weapon and for ranged attacks. ]


    [Mana usage: 5]


    [effects: +1agility, +1 intelligence. ]


    [2. Water bullet: Gathers water to form a small bullet which can be used for ranged attacks. Multiple bullets can be cast by one spell depending on the user''s choice.]


    [Mana usage: 2]


    [effects: +2 endurance]


    [3.Boulder: melee attack used by creating overlapping layers of rock on different parts of the body.]


    [Mana usage: 5 per layer]


    [effects: strength +2/layer, agility -1/layer]


    [4. Fire stream: attack that uses a medium connecting the user and the target. The flames will gather on the medium after casting this spell which inflicts burns damage.]


    [Mana usage: 5]


    [effects:+1 strength, formation of fireball if the medium is air.]


    [5. Lightning: gathers lightning which can be used as a ranged projectile. Can also be used by layering on the surface of weapons.]


    [Mana usage : 5]


    [effects : +2 agility]


    Alex had thought that it would be easy for him to select any one from these spells, but now he was struck in a delima.


    ''Wind blade is the most useful in combat due to both melee and ranged usage.


    Water bullet has lowest mana usage and can also be spammed, but has the weakest attack power.


    Boulder gives an increase in strength and defense and can be very useful in hand to hand combat by adding a layer before hitting or getting hit.But it is the only spell which increases the attributes while using the spell only, whereas others give permanent increase in attributes.


    Fire stream may have status effects and explosive power, but I don''t carry any weapons with me, in that case I will only be struck with fireball.


    Lightning is also useful in combat , but can''t be fully utilized without a weapon.''


    Alex understood that right now, his only goal was to stay alive. He was at the absolute bottom of the strength chart of mana users. That being the case even if he chose the strongest spell available to him, he''d only end up dead. So he had to choose a spell that gave him the best chance of survival rather than combat prowess.


    "Alright, I choose you."


    Alex pressed on one of the spells and immediately a large amount of data entered his head.


    The host has learned the spell Air blade (level 1).


    Spell can be cast based on created memory without incantation.


    Agility has been increased by 1.


    Intelligence has been increased by 1.


    Mission Completed: Learn one basic spell.


    Mission rewards: 500 exp.


    Do you want to collect the mission rewards?


    Yes/No


    ''Huh! there was a mission like that? Why didn''t I get any notification about it?'' Alex was surprised.


    "System, show me the available missions."


    Error: due to premature awakening, the system is unable to operate 30% of it''s functions. Please try again when the required amount of World energy is absorbed.


    World energy required: 100 units.


    absorption rate:1 unit in two days.


    "What the.."


    Finally Alex understood why he couldn''t see mission information. The system was still incomplete. It had only awakened in order to save his life.


    But it will take about 200 days to completely absorb the required amount of World energy.


    ''That''s too long. I can only depend on myself to survive in these 200 days.''


    Alex got up from the ground that was completely devoid of any form of life and started looking around.


    ''Not even grass is growing over here, let alone trees or plants. This 2 mile area is too well defined. I can clearly see dense forest just at the end of this zone. Is this because of the strange river?'' Alex turned around to see the black river still flowing along.


    After gaining some basic information about the strange zone, Alex decided to continue his journey towards the forest.


    This is the direction where the system found the nearest terrestrial lifeforms. Hope I can find something to eat in the forest.


    Alex started making his way into the forest.


    After walking about six hundred meters inside the forest, Alex found a group of rabbit-like creatures eating fruits growing on some bushes.


    ''These rabbits look like they are regular creatures. That''s a relief.'' Alex immediately hid his presence and slowly approached the rabbits while hiding.


    Later in the evening, Alex returned back to the deserted zone with a dozen blue coloured fruits and two rabbits that he had hunted.


    I should be safe here.


    Alex spent 800 exp to complete the basic fireball spell that was a part of his memory. But to his surprise, the spell turned out to be Fire stream.


    ''So the spell that people use is incomplete and can only produce a fireball, whereas the complete spell is fire stream.'' Alex thought while looking at the spell which was a modified version of the fireball spell he had learned in the books.


    After eating the tasteless meat and fruits to stay hydrated, Alex began observing his surroundings.


    As it was already late in the evening, Alex decided to stay the night on the shore and start his journey to find a settlement from the next day.


    Despite assuring himself that no danger will come his way, Alex was still unable to sleep at night.


    Just as it was half past midnight, Alex heard a screech in the nearby forest. The voice seemed to be hoarse and a bit painful.


    He got up and slowly approached the direction of the sound.


    He finally saw the source of the sound. It was an injured wind wolf cub about 200 meters into the forest.


    Suddenly, an idea flashed in Alex''s mind.

 Chapter 3 - Meaning Of Reverse Mana

    Alex saw an injured wind wolf cub that was howling in pain, but due to a scary looking wound on it''s neck, the howl was more like a screech.


    Seeing this, Alex got a bold idea.


    ''After acquiring a system, I have always been wondering how strong I am with my new powers.


    This little wolf cub can be the perfect test subject for me.''


    Alex had read about Wind wolves. A regular wind wolf was about four times the size of an average dog after awakening.. But before awakening, they were the same size as a German shepherd. They were an upper level tier 1 mana beast after awakening and had a very high affinity with air element.


    The one before Alex was an unawakened cub who could at most use physical attacks.


    After scouting the surrounding area and making sure that no other mana beast was presented, Alex began to slowly approach the injured cub.


    When he was within 5 meters of the cub, a system notification suddenly appeared.


    [Do you want to enter combat mode?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex had been stalking the wind wolf cub with high concentration, so the sudden pop-up startled him. The keen sense of the wind wolf cub immediately caught the movement behind it and it turned back showing its fangs.


    Alex knew that hesitation would only lead to his demise, so he immediately pressed yes.


    [Combat mode initiated.]


    [All available spells and skills have been put to quick cast mode.]


    Alex felt as if the mana inside his body was overflowing from his mana core.


    The wind wolf cub immediately pounced on Alex.


    It could feel that Alex was not much of a threat, so there was no need to test him.


    Alex moved sidewards to avoid the attack, but still the claws scratched past his waist.


    Immediately, a cut appeared on his skin with slight bleeding.


    Alex took in a mouthful of cold air. That was close.


    Had it not been for his quick reflexes, the wound would have been serious.


    Before he had time to think properly, the wind wolf cub attacked once again. This time, Alex was already prepared and quickly began casting his wind blades.


    As soon as he thought about using windblade, the air around him formed a curved structure and was launched at the wind wolf cub.


    This took both Alex and the cub by surprise because they had never expected someone of Alex''s level to be able to cast the wind blade without incantation. It usually required high proficiency and months worth of training for someone to achieve this.


    The wind blade hit the cub who was only lightly injured by it.


    ''So this is what quick cast mode means.'' Alex was feeling elated, but he knew that now was not the time for this. He quickly cast another windblade. This time, the windblade seemed more solid and was of the shape of a sword.


    At the beginning, Alex did not have a mana core, so after arriving in this world he had to learn to use sword for self defense. But he was still stuck at a lower level of sword mastery due to his body being unable to perform some high speed movements in absence of mana.


    Alex began engaging the wolf cub in melee battle with occasional use of wind blade projectile or fireball, but he was still struggling against the wolf cub.


    In the midst of their heated battle, suddenly the cub''s body began to shine and it swiped its claw in empty air.


    Alex, who was caught completely off-guard had no chance of dodging and was hit by the attack.


    [Mana analysis complete.]


    [Mana type :elemental (wind)]


    [effects: elemental damage + sharp piercing effect.]


    Right before he was hit, a system notification appeared in front of him.


    Alex was pushed back by the impact of the attack and also a wound opened up on his chest.


    Alex got up and took a look at his wound. It was not life threatening, but serious nonetheless.


    He looked at the cub, but was surprised to see that a network of light green lines spread like veins inside its body. There was also a small stone-like centre of this network which would occasionally send out gusts of greenish lights into the network.


    ''So this is the mana core and mana circuit of this wolf cub. But it is incomplete, that''s why it is still a cub and can occasionally cast magic attacks.''


    Alex saw that the wolf cub was channelling it''s mana again, so he started to dodge it, but somehow before he could properly get away the attack had reached him. In the spurt of the moment, he released a fireball which was immediately scattered on contact with the wolf cub''s attack. The next second, Alex felt a pain in his core and he could see that the mana flowing inside his body abruptly stop before beginning to move in a completely different pattern than before.


    The fireball that had manifested in his hand started to get translucent and whitish.


    This new fireball was released and completely obliterated the attack heading for Alex before continuing to move towards the cub.


    The translucent fireball hit the cub and caused it to howl in agony. This was Alex''s first attack which caused a significant damage to the cub.


    Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Alex cast another fireball and a wind blade. The sword this time was a bit different than previous ones.


    The fireball hit the cub and it once again howled, but Alex quickly followed through with a sword attack directed at the injured throat of the wolf cub.


    This time, there was no more howling as blood splashed on the ground and the little wind wolf''s corpse fell on ground. A wind blade was still deeply stabbed in its throat.


    [You have killed a half mature Wind wolf (level12).]


    [damage dealt(32%)]


    [+1600 exp]


    [bonus multiplier ¡Á3 due to the opponent being more than 10 levels higher than the host.]


    [total exp gained: +6400 exp]


    [Mission complete : first kill]


    [Mission reward: basic mana training method,


    +2000 exp.]


    [Claim reward?]


    [Yes/No]


    After claiming his rewards, Alex gave a satisfied smile.


    Surprisingly, his injury had healed very quickly by passing some mana in his muscles near the cut and it was not very serious now. If he had to guess, he was sure that it was due to the special constitution that he had gained.


    Alex looked at the corpse lying near his foot and ducked down to lift it when he heard a long howl heading towards him. Without hesitation Alex picked up the dead Wind wolf cub and started running towards his ''safe zone.'' When he was about 50 meters from his destination, Alex saw his pursuer for the first time.


    An adult wind wolf was chasing him from at least 50 meters behind and was closing in at a very fast pace.


    ''If this goes on, I won''t be able to escape no matter what.'' Alex was drenched in cold sweat.


    Suddenly an idea struck him.


    "System add 10 free attribute points to agility."


    Alex said out aloud.


    Immediately a notification was shown about 10 free attribute points added to his agility and Alex''s speed nearly doubled.


    The race continued for two more seconds before Alex was finally 10 meters away from the shore.


    Seeing this, the wind wolf let out an angry howl and began to prepare a mana attack.


    [Combat mode enabled.]


    [All the available spells have been put on quick cast mode.]


    Alex knew that leaving his back open to the wind wolf would only spell death, but he had no interest in staying and fighting to death.


    Alex turned around to face the wind wolf. He stimulated his mana to create the translucent fireball, but did not release it. He was waiting for the wind wolf''s attack when he finally realized something.


    Since the cub had not developed a complete mana circuit, he couldn''t see clearly. But on seeing the mana circulation of the adult, Alex realized that his new fireball was created when the mana of his body circulated in the absolutely reverse manner to that of the wind wolf. But there was still a feeling that something was missing.


    Before he could figure out what was missing, the attack of the wind wolf arrived. Alex launched his fire stream just before the attack hit him.


    Booom!


    A small explosion ensued. Alex quickly used the rebound of the explosion to cover the remaining distance and finally reached the two mile zone.


    After dashing in a few meters, Alex finally turned around to see if the adult wind wolf would follow him or not.


    His assumption was correct. The wind wolf dared not set even a foot in this zone. Alex finally heaved a sigh of relief and began studying the wolf''s behavior from a distance.


    The wolf itself was pretty badly injured. One of its hind legs had a ghastly wound which nearly covered it''s entire leg. There were also wound marks all over his body which were bleeding without stopping.


    The wolf was standing there glaring at Alex.


    Alex also stared back and could easily feel the hatred in the wolf''s gaze, but what was most evident was the pain in it''s eyes. The sight could easily make one''s heart ache.


    Alex was also deeply moved by the melancholy in the wolf''s eyes, but he couldn''t just hand over his life for sympathy.


    Alex had a rough idea about what had happened to these wolves, and after an hour, his suspicion was validated when a tiger like creature with a cut mark on both its eyes suddenly appeared from behind the wind wolf.


    ''That''s a monolith tiger. A tier three mana beast.''


    The wind wolf also saw the tiger approaching.


    It gave Alex a gloomy look before looking at the monolith tiger.


    What happened next left Alex speechless. As if it had lost all motivation to live, the wolf just stood there casually with a detached look in it''s eyes. Sound of two large rocks clashing was made with the movement of the tiger''s muscles as it immediately pounced forward and smashed the wolf into a meat paste.


    The tiger left after killing the wolf without even paying any attention to Alex who was standing there speechlessly.


    ''Well I don''t even have the right to be looked at by him.'' Alex gave a dry laugh before turning to what was once an adult wind wolf. He was surprised to see that the mana core of the wind wolf was left on the corpse.


    ''Though it may sound hypocritical of me, but I truly sympathize with you. It was unfair to you, but that''s the one word that most closely describes the world ''unfair...'' After saying that, Alex picked up the mana core of the wolf and went back to where he was standing earlier and picked up the corpse of the cub.


    He manifested a wind blade and dug out the core from it''s body.


    After he was done, Alex sat down to take a look at the two cores in his hand. A system notification woke him from his trance.


    [The mana cores of wind wolves can be absorbed to increase the efficiency of reverse mana against other wind wolves.]


    [Proceed with absorbing?]


    [Yes/No]

 Chapter 4 - Source Of World Energy

    [Do you want to proceed with the absorption of the wind wolf mana cores?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex thought for a while before deciding to press yes.


    After that, Alex was told to put one mana core in his hand and concentrate on it. After some time, the mana circulating in Alex''s body slowly started to enter and leave the mana core in a cycle with his own mana circuit.


    [Core of adult wind wolf absorbed.]


    [Core of wind wolf (incomplete) absorbed.]


    Two notifications appeared on the system screen.


    By the time all this was over, it was already morning. Alex got up and stretched himself before moving to wash his face in the black river..


    Since he was immune to the corrosive effects, this water was no different than regular water for him, but even then he dared not use it for drinking or let it contact his eyes, ears etc.


    Alex saw his black and white reflection in the river water and a fleeting thought entered his mind.


    ''It was only a doubt earlier, but now I really know that Aronith''s constitution is a layer of skin which has replaced my original skin. So, I think that putting it under the skills or special skills wouldn''t be appropriate.'' Alex said to himself.


    Suddenly, a screen popped out in his vision.


    [Due to the inactivity of 30% of system functions, the given task can not be accomplished right now.]


    ''Oh yes yes. I nearly forgot that my system is still incomplete.'' Alex tried to justify himself.


    After everything was done, Alex decided to look for human settlement in the forest. He adjusted his tattered clothes and began to cautiously walk in the forest.


    After walking a few hours, all he could find were some small and harmless creatures that either ran away on seeing him or were too preoccupied to pay him any heed.


    Learning from a television show from his previous life, Alex also avoided the regions which these small animals dared not go.


    His journey was proceeding smoothly, so Alex decided to take a break and continue after that.


    He had to stay hydrated and the only source of hydration for him were the fruits he had picked up.


    Alex opened his system panel to pass some time.


    [Reverse Mana System ]


    [Status: Activated ]


    [System level: 0 (premature awakening)]


    [Host name : Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 1]


    [exp:9100]


    [Stats:]


    [Strength: 11]


    [Agility: 23]


    [Endurance: 10]


    [Intelligence: 11]


    [Charisma: 40 (15)]


    [Perception: 10]


    [HP: 100/100]


    [MP:120/120]


    [Spells learned: ]


    [Wind blades (level 1, 20% mastered)]


    [Fire stream (level 1, 25% mastered)]


    [Abilities: none]


    [Skills:]


    [Water movement (basic)]


    [Sword mastery (basic)]


    [Special skill: Aronith''s constitution


    (added effect: +25 Charisma)]


    [Training method: basic mana training method


    (0% completed)]


    [Free attribute points: 15]


    [Skill points: 4]


    Alex''s exp was hitting the ten thousand mark, but he could not use it to level up due to systems functions being incomplete.


    After some thought, Alex decided to add Ten free attribute points to his strength and five to his endurance.


    After doing this he got up and resumed his journey. Alex was a little distracted though.


    While he could always increase his combat prowess by adding free attribute points, but a qualitative improvement could only be achieved by leveling up. And also he could not see the available missions which were required to gain free attribute points.


    Going by what he knew, it would still take the system around 200 days to be complete. This also meant that despite having a system, he had to wait more than half a year to level up.


    While Alex was still deep in thought, he had mistakenly treaded into an unknown part of the forest.A system message woke him up from staring at his stats.


    [Notice: A World Energy source has been detected in close proximity. Please find a suitable location to absorb the world energy.]


    He had barely walked a few steps from where he had stopped and this new message arrived and the timing was also a bit too coincidental.


    Alex didn''t pay it much heed though and began moving in the direction pointed by his system.


    As he moved forward, Alex noticed a weird phenomenon. The closer he got to the source, the more flowers of different kinds were blooming, trees were laiden with all sorts of fruits, but there were no other creatures around.


    It was as if the forest was celebrating the arrival of the world energy into it.


    Alex carefully walked forward step by step.


    After moving about hundred meters, Alex suddenly concealed his aura and hid behind a nearby tree.


    Right in front of him, there was a small open area in the forest and in that area, he saw a young woman standing.


    One look was enough for Alex to know that she was no ordinary person.


    She had to be the most beautiful person Alex had ever seen. Even the celebrities and models from his previous life were no more than mere commoners in front of her.


    Suddenly an urge to prostrate and pray to her emerged inside his mind. Alex fought back his urge and decided to move away, but before he could even take a single step, a sweet voice sounded in his ears.


    "What is someone from the black sea clan doing here? And how rude of you to run away instead of greeting your elder?"


    Alex turned around, thankful to this new individual who must have caught the lady''s attention. But as soon as he took another look forward, the woman had arrived in front of him.


    '' So, there was no other person. She was talking to me, but what is the Black Sea clan?'' While Alex was still thinking, the woman continued,


    "While your constitution is quite pure, you seem a bit different. Let me see." Saying this, she raised her hand and put a finger at Alex''s forehead.


    Her movement was in no way fast, but it was as if Alex''s body was under her command and he couldn''t even move a single millimeter.


    A system notification suddenly appeared.


    [Flow of world energy confirmed. ]


    [10 units absorbed.]


    [10 units absorbed.]


    .


    .


    .


    After reading the second notification, Alex felt his vision blanking as if the entire world was covered in darkness.


    In this darkness, a screen appeared and began playing a video. The video was about a newborn who slowly grew up to a child. Then when he reached the age of ten, his mother died. The boy was so sad that he cried for three days without a break before fainting from exhaustion.


    Later, when the boy was thirteen, he suddenly fell ill for two months. Later, he suddenly recovered to full health. But this time, his nature changed too drastically. ....."


    One look, and Alex could tell that these were the memories of his body except the parts about his transmigration and the system.


    ''Holy..... Who is she? She can just see all this body''s memories without even preparing a spell.''


    Alex was thoroughly shaken. This woman was certainly a very terrifying existence.


    The only good news was that she decided to search memories of the body rather than soul, otherwise the backlash on Alex would have been very serious.


    After his memories were played the screen disappeared and there was only darkness left at all sides.


    After an unknown period of time, Alex suddenly woke up to find that he was still lying in the forest. When he got up, the scene that greeted him was so wonderful that he couldn''t even begin to describe it. He was lying on a bed like structure that was made purely of overgrown grass stalks and it was unbelievably comfortable. There were all sorts of trees and flowers growing around him. A very thin stream of water was flowing around his bed and right in front of him was a gigantic flower floating in the air. The woman from earlier was sitting at the center of this flower and staring at him with a gentle smile.


    One look at her face and Alex was reminded of his mother from his past life.


    "You surely took your time waking up. " The woman said, still smiling.


    "umm.. Thank you for looking after me while I was unconscious. "Alex said, looking back at her.


    It didn''t take a genius to guess that this woman had been taking care of him when he was unconscious, and Alex knew better than to offend someone this powerful.


    "It''s alright little brother. It was because of me that you were unconscious, so it is natural that I have to look after you." the lady replied, getting out of the flower which went underground as soon as she got up.


    "How should I address you elder?"


    "Call me whatever you like. Now let''s get moving."


    the woman replied as she waved her hand and everything around them disappeared and returned back to the same part of the forest where Alex had first seen her.


    "Where are we going?"Alex asked her.


    "Aren''t you trying to find a human settlement? I will take you to the nearest one, but it will take us about ten days by foot. I will personally take you there as an apology to what I did." the woman replied.


    Alex could find hints of surprise and excitement in her voice, but he didn''t dare ask. If this woman wanted, she could just order him and just like what had happened earlier, his body would follow her every command.


    "Aren''t you supposed to tell me that it''s alright and that I shouldn''t bother myself with helping you or something along the lines?" the woman asked Alex.


    "I am pretty sure that someone at your level wouldn''t decide to do something as useless as walking me around at just any random thought. "


    Alex replied, but the reaction he got from the woman stated otherwise.


    "You''re right. Then let''s get moving." She said and began leading the way.


    Alex followed closely behind her.

 Chapter 5 - Completed Reverse Mana System

    Alex had been following the mysterious woman for only a few minutes when suddenly he heard a mechanical voice in his head.


    ''Huh..'' Alex was surprised by this sudden voice in his head.


    "What happened?" The woman asked, turning back and looking at Alex''s surprised face.


    "No... nothing."


    Alex replied. The woman turned around and continued moving forward..


    [World energy required for completion has been absorbed.]


    [The system will restart after 10 hours. ]


    [System Level 1 reached.]


    [All the features have been unlocked.]


    [All information has been updated.]


    .


    .


    .


    .


    A series of notifications arrived in front of Alex.


    The oldest one of these was from 22 hours ago while the newest ones were from 2 hours ago .


    All in all, these messages described how the system had reached Level 1 by absorbing the required amount of World energy and some new features that were unlocked.


    There were also continuous pop-ups about 1 unit of World energy being absorbed from time to time.


    Alex opened his system interface and was surprised to see the effects of the updates.


    All the information was now collected under their respective headers like System info, stats, skills and abilities, host''s info, announcements and features and finally there were three new features namely Missions, stimulation practice and store. There was also a list of the reverse mana which had only one entry at present. This was


    [Mana source: Wind wolf ( tier 1 mana beast)]


    [Mana type: elemental (wind) + piercing]


    [Reverse Mana: 40% effect.]


    This complete version of the system also had one added feature which was audio.


    He could choose whether he wanted a notification screen or an announcement in his mind.


    Alex was grateful for this feature because it would be very difficult if these notifications covered his entire view. Alex was tempted to check it out, but a new notification arrived.


    [The system''s appraisal function has been activated. Adding appraisal ability to the host''s pupil.]


    [Please wait....]


    Suddenly a burning sensation invaded his mind and Alex stopped moving. He closed his eyes, but the pain only got worse. Tears began rolling out of his eyes. Suddenly, he felt something touch his eyelids and a cool sensation began to envelope his eyes. The pain and burning sensation immediately subsided.


    Alex opened his eyes to see the woman looking at him with a smiling expression.


    "Your abilities choose quite weird times to awaken."


    Alex could only laugh dryly. What could he say to this?


    He looked at a notification that had appeared beside her.


    [Name:????]


    [Race:?????]


    [level:?????]


    ....


    ...


    All information about her was filled with question marks.


    '' My present level is too low to access her information. '' Alex sighed.


    He looked back at her. He could only describe her by the word perfect. Her body was very well proportioned and gave the feeling of elegance rather than being seductive. Though her chest was on the flatter side, it only increased the desirability somehow. And also there was this aura around her that gave one the feeling of motherly affection, her pure and noble aura only deepened this perception.


    Also her nature was pretty good except for when she had forcefully read his memories. Alex also found a sense of intimacy whenever he looked at her. In the beginning, he found it somewhat dubious but after careful thinking Alex found that he was overthinking.


    What joke was this. The one in front of him was most definitely at a level where she could just end him with a thought if she wished to do so. There was no need for any pretenses. Even without any reference just the fact that she could sense a human settlement which was a few days journey away from them was a feat that anyone Alex had met before now could only dream of accomplishing.


    It was getting awkward, so Alex decided to break the silence.


    " Senior, what are you doing in this forest?" This question of Alex was asked not for the sake of getting an answer, but rather he was interested in finding out how much leverage he had in their party of two.


    " I came here to visit someone whom I met many years ago. He can be called an acquaintance, but he is too old and will be dying soon. So, I am here to visit him. And also stop calling me senior. I am called that all the time. Honestly speaking, it''s quite irritating. "


    "Since you look only a year or two older than me, how about I call you elder sister or something?" Alex was fully prepared to get rejected. This was his second test, a test to find out how close could act to her.


    "You can call me Verenia. That''s my name."


    She replied with a smile on her face


    That was out of Alex''s calculations.


    He never expected her to be so frank and outgoing. Especially someone of her power.


    The environment only got lighter after this.


    They grew more and more familiar with each other on their journey. Although Verenia didn''t talk much about herself, Alex found out that she was some very respectable figure with incredible powers.


    Whenever they had to take a rest or eat something, Verenia just had to casually wave her hand and trees with all kinds of fruits would grow out from the ground. So the first day of their journey went uneventfully.


    When Alex woke up the next morning, he was still sleeping on a bed made of grass, but he couldn''t find Verenia anywhere.


    Alex didn''t think much about it and decided to look around, but as soon as he got out of the region created by Verenia he wished that he hadn''t.


    In front of him, there was a pack of about thirty creatures which looked like dogs, but were surrounded by a creepy aura.


    [Mana Beast: Poison fang Hyena ]


    [Level: 15]


    [HP: 2048/2500]


    MP: 1890/2400]


    [Skills : poison fangs, poison scratch, howl of death, corrosive spikes. ]


    [strength:107 ] [ agility: 120 ]


    [endurance: 90 ] [ intelligence:105]


    [Mana beast : Poison fang Hyena ]


    [Level : 18]


    [HP : 2700/2900]


    [MP : 2400/2700]


    .....


    .....


    There were 32 hyenas with levels ranging between 12 to 20 in this group.


    The attributes of all the Poison fang Hyenas were shown to Alex. One look and Alex could tell that they were here with no good intentions. The corpses of all the other peaceful creatures that had gathered in the sanctuary created by Verenia''s arrival were littered on the ground as a proof to that.


    [Hostile intentions detected.]


    Combat mode initiated.]


    New mission: Resisting Onslaught ]


    Description: survive the attacks of the hostile mana beasts. ]


    [Rewards: +43,000 exp, low level antidote ¡Á10,


    3 new spell learning cards, 1 skill upgrade card, exp equal to twice the cumulative damage dealt.]


    "System use all the available exp for leveling up." Alex said in a low voice.


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [+30 all attributes, +60 free attributes, +300 HP,


    +300 MP, +12 skill points.]


    ''Since the mission is about survival rather than fighting, it should be alright if I don''t confront them directly. The optimal strategy should be running away, but I am sure that I won''t be able to outrun all of them.'' Alex glanced at all the hyenas that had gathered around him.


    " System increase the agility to 85 and add remaining points to endurance." Alex said as he started retreating back into the forest while maintaining his vigilance.


    The hyenas mostly had close range abilities except for the corrosive spikes, so it was better to keep a safe distance away from them.


    After retreating back a few meters Alex turned away and started to run at his full speed. He climbed up a dense tree to hide.


    From his gaming experience, he knew that his strength was too low for a direct confrontation, so he could only rely on ambush and trying to avoid those Hyenas as much as possible.


    At this moment, a system notification was heard in his brain.


    [Mana Analysis complete.]


    [Mana type: poison + corrosive]


    [Effects: corrosion, poisoning.]


    So does that mean that I can use the reverse mana once I know the mana flow in those hyenas'' body? Alex asked the system in his mind.


    The answer he got was a yes.


    After this, all that remained was for him to convert all the available potential to actual combat prowess.


    Alex quickly opened the system store and learned some new spells and skills which could help him in the present condition.


    The pain generated in his head as he learned those new skills was quite unbearable and nearly caused him to fall down, but Alex managed to get through it by gritting his teeth.


    After some time, the first hyena arrived at where Alex was by smelling his trail. This was one of the weaker ones and was also moderately injured.


    Alex jumped down from where he was hiding and arrived right in front of the hyena. This caught the hyena by surprise and Alex launched a fireball at it.


    The power of his fireball had increased when Alex leveled up and coupled with the very small distance between them, the effects were also magnified.


    But it was not enough to severely hurt the Hyena. Although a considerable amount of HP of the Hyena was lowered, it was still not enough to put the Hyena in danger.


    Alex had already expected this outcome, so he did not wait to see the effects of his attack and used another spell to get away before the Hyena had a chance to attack.


    [Spell name: Speed enhancement (basic)]


    [effect: Increases the speed by 50% for about 5 sec.]


    [Mana usage: 5 per second.]


    [Cost: 1 skill point.]


    The hyena howled loudly and started to look for Alex in a rage.


    All the nearby hyenas also started gathering near it.


    Once again, they began to chase Alex.

 Chapter 6 - Surviving The Onslaught Of The Pack

    Alex quickly fled the scene while the angry howls of the Poison Fang Hyena gathered it''s other companions.


    Once again, Alex found a place to hide among the trees, hiding his presence in order to find the right chance to flee.


    Although the forest may be filled with more dangerous creatures, it was not certain that he would encounter them, but if he remained hidden here, he would certainly get discovered by the hyenas sooner or later.


    Alex was waiting for the opportune moment when another lone hyena discovered him.


    Alex quickly took action and cast a fireball using the reverse mana flow of the hyena. .


    A blue coloured fireball hit the creature''s jaw followed by a slash of wind blade.


    The jaw of the creature was cut down and began to bleed. Alex quickly distanced himself and cast another series of wind blade projectiles before disappearing into the thickets.


    Similar incidents were happening all over the region. Alex would suddenly appear before a hyena, launch a sneak attack and then vanish into the forest.


    By the time the Hyenas realized what was happening, six of them were already severely hurt by Alex.


    The pack leader of the hyenas was thoroughly infuriated. It gave a loud howl which was followed by the howls of other hyenas.


    The hyenas began co-ordinating their movements and began to form an encirclement.


    Alex also quickly noticed this.


    "Area scan." Alex cast another spell.


    [Spell name : Area Scan]


    [Type : scouting0


    [Effect: release a faint mana pulse which spreads in a circular area of 100 meter radius with the user at the centre to detect any mana activity in that region.]


    [Mana usage: 30 per use.]


    [cost : 1 skill point.]


    Alex scouted the locations of all the hyenas and began to move in the direction with the least density of hyenas.


    He had to get out of their encirclement because his MP was getting low.


    ''I can''t continue like this. I didn''t think that I would''ve encountered the most common problem of magical novels so fast.''


    Alex cast another spell and covered his tracks.


    [Spell name: conceal]


    [Spell type : concealment]


    [effect: conceals the users presence, smell and sound created for 10 seconds. ]


    [Mana usage : 10]


    [cost : 1 skill point]


    If Alex didn''t appear in front of those Poison Fang Hyenas, they would never be able to find him.


    Although all these spells were also available as skills, Alex chose to learn spells because he hadn''t chosen a class yet, so if he didn''t choose a class that was in line with his skills, they would be struck at the same low level.


    Alex broke free of the encirclement and began to move in the forest. He decided to move in the direction which Verenia was taking him.


    But, he had barely moved some distance when he was stopped by another group of Poison fang Hyenas.


    This group was led by a hyena which was nearly twice the size of previous ones and also others in this group were a bit larger than those of previous group.


    Realization finally came to Alex. Those hyenas that he encountered first were most likely the newly awakened cubs who were brought here by these adult hyenas to learn hunting in groups.


    The high number of small animals without any mana core had attracted these mana beasts and was also a good opportunity for them to train the newly awakened ones.


    The adult Hyenas look at Alex in silence for a few seconds before attacking with corrosive spikes.


    This attack was much better than that of the previous group both in accuracy and speed. Alex barely dodged this attack before the same one rushed at him with a poison scratch.


    The leader of the pack howled and gathered the other group nearby.


    This time, there were more than forty Hyenas that had surrounded Alex both on the front and rear.


    Out of options, Alex charged towards the group of the young hyenas because he knew that attacking the adults would only lead to an early demise, not to mention that the adult hyena was level 32 which was well beyond his reach. His attack wouldn''t even create an itch to it.


    Seeing Alex charge towards them, the young hyenas launched a myriad of attacks all directed at him, but there was a lack of coordination which provided Alex with a small window of opportunity.


    Alex took advantage of this and quickly broke through their formation by increasing his speed. When he was still amidst them, another wave of corrosive spikes arrived.


    Alex tried to evade them,but many still hit him.


    Alex had expected a great deal of pain, and it truly was. But an unexpected system notification popped up.


    [You have been attacked by corrosive spikes.


    Corrosion has been negated by the special constitution of the host.]


    ''Does this mean that I won''t be affected by any corrosive attacks?'' Alex asked the system.


    [The host is immune to any corrosive attacks which are below level 3.]


    The reply of the system was like a ray of hope for Alex. He only had to prevent the hyenas from getting close and his chances of survival would increase.


    I hope that I can find a way out of this mess soon, otherwise even if I am immune to corrosion, my HP will definitely be drained little by little until I die just by the impact of those spikes.


    So, a series of events where the Poison fang Hyenas would attack Alex with corrosive spikes after small intervals, and he would dodge them while running began repeating itself from time to time. Alex, who was fleeing, would occasionally use speed enhancement to maintain some distance between him and the pursuers.


    Alex also occasionally launched fireballs and wind blades of reverse mana on the Hyenas in order to keep them from getting too close to him.


    This continued until Alex reached the opposite end of the region created by Verenia.


    Upon reaching there, suddenly the leader of the hyenas gave out a shrill cry, turned back and began running as fast as it could, whereas the others stood there petrified.


    Alex felt that something was amiss when he saw the entire pack of hyenas that was chasing him ferociously just a few seconds ago, suddenly standing frozen while shaking as if they had met death itself.


    Alex also halted his steps.


    ''Something about this doesn''t feel right. Even if it was the territory of some stronger mana beast, the reactions of these Hyenas shouldn''t be this exaggerated. I can''t continue to move in this direction. '' Alex had merely thought of this when suddenly all the Hyenas began to run away with their tails between their legs.


    Alex was also aware that he couldn''t stay at this place any longer, so he also turned back and began running away.


    Using speed enhancement, Alex was able to get ahead of some of those hyenas, but they were too busy running for their own lives to care about him.


    Suddenly, a spark of light spread out from the clouds and began to slowly illuminate the entire forest.


    Alex''s heart grew cold at this. The phenomenon happening in the sky was something he had read in one of the manuals. It was a beast domain.


    When a mana beast reached tier seven, the mana around them would begin to condense to physical form under their aura and lead to the formation of their beast domain.


    The situation had turned from bad to worse.


    Suddenly, a bone crushing pressure descended from the sky and all the things in a large area around Alex came to a standstill.


    Alex couldn''t even move a muscle of his body.


    All the creatures present in a radius of a few miles were also the same.


    Alex saw all the hyenas standing frozen at their places. He knew that he had a chance to survive those hyenas even if it was very slim, but now he had zero chances. Even if he wasn''t the target of the tier seven beast, it was certain that he wouldn''t be able to survive the pressure of it''s aura any longer.


    He had gotten a chance to look at the domain once and the system appraisal had given him a very scary set of data.


    [Name:?????]


    [Race:?????? (mana beast)]


    [Level: 300 (340)]


    [strength:?????]


    [agility:?????]


    [endurance: 8,900,000]


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Even the lowest stat of this beast was nearly nine million. Alex was sure that if he tried to look back at the beast directly, he would be obliterated by the mere pressure.


    While he was wishing that the beast finished its business quickly and moved away, a sudden feeling of comfort rose in his body. All the hyenas in front of him were also freed and began running without even looking back.


    Alex was also able to move freely. For a moment he thought that the beast had left, but he could still see a white light around himself.


    He turned around and saw a silhouette standing between him and the light source. Looking at the light source still gave him a sense of oppression, and he subconsciously turned away from it.


    ''Scree.....ch'' a sound of screeching which could easily shatter his eardrums gently passed by him without even a slight irritation.


    "You know that this child should not exist. Something like this goes against the nature of this world, yet you want me to look after it?" A gentle voice that Alex had gotten used to in the past two days spread through the entire forest.


    "Screeee....ch!" another sound was made. This time, Alex could feel a sense of pain and hopelessness in the screech.


    This was followed by Verenia sighing," You do know that I won''t actively interfere in any such matters, right?"


    "Scree....c...h!" The voice this time was even more shallow and was tottering at the end.


    "Sigh! Alright, give it to me."


    After Verenia uttered these words, the pressure receded from the surroundings and the light also began fading away.


    Alex turned back and was surprised that the level of the beast with the domain had already fallen to 200.


    Before he could even take a look, it completely vanished.


    "Didn''t I tell you never to roam out of the domain I created yesterday? Just look at yourself. What mess have you gotten into this time Alex?" Verenia turned back to face Alex and asked.


    Alex was sure that if it had been someone else, even an acquaintance would have irritated him when asking this question, but when Verenia asked it, he felt a sense of motherly affection.


    ''I wonder if this is due to very high charisma or because of the pure and calm aura that she emits.'' Alex thought to himself while another question came to his mind.


    Whenever he tried to think about Verenia''s identity, Alex could feel a strange fluctuation around himself before he would forget all about it. It was just that a system notification about his memories being altered appeared each time which served as a proof to him, otherwise he wouldn''t even remember.


    "Verenia, I have been meaning to ask you this for some time but it always slips my mind, Are you a forest spirit or dryad?" Alex asked hastily as he sensed the strange fluctuation nearing him.


    For a moment, Alex could see a look of surprise on Verenia''s face before being replaced by a smirk and finally an energetic smile.

 Chapter 7 - Lady Verenia Was Here

    Alex saw Verenia''s expression change from surprise to an energetic smile. For a moment he was considering taking back his question, but before he could, Verenia opened her mouth.


    "No. I am not a dryad or forest spirit. It''s just that I can''t tell you much about myself before you grow strong enough or it will have some serious consequences for you or I would have."


    " When you enter tier seven, you will automatically come to know about me, but I can consider telling you when you reach tier 5."


    Somehow, Alex felt that she really wanted to tell him, but it was best not to tell him before he grew strong enough. There was also that mysterious fluctuation appearing out of nowhere. It was a weird feeling as if the entire world was forcing him to remove this part of his memories.


    Suddenly,  Alex remembered something important and opened his system window..


    It was just like what he had imagined.


    [Mission name: Resisting Onslaught ]


    [Status: Completed ]


    [Rewards: 43,000 exp, 1 skill upgrade card, 3 spell learning cards(random draw), 2¡Á4385 exp.]


    Alex opened his interface window.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 7]


    [Core : white(48)]


    [EXP: 53,070]


    [Stats]


    [Strength:51]


    [Agility: 86]


    [Endurance : 73]


    [Intelligence: 44]


    [Perception : 40]


    [Charisma : 70(45)]


    [HP : 380/410]


    [MP : 80/420]


    [Free attribute points: 0]


    [Skill points : 12]


    Alex had invested 4 skill points in learning 4 new spells; those were: Area Scan, Speed enhancement ( basic), Conceal and Shadow movement.


    He also gained 3 intelligence points by learning the first three spells while 1 agility point from Shadow movement.


    Alex had now realized that he had to quickly raise his strength if he wanted to stay alive, for that he had to increase his level quickly and also focus on mastering his skills and spells.


    A randomly shot fireball was nothing to boast about. He also realized that he had to obtain a weapon as soon as possible.


    Although he could use Wind blade as a sword, it left much to be desired, especially as wind blade was a basic spell mainly used for projectiles.


    But there was something else that Alex was more happy about, he had tried to use his skill upgrade card when the system was immature, but it didn''t work, but now, he had two upgrade cards and his system had also matured.


    Alex decided to level up the spell he had used the most recently.


    [2 skill upgrade cards have been used.]


    [Spell : Fire stream has been upgraded to level 2.


    Fire stream level 2 (basic)]


    [Spell : Speed enhancement has been upgraded


    to level 2 (basic)]


    Fire stream and speed enhancement have reached upper limits for current levels.


    Higher stages will be unlocked once the host reaches tier 1.


    Alex knew that he couldn''t level up his spells and skills indefinitely due to his low level and low mana capacity.


    Alex decided to check out the weapons in his store, but for some reason the weapons section was still grayed out.


    ''I assume that I will be reaching tier 1 at level 10, but my immediate power can already reach mid stage tier 1.


    Alex also wanted to check out the mental simulations but as soon as he started it, he felt like he would become unconscious, so he decided to keep it on hold for now.


    Alex continued his journey with Verenia and would try mental simulations when they were resting. These were like a dream wherein he would be teleported to an stadium like arena where he had to spar with some robot looking holograms.


    Although this could not provide him exp, his control over his spells and skills grew by leaps and bounds.


    After two more days of walking, Alex was able to see the outlines of a village.


    "Be sure to leave this village as soon as possible. And also, you should be careful as this region is the domain of gods unlike your Flenreth Empire, so there will be people all around asking you to pledge fidelity to a God. And if you do it, you will never be able to reach beyond tier 8."


    Verenia told Alex.


    She also suddenly pressed her index finger on Alex''s forehead.


    "This is a little parting gift from me, but you will only be able to activate it at tier 4." Verenia seemed a bit reluctant to leave Alex, but finally made her mind and teleported away .


    "We will meet again." A fading voice reached Alex''s ears.


    Alex looked at the spot where she had vanished.


    For some reason, he had always felt a sense of familiarity to her, but he still couldn''t tell what it was, but he was very interested in what her parting gift was.


    He could see the levels upto level 340 at least, but he still couldn''t see Verenia''s level. A gift from her would definitely be something worth looking forward to.


    Suddenly, a system notification appeared in front of him.


    [You have received the permanent status effect : World''s blessing.]


    [Effect: +50% mana capacity. ]


    ''What''s this?'' Alex was amazed. "Is this the gift she was talking about?" Alex wondered.


    Verenia became even more mysterious in his eyes.


    Wasn''t this something those wise sages gave in old mangas?


    After resting for some time, Alex continued on his way to the village.


    On the other hand, after parting ways with Alex, Verenia appeared in front of a shrine-like building that was surrounded by dense forest on either side. An old man suddenly appeared before her and bowed mechanically.


    "Welcome to my humble abode, my lady. How can  this servant serve you?" The old man asked, his head still lowered.


    " Please raise your head. You are one of the most powerful gods on this continent, you should care about your reputation. " Though her voice was gentle and caring, it still lacked the energy which it contained while talking to Alex.


    Verenia walked past the old man who quietly followed her. After walking past a hallway in the shrine, they reached a room with a throne that belonged to the old man.


    Verenia stopped in front of this throne and a big flower grew from under her feet.


    She sat on the flower and signaled the man to take a seat.


    As soon as the man sat on his throne, his aura changed and became stronger and fiercer. The mechanical look in his eyes was replaced by a kind and aged expression.


    "Your lifespan will be ending in a few days. Have you made the appropriate arrangements to those under your command and those who worship you?" Verenia asked.


    "Yes my lady, I have already spread this message to all of them and my apostles are also helping them in any way possible." The old man replied.


    '' This is always the same.'' Verenia sighed in her heart. She was suddenly reminded of the teen she had just met and a smile blossomed on her face.


    " You truly are special. If only.....sigh!"Verenia whispered to herself.


    She turned her attention back to the old man and gently waved her arm.


    "It''s good then. Here, have this." A tree suddenly grew out of the ground and the only fruit of the tree detached itself and landed in the God''s hand.


    After talking for a while Verenia took her leave and disappeared from the place.


    "Huh!" The old God was startled to find himself in his throne room.


    Wasn''t he just touring the forest one last time before his lifetime ended?


    Suddenly his gaze turned to the fruit in his hand and his entire body began trembling. Tears of joy began to flow out of his eyes.


    "She was here! Lady Verenia was here...!" The old man found it difficult to hold back his joy. This... this....


    He suddenly rushed to a corner of his shrine and entered some sort of portal.


    In another shrine, somewhere thousands of miles away from the forest, the silhouette of the old man appeared from a portal and dashed inside. For a moment , the other gods were startled before recognizing the familiar aura.


    " Lord Xidryg. To what do we owe this sudden meeting?" two of the older gods appeared in front of him and asked politely.


    "Take me to the most promising descendents of your clans. Today, I''ll pass down my title to the best candidate. " The old man said.


    It was the greatest honor for a God to decide who his heir would be, and the fruit in his hand was meant to help him with this.


    When the other gods heard this, expressions of disbelief were plastered on their faces.


    "No way! You met her?" One of them asked.


    "Yes." the old man replied smugly, but he couldn''t control himself from grinning.


    On the other hand, Alex continued his journey towards the human village. On the way, he couldn''t see a single mana beast and this amazed him. This effect was similar to that of Verenia''s domain.


    After walking for one hour, he reached the outer perimeter of the village. There were a few villagers who were moving around, but when they saw Alex enter their village, they were a little surprised, but that was all. They didn''t think much of it and resumed what they were doing.


    At the entrance, Alex was also in a delima. He had entered this village, but what next? Going by conventional method, he should find a place to rest, have some food and continue his journey towards the human territories, but that requires money.


    And money was something he lacked at the moment, and not to mention that this was some remote part of the gods'' territory. Heck he didn''t even know what currency these people used.


    ''Damn! I should have asked Verenia if she had some money on her but then again, what would she require money for?''


    Verenia was self- sufficient in everything. She could make beds appear out of ground, grow fresh fruits in just seconds and create streams of water just by waving a hand.


    ''What a tricky problem.'' Alex thought to himself.


    Suddenly, a teenager who appeared to be the same age as himself began to approach Alex.


    "Hello sir, how can I help you?" The teenager asked Alex in a respectful manner.


    "I was just passing by." Alex replied


    "You can have some rest in our village if you want." the teenager said with his face making a ''I know it all'' expression.


    "But I don''t have any money on me." Alex replied immediately. He knew that this person may most likely have approached him so that he could earn some money from the outsider, ''but this outsider himself is penniless.'' Alex said to himself.


    " I see, but I don''t want any money. You can just stay at my place. The apostles are coming in two days and I need to prepare to welcome them. You can help me in this preparation as a payment, how does that sound?" The boy said.


    Although it sounded a bit suspicious, Alex didn''t get any notifications from the system about hostile intentions, so he decided to take the offer and observe this person. The moment he found something suspicious, he would leave this village.


    Besides, many of the villagers here weren''t very powerful.


    So, he could still take the risk.

 Chapter 8 - Weapons Store Unlocked

    Alex was pulled directly into the village by the person.


    "You don''t have to worry about food or residence for the time being. You can live in my house, but you''ll have to help us with the preparations for welcoming the Apostles of God."


    Alex didn''t want to come in direct contact with Gods or apostles, but making these preparations for welcome was acceptable.


    Alex was surprised to see that most of the residents were mostly tier 1. And the highest power level was a measly level 50 which was lower tier 2. How could they survive in this forest full of powerful mana beasts?


    Though he hadn''t made direct contact with them, Alex had seen a large number of tier three and one tier four mana beast while he was walking with Verenia. Moreover, those were just the ones he found walking in a straight line, how many more would there be in the entire forest.


    As if seeing through Alex''s confusion, the boy replied, " I assume that you are not a member of the twenty tribes that inhabit this forest, so you are confused about how we can live here. To tell you the truth, it is because of Lord God that we are living peacefully here.."


    " The lord God has inscribed defense spells at the centre of each tribe, and he has also subdued the beast king of this forest. Legends say that he defeated the beast king who had been ruling this forest for thousands of years just by raising a finger of his...." this guy just continued babbling about how strong, kind and so on their God was.


    Alex could only bear with it while this person seemed to go on and on without stopping.


    "Hey! where are we going?" Alex cut him in his speech, afraid that he wouldn''t stop if no one stopped him.


    "Oh did I not tell you my name? How forgetful of me!" The boy said, looking at Alex''s face.


    "You can call me Lucas."


    "I am Alex."


    "Nice to meet you Alex. Let me take you for a tour of our village first so that you don''t..."


    " What is the work that I''ll have to do?" Alex cut him short again.


    "Alright, let me take you there." Lucas began leading the way while Alex began to follow him while silently observing his surroundings.


    After leading Alex to one of the corners of the village where a few people were already doing things like carpentry, metal work ,etc, Lucas stopped.


    "You can either work here and do odd jobs and chores or you can choose to go out with the hunting party to gather mana beast flesh or some herbs from the forest." Lucas said. "But I''d rather that you do these odd jobs, I have heard that there are some high level tier 1 beasts who have recently begun to appear in the area near the village."


    "Then I''ll have to trouble you introduce me to the hunting party." Alex replied nonchalantly.


    "Huh..! you want to join the hunting party despite knowing that there are mana beasts gathering at the boundaries of the protected area? And you don''t seem to be very strong either. You shouldn''t.."


    "I don''t think that I am very skilled with this kind of work, but I can be of help in fighting against those mana beasts." Alex didn''t intend to let Lucas continue and cut him short once again.


    " At least let me finish first, you can decide it later.


    You don''t have to risk your life. Even if you don''t know much about these jobs, you can still help with other things in the village." Lucas truly sounded worried about Alex, but Alex still insisted.


    In the end, Lucas had to give up and he brought Alex to a different place.


    A group of seven people were standing there and talking loudly. Just by their mannerism and looks alone, Alex could tell that these people were the hunting team.


    There were six men with ripping muscles who were talking and laughing loudly and a girl standing a few steps away from them, carrying a spear.


    All these men were either tier 2 or upper tier 1 and all of these belonged to the warrior classes.


    Warrior classes used mana to strengthen their bodies and were only able to cast weak enhancement spells.


    On reaching higher tiers, they were able to conjure spells with explosive powers and use them for melee attacks. They were usually close quarter fighters who required zero casting time.


    On the other hand, the girl appeared to be a caster who used magic spells instead of skills. These could be compared to the mages from the games that Alex played in his previous life. Also, the strangest thing was that despite being the same age group as Alex, she was already tier 4 at level 130. She also had the strongest physical capabilities in that group.


    Alex cast his appraisal on her and something immediately caught his attention.


    [Name : Sheri]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 130]


    [Constitution : triple spirit affinity with lightning, water and fire spirits.]


    [Mana Core : Silver (78)]


    [Stats:]


    [Strength : 1510]


    [Agility : 1640]


    [Endurance : 1004]


    [Intelligence : 1900]


    [Charisma : 1990]


    [Perception : 1680]


    [HP : 18, 900]


    [MP : 40,000]


    Alex noted that this time, the system did not show him the skills and spells at the girl''s disposal like it showed of the mana beasts.


    '' Is this because of her high level or can I see the skills or mana beasts only? But this girl sure is a talent, but it''s a pity that she will most likely stay in this village till the end of her life and waste her talents.'' Alex thought to himself.


    "Hey guys! This is Alex. He was lost in the forest and incidentally stumbled upon our village. I took him in so that he can help us in welcoming the Apostles. He will be joining you people in the hunting party tomorrow. " Lucas said, pointing at Alex.


    "Nice to meet you." Alex said courteously.


    Those men looked at Alex and nodded slightly, only the girl looked at him with some interest. She scanned Alex from top to bottom before signaling him to step forward.


    [New mission : Test of strength]


    [Description: The hunting party wants to test your compatibility with their tasks.0


    [ Prove your strength by lasting upto 2 minutes against their leader.]


    [Mission rewards : +3600 exp, entry in the hunting party.]


    A system notification appeared in front of Alex.


    '' System, add all the exp in leveling up. '' Alex said under his breath.''


    Level up!


    Level up!


    Level up!


    [+15 all attributes, +30 free attribute points,


    +150 HP, +225(150) MP, +6 Skill points.]


    [Combat mode initiated. ]


    [All spells have been placed on quick cast mode.]


    As soon as Alex moved a few steps towards the girl, she suddenly strode forward for what was supposed to be a surprise attack. Due to the system''s warning, Alex was already prepared for this and quickly dodged her.


    The girl was a bit surprised, but she immediately recollected herself. Another punch came towards Alex''s face. Alex used speed enhancement and immediately his speed doubled. He was able to narrowly escape the attack. Seeing that the physical attacks were not working, the girl began to cast a spell.


    Alex''s eyes shone brightly. This was his chance, all spells needed time to build up, but he could cast any spell immediately with the help of the system. He immediately dashed towards where the girl was standing and cast a fireball. A dazzling fireball was immediately launched at the girl. Alex had leveled up the fire stream spell and also his proficiency was also highest for this spell.


    Alex knew that he would only be able to buy some time for himself so he immediately retreated back to maintain some distance.


    Even if the girl was holding back considerably, her perception was already on the level of 130.


    Alex knew that he had lost the element of surprise and his attacks were only meant to buy him some time.


    As soon as the fire vanished, the girl charged at Alex. She had tried to cast one of the spells which required some time for casting in order to finish the duel in one move.


    This time, she charged at Alex while she cast level 2 water bullets. This was the spell that she was most proficient in, and was quickly cast. A series of water bullets were shot at Alex who was already busy retreating.


    Whizzz!


    two water bullets whizzed past Alex, leaving two small cuts on his right cheek.


    The girl was in front of Alex the next moment.


    Alex once again cast his fireball and immediately followed through with a shadow movement.


    The long shadow caused by the brightness of the fireball was sufficient for Alex to escape to a safe distance.


    "Do you only know how to run away?" The girl said, trying to provoke Alex.


    '' Ho-Ho.. so provoking is allowed. I can also do it.'' Alex thought with a smile on his face.


    "You are much stronger than me, yet are unable to even tap me and now you are blaming me for dodging. That''s quite an effective fighting style.."


    Sheri knew that Alex was provoking her back, but there was something about his words or the tone in which it was said that ticked her off. Despite trying her best to calm down, she immediately started to attack more fiercely. She raised her strength from upper level tier 1 to peak tier one. She immediately dashed at Alex,


    "Do you have anything to say now?" she smirked at Alex when she was just half a meter away from him.


    "You waste too much time talking." Alex said as he thrust his hand forward, a wind blade immediately materialized . Sheri immediately stepped back and began attacking in much more rage. After this, it was only Alex getting a one sided beating, though the attacks were nothing fatal, the speed was considerably higher.


    Somehow, Alex was able to last 2 minutes even though he was beaten up.


    "You are not bad. Even though you may be the weakest among us, you can still hold your own against a mid tier 1 mana beast. You can join us, but try not to slow us down." Sheri said, looking at Alex.


    "Hey, can I get any weapon over here? I think that I can do better with a weapon in my hand." Alex expressed his honest opinion.


    "Come with me." Sheri said after some thinking, as she began leading the way.


    Although she had won, she was very impressed with Alex. This was the first time that she had seen someone as proficient in battle despite his low level.


    She took Alex to the local blacksmiths shop.


    Alex was a bit upset though.


    "Hey! Why are you making that long face? Do you honestly think that you had a chance to win?" Sheri said in an irritated tone as she looked at Alex''s expression.


    "Oh, it''s nothing like that. I just remembered something sad. That''s all." Alex said looking forward.


    There on his system screen, he could still see the weapons section of the shop grayed out. This was the real reason for his long face. The weapons in the shop should be much better than those made by some blacksmith, but he couldn''t get them.


    There was also the notification of Sheri''s mana analysis. Due to the huge difference in level, the system had only been able to analyze 3 percent of her mana till now, but the process was continued even after exiting the combat mode.


    As Alex neared the blacksmith''s, he decided to close the interface when suddenly a notification rang out in his head.


    [ Store dungeon has been detected.]


    [Weapons store has been activated.]


    [Collect material from the dungeon to forge the weapon of your choice in the store.]


    Alex was surprised by this new notification, but he saw Sheri staring at him from the side due to his abrupt change in expression. He decided to look at this later and closed the interface.


    But he could still feel his heart racing in excitement.

 Chapter 9 - The First System Dungeon

    Alex closed his system interface and headed inside the blacksmith''s.


    " Hey uncle Dreron, I have brought you a new customer. " Sheri said as she pushed open the door of a small wooden house.


    "Hey, maybe I forgot to tell you, but I am broke." Alex whispered.


    " Oh don''t worry. I will pay for you this time, but you''ll have to return it before you leave the village." Sheri replied with a smirk on her face.


    " Oh, miss Sheri, what can I do for you today?" A hoarse voice called out. It was followed by a creaking sound which was approaching where Alex and Sheri were standing..


    After waiting for a while, an extremely old man entered the supposed parlor. He was holding a hammer in one hand which seemed to be used recently and his other hand was used to move the wheels of his wheelchair.


    Sheri went to the man and politely stood behind him.


    "Uncle Dreron, I need a sword for this person." She said as she dragged the old man and his wheelchair away.


    ''What''s with her strange behavior. She was acting like I was a plague that would eat away the old man.'' Alex thought to himself as he began contemplating whether to follow them in or not.


    In the end, Alex decided to open his system interface and check out the weapons store.


    As soon as he opened it, a long list of weapons appeared before him. There were maces, swords, axes, bows and arrows, gauntlets, spears and many other types of weapons.


    There was also an option to make customized weapons.


    Alex checked these weapons one by one. He was still too weak to get a view of most of the stronger weapon templates, but he was more than just satisfied by the lower level weapons that he saw.


    Alex pressed a basic mana sword template and suddenly all the information and stats of the mana sword appeared before him.


    Also something that he didn''t expect was all the raw material for the sword were mentioned and in one corner, the word dungeon was written.


    Alex''s attention was immediately drawn to this.


    He pressed on the word dungeon and a new screen appeared before him.


    This screen had the information about the dungeon and what drew his attention was the fact that all the basic drops by the monsters of this dungeon were the materials that were used to craft the mana sword.


    '' So that''s how this works.'' Alex was a bit happy.


    This dungeon could also give him loads of exp for leveling up apart from the material.


    After spending five days with Verenia, he had grown a fascination to strength


    In his previous life, individual strength was limited and there was only so much a person could do, but in this world, individual strength was not limited and as long as an individual kept growing, they would become strong enough to destroy countries with just few attacks.


    Also one thing that he realized was that if he had power, he would never have had to be at the mercy of another.


    Whenever he recalled himself begging Louis to reconsider his act, he was filled with rage. Although his words were disguised as warnings and tried to make him back down, Alex knew in his heart that those were no more than him begging Louis to spare his life in a roundabout manner.


    ''I need to grow stronger or I will be dragged into such a situation every time someone feels like I am in their way.'' Alex had unknowingly clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles were turning white.


    His trance was broken by the sounds of metal colliding. Alex knew that it was a bit risky for him to test out the new feature in broad daylight, so he decided to test it when there was no one around, most probably night time.


    He followed the sound and arrived in the backyard of the house. The old blacksmith was hammering a piece of heated iron while Sheri was standing beside him, looking at the piece of metal as if in deep contemplation.


    Alex silently walked towards them so as to not disturb the old man in his work.


    Alex used his appraisal on the old man. This Uncle Dreron was also an ordinary villager who was at the mid stage of tier 2.


    Although Alex had never seen someone forge a sword before, he could tell that this old man was skilled at his work. Also, the technique that he was using was a bit strange.


    Dreron was too focused on his work to pay any attention to Alex, but Sheri immediately sensed his presence and began moving towards him.


    "Hey outsider, don''t you dare say anything. If you so much as make a sound, I will beat you to death." Sheri said, making a gesture of snapping a stick into two.


    " Aren''t you too old to say such things without reason? It''s not like I am here to create trouble. I just want a sword and head back, and since your rambling didn''t distract him, I doubt that I would cause him any disturbance. " Alex replied as he walked towards where the old man was forging his sword.


    One thing that attracted Alex''s attention was the technique used by Dreron. The old man couldn''t generate power from his lower body, so he used a unique method of releasing mana in spontaneous amounts to accelerate the hammer and generate more force. This movement was very smooth despite it''s randomness.


    Alex got an idea and activated his system''s reverse mana feature. While he had no use of the reverse mana, he could still see the mana flow pattern of Dreron''s movement and try to imitate it in his sword style for fluidity of movement and increase of power. Also it was very helpful for creating power in cases where he could not draw power from his stance or body.


    Alex carefully noted each and every movement of the old man''s mana.


    Alex had trained in sword for quite some time after coming to this world, so he knew the importance of this seemingly useless technique.


    It may be able to provide him increased adaptability to terrain and in close space while wielding a weapon.


    By the time Alex came out, it was already evening and he would receive a sword the next morning. Since he had nothing to do, he just took a look around the village before finally meeting up with Lucas, who took him to a house near the center of the village.


    " This is my house. I have lived here alone since my parents died when I was young, but they were highly respected by the villagers, so I was brought up by the village chief alongside Miss Sheri. They have been very nice to me, except in some situations when Miss Sheri bullies me,...."


    Alex had realized that if he didn''t stop this guy, he would not be able to enter the house before midnight, so he decided to move forward and enter the house without any considerations of the owner of the house.


    After having a dinner of some local food, Alex was given a room at one side of the house.


    Alex opened the system store only to find that the weapons store was grayed out again.


    ''Does it have something to do with the blacksmith''s house or something?'' Alex wondered.


    As soon as it was a bit darker, Alex walked out of his room.


    "Hey, I am having a bit of a problem sleeping, so I''ll take a stroll around. You can lock the door behind me. I will knock on the door when I return."


    Alex said and left before the other party was given a chance to speak anything.


    In the remote village, nearly everyone was fast asleep by now. Alex quickly made his way to the blacksmith''s house and opened the weapons store.


    It was exactly like he had predicted. Alex didn''t waste any time and quickly selected the basic mana sword and entered the corresponding dungeon.


    [Entered system Dungeon.]


    [Recommended level : 15]


    [Rewards : Enhanced moon steel, Tier 1 monster core, monster blood, 80,000 exp]


    [Occasional Drops : Tier 1 monster core ( evolved)]


    [The host''s level is lower than the recommended level. Do you still want to enter the dungeon?]


    [Yes/No.]


    A black screen appeared before Alex.


    Alex pressed Yes without any hesitation.


    [Entering System Dungeon.]


    Alex suddenly found himself standing in a forest with thick trees and long grass.


    In front of him was something which seemed to be the ruins of a village. Suddenly, two greenish looking monsters emerged from these ruins. These were bipedal monsters whom Alex recognized as goblins.


    Alex scanned them and found that these goblins were merely level 12 and level 13.


    ''So this is a goblin village.'' Alex used Area scan and found out that there were around 25 such goblins in these ruins and their leader was a level 25 goblin. Alex was sure that even if he was level 15, he wouldn''t be able to survive if he created a commotion and the goblins surrounded him.


    ''System, add all the free attribute points in strength.'' Alex said.


    By now, Alex''s strength had finally caught up with his agility. Before this, the opponents he faced were much stronger than him, so he had to increase his agility in order to survive, but now it was the first time he would be fighting without trying to run. Alex was a bit excited as he stepped forward from where he was standing.


    The two goblins were standing beside a tree which happened to cast a shadow near Alex''s foot.


    One of the goblins sensed a movement in Alex''s direction and turned towards him. It was able to see a faint silhouette fading away.


    Alex quickly cast shadow movement and appeared behind the other goblin which was unaware of Alex''s presence.


    Alex stabbed a black coloured wind blade in the throat of this goblin. This was the reverse mana variate of his wind blade. Since these goblins were basically the same level as Alex, the system had completed its part as soon as Alex had spotted those goblins.


    Alex saw a series of debuffs appear on the goblin. Since these were regular goblins, the mana in their body was used only to strengthen their body. The goblins HP plummeted, but it was still more than 50 percent. Alex acted immediately and cast another wind blade and slashed the goblins gut.


    This time, due to the debuffs, all the remaining HP of the goblin was drained by the wind blade, but Alex was a bit disappointed.


    ''Maybe I have gotten too used to the level 2 fireball, if only I could get another skill upgrade card.'' Alex thought to himself.


    The second goblin heard a muffled call of it''s companion and turned back only to see Alex killing the first goblin.


    The second goblin immediately pounced at Alex with a crude knife in its hand. Alex used shadow movement once again and shifted from his position.


    The goblin stabbed at the empty air.


    Slash!


    Alex cut at the goblin''s throat. It tried to open its mouth and alert the others, but a fireball arrived before it could make any sound.


    [Goblin( level 12) killed.]


    [14,000 exp gained]


    [Goblin (level 13) killed.]


    [15,000 exp gained.]


    Alex immediately lifted those two corpses and went back to hide in the forest.


    He took out the cores of the goblins and quickly absorbed them.


    He knew that if he wanted to fight the boss and stand a chance, he had to increase the efficiency of his reverse mana.


    After five minutes, Alex walked out and stood at the entrance of the goblin village.

 Chapter 10 - Reaching Tier 1.

    Standing at the entrance to the goblin village, Alex cast another Area scan spell.


    Right now, the goblins were still unaware of his presence, so he could slowly chip away their numbers by ambushing any goblins that were alone.


    He soon found a target. It was a level 16 goblin with a club made of bones in its hand. It was lying against a wall and was most likely asleep in an abandoned corner of the ruins. Alex streaked through the dark pathways and arrived where the goblin was resting.


    He used shadow movement and arrived near the goblin. Instantly, a wind blade was stabbed into its vocal chord. Taking lessons from the previous incident, Alex didn''t stop and cast two fireballs in succession.


    By the time the goblin was fully awake, it''s HP had already plummeted to 0. Alex dug out it''s mana core and was preparing to leave..


    Alex cast another Area scan and his face fell. A group of four goblins were patrolling the area nearby and it was more than likely that they would be arriving here shortly.


    Even if Alex could escape their surveillance, the dead body of this goblin would soon be discovered and other goblins may become aware of his presence.


    ''And I was entertaining the idea of playing the assassin. Well, if it is inevitable to get discovered , then so be it.''


    Alex quickly removed the core from the goblin and dashed away from there. Alex continued running until he was out of the goblin village.


    He absorbed the mana core of the goblin, but unlike the first two which gave Alex 5 core points each, this core only gave him 4 core points.


    Alex wondered if something was wrong with the core or was his body getting immune to absorbing the core?


    Alex finally made up his mind to use the exp to level up. After his duel with Sheri, he had enough exp for leveling up to level 11, but he had decided to hold it back for now.


    When he reached Level 10, he had gotten a notice from the system that he would be officially entering Tier 1 at level 11.


    Whenever someone entered Tier 1, their mana cores would expand and also their mana circuit would change and form completely.


    Depending on the type of mana circuit formed, those people would be divided into various classes like mages who had a complete circulation of mana inside their body just like the circulation of blood from heart and back to heart.


    Then there were augmenters whose mana circuits emerged from their mana cores and were spread throughout their bodies and terminated in their muscles and bones. This made their bodies exceptionally strong and they mainly were melee combatants.


    All the remaining classes lied somewhere between these two classes depending on the percentage of mana returning back to the mana core in one cycle, needless to say that those with complete mana returning could cast spells faster and had higher mana reserves and those with low percentage of mana returning had higher physical strength.


    Alex wondered what kind of mana circuit he would develop.


    "System use all the exp for leveling up."


    [Level up!]


    [+5 all stats,+10 free attribute points, +50 HP,


    +75 MP, +2 skill points.]


    [You have reached Tier 1.]


    [+30 all stats.]


    [Level up!]


    [+5 all stats,+10 free attribute points, +50 HP,


    +75 MP, +2 skill points.]


    Alex was excitedly waiting for his mana circuit enhancement, but nothing happened.


    Just as he was about to curse out in frustration, he felt a sudden pain in his mana core.


    Alex was reminded of the excruciating pain when his heart was stabbed by Louis, but this pain in his mana core was even stronger.


    Not able to hold back any longer, Alex roared in agony.


    "Aaaaaargggggg.....hhhh!"


    Alex couldn''t exactly remember how many times he screamed in pain, but he knew that it wasn''t one or two times.


    When he got up, he was completely drenched in sweat and his eyes were bloodshot.


    Alex quickly cleared his muddled thoughts and used speed enhancement to dash away from where he was.


    The goblins must definitely have heard his screaming and would arrive here very soon.


    Just after Alex left, four goblins that were armed with spears and daggers arrived where he was.


    When they saw a large crater over there, they were confused. There was no other lifeform nearby and only a crater that appeared out of nowhere.


    Usually, the enlargement of mana core was a gradual process with moderate pain that continued for weeks or months, but due to the system, Alex''s mana core enlarged instantaneously, thus causing an unbearable amount of pain and a mana shockwave which had resulted in the formation of this crater.


    Alex was too busy fleeing away to notice this.


    Alex opened his system interface to view his new stats.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level :12]


    [Mana core : white (62)]


    [Stats :]


    [Strength : 136]


    [Agility : 141]


    [Endurance : 128]


    [Intelligence : 99]


    [Perception : 95]


    [Charisma : 150(100)]


    [HP : 860]


    [MP : 1305]


    [+20 free attribute points, +16 skill points.


    Spells and skills level cap has been increased to level 3.]


    [5 skill points can be used to upgrade any existing skills. ]


    [Level 2 and level 3 spells and skills have been unlocked in the store.]


    [Special constitution: Aronith''s constitution has


    leveled up to level 2.]


    Alex was still reading the last notification when pain assaulted him once again. This time, it was the same as when he had gained Aronith''s constitution, so he could bear it much more easily than the core enlargement.


    '' I feel like every time something levels up, I am subjected to torture by this system. '' Alex thought.


    Alex opened his personal information out of curiosity. He wanted to see the details about Aronith''s constitution.


    [Aronith''s constitution (level 2) :


    Special constitution that provides resistance against corrosive mana, undead aura and some demonic aura.]


    [Effects : corrosion resistance to any spells or


    skills under level 4, +10% affinity with water element, +50% regeneration rate in absence of mana, +250% regeneration rate by using mana.]


    [Additional effect : +50 Charisma ]


    [Cost in store : 5000 skill points/ 50 units of World energy. ]


    '' Whoa!'' Alex was stunned by the insane cost of Aronith''s constitution, but it sure was overpowered.


    '' Since I am a human, my recovery is very slow, but it can be increased to a rate visible to naked eye by Aronith''s constitution. I can''t even begin to imagine what it can do in the hands of some other race which may have a higher recovery rate than humans.'' Alex thought to himself.


    A growl brought him back to reality.


    A level 12 goblin.


    Alex was much more confident in facing it than earlier. Alex dashed forward using speed enhancement and slit the goblin into two using a wind blade.


    With his increased confidence, Alex entered the goblin village again, but this time, he wasn''t hiding anymore. Although his targets were mostly the goblins who were alone or in groups of twos or threes, he no longer had to use shadow movement to fight them.


    By the time the goblins realized that their opponent was stronger than them, only ten of them were left alive.


    These ten goblins banded together and showed no signs of moving alone.


    Alex had no choice but to confront this group head on.


    The group of goblins was gathered at the centre of the ruins. Alex cast shadow movement from a distance and arrived in front of one of the weaker goblins of this group. He immediately slit the goblin''s throat. Next, he cast a fireball on the goblin standing beside his target.


    The second goblin evaded, but was still hurt, leading to half of its HP dropping. A series of debuffs appeared on the goblin. Also, this goblin was unlucky enough to get burned and it''s HP began dropping bit by bit.


    By this time, the other goblins were already leaping on Alex.


    Alex evaded, slashed one of the goblins on it''s waist and immediately pulled back. He cast multiple wind blades on the two injured goblins in succession while maintaining his distance from the group.


    Only seven goblins were left out of their group of ten. Alex didn''t give them any chance to regroup and immediately launched a fireball in the middle of their formation. These black coloured fireballs proved to be the nemesis of the goblins. Even the slightest contact would cause severe burns, not to mention the goblins who came in contact were also significantly weakened. Alex broke into their formation and hacked a goblin into half with a wind blade. This time, a goblin was able to scratch Alex''s waist with its spear. Another one followed with a dagger and tried to stab Alex''s thigh with it. Alex kicked the goblin and immediately pulled back.


    The remaining six goblins regrouped together.


    A warning suddenly appeared in front of Alex


    [You have been poisoned.]


    [3 HP will be decreased every second.]


    [Antidote is available. ]


    [Use Antidote?]


    [Yes/No.]


    Alex was already aware that the blades of the weapons carried by these goblins were poisonous. He had known ever since he used appraisal on the first goblin he had killed, but his source of confidence were the 10 low level antidotes that he had received when he completed the mission of surviving the pack of hyenas.


    Alex chose yes and the effects of poisoning were immediately removed.


    Alex stood at his place and acted as if he was choking on blood.


    The confidence of the goblin group increased and one of the braver one stepped forward and moved towards Alex while waving it''s dagger and making grunting noises.


    When it was halfway through, it noticed an abnormality. Although Alex seemed to be choking on blood, his skin didn''t turn pale, also there wasn''t a single drop of blood coming out of his mouth.


    It suddenly felt it''s back go cold, but before it could even turn back, two wind blades hit it''s chest and it fell limply on the ground. Blood oozed out of its body and it died on the spot.


    The other goblins were scared. They immediately threw all their weapons at Alex and began to run away.


    Alex used this chaos and began hunting them one by one. Finally, he killed the last goblin and collected it''s core.


    Finally, it was time to face the boss.


    Alex gathered all the cores that he had obtained and began absorbing them one by one. He had only absorbed three cores when a system notification appeared.


    [Daily limit of absorbing single core reached.] [Further absorption may lead to undesirable mutation. Do you want to continue absorbing mana cores?]


    [Yes/No.]


    Alex had gotten 10 core points from the three cores that he had absorbed.


    He finally understood that his body was slowly becoming immune to these cores.


    His core was now white(72).


    Alex pushed open the door of the house that some goblins were protecting before he slaughtered all of them.


    As soon as he pushed the door, a mace came flying at him. Alex dodged using his speed enhancement spell.


    If all his spells were not in quick cast, Alex doubted that he would have been able to dodge it.


    Alex cast two wind blades in succession, but the goblin evaded the first one and blocked the second with the mace. Alex took a proper look at the weapon and finally saw that it was a flail rather than a mace, thus it provided much greater range to the goblin.


    One of the reasons that Alex had emerged nearly unscathed from all his previous battles was that those goblins were inexperienced at combat and didn''t pay much attention to defense. Once he created distance from them, they could only pounce on him to attack, ignoring defenses, but this goblin in front of him was giving off the pressure of an experienced fighter.


    Alex braced himself. He knew that this upcoming battle would not be an easy one.

 Chapter 11 - Defeating The Dungeon Boss

    Alex was finally in front of the dungeon boss of this beginner level dungeon. He had already gathered goblin cores and blood of the goblins that he had killed. The only item left was that he had to collect from this dungeon which was enhanced moon steel.


    Alex searched around the room and finally found out something that could very likely have been enhanced moon steel. It was a lump of metal of irregular shape that was placed in one end of the room.


    But, before he could get the metal, he had to defeat the dungeon boss.


    [Name : Grobzarten the flail]


    [Race : Goblin]


    [Level : 25]


    [HP : 4770 (1800)]


    [MP : 1600]


    [Skills : poison flail, whirlwind blow,.


    flail wielding( low level)]


    [Abilities : steel body, dungeon lord( increasesHP)]


    [strength : 340 agility : 200 ]


    [Endurance: 320 intelligence : 160]


    ''This one is going to be tough.'' Alex said to himself.


    Due to this goblin being the boss of the dungeon, it had gained bonus HP. Not only that, this goblin was an experienced combatant who radiated an oppressive pressure. Alex knew that he was no match for this goblin in the current situation, so he decided to increase his level.


    Alex took a look at how much exp he had gathered. He still had about three hundred and sixty thousand exp left.


    ''System, level up to level 20.'' Alex said under his breath.


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [+40 all stats, +80 free attribute points, +16 skill points, +400 HP, +600 MP.]


    Alex still felt that this was not enough.


    ''System, can I level up my spells using skill points?'' Alex asked in his mind.


    A system screen appeared before Alex.


    [Spell level 1 to 2 cost : 5 skill points]


    [Spell level 2 to 3 cost : 10 skill points]


    [Not available at current level]


    [Not available at current level]


    ....


    .....


    [Not available at current level.]


    Alex had 32 skill points, so he decided to level up fire stream and wind blade by spending 15 skill points. With a level 2 speed enhancement which essentially doubled his speed, Alex was ready to begin.


    By now, the goblin boss had already drawn back it''s flail and was preparing to attack again.


    Alex immediately dodged to his left and cast wind blade projectiles. A series of wind blades that were larger than any he had previously cast was launched at the goblin who used the head of it''s weapon to dodge it. Alex immediately cast shadow movement and appeared at a different position. Before the goblin could turn around, a black coloured flame covered it. Alex had just cast a fireball and was preparing to attack again, but he suddenly felt a sense of danger. Alex immediately used speed enhancement and got away. A spiky macehead hit the ground where Alex was standing with considerable force.


    Alex had no time to be distracted, so he used speed enhancement and immediately charged in at the goblin while it was pulling its weapon back. Alex cast a windblade and stabbed it in the goblin''s gut.


    The windblade was able to only make a shallow cut before the goblin punched back at Alex.


    Alex was barely able to block the punch from directly hitting his ribs and was thrown back a few meters.


    Alex immediately pulled back because he wasn''t expecting this goblin to be so proficient at fighting. But, the goblin immediately followed him around.


    Alex cast multiple wind blades to stop the goblin from closing in. The goblin was not affected by the wind blades much, but even then it didn''t dare to take all those head on and so, it had to give up on chasing Alex and defend itself.


    '' I can''t engage it in melee or hand to hand combat at any cost and also it has an effective range of about six meters with that thing in its hand. I can''t even get near it without risking my head.'' Alex was feeling a bit pressurized.


    The only advantage he had was that he was inside a run down house and a large part of the floor was covered by shadows, but the goblin had already seen him use shadow movement and was on guard against it. The only way he was able to hit it was by creating distractions.


    Alex once again moved towards the goblin with his new game plan. He charged at the goblin who swung its flail at him. Alex used shadow movement and appeared behind the goblin who immediately turned back to punch Alex, but by the time it turned, Alex was already gone. A black fireball hit the goblin''s jaw from its left.


    " Rawrrrr!"


    The goblin''s jaw was injured which enraged it and it immediately began to swing its weapon frantically.


    At a glance, it seemed like the goblin was enraged and was swinging its weapon without any proper pattern, but Alex was able to see a systematic mana flow in its body which could not be possible if this move was truly made in a rage.


    This was the goblin''s skill '' whirlwind blow. ''


    Anyone who was not cautious would have taken it as an opportunity and stepped into its trap.


    Once the person was in the strike zone of this skill, a blow that was much faster and stronger than all previous attacks would crush them to paste.


    Alex knew that this goblin was trying to trick him into charging in, so immediately a plan formed in his mind and he launched two wind blades in the direction of the goblin as if trying to probe the feasibility of attacking.


    Just like he thought, the goblin let the wind blades hit him.


    Alex immediately cast a fireball followed by a wind blade at the goblin which was waiting for him to charge in.


    The goblin was stunned for a moment. This human had not taken the opportunity like he was supposed to and instead decided to keep attacking from a distance. Every opponent that this goblin had faced before had taken the opportunity and charged straight ahead at it.


    The goblin used all its power to swing the flail at the fireball and extinguished it, but it''s flail got stuck in the ground due to the impact of the blow.


    A windblade immediately followed and hit the goblin. It was followed by many wind blade projectiles in succession.


    The goblin knew that it couldn''t leave it''s weapon, but also it couldn''t continue taking those attacks, so it let out a grunt and it''s skin began to turn metallic. This was it''s defensive ability, steel body.


    All the attacks dispersed on touching its body and the damage couldn''t even reach double digits. Alex quickly charged towards the flail head that was struck in the ground.


    He was a bit excited as this was the first time he was using fire stream as a complete spell. He touched the flail and immediately black flames erupted from his hand and began moving towards the goblin. Soon, the goblin was covered in black flames and all sorts of debuffs appeared on it, but stubbornly refused to let go of it''s grip. Seeing this, Alex continued using fire stream.


    The HP of the goblin kept falling sharply. In the end, it had to finally give up on its weapon and released its grip, but only after violently jerking it.


    Alex''s hand was scratched by one of the spikes.


    The goblin pulled back and kept staring at Alex from a distance. Suddenly, Alex coughed out blood.


    Cough! Cough!


    This time, Alex had swallowed back the blood.


    As if it was waiting for this moment, the goblin immediately charged in at Alex.


    It reached Alex in an instant and raised its fist to deliver a crushing blow to Alex''s head, but as soon as it arrived near Alex, a wind blade was stabbed into its gut. Another wind blade was used to slit its neck, before a fire stream was cast by Alex by touching the body of the goblin.


    The goblin looked at Alex in shock as it collapsed on the ground.


    "You aren''t the only one in this ruin that uses a poisoned weapon. " Alex said as he whacked the dying goblin and split open it''s head.


    He coughed out some blood once again. He had intentionally let the poison act on his body so that he wasn''t discovered midway like last time. Needless to say, he had also suffered some damage due to this.


    Alex looked at his HP which was already below the 50% mark and sighed.


    Although this goblin could easily rival high Tier 1 mana beasts due to its skills and increased HP, Alex wasn''t much happy. If the goblin had not made an error in judgment or if Alex had not suspected the steady mana flow of its body, the result would have been disastrous.


    After taking some time to rest, Alex dug out the mana core from the dead goblin. He got a pleasant surprise when he used appraisal on it.


    This was an evolved mana core with an added effect of poisoning.


    After he collected the mana core and enhanced moon steel, Alex was immediately teleported to what looked like a blacksmith''s shop.


    For a moment, Alex thought that he was in old man Dreron''s house, but on second thought, this one was much larger and the old man''s house.


    Suddenly, a lump of metal appeared in front of Alex. Flames manifested on the metal which immediately began to melt. The molten metal was gathered in a mold. This all went in a fast forward manner until the blade was formed.


    This blade had a circular hole near the hilt. A mana core was put in this hole and then, the monster blood was used to draw mana gathering spell inscriptions and other spell inscriptions on the blade. Finally, a basic mana sword was completed.


    Alex was a bit confused though. It seemed like the system was trying to teach Alex how to draw spell inscriptions on the blade.


    After the tutorial was over, everything disappeared and Alex was left in front of old man Dreron''s house, staring at empty air.


    There was no mana sword in his hand. Alex was a bit flustered and opened the system interface. He scrolled to the weapons store in a mixture of nervousness and hurry.

 Chapter 12 - The Strange Movements Of Mana Beasts 1

    Alex quickly scrolled to the weapons store and opened the basic mana sword tab.


    He was relieved to see that all the material that he had collected was listed beside it and also, there was a new option, namely craft. Alex pressed on craft and immediately, the ore began to take the shape of a sword just like in the tutorial.


    Alex watched as the ore slowly transformed into a sword and the core was placed in it. Next, it should have been inscriptions, but suddenly the process stopped. A new system notification appeared before Alex.


    [Do you want to change the inscriptions on the sword?]


    [Yes/ No]


    Alex pressed no and the process continued. Alex didn''t know much about inscriptions, and he definitely couldn''t draw them so there was nothing he could do.


    Alex gave it a thought and realized that it may have something to do with the customized weapons option..


    Alex was always reminded of those guild weapons from a popular game in his previous life where they collected various rare materials to create a customized weapon which could be used in multiple ways depending on the situation.


    This idea fascinated Alex and he decided to try this at least once when he had gathered enough material.


    After a few minutes, the sword was completed and a new option to collect it appeared beside the basic mana sword.


    As much as Alex wanted to try it out, he held himself back. He was in the middle of an unknown village and he didn''t want to be caught swinging a sword while standing in front of an old man''s house, not to mention Sheri seemed to be very protective of him. She wouldn''t even bat an eye before taking his life if he was caught doing something like that.


    Alex quickly returned back to Lucas'' place and knocked at the door. To his surprise, the door immediately opened and Lucas was standing there.


    "I thought that you might have gotten lost and was getting ready to come find you. It''s already midnight, come in and have a rest." Lucas said.


    Alex got in and immediately hurried to the room he was given. He lay there and immediately drifted off to sleep. He was very exhausted after fighting in the system dungeon for hours.


    The next day, Alex was woken up by Lucas early in the morning. After eating a plain breakfast, Alex headed out with Lucas to the spot where all the preparations were going to be held.


    From what Alex could tell, Lucas was skilled at carpentry and management.


    Although like all other villagers Lucas was also only tier 1, but he was widely respected among them.


    After spending some time helping in the preparations, Alex walked off to the blacksmith''s.


    He opened the system interface once again and was happy to see that he could enter the dungeon of the basic mana sword to collect the material once again, but this time there was no exp rewards and he guessed that the exp he would get from killing those goblins will significantly reduce because he was already at a higher level than all of them except for the goblin boss. Alex decided to try it again later at night.


    He knocked on the door and a creaking sound of the wheelchair was heard. The sound got nearer to him and the door was opened by the old man.


    He was holding a sword in his hand.


    It wasn''t a mana sword, but the material used to forge it was a bit special. Alex had scanned it last time when he saw it. He was a bit surprised to see that this sword was made of glacier steel.


    Glacier steel was mostly used with ice type mana cores to amplify its effect and was very rare.


    Even without a mana core, this sword in front of Alex was much cooler than it''s surroundings.


    " I didn''t expect it to be you young man. Anyway, it''s better. Here have a try and tell me if this sword is to your liking." Dreron handed the sword to Alex.


    Alex could immediately feel the dedication of the old man as soon as he held the sword in his hand. The sword wasn''t very fancy, but it had an elegant look. The blade was sharp and symmetric. And most importantly, the sword was nearly perfectly balanced. Even some of the best swords that Alex had used while in the Flenreth capital could not compare to this sword when it came to balancing.


    Alex could tell that Dreron had spent quite some time balancing this sword.


    Alex swung the sword a few times and he immediately got a hang of it. Alex was ready to take away the sword when he suddenly remembered that he had to pay for this sword.


    " I''ll pay for it. But you will have to return my money back to me later." A girl''s voice came from behind.


    Alex turned around to find Sheri looking at him.


    Her hair was a bit messy and it was evident that she had just woken up.


    Alex took the sword. After Sheri paid for it, both of them started to move towards the spot where the hunting party was gathered.


    Alex had a brief introduction with everyone and they set off into the forest.


    At first, there weren''t many mana beasts in the region surrounding the village, so they had to move deeper into the forest, but after some time the number of mana beasts that appeared rose exponentially.


    "I think that there might be a beast wave in the coming few days." A middle aged man who was leading the party as the scout said.


    "Uncle Bradly, you said that there would be a beast wave, does this mean that the werewolf from the last time has come back?" Sheri asked.


    "We can''t say that for sure, but it does mean that a tier 6 mana beast has come into the area nearby. We should be cautious. Don''t walk too far into the forest and avoid gaining the attention of these mana beasts that have gathered here."


    Another man said as he darted his eyes at Sheri and Alex.


    Alex shrugged his shoulders and continued to move with the party. After some time, they reached a valley surrounded by three hills. The only way out was the one they had just come from.


    "Are you sure that those sheep will be here?" A tall man with a hulking figure asked Bradly.


    " Yeah. Those sheep come here daily. This is their feeding ground. Only this place has this cyan coloured grass in the nearby area." Bradly replied.


    Alex now had a rough idea about the beast they were going to hunt. It was the silver rams. They were a mid tier 1 mana beast with relatively low combat abilities and air element. He had heard that their meat was very delicious and that it could even help in cleansing the mana circuits of people who were more compatible with air element.


    The party laid an ambush and started to wait for the mana beasts to arrive. Alex was hiding with Sheri and one other man for safety reasons, their hiding place was also the safest among the four small groups.


    Alex was on constant alert because he was having a feeling that something was amiss. He was repeatedly casting area scans at repeated intervals just to make sure that everything was alright. After waiting for nearly an hour, a group of about 40 silver rams arrived at the place of ambush. This was a decent sized group and was ideal for their hunting.


    The group Alex was in didn''t even need to participate and the remaining three groups immediately launched their attacks. Alex could tell that these people were self taught and had very crude techniques, but they were able to hunt 10 silver rams nonetheless. The remaining rams had already fled with some light injuries and they decided not to give chase.


    The feeling of something being amiss only got stronger for Alex. He turned around and saw a frown on Sheri''s face. He wasn''t the only one who had this feeling. Those rams had run away without even trying to struggle. Even if they were weaker, they should have put up some resistance at least.


    The entire party gathered at Sheri''s signal.


    " I am feeling that something here is not right. Let''s return with all the sheep we have killed and go to any other location." Shrri said to the group.


    Under her orders, all of them immediately picked up the dead beasts and began making their way back to the village.


    Just as they had left the valley, a scene that made one''s hair stand welcomed them. The corpses of about two hundred silver rams and other random tier 1 mana beasts were littered on the ground.


    Alex immediately cast an area scan and his face paled.


    "Raawrrrrrr!"


    A loud roar immediately drew the attention of their group.


    A beast around the size of an elephant on earth emerged from the thickets. Alex was horrified to see a mid stage tier 3 beast. He looked at it and the system interface immediately lit up.


    [Mana beast : six horned bison. ]


    [Level : 93]


    [HP : 22000]


    [MP : 12000]


    [Strength : 1000 Agility : 800 ]


    [Endurance : 1300 Intelligence: 754]


    [Skills: Mana wave, horn destroyer, ground split, neither bellow, boulder fall, curbing collision ]


    [Abilities : harden, stampede, dead end.]


    Alex was a bit nervous and looked around. Their only hope to survive this predicament was Sheri who was tier 4. Generally speaking, Sheri should easily be able to crush this six horned bison, but with the earlier display by the others, Alex wasn''t that sure about it.


    Alex was aware that being a small tribe that was secluded from the outer world, the resources at their disposal were limited and this was also the case with their skills and spells.


    Sheri was a rare talent who would be fought over by nations, but her combat power was limited due to unavailability of resources for properly nurturing her talent.


    Looking at the nervous looks on the faces of her companions, Sheri stepped forward. Although she had never fought a tier three mana beast before, she was still a tier higher than it nonetheless. She knew that she was the only one whom their party could rely on.


    She took her fighting stance with a spear held tight in her hands.


    Alex felt his heart turning cold. Sheri was obviously more suited to being a mage and even her skills were those used by mages.


    He wasn''t a fan of the idea to put his life in the hands of others, but right now he had no other choice.

 Chapter 13 - The Strange Movements Of Mana Beasts 2

    Alex was feeling as if someone had forced him to swallow a bitter medicine. He was no fan of placing his life in the hands of others, especially a mage who was using spears and fighting close combat, but he had no other choice. This feeling of helplessness left a bitter taste in his mouth.


    Alex could only watch from the sidelines as Sheri fought the mana beast. She immediately charged forward with the spear pointed at the six horned bison. The beast was also enraged seeing someone charge at it and it began charging in at her as well.


    The result of the collision was exactly what Alex had expected. Although Sheri''s strength stat was higher than the bison, it wasn''t much far. She could not match the overwhelming momentum of the mana beast which was the size of an elephant and was quite agile for its stature.


    Sheri was thrown back, but she used her level 4 water bullets and immediately spammed around a hundred water bullets on the bison while she was still flying backward.


    Contrary to what Alex had thought, she landed very elegantly and didn''t bump into a tree with her back..


    Alex''s gaze was focused on the spear that was thrown away a few meters behind Sheri.


    He used appraisal on it.


    [Mana spear : Xidryg''s spear.]


    [Level 5 mana weapon.]


    [Special ability: Xidryg''s blessing( magnifies the effect of any mana spell or skill that is channeled through it by three times.)]


    Alex was very impressed by the 3¡Á effect of the spear, but it was a pity that he didn''t know if Sheri had any attack spell that could be channeled through it.


    Sheri immediately went to the spear and grabbed it. The bison charged at her again, but she knew better than to face it head on after the previous collision. She pulled back and cast a series of water spells ranging from water bullets to other level three spells that she was familiar with.


    This slowed down the bison which was charging at her. She immediately began incanting another level 4 fire spell this time.


    Sensing the imminent danger from Sheri''s spell, the bison let out a loud bellow and it''s horns began to shine brightly.


    Sheri immediately cast her spell at the bison and a solid rock of magma was launched at mana beast. Just when the rock was about to hit it, the bison also unleashed it''s horn destroyer and directly plunged it''s head into the magma rock.


    Booooommmmm!


    A deafening explosion ensued followed by a shockwave that nearly uprooted trees tens of meters away from the bison. And as for those which were closer, they had all already been obliterated by the explosion earlier.


    A crater of radius of tens of meters was formed with the bison at the centre.


    When the smoke cleared, the bison was still standing, it''s body covered in a layer of blackish scales which were receding at a visible speed.


    This was it''s harden skill that caused protective scales to grow on its body to prevent from physical impacts.


    Regardless, it still suffered some injuries.


    Sheri used this time to build up another spell, but this time, the bison was more cautious and immediately charged in at her, completely disregarding the injuries it had suffered.


    Sheri noticed the bison nearing her, but she didn''t move. All the members of the hunting party were on their toes and were clenching their fists so tightly that their bones make cracking sounds, but they were too busy praying for a miracle to protect Sheri from the incoming mana wave to notice this.


    The bison was moving with an incredible momentum and along with it, a layer of nearly solidified air was charging in at Sheri.


    40 meters!


    20 meters!


    The bison covered a distance of tens of meters in a fraction of seconds. Even Alex who had been peacefully watching till now was a bit agitated when he saw the bison just 10 meters away from his companion.


    Just as the bison was 5 meters away from Sheri, she opened her eyes and a whirlpool of water emerged from below the mana beast''s hooves and it was immediately sucked in along with it''s attack.


    Sheri charged in with her spear. The bison was stabbed at its neck. It bellowed loudly and used its skill earth split and boulder fall frantically.


    It didn''t stop the whirlpool, but slowed down the speed of the whirlpool. The beast continued to repeatedly use its skills to break free.


    Alex, who was looking from hundreds of meters away, could see that both the six horned bison and Sheri had exhausted their mana significantly.


    It was especially true for the bison. His eyes shone brightly as he used speed enhancement and immediately charged towards Sheri who was busy stabbing the bison neck while spamming water bullets at it.


    Sheri was getting ready to stab the thick neck of the mana beast once again, but suddenly she felt someone pull her spear from her hand.


    She instinctively wanted to punch back at whoever was trying to snatch her spear, but she held back her urge and turned around.


    She saw Alex holding the edge of her spear and wanted to scold him about not messing up and not sticking his head where it didn''t belong.


    " What are you tryin....."


    " Release the grip on the spear." Sheri was cut short by Alex and before she could even process what he had said, she had already loosened her grip on the spear.


    Immediately, Alex grabbed the spear and charged at the bison which was still struggling to get out of the whirlpool.


    The spear was immediately covered in black flames and stabbed in the beast''s neck. Fire stream was cast and the entire body of the six horned bison was covered in those black flames.


    Alex could see a series of debuffs appear on the mana beast through the system appraisal.


    Although the attack damage and burn damage was magnified three times, it was still only a drop in the bucket when compared to the HP of the bison.


    Alex sighed and handed the spear back to Sheri.


    "Use an attack that channels your mana from the spear before hitting it." Alex said.


    Sheri took the spear and channeled a water stream through it.


    Alex knew that all the mana beasts had some level of physical enhancements by the consumption of the mana cores of other beasts and also their own mana was also used to reinforce their physical strength, so the reverse mana that he had used against the goblins would be effective against all mana beasts. And his theory was proven correct.


    Sheri''s attack hit the six horned bison at one of it''s horns and the horn broke due to the impact of the attack. The mana beast was already feeling weakened after Alex''s attack and now, the magnified effect of Sheri''s attack coupled with the debuffs caused it to feel highly threatened.


    It frantically tried to break free, ignoring everyone present.


    Sheri wanted to continue attacking it, but Alex caught her hand and held her back.


    "You should never attack a desperate beast. Even harmless animals can be dangerous when threatened." Alex said.


    Sheri nodded and Alex let her go. All the other members of the hunting party immediately arrived near them.


    " Amazing!!! Miss Sheri. You really are very powerful. As expected of the chief''s daughter.


    You fight just like your brother." Someone said,


    "And I didn''t expect you to be so brave and also your movement was unexpectedly fast." Bradly said to Alex.


    The group had just surrounded Sheri and were showering her in praises when suddenly they heard the same bison bellowing.


    Alex who was standing at one side was the first to react and immediately moved towards where the sound came from while repeatedly casting area scans. Sheri and the others followed.


    Alex reached the site and was stunned when he saw a large number of tier two beasts attacking the six horned bison. The bison was overwhelmed by the large number of attackers and was forced to use its last resort.


    It bellowed and charged through them. This was it''s ability, stampede anything that came to stop it, be it mana beasts or boulders in it''s way were destroyed just by coming in contact with it.


    The bison continued without caring about anything in it''s way. But it had barely gotten a few hundred meters away when it suddenly collapsed.


    One of the remaining mana beasts immediately charged at it''s corpse and dug out it''s mana core before taking it away in the forest. As soon as the core was gone, all the mana beasts scattered away.


    All of them were shocked, but they decided to leave first. Their only job was to hunt mana beasts and bring them back to the village.


    "Hey outsi.... Alex how did you know that channeling mana through the spear would be effective?" Sheri whispered in Alex''s ear while they were returning back to the village.


    Alex who was in deep thought was startled by her whispering in his ears.


    "Huh.... wha.... I wasn''t paying attention. Could you repeat what you said just now?" Alex said.


    " Nothing!" Sheri replied with a pout.


    Alex felt that it was very cute, but he wasn''t someone who would express his opinion without any purpose.


    Alex was very confused by the behavior of the mana beasts of the forest.


    Usually, beast waves were formed by the rank six or above mana beasts.


    When the lower level mana beasts came in contact with the beast domains of tier seven or above beasts, they were pulled under the control of the beast commanding this domain.


    Whereas, tier six beasts had incomplete domains which affected the lower level mana beasts forcefully to create a beast wave.


    Most of these beast waves were random mobs which were under the influence of domains complete or incomplete and organized beast waves were only possible if the commanding beast was tier 9 or above, but such beasts would usually be under constant surveillance, especially here in the territories ruled by minor gods.


    Alex had a feeling that this was not a simple beast wave and the signs were too coincidental.


    The apostles of God were to arrive in the village tomorrow, so could it be that this beast wave had something to do with their arrival or the arrival of apostles was due to the beast wave?


    Alex racked his brain, but was unable to reach a conclusion, so he decided to leave the matter as it was and concentrate on what he was doing.

 Chapter 14 - The Message Brought By The Apostles 1

    Alex and the hunting party returned back to the village at noon with the few mana beasts that they had hunted in the valley and some other beasts that they had hunted while returning.


    Also they had brought along the dead Six horned bison as it was completely intact except for the core.


    " Alex, I didn''t expect you to be this proficient at hunting. I have to say that those flashy and stylish moves of yours truly are good." Marcen said, patting Alex''s shoulder.


    After seeing Alex''s combat proficiency, the members of the hunting party had gradually accepted him as one of their own.


    "It''s nothing that good. I just used the techniques that I learned before coming here."


    Alex said. He definitely couldn''t tell them that his techniques were normal, it was just that their techniques were way too crude to even be called so..


    "Oh, I forgot to ask, how exactly did you end up here?" Sheri asked.


    All the others also stopped and looked at Alex. All of them were naturally very curious about how someone like Alex who wasn''t very powerful could survive in the forest and find their village.


    " A friend of mine came here to visit one of their acquaintances and I tagged along. Later, we got separated in the forest and I ended up finding the village." Alex said.


    '' That should be counted as truth right? I didn''t lie in any way. Verenia came to visit someone and helped me along the way.'' Alex thought to himself.


    " Your friend must be quite powerful for them to be able to protect you in this forest." Bradly said.


    " Very..." Alex replied and ended the conversation.


    After returning back to the village, they had nothing to do, so the hunting party dispersed.


    Alex also went back to take a rest, because he had to be in optimal condition when he entered the system dungeon once again at night.


    But for some reason, Sheri had followed him back to Lucas''s house.


    "What do you want?" Alex asked her.


    " I want you to pay back my money." Sheri said after some thinking.


    "Sigh! Tell me what you truly want?" Alex turned back to her and stared into her eyes.


    " Since you don''t have any money on you, how about you pay me back by teaching me those techniques of yours."


    Alex knew what was going on. Sheri knew that her fighting style was crude and wanted to learn the proper techniques, but she was too ashamed to ask him directly, so she disguised her request as a repayment.


    Alex stared into her eyes for a good two minutes which made Sheri a bit nervous, then he made an expression as if he was contemplating whether to teach her or not.


    He then opened his mouth and said after a few seconds pause.


    " Humm! you know that the cost of me teaching you one of those skills is much higher than that of the sword that you bought for me. And also, it will take you quite some time to learn them. You''ll owe me quite some money if I teach you those skills."


    Sheri seemed a bit surprised, but she immediately nodded, "I will pay you. You can take as much money as you want from me, but please teach me. "


    Alex was having a hard time trying to hold back a smile from appearing on his face.


    She was so naive and gullible. It was quite refreshing to see someone like her, especially to Alex who had been living his daily life either being schemed against or scheming against someone else for the past six years.


    "Let''s go to my secret practice area." Sheri said, dragging Alex along with her.


    " We are going there now?" Alex asked her.


    " Yes, it''s not like we have anything else to do." Sheri said and continued to drag Alex with her.


    Before Alex could even voice out his opinion, Sheri had already taken him out of the village and they were halfway between the village and a nearby mountain.


    Alex sighed to himself.


    "You don''t have to drag me along, I''ll walk there myself." Alex said.


    Sheri immediately let go of his hand and they continued their journey. She took Alex to the one side of the mountain. The scenery there was quite nice as green trees marked the landscape and a stream of water was flowing through it.


    After walking some more distance, they had finally arrived at Sheri''s training grounds. There was a faint silhouette of someone standing there. Alex and Sheri continued their advance without any consideration.


    Finally, Alex could see who this person was.


    A man around mid twenties was standing there with a spear that was identical to Sheri''s spear in his hands and training his spear skills. The man had some of Sheri''s facial features and a handsome build.


    ''So this is her brother whom all the people were talking about.'' Alex thought to himself.


    Sheri continued to move, so Alex had no reason to wait and monitor that man from a distance.


    He continued along with Sheri.


    When Alex and Sheri arrived at the location, the man finally looked up at them.


    " What are you doing here and who is this person beside you?" The man asked Sheri without even batting an eye on Alex.


    " Why should I tell you?" Sheri replied bluntly.


    This was not what Alex had expected. According to the members of the hunting party, Sheri and her brother shared a very good relation and were always very close to each other, but their relationship didn''t seem all that good to Alex.


    The man left without saying a word to Sheri after giving a deep stare to Alex who replied in kind by staring back in his eyes without a care in the world.


    Alex could tell that Sheri wasn''t someone who would be bothered by political power so the tension between these siblings confused him.


    But he wasn''t one to interfere in other''s personal matters.


    " So what do you want to learn?" Alex asked Sheri.


    " To use a spear just like my brother....I mean that person." Sheri replied.


    " You do know that you aren''t a good match with spears and that you are more suited to be a mage than an augmenter, right?" Alex asked, looking at her.


    " I know.." Sheri replied with her head lowered,


    " But this spear is a gift from God that has been passed in my family for generations and also there are no staff or grimoires in the village which can help in casting magic attacks. And I really like using spears. " Sheri replied.


    Alex thought that it was worth a shot. He wasn''t feeling very compatible when using wind blades, and he thought that it was because he wasn''t holding a real sword, but after trying a real sword today, he got the same feeling.


    While using the sword made by Old man Dreron in hunting the mana beasts today, he finally realized that his spells and fighting style weren''t that compatible with a sword. True that he had learned how to wield a sword for years, but that was before he used spells, now he had to change it in order to reach his optimal combat prowess.


    He wanted a weapon with a longer range, so trying a spear while teaching Sheri wasn''t that bad of a plan. He would be able to judge if he wanted to continue using the spear or if he had to find a new weapon for himself.


    Alex quickly opened the skills store and spent one skill point to learn basic spear mastery.


    A large amount of data was transmitted to his brain and he felt a severe headache, but what was more torturous was that he had to keep smiling in front of Sheri so that she didn''t find anything out of place.


    After some time, the pain in his head finally subsided.


    " Why were you looking at me with such a weird expression? Are you not feeling well?" Sheri asked.


    "Weird expression...." Alex mumbled.


    Sheri thought that Alex was asking her a question and immediately replied," Yes, your face was showing signs of pain and although you were smiling, it kept on twitching from time to time."


    Alex knew that he wasn''t one of those poker faced people, but to think that it was so obvious...


    " Anyway, let''s begin our training and remember that you owe me quite a lot of money." Alex said to prevent things from getting awkward.


    "Yes." Sheri replied as she went to a nearby tree and climbed it.


    Sheri came back with two wooden canes in her hand, they were perfect to be used as handles of spears.


    Alex took one of them and tried using it. To his surprise, he was able to quickly master it to the level of basic mastery.


    Alex looked at Sheri who was also trying to imitate his movements and had a flash of idea.


    " In order to teach you, I''ll first have to know how good you are at using a spear, so let''s have a spar. No use of mana will be allowed and also we can both limit our strength to mid level tier 1 so that you don''t have an unfair advantage in physical capabilities. " Alex said.


    "Okay!" Sheri said enthusiastically, completely unaware that she had just fallen for Alex''s scheme.


    After about half an hour of one-sidedly bullying Sheri, Alex realized that he wasn''t too comfortable with the spear either, so he decided to stop their little so called duel.


    Sheri was on the verge of crying. When the duel started, she could still block Alex''s attacks based on her instincts, but just after 5 minutes, she was completely pulled into his tempo. After that, she was only able to randomly swing the cane in her hand while nearly each of Alex''s strikes hit her on the forehead.


    It wasn''t that the strikes were painful, but her uselessness against someone in combat who had been using the same weapon as her that bore down on her.


    Alex had been planning to defeat her and then tell her that she should practice more so that he could design a proper moveset for her, and then go back, but when he looked at her face and her eyes which were about to burst into tears, he felt that he had indeed gotten carried away a bit.


    Letting out a sigh, he went to her, " Why are you crying, do you want me to continue teaching you, or are you too scared to learn it now?" Alex said.


    Something about his tone felt a bit sarcastic to Sheri and she immediately blinked her eyes a few times to dry out the tears and stared back at Alex.


    After teaching some basic moves and the correct way to use them to Sheri, Alex finally returned back to the village with her.


    It was already evening, so there wasn''t much use resting. That being the case, Alex just randomly strolled around the village while occasionally looking at the festive preparations made by the villagers.


    At night time, Alex was back to the front door of Old man Dreron''s house as he prepared to enter the dungeon to gather the material for basic mana swords again while also farming exp.


    Alex pressed on the dungeon option and immediately his entire vision was filled with bright light.


    When he opened his eyes, he was a bit surprised.

 Chapter 15 - The Message Brought By The Apostles 2

    Alex was a bit surprised.


    He had thought that the system dungeons would be like those repeatable dungeons from the games that he had played, but it was only when he got here, he realized that that was not the case.


    He had been transferred in front of a goblin village, but this wasn''t the same one that he had previously cleared.


    This was a cave in which many room-like structures had been dug out. Alex cast area scan and was able to locate more than thirty goblins that were between level 12 to level 18 just like the previous dungeon.


    Alex calculated that the number of lower level goblins was more, so essentially the difficulty of this dungeon was the same as the previous one..


    Inside the cave where shadows were present everywhere, Alex had an insurmountable advantage.


    He cast shadow movement and entered one of the room- like structures where a goblin was sleeping.


    Alex immediately slit its throat with the basic mana sword that he had forged last time and collected the blood in a vial. The vial immediately disappeared and a new notification arrived before Alex.


    [Goblin blood ¡Á1 has been added to the system storage.]


    Alex didn''t have anything on him except the clothes that Verenia had given him when they first met, so the system had never notified him about the system storage.


    It wasn''t until he collected the mana core and blood of the first goblin he killed in the previous dungeon that he was made aware of it.


    But this wasn''t without faults. Alex could only store the material that he got from the system dungeons or any animated objects that he bought from the store in it.


    Also, except the weapons that he crafted, nothing could be taken to the real world from the storage and also, no external objects could be brought into the system storage.


    After killing his first target, Alex cast another area scan and disappeared in the shadows.


    A goblin was patrolling the outer perimeter of the cave near the entrance. There were no other goblins around it because no creature ever entered this cave. While patrolling, it heard a faint sound of breathing behind it and immediately turned back, but it was already too late by then.


    Slasshhhh!


    Before the goblin could even turn completely, it was already cut in half by a sword covered in a blackish hue.


    Alex was thrilled by the result of his new experiment. He had tried casting the melee version of wind blade by chanelling mana through the mana sword, and the result was the formation of a cyan layer around the sword. This layer turned black under the influence of reverse mana, and the results were outstanding.


    He had split a level 17 goblin into two without even using his full power.


    Another goblin was stabbed in its throat followed by one of it''s companions being beheaded.


    Alex had launched a slaughter on the goblins and their numbers had already been halved in a matter of two minutes.


    After hunting down this group of two, Alex once again disappeared in the shadows.


    At a different location, a goblin was patrolling when it suddenly stumbled upon the body of a dead goblin.


    " Grunn..." before it could complete its grunt and warn the others, a blade covered in a blackish flame pierced its mouth and it was struck hanging to the wall of the cave.


    Alex immediately withdrew his sword and moved away. After killing a few more goblins, Alex had already cleared the entire cave of goblins. Now, there were only six goblins left including the dungeon boss, all of which were gathered in the central cave.


    Alex looked at his status. More than 70 percent of his MP had been used up. Alex had gotten carried away by how cool his assassinations looked and ended up overdoing things.


    Alex decided to take it easy on spending mana from now.


    Alex entered the central cave and cast an area scan. He immediately located all the goblins. The five goblins were constantly patrolling the room inside which the boss was sleeping. They were so close that it was impossible to find a loop in their patrolling and ambush them one by one.


    It didn''t matter much to Alex though. He strode forward and arrived in front of the goblin gatekeepers. He immediately cast a speed enhancement and stabbed a goblin in the heart.


    The goblin tried to move, but fell down on the floor and it''s brown coloured blood began spilling. Alex immediately retreated without casting speed enhancement as he was already faster than all these goblins.


    The other four goblins watched their companion get stabbed in the heart and die. And before they could react, the perpetrator had already created a safe distance between them and himself.


    " Growwlll!"


    "Grunnntt!"


    The goblins made different noises as they charged at Alex.


    Four spears were thrust towards Alex''s chest from different angles. Alex stepped back. The goblins followed, but Alex was able to create distance and immediately cast wind blade projectiles.


    The strengthened wind blades along with Alex''s higher level were able to threaten the goblins into breaking their formation.


    Alex immediately arrived in front of the goblin nearest to him and swung his sword at it. The goblin used its spear to block the sword, but it felt a stabbing pain in it''s chest. It glanced down at its chest. A wind blade was piercing its chest.


    Alex kicked the goblin away and moved towards the second one.


    Alex slashed his sword at this goblin, but this goblin was too guarded against the wind blade that never came. Although it was able to block the attack, the sword still scratched its body and exactly at this moment, a black coloured flame covered the entire sword and spread to the goblin''s body. A series of debuffs appeared on it and it stumbled back while trying to evade the fire, but before it could regain it''s balance, a sword had already cut it into two.


    The other two goblins immediately gathered together and thrust their spears at Alex, but it was nowhere as effective as when they were four.


    A thought came to Alex''s head and he picked up the spear of the goblin he had just killed. While he had already decided not to opt spear after his spar with Sheri, it never hurt to double check his decision.


    While Alex was picking up the spear, the two goblins saw the opportunity and charged at Alex, only to be scared away by a fireball.


    Alex took his stance and waited for the goblins to attack. One of the goblins thrust its spear at Alex, while the other tried to swing its spear and slit Alex''s throat. Alex easily dodged the first attack and blocked the second one with his spear.


    Their battle lasted a few minutes before one of the goblins collapsed due to accumulated injuries and poisoning from the wounds.


    "Well, you goblins truly like to apply poison on your weapons huh." Alex said in a mocking tone.


    The second goblin was scared and immediately turned around to flee, but Alex''s spear pierced its head and it fell limply on the ground.


    Alex took in a deep breath and proceeded to push open the door that the goblins were guarding.


    It was time for the boss fight.


    Alex opened the stone door, the only one in the cave. The screeching sound made by the door woke up the sleeping goblin.


    Alex cast appraisal for the first time in the dungeon.


    [Name : ??????]


    [Race : Goblin ( Shaman )]


    [Level : 27]


    [HP : 3000 (1500)]


    [MP : 6000 ( 4000)]


    [Skills : Shadow daggers, fireball, shadow paralysis, shadow clone.]


    [Abilities : shadow control, dungeon lord ( increases MP and HP)]


    [Strength : 180 agility : 260]


    [Endurance : 160 Intelligence : 520]


    The goblin Shaman raised a staff from its bed and casually waved it in Alex''s direction after some time.


    '' Finally a mage that uses staff.'' Alex joked to himself as he dodged the incoming fireball.


    [Mana analysis complete.]


    [Reverse mana generated.]


    The system notification appeared in front of Alex and he tightened his grip on his sword.


    This goblin shaman was in essence a goblin, but it was inherently different to a goblin.


    While most of the goblins used mana for physical strengthening and increasing the physical impact behind their attacks, Shamans were more like mages with affiliation to elements or other types of magic.


    Alex charged forward at the shaman. The shaman began building up its spell and didn''t move. Alex could also see the flow of mana in its body and immediately cast a windblade at it. The shaman was hit by the windblade and its mana flow was disrupted. Alex also closed in on it and immediately stabbed the poisoned spear in its gut. The shaman was scratched and a status of poisoned appeared in its description on the system interface.


    It immediately grunted in a mixture of pain and anger and ran back to create distance between Alex and itself, but Alex continued to stubbornly follow it while thrusting the spear in its direction.


    The enraged shaman grunted in rage and pulled out a black dagger from the shadow on the wall nearby.


    The dagger collided with the tip of the spear and the latter was destroyed. The shaman also used this chance to immediately create distance between Alex and itself. Before Alex could give chase, the shadow below the shaman''s legs expanded and merged with Alex''s shadow. Alex immediately felt as if his legs were chained to the ground and couldn''t move a single inch.


    ''Shadow paralysis.'' Alex read from the interface.


    The shaman smirked at Alex and began casting another spell. Out of the shadows, a black silhouette emerged and stood beside the shaman. The shaman touched a shadow on the ground and drew out a shadow dagger. It put the dagger in its clone''s hand and grunted at different frequencies a few times.


    The shadow clone clenched the dagger and began moving in Alex''s direction.


    Alex''s expression paled at the sight of this. The shaman began laughing hysterically while looking at Alex''s face.


    Just as the clone was close enough to stab Alex, he immediately disappeared from where he was paralyzed by the shaman.


    Due to its affinity with shadows, the shaman could feel a strange fluctuation in the shadows.


    Immediately, a feeling of intense danger enveloped its senses, but before it could even move, it''s head was sent flying and Alex appeared behind it with a sword in his hand which was covered in blackish mana with occasional wisps of white.


    Alex calmly collected the mana core and blood from the shaman. Expectedly, this time the core wasn''t an evolved one. After searching for enhanced moon steel, Alex immediately left the dungeon.


    He had completed this dungeon much faster than the previous time. Alex was etching to try another dungeon, but just one look at his MP and all his excitement vanished.


    He took the path back to Lucas''s house and began moving.

 Chapter 16 - The Message Brought By The Apostles 3

    On the way back to Lucas''s house, Alex couldn''t help but think about the strange behavior of the mana beasts that he had seen today. He was instantly reminded of the time he had parted ways with Verenia.


    " You should leave this village as soon as possible. " These words were spoken by Verenia before she left.


    " Does her warning have something to do with what''s going on?" Alex thought to himself, but now getting out of this village was more difficult than ever. There was a mana beast wave that was about to strike in a few days and the mana beasts of the region nearby had all gathered around.


    The only safe place was inside this barrier erected by their God. If he went outside this barrier, the chances of encountering higher tier mana beasts would be exponentially higher than regular times, not to mention that these mana beasts were somehow showing signs of planned movement, and to top it all up, even if he decided to leave, he wouldn''t be able to scout the correct path by following the traits of mana beasts and harmless animals like the last time he had done.


    For now, the only way to escape this predicament that seemed feasible was to tag along with those apostles of God and find a way out of this forest from them, but that option also came with it''s own risks. He stood the risk of being forcefully converted to a believer of their God and thus losing any chance to ever grow beyond tier 8..


    After what Alex had been through, strength was the thing that he desired the most, even more than his revenge against Louis.


    "Things have begun to become more complicated. Siggghhhh!" Alex sighed as he finally reached the house of Lucas. He knocked on the door and like usual, it was immediately opened.


    Lucas looked at Alex who seemed a bit tired and invited him in. After just a small chat,Alex retired to the hard bed of Lucas''s house.


    They had already had their dinner before Alex went out. Alex fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed.


    The next morning, Alex woke up earlier than usual. He looked outside, it was still dark outside. He was feeling a bit stuffy inside the small room, so he decided to take a walk outside.


    He also wanted to scout the perimeter of the village to check the condition of the mana beasts around the area.


    Alex reached the end of the village from where he had entered and began scouting.


    He cast an area scan, but couldn''t find any mana beasts in the vicinity. This was a bit suspicious, so he decided to search a bit deeper into the forest.


    Alex was confused. He couldn''t find any traces of mana beasts in the area around the village.


    ''Has the beast wave already started and the beasts went in some other direction?'' Alex thought to himself.


    This strange behavior of the beasts truly confused Alex and he decided to return back to the village.


    He was on his way back when he suddenly bumped into Sheri. It was still too early in the morning and Alex couldn''t see anyone else around.


    "Whaaat. What.. sob ...what are you doing here..sob?" Sheri asked Alex.


    Alex could see tears flowing from her eyes and she was breathing unsteady. He could easily tell that she had been crying for a while.


    "Who beat you up this time? I must say that they must have beaten you quite badly for you to be crying for so long." Alex asked. He knew that this would be the most effective way to calm down his little brother from past life.


    " I am ....sob...not crying. No one can beat me...sob sob." Sheri replied, while trying to wipe away her tears.


    "Yes yes, you are not crying. I was wrong, who in this world is strong enough to make you cry??"


    Alex said in a kind tone as he prepared to take his leave.


    He could see Sheri calm down and she began wiping away her tears.


    '' So, the method to calm kids down really works on her.'' Alex thought to himself as he began walking away.


    But as soon as he took his second step, he was pulled back by Sheri. Alex was getting a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu as he was being dragged by her towards her practice ground.


    "Sighh!" Alex let out a long sigh as he looked at Sheri who was standing in front of him with a resolute expression and a wooden cane in her hand.


    They spared again, but this time Alex held back a bit. Sheri had improved quite a bit, especially the techniques that he had taught her.


    Her talent was truly making him envious, but he could also tell that she was very dedicated to it.


    ''She has most likely spent hours practicing what I taught her yesterday. '' Alex thought and couldn''t help being impressed by her dedication.


    After their spar was over, Alex taught her some more moves. He went to one side and watched her practice.


    Alex closed his eyes and entered mental simulation practice of his spell. He did it daily and the results were also quite good. His fire stream mastery was near 90 percent and he could cast it instantly without the help of the system. He could also control the fireball formed to change its direction after casting to some extent.


    " Alex, wake up!" Sheri''s voice snapped him out of his mental simulations.


    It was already bright and they had been practicing for two hours now.


    "The Apostles will be arriving soon, so we should get going." Sheri said.


    " Have you met them before?" Alex asked Sheri.


    " One of them had come to our village when I was 10 years old and brought a lot of gifts from God. He also took my brother with him for training him." Sheri said, her tone getting sad.


    " You know, my brother had changed a lot when he came back last year. He became very rude and often quarreled with father because he wants ..to take one of the gifts given by God from my father and give it to the Apostles so that he could be accepted as their apprentice. B- But my father refused....sob...and both of them began figh...fighting over it since that day....sob." After finishing her words, Sheri burst into tears once again. Alex stood there silently watching her cry.


    It would be hypocritical of him to say words to console her that her family can overcome this or something, because he himself was a victim of the family''s feud and greed for power. He didn''t know what to say himself.


    After crying for sometime, Sheri calmed down.


    "I thought that you were going to spend the entire day crying." Alex teased her. Sheri''s face reddened a bit as she turned her face away.


    By the time Alex and Sheri returned, most of the villagers had gathered at the entrance of the village. Alex went back to Lucas''s house to freshen up and bathe. He ate breakfast and returned to his room.


    "Aren''t you going to see the Apostles? There will also be a festival in the village. Don''t you want to try it?" Lucas asked, knocking on his door.


    "I think I''ll pass. I am just an outsider for one and I have some personal reason not to see them." Alex replied from behind the closed door. He still remembered Verenia''s warning of not joining the believers of any God because that would limit his progress. For someone like Alex who had finally realized that one''s strength was the only true form of protection to them, limiting their power was most unacceptable, so he had decided to stay away from them.


    Besides, he had his own plans and today was essentially a free day for him.


    Alex started by opening his system interface.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 25]


    [Stats]


    [Strength : 201]


    [Agility : 206]


    [Endurance : 193]


    [Intelligence : 164]


    [Perception : 120]


    [Charisma : 215(165)]


    [HP : 1410]


    [MP : 2280]


    [+150 free attribute points, +27 skill points


    +106000 exp]


    Alex opened his system storage and pressed on a scroll.


    [Basic mana training method has been activated.]


    A system notification appeared in front of his eyes.


    Alex cleared his mind and focused on his mana core. As mentioned in the method, he immediately pulled all the mana from his mana circuit into his core and began absorbing mana from air. Then he stimulated all this extra mana to cycle in his mana circuit. When this mana reached his mana core, Alex could feel a sharp pain both in his core and his body, but Alex endured the pain and continued.


    [Total mana capacity has been permanently increased by 1.]


    The mechanical voice of the system sounded in his mind.


    Alex continued this cycle for around a hundred times before the pain became so intense that he could no longer concentrate. He exhaled a breath of mana and a wave of mana that had surrounded him for some unknown time collapsed. This created a small mana fluctuation that shook the windows of the room.


    Alex could immediately feel several strong presences locking on him for some time before disappearing.


    Alex could tell that all of them were tier 5 and two tier 6. These were the Apostles who had arrived for some unknown time in the village.


    Alex was a bit startled when he looked outside the window. It was already past noon and was daytime. He had been practicing for more than six hours.


    After this, a sharp pain came from his mana core, followed by equally sharp pain from all parts of his body. Alex fell on the ground in agony. The pain continued for tens of minutes before it began to subside.


    Alex got up from the floor he had fallen on when hit by the pain. He could see the entire floor drenched in his sweat. His back was still drenched in cold sweat and every inch of his body was fatigued.


    Alex fell down on the bed.


    [Basic mana training method.]


    [20% complete. ]


    [+100 permanent increase in MP.]


    [Total MP :2380]


    Alex looked at the system notification for some time.


    System, add 50 free attribute points to intelligence, 20 free points to strength and agility each.


    Alex could feel a warm sensation on his body and mana core.


    Alex opened the system interface once again.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 25]


    [Stats ]


    [Strength : 221]


    [Agility : 226]


    [Endurance : 193]


    [Intelligence : 214]


    [Perception : 120]


    [Charisma : 215(165)]


    [HP : 1410]


    [MP : 2880]


    [+60 free attribute points, +27 skill points


    +106000 exp]


    His MP had increased by 600 points.


    "Hundred points from 20% completion of basic mana training method and 500 from increasing intelligence by 50." Alex said to himself.


    Next, he opened the customized weapon option of the weapons store.A system notification appeared in front of Alex.


    Please mention the specifics and qualities of the weapon you want to craft.


    " I want a weapon with longer range than a sword, higher flexibility than a spear and which doesn''t weigh much." Alex whispered.


    Almost immediately, an image appeared on the system screen.


    A whip appeared before Alex, who was a bit conflicted.


    He hadn''t thought about a whip. It suited all the requirements he had, but he didn''t want a whip.


    It felt kind of ... ugly and uncool.


    Alex gave it a long and hard stare.


    It wasn''t that he was completely opposed to the idea of using it, but he had a feeling that he couldn''t explain in words. It was like he was


    subconsciously opposed to the idea of using it.


    When Alex was still conflicted about if he should give it a try or not, Lucas barged in the room.


    Alex immediately shifted his attention to Lucas and could see a myriad of expressions.


    There was doubt, confusion, anger, sadness and others clearly plastered on his face.


    Lucas opened his mouth to speak but couldn''t find any words to say, so he opened and closed his mouth a few times without making a sound.


    Somehow, Alex had a bad feeling about what he wanted to say.

 Chapter 17 - The Message Brought By The Apostles 4

    Lucas stood there, trying to say something but repeatedly failing because he couldn''t even sort out what to say.


    Seeing his actions, Alex had a feeling that something wasn''t right. He waited patiently for Lucas to collect his thoughts, but it took much longer than Alex had expected.


    Finally, Lucas sorted out his thoughts and began speaking.


    " Alex, we are all being abandoned." Lucas said, trying to suppress the rage and pain in his heart


    " Calm down and tell me what happened." Alex said. He could at least do this much to console someone who had provided him food and shelter for two days without any hope for returns.


    " After the welcoming ceremony of the Apostles, they were taken to the chief''s house for resting. I and Miss Sheri followed them..We were stopped by some villagers to help them with something and it delayed us a bit."


    " By the time we got there, everything was quiet on the outside, but when we entered the house, we heard the village chief and Master Chester arguing with each other."


    Alex knew that this Master Chester was most likely Sheri''s elder brother.


    " Master Chester said something about Lord God leaving this territory with the Apostles." Lucas said after a long break.


    Alex knew that it would''ve been a major blow to Lucas whose parents had died in the servitude of the God. The people of this village were very devoted to their God to the extent that they treated this God as their own parent.


    Lucas was orphaned at a young age and seeing his parents being treated as heroes for the act of dying for the God, he had developed deep respect for this God whom he hadn''t even met before, and being abandoned by the God wasn''t something that he could get over with easily.


    Alex didn''t say much to this after all he was more clear about the situation of the world than these villagers.


    Alex advised Lucas to quickly sort out his feelings and left the house to give Lucas some alone-time.


    Alex strolled in the village while looking at those happy faces of the villagers who were completely oblivious to the fact that they had been abandoned by their spiritual support. He felt a bit of pity for them, but he continued moving out towards the forest.


    Alex arrived near the perimeter of the village and cast an area scan. He could still not find any traces of those mana beasts, but he was still feeling that something was amiss. And this feeling had only gotten stronger as time passed.


    Alex returned back to the village after casually strolling for some time.


    "Oi Alex, come here and join us." Marcel, a member of the hunting party said.


    Alex politely declined his offer and returned back to Lucas''s house.


    He opened the system interface and resumed where he had left.


    Alex scrolled through the entire list of weapons available in the weapons store, but found nothing that could interest him.


    Finally he gave up and decided to make a different weapon which could accommodate his needs.


    Alex asked the system if there was any type of sword that could be both flexible and longer at the same time, but the reply he got was that this kind of sword would immediately be broken to pieces in actual combat.


    Although he didn''t get a satisfactory response, Alex suddenly got an idea that he could try out.


    Although the mana consumption of such a weapon would be quite high, but it would be just the thing he was looking for.


    Alex immediately told the system about what he was planning and a new notification appeared in front of him.


    [Do you want to spend 15000 exp in order to develop the blueprints of the customized weapon?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex was a bit surprised by the need of exp, but didn''t this mean that his idea was achievable!


    Alex pressed Yes and immediately a long list of materials appeared before him.


    There was also another system notification.


    [The formation of the weapon requires the host to learn inscriptions. Do you want to buy the Basic Inscription Book?]


    [Cost : 25 skill points]


    [Yes/No.]


    " So, this system really wants me to learn inscriptions." Alex said in amazement.


    He pressed yes and immediately a book appeared in his hand.


    Alex wasn''t expecting this as he thought that just like skills and spells, the knowledge about inscriptions would immediately come to his brain, but he was wrong.


    This time, he had to learn inscriptions diligently if he wanted to create the weapon.


    "Well, not everything has shortcuts." Alex consoled himself and began reading the book.


    It was written in ancient language and Alex wasn''t very fluent in it, but he could still read it clearly with some effort, but before that he had to test something.


    Alex pointed at the book and thought of keeping it in the system storage.


    Immediately, the book disappeared and the icon of the book appeared in his system storage.


    ''So, only selective items can be taken in and out of the system storage.'' Alex thought.


    He decided to take out the book and give it a thorough reading, but at this moment, someone knocked at Lucas''s door and a voice was heard.


    " Lucas, the Apostles have asked all the people to gather at the square. You should come soon and also remember to bring back the outsider along with you."


    Lucas got up in a dispirited manner and called on Alex and both of them went to the village square.


    It was the first time that Alex was seeing many of the villagers including the village chief.


    He was a tall man with sturdy features and muscular build. He looked nothing like the petite Sheri who was standing behind him on the stage with her brother.


    Alex could also see six people wearing priest clothes standing on the stage and everyone was looking at them respectfully.


    Alex used appraisal on them and found out that two of them were lower tier 6 while the remaining were upper tier 5.


    One of them stepped forward and began his speech.


    "Worshipers of God, today we are here at the will of our lord and come bearing his words and orders. As you all know, this great forest that is the territory of the great lord is located near the frontlines of the Godly and the Demonic territories, and so is highly susceptible to war. The evil demonic armies are showing suspicious movements along the borders and the lord has been assigned to the frontier. So, he will be leaving this territory for an indefinite period of time. It may even take him decades, so keeping in mind the safety of all his followers, he has decided to relocate all his faithful believers to the safer inner territories of the godly dominion.


    And we, his loyal servants have been assigned the job of assisting and escorting you people out to those territories. Do not worry, the kind and noble lord has already prepared all facilities to accommodate you in his friend''s territory. So, with the help of your village chief, we the servants of the almighty one will take all of you to your new homes tomorrow morning. Get all your things ready to move and leave behind anything that you do not need. All hail the almighty lord!...."


    There were two things that Alex noticed in this speech. First that these Apostles were b*llsh*tting about the imminent war, because the last war between gods and demons took place nearly two decades ago, and both sides suffered heavy casualties, which couldn''t be recovered in a few decades, so this war was most likely a little scuffle and the God had nothing to do with it. And secondly, that this forest was at the borders of the godly domain and the demonic hinterlands.


    Alex looked around at the expressions of the people around him. Most of the younger people were happy and cheerful, while the older people were dispirited and doubtful. These people who had lived and survived in the era of the war had a clearer idea on what was going on compared to the younger people.


    Alex looked at Lucas who was still making a long face. Clearly, Lucas had understood what was happening, and then there was Sheri who was trying her best not to break into tears. These two were the only ones who had a clear grasp of the situation because they had overheard the conversation between the village chief and Chester.


    Alex subconsciously looked at Chester. The latter had a satisfied smile on his face and was whispering something in one of the tier 6 Apostle''s ears.


    ''That smells like a conspiracy.'' Alex mumbled to himself when suddenly someone arrived behind him.


    Alex was very sensitive to these changes around himself and immediately got away using speed enhancement.


    "Woah! don''t be afraid young man. I just wanted to talk to you about something." One of the tier five Apostles said to Alex. This apostle was a middle aged man who bore a kind and gentle expression and also, there was a hint of regret in his eyes, the kind of regret that came when caught lying.


    Alex was immediately put on guard. If this person tried to forcefully convert him to one of their spiritual underlings, he was prepared to fight with his life on the line. But his next words surprised Alex.


    " You realized it, didn''t you?" The man asked with his head lowered.


    "It was too obvious from a third person perspective." Alex replied.


    The man looked around, most of the people were talking amongst themselves, only a few of them were curiously looking at Alex and him.


    Alex had also noticed this and could feel that this person was here just to talk, so he went to a place from where others could see them but not listen to their conversation.


    " Don''t be so guarded. Our lord has never coveted worshipers and I can swear on my life that we have never forcefully converted anyone. Besides, you already have an imprint."


    "Imprint?" Alex asked in a confused tone.


    " The one on your forehead. I have been dealing with imprints all my life, so I can tell that you have one, but I doubt that many people in this world can see it. Also, this one doesn''t look like an imprint given to worshipers. It feels like a complicated version of those imprints given to descendants of gods."


    Alex touched his forehead. Was this imprint the gift that Verenia was talking about?


    That didn''t seem too likely.


    "But I am here to ask about that ring of mana you created earlier. How''d you do it?"


    "I was just trying to absorb as much mana as possible from the air and tried to keep it stored in my body. But unfortunately, it failed."


    Alex said as he walked away.


    Behind him, the Apostle gave a smile and went back to his companions. He repeated what Alex had told him to his superior who was talking to Chester.

 Chapter 18 - Disputes And Requests

    Alex was walking away when he heard Sheri''s voice calling him from behind.


    "We will be parting ways soon, right?" Sheri said, her tone a bit sad.


    "I think so." Alex replied. " Bring me a quill, a pen and a paper." Alex told Sheri and walked away.


    Sheri saw Alex walk away while tapping his fingers in the air and wanted to say something, but she decided to bring the things he asked for first and then thank him later.


    Alex didn''t go back to Lucas''s house, instead he decided to head towards the blacksmith''s shop to see if Old man Dreron needed help in moving away his things. If he was lucky, he could also borrow some glacier steel from the old man and use it for his new weapon.


    This glacier steel was obviously better for the kind of weapon that Alex was looking for..


    He was also tempted to try some dungeons to gather the materials he needed for his customized weapon, but when he remembered that the entire village was covered in the senses of the Apostles, he held back his urge.


    Unluckily for Alex, Old man Dreron wasn''t at home and the door was locked.


    Alex was on his way back to meet Lucas when he incidentally happened to pass through the village chief''s house.This time, be it intentionally or unintentionally, the sound barriers were put down and sounds of quarrels could be heard outside. A few young people of the village had also gathered there.


    " Didn''t you say that the lord gave you the treasure for the entire village and that it would be selfish of us to use it by ourselves? So now that I am taking away the villagers with me, why are you still selfishly keeping it to yourself? Hand over the cloak to me." Chester''s loud voice was audible even from outside.


    "But....." The village chief wanted to say something, but a third voice interrupted him.


    "You should keep your word Chief Blacaw. And that cloak might even prove useful on our journey in fighting those mana beasts." Alex could remember that this was the voice of the tier 6 apostle that Chester was talking to earlier.


    " Yes chief, I think you should hand it over to Master Chester. " The crowd outside the village chief''s house said in unison.


    ''Such a basic setup, but it might proove effective.'' Alex sighed. He was about to go back, but was stopped midway.


    "Alright then, I will unseal this box, but you only want the cloak right?" Chief Blacaw said.


    "Yes, what else from that trash can be useful?"


    Chester retorted.


    Cllicccckkkkk! Claacckkkk!


    The sound of a lock being opened and a lid being lifted spread throughout the room and outside.


    Alex froze in his place as a system notification appeared before him.


    Container of World energy detected in the nearby area. Please get as close to the container as possible to start absorbing world energy.


    [0.001 units of World energy absorbed.]


    [0.001 units of World energy absorbed.]


    [0.001 units of World energy absorbed.]


    ....


    ....


    ....


    Alex was shocked. No wonder the apostle wanted that cloak. The cloak contained World energy in it. Although it was much less and apparently weaker than the source that Verenia had, it was still World energy.


    Alex didn''t know much about World energy, but what he knew was that the system required World energy to level up and that 1 unit of World energy was equivalent to one million exp or a hundred skill points.


    For a moment, Alex considered barging in and snatching the container, but when he remembered that there was a tier 6 apostle and a tier 4 warrior coveting it, his intentions were washed away in cold water.


    After some time, the World energy supply was cut off, most likely placed back in some cover that stopped it from seeping out. Alex walked away and finally reached Lucas''s house.


    Sheri was there, waiting for him at the door with the materials he had asked for, and a box in her hand. Alex didn''t know what exactly was in the box but he was having a strange feeling about it.


    " Alex, why did you take so long?" Sheri asked.


    Alex could feel that this time, she was truly very sad.


    Alex said nothing and took the quill pen and paper. He began drawing and writing something on the paper.


    After half an hour, he finished and handed those papers back to Sheri.


    It was the demonstrations of level1 and level2 basic spear wielding which he had bought not long ago from the system store.


    " With this, you can definitely give that brother of yours a good beating. " Alex said to her.


    " I won''t need it anymore. We will be separated once again." Sheri said, trying to hold her tears in.


    " This is for you." Sheri handed the box to Alex.


    " I hope we can meet again sometime. " Sheri said to Alex.


    "Isn''t it too early to say goodbyes?" Alex asked her.


    Sheri looked a bit conflicted about whether to tell Alex or not, but she made up her mind


    "Even if Lord God is not here, the defensive barrier will still be intact, so my father, uncle Dreron and a few older people of the village have decided to stay here. I and Lucas have also decided to stay back to take care of them."


    Alex now knew the reason for her goodbye, he did feel a bit sad for her, but it was her decision to stay and he had no say in it.


    " Also, my father called you in the village meeting room." Sheri said and left.


    Alex looked at the box that she had given him. He opened it, and immediately a sense of guilt emerged from his heart.


    '' I really shouldn''t have tricked her.'' Alex sighed.


    Inside that box were the gold coins used in the godly domain, most likely it was all the money Sheri could gather.


    Alex picked up the box and began moving to the village meeting room.


    He knocked on the door and entered.


    " Alex, right, this is the first time we are meeting. Please have a seat." The village chief said politely.


    "You were looking for me, Chief Blacaw?" Alex asked as he put the box he was carrying on the table.


    " Could you return this to Sheri for me?" Alex said, pushing the box towards the village chief.


    Blacaw opened the box and a slight smile appeared on his face.


    " No wonder my little girl was asking me for money, but you should keep it. And also..."


    Blacaw pushed back the box towards Alex and took out another box from his drawer and opened it.


    [Container of World energy detected. ]


    [0.05 units of World energy absorbed]


    [0.05 units of World energy absorbed]


    [0.05 units of World energy absorbed]


    ....


    ....


    ....


    Alex was amazed. Inside the box, there was a bracelet made of something like tree roots and it was covered in a bluish light.


    " This bracelet was given to me by the Lord God when my little girl was born." the corners of Blacaw''s mouth curled up in a smile when remembering this.


    " Lord God said that this is an invaluable treasure that someone had given him and he was giving it to me."


    " For some reason, this has been emitting this bluish light ever since you entered this village.


    I am giving it to you."


    Alex was immediately put on guard. There was no way that someone would give away their invaluable treasure to a stranger, no strings attached.


    "What do you want?" Alex asked immediately.


    "Don''t worry, I just have a small favour to ask of you. You have already seen how innocent my little girl is. So, I want you to look after her when she leaves this village." Blacaw said, bowing down to Alex.


    " You are asking me, a stranger, to look after your daughter rather than your own son." Alex asked.


    " Sigh! That boy has been blinded by the greed of power. Also, it was decided that Sheri would inherit my title as the village chief, so she will be in the way of her brother. I don''t know what exactly changed him so much, but I don''t feel safe while handing her over to him. You on the other hand, despite being a stranger, my instincts as a parent tell me that my daughter will be safe with you. And also if possible, I request you to take Lucas with you too. I can bet that those two children are planning to stay back with us older people." Blacaw said.


    "You are just handing over your daughter to a stranger just based on a hunch of yours. Isn''t that quite irresponsible of you as a father?"


    Alex asked.


    "It is because I am a father that I am able to decide whom to hand her over to. Besides, I wasn''t very sure when you got here, but now I am." Blacaw replied.


    Alex scanned the bracelet.


    [???????]


    [World energy container. ]


    [Effects : blessings of the world, purification, blessings of Xidryg.]


    The system interface appeared.


    ''So this also contains blessings of the world.''


    It would be a lie to say that Alex wasn''t tempted, but he still decided to think it through properly before deciding.


    Sheri was much stronger than him and with her absurd talent, she would only grow stronger, also she could be a great help ( best underling) who would do anything without asking much. There were many benefits of bringing her along, but with the help of the system, Alex could easily surpass her in growth, not to mention that he didn''t have the heart to manipulate someone as naive as her.


    While Alex was still contemplating what to do, the door of the room was opened and two people barged in, giving off the air of superiority.


    Alex turned around to find Chester and the tier 6 apostle staring back at him.


    " Lord Harmon, what can my unworthy self do for you?" Blacaw asked politely while standing up and offering his seat to the Apostle.

 Chapter 19 - Beast Wave Strikes.

    The apostle took the seat and looked at Blacaw, before his eyes landed on Alex.


    This boy didn''t seem any different from others, except for his good looks and a strange feeling that couldn''t be described emanating from him, but his junior had told him that this boy may be someone with a deep background, so Harmon was a bit conflicted about how he should treat Alex.


    In the end, he just nodded at Alex and decided not to interact with Alex unless the other party initiated.


    Alex could also read through his act and decided to continue acting like he didn''t care, but there was someone in the room who was not having it.


    "Oye, outsider. Just what do you think you are doing? You are being disrespectful to Lord Apostle. " Chester said, looking at Alex with a scornful expression.


    " Alright then, I shall wait outside, Chief Blacaw and Lord Harmon." Alex said as he got up..


    Something about his tone and disposition gave off a feeling of authoritative dominance which surprised the other three, but Alex didn''t wait for them to react and left.


    Once outside, Alex heaved a sigh. Being a prince, he had learned acting authoritatively and it worked wonders at creating a strong image in front of people, but he wasn''t too used to it.


    He stood near the door from where he could clearly listen to their conversation and could also see Blacaw and Chester.


    " Congratulations! Chief Blacaw. I have decided to take in your son as my apprentice and also, I can take in your daughter as well, that is if you want me to." Harmon said.


    Listening to his calculative tone, Alex could tell that he had seen Sheri''s talent.


    Sheri was the youngest one in her family, her brother was older than her and had already been training under Harmon for years and had reached mid tier four. His talent was a bit above average, on the other hand Sheri was much younger and didn''t have any formal training but she had already reached Tier 4. Her talent was much better than her brother to say the least.


    Alex could see a frown appear on Chester''s face when the Apostle revealed his plan to take in Sheri as well. Seeing Chester clenching his fists, Alex was reminded of what Blacaw had just told him about Sheri being in Chester''s way to seek power. It was true after all.


    Blacaw was a bit shocked at this revelation but he immediately regained his composure and said, " Sheri is very fortunate that you are willing to take her in as a disciple Lord Harmon, but I must decline on her behalf. My little girl is too naive and ignorant of the world. I can''t let her be exposed to this thirst of power. All I want is for her to grow up in a peaceful environment that is free from any disputes and power struggles. "


    " And she has already decided that she won''t go to the city with you people and I can''t make her change her decision. I hope you understand. "


    " It''s such a waste for a talent of her caliber to go to waste like this, but I won''t go against her father''s decision. " Saying this, Harmon got up and left the room followed by Chester, who had a smile on his face.


    Alex finally understood why Blacaw had been so insistent, going as far as to give him the treasure just to take Sheri under his care. And also that Harmon didn''t know the true extent of Sheri''s talent. Had he known about it, Alex thought that someone as ambitious as Harmon would''ve waged wars to get Sheri.


    "You saw his expressions, right?"


    Blacaw asked Alex while staring at the back of Chester.


    " Yes. I will tell you my decision after giving it some thought. " Alex said and began walking away.


    Blacaw sighed while looking at Alex and went back inside.


    Alex returned back to Lucas''s house and lay down to rest.


    It was already evening and he could still feel the pain and fatigue all over his body from the mana training. For some reason, he couldn''t sleep at all.


    '' I''ll be leaving this village tomorrow morning, so I''d have liked a solo dungeon run, but the village is covered in the senses of the Apostles and also there is the matter Blacaw asked me. To be honest, I have no use of World energy directly, but the system absorbing it is a completely different thing.''


    Last time when the world energy requirements of the system were met, he got the store, mental simulation practice and mission board features which helped him grow a lot. And also there was a mention of system level on the interface, this meant that the system could be upgraded to higher levels as well, which would mean more amazing features.


    He looked at the 0 skill points and sighed.


    He had spent 25 skill points to get the Basic Inscriptions book and the remaining 2 skill points to get level 2 basic spear mastery for Sheri.


    Alex remained lying in the bed with his eyes closed for an unknown period of time. He wasn''t sleeping, rather he was running mental simulations of his spells.


    Raaaawwwrrrrrr!


    The roar of some unknown mana beast suddenly shook the entire village and a pressurizing presence descended on the entire village.


    Alex suddenly got up from his bed and dashed out.


    How could he have forgotten about the beast wave? Alex immediately moved towards the direction where the sound was coming.


    The Apostles, Blacaw, Sheri and the members of the hunting party had already gathered there and the remaining villagers were also on their ways.


    There were four tier five mana beasts, Hammer Bears, which were trying their best to break into the barrier, but got repelled continuously.


    Despite their failed attempts, those bears didn''t give up and continued.


    By now, most of the people in the village had gathered near the barrier.


    Sensing that something wasn''t right, Alex cast an area scan and immediately his expression turned unsightly.


    There were hundreds of mana beasts gathered in a radius of hundred meters, while thousands may be present outside the radius of his scanned region.


    Alex looked around and saw the expressions of the villagers. None of them was much worried about this situation.


    Alex walked to where Lucas was standing and said," Why are all the people standing here watching the show? Shouldn''t you be finding a way to escape?"


    A nearby Apostle turned around and gave Alex a look as if he was looking at some idiot.


    "This barrier was made by the Almighty Lord God himself. How can those puny little creatures even hope to break in? But the power of the almighty one is not something that a weakling like you would understand boy." The Apostle said in a tone full of disdain and pride.


    Alex knew that it was better for him not to pay attention to the rantings of someone who was blinded by faith.


    Lucas looked at Alex and explained .


    "Since you are not from here, you may not know, but a beast wave strikes every few years in this forest, but they never get past the barrier, so there''s nothing to be worried about."


    " That''s right. I have even personally witnessed a beast wave created by a tier 7 beast. It couldn''t even get past the barrier, let alone these level 5 beasts. They are nothing to worry about." The Apostle from earlier chimed in.


    Alex took a deep breath to calm himself down and said," Those are only four tier 5 mana beasts, and that''s the most worrisome fact about this situation."


    "Little kid, you are such a scaredy ca..."


    "Let me finish you fool." Alex cut short the apostle.


    The apostle was enraged and wanted to retort. There was no way that he would let this kid get away unscathed after calling him a fool in front of so many people.


    Alex continued despite the hateful gazes of most of the villagers directed at him.


    "You can definitely see those tier 5 mana beasts attacking the barrier, and you might most likely have sensed other mana beasts of different levels around, but only those Hammer Bears are attacking the barrier. Can''t you tell that these mana beasts are showing signs of organized movement?"


    It was like a bomb fell down from the sky. All the villagers and the Apostles who were cursing at Alex just a moment ago fell silent. There was a pin drop silence before one of the Apostles broke the silence.


    " Let me try." He said and began enchanting a spell. Immediately every movement in an area of tens of kilometers was entirely under his monitoring.


    " I can only see two tier six mana beasts and all the remaining ones are lower leveled, but all these mana beasts are definitely showing signs of organized movement. And I also sense a strange presence that is at the peak of tier 6 approaching us at a rapid speed." The Apostle shared his findings.


    "What should we do? This is quite a strange situation. Something like this has never happened before." An Apostle said.


    At this moment, Blacaw stepped forward and said.


    "We should be prepared for the worst scenario. Everyone get back and gather all your belongings. We will have to bring the evacuation a bit forward. All of you, leave with the Apostles right now. "


    All the villagers immediately hurried back to gather their belongings and place them in their respective carriages or horse carts.


    Now, only Alex, Lucas, the Apostles and Sheri''s family were left.


    " We should also go and prepare." Harmon said and all the people immediately dispersed leaving only Alex and Blacaw standing there.


    "Why did you stop me?" Alex asked.


    "What did you think about my proposal?" Blacaw asked.


    " I have prepared the best horse drawn carriage available in the village and every valuable thing I have is already loaded on it. I will give you all those things, so please take my daughter away from here."


    " So you know that this barrier won''t be able to hold for very long, yet you''ve decided to stay?"


    Alex asked .


    "Yes. I had promised my wife that I will guard this land to my last breath and never leave it. I can''t possibly break the promise. That is the only pillar supporting my existence. "


    " I see. But I''d rather that you persuade Sheri to leave this village than giving me all your wealth to take her away." Alex replied.


    Both of them began moving back to the village while occasionally talking about the situation.


    By the time they reached the village, nearly everyone was ready and all the villagers were gathering their belongings.


    Crackkk!


    A loud sound rang through the village and everyone looked up at the same time.


    The barrier that had stood against beast waves for thousands of years had for the first time cracked.


    Everyone began panicking and hurrying.


    It was at this moment that Alex saw the creature responsible for the crack.


    It was a creature with four hands and the upper body that was somewhat identical to humans, while it''s lower body was that of a horse and it''s legs were also quite scary.


    "A demonoid-beast hybrid. " Alex muttered to himself.


    This hybrid was holding a shining orb-like thing in his hand.


    The orb began emitting a blackish-red light and was immediately thrown at the barrier.


    Rumble...


    Crackkkk!


    The ground shook and the barrier immediately fell apart.


    Thousands upon thousands of mana beasts changed into the village, creating a chaotic scene.

 Chapter 20 - Fleeing

    The defense barrier around the village collapsed and mana beasts from all around flooded inside.


    Immediately, the villagers all panicked and chaos spread. The Apostles immediately charged towards the mana beasts which were being slaughtered like chickens.


    Suddenly, the four tier 5 Hammer Bears appeared in front of the four Apostles and the two tier 6 mana beasts also began fighting the tier 6 Apostles.


    All the weaker mana beasts were able to pass them and began flooding in the village.


    Alex and Blacaw were also surrounded by these mana beasts, but in front of Blacaw who was mid tier 5, all these beasts could only wait to be slaughtered.


    He and Alex retreated back to where the villagers were concentrated.


    [Emergency mission : Retreat]


    [Description : Leave the village and safely escape from the beast wave..]


    [Rewards : 200,000 exp, +5 skill points, +2 skill upgrade cards.]


    [Optional mission : slaughter and rescue.]


    [Description: 1. Hunt down at least 20 mana


    beasts.


    2. Rescue the individuals Lucas and


    Sheri.]


    [System rewards : one portable weapon store


    port, +400,000 exp, exp equal to 2 times the cumulative damage dealt to the mana beasts.


    +1 blueprint upgradation card.]


    [Base rewards: World energy container, +500 gold coins, moving carriage.]


    [Do you want to accept the optional mission?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex had never seen an optional mission before, and this one truly gave off generous rewards.


    The system rewards were also high. A [portable weapon store port] meant that he could set up a location from where he could enter and exit the weapon store and dungeons and wouldn''t have to wait to find another place like Old Man Dreron''s place and a [blueprint upgrade card] meant that he could get the better version of the blueprints of the customized weapon that he was making.


    '' Is this optional mission activated in order to gain the World energy container? That seems very likely. '' Alex thought to himself.


    Suddenly, a tier 1 Inferno growler, a mana beast with fire affiliation appeared before Alex.


    Alex quickly drew out his Basic mana sword. Someone questioning him about the origins of this sword was the least of his worries, not to mention that no one would be foolish enough to be focusing their attention on him when their own lives were not guaranteed in this chaos.


    [Mana analysis complete.]


    [Reverse mana generated.]


    The system notification appeared and Alex slashed his sword at the Inferne Growler. Blue coloured wind blades covered the surface of the sword as it sliced through the beast''s ribcage.


    The dead body of the mana beast fell down on the ground. Seeing this, all the nearby Inferno growlers were enraged and a barrage of fireballs was unleashed at Alex from every possible direction.


    Alex dodged the first few fireballs and immediately cast a shadow movement.


    Before the Inferno Growlers could even react, two more of their ranks had already had their heads severed from their bodies.


    Lucas was not much of a fighter, so he was helping the other villagers evacuate in the opposite direction to the battlefield while keeping his focus on all the people who were fighting, but when he saw Alex fighting a group of tens of Inferno Growlers, he wanted to impulsively run there and help him.


    But what happened next gave him goosebumps. Alex, who was weaker than any of the mana beasts surrounding him, just weaved his way through the group while swinging his sword from time to time, and with each swing of his sword, a corpse of an Inferno growler would fall on the ground.


    It wasn''t only Lucas, all the higher tier fighters from both the sides caught Alex''s action in their senses and were equally surprised.


    At this moment, even Alex himself was in a daze, the reason being a new system notification that was recited in his brain.


    [New ability, Intermediate Battle Awareness unlocked.]


    [Effects : heightened concentration and senses


    when engaged in combat.]


    [Requirements : kill 60 adversaries.]


    Alex could feel his senses become much clearer than before and he could even sense all the movements in an area of radius 5 meters around him.


    Alex wanted to leave right after completing the basic requirement of 20 mana beasts, but his way was blocked by a tier 2 mana beast.


    [Mana beast : Rock Armadillos]


    [Level : 54]


    [HP : 5000]


    [MP : 2740]


    [Strength : 380(520) Agility :180(240)


    Endurance : 400(580) Intelligence :200(280)]


    [Skills : fatal scratch, headbutt, rock projectile,


    boulder tail.]


    [Abilities : armor, damage reduction, mana armor reinforcement.]


    [Special ability: Impenetrable ( damage from all attacks is reduced by 690 points by sacrifice of other attributes. )]


    Alex could tell that this beast wave was being controlled from the scene. He had just shown his combat abilities and the mana beast which would''ve been the best counter to him was already sent his way.


    Due to his level being much lower that this Rock Armadillos, the damage his attacks did to it would definitely not reach 690 in one hit, that meant that his each attack essentially wouldn''t do any damage at all.


    He looked at the Demonoid-beast hybrid that was overseeing the battle while flying in the air who was making screeching sounds from time to time. This creature was most definitely the leader of this beast wave.


    It had both the beast domain of a tier 6 mana beast and the intelligence of a demon, not to mention that it had broken the barrier by using some one time use artifact. Alex could see a smirk on its face even from a distance.


    Alex couldn''t defeat the mana beast, so he began running away, but the Rock Armadillos followed him around throughout the battlefield. Finally, Alex hit a dead end.


    He couldn''t continue fleeing because if he took a step further, he would be in the attack range of a tier 3 Goliath tiger which was fighting against a group of peak tier 2 hunters.


    Alex knew that he''d only end up dead if he interfered there, so he could only stall this Rock Armadillos for the time being.


    He swung his sword without using mana and immediately ran past the mana beast.


    This continued for about ten minutes before a smile appeared on Alex''s face.


    [Mana analysis complete.]


    [Reverse Mana generated.]


    The system notification appeared before Alex and he immediately turned around.


    Using speed enhancement, Alex immediately appeared before the Rock Armadillos and stabbed his sword into its head while covered with a wind blade.


    The wind blade gave out a metallic luster and directly penetrated into the shell of the Rock Armadillos. Due to it penetrating the head of the beast, the damage done was also quite significant and immediately one third of the HP was reduced.


    Sqquuuuiiiillllcccchhhh!


    The Armadillos made a shrill cry. It waved its tail which was covered by a layer of rock like a whip and attacked Alex.


    Alex knew that it was too late to dodge. He immediately used the body of the sword supported by his hand to block the tail from hitting him.


    Crackk!


    The tail hit the blade. The impact of the collision immediately broke the blade and Alex was thrown dozens of meters away.


    [Severe physical damage alert!]


    [HP has been reduced by 48%.]


    The system notification appeared before Alex.


    He immediately got up from the ground. His left hand was broken and a severe pain in the ribs assaulted him. Alex could see his broken bone heal slowly, but he was sure that he was no match for a tier 2 Mana beast.


    Only one attack was able to reduce him to this state. He could see the mana flow of the Rock Armadillos, but the attack came too quickly.


    Boulder was a basic skill and so the mana beast at tier 2 essentially required a very short time to use it.


    Alex got up and immediately fled using speed enhancement. Nearly all the villagers were gathered near their wagons and required a very short time to leave.


    At this moment, the Demonoid-beast hybrid that was overseeing the entire battlefield made its move. It immediately charged towards an tier 5 Apostle and swung the Warhammer towards the Apostle''s head.


    Given the short time to react, the Apostle could only put up a basic defense and was immediately hit on his head.


    Pannngggg!


    The sound of the impact was deafening as it echoed through the village. Alex could see the HP of the Apostle drop to zero in just one attack.


    The might of the attack sent shivers down the spine of everyone present and the entire battlefield lapsed into silence.


    " Hahaha...! puny insects. You dare to resist when I am here. None of you will leave here alive tonight." The sounds of the hybrid and it''s frantic laughter were the only things that could be heard on the battlefield.


    "Lord Harmon, I will try to stall this monstrosity and the other beasts. Please take the villagers and escape." The other tier 6 Apostle said to Harmon and charged towards the hybrid.


    Harmon immediately grabbed Chester and made his way to one of the wagons.


    "Everyone, leave all the things that you haven''t loaded yet and board your wagons. We can''t delay our departure any longer." Chester shouted.


    "You people should also leave. We will try to stall these beasts long enough for you to escape." The remaining three Apostles said in unison.


    Blacaw nodded and immediately signaled Alex to retreat towards his house.


    Alex immediately went towards the chief''s house in the middle of the village.


    Blacaw had already grabbed Sheri and Lucas and reached there just a second later.


    He then walked to an empty corner of the backyard and drew something on the ground.


    Immediately, a crack appeared in the air and a blinding light emerged from it.


    The light dispersed after a second and the view became clear. A shed had appeared on the empty ground and an orangish light could be seen coming from the shed.


    Blacaw opened the shed and went inside.


    A sound of neighing was heard as the sound of horse hooves tapping the ground reached Alex''s ears.


    [Mana Beast : Flame winged horse.]


    [Level : 104]


    ...


    ...


    .....


    ...


    Alex was shocked. A carriage drawn by a tier 3 mana beast was taken out of the shed.


    It was a horse like beast which had flames covering his body and it''s agility was through the roof.


    The mana beast seemed very tamed and was drawing a large carriage.


    Alex, Sheri and Lucas boarded the carriage while Blacaw took the reins of the horse and the Flame winged horse immediately began galloping it''s way out of the village.


    "I didn''t expect a tier 5 rune maker to be living here." Alex said to Blacaw.


    " I wasn''t originally from here. My parents were former Apostles of Lord God, but they died in the century long war of Gods and Demons, later I was sent here and settled down here after meeting my wife." Blacaw replied.


    Suddenly, the carriage stopped.


    " Alex, could you please take the reins?" Blacaw asked.


    "You aren''t planning to ...." Alex asked, exasperated.


    " I have no other choice. He''s already here." Blacaw said, pointing at the Demonoid-beast hybrid that had appeared behind the carriage.


    " Maggots, do you think that you will be able to escape from my grasp? No one has ever been able to survive under my, Rargrizeth''s seige."


    "No, you can''t do this. Father please don''t..."


    Sheri began crying as she tightly hugged Blacaw''s hand from behind, refusing to let go.


    " Don''t worry, little Sheri. Papa will protect you." Blacaw said, patting Sheri''s head.


    After some time, a rune appeared on Sheri''s forehead and she immediately lost consciousness.


    Blacaw stood up from his seat, put a concealment rune on the carriage and jumped off it. He put another rune on the concealed Flame winged horse and left.


    Before Alex could even say something, the horse began running frenziedly.


    Alex could only watch the silhouette of Blacaw as it grew smaller and finally disappeared into the dark of the night.


    By his side were Lucas who had been crying for some unknown time and an unconscious Sheri.


    Try as he might, all the money, ores and other things in the carriage could not distract him from the last smile that Blacaw gave when looking at the unconscious Sheri before leaving.


    Blacaw was the first person who had left such a strong impression on Alex in both his lives.


    Sound of wind being torn apart was heard in the forest as an orange streak of light passed through it.

 Chapter 21 - Three New Underlings

    __________________________^____________________


    TN: This chapter is just an introduction to the world background of the story. You can skip it if you want. I''ll be releasing the next chapter along with this one, so you can directly read that if you like.


    _____________________________^_________________


    In the night time, a carriage streaked past the forest with an orange light pulling it. Upon closer inspection, one could see a Flame winged horse carrying a carriage which was completely ignored by mana beasts and other regular creatures, as if it didn''t exist.


    Alex, who was steering the carriage, had a frown on his face. The pain from his hand and ribs was killing him, but he knew that he couldn''t stop right now. They were still not far enough for that.


    He looked back at the unconscious Sheri and Lucas who was still trying to hold his tears back and sighed. Those two had lost almost everything they had and were now reliant on him in the future while he himself had no idea about what he should do now..


    Suddenly, the carriage took a sharp turn and Alex was nearly thrown off.


    The sudden movement also hurt his already broken bones.


    ''F*ck! Alex cried under his breath.


    "Hey Alex, let me take over the reins. Your injuries would only get worse if you continue." Lucas said as he approached Alex.


    "Will you try to steer us back to the village? If so, I can''t hand over the reins to you. Blacaw has paid me quite some money and also sacrificed his life just so I can take you two away, so I''m sorry, but I can''t hand over the reins to you if you plan to drag me to death with you." Alex said.


    "I-I . ...won''t!" Lucas said with his head lowered.


    Alex finally handed the reins to Lucas and went in the carriage. He supported his back against one of the sides and opened the system interface.


    [Emergency Mission : Retreat completed.]


    [Mission Rewards : +200000 exp, +5 skill points,


    +2 skill upgrade cards.]


    [Optional Mission : Slaughter and rescue


    completed.]


    [Mission rewards : installable weapon store port,


    +1 blueprint upgrade card, +613780 exp.]


    [Base rewards have been claimed.]


    Alex quickly claimed the rewards of the two missions. He immediately spent 1 skill point to learn a healing spell.


    He immediately cast the healing spell on his broken ribs and it began boosting the healing speed of Aronith''s constitution.


    After healing himself for half an hour, Alex proceeded to heal Lucas who only had light injuries and Sheri who also had only a few injuries. Then, he continued to heal himself.


    Alex then took out the World energy container and put it in his hands. Immediately, a series of notifications appeared in front of him.


    [10 units of World energy have been absorbed.]


    [10 units of World energy have been absorbed.]


    [10 units of World energy have been absorbed.]


    ....


    ....


    ....


    Alex felt a feeling of comfort wash over him as the blue light surrounding the bracelet faded away. Alex unknowingly drifted off to sleep.


    When Alex woke up, it was already past noon the next day and the carriage had stopped. He looked around, Sheri was still unconscious while Lucas was most probably outside.


    He came out of the carriage and looked around.


    It was a clearcut logging in the forest and the Flame winged horse was grazing on some plants and grass which were rich in mana. Lucas was also standing there, blankly staring ahead.


    Lucas turned around to face him.


    "Hey Alex, this is the first time that I and Miss Sheri have come out of the village. I always wanted to visit the cities that Chief Blacaw mentioned in his stories, but who would have thought....." streams of tears began oozing out of his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away and he regained his composure.


    "Could you please take me and Miss Sheri with you wherever you are going? And if that is inconvenient, you can just take us to the nearest city and help us settle down. I will find some work to do and ....."


    "I don''t belong to the godly domain. My home is in the human territories, so I am heading there. Would you still be willing to accompany me?" Alex asked.


    "What exactly is the godly domain and human territories?" Lucas questioned.


    This took Alex by surprise.


    "You don''t know anything about the world outside of the village, do you?" Alex asked.


    "I- I don''t. " Lucas replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.


    " The world as we know of, is divided into the territories of four races. This forest and your village are a part of the godly domain which is ruled by all those different gods. Most likely, this forest is ruled by the God that the people of your village worship. Similarly, there are many cities and landmasses that are ruled by the gods and collectively they are called godly domains.


    Similar to the godly domain, there are territories ruled by the demons called demonic empire. Then, there are places ruled by humans who do not worship any of these minor gods that are called human territories. All the remaining areas and the ocean which are free from the control of the gods, demons or humans are the areas where mana beasts roam freely and the stronger mana beasts rule these parts of the world."


    "So, I belong to the human territories, where humans rule,"Alex said.


    "So, is everyone in the human territories atheist?"


    Alex nearly choked at Lucas''s question.


    "No, the gods that rule the godly domain are all minor gods and their strength is something that humans can also achieve. The major gods are too powerful and aren''t allowed to live in this world, they either live in their domains which are the same as the miniature of this world where they rule supreme, or they gather in other places. And then, finally there is the creator. He is said to have made the entire world and also humans, gods and demons, all are his creations.


    The creator is the God worshipped by both humans and other gods. The creator and some ancient major gods who were present before humans came into existence are the only ones that are worshipped in human territories."


    Alex finished his explanation and Lucas finally understood what was going on.


    "Errr... I am willing to follow you to the human territories, but I can''t possibly leave Miss Sheri on her own." Lucas said in a conflicted tone.


    "Don''t worry. She will be following me to the human territories." Alex replied without hesitation.


    "How are you so sure?" Lucas was dumbfounded by Alex''s confidence.


    "Because unlike you, she doesn''t have any other choice than to follow me. Blacaw handed her over to me and I intend to fulfill my promise of keeping her by my side until I deem her fit to be able to live all by herself." Alex replied.


    Lucas was happy and relieved at the same time to see that Alex wasn''t going to abandon them after reaching the city. Although he had said that he would just settle in the city, he was still very nervous. He had no knowledge about the general life of the city for one, and he would have had to find a job, a house and many other things on top of that. He wasn''t sure that he could achieve even one of those.


    Alex gave some more explanation about general life outside the village to Lucas, who like a little kid was amazed even at the most common of things.


    " But, what will we say to Miss Sheri once she wakes up? What if she insists on going back? And how exactly are we supposed to tell her about Chief Blacaw?" Lucas asked the question that he was most bothered about.


    "I prefer that we tell her the truth as soon as possible, no, tell her the truth without any delay. She already knows it, but is still trying to refuse it subconsciously. The longer we don''t tell her, the longer she would be tormented by this fact without letting it out and the harder it will hit her when she is finally told about it." Alex replied.


    " But...."


    " Just leave it to me. You don''t have to do anything except agreeing to whatever I say." Alex patted Lucas''s shoulder and went on towards the flame winged horse which was grazing the grass rich in mana.


    Alex touched its head, but the horse only looked at him before continuing to eat. The master-pet seal that Blacaw had placed on it had already disappeared, thus confirming his death, but this horse still continued serving them.


    [Do you want to form a master- pet contract with the Flame winged horse?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex gave it a thought before pressing yes.


    Instantly, a blinding light emerged from Alex''s forehead and merged with the horse''s forehead.


    An imprint had appeared on Alex''s forehead which was the source of this light.


    [Error: Master- pet contract failed due to the mana beast already having a contract.]


    [Error: Master- pet contract failed due to the mana beast already having a contract.]


    .....


    .....


    Alex was a bit confused. He could tell that the contract was complete as he could sense what the flame winged horse was feeling. This was the sign of the contract being completed, but why did the system mention that the contract had failed?


    At this instant, another system notification appeared.


    [Scanning complete.]


    [The host is already in a master- pet contract with the mana beast.]


    These words took Alex by surprise. So, it wasn''t the system that helped him make this contract.


    He touched his forehead and was immediately reminded of the imprint that Verenia had given him.


    Somehow, his system could not find any information about Verenia or her imprint, at the same time, Verenia was also oblivious or at least acted as if she didn''t know about the existence of the system.


    Alex had no information about this imprint, but it hadn''t proved to be harmful in any way till now.


    Anyway, he now had three underlings to help him.


    Alex went back into the carriage to check on all the things that they had so that he could plan the future course of action for them.


    There was enough food to last them for a week, money, other random materials and all of Sheri''s stuff was also packed by Blacaw. Alex didn''t touch both Sheri''s or Lucas''s stuff and only focused on the assets that he had.


    He was halfway through his counting, when he heard a weak voice. He turned around to see two beautiful bright yellow coloured eyes staring back at him. Sheri was finally awake.

 Chapter 22 - 22. Slaughtering The Hyenas

    Sheri opened her eyes and the roof of the cart greeted her eyes. She turned around to see Alex, who was busy sorting out the things in the carriage.


    "Alex..." Sheri said in a very weak voice.


    Alex turned around and looked in her eyes.


    "You''re awake." Alex said in a voice devoid of any emotions.


    "Where''s my father?" Sheri asked, looking at Alex expectantly..


    Lucas, who was outside the carriage, heard the voice and immediately came at the entrance.


    "Miss Sheri, I am sure that Chi...."


    Lucas wanted to console her, but Alex signaled him to keep quiet.


    "Chief Blacaw stayed behind so that he could buy time for us and the villagers to escape. It is very likely that you can''t meet him anymore." Alex said seriously.


    "Are we waiting for him to catch up with us?" Sheri acted like she had not heard what Alex said, but tears began overflowing from her eyes.


    "He will not be coming back."


    "No! You are lying. He is my father. He ca.....he..he... he can''t die..sob sob. He can''t die." Sheri''s cries and her miserable appearance could make even the sturdiest of hearts ache, but Alex couldn''t let it reflect on his face.


    Since he was playing the bad guy, he had to maintain an insensitive face.


    " You will have to face this truth sooner or later, so don''t delude yourself. It will only make things more painful. "


    "Shut up! Shut up! Sh...uuu..t.....upp..waaaaa."


    Sheri punched Alex''s face with all her strength, but her punch was so devoid of power that it couldn''t even leave a print on Alex''s skin.


    Sheri continued punching Alex''s face with her weak punches.


    Alex took her punches without moving.


    Finally, Sheri gave up punching and grabbed Alex''s hand.


    "Waaaaaaaaa! sob....."


    She continued to cry on his sleeves. Her painful cries caused even Lucas''s heart throb in pain.


    Lucas turned around so that they could not see his face and began to wipe off his tears, but to no avail. Tears rolled out of his eyes without stopping and he had to go behind the guarded side of the carriage so that Sheri and Alex didn''t see him crying.


    Lucas cried outside the carriage, supporting himself against the carriage wheel, whereas inside the carriage, Sheri tightly held to Alex''s sleeves and cried until her eyes ran dry.


    Alex allowed her to cry to her heart''s content.


    These two had lost their families, spiritual support and their homes in the span of one day. Alex had to agree that compared to them, he had only suffered what could be called a light slap on the back of his wrist.


    Another thing became clearer to Alex. He finally understood that it was power that mattered in this world and only power.


    It was always the stronger one who had the last laugh. He had been so fascinated with the speed of his growth that he had overlooked one thing.


    Even if you were the greatest genius in this world, even if you had the fastest growth rate, even if you could go from level 1 to level 100 in one day, it meant nothing. It required only one person who had taken decades to reach level 101 to kill you the very next day.


    The plots of all those novels he read in the previous life were too kind. The adversaries waited for the heroes to grow, but real life wasn''t as kind. He didn''t know if he''d run into a tier 10 mana beast the very next day. Louis didn''t wait for him to grow stronger before attempting to take his life, so others definitely won''t.


    He had to grow stronger. Stronger than any adversaries he will face, stronger than anyone else. Only then could he ensure his safety to the fullest. He wouldn''t find another Blacaw so easily, so the only option available was to grow stronger by himself.


    A raging fire began to burn in his heart as he clenched his fists till his nails were sunk deep into his skin.


    After some time of silence where only the occasional sounds of Sheri crying could be heard, the first foreign sound was heard.


    "Howlll!"


    A long howl was heard from behind the trees.


    Alex immediately recognized this howl. Truly, enemies walked a narrow path and it was inevitable to bump into each other every once in a while.


    Alex came out and looked around.


    A group of around thirty Poison fang Hyenas had surrounded the carriage. They looked like they had been chased away by other mana beasts and were in a ragged condition.


    Presently, this group was surrounding the carriage, but the presence of a tier 3 mana beast that was drawing this carriage acted as a deterrent to them.


    Alex took out the sword made by Old man Dreron and got ready to make his move. Lucas was sent back into the carriage. According to what Alex knew, Lucas had never fought any mana beast, so he wouldn''t be much help anyway.


    Alex freed the Flame winged horse from the carriage and immediately charged towards the Poison fang Hyenas.


    He had just fought them a few days ago and since then, he had grown exponentially stronger, whereas these Hyenas seemed beat down. But after his new realization, all the joy that he''d have gotten just one day ago on comparing their growth had disappeared in thin air.


    [New Mission : The Poison fang Hyenas]


    [Mission description : kill all the Poison fang Hyenas. ]


    [Mission rewards : +200000 exp, +5 skill points, low level poison resistance, +1 skill learning card.]


    Alex immediately charged in at the Hyenas. He cast a speed enhancement and abruptly appeared before one of these Hyenas.


    The mana beast jumped backwards to evade the incoming attack, but it was a second too late. Alex slashed his sword and the lower abdomen of the Poison fang Hyena was slit open.


    Immediately, all those Poison fang Hyenas became wary and began to use corrosive spikes, their long range moves.


    But under the effects of the second level Aronith''s constitution, they weren''t even effective on Alex.


    Immediately, a big orange coloured fireball came from the opposite end and tens of Poison fang Hyenas were reduced to ashes.


    Alex also had a level 3 fireball spell, but it was nowhere as powerful as the Flame winged horse''s attack.


    All the poison fang Hyenas were trapped between Alex and the horse.


    Alex also distanced himself and sent out multiple wind blades and fireballs at the Hyenas.


    In just a few minutes all the Poison fang Hyenas were already dead.


    Alex checked the system interface and immediately withdrew his rewards. He had killed all the Hyenas that had surrounded his carriage, but when he had cast an Area scan earlier, he had also found another presence which seemed a bit strange and was at the peak of tier 1 hiding tens of meters away in the forest.


    "Howwllll!"


    As if confirming Alex''s suspicion, a long howl ensued and a silhouette charged towards Alex from the shadows of trees, while avoiding the Flame winged horse''s attack range.


    [Mana beast : Poison fang Hyena (mutated)]


    [Level:40]


    [HP: 5065]


    [MP : 7500]


    [Skills: poison fangs, poison scratch, howl of death, corrosive spikes. ]


    [Abilities: heightened intelligence, true leader. ]


    [Strength: 276 Agility: 292


    Endurance: 250 Intelligence: 527]


    Alex was surprised. Just six days ago when he had encountered this leader of poison fang Hyenas, it was still a regular mana beast and was at level 36.


    But now, it was already at level 40 which was the true peak of tier 1.


    Mutated mana beasts were very rare, but also very dangerous. While it took several decades for a mana beast to ascend its tier and many died before reaching the peak of the tier they were awakened in, it wasn''t the case with mutated mana beasts. In most of the cases, mutated mana beasts showed speed comparable to or greater than the humans who grew at the fastest rate.


    Most of the mana beasts which weren''t originally Tier 10 were mutated mana beasts who had the potential to reach tier 10 or above.


    Also, these mutated mana beasts were better than regular mana beasts due extra stats that they gained during mutation.


    The insanely high intelligence of the hyena leader in front of Alex was an example. It had higher intelligence stat than any other mana beast at level 40 and also much more MP.


    Alex also realized that due to the effect of the true leader ability of this poison fang Hyena king, these Hyenas were freed from the influence of the beast domain and did not take part in the beast wave.


    While Alex was thinking all this, the Poison fang Hyena king was already charging at him with all its speed and the distance between them shrunk at a very high speed.


    Seeing that Alex was not moving, the poison fang Hyena king immediately pounced over him, but before it could reach its target, Alex disappeared in thin air.


    As the Hyena began descending to the ground, a sense of danger hit his mind and it began feeling cold at its stomach.


    Alex came out of the shadow of the mana beast and immediately swung his sword at its stomach.


    The poison fang hyena was able to react just in time to avoid any severe injury and the sword pierced its stomach.


    Although no internal organ was hurt, the wound of the swing itself was a bit scary. The poison fang Hyena was scared out of its wits and immediately began retreating, but Alex didn''t allow it to run away much. Alex cast his speed enhancement and arrived in front of the mana beast.


    Seeing Alex block its escape route, the poison fang Hyena immediately cast a series of poison spikes at Alex.


    Alex quietly dodged using his intermediate battle awareness ability and arrived near the poison fang Hyena which was attacking him frantically.


    Alex swung his sword in a downward arc, but the Hyena dodged the attack. Taking this opportunity, the Poison fang Hyena king decided to snatch Alex''s weapon and immediately struck its fangs near the hilt of the sword.


    Alex was a bit shocked at first, but a smile crept on his face. This mana beast had unknowingly spelled it''s own doom due to the higher intellectual abilities than its peers.


    Alex had never used a fire stream in front of the Poison fang Hyenas.


    It''s move of trying to snatch the weapon would have been very effective against any other human wielding a sword while being weaker than this Poison fang Hyena king because they couldn''t possibly hope to overcome its bite force. But against Alex, this move only spelled its doom.


    A black coloured flame immediately emerged from the sword and covered the body of the poison fang Hyena. A series of debuffs appeared on it.


    While the Hyena was feeling weakened, Alex covered his sword with a wind blade that was greenish in colour due to the reverse mana of these Poison fang Hyenas and slit the throat of Poison fang Hyena king.


    Poison fang Hyena (mutated) killed.


    +32,000 exp.


    After some rest, since none of the three was in a mood to eat anything, Alex took out a map that Blacaw had left in the carriage. This map marked the route that they were moving on and had details about various landmarks on the way. It had been carefully prepared so that they knew exactly where they were and distance from their destination, The Lightwell City.

 Chapter 23 - 23.

    The carriage ran through the forest silently moving towards Lightwell city. According to the information Blacaw had left on the map, it was ruled by a minor Battle God.


    The Flame winged horse already knew the entire route, so there was no need for Alex to steer it, but the insides of the carriage were grimly silent and cold. He was sitting outside just for the sake of fresh air and to escape the gloomy atmosphere.


    He read another paper that was attached to the map.


    Lightwell City.


    Ruled by Lord Avelan.


    Third nearest city to the village and also host to one of the regional branches of the United Adventurers Association.


    ......


    ...


    .....


    This paper was full of details about the city, people and the gods who lived in the city.


    Alex had a flash of an idea.


    Although the system dungeons were very helpful in leveling up and material gathering and he had an [portable weapons store port] on his hands, he had no choice but to place it in this very carriage for now. But this generated another problem. If he were alone, he could always enter his system dungeons at any time. But now, he had Sheri and Lucas with him. So, he could not visit the system dungeons all the time.


    So, the only other alternative was to go to the dungeons registered under the adventurer association. Though getting a license that was valid everywhere he went was a bit difficult, there were many people who chose to be traveling adventurers due to various reasons. With that as a foundation, a rough idea about what he would do after arriving at the city was formulated in Alex''s head.


    Alex opened his system interface. Whenever he was feeling bored and had nothing to do, he would either open his system interface to spend some time or open the weapons store to browse through different weapons, but he hadn''t claimed the [ portable weapons store port] yet, so he couldn''t browse through the weapons store.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion ]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 25]


    [Mana core : white (82)]


    [Stats]


    [Strength: 221]


    [Agility: 226]


    [Endurance : 193]


    [Intelligence: 214]


    [Perception: 120]


    [Charisma: 215(165)]


    [MP : 2880]


    [HP : 1410]


    [exp : 1,088,780]


    [Skill points: 9]


    Alex also had two skill upgrade cards, one blueprint upgrade card and one skill learning card. When he first got a skill learning card, he thought that it was the same as skill points, but after the system reached Level 1, he found out that skill learning cards could be used to buy any skill regardless of costs. It was a pity though that only spells and skills upto Level 2 were unlocked in his store for now.


    Although his fire stream was Level 3, it was originally a Level 1 spell that had been improved by the system to generate the same power as that of a level 3 spell.


    Alex decided to save all his skill learning cards for the future. Unless he was in urgent need of any specific skill, he would only use it to buy Level 7 and above spells and skills.


    After fighting the Rock Armadillos, Alex realized that he didn''t have any defensive spells or skills, so he used his skill points to learn a defensive skill.


    [Skill name : Mana barrier (level 2).]


    [ Description : Mana from the surroundings is gathered to form a solid barrier over a small part of the body which can protect from physical and magic related attacks.]


    [Mana usage : 15 MP/layer]


    [Cost : 2 skill points]


    Alex had already gotten used to the pain after learning spells, but the pain after learning a skill was only worse. He had held back on learning skills initially because he wanted to only learn skills that were specific to his class after reaching tier 1, but who would''ve guessed that his mana circuit never changed and he was left without any class.


    Unlike spells, skills didn''t need casting time or incantation. Skills were generated by a specific direction and speed of mana flow in the body and so were highly class specific because for normal people, only the speed of mana flow could be regulated to some extent, not the direction. This being the case, one could only use the skills that were in harmony with the mana flow of their body.


    This was the only advantage that Alex had over others.


    Unlike other mages, he wasn''t affiliated to any elements and unlike others, he could easily regulate both the speed and direction of the mana flow in his body.


    But the disadvantage was also very clear. His attacks were a bit weaker when compared to those with affiliation to the respective elements and also, he required more mana to cast those attacks.


    Alex took out the bracelet which acted as a World energy container until yesterday and put it in his palm.


    He could see that the effects of the [Blessing of the World] could not be stacked, so he decided to hand it back to Sheri once she regained a bit of her composure.


    After exhausting all other sources of passing time, the only thing that he could do now was to read the [Basic Inscriptions book].


    He had tried his hand at Inscriptions once, but the absence of mana was as big a deterrent as ever back then, but it also helped Alex realize how difficult making Inscriptions was.


    It required absolute concentration, accurate mixing of monster blood with mana, accurate magic symbols, etc among many others. It was nothing short of requiring perfection from the inscriber in every way.


    Also, remembering the various symbols which stimulated the mana to perform basic tasks was also a pain in itself.


    Alex opened the book and began reading it.


    The first page dealt with the introduction to inscriptions and their uses. A basic inscription consisted of four parts.


    First was the mana gathering part. It was a part of the drawn inscriptions which used the symbols to absorb the mana from air or other sources.


    Second was the mana core. A mana core decided what functions the inscription was used for. The mana core took in mana from the air and converted it to the mana of the creature which the core belonged to.


    Third was the drawn part which was used for projection, mostly in the shape of magic circles which used the processed mana for casting the inscriptions.


    Fourth part was mana veins which connected both the mana gathering and the output parts to the core. It was the same as mana circuits in the body.


    For example, in the basic Mana sword that Alex used, the goblin core was used to add physical enhancements to the swords because that was how the goblin core naturally functioned. If he had used wind wolf core, the sword would also have gained an affinity to air type spells and enhanced their power.


    After three days, an expensive looking carriage drawn by a Flame winged horse reached the city gates of Lightwell city. Alex could already see many people lined up at the gates waiting for identification before entering the city.


    By their appearance, Alex could tell that they were most likely people from other villages located in the forest, and the departing carriage with the flag of Xidryg''s entourage served to deepen his belief. They had seen some other villages in the forest on their way, but all of them were empty.


    Alex slowly drove his carriage to the city gates.


    "Hey you! the one driving the carriage. Come here." A brawny man wearing a different uniform from the soldiers around him called Alex.


    Alex''s back immediately straightened. He wanted to avoid coming in the spotlight at this place because it may lead people to find out that he didn''t have an imprint given by Gods.


    He slowly walked to where the man was while maintaining a worry free expression.


    " Kid, do you really think that you can enter the city of Lord God Avelan while hiding the fact that you don''t have any imprint? Hahaha...what? Do you take us for fools?" The man''s tone was getting colder by every word.


    This kid thought that he could bypass the city defense and enter under his, an illustrious Apostle of a Battle God''s nose. This was a clear challenge to his capabilities. He wouldn''t let this kid inside without first teaching him a lesson.


    The Apostle immediately took out something from his clothes. Seeing this, Alex immediately wanted to retreat, but the tier 7 Apostle''s pressure descended on him and he froze in his place.


    From inside the carriage, Sheri immediately charged out towards the Apostle despite the crushing pressure, but before she could even reach near him, another tier 7 Apostle appeared before her and stopped her.


    Sheri couldn''t even raise her hand before the man released his pressure. Just like Alex, she also froze under the pressure.


    "Another one without an imprint. You''ll be the next." the Apostle in front of Alex said as he looked at Sheri.


    A seal-like object was placed on Alex''s forehead and the apostle began laughing hysterically as he expected Alex to scream under the effects of forceful imprinting. This was what the kid deserved for trying to trick an Apostle.


    After waiting for two seconds, the Apostle was a bit shocked. There were no screams like he had expected. He was sure that he was pressing the seal on Alex''s forehead, but for some reason, the seal was not working.


    He pulled the seal back to check it, but there wasn''t anything wrong with it. He wanted to press it against Alex''s forehead once again, but he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at Alex with a mixture of disbelief and fear.


    An impression was slowly forming on Alex''s forehead and it seemed a bit identical to the ones that he had seen on the descendants of gods. The imprint continued to grow until it was covering the entirety of Alex''s forehead. The apostle was having a sense of foreboding as his entire body chilled at the sight of the growing imprint.


    Boom!


    A shockwave of pressure much heavier than that of the apostle spread with Alex as the center and both the Apostles were thrown away while spitting out blood. The entire city was drowned in this pressure, but only those tier 7 or above could feel it.


    In a manor at the center of Lightwell city, a man was sitting on a throne, while several people were standing in front of him and praying. This man was Avelan, a minor Battle God who had ascended in the hundred years long war of Gods and Demons. He was a relatively new God who received the Lightwell city along with his seat as a God.


    Suddenly, a pressure descended on the entire manor and everyone frozen stiff. Even Avelan wasn''t left unaffected. He was also feeling it difficult to breathe. With difficulty, he got up from his throne and disappeared.

 Chapter 24 - 24.

    Avelan teleported away from his throne and approached the source of the overbearing pressure. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the Eastern city gate.


    For a moment, Avelan could feel the sense of fear emerging from his heart. What if the person radiating this pressure didn''t come in good intentions?


    His teleportation was instant but when he reached the site, the pressure had already receded. All that was left were two of his lower level apostles who were lying unconscious on the ground while blood flowed out of their nose and mouth and a group of crazed people staring at a boy and a girl standing at one side while grasping and whispering amongst each other.


    Alex touched his forehead and a smile appeared on his mouth. This imprint given by Verenia was truly dependable.


    Just as he was going towards Sheri, a strong presence appeared at the city gate.


    Alex became cautious and immediately scanned this new person who had appeared out of thin air and was now standing at the city gate..


    [Name : ??????]


    [Race : ???????]


    [Level : 376]


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Just like the last time when he scanned the tier 7 mana beast, Alex couldn''t see anything except the level of this person who had arrived, but it was seeing the level that shocked him.


    Mid stage Tier 10. He was in the godly domain where the growth of people was capped at peak tier 8. The only ones who could surpass this were the Apostles of various gods or gods themselves.


    One look at the people around him and all his doubts were cleared. The one in front of him was a God. Everyone with the exception of Alex, Sheri and the God himself, were bowing down to him.


    Since Alex and Sheri didn''t have any imprint on them, they were not subdued by the feeling of worshipping him. But everyone else, who had been in contact with godly powers before, were immediately subdued by the godly power oozing out of him.


    Alex turned around to look at Sheri. Although she didn''t show it on her face, she was still struggling to prevent the sense of veneration from taking over her.


    The God looked around and immediately his eyes landed on Alex. He could tell that Sheri hadn''t been in direct contact with godly powers yet, so she was able to stand, albeit still struggling. But Alex stood there as if there wasn''t any pressure.


    He looked at his apostles and the seal lying near them and immediately everything became clear.


    Even he himself didn''t know whom the seal on Alex''s forehead belonged to, let alone his apostles.


    "Let''s talk elsewhere." Avelan said to Alex and disappeared from the scene.


    Alex immediately understood what had happened. This God might have felt the pressure and thought that it was due to his followers trying to overwrite another god''s imprint.


    This God most likely wanted to settle the matter down so that it didn''t develop to the stage where he had to confront another god because of his apostle''s foolishness. Similar incidents had happened all over history where attempting to overwrite the imprints was considered as a challenge to a god''s authority and thus leading to gods fighting amongst themselves. This God most likely wanted to suggest a compromise, but his dignity as a God wouldn''t allow him to either suggest it upfront or accept it in front of all these people, so he asked Alex to meet him.


    Since the apostles were still unconscious and the guards had already heard their lord allowing Alex to enter the city, Alex''s carriage passed through the city gates without any obstruction or document verification.


    Alex was very happy with this development. He had lost nothing and could now get the things which he wanted without any hassle.


    As long as he didn''t demand anything outrageous, he could get anything he wanted.


    He wasn''t going to demand anything outrageous in the first place.


    He wanted to avoid any further contact with any of these gods until he was strong enough so he decided to ask for the only thing he wanted right now.


    Alex knew that the only reason that Avelan was compromising was to not provoke the supposed God who had left the imprint on him. But, this was another hurdle that he had to overcome.


    When he was talking with Verenia, she always referred to the gods as ''them''. This meant that it was highly likely that she wasn''t a god, but if Avelan asked about the individual who had given him the imprint, he would be put on the spot, especially considering how little he knew about Verenia. The only way that he could think of was to cook up a story and keep the supposed god a mystery. It was the unknown that people feared provoking the most after all. He made up his mind and quickly came up with a story which he would tell if questioned about the god.


    After getting into the city, the first thing that Alex did was to rent three rooms for the three of them.


    He walked into his room and immediately claimed the [portable weapons store port] and put it in the room that he had rented.


    He opened the weapons store and upgraded his customized weapon blueprint to level 2.


    The material requirements and inscriptions on the weapon had changed a bit.


    After this was done, he was tempted to have a solo dungeon run, but he controlled his impulse and prepared himself for his upcoming meeting with Avelan.


    Alex walked out of his room and knocked at Sheri''s room. There was no response, so he knocked once again. This time, he heard a brisk sound of the door opening.


    "Why were you crying?" Alex asked Sheri.


    "I wasn''t. " Sheri said, wiping her tears away.


    "What do you want?"


    "I just forgot to give you something. Here, take this." Alex tossed over the bracelet in her hand.


    "This is..?"


    "Chief Blacaw had given this to me as a payment for taking you with me when I left the village. " Alex replied.


    "I don''t want it. It''s yours now." Although Sheri was handing the bracelet over to Alex, her eyes showed how reluctant she was to let go of it.


    "Are you sure? Your father told me that this was his second most valuable treasure and he wanted to give it to you after you grew up.


    But you''re right, it''s mine now. Since it has already served the purpose that I wanted it for, I think that I''ll sell it for some money." Alex began turning back.


    "Nn- no! I mean ....If it has served its purpose, why not sell it to me? I''ll buy it from you." Sheri said, trying to get the bracelet from Alex''s hand.


    "You''ll buy it. But what will you buy it with?" Alex asked.


    "I....." Sheri didn''t know what to reply. She had already given all her money to Alex and now she didn''t have anything left.


    "You don''t have to act so tough. I have promised your father to look after you and I will keep my promise. Take this, I have no use of this, but it can be very useful to you. Ask me if you want anything and get changed, I am taking you and Lucas for some shopping."


    After speaking his mind, Alex went and informed Lucas about the same thing and returned to his room.


    Alex picked up a miniature furnace and inspected it. This was the [portable weapons store port] that he had received from the system.


    It was made of some unique material and a small fire was always burning inside it.


    Alex took out the [Basic Inscriptions book] and began reading it. Now that the blueprint of his customized weapon had been upgraded, the inscriptions on it had also become more complicated. He had to learn these inscriptions as soon as possible so that he could craft his weapon.


    After about half an hour, a knock was heard on his door and Alex put aside the book and went outside. Locking the door behind him, Alex left with Sheri and Lucas.


    The next day, Alex left the rented rooms with Sheri and Lucas.


    "Hey, what are you getting all shy about?" Alex asked as he looked at Sheri who didn''t dare to raise her head and kept tugging at her blouse because a small part of her flat belly was visible above her skirt.


    "Is....is it alright for us to meet a God in such clothes?" Sheri asked as she lifted her head only to lower it once she met Alex''s gaze.


    "It''s alright. Outside the village, clothes like these are very common. You can even see many girls wearing such clothes on the streets if you lift your head up right now. And I don''t think that you cared so much about how you looked when you randomly attacked me out of the blue when we first met, so why bother now?" Alex replied, trying to ease her worries and teasing her at the same time.


    "That..... that was just to test how strong you were."


    Sheri replied with a slight blush and lifted up her head. She had tried to act tough when she first met Alex and afterwards when she tried to keep up her image as someone high and mighty, but Alex found out her real nature when he taught her how to wield spears and had been teasing her about it ever since.


    She wished more than anything that she didn''t act that way at that time whenever she heard Alex bring it up.


    Finally, Sheri was convinced after seeing many other girls of her age wearing the same clothes as her, but she still kept her head lowered while standing on the street because she could feel the gazes of nearly every man on the street fixed on her.


    This wasn''t just her imagination though, after getting a makeover to better suit the city, Sheri looked too cute to be ignored. She was radiating with beauty and charm. All the people found it difficult to look away after seeing her shy demeanor paired with her angelic looks.


    Alex and Sheri waited for Lucas to bring their carriage and boarded it.


    After half an hour, they finally reached the mansion at the centre of the city.


    The guards on the gate tried to stop them, but a shrill voice ordered them to let the three in and they were led in by a butler to a hallway before entering a room at the end.


    "Have a seat." Avelan said, signaling the three of them to sit.

 Chapter 25 - 25

    "Have a seat." Avelan said, signaling Alex, Sheri and Lucas to sit down.


    "Please pardon our intrusion, Your Excellence." Alex said, bowing down before taking his seat. Sheri and Lucas also bowed down and took a seat at either side of Alex nervously.


    "Let''s get straight to the topic. I would like you people to keep whatever happened yesterday a secret, even from your God. It will do none of us any good if such a matter is brought to light, it may even lead to a battle between gods which will cause heavy casualties to both sides, yours or mine." The God said in an assertive tone.


    Alex knew that there was a slight nervousness behind those words. Others couldn''t tell it, but he knew that Verenia was stronger than this God in front of him. He could see Avelan''s level through his interface, but Verenia''s level was filled with question marks, meaning that Verenia was higher level than this god..


    "So what do you propose, your excellence?" Alex asked upfront in a voice full of respect.


    " I have already taken the status of apostles back from those two who offended you. Does that sit right with you?" Avelan asked.


    ''So he doesn''t have any plans to bring the talks about compensation by himself.'' Alex sneered but didn''t let it show on his face.


    "Thank you, your excellence. But there is a small thing that I need your help with.." Alex said.


    If the other party won''t bring up the compensation, he would ask for it himself.


    Right now, he was just some vagabond with no status. He wasn''t bound by dignity as a prince, so there was no harm in bringing it up himself.


    For a second, Alex could see Avelan''s eyebrows twitch, before it was back to his cold disposition.


    " If it''s within reasonable limits, I will be glad to help you. " Avelan said in a straightforward tone.


    "You see that I have come here from her domain to train and found two companions on the way who told me about adventurers and the United Adventurers Association, but I don''t like staying at a place, so it''d be very helpful of you if you could arrange the three of us the license of traveling adventurers." Alex said.


    "Just that!" Avelan blurted out.


    "Yes, just that. Am I supposed to ask for something else? I am not from this place, so I don''t know much about the things here." Alex said, making a pondering expression.


    "No, it''s nothing." Avelan said, looking at the butler standing behind Alex who gave him a slight nod.


    "Just wait here and I''ll send someone to get what you want, but even I can''t overlook the rules of the United Adventurers Association. All three of you will get bronze batches at the start regardless of what tier you are in, but you can upgrade that after two months and a few compulsory missions." Avelan said.


    Although Alex felt that Avelan was being stingy and that he could definitely do more, he couldn''t say it upfront. Since he was playing this role, he couldn''t act as if he knew that Avelan was being stingy.


    [Truth detection artifact has been directed at the host.]


    This system notification had appeared before Alex when he was first escorted by the butler, so he had kept all information that he gave them vague while signaling that he had come here from the domain of a major goddess and was here to train and found Sheri and Lucas on the path. The region in the forest created by Verenia''s appearance was definitely a part of her domain, he wanted to become an adventurer to farm exp and become stronger and met Lucas and Sheri after leaving Verenia.


    All this vague information provided by Alex had taken the form of a tale of him coming to this world from the domain of a major goddess for the sake of training in Avelan''s mind because Avelan had convinced himself that the imprint that could even pressurize him definitely belonged to a major god.


    Avelan had already sent someone to get the adventurers'' batches and licenses for the three of them based on the information that Alex had given him, so in the absence of any topic, there was a long silence which was broken by Avelan.


    "So who is the one who gave you that imprint?"


    Alex refused to give any details without any hesitation which took Avelan by surprise, but he didn''t pursue the matter because he had other ways to find out.


    The major gods couldn''t come to this world, but there was nothing stopping the minor gods from going to the domains of the major gods. This was how the godly domain truly worked.


    Most of the known gods would gather in the domains of various major gods from time to time and both major and minor gods would discuss the matters regarding faith and territory. This conference was also the reason why the godly domain was the most united and also the largest of territories of all the races.


    After getting their licenses and batches, Alex and his party of three immediately left.


    "Anything strange?" Avelan asked the butler.


    "No my lord. There were no reactions from the artifact. Although the information that he gave us was a bit insufficient, he did tell his motive which was confirmed to be true. " The butler said as he bowed down.


    "Alright. But keep tabs on them while they are here at all times without fail." Avelan said these words and left.


    Alex, Sheri and Lucas returned to the inn and decided to part their ways.


    "Alex, will there be any consequences of lying to a God?" Sheri asked in a worried tone.


    "Are you sure that I was lying?" Alex asked.


    "I don''t know. I just kept having this feeling that you were lying. " Shrri replied.


    Alex was surprised by how perceptive Sheri was. Even after using artifacts and despite the high level difference, Avelan couldn''t tell that he was being deceived, but Sheri could tell it only by looking at him. And that was when Alex was sure that he hadn''t let out any signs in front of them.


    "You are quite perceptive, but I didn''t say anything that was a lie otherwise that old man behind us would already have told Avelan that I was lying." Alex replied.


    " You are so disrespectful to a God. At least use ''lord'' before you call his name. What if someone hears it and tells him? Do you know how big a trouble we will be in?" Lucas chimed in.


    Alex ignored Lucas and went inside his room.


    It was finally time to gather raw material for his weapon.


    Alex searched the list of basic mana weapons in the store to find out which of them had the material that he needed.


    After shortlisting five dungeons, Alex entered one of them.


    [Entered system Dungeon. ]


    [Recommended level : 32]


    [Rewards : Tier 1 monster cores, lizardmen spinal cord, tier 1 monster blood, magnetic veined steel.]


    [Occasional Drops : Tier 1 monster core ( evolved)]


    [The host''s level is lower than the recommended level. Do you still want to enter the dungeon?]


    [Yes/No.]


    Alex immediately pressed yes. The recommended level was the average level of regular monsters in the dungeon, whereas the boss monster would only be stronger, but Alex had more than sufficient exp to level up right now, so he would first level up to the bare minimum because he needed to save exp.


    While making a customized weapon, nearly every process consumed exp, so he could only be stingy when it came to spending it. This dungeon was under the tab of a whip that could change shapes on passing mana from it without any external stimulus.


    Alex entered the dungeon and he was immediately teleported to a swampy rainforest.


    Immediately, a pungent smell of rotting wood and flesh assaulted his senses.


    Alex turned around, there were corpses of small animals and mana beasts littered on the ground.


    He continued towards the direction where he sensed the presence of some lizardmen after an area scan.


    Alex wanted to test how good he fared against them so that he could decide on an optimal level for the confrontation. He quickly reached a swampy part of the forest where three of the lizardmen had gathered. Alex scanned the one nearest to him.


    [Mana beast : Swamp amphibiod]


    [Level : 30]


    [HP : 4500]


    [MP : 4280]


    [Strength : 250 Agility: 248]


    [Endurance: 210 Intelligence: 223]


    [Skills : Basic spear mastery (level 1), swamp vortex, water bullet, mud slash.]


    [Abilities: Marshy claws, mud manipulation, swamp transverse.]


    Alex peeked at his stats. His stats weren''t that far off from that of the lizardmen in front of him, but he was hindered by the terrain whereas the lizardmen wouldn''t be bothered by the swamps in the slightest.


    The group had two more lizardmen, one at level 32 and other at level 33.


    Since this area was much larger than the goblin villages, Alex wasn''t able to scout the positions of other lizardmen. His disadvantages were stacking, but Alex wasn''t bothered in the least.


    Now that he had become an adventurer, he''d be in similar situations more often than not, so he had to get a taste of this before he challenged mana beasts who wouldn''t have any level restrictions in their natural habitat. This dungeon could act as a rehearsal for what he might have to face in real life.


    Alex could feel a sense of excitement in his chest. Finally, after so many days of stagnation, he could level up and become stronger once again. It was also at this point that Alex realized that he had begun worshipping power from some unknown period of time. Although it wasn''t frantic, he was starting to become obsessed with getting stronger.


    ''Well a little obsession isn''t that bad. At the very least, it can work as a motivation.'' He said to himself.


    After clearing his thoughts, Alex cast another area scan and began moving towards a lizardman that seemed to be moving away from it''s group. This was just the practice subject that he needed.


    Alex quietly followed it until there was a considerable distance between it and the rest of the group and then launched his attack. He wanted to fight it upfront rather than ambushing it so that he could get a well defined idea of the disparity between him and the mana beast.


    He intentionally appeared before the lizardman, who immediately charged in at Alex while thrusting its spear towards his chest. Due to his passive ability, Intermediate Battle Awareness, Alex could easily track the movement of the spear and continued dodging.


    After sometime, when the spear wasn''t aimed at his vitals, Alex used a mana barrier to block the attack.


    Being a level 2 skill, it was much more effective than Alex had expected. After testing the effects of his new skill, Alex was all set.


    He took out a new basic mana sword that he had recently crafted using the goblin shaman''s core and swung it forward.


    [Mana analysis complete. ]


    [Reverse Mana generated. ]


    The spear and the sword crossed, making a metallic sound and a black coloured flame transversed from them and immediately surrounded the entire body of the lizardman.


    The lizardman stumbled backward and yelled in pain.


    Alex immediately followed through with a brownish coloured wind blade coated on his sword. The sword immediately slipped through the scales on the lizardman''s body and pierced its flesh.


    "aaaaaaawwwwww!"


    The lizardman yelped and began to attack Alex with claws and tail. Alex immediately retreated and launched wind blade projectiles on the mana beast. The brown coloured wind blades left cuts on the scales of the lizardman wherever they hit and blood began to drip out.


    The lizardman continued roaring in agony while it charged towards Alex while baring its claws.


    Alex stepped back and swung his sword towards the incoming claw.


    "aaaawwww!"


    Blood splattered and the claw of the lizardman fell on ground, detached from its body.


    Alex proceeded to slash the sword once again and left a deep wound on the chest of the lizardman.

 Chapter 26 - 26

    The lizardman''s painful screams echoed in the forest as it took its last breath.


    [Swamp Amphibiod ( level 32) killed.]


    [+31,000 exp]


    Alex had to manually extract all the collectible material from the corpse before storing it.


    After collecting all the material, Alex looked around and a frown appeared on his face.


    He had been repeatedly casting area scans since the lizardman had created too much noise before dying. That ought to have put the others at guard and they should''ve sent some scouts, but there was no sign of any of them. This behavior was strange and was something that one wouldn''t expect from creatures with the intellectual capabilities comparable to humans.


    Something didn''t seem to be right, so Alex decided to have a look around and proceed cautiously..


    After two hours, the frown on Alex''s face only deepened. No matter how he tried to lure out the lizardmen guards, they didn''t leave their places even when he walked away in front of them.


    Things were getting difficult. If he could not lure them out, he''d have to confront an entire group of seven lizardmen at the same time. And to make things worse, he didn''t know where the next group of them was.


    After a few more fruitless attempts to lure them out, Alex finally had to switch plans. He couldn''t continue with his attempts to lure them, so he could only confront them.


    Having no other choice, Alex could only tell the system to use exp to reach level 32.


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [Level up!]


    [ +35 all stats, +70 free attribute points, + 14 skill points.]


    [+350 HP, +525 MP]


    [475000 exp has been used.]


    Since the guards didn''t seem like they''d leave their positions anytime soon, Alex decided to try something that he had been holding up for the past two days.


    His mana core had already reached white(98), and it would upgrade to yellow, but he didn''t know what the process was. Alex was with Sheri and Lucas all the time when he was in the forest and he didn''t know if his mana core promotion would cause a scene like when he reached Tier 1, so he didn''t dare try it in the forest for the fear of attracting mana beasts and in the inn for the fear of causing a commotion. This was the perfect opportunity for him.


    Alex created some distance from the lizardman guards and began absorbing the Poison fang Hyena cores. He had already developed a resistance to goblin cores, so this was his only other option.


    [Poison fang Hyena mana core absorbed.]


    [+2 core points.]


    [Conditions for mana core promotion achieved.


    Do you want to undergo core promotion?]


    [Yes/No]


    Alex readied himself for whatever was going to happen and pressed yes.


    [Mana core promotion initiated.]


    Alex felt like a vortex of mana was gathering on the top of his head and all the mana from the surroundings was gathering there. His body was absorbing mana crazily.


    While absorbing, Alex suddenly felt a pain in his mana core. His mana core was expanding at a crazy rate. Before he could do anything, a sudden shockwave of mana spread throughout his body and even in the air surrounding him.


    "Cough! Cough!"


    Alex coughed out one mouthful of blood after another.


    His mana core had exploded, leading to nearly every internal organ in his body being damaged.


    "Cough! Cough!"


    Alex continued coughing blood.


    His face became pale and he could feel his consciousness slipping from his body.


    With difficulty, Alex immediately grabbed his sword and stabbed it across his palm. The pain was the only thing keeping his consciousness from slipping and he had to stab himself repeatedly to stay awake.


    While stabbing himself repeatedly, Alex still continued to keep his senses on high alert.


    He couldn''t let himself lose consciousness even if the lizardmen showed no movements, and to top it all up, he couldn''t use area scan due to lack of mana core and there were creatures other than lizardmen in this dungeon. The corpses that he first saw were proof of that.


    After what seemed like a few hours, another vortex of mana was formed around Alex and his body began absorbing mana.


    A stabbing pain emerged from where his mana core previously was. It was a feeling like something was twisting and pushing his organs aside.


    Slowly, a yellow coloured mana core was taking shape by the compression of the mana that Alex was absorbing.


    Finally, when his mana core was the size of his fist, the absorption and the pain from the mana core stopped altogether, but the pain from his organs only got worse.


    This wasn''t a problem though. Alex immediately cast healing on himself and his organs began recovering at an incredible rate.


    [Mana core promotion completed.]


    [Rate of absorbing mana from the surroundings has been doubled.]


    [+500 permanent increase in MP]


    [10 units of World energy have been used to sustain the host''s life processes for two hours.]


    A series of system notifications marked the completion of his mana core promotion and Alex stood up.


    He looked around and immediately understood why the system had to spend 10 units of World energy to sustain his life. He was surrounded by a pool of blood, there was a ghastly wound in his left hand and there were dried streams of blood coming from his nostrils, eye sockets and mouth.


    Somehow, he felt that the blood around him was more than what his body ever contained.


    Alex exhaled and a whitish mist left his nose and mouth. He looked at his clothes which were tattered and sighed. After everything was done, he proceeded to absorb four more cores before picking up his sword and stepping towards the lizardmen guards.


    Just like the previous attempts, the lizardmen guards refused to leave their positions even after seeing Alex approach towards them.


    The first reaction that Alex got from them was when he was just ten meters away from them.


    All seven of the lizardmen guards raised their spears while pointing the spears at Alex and gave out a weak growl.


    Alex immediately clenched the hilt of his sword and charged towards them. The lizardmen guards were infuriated by this sudden intrusion and attacked Alex with their spears. Even with his passive ability, it was very difficult for Alex to even land an attack.


    These lizardmen weren''t the goblins that Alex had faced earlier, they were all seasoned warriors and could easily block or dodge his ranged attacks while their numbers overwhelmed him in melee combat.


    Alex charged in once again and swung his sword sidewards at one of the lizardmen who blocked using its spear, at the same time another spear moved towards Alex''s chest. Alex moved sidewards and attacked another one, but before he could slash his sword completely, it was blocked by the spears of two other lizardmen who had been standing beside it.


    Alex immediately retreated and a spear appeared where he was previously standing. These lizardmen were very good at teamwork and if Alex hadn''t retreated when he did, he would have been trapped in their encirclement even if dodged or blocked that last spear.


    The lizardmen and Alex eyed each other, trying to evaluate each other.


    The only relief for Alex was that his mana recovery was much better now than what it had previously been, so he could prolong the battle, but not by a very significant margin.


    Alex charged in again while using speed enhancement and attacked one of the lizardmen using his sword. It was blocked again, but unlike last time Alex used a wind blade just to push the lizardman backward. The spear of a nearby lizardman came striking at Alex''s guts, but Alex was only pushed towards the other side.


    Using a mana barrier, Alex managed to stop the spear from piercing his guts and used the impact to move towards another one.


    This lizardman was caught by surprise and Alex''s sword pierced its heart in an instant.


    [Swamp Amphibiod (level 30) killed]


    [ +29,000 exp]


    Alex quickly escaped in the shadow of a tree before the spears of the other lizardmen reached him and appeared a few meters behind them.


    The lizardman nearest to Alex charged at him in a rage. Alex also moved forward. The sword and the spear collided. The lizardman tried to overpower Alex and increased the force behind his spear, but a brown coloured wind blade was stabbed into his guts.


    It continued to weakly advance towards Alex only to be beheaded by the next attack.


    Now, only five were left and the pressure created by the barrage of attacks reduced significantly.


    Alex charged into the formation of the five lizardmen and stabbed one of them in the shoulder. It roared in agony and began to frantically attack Alex with its spear. Alex cut the spear with his sword and stepped back.


    The lizardmen were prideful creatures, so the one hurt by Alex couldn''t take it and broke the formation to attack Alex with its claws. The lizardman charged forward and swung its tail on Alex. Alex dodged the attack and slashed his sword at the neck of the lizardman.


    Suddenly, the ground under Alex''s feet began to crumble and pointed rocks appeared from beneath. Alex jumped in the air to dodge the mud slash. A lizardman from the group of four suddenly raised its arm and released a series of water bullets on Alex.


    Alex also released a series of wind blades in response. The wind blades being at level 2 were much stronger than the water bullets and hit the lizardman after cutting through the water bullets.


    The lizardman was injured and blood flowed out of the cuts and wounds of its body. After landing, Alex immediately charged in at the injured lizardman and whacked his sword. The lizardman was cut into two from top to bottom and died immediately.


    Suddenly, the swampy ground under Alex''s foot began to cave in and a vortex began to pull him in.


    Seeing Alex get trapped, the four lizardmen immediately pounced at him from all four sides.


    But, when the four were still in midair, Alex disappeared into the shadow created by one of them which happened to fall on Alex.


    Before they could realize what happened, Alex appeared out of the shadow of the lizardman and stabbed its stomach with a brownish wind blade. Alex then used his sword to cut the lizardman into two.


    The remaining three were horrified and wanted to retreat, but a loud squeak was heard from behind them.


    A large Swamp Amphibiod around the size of two regular ones appeared, carrying the corpse of one of its kind. Alex was a bit confused. He hadn''t killed this one, so where did the corpse come from?


    Alex immediately got his answer the next moment though.

 Chapter 27 - Swamp Amphibiod Boss

    Alex used appraisal on the giant lizardman.


    [Name : Groudogon]


    [Race : Swamp Amphibiod]


    [Level : 39]


    [HP : 8670(5365)]


    [MP : 7800]


    [Skills : Basic spear mastery (level 1), swamp vortex, water bullet, mud slash, mud prison]


    [Abilities : Marshy claws, mud manipulation, swamp transverse, area entrapment, dungeon lord (increases HP)]


    [Strength : 360 Agility : 320].


    [Endurance : 330 Intelligence : 290]


    Alex found the results of this appraisal a bit inconsistent. The dungeon lord ability of this lizardman boss gave it a bonus only for HP, but the MP of this lizardman was also through the roof.


    But he didn''t have to find out the reason for long. The lizardmen boss sunk its teeth into the corpse it was carrying and dug out it''s mana core. Then it proceeded to swallow the core.


    Since Alex could see the mana flow of his opponents when the system finished it''s analysis, he could immediately see a streak of additional mana pass through the mana circuit of the lizardmen boss.


    [The MP of the opponent has increased by 100]


    The system notification proved his speculation. This lizardman was killing its own kind and absorbing their mana cores in order to grow stronger, but it was oblivious to the fact that only its MP was rising, not its level.


    But any rise in any stat of his opponents was only unwelcome news to Alex.


    But his opponent didn''t have any plans to stop though. It grabbed one of the three remaining guards and slit the throat of its subordinate before digging out its mana core and swallowing it.


    [The MP of the opponent has increased by 100]


    The other guards were horrified at this sight and wanted to escape, but they couldn''t move more than a few hundred meters away from the boss.


    This was the ability Area entrapment. None of the others could get more than a certain distance away from the user.


    The boss moved towards the other one, but was stopped by an intense sense of danger. It immediately stepped back and a brownish windblade left an impression on the swampy ground.


    Alex knew better than to see his adversary increasing its strength without any worries.


    The lizardman was irritated with Alex''s intrusion. The other lizardmen has already left the area that it could lock down due to its concentration being broken by the sudden attack.


    Alex dodged the spear that was thrust at him with a great speed and pulled back. The annoyed lizardman boss had decided to hunt down Alex before it''s other prey.


    The boss lizardman immediately attacked with its spear. Alex blocked with his sword and launched a black coloured fireball from one of his hands. Alex was pushed back due to removing one hand from his sword to cast the fireball but the Lizardman Boss was caught in the flames.


    A series of debuffs appeared on the mana beast and also, it''s scales were burnt.


    Alex could see its HP declining due to the burns, but the loss was inconsiderable to its total HP.


    "aaaaaaawwwwww!"


    The lizardman boss roared and charged in at Alex once again. It launched a series of water bullets at Alex while charging forward.


    Although it''s MP was very high, due to its intelligence not being able to keep up with it''s MP, the efficiency of mana usage was very low. Alex could see a large amount of mana being radiated into the air.


    Alex cast two wind blades and controlled them to cut through the maximum number of water bullets that was possible. His efficiency and control over all his spells had drastically improved in the last few days because mental simulation was the only thing he could do to practice in the forest.


    The wind blades managed to block a large number of water bullets before continuing towards Groudogon. Alex dodged the few attacks that reached him and immediately cast a barrage of wind blades.


    Seeing the attacks surrounding itself, Groudogon wasn''t the least worried. Suddenly, it''s feet began sinking in the swamp.


    Then, it began to move towards Alex. The movement was very uncanny and most of the attacks missed it. Groudogon was the only one in the tribe who had mastered swamp transverse.


    Groudogon closed in on Alex and thrust its spear at him. Alex blocked, but was thrown off his feet due to the impact.


    The lizardman followed through with its spear pointed at Alex''s chest. Alex used a mana barrier and was pushed further away from the impact.


    Although the spear didn''t pierce him, the impact did cause minor bruises. If his mana barrier wasn''t level 2, Alex doubted that he could''ve got away with just this.


    Alex landed a few meters away from the lizardman boss. The swamp under his feet began to take the shape of a vortex, but Alex jumped away. This time, it was the swamp being manipulated to hold him down and Groudogon charged at him.


    Alex had to confront Groudogon in melee combat. The fight continued, but Alex couldn''t do much. Although almost all their attacks were blocked or dodged by the other and Alex was successful in landing a few attacks, his HP loss due to the impacts was much more than that of Groudogon.


    Alex was pushed back once again and used speed enhancement to create distance, but he couldn''t go more than a hundred meters away due to area entrapment.


    Finally, Alex remembered something and immediately dashed towards one of the dead lizardmen.


    His sword mastery was only level 1, but he had learned level 2 spear mastery to teach Sheri as a parting gift.


    He picked up the spear near the corpse and took his stance. Groudogon charged in with its spear and swung it at Alex.


    Alex used the spear in his hand to block and countered immediately. The lizardman tried to block, but Alex''s spear turned midway and was immediately stabbed in its ribs. Groudogon stepped back and attacked once again, aiming at Alex''s head. Alex crouched down while aiming his spear at the neck of his adversary.


    Groudogon was able to block it at the last moment, but it''s spear was knocked off. Alex didn''t give it any chance to recover and a barrage of attacks was launched at Groudogon.


    Blood seeped out from the multitude of stabs and cuts on its body and the lizardman roared in agony. It immediately distanced itself from Alex and put its hands on the swampy ground.


    A prison like structure was erected from all sides and Alex was trapped within it. Alex tried to attack the structure, but it was able to endure his attacks. Groudogon gave him a smirk and charged at him with a spear in hand.


    Alex dodged the spear thrust at him, but due to the limited space of movement, he was having a hard time.


    Alex continued attacking the mud prison with his spear coated with a wind blade. After a few minutes and a few injuries from Groudogon''s spear, Alex was finally able to break free.


    He looked at the lizardman and gave a smile. During their prolonged battle, Groudogon had wasted a lot of mana and finally, it was nearly out of mana. Alex on the other hand still had some of his mana left.


    When Groudogon closed in on Alex, he immediately cast a shadow movement and appeared behind it.


    The spear was stabbed at the back of the lizardman''s neck and Alex could see its HP plummet at a very fast rate. Alex immediately jumped away by kicking Groudogon.


    Groudogon rolled away and Alex landed on the ground. He used speed enhancement and appeared near the mana beast. Once again, Alex stabbed his spear in its chest and brown coloured flames covered its entire body.


    Groudogon cast mud slashes frantically and exhausted the last bits of its remaining MP.


    Alex used this opportunity to push away the spear lying on the ground and distanced himself.


    Alex cast a barrage of wind blades until his MP fell to 200. Faced with no other choice, Groudogon had to use its hands and tail to take the attacks while desperately trying to protect its vitals, but the wind blades seemed to have a mind of their own. They turned around and moved in curves until they hit one of the wounds or hit the vitals.


    After five minutes, a pitiful looking Groudogon with blood oozing out of the wounds was left.


    Nearly the entire body of the lizardman was covered in wounds and its HP was also pitifully low.


    Alex used speed enhancement and stabbed his spear in Groudogon''s heart.


    The remaining HP was also drained and the corpse fell on the ground.


    Alex also sat down. He was also drained. Both his HP and MP were reduced to a few hundreds and there were wounds and bruises all over his body.


    Alex used his remaining mana to cast a healing spell on himself.


    After resting for half an hour, Alex got up and tore down the corpse.


    The mana core that he extracted was an enhanced one which could store and convert more mana than regular ones.


    Alex smiled and began exploring the dungeon. Behind the point that the guards were standing, All Alex could find were the corpses of dead lizardmen with their cores dug out.


    No wonder that he could only scan the presence of the guards. Groudogon had killed all the remaining lizardmen.


    He didn''t run into the two lizardmen that had fled away earlier.


    Alex theorized that the first lizardman that he killed had somehow escaped from the area entrapment of Groudogon, whereas the guards weren''t able to leave it. That would explain why they didn''t attack him despite all the provoking.


    After looking around for some time, Alex finally found the material he had come to gather. Alex found the magnetic veined steel ore and left the dungeon.


    When he returned back to his room, it was already dark outside. He had spent eight hours in the system dungeon and was utterly exhausted.


    He walked to his bed and slumped down. Lucas had left some food for him on the table, but he couldn''t care less and immediately fell asleep.


    Alex woke up the next morning and stretched himself. Today, he would have to go to the United Adventurers Association and pick up a mission to formally begin his life as an adventurer.

 Chapter 28 - 28

    "Nervous?"


    Alex asked Sheri who was staring at the entrance of the association.


    "I haven''t been to a place like this before." Sheri replied.


    "And what about you, why are you staring at the entrance like that?" Alex asked Lucas.


    "I''m just a bit curious about the United Adventurers Association. According to what you told me, there must be a lot of strong people in there. I am very excited to become an adventurer, but I haven''t fought any mana beasts before. I don''t know if I should be excited or nervous. I think......"


    Since Lucas showed no signs of stopping, Alex had to cut him short,"Do you know how to use a sword?"


    "No. I just thought that a sword is the weapon that I am best suited to, so I bought one yesterday." Lucas said, touching the hilt of his sword.


    After some casual talk, the three of them entered the building.


    The building was bustling with people. Since Lightwell city was the territory of a Battle God, most of the people residing there were mercenaries or soldiers who worked as adventurers when they had nothing else to do.


    Alex and his group entered the building and immediately walked towards the reception for the newcomers. This was where they would be assigned their first mission and only after that could they officially enter the association or the various guilds affiliated with it.


    Alex, Lucas and Sheri lined up and waited for their turn.


    After all the formalities, all the people who registered as new adventurers were gathered and led to another room. There were around a hundred people in this room.


    Alex scanned around. Most of these people were tier 1 or tier 2, with only a few tier 3.


    All the people were whispering amongst themselves, some who knew each other formed small groups while some continued to look around.


    "Sheri, you should limit your power to mid stage Tier 2 at all times from now until I tell you otherwise." Alex said in a firm tone.


    "Why.....alright." Sheri replied in a confused tone.


    "I will tell you the reason once you grow up a bit. Right now, you are too young to learn about these things." Alex teased Sheri with a smirk on his face.


    "I am not a kid. I am just a few months younger than you." Sheri replied with her cheek puffed.


    Alex only laughed in reply. He liked teasing her because the reactions that she gave were too cute and interesting. It reminded him of his elder sister from his previous life.


    While everyone was busy talking, the door at the opposite side of the room opened and a middle aged man entered the room. He was wearing the clothes of the association.


    "Alright everyone, I am Michael Crust, the one who will be presiding over your missions today. As you all know that the association requires you to take a bronze mission and complete it for you to be formally accepted as an adventurer. So what you are going to do today is that very same mission. A bulletin board is kept near the entrance of this room. You will all have to take a mission from it, register yourself for the mission and then proceed to complete it. There is no time limit and the methods to complete it are at your discretion. You can also choose to take it alone or in groups, you just have to finish it."


    Everyone in the room had already received their licenses and batches, so this mission was only a formality. People began to Immediately walk out of the room with uninterested faces.


    Alex and the other two also went out. Alex carefully observed the bulletin board to find any missions that could help him with collecting materials for his weapon and picked up a mission.


    Just after Alex left the door, two people approached him.


    "Hey, I am Dirren and this is my friend Thomas. We are also going on our first mission, so I think we should team up. I am at the peak of tier 2 and Thomas is a tier 3, so we can protect you people from the mana beasts. So what do you say, we should team up." A brawny man said, putting his weight on Alex''s shoulder and giving him a creepy smile.


    The eyes of the two were glued to Sheri and the greedy expression of their faces couldn''t be more obvious.


    Sheri wanted to kick their asses off, but Alex caught her hand, signaling her not to.


    "Thank you for your help then." Alex said and signaled Lucas to bring the carriage." We can meet at the Southern gate of the city tomorrow morning."


    While returning, Sheri was pouting all the way with imaginary fumes coming out of her ears.


    "Why are you so angry?" Alex asked.


    "Those two were giving me strange glances and also they were acting so overbearing in front of you. I would have beaten them to pulp if you didn''t stop me, even so you decided to take them together with us." Sheri complained while her pouting continued.


    "Don''t worry, they may be useful to us, otherwise as your guardian, I wouldn''t have allowed them to look at you a second time." Alex replied, patting her head to calm her down.


    "You are not my guardian. I am stronger than you, so I will protect you and be your guardian." Sheri replied with a smile and began patting Alex''s head instead.


    Alex was caught off guard, but regained his composure very soon.


    "You need to be mature to be my guardian, but you can still be my bodyguard. I''ll even pay you with good food. What do you think?" Alex asked.


    Sheri was really tempted by the condition of good food. She tried to decline the offer, but ended up nodding her head in approval at the end.


    After that, Alex took the other two to buy some gear and basic armor. Alex picked up a storage bag and a new system notification appeared before him.


    [External storage space detected.]


    [Host can link the external storage and the system storage.]


    [This can help in facilitating foreign objects in the system storage.]


    [Proceed with linking?]


    [Yes/No]


    This was truly a great help and Alex immediately pressed yes. The two storages were linked and Alex could now store his things from the five cubic meter space of the storage bag to the seemingly limitless system storage.


    After experimenting with a few things, Alex was happy to find out that he could virtually put anything in his system storage through his storage bag. The storage bag acted like his transit linking the outer world to the system storage.


    After they were done shopping, Alex returned with the other two.


    " Hey Alex, we brought nearly 500 gold coins and more than half of them have already been spent in just two days. Aren''t we being a bit too extravagant? I told you that I didn''t require this armor and stuff. We could....." Lucas said, but was interrupted once again, but this time it was Sheri.


    " No. This is all necessary to protect the two of you. Who knows what we will face out there in the wilderness, so it is necessary for the two of you to be prepared."


    "That applies to you too, and don''t worry. I have chosen a mission from a portal, so the chances of running into something stronger than we expect are nearly zero." Alex replied to the other two.


    "What exactly are portals?" Sheri asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity.


    "Being adventurers, we will most likely receive our missions or the material that we want in three different ways. They are...."


    Alex proceeded to tell Sheri and Lucas. The jobs regarding monster hunting were divided into three main classes.


    First was forests. There were many mana beasts that ran amok in the forests and would often cause trouble to people who lived nearby or the passing travellers or merchants.They would post missions regarding escorting or clearing up the area of mana beasts from time to time at the Adventurers Association.


    This was the most rewarding because the adventurers got to keep all their loot along with the rewards given by the employer.


    But, this type of missions were filled with uncertainty the most. Stronger mana beasts could attack anytime without warning and the information provided in the missions may be incomplete or worse completely wrong, but it was compulsory for adventurers to take up these missions every once in a while.


    Second were the dungeons. These were fixed structures which consisted of various levels, each harboring a multitude of mana beasts which got stronger by each level.


    All the dungeons had some magical mechanism wherein new mana beasts would spawn in there from time to time, thus ensuring a never ending population of monsters. These were the most common type of dungeons that were present in games of Alex''s previous life.


    Some dungeons were also said to serve as eternal prisons for the demonic race members and were termed as Abyss.


    The third type were portals.


    All races developed domains once they reached Tier 7 and it continued to grow with the creature it belonged to, including mana beasts. When mana beasts grew strong enough for a promotion to level 11, they would create a phenomenon called ''gathering'' wherein, all the mana beasts in a few hundred mile radius would gather near them. If this promotion was successful, the domains solidified and the mana beast, it''s domain and the gathered creatures, all got teleported to an alternate dimension out of the main world.


    These solidified domains were like large asteroids with a radius of several thousand miles.


    Over time, these domains grew larger and some were even comparable to the size of the moons, needless to say that these existed for times immemorial.


    The hierarchy in these separated domains was very well defined. The stronger a mana beast was, the closer it would be to the creator of the domain.


    The weaker creatures dared not enter the zone of the stronger, who in turn despised coming to the zone of weaker creatures. These zones would often collide with the dimension of the main world, leading to portals opening between the two. These portals were strictly monitored and given codes based on the batch that an adventurer needs to enter them. There were bronze portals, gold portals and others depending on which zone of the domain overlapped with the main world.


    After his explanation was over, Alex looked at Sheri and Lucas who had their mouths open. They had never imagined that there were such things.


    Next morning, Alex drove Sheri and Lucas to the southern gate. Another carriage was waiting for them with those two people from yesterday.

 Chapter 29 - 29

    There was already another carriage waiting at the city gates for Alex and his group.


    Alex stopped his carriage and greeted the two people without getting off.


    Those two gave Alex a death stare which he casually shrugged off. Yesterday, those two had told Alex not to bring his carriage so that they could all go together, but Alex not only brought a carriage, it was much better and more elegant than theirs. How were they supposed to make an appeal to Sheri like this?


    Thomas''s eyes shone as he looked at the carriage and thought something.


    "How about we..."


    But when he turned around, Alex was already driving his carriage ahead..


    Dirren and Thomas gritted their teeth and their eyes got cold. How dare a tier 1 weakling ignore their warnings and foil their plans.


    "Thomas, please calm down. We will teach that weakling a lesson once the mission is done. You don''t have to be angry. Once we are done with him, we can have their loot, the girl and their carriage can also be a bonus. Calm down...."


    Dirren pleaded to his companion who had gripped the hilt of his sword while his entire body was shaking in rage.


    After reaching a cave in the forest near the city, Alex and his party dismounted the carriage.


    Dirren and Thomas came after a few minutes and saw Alex holding the face of his flame winged horse and saying something to it. The horse also nodded its head as if it was able to understand Alex''s words.


    "You two are here. I''d like to thank you again for helping us. Let''s get going. We will be hunting lower level tier 2 mana beasts inside the portal that has opened inside this cave." Alex said, ignoring the clenched fists and killing intents the two were radiating.


    "Alright, take us in and please be mindful of our requests or I won''t be able to stop Thomas once again." Dirren whispered in Alex''s ears with a kind smile which didn''t look all that kind.


    Alex didn''t mind and led the way.


    Bright light flashed in front of their eyes as the party of five entered the portal.


    "Whoa!" Lucas exclaimed after opening his eyes. He was standing in front of a large expanse of grassland which none could tell was present inside the dark cave.


    " That is a Barrier hound, lower level tier 2 mana beast which usually prefer to move in groups. Our mission today is also to kill at least five of them and bring their cores back to the association." Alex said while pointing at a green coloured mana beast which was the same size as a regular dog.


    "You shouldn''t stain your hands with these puppies. Let me and Dirren handle it." Thomas said, looking at Sheri and smiling.


    Alex could feel Sheri''s piercing gaze at his back full of rage and contempt, but before he could say anything, Thomas and Dirren had already charged towards the mana beast which immediately fled.


    Alex and the other two followed at the back.


    The Barrier hounds continued fleeing while Dirren and Thomas followed from behind while attacking it savagely, but irrespective of what attack they used, none could land on it.


    Most of their attacks were off target, whereas the ones that were aimed accurately got deflected mysteriously before reaching it.


    Finally, after they were deep inside the grassland, the Barrier hound stopped.


    The two pursuers laughed haughtily and immediately charged at it. Thomas immediately swung his sword with all his might to look cool in front of Sheri, but instead of cutting the mana beast into two like he had expected, the sword hit something solid that he couldn''t see and the barrier hound was immediately tossed far away.


    Howwlllll!!!!


    Howwlllll!!!!


    Howwlllll!!!!


    One after another, countless howls were heard from the forest and a large group of hundreds of barrier hounds appeared and surrounded Dirren and Thomas.


    They immediately tried to escape back from where they had come, but they hit a translucent greenish barrier. They turned around in panic and tried to escape in another direction, but their faces fell. They were surrounded by layers upon layers of barriers from all sides. It was like they were placed in some airtight container with lids closed.


    Thomas began attacking the barriers desperately. He was one whole tier above those barrier hounds, but his attacks could only leave cracks on the barrier.


    In essence, the combat capabilities of barrier hounds were the same as peak Tier 1 mana beasts, but the barriers that they created could even withstand the attacks of mid stage Tier 3 augmenters, so they were placed in tier 2 for their defense.


    But they also lacked any kind of attacking abilities and could only use their barriers to hit their foes. That was the reason why they preferred to move in large groups. Just like what was happening to the two simp brothers, they trapped their foes in airtight barriers and exhausted them before blunt attacks with their barriers when they hunted in large groups.


    Each one of the barrier hounds could create upto five barriers at a time, so it was very difficult to escape from the prison that they created, especially when their numbers were so great.


    Since physical attacks were not effective, Thomas and Dirren started using their skills and spells. This increased the rate at which the barriers were shattered.


    Alex had no doubt that those two would be able to break free, but that would require a lot of time and mana.


    [Mana analysis complete.]


    [Reverse Mana generated.]


    After watching from the sidelines for a few minutes, Alex stood up after reading the new system notification.


    " Both of you, limit your powers to low level tier 2 and follow me. We will begin our hunt. And Sheri, you aren''t allowed to use the spear. I want you to learn using just spells and Lucas can gain combat experience. And it will also help you gain battle awareness, so learn from those two and don''t get surrounded by these mana beasts."


    Saying this, Alex walked towards the barrier hounds towards the end of the group surrounding Dirren and Thomas.


    Alex wanted Sheri and Lucas to cultivate their battle awareness, at the same time, he required the mana cores form barrier hounds for his weapon. Now that he had begun his life as an adventurer, he couldn''t delay making his weapon any longer.


    He had read about this collective harassment and hunting tactic of Barrier hounds in the mission info, so at first he was going to use himself as a decoy while having Sheri and Lucas to hunt them. With the help of his reverse mana, he could easily cut through the barriers.


    But the timely help of the two simp brothers was greatly appreciated. Alex was sure that they had been eying Sheri from the start, so when they proposed to join their mission, Alex was sure that they would be the perfect decoys.


    [Mana beast : Barrier Hound]


    [Level : 43]


    [HP : 5300]


    [MP : 4860]


    [ Skills : Mana barrier, barrier thrust, barrier prison]


    [Abilities : combined barrier sealing]


    [Strength : 400 Agility : 320]


    [Endurance : 440 Intelligence: 380]


    Alex charged in at one of the barrier hounds that was the furthest away from the centre of the encirclement.


    Using ''conceal'', he arrived near it and swung his sword. Being a tier 2 mana beast, it''s perception was high and it was able to erect a barrier around itself.


    Alex swung his sword and it easily cut through the barrier to leave a long and deep wound on the barrier hound''s head. Before it could react, Alex swung his sword vertically upwards and the Barrier hound was beheaded.


    Alex didn''t waste any time and immediately attacked the next one.


    Even when Alex had silently killed the first hound, the ones nearby had all been alerted, so the second hound put up all five of its barriers between Alex and itself.


    Alex''s sword just cut through those barriers like paper before stabbing in its forehead. Fire stream was cast and the barrier hound died by the lethal flames hitting its brain directly.


    The other barrier hounds all had noticed Alex killing two from their ranks, but they weren''t the least affected and continued eyeing their two prey at the center of their encirclement.


    Barrier hounds formed large groups because they lacked the offensive powers and only working as a group guaranteed a successful hunt, but they couldn''t care less if a few from their group of hundreds died.


    As long as Alex didn''t do something outrageous to provoke the ire of their entire group, they wouldn''t pay him much heed except for the ones he was attacking or the ones near him.


    Inspired by Alex''s success, both Sheri and Lucas charged in as well. Sheri launched a series of water bullets at the nearest barrier hound, but due to the limited power, they were easily stopped by a barrier. Some of the water bullets curved in their path and hit the barrier hound.


    Sheri was after all a tier 4 mage. Even though she was limiting her power, her mastery of tier 1 spells was near perfection, especially considering that she had learnt only a handful of basic spells.


    Sheri was able to kill one barrier hound after putting some effort, but that wasn''t the case with Lucas who had swung a real sword for the first time in his life.


    Lucas swung his sword with all his might, but it struck a barrier and rebounded out of his hand.


    Lucas bent down to pick up the sword.


    Alex was not far away, was watching his two companions while fighting the barrier hounds. When he saw Lucas crouching down to lift the sword, Alex facepalmed.


    Alex sent a wind blade towards the barrier hound that was pouncing towards Lucas''s neck, baring its fangs.


    "Oii Lucas. What do you suppose you''re doing? Do I have to remind you what I told you yesterday about how to hold a sword? And that''s a sword dammit, a s.w.o.r.d. Stop whacking it like an axe and don''t give those hounds a chance to attack your neck. Even if they have lower attacking capabilities than most of the tier 1 mana beasts, their fangs still can pierce your flesh. You''ll be dead before you know it if you bend down before them." Alex shouted sternly.


    Despite the attention that he gained by shouting, it was still better than losing a comrade for lack of experience.


    "Yes I got it. I''ll do it just like you taught me yesterday." Lucas said while taking a stance which was much better than his previous one.


    While Alex and his friends were busy fighting the barrier hounds at the perimeter, Dirren and Thomas were having a hard time breaking through the myriad of barriers that were surrounding them. And to make matters worse, they were having difficulty in breathing due to lack of oxygen in the airtight barriers.


    Dirren used a rock buster, a tier 2 earth type spell which projected rocks at his opponents which would explode on contact, thus leading to explosive damage. Nearly ten of the barriers in the way of the attack were obliterated.


    Had it been some other time, Dirren would''ve been very smug about it. But right now, it only deepened his frown. There were a freaking hundreds of barriers piled against each other in each direction.


    Thomas was faring no better than his friend. Both of them were augmenters, but Thomas was more on the balanced side, whereas Dirren was a pure augmenter with a muscular build and all.


    But they had to use mana while attacking because physical attacks didn''t affect the barriers much.


    Also, looking at Alex who was silently killing barrier hounds at the perimeter, the veins of his forehead bulged and he was having a very hard time suppressing his rage.

 Chapter 30 - 30

    Thomas was burning in rage and kept on frantically attacking the barriers around him. Each one of his attacks destroyed tens of barriers, but those were replaced the very next second. He glanced outside and saw Alex killing the barrier hounds at the perimeter while instructing Lucas on how to fight.


    It annoyed him so much that his entire body was shaking in rage.


    Dirren was also getting furious looking at Alex who was casually swinging his sword while making idle chatters with Lucas, but he had more pressing matters on his hand. He was having difficulty in breathing as if the air was getting sucked out of the combined barrier.


    Alex continued killing the barrier hounds one after another while keeping an eye on Sheri and Lucas. Their group had successfully drawn the attention of many nearby barrier hounds. Slowly, they were also getting surrounded, but it was nowhere near as serious as Thomas and Dirren.


    " Dammit! Why am I not able to cut through their barriers like you? Alex, you really didn''t teach me the wrong techniques, did you?" Lucas cried out. Each time he swung his sword, it hit a solid barrier and the rebound only made his hands ache.


    "You''re nearly there. Just use a bit more precision in your attacks." Alex said in a disinterested tone. It was the fifth time Lucas was asking him the same question.


    Alex glanced at the seven barrier hounds lying dead in his wake, then looked at Sheri who had already killed two of them.


    Alex was truly envious of Sheri''s talents. After struggling with the first few hounds, she had already begun to cope up with them.


    ''She has both a near perfect mana core and high adaptability. How envious.'' Alex muttered as he swung his sword which left a deep wound on the face of a barrier hound that pounced at him.


    Hooowwwwlllll !!!


    The barrier hound howled and charged at Alex once again. This time, Alex swung his sword vertically downwards.


    Sllaassshhh.


    A deep wound was left on its forehead and the barrier hound winced in pain. Blood oozed out of the wound, which enraged the beast further. It once again pounced towards Alex while maintaining its barriers, but Alex''s sword cut through the barrier like it was empty air and slid through the back of the barrier hound from above.


    With the sound of the sword ripping through flesh, the corpse of the mana beast fell on the ground.


    Another barrier hound appeared before Alex, but Alex didn''t attack it. Instead, he dashed towards Lucas who had also been trapped in an airtight barrier by the four barrier hounds who were encircling him. Alex swung his sword in a perfect circular arc while moving forward.


    Two sides of the barriers surrounding Lucas were cut down, while one of the barrier hounds also received a small injury.


    Alex looked around and saw a part of the large group had already shifted their attention on the three of them.


    "Lucas, collect all the bodies of the dead mana beasts and start moving back towards the entrance. We will be leaving shortly." Alex commanded and covered Lucas while he picked up the dead mana beasts and dragged them with him.


    Alex covered for Lucas until they were out of the range of the barrier hounds and returned back.


    Sheri was still fighting two barrier hounds. Due to limiting her powers, she was being pushed back.


    "Sheri, I will cover you. Use whirlpool and trap as many of them as you can. After that, we will retreat." Alex said as he arrived before Sheri and swung his sword at a barrier hound.


    Sheri immediately retreated behind Alex and began preparing her spell. Alex stepped forward and cast a fireball that carried a tint of silver as it moved towards the two barrier hounds.


    Sensing danger from the incoming attack, the barrier hounds immediately jumped out of its path towards opposite sides, but surprising everyone be it humans or beasts, the fireball split in two mid way and each half hit one of the two barrier hounds.


    Alex''s mastery of fire stream had already reached hundred percent so he could do this, but it wasn''t without flaws either. His fireball had split in two, but more than half of the power and lethality had been radiated in splitting. The two fireballs had only one fourth of the original power and were highly unstable.


    But before his two fireballs could hit them, the barrier hounds erected their barriers. Two small explosions ensued and the two barrier hounds were thrown some distance away with some burn marks on their coats.


    Alex had expected as much because his fireball wasn''t meant to pierce the barriers. Using reverse mana, he could blast away the barriers, but it couldn''t deliver critical damage.


    Alex used speed enhancement and appeared behind one of the barrier hounds. Before the mana beast could get back on its legs, a sword pierced its chest and blood spilled out. It struggled to get up, but it''s struggle lasted only two seconds before the light in its eyes faded away.


    Seeing what had happened to the dead barrier hound, all the other barrier hounds became cautious and began making distance from Alex. From the start, Alex had been the greatest threat to them. Their barriers were like paper in front of him and all his attacks were lethal.


    Acknowledging the fact that they couldn''t confront Alex, the barrier hounds moved away and began concentrating on Dirren and Thomas while keeping an eye on Alex.


    Alex stood peacefully without showing any signs of moving. He was sure that if he charged in at this time, he would become the primary target instead of Thomas and Dirren. No matter how easily he could cut through the mana barriers, he was sure that if he was surrounded by even a fourth of barriers to that of Thomas, he wouldn''t be able to break free. The sheer quantity of barriers could easily overshadow his ability to cut through them.


    Sheri opened her eyes after her spell was completely built and immediately cast it at a group of twenty or so barrier hounds that were still eying Alex.


    Due to increased pressure on their end, Thomas and Dirren couldn''t see Sheri casting a tier three spell, otherwise they would have been taken aback.


    Alex and Sheri stepped back a bit. Inside the whirlpool, all the barrier hounds were being carried around in circles by the water and would be hit by strong beams of water every now and then. Their barriers should have been enough to protect them against the beams of water which had the same attack power as level 2 spells, but they were surrounded by water and a beam could emerge from any random point.


    The barrier hounds couldn''t last very long and within ten minutes, most of them were fatally wounded if not dead.


    Alex stepped forward and finished all that remained to be done and gathered all the dead bodies, tied them with a rope he was carrying and immediately retreated with Sheri.


    The large number of casualties within their ranks finally drew the attention of the remaining barrier hounds and most of them turned around, only to see the perpetrators already out of the range of their barrier creation.


    Booooooommmmmmm!!!


    Crrraackkkk!!


    Exactly when the barrier hounds turned back, a sound of a large explosion followed by the sound of something like glass shattering echoed. Every other sound was drowned in the sound of the explosion and one could hear complete silence for the following few seconds.


    Alex heard the sound, but didn''t even bother to give a look. He had already reached the gateway to the portal, so he jumped through it without turning back. Sheri followed his suit and jumped.


    Passing through the dazzling white light, both of them were out of the portal.


    ----------------------------------------


    Thomas and Dirren were attacking the barriers surrounding them while gritting their teeth. They could see Alex cutting through those barriers like they were nothing. Seeing Alex kill one mana beast after another worked only to add fuel to the rage and hatred in their hearts.


    They had realized that Alex had used those two as decoys who were meant to distract the barrier hounds while he himself chipped their numbers away slowly when the mana beasts were focused on them two.


    They were having trouble breathing as the barrier shrunk towards them and it seemed to be getting worse every passing second. Both of them continued attacking the barriers frantically, but it was no use as the barriers that they destroyed were replaced by new barriers in a matter of milliseconds.


    "You bastard!" Dirren cried out loud while attacking the barriers. For a moment Thomas thought that something had happened to Dirren. He turned around to see that Dirren was alright, just that he was staring in one direction with an enraged expression.


    Thomas followed his gaze only to see that Alex and Lucas were retreating with the few mana beasts that they had killed. Turning around, he noted that Sheri was still fighting.


    The flames raging in his heart mellowed a little. Now that Sheri had been abandoned by her two companions, he could play the hero and save her. He could get out of this encirclement any time, just that he and Dirren would also suffer collateral damage. He was trying to break the barrier without resorting to that, but if he felt that situation was getting worse, he wouldn''t hesitate to use it, or so he thought.....


    Just when he was deciding what to say to coerce Sheri after saving her, Alex returned and walked towards Sheri.


    Thomas clenched his fist in frustration as he cursed Alex under his breath. His resolve to kill Alex was only getting stronger every passing second since the morning.


    Thomas''s expression became vicious and a sinister smile appeared on his face. He couldn''t do anything about it now, it was that guy''s fault for angering him and bringing the darkness within him out.


    "Dammit. The barriers are becoming more concentrated. Even the dogs at the perimeter have begun targeting us because of that guy. He''d better hope that he doesn''t meet me again, or I guarantee that even his mother won''t recognize his corpse." Dirren roared and began attacking the barriers, ignoring Alex and Sheri.


    Thomas and Dirren were once again attacking the barriers when suddenly they felt the pressure of the barrier reducing significantly.


    Dirren smirked and looked at where Alex and Sheri were, only to see that Alex was escaping once again and this time, he was taking Sheri who had already become Thomas''s property in his mind away with him.


    Thomas couldn''t control his rage any longer and a reddish fume began seeping out of his nostrils and mouth.


    "Thomas no! The barrier has already wea....." Dirren cried out, but before he could finish his words, he felt a powerful shockwave hit his chest.


    Dirren coughed out a mouthful of blood as his back hit a barrier. Enduring his pain, he stood up.


    All the barriers surrounding them were already cracked and completely fell apart when Dirren rested his hand against it to stand up.


    He looked at Thomas and immediately a sense of fear gripped his heart.


    A slight streak of blood was flowing through Thomas''s lips, but that was not what scared Dirren. Instead it was the expression.


    He could see a frown on Thomas''s face, but one end of his lips was curved upwards, making his expression look like a twisted smile of some demon.


    Sensing the intense bloodlust radiating from Thomas, Dirren knew that Thomas was out for blood. Last time he had seen this expression, Dirren had killed a mid stage Tier 3 while he himself had just entered Tier 3.


    It was impossible for a group of three tier 2''s to even resist Thomas''s onslaught now that Alex had enraged him.

 Chapter 31 - Party Assault

    Alex and Sheri came out of the portal and began moving towards their carriage.


    "What will happen to those two?" Sheri asked Alex.


    "We did hear the sound of the barriers being shattered. They will be fine, but it is very likely that we may need to fight them for using them as decoys." Alex replied.


    Alex and Sheri returned back to the cart and caught up with Lucas who was standing there. Surprisingly, the Flame winged horse was not near the cart.


    "It will be a bother to take all these thirty four dead bodies with us, so let''s dig out their cores and fangs. We will take some of the flesh to sell to any restaurant and the remaining needs to be dumped away." Alex said and began extracting the core and fangs from the dead mana beasts.


    When he was nearly finished with his work, two footsteps could be heard arriving towards him. Alex looked up and Thomas and Dirren walked out from the thickets.


    Both of them had some minor injuries and more than half of their mana was already drained. Dirren had a scornful expression while Thomas''s expression was much more vile and ferocious. Just a look in his eyes could tell Alex that he was hungry for blood.


    "Bastard. You dare to use us to lure out the barrier hounds. Good! Very good! Since you have already done it, don''t blame us for what is going to happen now." Dirren laughed in anger.


    "I was really going to let you off if you had returned the girl back to me, but since you have already decided to offend me, you can leave all your belongings to me. Also I forgot to mention, leave your life as well." Thomas said as the expression on his face became even more twisted.


    Without giving Alex any chance to answer, Thomas appeared before him and swung his sword with all his strength. Alex knew that it was useless to talk or give an explanation, not that he planned to in the first place.


    Alex also didn''t waste any time and drew out his sword. A new system notification appeared before him.


    [New Mission : Party assault.]


    [Mission description: The host''s actions have enraged the two individuals Thomas and Dirren who seek the host''s life to satisfy their bloodlust.


    Survive their attack and make sure that they never cross paths with the host again.]


    [Rewards: +400000 exp, 5 skill points, exp equal to thrice the cumulative damage dealt by host]


    Alex had already decided to confront those two when he came in his own carriage, so this new mission was a welcomed addition , but he noticed something else.


    The mission included making sure that they never crossed paths again, this meant that the system was indirectly encouraging him to kill them or at the very least cripple them to such an extent that they couldn''t ever heal or recover.


    But it was easier said than done. In the world full of magic, healing broken or cut off limbs was as common as healing minor injuries, so the only option was to put an end to them.


    Before the two swords could touch each other, a spear came out of nowhere and collided with Thomas''s attack. Even the aftermath of the collision left a small crater on the ground, but neither the spear, nor the sword moved an inch.


    "Alex, he is tier 3 and you are still tier 1. Let me fight him." Sheri said while holding her spear in both her hands.


    Alex knew that even if he could block the attack with his sword, he wouldn''t have been able to take the impact. This wasn''t an opponent that he could fight yet, so he had no other choice except switching his targets to Dirren who was also charging in on them.


    Darren''s speed was hindered by an injury on his ribs which he received when he was hit by the explosion that Thomas had created to blast the barrier apart.


    [Name : Dirren Alion]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 75]


    [Mana core : Yellow (68)]


    [MP : 3600/6700]


    [HP : 5264/12,780]


    [Stats]


    [Strength : 980]


    [Agility : 900 ]


    [Endurance : 1000]


    [Intelligence: 600]


    [Charisma: 620]


    [Perception : 680]


    [Status : severely injured (strength, agility and endurance have been reduced by 40% from the base stats.)]


    Alex had known that Dirren was an augmenter who relied on mana for physical enhancements, so his MP was lower than his HP.


    Dirren drew out his broadsword mid way and swung it towards Alex. An expression of pain was evident on his face as he swung the sword. Alex dodged sidewards and immediately stabbed his sword towards Darren''s throat, but it was stopped midway by Darren''s broadsword. Dirren grinned at Alex''s futile attempt. He belonged to the berserk augmenter class which was more inclined towards augmenters, so close range combat was his forte and not to mention that there was a difference of an entire tier between him and his opponent.


    But his grin didn''t last very long and was replaced by a pained expression when he was suddenly covered by layers of black flames emerging from Alex''s sword.


    "Aaarrrrrrggghhh!!! You bastard. That hurts...." Dirren cursed out and immediately began circulating his mana crazily. A layer of mana appeared on his skin and the flames were put out, but the damage was already done.


    Alex could see a series of debuffs on Dirren, whose expression only got worse. Dirren continued circulating his mana crazily, ignoring Alex''s attacks. The flames had been extinguished, but no matter how hard he tried the debuffs on him didn''t subside.


    Alex continued attacking Dirren while taking advantage of his opponents attempts to dispel the debuffs. All of his attacks landed on the layer of mana covering Darren''s body which reduced the impact and only small cuts and scratches were left, but it was working nonetheless. Alex had already drained one third of Darren''s remaining HP and blood was flowing out from the multitude of cuts.


    Since his attempts to dispel the strange weakening effect on himself were going in vain, Dirren decided to leave it be and kill Alex before doing that.


    "Bastard! Where is your shame? I wasn''t fighting back, still you continued to attack me. I haven''t seen someone as debased as you in my entire life." Dirren roared in a self righteous tone.


    " Don''t be so self righteous. It''s not my fault that your parents didn''t teach you to concentrate on your opponents while fighting, so don''t come crying to me if I attack you while you are playing with your mana. Even your parents would be disgusted by that look on your ugly face if you don''t stop crying in such a self righteous tone." Alex retorted without an ounce of emotion in his voice. It was as if he was just stating some well known facts and his tone only worked to further enrage Dirren.


    "You....You... son of a..." Dirren roared in anger and swung his broadsword. Alex dodged sidewards and cast a fireball at Darren''s injured ribs as he pulled back.


    Due to Darren''s level being nearly double to that of Alex, the mana analysis was still in progress. So, Alex was unable to use his reverse mana effectively.


    Alex had already tried the mana circulations of all the reverse mana that he had used before this and the one he used against the Rock Armadillos was the most effective on the layer of mana barrier covering Dirren.


    The full might of a level 3 spell was unleashed and Dirren was thrown away from the explosion. Alex cast wind blades one after another until dozens of them were hovering in the air around him.


    Dirren felt another wave of pain wash over him as his injury worsened. He struggled to get up on his feet.


    Alex suddenly felt Dirren''s aura change as his skin began turning red and emitting heat.


    "You forced me to do this. Now pay for all your trickery." Dirren laughed and dashed towards Alex.


    Alex stepped back, but Dirren followed him like a magnet. This was a level 3 berserk skill Raging rock.


    Unlike Alex, using a skill that he hadn''t mastered and which was beyond his current power level would definitely have a negative impact on Dirren, but he was blinded by rage, pain and hatred.


    He had attacked Alex who was weaker than him, but even then, he was on the receiving end. This didn''t sit right with Dirren and he decided to finish Alex without any care of consequences. He would become a laughing stock for the world if he couldn''t even defeat a puny tier 1.


    Alex was still able to find loops in Darren''s attack because of his higher level of sword mastery, but he couldn''t use it to his advantage.


    The skill used by Dirren was capable of neglecting any damage below a certain threshold. No matter where Alex attacked, he wasn''t able to leave even a scratch.


    Seeing Alex''s futile attacks, Dirren''s confidence peaked and he began ignoring his defense completely and swung his sword at Alex.


    Clank!


    The sound of two swords clashing was heard and Alex was thrown away by the impact. Dirren began laughing hysterically as he continued to attack Alex.


    Alex could see his own HP plummet drastically.


    Faced with no other choice, he pulled back and launched a fireball in the air.


    Due to the system rewards, he didn''t want to do this, but the situation wasn''t in his favour.


    Dirren was alarmed at the signal and turned around. Seeing that Sheri was still fighting Thomas, he heaved a sigh of relief. He had seen the three of them fighting. Alex was only tier 1 and Lucas didn''t know anything about fighting, only Sheri would be able to deal some damage to him, but she was already preoccupied.


    Thinking that it was Alex''s tactic to divert his attention, Dirren dashed towards Alex once again. Looking at Alex who had already ran away tens of meters away, his confidence in his theory grew.


    Dirren began closing in on Alex, but suddenly the fireball that was launched in air came curving back towards his injured ribs.


    Dirren knew that this was Alex''s most destructive attack and the only attack that posed some threat to him, so he jumped sideways to dodge.


    It was at this moment that an intense feeling of threat enveloped Dirren''s senses and his spine chilled.


    A stream of fire that was much stronger than Alex''s fireball had ever been, hit Dirren from the other side.

 Chapter 32 - Party Assault 2

    The stream of fire was so fast that Dirren had no chance of dodging it and was hit at the side of his chest. Dirren was surrounded in a pool of flames which were much stronger than Alex''s fireball. He could barely get up on his feet after the impact, but collapsed again.


    "How can a carriage beast u...se magical atta....attacks? Doesn''t....cough...doesn''t the contract for carriage..bea..st....." Dirren collapsed with an expression of disbelief on his face.


    Alex knew where he was coming from though. After all he himself was quite shocked when his Flame winged horse had first used a magic attack on the Poison fang Hyenas in the forest after entering a contract with him.


    Alex turned around to see that Sheri and Thomas had stopped fighting temporarily. They had also sensed that Dirren was dead, but Alex couldn''t see much of a reaction from Thomas, whereas Sheri was a bit shaken. It was her first time being a part of a fight leading to the death of another person.


    He on the other hand wasn''t much affected. He didn''t feel any guilt or other emotions. It was like this was just another daily activity, he didn''t face any mental trauma like he had read in all those stories. He didn''t feel...anything at all.


    After a brief pause, Sheri and Thomas continued their fight. Although Thomas remained calm on the outside, his attacks had gotten more reckless and fierce. He was affected by his lackey''s death, but he was trying his best to keep his cool.


    Alex watched the ongoing fight from a safe distance and smiled. Despite his permission to go all out, Sheri was still limiting her power to the lower tier 3, the same as her opponent.


    Although Sheri was being dominated in the fight, Alex could see her slowly reducing the pressure of Thomas''s attacks, that was to say that she was slowly adapting and improving herself while fighting.


    Alex looked at Lucas who wasn''t much far from him and sighed. If only this guy could also learn a thing or two from Sheri....sigh!


    Thomas could feel that Sheri was slowly gaining a stable footing in their fight. At first, he was a bit surprised with her sudden rise in power, but it didn''t take him long to come to terms with it, but now she was beginning to match him.


    If this went on, he was sure that he wouldn''t be able to last long. Now that Dirren was dead, he was at a numerical disadvantage.


    Thomas, who had already tagged Sheri as his belonging, was determined to get her no matter what, so he immediately changed his target to Sheri''s companions. He would eliminate anyone close to her until he was the only one left.


    Thomas charged towards Alex. As far as he could tell, Alex was only tier 1, the weakest of them all.


    Thomas swung his sword. Alex was barely able to dodge using speed enhancement. He stepped back a few meters and dodged the sword, but a kick landed on his stomach.


    Crackk!


    Alex collided against a tree and an intense pain from his ribs invaded his senses.


    Thomas was going to continue attacking Alex, but a strong sense of danger took over him and he immediately moved away.


    Sheri''s spear pierced the ground just in front of the place he was standing, if Thomas had taken even a step forward, he would have been impaled by the spear.


    The aura around Sheri began changing and her level grew at an unbelievable pace. Thomas was taken aback and immediately tried to pull back, but to no avail. Sheri followed him while repeatedly thrusting her spear at his vitals.


    Thomas was overwhelmed by the onslaught of Sheri who was now using her full power without any restrain.


    Thomas''s expression changed for the first time and a tint of nervousness mixed with fear appeared on his face.


    "You can''t hurt my friends." Sheri cried as her spear pierced Thomas''s stomach.


    Enduring the pain, Thomas tried to swing his sword towards Sheri, but his sword only cut through empty air. Sheri kicked him away from the side and immediately followed him.


    Once again, she followed him while stabbing him repeatedly Thomas was overwhelmed and could only use his sword to protect his vitals while staggering back.


    Sheri''s hands were shaking, but she continued attacking without relenting. Thomas saw this and the only possibility to escape came to his mind.


    "Hahaha! So that''s how this is. I thought that you were just some regular person, but who knew that it was all a disguise to lure people into your trap and satisfy your twisted desires. You murderer!!! ....B*tch! You''d better hope that you kill me here or I will let the world know about your true face. Hahahahaha....!"


    Thomas glanced at Sheri and continued laughing. It really was working! Sheri was staring at him blankly, but her attacks had stopped. He could even see traces of tears in Sheri''s eyes.


    Sheri was in a daze. She knew that Thomas himself didn''t have any good intentions for approaching them and he would only stab them back if she let him go, but ''should'' she kill him, no ''could'' she kill him.


    Seeing confusion on Sheri''s face, Thomas immediately picked up his sword and slashed towards Sheri''s hand. If he could stop her from fighting, he would definitely be able to defeat Alex and Lucas.


    Then everything would be as he wanted, he could take away Sheri and rob them of their carriage, mana stones and belongings. He would get his revenge on Alex and he could force Sheri into submitting to him once he took her back to Lightwell city.


    Thomas''s eyes shone with ambition as his sword cut through air to move towards Sheri''s hand.


    Sheri was still confused on what to do when suddenly Thomas swung his sword towards her. She was caught off guard and couldn''t react in time. She stepped back knowing that she would have to sacrifice her arm to save her life.


    Sheri closed her eyes in anticipation of the pain, but it never came.


    A grin appeared on Thomas''s face. He had succeeded. Sheri couldn''t dodge in time and would definitely lose her arm. Thinking this, a smile appeared on his face, but it was rather short-lived.


    Suddenly an intense pain emerged from his hand.


    Clank!


    Sound of metal hitting the ground came to his ears and blood began spilling out from what used to be his left hand just a few seconds ago.


    "Didn''t I mention? I am the killer, murderer and all that." Alex''s calm voice rang like thunder in Thomas''s ears and before he could react, a sword was stabbed deep into his heart.


    "Cough! Cough! You murderer. Do you think that you will be able to lead a peaceful life after killing me? My family won''t let you go. You still have a chance to redeem yourself, pull out your sword and heal me, otherwise my family will make sure that you and your friends rot in hell. I will also forgive you and act like this never....." Before Thomas could finish, Alex''s sword pierced his open mouth and emerged from the other side of his skull.


    Blood splattered on the ground as Thomas''s eyes lost signs of life.


    Bang!


    Sheri fell down on her back. Her entire body was shaking and she seemed to have lost all her power. Tears began flooding out of her eyes and she choked on her breath.


    Alex knew that this would be a big psychological trauma to someone like Sheri. Unlike him, killing humans and killing mana beasts were two completely different things for her. If not handled properly, this may even cause a severe impact on her psychology.


    Alex quietly walked to her and supported her in standing up.


    "You didn''t kill anyone and neither are you the victim or someone related to the victim, so why are you crying?" Alex said in a soothing voice.


    Sheri looked at Alex and began crying even louder.


    " Alex..sob...I-I...I ki..lled someone." Sheri''s voice was so weak that it hardly registered in Alex''s ears.


    "You didn''t kill anyone. You just fought him and won. From what I know, it was my sword that stabbed his heart and head. I killed him, not you. So don''t cry. We still have our first mission to do."


    Alex replied and began walking Sheri towards their carriage.


    He knew that one day Sheri would have to accept the fact that she had killed a human but as of right now, she wasn''t ready for it. At least not until she grew up mentally. It would only affect her negatively if she was exposed to this guilt presently.


    The dead bodies were burnt by the flames of the flame winged horse until they were reduced to ashes and Alex collected those ashes and dumped them in the portal.


    Since the events that transpired here had to be kept a secret, Alex also decided to abandon the meat of barrier hounds and drove away the carriage.


    The silent carriage arrived at a different portal which was present at a different location which was nearby the previous portal.


    This was the mission that Alex had registered with the United Adventurers Association. The previous portal was only to collect barrier hound mana cores which happened to be a raw material for his weapon. This was a portal that was inhabited by tier 1 mana beasts Inferno Growler which Alex had already fought once before at the village.


    Alex, Sheri and Lucas returned back to the city in the evening and submitted five mana cores each to the adventurers association.


    Finally, they were officially entered in the list of bronze ranked andenturers and could enter all portals that were publicly available under the name of the association.


    At the same time, there was a storm brewing in a house in the inner region of the city.. In a large mansion, a woman''s screams could be heard, cursing the unknown murderer of her son.

 Chapter 33 - 33

    "What do you mean that you still can''t find my boy? It is already so late and there are no signs of him or that punk Dirren. I swear Edward, if you don''t bring my Thomas back right now, you will have hell to pay." A middle aged woman dressed in dark blue clothes yelled at a man standing in front of her. The man standing in front of her was her husband, Thomas''s father.


    "It''s your fault that he has not yet come back. I told that fool to act decently. Now that my brother is no longer an Apostle, do you know how much the family''s influence has declined. Yet you two mother and son insist on acting like you own the world." The man yelled back.


    "Oh! So it''s my fault that your family lost power. Are you even a man..." The woman wasn''t going to back down.


    "Fine, since you insist, I''ll go back and look for that brat. But mind you, if he offends someone he shouldn''t have, don''t blame me if he comes back missing a limb or two." The man roared as he walked towards the door to their room.


    His wife''s expression was giving him chills, but being a man, he couldn''t exactly back down or so he thought at least.


    Just as the man was about to turn the knob, a push came from the other side and the door was flung open.


    A gloomy looking young man in early twenties was standing there, looking at the two people inside the room with a lost expression.


    "Kyle, did you find your brother?" Both the man and woman immediately ran to the new arrival and asked.


    Despite the conversation that had just ended, their expressions only showed concern.


    "The gatekeepers said that they haven''t seen him leaving or entering the city. There weren''t any shifts early in the morning, so if he left the city at that time, there are no records available. But...."


    "But what?" The mother asked, gripping his arms.


    "When I was returning, I met Lord Achelen. He told me that one.. of the imprints of Lord God from....our family has-has...disappeared."


    "What do you mean that the imprint has disappeared? And who is Achelen to decide whether the imprint has disappeared or not?" Edward tightened his grip on Kyle''s collars and shouted in disbelief.


    "Lord Achelen is the second most powerful Apostle of Lord God and he oversees all the matters regarding faith and religion in Lightwell city. And he also has good relations with all other Apostles. I doubt that he would say something so serious without any confirmation. Someone or something has...killed Thomas." Kyle replied.


    "No way! You bastard. Tell me the truth, where is Thomas?" Edward pushed Kyle so hard that he was flung back into the corridor and slammed against the wall.


    Kyle slowly stood up and adjusted his glasses. He wasn''t much affected by this. Thomas had this coming, but ....but there was an inexplicable rage and sorrow in his heart.


    ''Booommmmmm!''


    Rumble!


    Kyle and Edward turned towards the room only to see that all the things inside had been blasted to smithereens and two of the walls had collapsed. Traces of an explosion could be seen and everything had been turned to scraps.


    "Who did this?" Cecelia asked in a deep tone while tears flowed down from her eyes. These weren''t tears of sorrow, but the tears of rage.


    "I asked ..who...did....this! Which son of a wh*re has the guts to harm my son?" Cecelia asked in a deep resounding voice.


    Kyle and Edward felt chills down their spines looking at Cecelia who was burning in rage and hatred.


    "There..there were n...no records of him lea....leaving the city wi...th someone e- else, so we...we...we can''t find out who did thi-this." Kyle replied while shivering in fear.


    " I want the name of the bastard who killed my son. If the two of you don''t bring me his name, you two can stop coming to this place forever." Cecelia walked past the two of them who stood there frozen by her tier 6 pressure.


    The father and son duo rushed out of the building and immediately began walking towards the city gates.


    At the same time, Cecelia walked past two corridors and reached a big room at the centre of the mansion. She pushed open the door and entered, closing the door behind her.


    Inside the room, a man was resting on his bed. The sound of the door woke him up and he was greeted by the sight of a weeping Cecelia whose bloodshot eyes were dripping with tears.


    "What happened? Why are you weeping?" The man asked, getting up and looking Cecelia in the eyes.


    Cecelia fell on her knees while sobbing.


    "Master Klarinon, my son was killed by someone today. You are the best friend of my brother and also the head of this family. I just want the corpse of the culprit. Please uphold justice for my son for the sake of your friendship with my brother. I only want the corpse..." Cecelia cried.


    If Alex were here, he would have identified this man as the former Apostle who had tried to forcefully imprint him at the city gates and who was flung away by Verenia''s imprint.


    "I have just temporarily lost the status of an Apostle and some stray dog already came biting at my family. They have really got some nerves." Klarinon smashed apart the table with his hand and got up in rage.


    "You can go now. I will make sure that the murderer begs for his death in front of you. Just wait for some time, I won''t let my best friend''s sister be wronged." Klarinon pulled Cecelia up in his embrace and consoled her. Surprisingly enough, she didn''t resist and continued crying while holding on to his clothes.


    Kyle rushed out and immediately headed towards one of the city gates. He went to the sentry guards and inquired about the passage of his brother. Since Kyle worked in the city administration, he was able to see the records, but to no avail.


    He checked and rechecked, but was unable to find out even the slightest traces of the carriage that Dirren owned.


    Since there were no records of the carriage going out, he went to Dirren''s house for the second time, but there were still no signs of Dirren or his carriage returning.


    Dejected, he decided to return back home and continue the next day, but he wasn''t very optimistic.


    The carriage couldn''t have vanished in air with two people. Something was amiss about this complete incident which he couldn''t point out.


    **********


    After returning from the adventurers association, Alex immediately went back to his room, took out the [Basic Inscriptions book] and began reading.


    He had gathered two-thirds of the material required for his weapon and would soon be able to procure the remaining material.


    But it was no use if his inscription drawing could not reach satisfactory levels.


    Inscriptions had to be drawn very precisely and the various components had to be connected by veins which in themselves were very complex. It usually required years of hard work and experience for one to memorize the uses of various complex symbols and learn to precisely draw them.


    Drawing Inscriptions was also another hurdle because it required a precise control over the mana flow. If the mana infused with monster blood was even the slightest bit different than that in another symbol of the same inscription, the efficiency and power of the inscription would be considerably reduced.


    But this was not a concern for Alex who could control the flow of mana in his body as easy as breathing, and to solve the problem of memorizing symbols, he had already used his skill learning card to buy a special skill that the system had suggested to him.


    This was priced at 25 skill points and was used for the purpose of symbol alteration. With this skill, Alex didn''t need to memorize any symbols.


    Instead, he could draw any random symbol and assign it a meaning. The only requirement was that he had to remember this symbol and its use for the rest of his life because once he assigned a characteristic to a symbol, he couldn''t change it in his entire lifetime, but it was no problem to Alex. He already knew an entirely different language and how to write it. He could replace the symbols with English words and no one would ever be able to tell what exactly this inscription was. This was exactly how those higher level inscription masters kept their works from being copied. They would often use various self made symbols in the main parts of the inscription so that no other person could copy their inscription.


    The only problem that he would be facing was the systematic integration of his inscriptions and mana supply.


    The weapon that he was making required five different mana cores. Four for basic functions and one exclusively for mana supply. The consumption of mana was also very high and he had to integrate the functions of the inscriptions centering those mana cores so that two or more mana cores could be used at the same time.


    This was like a complex circuit that required very high precision and knowledge of the flow of mana throughout the entire blade.


    While Alex was still contemplating on this, the window of his room was flung open and an obscure figure stepped inside his room.


    This person was using their mana to completely block the senses of anyone in the surroundings, and a veil of mana covered their entire body, making it impossible to see what they looked like.


    The obscure figure drew out a dagger and charged at Alex while pointing it at Alex''s forehead.


    Alex didn''t even budge an inch and the dagger stopped just millimeters away from his forehead.

 Chapter 34 - 34

    The dagger stopped just millimeters away from Alex''s forehead. Alex had known all along that this dagger was never meant to impale him, and he wasn''t too interested in playing along with this person.


    "Why didn''t you dodge?" The obscure silhouette asked in a voice that couldn''t be differentiated as male voice or female voice.


    Alex didn''t answer, instead he asked a question of his own.


    "I thought that you were supposed to only keep an eye on me from a distance. Since that is the case, I don''t think you''d be willing to show up for no reason at all. So let''s get to the point directly. What is it?"


    Alex couldn''t see the expression on the person''s face, but he was sure that they were shocked by the few seconds long silence that followed his question.


    "Ahem. My master has ordered me to tell you that killing believers of Lord God won''t be tolerated for a second time. Since Lord God gave my Master the responsibility to moni.... whatever, since my master is responsible for monitoring you, he has changed the logs of the city gates so that there is no concrete evidence against you. But, my master said that something like this shouldn''t happen for the second time. We have already helped you as a sign of goodwill, but if you repeat what has happened today, you will have to bear the consequences. We won''t be going out of our way to help you for the second time." The silhouette replied in a grave tone.


    " Alright, thank your master for me." Alex said in a disinterested tone and went back to reading the book about inscriptions.


    He knew that as long as he remained here, Avelan would have to help him with such matters in order to maintain peace with the supposed god, but he wasn''t going to say it out loud.


    The silhouette stared at Alex blankly for a few seconds before leaving through the same window. Alex got up, closed the window and smiled.


    He returned to reading the book in his hands.


    After spending some more time reading the book, Alex decided that it was time for him to start practicing the real deal.


    Alex opened the weapons store on the system interface and began crafting the basic mana swords.


    The room surrounding Alex disappeared and was replaced by a workshop. Looking around, Alex could remember all the things placed in it. This was the same room which he had entered when he had first crafted the basic mana sword.


    A small piece of enhanced moon steel was cut from the large clump and began floating midair before Alex''s head. Alex cast a fireball and dense flames began covering the entirety of the small piece of metal.


    After some time, the metal metal piece had already started melting. The molten metal was gathered in a mold that was shaped like a sword with a circular elevated area near the handle of the sword.


    Alex put a goblin core in this elevated part and watched as the metal slowly accumulated around the mana core. Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes, the half of the work was finished as a blunt piece of metal that was shaped like a mana sword with a goblin core attached near the hilt took shape.


    Now, it was time for the part that he had been practicing for, inscriptions. Alex picked up a container that was filled with blood of mana beasts that he had collected from system dungeons. This blood was infused with his mana and the rusty colour of the blood slowly began shining with a tint of bluish light.


    When Alex had exhausted three hundred MP, the blood had already transformed into a bluish liquid with a sticky texture.


    Alex picked up a brush like object with metallic bristles and poured down the liquid in its body which was shaped like a fountain pen.


    Alex quickly moved his hand while maintaining a constant mana flow throughout his entire body. The mana flowed through the bristles of the brush and two circles were drawn around the core. The space between the two circles were used to inscribe spells and symbols, whereas lines were drawn, connecting the circles with the core.


    The words written in the space between the two circles were the translation of the binding spell.


    When the sixteen symmetrical lines joining the two circles to the mana core were completed, Alex passed a small amount of mana into the mana core.


    Clank!


    A flash of bright light was radiated and the sound of two metal pieces interlocking arrived in Alex''s ears and the mana core was embedded into the blade of the mana sword as if it always was a part of the blade.


    Alex breathed out and his eyes showed a deep resolve. Now it was time for the true challenge.


    Beyond this, he wouldn''t be able to check the working of his inscriptions until the mana gathering formation was completed, which happened to be the last component that was to be inscribed. This meant that Alex would have to draw every inscription precisely and there was no room for errors.


    Alex drew all the mana veins and connected them to the mana core. Spell circles were drawn at the free ends of mana veins.


    First was the inscription for sharpening the blade, followed by inscription for additional durability and flexibility.


    Finally, Alex drew the mana gathering formation around all the other inscriptions and connected it to the mana core.


    After this was done, Alex immediately cast an appraisal on the sword.


    [Basic mana sword]


    [Quality : average]


    .....


    .....


    .....


    Alex was ecstatic. He had succeeded on his very first attempt. This basic mana sword lacked a bit in comparison to the ones that were completely manufactured by the system, but it was the best start that someone like him, who was doing this for the first time could possibly hope for.


    Alex swung the sword around, trying the flexibility and endurance of the blade, at the same time looking for any problems that could affect this sword.


    Alex couldn''t find any problems, so he put the sword away and started repeating the process.


    This time though, there was a slight error in the sharpening inscription and the blade was blunt. Alex had already expected this, but he still was a bit disappointed. He convinced himself that this was only normal for someone who had just learnt making mana swords and picked up another set of material.


    Failure!


    Failure!


    Success!


    Failure!


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Alex continued crafting basic mana swords until his MP was dried up.


    Alex got up and looked around. Ten mana swords were lying on the floor near him. Out of these, four were usable, whereas the remaining six had some errors in their inscriptions and couldn''t be used in combat.


    Out of his four successful swords, one was good quality and remaining three were average quality.


    Due to concentrating so much for an extended period of time and draining all his mana, Alex was very tired and immediately hopped into his bed.


    He would take care of the mess he had created in the room the next day..


    Next morning, Alex was woken up by the sound of continuous knocking on his door.


    "Alex, it is already time. Get ready as quickly as possible or we will be late on our first day after joining the guild." Lucas said in an excited voice.


    "I don''t think that the guilds have any fixed reporting time. Anyway, wait here I will get ready soon." Alex replied in a sluggish tone and shut the door behind him.


    Alex quickly got ready and left the inn along with Sheri and Lucas.


    The three of them had joined a small guild located towards the end of the city. While most of the people joined the association because of guaranteed pay and stronger backing, Alex didn''t want to join the association because his movements, missions and dungeon entries would be strictly monitored.


    Alex didn''t want to restrict his freedom, especially when he already had system dungeons for gathering material and cores, so he chose to join a small guild where he would only have to choose a mission and report its completion. All other formalities and paperwork would be completed by the guild and he could decide whether to keep his loots or sell them to the guild.


    Finally, their carriage arrived in front of the guild building. The building wasn''t any smaller than a mansion and was shared by two different guilds.


    Alex, Lucas and Sheri walked towards the entrance of the guild. There were a few more people walking in and out of the guild building, most of them being between tier 3 and tier 6.


    Lucas pushed open the door and the three of them entered the guild hall. They walked to the reception desk.


    "Welcome to the Crimson Flames guild. Are you here for posting a mission or for registration?" A woman in her mid-twenties asked the three of them in a sweet voice.


    "Registration. " Alex replied as he pulled out his adventurer license and the guild registration documents.


    The woman kept her professional smile and started verification of the documents. Soon, they were registered and it was time to choose a mission or dungeon.


    Alex moved towards a large notice board at the centre and began searching for a mission. Needless to say, the first thing that he checked were the dungeons and portals registered under the guild, but all the available portals were those of Silver rank and above, so he had to search for missions that he could do.


    While Alex was browsing through the missions, Lucas called him out from the back. Alex turned around to see Lucas and Sheri talking with a girl in the receptionist uniform and talking about something.


    Alex immediately knew that those two must have been tricked into accepting some mission, but it was too late now.. He shook his head and approached them.

 Chapter 35 - Three New Spells

    Alex turned around and walked towards where Lucas and Sheri were talking to the girl wearing the uniform of a receptionist.


    "What happened?"


    Alex had a rough idea about what was happening, but he asked nonetheless.


    "Uhmm..Sir, we had received a mission from a nearby village about two stray Wood Golems that have appeared in a cave near the village. The mission rewards are very good, but...but no one has taken it so far. This mission will reach its deadline in two days, but no one is interested in taking it. Would....Would you please like to take it? Your friends have already agreed to it, and we were only waiting for your approval to register the mission for your party." The receptionist said in a shy voice while bowing.


    Her lack of confidence and professional communication skills was evident from her shaky voice.


    "Show me the mission first. I will decide only after I have read it." Alex replied.


    "T-this is the mission information and rewards." The girl handed a paper to Alex.


    Alex took the paper and began reading it. Nothing seemed to be wrong at the first look, but there could still be some error.


    "There is nothing wrong with the details and the rewards are also generous, then why has no one taken this mission? According to the date mentioned, it has already been two weeks since this mission was posted. Is the information unverified or wrong?" Alex asked as his brows arched upwards.


    "No, no! The information is verified and correct, but it is only a bronze ranked mission and the Wood Golems are also at mid stage Tier 2. But, nearly all the members registered with us are tier 3 and above, so they are not interested in this mission which has a lower pay than silver and copper ranked missions. We did have some new members who were bronze ranked, but..."


    There was a long pause as if she was contemplating whether to tell them or not.


    "But what?" Alex questioned.


    "But they all went with Mr Grahams on a personal mission. They won''t be returning for one more week." The girl replied.


    "Hey Alex, it''s just a tier 2 mana beast. We should be able to manage it, and since we have joined this guild, we can at least take a few missions like this to help them out, right?" Lucas chimed in.


    "Are you sure you want to take this mission?" Alex asked.


    Lucas immediately replied with a nod. Alex turned to look at Sheri, he had to ask about her opinion as well.


    Sheri also nodded. Alex could see Sheri''s eyes brimming with excitement. He didn''t even need to think to realize that she had mastered some new spear techniques and wanted to try them out in real battles.


    Sighing, Alex turned back to the receptionist.


    "Alright, we will take this mission, but you will have to register it under your own name and I also want you to search for some missions which have these materials as rewards in return." Alex said while handing her a paper.


    These were the materials required for his weapon, but most of them were from level 2 system dungeons, and Alex wasn''t very sure if he could complete those system dungeons as of right now, so he had to search for them outside.


    "Thank- thank you! I will definitely search for these missions for you." The girl replied while bowing once again.


    After registering themselves for this new mission, Alex and his party of three immediately headed out towards the village.


    Alex opened the system interface.


    [Name : Alex Vermillion]


    [Race : Human]


    [Level : 32]


    [Mana core : Yellow (56)]


    [Stats]


    [Strength : 256]


    [Agility : 261]


    [Endurance : 228]


    [Intelligence : 249]


    [Charisma : 250 (200)]


    [Perception : 155]


    [HP : 1760]


    [MP : 4005]


    [exp : 1,540,600]


    [+130 free attribute points, +21 skill points]


    Alex opened the spells and skills store and browsed through all the available spells and skills. He finally decided to buy three new spells.


    [Spell name : Thunder sprites]


    [Description : summons thunder from the sky with a lag of 15 seconds to spell casting. Three bolts of lightning strike the opponent simultaneously without any time lag, causing explosive damage.]


    [Limitations : no spells can be used for a duration of 25 seconds after casting this spell.]


    [Mana Consumption : 800 per casting]


    [Cost : 2 skill points.]


    This was a classic example of spells with high destructive power that required time to build up after casting was done, and at the same time it also rendered the caster unable to use other spells for a certain period of time.


    But, it was not to be underestimated. Even the level 3 fire stream only required 120 MP at a time to be cast. One could estimate the explosive power of this spell just by the mana consumption alone.


    [Spell name : water strings.]


    [Description : four thin streams of flowing water imbued with mana are released from the user''s hand that can be used to cut things. The shape and length of the strings will be controlled by the user''s will with a maximum length of 10 meters.]


    [Mana consumption : 15 per second]


    [Cost : 2 skill points]


    [Spell name : Boulder]


    [Cost : 1 skill point.]


    This was the same spell that Alex had seen when he had chosen wind blades as his first spell. At that time, he could not afford to swap his agility with strength, but now that his agility was above 250, the reduction of 1 Agility point won''t hurt that much. And this spell was very useful for melee combat, not to mention that it could overlap continuously. This could be used as another heavy- blow attack if sufficient number of layers were gathered and wouldn''t have any side effects of not being able to use spells and others.


    Alex entered mental simulations immediately to try out the effects of his newly learned spells.


    First was water strings.


    Immediately after casting, a blue coloured magic circle appeared in front of his hand, hovering a few centimeters in front of his palm. Four thin thread-like streams of water came out of the four pivots of this magic circle and flowed in a straight line until they were ten meters long.


    Just with a thought from Alex, the four strings began taking different shapes and changing their size. Alex walked to a nearby tree. With just a thought, the string impaled the tree and came out from the other side. If one didn''t look carefully, they would never be able to tell that there was a very small hole in the tree created by a very thin stream of flowing water.


    Alex was amazed by the result and moved his hand in an arc for further testing. The tree was immediately cut into two.


    Alex was speechless. This spell was very lethal and could be used flawlessly for assassinations. It was good that this spell had been lost over time and no one knew about it.


    Had it been available to people, the already chaotic world would only become more dangerous.


    Second was Boulder. Although it didn''t feel all that special when compared to the insanely high lethality of water stream, it was good nonetheless.


    Last was Thunder Sprite. Alex began casting it. The spell took ten seconds to be cast. Ten seconds was a very long time in battles where even a fraction of seconds would be the difference between life and death. So, the conditions required to cast this spell were also extreme.


    As soon as he finished casting, the sky got dark and clouds appeared out of nowhere. There wasn''t any rain though. Three spherical structures the size of a basketball each were suspended in the clouds, making the geometrical shape of a triangle.


    Over the next fifteen seconds, Alex could see many small streams of lightning appearing out of the clouds and fusing with this basketball like structure and disappearing.


    The three thunder sprites continued hovering and expanding until they were completely saturated and couldn''t expand further.


    Alex also used this time to check something else. He cast his defensive skill, mana barrier.


    A translucent blue barrier appeared before Alex''s hand, but it was the weakened version of his regular mana barrier. Thunder sprites somehow hindered the mana flow in his body.


    Just as the time span was over, thick streams of lightning emerged from all three sprites and landed on a tree that Alex had picked up as a target in his mental simulation world that was designated as the target.


    Rumbbblllleeee!


    ''Booooommmmm!''


    With a blinding light, the three streams of lightning landed on the tree at the same time and a defining sound of explosion was created.


    When the light scattered, a breathtaking scene was projected in Alex''s eyes.


    There was a big crater of about five meter radius and a depth of nearly three meters in the ground where the tree once stood.


    There was no sign of the tree. Instead, small fist sized pieces of burning charcoal were flung in air with the crater as centre and landed tens of meters away.


    The scene of the clusters of small orange and blue flames scattering could be described as beautiful, if only it wasn''t the after effect of the destruction that happened a few seconds earlier.


    The entire process repeated in Alex''s mind repeatedly. He was truly impressed by the might of his new spell.


    The streams of lightning were very fast and Alex doubted that anyone below tier 5 would be able to dodge it in time.


    This spell was the complete version of the thunder spell of level 2 just like his fire stream and fireball, but the magnitude of destruction was on a completely different scale than its widely used counterpart.


    Alex ended his mental simulations and opened his eyes. They had already reached the outskirts of the village.. He had been training his spells for two hours already.

 Chapter 36 - Teaching Support Role

    By the time Alex opened his eyes again after mental simulations, they had already entered the outskirts of the village. The carriage halted at the centre of the village.


    This village was eerily silent and there were only a few people in the streets. A few men could be seen near the southern part of the village perimeters that were fortified by wooden barriers.


    This village wasn''t located in the centre of a forest like the one Sheri and Lucas hailed from and was rather well connected to Lightwell city. There wasn''t any barrier erected by a God, but the barrier made of autumn spirit wood was enough to withstand the attacks from tier 3 mana beasts and below.


    Alex walked towards this group of people to gather further information about the Wood golems.


    When he reached near them, Alex could see that most of them had light injuries like cuts or bruises on their body, most likely caused by the mana beasts.


    "Oh! You people must be the adventurers sent by the guild, right?" A middle aged man walked towards the three of them on seeing them.


    "Yes!" Alex replied briefly.


    "Good. Please take care of those two ugly monsters for us." The middle aged man said while nodding.


    "We will, but first we need more information about them. Once we have all the necessary information, we can move out at once." Alex replied.


    "Uncle Cryth, who are these people?" A teenager who happened to be passing by, carrying some light refreshments for the people standing near the barrier asked while glancing at the three new people who had arrived there.


    "These are the adventurers sent by the guild to take care of those monsters. Say hello to them Keith." The man replied to the question while also gesturing to the fourteen years old boy to greet them.


    The three of them were taken to the village chief''s house and treated in the most hospitable way that the villagers could afford before the village chief came to meet them.


    A man in his twenties entered the room and immediately the entire room fell silent. This was the newly appointed village chief. After formally introducing each other, Alex was given all the details regarding the two wood golem that suddenly appeared in the outskirts of the village and randomly began attacking the villagers who passed by.


    After confirming all the rewards were already submitted to the guild, Alex and his two companions were taken to the cave where the two golems were present. The villagers watched from far away and didn''t dare to step near the cave. The last time they had gathered some of the most able fighters to chase away those monsters, nearly all of them were injured.


    This village wasn''t under the protection of any gods and the resources were even scarcer than Sheri''s village, so even the strongest amongst their ranks were only high level tier 2, but due to lack of spells or skills, they couldn''t even rival the mid level tier 2 wooden golem with their self taught techniques.


    Alex , Sheri and Lucas walked near the entrance of the cave.


    ''Tap. Tap. Tap...''


    The sounds of wood colliding against something solid were followed by a groan which sounded like angry snorting of some old man.


    All the villagers hastily retreated tens of meters back.


    With a slight rumbling noise, a four meters high giant whose complete body was made of wood emerged from the cave.


    This wooden monster didn''t have anything above its shoulders and it''s face was located at the centre of its belly. The complete body of this golem was made of dried wood while grasses and algae grew on some parts of its body.


    Before Alex could say anything, Sheri immediately charged forward towards the wooden golem with her spear in hand.


    In order to properly test her new spear wielding techniques, Sheri was restricting her powers to the same level as her adversary. Alex had observed that Sheri liked to restrict her level to the same as her opponent whenever she entered combat. She had a very great drive to learn things to perfection and win using them rather than overpowering her opponents. Alex truly admired this part of her nature.


    Sheri was easily able to dominate the wood golem with her techniques, but the golem had only used physical attacks till now and refrained from using mana.


    Rumble. Rumble. Tap. Tap. Tap.


    Another sound came out of the cave as the second wood golem stepped out. Alex signaled Lucas to follow him and charged towards the second wood golem.


    He had observed Lucas in combat a few times and came to a conclusion that Lucas''s understanding and awareness of battle situations was beyond salvaging, so the only way that Lucas could be useful to them in combat was by acting as a support, so Alex wanted to train him for the role.


    Alex headed towards the wood golem and cast a barrage of wind blades, but they hovered around him instead of attacking the mana beast.


    "Hey Lucas! Since we will be fighting together in the future, don''t you think that we should practice some coordination and teamwork?" Alex asked Lucas.


    Totally unaware of what Alex was thinking, Lucas answered affirmatively.


    "Alright then, follow my lead and do what I tell you. Remember I am entrusting you with my safety, so don''t fall behind." Alex said and sent a wind blade at the wood golem.


    The level 2 wind blade didn''t cause much damage to the wood golem, but it did work to enrage it. In its fury, the wood golem immediately dashed to attack Alex, but Alex was easily able to dodge due to the golem being comparatively less agile.


    Alex signaled Lucas to attack the golem while he increased the distance from it. Lucas immediately began attacking it and slashed his sword at its knee.


    A small chunk of wood was chipped away from the knee of the golem.


    The golem was enraged and immediately switched its targets.


    "What are you waiting for? Get away from it!" Alex told Lucas who was still attacking the golem.


    Lucas didn''t understand why Alex was telling him to retreat when he had barely landed a hit, but he retreated immediately. Tens of roots grew out from the ground where Lucas was standing a few moments ago.


    Lucas heaved a sigh. He would definitely have gotten trapped in those roots if he hadn''t listened to Alex.


    Alex immediately charged in from behind the golem with five wind blades hovering beside him. The wind blades hit the back and all four limbs of the golem, while a deep slash was left near its waist by Alex''s sword.


    Rawwwwwrrrr!


    The wood golem let out a roar and attacked Alex frantically with both physical attacks and mana attacks.


    Alex didn''t need the system to analyze the mana or generate reverse mana to land a critical damage on the golem, all he required was a fireball. The wood golem was resistant to natural fire, but fire created by spells was a different matter entirely, and also its nemesis. This inherent weakness against fire was one of the reasons that this was a bronze ranked mission.


    But using a fireball would defeat the purpose for which he was fighting while pairing with Lucas.


    Right now, Lucas only had a basic fortification skill and a basic strength boosting skill. In absence of any supporting skills, Alex could only slowly teach Lucas how team battles worked and help him develop battle awareness about various situations in team combat.


    Alex and Lucas continued attacking the wood golem in turns, slowly developing a sense of teamwork. Although there were some times when their coordination was completely off, they were able to rectify them.


    Booommmm!


    Alex looked around and saw that the wood golem that Sheri was fighting was tripped and fell on the ground. Sheri immediately charged at it, but the wood golem let out a roar and many javelins made of wood and pointed tips were immediately launched at Sheri from the ground.


    The hail of sharp wooden javelins surrounded Sheri and cut off her movements in any direction. Sheri had to use her spear to block the onslaught which lasted for nearly half a minute.


    A large pile of wooden poles was gathered all around Sheri and root like structures began to emerge randomly from between them.


    Sheri dodged the roots and once again dashed towards the wood golem. This time, before the golem could react, a spear was already piercing its face which happened to be located at the centre of it''s stomach. Sheri cast a level 2 fire spell in the duration between the golem''s angry roar and hit it at the face once again.


    The body of the golem rapidly caught fire and it began to run away while shrieking in fear, but Sheri tripped it with her spear and pinned it down to the ground by chipping off its joints.


    After some time, only the charred remains of a tree was left of what used to be a tier 2 mana beast.


    Alex thought that he should also finish his part and signaled Lucas to attack the wood golem and keep it busy.


    Alex waved his hand and all the wind blades that were hovering beside him simultaneously attacked the knee of the wood golem. It would take some time before the golem recovered, especially when it was being distracted by Lucas.


    Alex began casting his new spell, Thunder sprites.


    Being in combat mode, he didn''t need the ten seconds long incantation and immediately the sky darkened. Three balls of lightning began hovering in the air with the golem as the center of their triangular formation.


    Alex counted down in his mind.


    As soon as his countdown reached ten, he immediately ordered Lucas to back away without looking back. Hearing Alex''s serious tone, Lucas didn''t dare to think anything else and began retreating with all he''d got. He even used his muscle strengthening skill to increase his speed.


    Just as Lucas reached Alex, three dazzling lights descended from the sky which was followed by a shockwave and a booming sound.


    Lucas turned around to see the dazzling display of orange and blue flames created by small pieces of charcoal flying in the air.


    Both Sheri and Lucas stared at the scene with widened eyes. Alex looked at their reactions and sighed. It truly felt good to get such reactions after showing off. Despite preferring practicality, even he sometimes had the urge to show off, especially something as dazzling and amazing as this.


    They collected the mana cores which took some time due to the mana core of the second wood golem being blasted away in the explosion, and returned back to the village to confirm the completion of their mission after thoroughly checking the cave and the surroundings just to be on the safer side.

 Chapter 37 - The Oracles Treasury

    After collecting both the mana cores and checking the cave and its surroundings to make sure that there wasn''t any other wood golem hiding nearby, Alex Sheri and Lucas returned back to the village.


    " Hey Alex, that last attack of yours was so cool. Will you teach it to me? I''ll do everything you tell me to do if you agree to teach me." Lucas said while moving close to Alex.


    "Me too... I also want to learn it." Sheri said with an excited voice.


    Alex turned to look at Lucas who was staring at him with expectant looks and Sheri whose eyes were shining while thinking about that last spell of Alex.


    The magnificent display was truly embedded in their hearts.


    " First of all, you are an augmenter and to top it up, you do not have any affinity with lightning, so I don''t think that you will be able to use it even if you learn the spell and it''s incantation." Alex replied to Lucas.


    "Sheri, you are compatible with the spell, but I think that you should first work on stabilizing your combat power. You are at tier 4, but due to your lack of experience in proper combat, you will be struggling against opponents of mid level Tier 3 who have some battle experience. And also, didn''t you tell me that you like using spears, then why would you want a spell that is used by mages?" Alex added in a jovial tone.


    "I...That''s different. You also use a sword, don''t you?" Sheri replied while pouting.


    "Alright you two, stop making that sulking face. I will teach you after you properly master all the other level 2 spells that you have so that you can cast them without incantation and we will buy some new skills and spells for Lucas after we return." Alex said as he walked forward.


    Alex, Sheri and Lucas were brought to the village chief''s office which was just a room beside his house.


    " Thank you for taking care of those monstrosities for us. On behalf of the entire village, I would like to offer our sincerest thanks. This is the letter of completion signed by me, and these are some rations that we have gathered, it will be helpful on the roads." Th village chief said as he pointed towards the letter kept on the table and a sack of fruits kept behind them.


    While Alex turned around, his eyes fell on something else entirely. There was something like a painting hanging on the wall against which the sack was kept.


    This painting was shining in a blue light, but Alex was sure that only he could see this blue light, as the others ignored it like it was just another piece of paper. A system notification appeared in front of Alex.


    [Compulsory Chain Mission : System Upgradation activated.]


    [Rewards : System level up, System Upgradation.]


    [Failure consequences : System disintegration. ]


    [First mission : Memorize the second half of the map leading to the Celestial Palace.]


    [Mission rewards : +2,000 exp.]


    Alex was stunned. This was the first ever compulsory mission that he had received and was about system upgradation.


    The luminous painting was most likely the trigger to this mission, so Alex got up and began scrutinizing it. It really was something like a map, but it was a bit complicated. But for Alex, whose mental capacity was higher than most people his age and with a relatively high intelligence stat for his Tier, it wasn''t all that difficult.


    "Ah! That''s our clan heirloom. I don''t exactly know what this is ment for, but it has been with us from centuries ago and is also the symbol of our glorious past." The village chief said in a sad tone.


    He had seen Alex was a bit interested in the map, but he had no plans of selling or gifting it away.


    Alex also understood it and didn''t try to ask for it.


    [ First part of Chain mission ''System Upgradation'' completed.]


    [Mission Reward : + 2000 exp.]


    Alex could feel that this map was embedded in his memory to the extent that it was the clearest memory he had and he had memorized it to the smallest of details.


    Somehow, the system seemed to be desperate whenever it came to missions related to system leveling up or upgrading, but Alex decided to ignore it for now.


    "Heirloom?" Alex asked.


    "Yes", the village chief replied. "You may be wondering why our village isn''t under the protection of any God, right?"


    Without giving Alex any chance to speak, the village chief continued, " That''s because we are the descendants of an Oracle."


    Alex was a bit stunned. When the minor gods broke through to Tier 11, they became major gods and were teleported out of the world to the place that was called Heavenly domains. The gods took most of their apostles and some followers with them during their ascension; these apostles were given the title of Oracles. At the same time, some of them were left in the world to look after the remaining believers of the God.


    But he had a hard time believing it because of the condition of these villagers. They were neither strong, nor wealthy like what one should expect the descendants of an Oracle to be.


    "But, our ancestor was ambushed and killed by demons about four hundred years ago. At that time, all the believers were poached by other gods and our clan ended up being marginalized and slowly degraded to what you see now. This strange picture is said to be the map to the treasury that Lord God left to our ancestor at the time of his ascension, but no one has ever been able to understand it, so we can only keep it as a family heirloom. It is prophesied that one of our descendants will one day be able to understand this map and lead us back to glory." The village chief said in a sentimental tone.


    After leaving the village, Alex immediately returned back to Lightwell city.


    It was already evening and the three of them were tired of the long journey, so they returned and decided to submit their mission to the guild the next day.


    Alex locked his door and began practicing inscriptions. His entire concentration was on the inscriptions and he lost the track of time in his practice.


    "Alex, it''s already time to leave for the guild." Lucas''s voice followed by the knocks on the door woke him up from his trance.


    Alex looked around. There were dozens of mana swords piling up near him and most of them were usable, but he had already run out of enhanced moon steel, not that it was useful to him in any way now.


    Alex decided to sell the usable mana swords and put them all in his storage as he left the room.


    "Here are your rewards for the completion of the mission." The same receptionist who had given them the mission said while handing the rewards to Alex.


    "Also, thank you for accepting the mission that I forced upon you. I have already checked the available missions for you. There are two missions that reward the material that you require and are bronze ranked." The girl said while handing a paper to Alex. Her disposition seemed completely different from the last time when she had asked them for help. Somehow, her voice seemed more confident and she was able to speak without stuttering.


    Alex didn''t mind though. He had known from the start that it was but a method to gain pity and coerce them into accepting the mission.


    Alex was very experienced in dealing with such people and could tell that it was just her first time trying this. How could a guild hire someone with low social skills as a receptionist?


    But as long as she kept her end of the deal, which she did, Alex didn''t mind.


    Alex looked at the missions and nodded.


    Alex''s next few days were spent doing the bronze rank missions for the guild. Theirs was the only party that accepted the bronze rank missions, so things went smooth sailing for one week. Alex had also gathered all the material for his weapon over this one week, but he had been holding back on crafting it as he still had to master the inscriptions.


    Alex entered the guild building. He had already talked with Sheri and Lucas and decided to rest for some days to focus on crafting his weapon, today would be their last mission before the break.


    Lucas and Sheri also had to practice the new skills and spells that they had bought recently, so they didn''t mind.


    The guild building was more crowded than usual and there were many new faces that Alex had not seen previously. Most of them were making casual talk, while some of them had expressions of dejection or exhaustion.


    Alex and Sheri immediately became the center of attention. Not minding the curious looks directed at them, Alex walked past the hallway to the reception and looked through the missions.


    Alex browsed through the available bronze rank missions and immediately something caught his attention. Just like the map in the village chief''s office, a mission posted in the free tier section was covered in blue light.


    [Compulsory Chain Mission : System Upgradation activated.]


    [Rewards : System level up, System Upgradation.]


    [Failure consequences : System disintegration. ]


    [Second mission : Accept the mission for exploration of the Serpent''s Valley and obtain the first half of the map to Celestial Palace.]


    [Mission rewards : +2500 exp.]


    The chain mission that was grayed out on the system interface for the last seven days immediately became active once again.

 Chapter 38 - The Oracles Treasury 2

    [Compulsory Chain Mission : System Upgradation activated.]


    [Rewards : System level up, System Upgradation.]


    [Failure consequences : System disintegration. ]


    [Second mission : Accept the mission for exploration of the Serpent''s Valley and obtain the first half of the map to Celestial Palace.]


    [Mission rewards : +2500 exp.]


    The notifications about the second part of the chain mission appeared before Alex just as he was checking out the mission posted in the free tier section.


    Free Tier ment that anyone in the guild could sign up for it irrespective of their batches or tiers, but these types of missions were usually related to beast waves where beasts from all tiers appeared, some manual labour or some recreational events organized by the United Adventurers Association or some guilds combined.


    Alex looked at what was written in the paper.


    " Free tier mission : head to the Death Valley of Celestial Palace in search of the treasury of the Stancer clan. Anyone who successfully reports about some new information will be given 2 gold coins and above depending on the usefulness and significance of the information. "


    " Cyrin Stancer "


    This mission was written so informally that Alex doubted if it was legit just at the first glance. The missions posted on the guild notice board were always very formal and detailed. But this seemed like the work of some five years old who came to know about the notice board where missions were posted and scribbled something out of curiosity and put it there.


    But since the system regarded it as an official mission, he had no choice but to check it out.


    Alex came back to the reception, " Hey Stephanie, do you know what that mission posted in the free tier section is about?"


    Stephanie, the girl who had signed them the recent missions looked up at the mission in the free tier section.


    "Oh that! It''s the private mission that Mr Graham and the others had gone to. According to what I am told, it is issued jointly by the guild leaders of our guild and the other guild with whom we share this building."


    "Issued by the guild leaders? Well that aside, what exactly is this mission?" Alex asked.


    Stephanie gave a detailed explanation about the mission to Alex.


    To summarize it, the purpose of this mission was to find the treasury left by an oracle that died centuries ago. The God who had ascended left all his treasures in a secret tomb that he had created. The map to this tomb was divided into two fragments. The two fragments were respectively handed to the Oracle that he had left behind to guard and manage his faith and the head priest of his religion. It was to ensure that the map wasn''t used for selfish purposes and only in times of need.


    When the religion was facing some threat that could possibly uproot it, the two individuals given the pieces could come together and join the two fragments.


    The wisp of the God''s soul would descend to confirm that the cause was legitimate or not. If the religion truly was in danger, the soul fragment would unlock the dome for them.


    But it is said that the faith suffered a heavy blow when they least expected it. The mysterious enemy was so quick and so precise that before they could even know that there was a threat, the Oracle had already died and most of the believers disappeared overnight.


    Later, the head priest had gone to the descendants of the Oracle to find the second half of the map, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn''t make heads or tails of the map when the two fragments were placed together. Also, there was no wisp of the God''s soul to guide them.


    Both the parties blamed each other for producing a fake map in order to hoard the entire treasury for themselves.


    This led to them fighting amongst each other. This caused the already declining faith to plummet rapidly and by the end of this faction war, both parties had exhausted their high level fighters. The effects snowballed and at the end, the strength of both sides had decayed so much that they couldn''t even last against a horde of tier 6 undead mana beasts that were attracted to the heavy aura of death seeping from the battlefield.


    This led to the formation of the region called Death Valley of the Celestial palace. It was rumored that this was the last landmark that the joint party had reached following the map before they fought amongst themselves.


    Later, the faction of the head priest recovered, though not to their previous glory, but some of them even became apostles of other gods. The two factions reconciled, but the faction of the oracle could not recover.


    The guild leaders of these two guilds were a couple from the descendants of the head priest and they took it upon themselves to find the treasury. The two guilds organized these private missions twice a year and all the members were free to lend a hand, but they were bound by a contract that they couldn''t hide any information they discovered and the treasure had to be surrendered to the guilds in return for rewards.


    "Such a small world..." Alex muttered under his breath.


    "But isn''t the death valley full of tier 6 undead? Why would others risk their lives for this?" Alex voiced his confusion.


    "Oh you don''t need to worry about it. Many factions had come to know about the treasury and sent their people to search for it in the past, but they didn''t find anything. Instead, they ended up clearing the undead and only mana beasts upto tier 3 are left there." Stephanie replied.


    "They were supposed to try again after half a year, but they say that this time, they have found substantial leads. The guild leaders don''t want to wait for long, so they returned back only to restock and will leave in a week. This mission is posted to find some more people who are willing to lend them a hand." Stephanie replied with a hint of excitement in her voice.


    "Alright, register me and my party for this mission. " Alex said after a brief pause. He had a hunch that he would have to go and find this Oracle''s treasury with or without those people, so it was safer to go with a group of people who had been there before.


    "But..." Stephanie said in a disappointed voice, but stopped after one word. If Alex and his party left for this mission, she, who was in charge of the bronze ranked missions, would have to find someone else to complete them.


    But then she remembered that most of those missions had already been handled by Alex and his party, and she didn''t have any right to decide what missions they chose.


    Stephanie registered Alex, Sheri and Lucas for the mission with a dejected look and handed a paper to Alex stating that he had been registered for this mission.


    After registering for this mission, Alex and his party took another mission and headed out for it. On the way, Alex told them about the private mission and if they wanted to join or not. If they refused, he would withdraw their names and they could rest, but he needed to go there regardless. Just as he had expected, both of them immediately agreed to go with him.


    ********


    At night one day before the commencement of the mission, in a big mansion in the central region of Lightwell city, a woman was standing in a dimly lit room, and in front of her was a man hanging from chains in a near death state. Behind her, there were two more people who radiated strong auras.


    "Klarinon and Cecelia, you two better remember that I am helping you two with this matter while going against Lord God''s orders. You two should have controlled that bastard Thomas, and it is completely your fault that he turned out to be such a shame to the family. Do remember to alter the memories of this city guard once you are done and remember, this is the first and last favour that I can do for you presently. " A man wearing the robe of Avelan''s apostles said in a cold voice.


    "Brother, how can you say that? Thomas was also your nephew. How can you call him a bastard?" Cecelia asked. Her brother had never acted so cold to her, so she was a bit stunned when he said this.


    "Oh, are you telling me that he is your husband''s son?" The man with a muscular body retorted in a disgusted tone.


    "I...." Cecelia was left speechless.


    Seeing the complicated expression on his sister''s face, the man sighed in his heart and immediately walked away without turning back.


    "It was true after all....." He whispered to himself while trying his best to restrain the anger in his heart. A few days ago, he received the news that Thomas had gone missing and decided to visit his sister and help her. When he was on his way to Klarinon''s house, he saw Edward who should be searching for Thomas laughing hysterically in a tavern. He wanted to console the poor soul who had drunk himself to stupor, but when he went near Edward, the former refused to budge.


    After some effort, he was able to persuade Edward, his best friend, to enter the carriage, but at this moment, Edward uttered some words that sounded like thunderclaps to him.


    He had beaten Edward till he was half dead, but the suspicion was already seeded in his heart and today, he knew that Edward was right.


    He wanted to kill his sister on the spot, but he controlled himself.


    His sister had lost her brother today, this should do as a punishment for now.


    "I did my best to hold them back on the orders of Lord God, but I couldn''t stop them. Now I would like to see what you have got, descendant of a major goddess...." The man said as his carriage vanished in the darkness of the night.

 Chapter 39 - A Spiritual Beast

    A carriage drawn by a Flame winged horse moved out of the city gate and joined another luxurious carriage drawn by a tier 4 mana beast. It belonged to the guild masters of the two guilds.


    Alex was a bit surprised about how eager the couple was just by the fact that they were the first even after being the highest level members of the guilds. The three of them greeted the two guild masters and got back into their carriage.


    Soon, tens of carriages joined them and the adventurers began their journey after some formal introductions. Since all the preparations were made and all the adventurers gathered, the entire group set off without any further delays.


    One could tell just by the looks of the people who had returned recently that this time, they were expecting results out of their expedition.The guild masters opened their carriage one last time before setting off, " Alright everyone, as discussed earlier, the rewards will be provided based upon your contributions in this expedition as discussed in the notice along with a compulsory reward of ten gold coins each to every person participating, but the treasures have to be handed over to us and people who make significant contributions can also get chances to choose one or two items from the treasury, provided that it is not some outrageous demand. You may already have known the basic details from the notice or from your acquaintances who have accompanied us on a previous expedition, so let''s not waste any time and set off."


    The carriage carrying the two guild masters set off immediately after the announcement followed by all the other carriages. All the adventurers were already aware of this arrangement and didn''t voice out any objections.


    Rumors had it that there were some parts of the treasury which could help in increasing the comprehension of spells and skills and also help in overcoming bottlenecks that the God had left for his believers and even staying in proximity to those treasures would be beneficial to people. Just staying in proximity of these treasures would prove to be beneficial to people struck at bottlenecks, so most of the people had taken part in this mission just to break through any previous bottlenecks, especially when the guild masters had promised the usage of such treasures on people who made special contributions.


    This was also the reason why they were able to gather a good number of people with relatively higher levels despite the low rewards. People were ready to spare some time for trying out such treasures after being struck at bottlenecks for extended periods of time despite the costs.


    Alex followed the carriages along with his friends, unaware of the fact that there was someone in the city who had been trying to find his location at all times.


    After five hours of continuous traveling, the expedition group finally reached the serpent''s valley. Alex looked around only to find that the entire place was crawling with snakes of various sizes and colors. The sizes also varied from a few inches long to dozens of meters long.


    Alex cast a glance around in a large open space in the forest and his vision was completely filled by a vast number of serpents crawling on the ground as far as he could see.


    ''Screeechhh!''


    A deep bellow was let out at the head of the group. Alex looked at the source of this sound, only to see a large door appear behind the two guild masters, and a strange humanoid creature with the lower body of a lion and a humanoid upper body with six arms and a bat like face stepped out of this door.


    ''Screeccchh!'' The creature shrieked again and all the serpents started to turn around and move away in panic.


    ''A guardian beast! No wonder they dare to come to this place full of venomous snakes.'' Alex said to himself.


    [ Spiritual beast : Six tribulations Keritobion]


    [Level : 280]


    [Strength : 16,950 Agility : 16,950]


    [Endurance : 16,950 Intelligence: 16,950]


    [Spirituality : 1082]


    [Skills : dimension distortion, spirit sealing, beast overlord, ...62 others]


    [Abilities : Mana manipulation, spiritual confinement, spiritual world, spirit enslaving,...22 others.]


    Alex hadn''t expected that he would be able to see the stats of the spiritual beast. Spiritual beasts were different from mana beasts and only large families and clans with a myriad of resources could have one as their guardian.


    These beasts were found in the spiritual realm and were very rare. They couldn''t be found on the pet market and had intellectual ability comparable to and even higher than humans. They could make contracts with humans, wherein humans had to provide a part of their spiritual beliefs to them as their nourishment, and they would be obliged to help humans whenever they so demanded.


    Spiritual beasts were on a completely different level when compared to humans or mana beasts on the same level, and a spiritual beast of a lower tier could easily defeat a human or mana beast at higher tiers.


    ''If my guess is correct, spirituality should be the number of people that worship it and looking at those awfully balanced stats, it must have been forcefully subdued.'' Alex said in his heart.


    Spiritual beasts were prideful creatures and preffered to detonate themselves rather than being subdued, and if the adversary was strong enough to prevent them from self detonating, they would rather burn away their consciousness and cultivation. The one in front of Alex was one such example and all it''s stats should be what one expected from a newborn spiritual beast of level 280.


    All the mana beasts in a large area surrounding the Keritobion felt a scary pressure directed at their spirits and even the beasts pulling the carriages were shivering.


    The appearance of the spiritual beast awed all the humans present whereas all the mana beasts were shivering. Alex comforted his Flame winged horse and it settled down a bit, but couldn''t stop shivering.


    All the serpents immediately cleared the area around the spiritual beasts and stopped only when they were miles away from it. The spiritual beast also quited down and took an illusionary form while hovering around the guild leaders with a blank expression.


    Alex was sure that a conscious spiritual beast would never do such a thing and he was a bit indignant on seeing it being treated like this, but there was nothing he could do.


    Alex shook his head and stopped focusing on the hovering spiritual beast. The group continued their journey led by the two guild masters.


    They didn''t encounter any mana beasts on their way forward thanks to the Six tribulations Keritobion and this also increased their speed.


    "The leader''s spiritual beast is truly amazing. None of those disgusting snakes dare to appear in front of it. I also feel an urge to pray to it every time I look at it." someone said. Their intention to flatter the couple couldn''t be any more obvious.


    " That is to be expected of our guild masters. After all they are the strongest in our guilds and their ancestors were the priests and elders of the doctrine of Lord God who has ascended as a major god." Someone else said.


    All the others also began to openly praise the two guild masters, who didn''t seem to have any interest in stopping them.


    " The two guild masters seem to be good people. All the adventurers here are praising them." Sheri whispered to Lucas who was sitting inside the carriage beside her.


    Alex heard it and could only shake his head. Those people were obviously trying to flatter the guild masters who didn''t show any expressions on the surface, but Alex could tell that they were enjoying the praises and had no intention of stopping the others.


    The Serpent''s Valley was shockingly large and it took the group nearly two days to cross through the outer layers and enter the inner region. Also, the number of reptiles inhabiting it was alarmingly large, but none of them dared to enter the area near the Spiritual beast whose figure hovered near the guild masters.


    Alex was also a bit worried. His second part of the mission was still ongoing as he had yet to take a look at the half part of the map that was kept with the two guild masters. He knew that it wouldn''t be as easy as looking at the half that was present with the village chief, but he was also sure that the two guild masters also had a copy of the other half, otherwise they wouldn''t have been so dead set on searching the treasury.


    He also found it strange that the village chief would post the mission to the guild which was led by a person of the faction that was responsible for their decline. The more he thought about it, the stranger things appeared to be. He wouldn''t be too surprised if he was told that the entire village that he had visited earlier had long fallen into the hands of the priest''s faction behind the scenes, just that most of the descendants of the oracle had yet to realize it, or they just feigning ignorance on the surface while knowing it deep down in their hearts.


    The more he thought about it, the more his theory seemed to be near the truth if not the truth. If the system had not recognized the piece of map from the village chief''s office to be authentic, Alex would have thought that it was a fake, but it was also the real deal.


    The group continued moving while Alex was in deep thoughts. But in the end Alex could not reach any conclusions and had to drop that line of thought. He was already sitting inside the carriage while Lucas was driving it.


    Alex entered mental simulations and began practicing his new spells. Even if he was traveling, he couldn''t give up his practice. He was sure that they would be safe as long as the Spiritual Beast was still there and no mana beasts would dare to attack their group.


    "Alex, Alex. Wake up. We have arrived at our destination." Sheri''s voice snapped him out of his meditative state after a long time. Alex immediately woke up and looked around.


    They had reached a relatively empty region in the Serpent''s Valley and the Spiritual Beast was no longer hovering behind the guild leaders, but the serpents in this region were very scarce.. Also, there was the aura emitted by undead creatures seeping out of the ground.