The Mage Emperor

The light sucks

“Good morning,” I said as I stepped into the classroom and then went to my place.

Seeing me taking the inner seat next to the window, Lien looked at me with wide opened eyes and asked, “Are you fucking serious?”

“Dear, some things never change,” I smiled at her.

Her eyes twitched as she sat down on the outer seat and then shook her head. “I can’t believe you,” she grumbled, slightly puffing up her cheeks.

“Just because you’re trying to look and react in a cute way, I’m not going to switch places with you, you know?” I remarked.

“Tsk,” she clicked her tongue. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘trying to look cute’? Am I not-”

“Lien, we both know that I'm not going to believe that you misunderstood my words and got offended,” I cut into her words.

Once again clicking her tongue, she slumped down in her chair and sighed loudly.

“Asshole.”

“I am.”

“I’m glad we agree,” she chuckled, quickly getting over the matter. Right when we finished talking, the bell rang and Endo appeared in that exact second.

I wonder if he’s going to misunderstand me again. The nature of life dictates that he will and he should take actions against me this time. Let’s hope that’s not going to be the case, I don’t want to start showcasing my abilities in front of random people just so Endo wouldn’t kick me out of this class.

Or wait…

Hmm- we’ve got the document we wanted and since I can teach Lien, it’s unnecessary to stay here. But then again, being kicked out of the class would be quite a shameful way to drop out of school. It wouldn’t matter much if humans were different, but I’m sure they’d start gossipping about us and that wouldn’t do any good for my plans. If what Leo said is true, I must take actions against Sylvanus and I can’t really do that all alone. I must become a Grandmaster and get the help of this city.

They may not be much, but even these students can get by in the outside world, so they should be able to explore other areas. It’s not like randomly teleporting around would help me in finding Sylvanus, not to mention that I can’t teleport to places I’ve never been to. I should also gather information about this ‘Dark city’ and its people.

My thoughts were interrupted in the next moment when Endo sat down at his table and said in a loud voice, “Good morning, everyone. Let’s start today by overlooking some of the advanced concepts about chemical magic.”

At this, my classmates started cheering and crying out in joy. Seeing their enthusiasm, I became a bit curious about the topic and listened to what he had to say. Considering that he brought up chemical magic, I had a feeling that the students of this class were considered ‘elites’ because the teachers shared even the kind of knowledge that was hard to come by. Well, hard wasn’t the right word, more like impossible. They either reinvented and realised how it worked by themselves or they learned from their forefathers.

Even I started my road on a paved path thanks to my ancestor, Khem. I didn’t know what kind of person he was, but he had my best regards anyway. If not for inheriting his legacy, I’d be still sitting in Balan, hoping that I could graduate from school and find a good job, maybe find a nice girl. I always found it strange when I thought about the fact that half of my achievements was thanks to some random guy in the past, though the other half was thanks to my own hard work.

“--so to create hydrogen, you could either use electrolysis or thermolysis as I taught you last time. Now it’s time to show me how much you’ve progressed in three days. I hope that all of you can create hydrogen by now from the water element,” he said.

We could turn our mana into the basic elements, but we couldn’t create matters, molecules, and other things out of nothing. But if combined with chemistry and physics, we could make wonders.

Looking towards us, he added, “Right, I shouldn’t forget about my new students. Since you weren’t here I’m not going to blame you even if you don’t know how to do it, but I’ll ask you just in case. Does any of you know how to create hydrogen? I could make you a short presentation.”

While he was talking, he didn’t notice that most of the students turned around and looked at us with annoyed faces. I understood the reason. If we didn’t know how to do it, Endo would tell us how to do it and waste their precious time. I wouldn’t want to be upheld by some random people either, they probably felt the same way about us.

The fun fact was that to use Dying Star, creating hydrogen was the simplest step and Lien learned how to do it about two weeks ago. She had no trouble using advanced magic even if she was in the middle of a battle, so this much would be as easy for her as breathing. Peering at me, Lien asked through Link, “Can I show it?”

“Hahaha, what sort of question is that? Or do you want to use a spell?” I asked, realising that she wasn’t talking about creating hydrogen…

“How about a tiny Dying Star?” she asked.

“You love that spell, don’t you?” I shook my head.

“It looks so beautiful at night and it’s so powerful as well!” she replied, her soul waves filled with enthusiasm. When I connected our souls with Link, she could barely talk to me and the voice she sent through her soul had no emotion or tone. By now, she could express herself almost as well as in real speech, which was a nice thing.

“You can use it, but I’ll wrap it around else you’re going to destroy the classroom. Even if it’s the size of a fist, it’d be more than enough to destroy a small room like this…” I replied as I created an invisible sphere which provided all kinds of protections and effects. It would stop the heat from escaping, along with the radiation and gravitational pull. The trickiest part was to stop the second since I had to control a bunch of particles and restrain them, but it was doable… The most important ones were the electromagnetic particles anyway, the rest didn’t really matter. Okay, that was just me being lazy but it wouldn’t hurt anyone!

Although talking through Link was much quicker than real speech, we still took our time to answer, which obviously pissed off the teacher and the others. He was about to open his mouth when I created a round barrier. Frowning slightly, he asked, “What is that?”

“Ah, so you can sense it? It seems if I’m lazy you can do it!” I said playfully.

“What are you talking about?” he frowned.

“Uhm, don’t mind me. I was just talking to myself. This is to prevent destruction,” I replied with a smile and in the next moment, Lien used Dying Star to create a tiny star in the middle of the air. Being strong enough to sense that it was Lien’s magic, he turned towards her and opened his eyes wide.

“That’s a high-level spell!” he cried out.

“This starts out by creating hydrogen, and that obviously happens with one of the two methods you mentioned. I prefer electrolysis since it uses less mana and it may be quicker at times, though it’s harder to control. Either way, I believe using the lightning element is the best option most of the time,” she explained, sounding like some sort of professional teacher.

“I’ve got an idea!”

“What’s it?” she asked.

“How about you dress up as some sort of hot teacher and teach me later?” I replied, licking my lips as I started fantasising about her.

Peeking at me, she rolled her eyes, “I’m trying to control this spell, you know? It’s not like breathing for me, so don’t talk about weird things at a time like this.”

Knowing that she’d give in sooner or later, I looked around with a smile, only to see a bunch of dumbfounded faces. They’ve probably never heard of fusion before, so they had no idea how she created a mini star. Faced with a spell like this, most of our classmates started muttering words like ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’, which soon cheated a small smile on my wife’s face. She seemed to be really satisfied with their reactions, but she quickly hid her expression and made a bland face.

Seeing her quick change of expression, I shook my head and used Link to talk to her, “Lien, I also believe that people shouldn’t show off and become pompous if they achieved something sooner than others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy about it. It’s not like you have to hide your smile if people acknowledge you for something.”

“Erm- I don’t know, I just felt kind of bad when I realised I was grinning like an idiot because of their reactions,” she replied.

“You don’t have to,” I said as I drowned her little star with my own magic.

Looking at Lien, Endo seemed to be desperate to find out the casting sequence of Dying Star, but he didn’t dare to ask her. After all, he was a teacher and we were in the middle of class, and it’d also go against the laws. On the other hand, I’d be an idiot if I shared this kind of spell with anyone. Their city may be ‘united’ and all that shit, but they still refused to share their knowledge with each other.

After thinking about the structure of this community a bit more, even I realised that it wasn’t much different compared to the old times. What really mattered was magical power, and nobody shared what was important. Technology, food, and money became unimportant compared to their own strength, so people shared it freely. In the past, a lot of knowledge was freely accessible and you didn’t even have to pay to learn it.

It was just that things have changed a little. Instead of technology, now it was magic and knowledge they didn’t share and the rest became easy to access. Once I realised this, I felt stupid for thinking that humankind went through some sort of social evolution in Light city. Well, their laws became a bit laxer in some regards but they also turned stricter in others. It was all thanks to the difference in lifestyle. I was pretty sure people weren’t allowed to kill each other in duels in the past.

“Now it’s your turn,” Endo looked at me and said.

Scratching the back of my head, I said in a low voice, “I’ve done it already.”

Seeing him frowning, I used my soul force to explain myself, “You can’t sense when I use magic unless I’m being lazy or am using a very high-level spell, so could you just drop the matter?”

I respected him for being hard-working and he didn’t seem to be a bad person, even if he took some things too seriously. Well, that was just my opinion, but I didn’t feel the need to shame him.

“Valerie told me that I shouldn’t bug you, though I don’t really understand why. I’m sure you’ve impressed her with your skills and that you’re talented, but I can’t believe you’d lie something like that just to do nothing,” he said aloud.

“Did you tell him something?” Lien asked.

“Yes, but he’s doing his best to shame himself…” I replied and was about to open my mouth when the door opened and Valerie stepped in. For some reason she changed her hairstyle since yesterday and came in wearing a dark brown coloured sweater dress which reached only till her slim thighs. With her long blonde hair ran down on her shoulder, she looked really hot and stylish compared to yesterday.

“Hmm, now I don’t know what to do. I was looking forward to your teacher cosplay, but now I want you to fish out that dress which looks like Valerie’s. It looked great on you,” I sent my thoughts to Lien.

“Who told you I’d cosplay for you?” she raised a brow as she looked at me.

“Oh, you will. Stop playing the hard-to-get role. Did you forget that I know everything about you?” I thought as a smile formed on my face.

“You damned brute…”

Looking around in the classroom, Valerie turned towards me and waved her hand with a smile on her face. Turning towards the teacher, she said, “Endo, would you excuse them from the class? I’ve organised a meeting with someone important.”

Since my senses were enhanced all the time, I clearly heard his breath turning a bit quicker and after a quick swipe of my mana, I found out that even his heart rate sped up a little. Despite his reaction, he didn’t show anything on his face and after running his eyes down on her body, he silently nodded. I also sensed that his blood rushed towards his lower half, which made things quite obvious to me. He either loved Valerie or she was just really his type, though I could understand him. Her current getup was really pleasing to the eyes, even if the only thing I saw in her was how hot Lien would look like in her dress.

Thanks to his straw hat and his style, I couldn’t see Endo’s face yesterday, but he stood face to face with me a moment ago, so I came to realise that he was quite young. If I had to guess, I’d say that he was twenty-six. Six years of difference wasn’t that much and was quite common between most couples Honestly, most of the time those were the ones that ended with marriage..

Valerie also came at the best moment since I didn’t have to shame Endo, though our classmates seemed to be looking down on me for ‘not doing anything’. Well, Em’s and Sean’s introduction certainly helped me, but Endo’s constant bugging was working really well against the image they had about me. If this continued, I’d turn from the ‘mysterious and powerful student’ to the ‘lazy powerful student’, and the latter would be despised in this class.

Standing up, we quickly left the classroom and after closing the door behind us, I took hold of Lien’s hand. I was a bit surprised when she pushed my hand away and wrapped her arms around mine instead. I couldn’t help but think that she felt insecure for a moment, but I quickly beat that out of mind.

“Do you remember when I told you to answer her?” she asked all of a sudden.

Looking at Valerie’s back, I thought, “To be honest, I’ve forgotten all about that. Which reminds me, you have yet to tell me why did I have to answer.”

“Well… you see, she was definitely interested in you and when you meet people like her, you just have to give them what they want without a fight to turn them off,” she replied.

“What are you talking about? She knew that you’re my wife, why’d she even bother with someone like me? Also, she didn’t know at that time that I could use WORD magic so she had no reason to-”

“Yes, that’s the point. She didn’t know it and yet a day later she appears wearing a dress that’s not even ‘fashionable’ here and even her style looks similar compared to mine. Look at her clothes, doesn’t she look a bit like people in Balan? Don’t you find it strange? She is trying to please you,” she cut into my words.

“So are you telling me that I killed her interest when I told her everything she wanted to know, but after finding out that I knew how to use WORD magic, her interest returned, and now she changed her style to please me because she wants to steal me from you? Me? I’m certainly not ugly, but I’m definitely not some super handsome guy either and my personality isn’t all that great either.”

“We get along really well because you’re very similar both in mindset and interest, which kind of makes you feel like a friend sometimes, except for that I can’t really look at you as a friend. In my opinion, that’s what makes our relationship so smooth since we have common things to talk about and we also have common goals. Even if you find me super handsome, that’s just you and is most likely because of your love and Link.”

“So do you still think that this isn’t all a coincidence and she’s really doing this consciously to catch my attention?” I asked.

“You fail to see the forest for the trees, my dear,” she shook her head.

“Well, no, I’ll believe you if you still think that way since your words sounded plausible, but it’s not like she’d get a chance so I don’t get why were you so riled up,” I replied.

Seeing her looking at me with wide opened eyes, I added, “Or wait, never mind. It’s the same for you like when I see other guys checking you out, I suppose.”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to explain something obvious to you,” she rolled her eyes.

“You’re very silent today,” Valerie interrupted our little secret talk.

“I’ve got nothing to talk about with you,” I shrugged my shoulders.

Stopping in place for a moment, she turned around and looked at me with a forced smile, “Is that so?” Continuing on her way, she added, “My father is training at home right now and after I told him about you, he said that I should invite you. I suppose you don’t mind missing class at your level, though things may be different for Lien…”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. Seth started teaching me only two months ago, so if I keep up my current pace, I’ll catch up to you god incarnations in no time,” Lien replied with a smile, her words like a knife in Valerie’s back. Before she could react, she quickly ‘turned’ that knife and added, “On the other hand, I’m still only sixteen years old, so I have more than enough time to improve.”

Clearing her throat, Valerie asked, “Is that so? But it gets harder and harder as you grow stronger, you know? But certainly, your progression speed is something you can be proud of,” she nodded.

I felt like a mouse in the middle of a catfight. I was starting to believe Lien, from the bottom of my heart. Like, why else would she pick a fight with her?

“Surely, you jest. I’m sure your progression speed was quicker than mine,” Lien retaliated once again. The only thing I regretted was that I didn’t have popcorn to eat while walking, watching women arguing was always so intriguing and fun. It happened about half a year ago that on the way home, I ran into two girls who were fighting on the streets. They even tore out each other’s hair, in the heat of the moment. I didn’t know why were they fighting, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

As they made me remember that scene, I couldn’t help but crack up a little.

“What’s so funny?” Valerie asked, turning towards me with a frown.

“It’s nothing, I’ve just remembered something funny from the past,” I replied with a smile.

“Oh? And is it a secret or will you share the fun with us?” she raised a brow. After telling them about those girls, both Lien and Valerie looked at me with a forced smile. I loved how everyone knew why I remembered that story and yet everyone pretended that things were alright. They clearly hated each other…

This was the first time I had the chance to experience what Lien felt at times like these, and I had to admit, things were much funnier on this side. At least, Lien would understand my reactions more from now on. After hearing my remark, they stopped fighting, though it didn't matter since we reached the exit at the same time.

“Will you be able to keep up with us?” Valerie asked with a self-satisfied smile on her face. We all knew that the answer was no, but I wouldn't let her bully my wife.

“The right question is, can you keep up with me?” I asked. “You see, if you don't want to wait for her, I could do the same with you and get there ahead of time. I sensed where you went last night so unless you have a boyfriend or someone of the sort at the level of Grandmasters, it must have been your father,” I added.

“Were you following me?” she frowned, misunderstanding my statement.

“Haha, no. I don't need to do that kind of thing. I can sense quite a lot of powerful presences in the city, so finding you after meeting you once wasn't hard. Obviously, I just guessed that the presence nearby was your father's, but I'd rank him the fourth in the city… so my guess should be correct,” I explained.

“So are you telling me that you can not only sense my father’s presence, you can even rank him?” she opened her eyes wide, but this time I didn't answer.

Hmm, was I correct?

She kept eyeing me in silence for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought. “Let's go,” she said a moment later and ignored what she heard, but I was sure that it was only temporarily. Her mind was probably buzzing with questions.

“Thanks,” Lien muttered.

“Did you think I’d let her bully you?”

Ignoring my question, she hugged my arm and raised into the air along with me. It took only a few seconds with Valerie's speed to reach our destination, which was a skyscraper in the middle of the city. With the help of a spell, I quickly determined that it had a height of six hundred and twenty-five meters. I've never seen a skyscraper before and heard of them only in history classes.

Although Em and Sean led us around the city and this wasn't the first time I saw this building, I still felt amazed by its size. It was almost as amazing as my wife's tits! Okay, that was impossible…

As we landed in front of the building, a bunch of young men and women lined up and bowed in front of Valerie, “We greet the young Miss!”

Seeing her smiling in satisfaction, I was sure that she was used to this kind of treatment, which prompted me to ask what was so good about it, but I decided against it. A question like that had a good chance to embarrass her and I didn’t want to become unfriendly with someone who could be of good use to me. Honestly, I could never relate to people who liked these kinds of things since I’d be creeped out if people behaved like this around me.

“Please, come in,” she turned around and said with a smile. The first thing I noticed upon entering the building was that everyone had a small emblem engraved into their clothes. It had the shape of a golden key, which most likely referred to Valerie’s family name, the Keys family. There were about twenty people stationed on the ground level and I sensed thousands of people spread out at different levels. Given the prestige these Grandmasters held, I wasn’t surprised to see so many followers.

“Good evening, Michael,” she greeted one of the people who seemed to be some kind of receptionist. He had the strongest soul at this level and he was one of the strongest people I’ve personally met. There were so many powerful people in this building and yet here they were babysitting someone like a Grandmaster, instead of working hard to find clues about Sylvanus and Dark city. If I became a Grandmaster, I’d definitely rid them of their free time.

“Good evening, Miss Valerie. Did anything interesting happen at school?” he asked smiling.

Peeking at me, she chuckled, “You could say that.” Following her eyes, he turned towards us and sized me up, followed by Lien. Seeing my wife’s figure, he couldn’t hide his instinctual reaction and kept staring at her until we reached the ‘elevator’. The only difference was that there was no cabin to enter. It was just an empty tunnel which connected the first thirty or so floors. Upon reaching the tunnel, I put my hand on the wall and with a quick swipe of my mana, I mapped out the whole building.

“This building is called the Tower of Keys and the higher up you get, the tighter security becomes, though Michael is a bit of an exception in that regard. He’s one of the strongest people in this building. There is also more and more space and perks coming with each level, which makes our employees work hard to reach… greater heights,” she explained as she walked into the tunnel and then flew up.

“And what do they do?” I asked, following her. “I mean, I don’t think there are many people in this city who’d dare to come here to trouble you.”

“My father is proficient in creating complex barriers and formations, and a few of those are surrounding the city. The cannons and the energy field are all weaker both in defense and offense than my father’s formations. Obviously, formations of this size must be maintained since they can’t be fueled by my his mana eternally, so their job is to-”

“Oh, I get it. The barriers are connected to the ground and the wildlife all around the city which most likely causes the ground to rot and the trees to wither on a weekly basis. The barrier is eating up the planet but thanks to your employees who fix that by replacing the upper layer of the Earth’s crust, we haven’t died yet. Sylvanus’ power automatically makes the trees regrow so that’s one less thing to mind. Is that how it works?” I asked, finding the time perfect to inquire about stuff like that.

As she landed on the last level that was accessible from this tunnel, she turned around and said with a frown, “You know an awful lot about the barrier considering that you’ve come to this city not long ago.”

“Uh, have I become suspicious now? I don’t think telling her that I’m stronger than her father would do any good either. She seems to hold him in high regards to accept something like that. Lien, do you have an idea?” I started thinking about how to answer, but nothing came to mind.

“I think if they understood from the beginning what you want, they wouldn’t become suspicious,” she replied.

“Are you telling me that I should tell her what I want to achieve by coming to this city?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t have a better idea, but even if it sounded foolish, I’d find you much less suspicious in her place. Once you meet her father, you should be able to come clean with him since he should understand the difference more than Valerie.”

“Hmm, that could work but I’m not sure I want to tell her something like that when I don’t even know enough. What if Leo lied? I’d be nothing but a fool in that case, so I’m better off talking about that only with her father, in private,” I replied.

“Then how do you-” before she could finish, I looked into Valerie’s eyes and surrounded her with my mana and my soul force at the same time. Thanks to the difference in strength, she probably felt as if a giant rock was put on her body.

“Wh-What’s the meaning-” she struggled to speak.

Fearing that I’d crush her, I quickly pulled back my energies and said, “I’m sorry if I scared you and I had no intention to hurt you, but I hope this helped you in understanding that I’m not just some random guy who can use a bit of WORD magic. Whether you believe it or not, my soul may be the strongest in the city, so noticing stuff like that is as easy as breathing for me.”

Her lips slightly quivering, she took a step back and nodded her head, “I understand, I'm sorry for troubling you.”

Shaking my head, I said, “You don’t have to be scared of me. I never intended to hurt you or scare you, but I couldn’t think of a better way to explain the ‘source’ of my knowledge. That was what you wanted to know, am I right?”

Nodding in a hurry, she said, “Yes, but you could have shown me your power in a different way.”

“I think people believe things more if they experience it first hand, or do you think otherwise?” I raised a brow.

“No, I wouldn’t dare to,” she shook her head.

What the fuck?

“I guess you had an option like that as well,” Lien remarked with a bright smile on her face. She seemed to really enjoy that Valerie became scared of me all of a sudden, even though that wasn’t my intention.

Forcing a smile on my face, I asked, “Why are you saying that you wouldn’t dare to? It’s not like our opinions have to match. I’ve told you a moment ago that I just wanted to make you understand. I apologise for scaring you.”

“I-It’s alright,” she turned around, shaking. Her brown dress got so soaked in her sweat that it turned darker in the middle of her back.

“Nice job, Hubby,” Lien said, her tone filled with satisfaction.

“I can’t believe you, it was a mistake, you know? What if her father starts looking for trouble because of this? Also, is this a new name?” I asked.

“If you mean Hubby, then yes. Regarding her looks, don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of that,” she smiled at me and then poked Valerie’s back.

The moment her finger touched her shoulder, Valerie stiffened up and turned around as she asked in a sharp voice, “Yes?”

Stepping closer, Lien put her arm around her back and whispered into her ear, “Valerie, don’t you think that you should change your clothes? My husband’s presence must have felt overwhelming and the stress was probably a bit too much for your body. I don’t think someone like you should be walking around in your clothes soaked in your sweat, not to mention that your bra is visible as well. I think it’d be improper to walk around like this.”

Finally returning to her former self, she shook her head for a moment and then looked at her with a smile, “Uh, you’re right, could you wait here for a moment?”

“We’ll wait here,” she replied and then stepped back to my side.

Nodding, Valerie quickly teleported away which I found a bit surprising. It wasn’t a hard spell, but one needed quite a lot of knowledge in advanced magic to use it. Once she knew enough, the range limit would depend on the power of her mana and her mana control. Seeing that she left, Lien jumped onto my arm and said, “Yes, yes! Great job! I love you!”

“What’s gotten into you?” I shook my head.

“Now I understand how annoyed you feel when other guys are hitting on me, so why are you even asking? I’m obviously happy to see her gone, even if only for a short period of time. Ah, and that scared face she made, it was worth every money in the world,” she said in a low voice, almost jumping up in her happiness.

“I can’t believe you, you’re such a vile woman,” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I bet if she was a guy who was hitting on me, you’d be just as happy about her misfortune as me,” she snorted. “Which reminds me, weren’t you all happy when I gave the cold shoulder to Sean back on the island? I remember how you sent your thoughts to me shouting ‘yes, yes!’, weren’t you?” she added, looking at me with a smirk.

“Well, I’d be lying if I said no,” I muttered.

“See? I’m always right,” she said playfully.

“Of course, of course,” I rolled my eyes as I looked around. There was a small living room-like area with a few sofas facing each other and a small table in between. A few people were pretending to be chatting about something, but I’ve noticed long ago that they were sneaking peeks at us from time to time, most likely dying to find out our origin. It probably counted as a privilege that Valerie was guiding us personally, even if she left for a moment. Not minding that there were people staring, Lien stepped closer and hugged me, almost pushing me into the tunnel.

Out of reflex, I grabbed her arms and used her body to rebalance myself, even though I had no reason to. I realised instantly that I could’ve flown back even if I fell, but my reflexes were still that of a normal human. Shaking my head, I let go of her as I asked, “Seriously, what the hell are you doing?”

“Hahaha, you were making such a serious face for no reason, I thought I’d cheer you up,” she replied as she started drawing circles on my chest.

“By tempting me and almost making me fall into the tunnel behind me?” I raised my brows.

“If I know it right, men get an erection if they experience near death events since they instinctively want to pass on their genes. I wanted to see if that was… true~” she chuckled as she pressed her knee between my thighs.

“You’re talking some real bullshit,” I muttered as I quickly stepped away from her. The warmth of her body and her scent was more tempting than anything else in that situation, it had nothing to do with her sudden push. “Why must you flirt and do stuff like this here, at a time like this?”

“Aww, don’t tell me you didn’t notice them,” she motioned with her eyes to her left. Knowing that she meant the people behind her, I looked over her head and found a few pairs of wandering eyes. The target was none other than her round bottom, which wasn’t surprising since she was wearing black cotton leggings. I loved when she wore leggings for a reason, and obviously, other men thought alike…

I felt tempted to grab her ass, but I was trying to quit flirting in public. Some things should be kept in bed, and these sort of things certainly shouldn’t be done in front of others. Clenching my fists, I quickly stuffed my hands into my pockets.

“Hmm, you were able to restrain yourself. Should I tempt you until you can’t hold back yourself, like when we had to go through that trial?” she asked playfully.

“You know, sometimes I really think that you’re in dire need of a good spanking. Do you actually like flirting in front of others or what?” I asked as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Averting her eyes, she replied through Link, “To be honest, I didn’t like it in the past, but when I know that everyone knows that you’re really strong, I can’t help but want to show them that I belong to you and you belong to me. I’m not doing it because I’m expecting different treatment, I’m doing it because it stops guys from staring at me in that way. Well, most of the time. Even now, look at the guys behind me, they all turned away and went back to chatting with each other since they know that I have someone.”

“So am I some sort of frog that’s keeping away the flies?” I asked with a smile.

“I’d be lying if I said no, though I wouldn’t call you a frog. The other reason I like flirting in public is that it often ends with you hugging me, which I love so much. It’s always so warm and gentle,” she replied.

Shit, now I really want to hug her… Argh! I don’t know what to do!

Luckily, Valerie returned at the best moment and I didn’t have to give up on my ‘no flirt in public’ rule. “I’m sorry for the delay,” she said with a meek voice as she lowered her head. She seemed to be ashamed of herself because of what happened. Certainly, she was the proud daughter of a Grandmaster and yet she got so scared that her clothes turned wet from her own sweat. Unsure if I should say something, I decided to keep silent about the matter and let her handle it however she wanted. I was sure she wouldn’t become depressed and stuff like that because of something like this.

“Please follow me then,” she murmured.

Maybe I’m underestimating my own power a little. As I started following Valerie, I couldn’t help but peek at Lien, realising that I’ve never made her feel the full extent of my power. It made me wonder how would she react.

“Do you want to test yourself later?” I asked through Link.

“Test? What sort of test?” she asked.

“I’d engulf your body with the entirety of my soul force and mana to see how you reacted,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t be scared of you, no matter what happened,” she said.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I wouldn’t fear you, but I don’t know how my body would react to your energies. I admit I became a bit curious to find out what it feels like, but don’t do it now. I don’t want my clothes to get drenched in my sweat like hers,” she said, looking at Valerie’s back.

“I wouldn’t do it now even if you asked me to,” I remarked.

“Good then.”

On the way up, Valerie told us more about the building and just like she said, the rooms were decreasing in number but increasing in size. Above the sixtieth floor, every floor had a small park-like area built into it and from the eightieth level onwards, there were small ponds and lakes as well. Of course, even if we looked out of the tunnels, all we saw was the same living room-like area with one or two doors leading to these strange areas. Upon reaching the hundredth floor, she flew out of the tunnel and took a seat in one of the luxurious armchairs.

Raising a brow, I asked, “Are we going to wait here?”

“Well, the next floor is mine and the remaining nine floors are my father’s. Although I call them floors, there is no actual floor, walls, ceiling, and stuff like that. My father created a whole different world in there, it’s like a different space,” she sighed, her voice filled with admiration. “You know, I grew up seeing his creations but whenever I brought people to his ‘room’, they just looked around in confusion, their brain not even understanding what they were seeing.”

“Now I kind of want to see it,” I chuckled as I sat down facing her. Thankfully, Lien understood that this wasn’t the time to behave in an immature way. After taking the seat next to me, she crossed her legs and her arms and leaned back in her armchair. Her body language told me that she wasn’t interested in the following conversation and wanted to stay out of it, which I found a bit surprising.

Opposite of her, Valerie sat with her legs parallel to each other. It’d be hard for a man to sit like that, but women’s bone structure was different which made things much easier. Noticing that I was looking at her, she leaned forward in her chair and moved her right leg a bit forward. Most people never paid attention to their own legs since it was furthest from the brain and often out of sight, but they provided me with a lot of valuable information during conversations.

Since I had nothing new to learn in school and I couldn’t continue my experiments either, I often spent my time watching others. Last time I didn’t pay attention to Valerie’s body language, but I decided to watch out for her after hearing Lien’s thoughts. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t read and understand people, it was just that I haven’t talked much during the last ten years and got a bit out of practise. The fact that she put her leg forwards in my direction meant that she was interested in me, even though I had yet to say something.

I thought about telling Lien something, but even after thinking for a few seconds, nothing came to mind. Leaning back in my armchair, I also crossed my arms which was a sign of refusal and denial. Even if she didn’t understand body language, it automatically made others think that you didn’t want to talk with them.

A moment later, a two meters tall guy came out from the only room on this floor and stopped next to Valerie. He was like some super bodybuilder, covered in muscles from head to toe, though he seemed to be in his fifties. If I wouldn’t be able to sense her father’s presence, I’d have thought that this man was her father. His soul force was also the second most powerful in the building, excluding me, of course.

“My dear niece, what brought you here?” he leaned forward and threw his arms around her.

“Uncle Brent, I’m here to introduce some people to my father,” she pointed at us once he let go of her. Taking a step towards me, he held out his hand and made a serious face, “Brent Keys. I’m her uncle,” he tilted his head towards Valerie.

“Seth Clearfall, and she’s my wife Lien,” I shook his hand and turned towards Lien at the same time.

Nodding his head, he asked, “So what brought you two here?”

“Why don’t you ask your niece?” I chuckled. Although I had some plans, nobody knew about them in this city other than Lien, so I was a bit at a loss when I asked myself why was I here. The only thing Valerie told me that her father knew everyone who knew how to use WORD magic, but I refused to believe that she not only invited me for something like that, she even guided us personally. Turning towards her, he raised a brow, expecting some sort of explanation.

“Father knows everyone in the city who can use WORD magic, so I thought I’d introduce them to him. They’re new in the city in case you haven’t realised it yet,” she replied with a smile. She seemed to be much more comfortable around me after her uncle appeared, which made me think that she was still a bit scared of me. I didn’t understand why was she still interested in me if she was afraid of me at the same time.

“Hoo? How old are you?” he turned towards me once again. He scanned us with his soul force already, so he instantly understood that Lien wasn’t strong enough to do something like that.

“I’ll be seventeen in May,” I replied, expecting some sort of negative reaction. Most people would think that I was some young brat who was a bit talented, but I was quite sure that my way of thinking was more mature than most adults’, except for a few things…

Nodding his head, he said, “That puts you a notch above Valerie-”

“Uncle…” Valerie interrupted him and once he looked at her, she shook her head. “That’s really not the case,” she sighed. Making a surprised face, he turned towards me and scanned me once again, but this time he did it much more thoroughly.

“I can’t see through you,” he murmured.

“Ever since I came to this city, everyone has been talking about how privacy was taken seriously, and yet everyone I’ve met tried to scan me with their mana or their soul force. Tell me, doesn’t that sound ridiculous?” I asked, shaking my head.

Forcing a smile on his face, Brent said, “Let me give you a piece of advice. That law is taken seriously, but if others can’t catch you, they can’t blame you either.”

“But I’ve caught all of you,” I smiled at him.

“Certainly, you did, so it’s in your right to report me to the guards,” he laughed.

“Hmm, and what’d be your punishment, as the brother of a Grandmaster?” I raised a brow.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, he made a serious face and said, “I think a fine would be issued to me.”

Raising my brows, I looked around in the extravagant building and spread my arms as I said, “I’m sure that’s going to cause a lot of trouble to you.”

“Hahaha, do you feel wronged?”

“Nah, I was just fooling around. I don’t give a shit about it, to be honest. I just found it funny that the first people who broke the laws were the descendants of the same people who created those laws,” I shook my head and leaned on the armrest, starting to get bored of waiting. I couldn’t just sit silently and wait, even though I would have been happier if I didn’t have to pretend that I had even the slightest interest in these people.

“Good morning, everyone” I heard a masculine voice behind my back. Naturally, I sensed when he teleported behind me so I wasn’t surprised by his voice. As I looked at Lien’s face I realised she was too bored to be surprised, she seemed to be about to fall asleep any second.

Noticing that I was staring at her face, she showed me a small smile and said through Link, “I’m sorry, Hubby, but I honestly have nothing to do here. I wasn’t even invited, I was just allowed to come with you. What good is there even meeting them? They keep blabbering non-stop.”

“Are you saying that I should’ve declined the invitation?” I asked.

“Well, thinking about it with a clear head, I suppose you can find out more by meeting him than by asking random people who are ‘unimportant’, so I’m not going to say yes,” she replied, slightly leaning on my arm. “Anyway, please don’t mind me. I’m going to train while you’re chatting with the big shots, okay?”

“If that’s what you want.”

In the meantime, the man walked up to the table and sat down next to Valerie. He was a head shorter than Brent, but he was much stronger than him. He had short black hair and a small beard with a few thin streaks of white. He also seemed to be in his fifties, though he definitely looked older than Brent.

Looking into my eyes, he said with a smile, “My name is Daniel Keys, and I’m the owner of this place and father of this wonderful daughter.” I was about to introduce myself when he raised his hand and said, “There is no need for introductions, I’ve heard everything.”

“Ah, good then, it makes things simpler,” I nodded, happy that I didn’t have to repeat myself again. I honestly hated introductions.

Leaning forward, he started the conversation with a strange question, “Who are you, really?”

“What do you mean?” I raised a brow.

“Who’s behind you? Who was your master? Where are you coming from? Those were my questions when Artemis told us that she sensed a huge fluctuation of mana in Balan. She also sent one of the teachers from Valerie’s school to find that person. A few days later he returned with a detailed report and guess who’s that person,” he chuckled as he pulled out a folder from behind his back and threw it on the table.

On the first page of the document was a picture of me when I first went to school with Lien, as a couple. Although my control was good enough, my mana and soul force was too weak to reach far enough to sense Cain and his company. Well, they had three or four days at most to spy on me before my pools grew large enough to scan the whole city.

Raising a brow, I asked, “If you have a detailed report about me, then why are you asking bullshit like that? I lived my whole life in Balan, you can find all the official documents in the city hall about me, which you probably did seeing your expression.”

Crossing his fingers, he frowned, “So do you want me to believe that a random god incarnation who was average in every field became so powerful in a few weeks that not even I can see through him?”

“What?!” Valerie cried out and looked at her father with wide opened eyes.

I guess she didn’t know, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I looked at her and saw her staring at me.

“You see, the oddest thing in this whole tale is that this change happened after you met Lien Newin,” he turned towards Lien as he said. “It took some time but we found out that her old address was in your neighbourhood. After an unfortunate accident and thanks to some terrible people, she had to leave her home and move from hotel to hotel for a few years. So how come once this mysterious girl returned to your side, you suddenly gained so much strength?”

“The first thing I thought was that Lien originated from Dark city, but after finding out how weak she was, I realised that wasn’t the case. Then I thought that maybe you were simply hiding your strength, but that didn’t make much sense either. You’d have noticed Cayn if that was the case. In the end, I was left with only one option, and I’m quite sure that this is the correct one. Your commandment had some very specific restriction on your power. I have a few guesses,” he started smiling, seeing that I became a bit annoyed.

It was too easy for gods to find out the ‘theme’ of my commandment if they knew my backstory, which was starting to be annoying. I had to get rid of the source as quickly as possible. I was about to ask who was his source when he suddenly answered all my questions.

“You see, we’ve gathered every video from the surveillance cameras in Balan where you were visible and our AIs found out that from time to time, you attempted to use advanced magic, though you always failed for some reason. The only logical explanation seemed to be that despite the strength of your mana and your soul force, you were lacking both in amount. My people just had to look for it and they found everything about you two in the city hall.”

As he finished talking, he kept looking at my face without doing as much as blinking his eyes, maybe fearing that he’d miss my reaction. Raising my hands, I said, “I’m surprised.”

“Is that so?” his blue eyes glinted.

“Well, I didn’t think that Valerie brought me here so that I could listen to my life story and your predictions. I also didn’t think that you were all prepared to meet me and that there were so many things about me in Balan,” I shook my head.

“I always thought I hid my things well, but I guess I have a long way to go. I admit you were right in most cases, but you better not expect that I tell you my commandment because that’s not going to happen,” I added.

“No, no, that wasn’t my intention. In fact, the Grandmasters don’t know each other’s commandment either, though we all have clues about the ‘themes’. I suppose you need a partner for yours,” he chuckled.

Clapping his hands, he added, “Ah, right, before we continue, I’d like to clear a misunderstanding. Valerie didn’t know that you were under surveillance or anything of the sort, so please don’t blame her.”

Looking at her confused face, I nodded, “I’ve realised that already.”

“So what is it that you want?” I raised my brows.

“The real question is, what exactly is your purpose of coming here? I've heard that you started attending school but come on, you surely don't expect me to believe that you came here to learn,” he rolled his eyes.

“Well, there are a few reasons. First and foremost, we were simply curious about the city. You see, all these things around you may be common for you, but I grew up in Balan so I found this place intriguing. Secondly, I've heard something very interesting not long ago, which is a bit unnerving. I was hoping that I could gather some information regarding this matter,” I replied.

“And what is this ‘matter’ about?”

“Have you heard of a being called Sylvanus?” I asked as I leaned forward.

“Of course,” he nodded. Frowning, he made a thoughtful face for a moment and then added, “Is this related to Neith’s prophecy? In case it is, where have you heard it?”

“Yes, I’m talking about that prophecy and I’ve heard it from another god incarnation. I’m not going to tell you their name and I also know little about this person, but I thought I’d be better off asking someone like you. You’ve been around for many years so I think I could trust your words a bit more.”

“That is really strange considering that we haven’t shared the prophecy with anyone. This friend of yours is either one of the Grandmasters who couldn’t hold their mouth or a spy,” he crossed his fingers, seemingly a bit worried about something.

“I can’t tell you unless I meet the other Grandmasters, but that’d be certainly a bit worrisome. Regardless, I didn’t come here to make you doubt each other. My informer is about as powerful as you and also excels in stealth techniques, so it could have spied on you as well,” I explained, making sure that I wouldn’t reveal anything about Leo, not even his gender.

I knew too little about the sides so I had no choice but to keep every information to myself. Leo’s methods were dirty, but I had yet to see these Grandmasters in action and the way the barrier worked was quite devilish as well, so I was sure they weren’t saints either.

“That makes things simpler, there is no Grandmaster in Light city who excels in that sort of magic,” he muttered as he put his hand on his chin. I didn’t really understand why was he so sure of it since any of them could have been hiding their skills. Either way, it was none of my business and Leo definitely wasn’t one of the Grandmasters.

“Well, Neith surely didn’t tell it to anyone else. I also know that I haven’t even mentioned it in front of others, and Artemis would never tell it to outsiders,” he continued muttering. Realising that I was still present, he caught to his head and asked, “Oh, right, and what did you want to find out?”

“Elder brother, are you sure you shouldn’t contact the others first?” Brent chimed in before I could ask anything.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell him anything he isn’t allowed to know,” he replied, looking at me meaningfully.

“I’m fine with that, I’ve been doing the same,” I shrugged, and then told them what Leo told me about Dark city, Light city, and Sylvanus.

As I reached the end of my tale, Daniel kept staring at me in silence for a few seconds before saying, “What you said is correct, but we aren't fools who would ignore a threat like Sylvanus’ existence,” he shook his head.

“Your friend misinformed you a little since not even the people of Dark city know the whereabouts of Sylvanus. You see, although we can't access the 'Internet’ anymore, we can still explore the server parks, the laboratories, etcetera to gather information. We were able to create thousands of spells thanks to the hard drives and documents we found, which helped a lot in re-inventing what was once lost. As you can see, some talented people have also done their best and pushed technology to a whole different level.”

“Yeah, I had the luck to experience it first-hand…” I grumbled.

“Haha, I’ve heard what happened,” he smirked as he looked at Lien. I kind of wanted to grab his beard and tear it all out when I heard that.

“Have you ever visited a ruin?” he suddenly changed the topic.

“I haven't, but what does it have to do with my question?” I asked.

“The reason I brought this up is to answer your question,” he smiled at me.

“You see, the location of Sylvanus’ main body is unknown, but it has millions of roots underground which for some reason, formed nodes in most of these cities. These nodes raised out of the ground and took the form of giant trees. We don't really understand why is that the case, but all of them are protected by one or multiple doppelgangers.”

“By the way, we know that the message carved into the ground in front of Balan was your doing… It wasn’t too funny, though those weaklings wouldn’t be able to get here even if they found out about the existence of this city. Anyway, considering that you’ve killed a doppelganger, you surely know what I’m talking about,” he added.

Seeing that I simply nodded and ignored it, he continued. It wasn’t like they’d believe me that it was someone else’s doing and it didn’t seem to matter anyway.

“When we take down these doppelgangers, the nodes unravel and end up drawing thousands of monsters towards the actual city and at the same time, a powerful impulse is sent through all the roots. Our people have discovered this only a few months ago and have been destroying the nodes ever since because we believe that the impulse is sent towards the main body.”

“So are you following these impulses from city to city, hoping that you'll be able to find Sylvanus?” I interrupted his explanation.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“I have two questions. Why can't you track that signal all the way back to the main body and how do the people of Dark city relate to all of this?” I raised my brows.

“These impulses go through thousands or maybe millions of junctions where the impulse is divided and then sent to all other nodes… I imagine you understand what's the problem with that,” he shook his head.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s hard to track the impulse if it’s divided at each node since you could easily go back to a previously destroyed one,” I replied.

“Yes. That being the case, we made a map where the destroyed junctions are marked and a huge area had been mapped already, but the planet is a large area. We aren't even sure if it’s hiding its main body on this continent,” he sighed.

“So what about Dark city?” I pressed on.

“The problem is that they exist. Just like you said, thanks to their commandment, they gain immense power from wars, conflict, murder, and battles. If we left Light city to chase after these impulses, they'd attack and murder everyone. We haven't raised and protected these people to let them die a meaningless death, so we’re forced to leave this task to the youngsters.”

“My people may be responsible for maintaining my barrier, but there are many others who're working hard to find that monster. Sadly, these cities are the best place for the people of Dark city to cause trouble. They often intercept and ambush the people who are sent to take care of the nodes. Some survive while others die. It's a sad thing but we must do what we can if we want to live,” he sighed in exasperation.

“Now I understand the situation,” I nodded. “By the way, this informer isn't my friend and I'm not sure where to put it either. I'm just saying this in advance if anything ever gets out about… that person,” I remarked.

“What if it's from Dark city?” he asked with a frown.

“That'd mean they either know as little about this city as I did a few minutes ago or they simply didn't tell me. It'd also make me question why they told me anything and what are their plans with me. I don't want to be led around by the nose,” I replied with a smile, trying to point out that I noticed what he was trying to do. Sadly, he didn’t understand the hint.

“From my point of view, you could be one of them as well,” he finally said what was bugging him.

“Then why did you tell me so many things?” I raised a brow.

“The things I told you aren't hard to find out and the people of Dark city surely know it already. This’d either mean that you're playing the fool or that you're a new powerhouse. You'd be an incredible actor if it was the former, so I think I can believe that you're the latter. On the other hand, I’m sure that the source of your power isn't related to conflict, so you have no reason to join their ranks. Unless you're a lunatic…” he grumbled as he averted his eyes, seemingly remembering something unpleasant.

“I'd like to confirm that I’m the latter, but I suppose my words wouldn't matter much at a time like this,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I know that this is a stupid way of thinking, but If they don't believe you, it’s their loss. We can still visit other cities and find other communities,” Lien said all of a sudden.

“Well, that’s also true,” I chuckled. I was kind of missing her from the conversation, but she clearly showed her uninterest and I didn't want to drag her into something she didn't want.

“Mrs. Lien, right? Please don't misunderstand me. I’m just trying to make sure that he isn’t going to wreak havoc in the city,” he said.

“I know, but you’re worrying about something unnecessary,” she replied, waving her hand.

Forcing a smile on his face, he said, “I have a small request. If I ever call you to join a meeting, please don't bring her with you and before you get enraged” - he raised his hand - “this is a rule in Light city and the fact that Valerie and Brent are here is also an exception. It’s only because this isn’t that kind of meeting, we’re just getting to know each other.”

“Yay! I can train properly during those times,” Lien cried out in my mind.

“That's fine by me,” I nodded, understanding her intentions.

“I'm glad to hear that,” Daniel smiled at me.

“And what now?” I asked.

“Considering your power, I believe you're more than fit to be one of the leading figures of the city, but things aren't that simple. We old folks have known each other for a long time and worked together without fault for many years. If you really want to find Sylvanus, your best choice is to help us. You can get everything you want here, but you must prove yourself if you want to get in a leading position. I don't mean proving your power, I'm talking about your loyalty and your goals,” he finally revealed his true intentions.

Crossing my fingers, I leaned back in my armchair and smiled at him, “So you’re telling me that six Grandmasters and someone even stronger must stay in the city all the time else the people of Dark city would murder the citizens. And while you sit here, leaving all the work to others, I should still move out and do what you can’t, right?”

“What about trying to look stupid? I thought that was your intention,” Lien asked through Link.

“Yeah, I could have gone on and pretended that I didn’t notice how he wanted to use me, but I wouldn’t have gained anything from it,” I replied.

Frowning, he kept staring at me in silence.

Sighing loudly, I said, “Look, I know that I’m just some ‘stupid’ and ‘ignorant’ new guy to you, but I’m not a retard who can be controlled to do your bidding. You’re also making up one sorry excuse for staying here and doing nothing. I’m sure it’s not because there are six equally powerful people in Dark city either. I suppose you’re hiding something that’s keeping you here or you’re simply lazy to do what you must.”

“I apologise in case it’s the former and is something important to humanity, but you’re nothing but a bunch of lazy bastards in case it’s the latter. If you’re just sitting here so that others wouldn’t get something that you’re hiding, you’re even worse. That’s my honest opinion.”

“I think it was a bit too honest, dear,” Lien started laughing while the others started glaring at me, seemingly offended by my words.

Seeing Brent clenching his fists, I knew he took my words to heart, which was a good thing. I was kind of hoping that he’d say something he shouldn’t. Unfortunately, when he was about to open his mouth, Daniel raised his hand and shut him up.

“It’s been a long time that someone talked to me like that, but I understand you completely. I can assure you that we aren’t ‘sitting on our ass’ because we’re being lazy and greedy-”

“I can’t be sure unless you prove it to me, so our situation is the same,” I cut into his words with a smile. He was an old fox and I was sure that he could lie without my notice, even if I used chemical magic to check him. Since he’d use his mana within his body, I wouldn’t be able to detect if he used magic, which made it pointless to listen to his rumbling.

“Hmph, you’re right,” he dropped the subject instantly, realising that he wouldn’t get anywhere by trying to use me.

“For now, I’m curious about these nodes so I’m going to check out one when I have the chance. Anyway, you shouldn’t expect me to do all the work without telling me anything. I came here to gather people who’d help me in getting rid of a worldly threat, not to do your work trying to ‘prove’ myself to you and the others,” I said.

Seeing his eyes twitching, I knew even he was at the end of his patience.

“As if you had to prove yourself to people like them. I guess people in control are all the same, only their goals differ,” Lien played along with me. I loved how easily she picked up on my ‘hints’, unlike some other people in front of me.

“H-How dare you talk like that about my father?” Valerie cried out. I found it quite funny how she jumped at Lien the moment she said something offensive and stayed quiet when I did.

Clearing his throat, Daniel said, “Alright, I get your point already so stop being so vicious with your words. Now I understand that you’re a capable person and your wife isn’t stupid either, but you still can’t expect me to put you immediately in an important position. People should get to know you a little and accept you first.”

Heh, of course, now you turn the conversation and make it look as if this was just your way of testing me. What bullshit.

“I don’t really care about positions, but okay,” I nodded and then looked at Valerie. “We came here by chance because I ran into two of your students who piqued my interest by telling me about the city. They also told me a little about these ruins and that other students would be sent to explore it. Now that I've heard your explanation, I assume that the goal of this exploration is to destroy another node of Sylvanus’ roots, right?” I raised a brow, hoping to hear a yes.

“That's right,” she nodded, seemingly calming down a little.

“Would it be possible for us to join that exploration?” I asked with a smile.

“Hoo, if someone like you went out every time, the people of Dark city would be in for a ride,” Daniel replied as a huge grin formed on his face.

“Hey, we talked this over a moment ago,” I rolled my eyes.

“Ah, sorry, sorry,” he raised his hands and started laughing.

“Erm, there is a small problem with that. I've listened to the students’ report yesterday and made a team of thirty. This is a smaller node so there was no need to pick veterans,” Valerie remarked meekly.

“So what? Kick out the two weakest from the group and let them join,” Daniel snarled at her.

“No, that's not the problem. Today morning Edwin returned so I put him into the group as well and then sent them out. They should be near the ruins by now,” she pulled on her head.

“Edwin?” he raised a brow.

“Yes.”

“Hmm, it should be okay in that case, but… this would have been a great chance for Seth to see a junction point,” he muttered.

“There's one more option. I could show him the way and get to the city in an hour at most, though only if she can keep up with us,” she remarked, eyeing Lien.

“My daughter, why are you poking the fire every time? And what's up with your clothes? Where'd you even get them?” Daniel asked with a frown, noticing that the mood suddenly changed for the worse. The cause was obviously me since I released a bit of my mana. She was starting to piss me off by constantly stomping on Lien's self-esteem. She wasn't weak, but it surely hurt her even if she didn't react to their words.

“This… I was just-”

Seeing her stuttering, he shouted, “Go and change quickly before I give you a piece of my mind! Get ready to move out in one minute!”

“Yes!” she pulled down her head and quickly teleported away.

“Don’t mind her,” I murmured as I put my arm around Lien’s back.

“Why’d I care about her opinion? She isn’t you or my father or your parents, and she’s also older than me by four years. If three months were enough for so much progress then a few years would be more than enough for me to reach her level. I'll see who's going to laugh at that time,” she shrugged, peeking at Daniel from the corner of her eye.

“She's rather fiery,” Brent chuckled.

“Am I? I'm just trying to think logically,” she smiled at him.

“That's the right way of thinking. Rivals make you work harder and improve quicker. But don't forget that I'm her master and seeing the way Seth is handling you, your potential may be limited. You can't become strong without making sacrifices and he’s clearly too soft on you,” Daniel replied, trying to protect his daughter's name.

“Why do you have to be hard on her? Could it be that she doesn't work hard otherwise? Seth doesn't have to tell me to learn,” she asked with wide opened eyes.

“Well…” his face froze after thinking about it for a moment and then he shut his mouth, unable to retaliate. Lien was practising even while we were talking, while Valerie just stood there listening.

“I advise you to not force her else she’ll come to hate learning. You must make her want it as Seth made me!” she said cheerfully as she started caressing my face.

“I'll think about it,” he muttered, visibly pissed off. A ‘nobody’ told the ‘great’ Grandmaster something that she knew better, it surely made him feel ashamed of himself. Well, he was probably too prideful to accept the truth and would blame it on Valerie for slacking off, even though he was a bad master. It was me who made Lien so curious about magic when were young, which was something I felt proud of even after so many years.

A few seconds later Valerie reappeared in the room, her clothes now resembling the fashion of Light city. I also changed our clothes today morning so she was the only one looking out of the line.

“Are you ready to move out or is there anything else?” I asked as I hopped onto my feet with Lien in tow.

“We can leave anytime,” she replied.

“Then let’s go, I was starting to be impatient sitting here and doing nothing,” I said as I stretched my body and then made my way towards the tunnel leading down. It was still quite early in the morning so we had more than enough time to return to the city or our village by the time the sky turned dark.

“Good luck on the way,” Daniel said before I jumped down.

Once we left the building, I took hold of Lien’s hand once again and then raised into the air. Not really in the mood to waste my own time, I moved behind Valerie when she caught up with me and said, “Actually, if you can point me towards the direction of the city, you don’t have to come with us.”

“You don’t have to mind it, I took responsibility for you so I’ll definitely help you in reaching your target,” she smiled at me.

Looking at Lien for a moment, I put my hand on Valerie’s back and said, “Please bear with me for a moment and point me towards the exact direction.”

“I can simply send you the coordinates through your AI, though it’s going to be deactivated the moment you leave the city and if you take it off outside, it’ll self-destruct,” she replied.

“That’s good to know…” I rolled my eyes as I took it out of my pocket and put it back on. Once I received the coordinates, I wrote the word ‘MOVE’ in the air and then put my hand on her back once again before activating my magic. The world blurred out for a moment and then the three of us reappeared somewhere far away from Light city. In front of us was a smaller city where I could sense forty presences, though ten of those were trying to hide with magic.

“You said you sent thirty people but there are forty people in the city, not counting the two doppelgangers over there,” I pointed towards the giant tree in the middle of the city. It looked like a tree made of vines, just like I imagined it.

“Forty? They must be the people of Dark city! Please tell me their location so that I can help you get rid of them!” Valerie jumped at me.

Raising my hands, I backed away from her and after thinking about my plans with a clear head, I realised she’d be in the way. Since I knew where to find Light city at this point, I had no need for her and after a moment of silence, I wrote the word ‘RETURN’ into the air.

“What are you doi-” she wanted to ask but she couldn’t finish her sentence since my magic teleported her straight back to Light city.

“That was quite cruel of you,” Lien remarked, trying to hold back her laughter.

“I want to capture a few people and if she was present, she’d just attack them and try to reason with me to kill them. She can’t say I didn’t bring her with me,” I shrugged as I landed on the roof of a building. Patches of grass and vines covered the streets, splitting them into two or three at some places. If one didn’t look what was ahead of their feet, they could easily stumble and fall. All kinds of vehicles were left on the streets and were entangled in the vines that covered the houses, shops, and even the old electric network.

“What are we doing here?” Lien asked as she landed next to me and looked around in wonder.

“The group of thirty have separated into two groups and the weaker one is coming this way, and the reason I came here is that the cloaked people are hiding right beneath us. They masked their souls and mana as well and that’s why Valerie couldn’t sense them, but I’m much stronger than them.”

“You said you wanted to capture them, but what do you plan to do with them? I don’t think the students would simply let you take them away and stuff like that,” she said, pointing out a slight problem.

“Hmm, you’re right. I guess I’ll have to fix that problem,” I replied as I put my hand on the rooftop and closed my eyes. It took only a second under my will to create a powerful barrier around the building which was turned inside out, making it impossible for the people below to leave the area. Placing my hand on Lien’s shoulders, I pushed her down and made her lay down on the edge of the roof, next to me.

“I was about to hide,” she pouted.

“I believe you but you were kind of spacing out a little and they’re already here,” I replied in a low voice, seeing the group turning the corner. The group of students was split into three smaller teams of five, with two watching their backs, two looking at their sides, and one leading the party.

“Be careful, the street is quite narrow here and would be a good place for an ambush,” one of the leaders said as he looked around. He was clearly a seasoned student and this wasn’t his first mission. Pushing down Lien’s head, I slightly pulled back right before he looked towards the rooftops.

“Alright, this is the place. There is a laboratory inside where people were making research related to mana. We may not find anything useful, but the Principal said that we should check it out anyway. Be careful inside, like always,” the same guy said as he turned on his heels and made his way towards the same building where we laid.

Oh, I get it, so they knew they’d come here and wanted to ambush them when they entered. Based on the difference in strength, I’m sure that they could have killed at least three to five people and then ran away before the other half of the class arrived.

“What now?” Lien asked.

“Now? That’s a good question,” I replied as I looked at her and rolled my eyes.

“Who’s up there!?” the guy from earlier shouted as he flew up and stopped only when he was eye-level with me. I didn’t keep my voice low like Lien since I knew I’d have to show myself. “I haven’t seen you before, are you a new member of Dark city?” he shouted as he pointed his palm at me and the others surrounded us. It was quite intimidating when a group of fifteen stood ready to finish you any moment.

Sighing loudly, I sat up and replied, “No, I came with Valerie but I sent her back since she’d be in the way.” Noticing the white bracelet on my wrist, I raised my hand and showed it to him, “Oh, right, I bet you don’t believe me so I hope that this will make you change your mind. Anyway, you shouldn’t enter this building since the students of Dark city are lying in wait to ambush you.”

Furrowing his brows, he eyed my bracelet suspiciously and after a few seconds of thinking, he lowered his hand, “If what you say is true, why were you waiting out here?”

“This is my first time in a ruin so I was simply observing you. Either way, you can go on since I’ll take care of them,” I said as I pointed downwards.

Massaging his forehead, he said, “I see, you’re another guy who’s too high in the head. Since you’ve never been to a ruin, I’m sure you’re a first-year student and let me tell you that the white bracelet doesn’t mean that you’re the strongest in the school. It just means that your talent is top notch and your abilities are superb compared to others. Since you’re a first-year student, even the weakest student in our group should be stronger than you.”

“If that’s what you think,” I shrugged. “Hmm, you know what? You can do whatever you want! Just let me capture a hostage,” I replied.

“Hostage? You should be happy if they don’t kill you,” he frowned, still thinking that I just had a big mouth. Even the other students started whispering while looking at me, saying that I was too boastful.

“How come they’re saying that? Can’t they sense your power? Or if they can’t sense anything, it should make things even more obvious, no?” Lien asked through Link.

“Don’t ask me. I’ve got no idea what’s going on in their heads,” I shook my head as I stood up.

“Don’t be so quick,” the guy raised his hand once again.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Do you think we believe that you’re one of us just because you have a white bracelet? It could-”

Not even listening to him, I started talking with Lien, “Do you think it was a bad idea to send back Valerie?”

“Haha, she’d have been helpful in this situation, but then again, it’s going to be more fun for me this way,” she replied with a bright smile on her face.

“How rude to ignore me,” the guy shook his head. “What’re your names?”

“You do realise that your opponents are waiting for you in the house below me, right?” I asked.

“Your opponents, you said? Why only our opponents? So you’re with them, after all,” he said with a frown. I didn’t know how many times was this guy sent out, but he had a very serious lack of faith and trust. He seemed to be going crazy out here since he couldn’t trust anyone that didn’t come with him.

Rolling her eyes, Lien said, “My name is Lien and he’s Seth. Now that you know our names, could you fucking stop assuming that we’re your enemies? And how come you haven’t realised that he’s much stronger than you? I bet you can’t even see through him, then why are you still thinking that you could fight him? If he was your enemy, you’d be long dead or lying on the ground beaten up, so please, spare me from listening to your suspicious talks.”

Thanks to her reminder, he did what he was supposed to do since the beginning and scanned me with his mana and his soul force. Realising that Lien said the truth, he lowered his hands and said, “I believe you, but how come they haven’t noticed you?” he pointed downwards.

“I’ve sealed them so they’re locked up. Also, I may have a bracelet, but I’m not exactly a student so don’t expect me to follow orders. Either way, I’m here to help,” I replied.

“Fine then. Are you going to release them now?” he asked.

“Yeah, you can do whatever you want with the rest but I’m going to capture one of them,” I said.

Seeing him nodding, I counted down from three and then removed the barrier, but the moment it disappeared, the roof blew up under us, spewing smoke and splinters all over the place. Although I couldn’t see anything from the smoke, I still sensed ten presences charging out of the building and towards the northern part of the city. After realising that they were noticed, surely neither of them wanted to risk dying.

Sadly for a certain someone, I wanted to capture at least one person to gather information. The strongest of their group was quite a bit above the rest which made me believe that if I caught him, I wouldn’t be able to get anything out of him. After all, what if he was a diligent person who spent all his time training and knew little as a result? I needed someone capable but not too diligent, and the second strongest in the group seemed to be the best choice.

“Lien, can you stay here for a moment?” I asked.

“Yes, but I’m going to leave this smoke,” she coughed.

“That’s a good idea since it contains a lot of Phosgene. It’s good that the caster doesn’t know how to create Perfluoroisobutene else the others would have died by now from the toxicity,” I replied as I dismissed the smoke screen with wind magic.

“Eh, sure. I guess it’d be a useful spell to learn.”

“Hmm, I’m not really a smoke user since wind magic can counter it easily, though it could be used to spread it as well and if you create enough smoke, it’d be hard to escape from.”

“If I used it in the middle of the battle, I could use it to interrupt my opponent’s breathing, which could tire them out quite easily. I think there is a lot of potential in smoke,” she thought aloud.

“Well, that’s true. It’s important for any warrior-type to have a stable and well-controlled breathing technique. Hell, it’s important even for mages,” I nodded.

“Yay~ I’m all excited now!” she started clapping.

“Good for you, now I’m off to catch my target before he leaves…” I said and then bolted off in their direction. It took only a moment to catch up with the group who was in the middle of laughing, saying that they screwed us up.

Heh, let’s play a game.

Without saying anything, I used my trait to transform my clothes into a black cloak and then wordlessly joined their group. Realising that my cloaking worked so well that they didn’t even notice me, I couldn’t help but start hoping that they’d lead me straight to their camp. If Lien got in trouble, she could contact me through Link, so I didn’t have to worry about her either.

“We left them in the dust quite easily, but what was that barrier?” one of them asked.

“I don’t know, but it was really strange. We couldn’t break free even after I used my strongest spell,” the guy in the lead replied.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t kill a few of those bastards,” a third one said whose body was covered in scales. He even had a horn protruding from his forehead, which made me want to take a closer look at him. Moving to the left side of the group, I started flying next to him and peeked at him from the corner of my eye to not raise his suspicion.

“Yeah, but that barrier screwed up our plans. At least, they aren’t following us so we can get away without a problem,” another one laughed.

Realising that he wouldn’t notice that I was staring, I turned towards him and took a closer look at his face. His body was quite large compared to normal humans and after a quick scan I found out that the was three meters and twenty-four centimeters tall. His bone structure was slightly different as well, much to my surprise. His spine could be divided to four sections instead of three since the Sacrum and coccyx turned into an extension of his body, a tail.

Thanks to my precise control, I could sense even the slightest difference in his body and found many things. He had no toes since his feet ended in a plate-like bone structure, most likely making walking a bit bumpier and jumpier but his stance stabler. His fingers were almost twice as long as mine and had six joints instead of four. They were also thicker and probably stronger than normal human bones. The other thing I found strange was that he had thirty ribs. Since his body was larger, it wasn’t surprising that he had more than a normal human, but the difference in number was huge and his ribs went all the way down to his hips.

I assumed his belly had a fixed size and wouldn’t be able to expand like humans’, and squatting surely wasn’t possible for him. The changes in his body were all reflecting increased defense and power. His manhood also grew bigger than usual, though I’d have been happier not knowing that. Maybe it’d have interested me if I was woman… Sadly, I couldn’t make my scan ignore certain parts of his body.

Noticing that someone was staring at him, he turned towards me so I quickly turned ahead so that he wouldn’t notice me. Thanks to the difference in perception speed, I was looking ahead by the time I got in his peripheral vision. His eyes had slits in them, like monsters originating from cats and reptiles.

“Was he flying next to me all this time?” he muttered in a very low voice, kind of whispering to himself. Turning to his right, he looked through the group and looked back at me with wide opened eyes, this time meeting my eyes. I had a feeling he counted how many of us were present and realised that there was one more in the group.

I flooded my brain with mana, making time feel so slow that even the blink of an eye felt like ten seconds. Seeing his lips parting and sensing air rushing out of his lungs, I knew he wanted to shout something. Mustering all my muscles, I reached towards him as quickly as I could and knocked him out with my soul force at the same time. As I caught him, I put a protective barrier around his body and then smashed him towards the ground. Since they weren’t flying too high in the air, his body disappeared in the foliage in the blink of an eye and I took his place at the same time.

The only problem was that my body was smaller than his, so I was left hoping that the others wouldn’t notice the change. As I slowed down my perception speed back to normal, I looked around and found the others chatting as usual, not even realising that I replaced one of them. A few seconds later they suddenly stopped mid-air and then landed on the ground.

“Alright, it should be fine here,” the strongest of the group said as he took out a black dagger with a few strange letters drawn on the blades. Pointing it towards his forehead, he sighed, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to doing this.”

“That’s what you say, but you’re the first to do it every time,” a girl laughed. She had green ‘hair’ which looked like long blades of grass. Her skin also had a tint of green to it, but the difference wasn’t too eye-catching. As I scanned her body, I found a few weird differences in her body as well. First of all, she had no pupils and her eyes were completely black which looked a bit creepy, though I could get used to it.

Her body was quite tiny with a height of a hundred and fifty centimeters, though there were normal humans as well with that height so maybe she was just a shortie. Well… other places were more than big. They were really round, so much so that I couldn’t help but peek at them for a moment before realising that I wasn’t supposed to look. A man had to appreciate great tits like hers!

Other differences were that she had thicker veins and had no heart, stomach, and guts. She had something else in the middle of her chest which seemed to digest and distribute everything that went down her throat. I couldn’t sense it perfectly unless I came in contact with her body, but it felt like a giant amoeba or something of the sort. The others all looked normal so I wasn’t interested in them and decided to capture two people instead of one. My targets were the demon guy and dryad girl. Since I’ve captured the former, I just had to catch the latter.

While I was eyeing the dryad, the leader thrust the black knife into his own head and then his body liquefied and turned into a black puddle. As the students started ‘suiciding’, though I was sure that wasn’t the case, they noticed that the tall one was missing.

“Hey, where is Damon?” the dryad asked.

“Hmm? Now that you mention…” the remaining four also looked around and realised there was one person whose face was unknown. Half of their faces were covered by a black mask so I wasn’t too obvious either, but they’ve surely known each other and noticed that I was a stranger after carefully looking.

“Who the hell are you?” they quickly surrounded me. Taking off my hood and my mask, I smiled at them and waved my hand.

“Hello there, I thought it’d be fun to join you,” I said as I raised my hand and pointed towards the direction where I left the demon’s body.

“What are you doing?” the dryad asked with a frown, turning her hands into a pointy tree trunk.

“Oh! So you can transform your limbs! That’s quite handy, you could run even on all fours in that case,” I clapped, quite excited by the idea of seeing her doing all sorts of things. I really wanted to capture and interrogate these half-human and half-mutant people.

They were about to ask something again when Damon’s body finally arrived and landed in front of me. We didn’t switch places too far away so I could move his body with telekinesis.

Noticing that it was one of them, they all looked at me with wide opened eyes and the dryad girl asked, “Who are you? Are you with those bastards?”

“Do you mean Light city?” I raised a brow.

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t say I am, though I’ve visited the city not long ago,” I replied with a smile.

“Could you let him go?” she asked, eyeing Damon.

“Can you guess the answer?” I asked with a smile.

“Yes?”

“No… I’m also going to capture you since I was looking for mutated humans anyway,” I pointed at her.

Her reaction was that she quickly thrust her dagger towards her head but before she could finish herself, I appeared in front of her and caught her wrist.

“Mhm-” she gave out a cute voice as she tried to break free and finish herself.

Most likely realising that they had no chance against me, the other two suicided and turned into a black puddle along with their knives, leaving the dryad girl and Damon to their fates. “Hmm, maybe I should have captured them as well. Oh, well, whatever, you two should be sufficient,” I muttered as I took the dagger out of her hand.

“What do you want?” she jumped back as soon as I let go of her.

“Me? All I want is information. Just so you know, I can’t say I’m against Dark city since I don’t even know their actual goals and methods and haven’t met anyone of them in person either. I’ve met one of the Grandmasters of Light city but I can’t say he left a good impression so I’m not really with them either. Let’s just say I’m a third party with my own goals who wants to know everything! Of course, I’ll keep the information I gather to myself.”

“By the way, why are you engraving the letters to your tongue while I’m talking?” I asked, sensing everything she was doing. “Come on, do you really want to bite your own tongue and bleed to death? Let me tell you that I’d be able to heal you even if you did that,” I shook my head as I pointed at her head and opened her mouth with telekinesis.

Looking around, I picked up a branch from the ground and used my trait to transform it into a piece of diamond that would prevent her from closing her mouth. After sticking it between her teeth, I forced her to bite on it and used nature magic to tie a vine around her head.

“There we go, you can’t move your mouth now so you can’t bite your tongue. Oh, and let’s seal your magic as well,” I said as I drew an X letter on her shoulder and used WORD magic to stop her mana from leaving her body.

A stronger person would break it easily but she wasn’t at that level. “MMM- MMM- Lmmi guu-” she tried to say something as I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder. Damon was way too large compared to my body so I used telekinesis to move him and raised into the air. Closing my eyes for a moment, I looked for Lien’s presence and then flew back to her side in just a few seconds.

The guy who I spoke with earlier was in the middle of questioning her so I quickly dived into the group and used physics magic to push back the students, dispelling the barrier I left around Lien at the same time.

“Could you keep your distance?” I asked with a smile.

“That- those people are from Dark city!” he opened his eyes wide, noticing Damon levitating next to me and the dryad girl on my shoulder.

“Yeah, so what? I told you I’d capture one of them, though I changed my mind and made it two,” I replied, lowering my voice towards the end.

“This is great! Let’s take them back to Light city and interrogate them!” he shouted in his excitement.

“Who’d do that? I told you I needed them. I’ll take them to my own place,” I replied and then looked at Lien, “Could you take them over? I’m going to check out Sylvanus’ doppelganger.”

“Can I go with you?” she asked, her eyes filled with hope.

“Of course, I didn’t intend to leave you here. I just want to entrust their bodies to you,” I replied as I knocked out the dryad girl as well. Seeing her body going limp, she just shook her head and took them over.

“I’m fine with that,” she replied and then started following me towards the giant tree in the middle.

“Hey! Wait! You can’t just leave like that!” the guy shouted after me.

Turning around, I raised my brows and said, “Believe it or not, I can and will leave just like that. Why don’t you ask your grandmasters to stop these people from suiciding and capture them alive? I bet there is no need for six people as powerful as them to sit in the city just to protect the citizens.”

“How dare you talk like that about the Gran-”

“I don’t care,” I waved my hand and then bolted off, along with Lien. They were nothing but a bunch of brainwashed people who couldn’t even realise something so obvious. The members of this community were as retarded as everywhere else. They didn’t even notice that they were nothing but ‘cows’ who were being milked.

I wasn’t sure what the Grandmasters gained from the people other than sheer number and military force, but I was sure I’d figure it out in the future. I should have known from the beginning that something that was associated with the word ‘light’ was a nest of evil. Although these were nothing but my assumptions, I was quite confident in my beliefs.

Remembering that I still had that shitty necklace dangling in my neck, I tore it off and then crushed it with my own hand. Turning around, I took out Lien’s earrings and crushed those as well. Who the hell would want some machine that could read thoughts? I bet they were storing even our thoughts somewhere.

The only reason I didn’t care about it up till now was that I could block every impulse that would have entered the AI, but it was starting to be a bother and I didn’t really need it either.

“Are you going against Light city?” Lien asked, her voice a bit worried.

“Not really and they wouldn’t turn against me because of something like this. They wouldn’t want me as an enemy, even if they started disliking me, which means that I can do as I please and keep a neutral relationship with them. I don’t think six of them would gang up on me and try to assassinate me either, which means that they can’t kill me. Well, I think I’d give a hard time even for the six of them. My only real worry is your safety,” I sighed.

“But if they don’t want you to turn against them, they surely wouldn’t hurt me, no?” she asked.

“Yeah, and it’s not like I did anything against them by capturing these two either,” I replied.

“Then things should be alright. We have yet to see them reacting to anything,” she murmured.

“Mhm, I’m looking forward to that,” I nodded.

Flying a bit closer to me, she asked in a low voice, “Do you know what else I’m looking forward to?”

“What is it?” I couldn’t help but think of something lewd upon hearing her slightly husky voice. It was a little deep but womanly at the same time, which sounded really sweet and pleasant, especially when she was speaking in a low voice. I’ve heard her humming and sometimes singing in the bathroom. Even if she kept her voice low, I had to admit that she had potential. Well, she clearly wasn’t interested in becoming a musician so it didn’t really matter.

“Hey, where’s your mind wandering? You seem to have gone somewhere else already,” she grabbed my ear and pulled on it.

“Ah, haha, I’m sorry. So? What is it?” I raised my brows.

“Valerie’s reaction when she meets you again!” she said with a bright smile on her face.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head, “I should have known that it was about her.”

“Why are you rolling your eyes? It’s not like you’re any different when you get some competitors…” she also rolled her eyes.

“Competitors? Aren’t they competitors only if they have a chance?” I asked.

“Don’t twist my words, you know what I meant,” she glared at me.

“Haha, okay, okay, I was just kidding,” I raised my hands defensively.

“I wouldn’t hit you,” she muttered, pushing my hands down.

“Aww, isn’t someone really cute?” I started grinning as I moved behind her and hugged her.

“Stop it, do you want me to lose focus and make them fall?” she started squirming in my arms and pointed towards Damon.

Leaning closer to her ear, I whispered, “How about a quick one out here? We’d have to make sure the students wouldn’t run into us and we should finish before these two wake up. Wouldn’t it be exciting?”

“No, let go,” she continued resisting me.

Using pleasure touch, I put my thumb on her mouth and pushed it inside. Feeling her body stiffening up in my embrace and her tongue instinctively licking around my finger, I knew she was getting excited. Pulling it back out, I ran my fingers down on her neck and made a quick round around her left nipple before continuing on the way down, stopping my hand between her legs.

“Wouldn’t this feel much better directly?” I asked.

Her voice even huskier than earlier, she said, “Leave me alone, please?”

Embracing her strongly, I grabbed her breasts and sniffed her hair as I said, “You’re crazy cute, you know?” Using all of my will, I let go of her and moved further away from her.

“I can’t believe you,” she muttered as she unconsciously lowered her right hand and put it over her crotch for a moment before realising what she was doing and moved it to her side.

Gritting my teeth, I thought about it for a moment and jumped at her without a second thought. As I embraced her, I took over the control of my hostages and charged into one of the flats where the window was opened. Placing the two of them on the floor, I continued on the way and flew into the bedroom next door with Lien still in my arms.

“But what if they-”

“It’s going to be fine,” I sealed her mouth with mine and used a last spell to clean the room with my magic. Pushing her on the bed, I knelt down over her and put my hands on her breasts. As I ran my hands down on her sides, I couldn’t help but get even more excited by her perfect shape.

“Why are you panting?” she asked.

Placing her hand on my chest, I leaned closer and pushed my tongue into her mouth. She started sucking on my tongue immediately and then put her left arm around my back to pull me closer. “You have such a nice smell, can you guess where it’s coming from?” I asked as our lips parted ways.

“Your heart is beating like crazy,” she replied.

“Yeah, it’s about to explode, like this place,” I said as I pushed her hand towards my crotch. Raising her head, she looked straight into my eyes as she grabbed my erect member through my pants and started massaging it.

“I’ve barely touched you and you’re about to burst. What’s gotten into you so suddenly?” she asked.

“Shit, I’ll really burst any second,” I gasped.

“Do it, dirty your own pants, shoot your jizz into it and then let me see it,” she whispered into my ear, all excited by the idea. Still keeping eye contact, she pushed her hand into my pants and grabbed my member directly.

“It’s so hard,” hearing her husky voice in my ear excited me even more.

“Do you want to cum while I’m rubbing yours? Come on, cum in my hand. Cum from my hand, I’ll lick it off anyway,” she kept whispering dirty things into my ear, exciting me more and more.

“Uh- I’m cumming,” I grit my teeth as my sperm rushed up my pipe and spurted on her hand and into my pants. Not even minding it, she kept rubbing my member until I depleted my balls and stopped cumming. A wave of hotness flooded my lower half and filled my mind with satisfaction. It felt wonderful, no matter how many times I experienced it.

Sitting up, I still breathed heavily as I said, “That felt great.”

She also sat up and spread her legs, still holding my member and staring at all the white stuff in my pants and on her hand. “It’s so hot. I can’t really feel it when you cum inside me, but it’s different at times like these. It makes me want it inside even more,” she raised her head and looked into my eyes, hers filled with lust and desire.

Smiling at her, I put my hands on her face and slowly pulled them down on her whole body, stopping at her feet. Looking down, she realised I turned her clothes into a sexy black lingerie, like the one she had at home. “I can’t believe you,” she shook her head.

“But you’re so damned erotic like this,” I said, gritting my teeth.

“Can you smell it? The smell of your sperm is filling the air,” she said as she raised her hand and shook off my white stuff. Seeing it splashing on the window, I couldn’t help but remember last night, making me even more excited.

“I do,” I replied.

“You know, its smell is so stuffy and it’s always turning me in so much. The smell of your cock, even though it’s not really a nice smell, I can’t help but… love it,” she paused for a moment before sticking her sperm-covered fingers into her mouth and licked off the remnants. I knew she was doing this just to excite me, but she was doing wonders to my libido.

“Have you ever practised how to arouse men?” I asked.

“No, but I know you well enough,” she smiled at me as she finished her last finger and then put her arms around my neck.

Taking off my pants, I threw it to the side and moved closer to her lower half. Pushing my arms under her, I put my left hand under her head and my right hand under her waist to raise her lower half a little. Without even looking, I pulled her panties to the side with telekinesis and then shoved my member straight into her hot and wet pussy, making her give out a cute moan of pleasure.

“I’ve told you countless times to put it in slowly,” she grumbled.

“Yes, but you enjoy this more than that,” I replied.

“But still, what if they woke up to my voice?” not even denying it, she changed the subject.

“Then they can listen to your godly moans,” I couldn’t help but grin.

“No way,” seeing her face turning despaired, I started moving and sealed her lips with mine. Starting to give in to her emotions, she locked her legs around my waist and started moving her hips along with me. Thanks to having sex countless times with me, she knew exactly how to move without making my member slip out and still make it move from the edge to her deepest part every time.

“Mhm, I love you, Hubby,” she moaned as she hugged my upper body with even more strength.

Biting her lower lip, I waited for her to push her tongue back into my mouth and then started sucking on it. Knowing that she was getting more and more into it, I suddenly stopped, making her start sucking on my tongue instead.

“Do it more,” she pulled back for a moment to say. Without saying anything, I raised her head and started sucking on her tongue once again.

“I love how your hand is on the back of my head,” she said through Link. “Can you move a bit slower, please? I want to feel all of you inside,” she added.

“Okay,” I replied as I slowed down and pulled her waist against my belly. Our bellies were in contact the whole time, making me even more excited when I thought about how she was shaking her hips to move along with me. Our bones left little space to move in a position like that, but it just made things even better.

Placing her hands on my face, she slowly moved them up and brushed her fingers through my hair, her eyes gleaming with love. “That’s it, move slowly so I can feel every little movement,” she whispered as our lips parted and she put her small hand on my chest.

“You’re gripping my dick like crazy,” I grunted, having a bit of a trouble holding back after all the little teasing she put me through. Leaning closer, I started kissing her neck, making her folds spasm and grip my member with even more strength. Her pussy gave out cupping sounds with almost every movement, constantly reminding me how wet her pussy was. Feeling her fingers sinking into my back and her grip on my head tightening, I knew she was about to cum so I picked up my pace a tiny bit, still making sure to hit all of her sweet spots.

“Oh, shit, oh, shit, I’m almost there,” she sat up and clung to me. Knowing that it’d be my last thrust, I shoved my member all the way inside until I hit her womb and enjoyed the sudden wave of spasms of her pussy. Much to my surprise, she also bit my shoulder, though she was quite careful and didn’t make it hurt. Feeling all of her sinking into me, I couldn’t help but pick up the pace and move the way I wanted.

“Haah- oh my god, it feels so good,” she moaned in my mind, suddenly forgetting herself and biting with even more strength. She was starting to turn really wild which I kind of liked, though I was sure most guys wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I did. Well, it didn’t hurt me since my skin was tougher than a normal human’s.

Returning the favor, I gripped the back of her head and started sucking on her neck as I shot my second load into her deepest parts. “Haahn~ I can feel it,” she moaned.

“Jesus, Lien… you’re a soaking mess inside,” I said through gritted teeth as I released the last bit inside her.

Grabbing my head, she looked into my eyes while breathing heavily and smiled at me.

“I love you,” I said as I put my hand on her face.

Pulling me closer, she pressed her forehead against mine and then kissed me. A few seconds later she pulled back and smiled at me, “I love you too.” Sitting up, I looked down and slowly pulled out my penis, enjoying the sight of it leaving her hot hole.

“I can’t believe you, I’ve told you countless times to do it quickly,” she shook her head. “Also, what am I going to do now? You can’t expect me to leave like this,” she pointed at her attire.

“Stop worrying about unnecessary stuff, I’ll fix everything, okay?” I asked as I stood up from the bed and looked for my pants. Realising that it was completely ruined, I burnt it and made a new one out of air.

“Aren’t you wasting your mana a bit too much?” she asked as she rolled over to her front and leaned on the bed.

Seeing her breasts dangling in front of my eyes, I couldn’t help but consider doing it one more time. “Hahaha, your face is like an opened book, I can tell what you’re thinking, but no,” she said.

“You say that, but I bet you wouldn’t resist if I pushed you down again,” I shrugged my shoulders as I picked up my new pants.

“You know, you told me you never used mind magic, but isn’t pleasure touch the same?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Hmm, actually, I can’t say it’s not but it isn’t really mind magic either. I mean, I’m not using it to alter your thoughts, your mindset, or anything of the sort.”

“But you used it to make me sensitive here… ahn~” she moaned playfully as she poked her own nipple. I knew she was just teasing me and she probably didn’t feel much from something simple like that but still, it was a rather evil way of teasing me.

“Then let’s say I’ve used mind magic. How come you brought this up?” I asked while focusing on making her a new set of clothes.

“I’m just a little worried sometimes. What if someone like Daniel used mind magic on me? Would I notice? I don’t want other people to change me and as much as I’m confident of myself, I know that it matters not in front of true power. If you wanted to, you could fill my brain with vasopressin which would fill me with fear. What does it matter what I feel at a time like that?” she shook her head.

“Oh, have you finished learning the chemicals of the basic human reactions? Can you create those chemicals as well or you just know their names?” I asked.

“I know their names and can create some of them, but I’m mostly focusing on those that could negate the dangerous ones, the type which could change my mind,” she replied.

“Hmm, that’s a good thing but if you can’t sense the bad ones, you aren’t going to notice them either, which means that you won’t be able to counter them. You wouldn’t notice that you were being controlled or if you used the ‘counter’ chemical every time, even if the one you were conversing with wasn’t using anything, you’d just control yourself, in a bad way. Anyway, you don’t have to worry about that because as long as I’m there with you, you’re untouchable,” I said.

“Well, but I’d like to be more independent. I love that I can rely on you anytime, but I don’t want to. It makes me feel as if I was using you, you know? Also, why are you making a bunny girl outfit?” she shook her head.

“How did you notice? I was only half-done!” I asked. I’d have been long done if we weren’t talking, but creating materials for clothes out of air was quite hard since they had no relation to each other and it also had to look like what I wanted. Not even I could do that in the middle of talking about something serious.

“Don’t take me for a fool. And now make something that I can actually wear in front of others,” she rolled her eyes.

“So you aren’t saying that you wouldn’t wear it in front of me, right? I should finish it first in that case and make you wear it later,” I smiled at her.

Smirking, she sat up and spread her legs while saying, “If that’s what you want.”

“Uh, please don’t tease me,” I quickly turned around and shook my head, trying to shake off the image.

“Please, you’re literally begging to be teased when you do stuff like that. It’s a bit chilly like this, so could you hurry up? My clit is feeling cold,” she went on, completely ignoring my request.

“I think I’ll warm it up myself. Uh~ haahn~” she started moaning behind me, making me imagine all kinds of things.

“Aaargh, fine, fine! Here, just stop it already, okay?” I asked as I turned around and started making her clothes, only to see her sitting with her legs crossed and her arms in front of her chest.

“You weren’t masturbating, were you?” I shook my head.

“Of course, I wasn’t. I’m surprised you thought I’d do something like that right after having sex. Or do you think that I wasn’t satisfied?” she asked, raising a brow.

“No, it’s just that women can cum many times even without magic so I thought that maybe you still-”

“It doesn’t mean that we don’t get satisfied after cumming, it’s just that we can reach the top multiple times and making it longer feels way better. It’s cumulative, the longer it is, the better it feels! That’s how I’d describe it, in my case, at least. I’ve got no clue about other women so ask them yourself if you’re interested,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Just don’t forget whose husband you are…” she added with a frown.

“Haha, as if I’d ever find another woman like you. Well, even if I did, I’ve got you already so I wouldn’t care.”

“Good for me,” she stuck out her tongue.

“Alright, let me focus or you’re going to sit here stark naked until tomorrow,” I shook my head and then finished her cloth in a few seconds. Since I didn’t plan going back to Light city for a while, I decided to make something more fitting for her.

“A turquoise coloured skirt, a shoulderless white blouse, and brown high heels?” she asked as I handed them over. Nodding my head, I waited for her to dress up but she just kept looking at me in silence.

“What is it?”

“Do you really want me to wear black lingerie under it? It’s also a bit wet down there so-” while she was talking, I put my hand between her legs and used magic to dry her panties.

“Now you’re ready.”

“...”

“What? Hurry up,” I said with a smile.

“You’re an asshole. You destroy my clothes and then give me whatever you want,” she grumbled.

“You can wear this one as well,” I said as I showed her the bunny costume I finished in the meantime.

Showing me her middle finger, she dressed up and like always, she looked stunning.

“Oh, my god. Seth, what the hell are you thinking? This skirt is so short my ass is almost out of it!” she shouted at me, noticing the trick.

“And it looks really hot!” I raised my thumb.

Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, “Seth. If you don’t fucking make something that makes me presentable, I swear I’m going to kick your balls.”

“Look at this! My thighs are completely out of this skirt!” she added, shouting at me.

“Aww, that wouldn’t be good so I better fix it for you,” I chuckled as I turned her extremely short skirt into a tight-fitting pants.

“That’s more like it,” she nodded, not even realising that I removed her bra in the meantime. Well, I wouldn’t tell her and those little protrusions on her chest were simply perfect. Her bra wasn’t visible this way and others wouldn’t get to see anything!

Seeing that I was smiling, she added, “If you think I didn’t notice that you removed my bra, you should try wearing one as a woman. It’s really tight and uncomfortable most of the time so I’m quite happy to get rid of it, actually. Although going without a bra is a bit embarrassing, it isn’t too visible and feels much better. Also, thanks to your stupid spell sometimes my nipples start feeling weird when I’m wearing a bra.”

“Great! I may enjoy removing your bra and look forward to seeing what’s under, it still doesn’t matter at this moment. Are you happy with everything on you like this?” I asked, rubbing my hands.

“Yes,” she rolled her eyes and then made her way towards the other room. My hostages were still lying on the ground, unconscious. Without saying anything, she picked up the two of them with telekinesis and then left the building through one of the windows. Taking the lead, I flew a bit ahead of her and went straight to the doppelgangers’ location. We were about five hundred meters from the tree when two of those giant vine dragons raised into the air and stopped in front of us.

“It’s you again,” it growled.

“Oh? How come you know me?” I opened my eyes wide, seeing that it recognised me.

“You can’t destroy the hive mind, even if you kill my brethrens,” it replied.

“Brethren? Aren’t you all just copies of the real one? And how come you remember me of all people? Your clones should be slaughtered all over the planet, or am I wrong?” I asked.

“Hmm, you aren’t wrong but I’ve met powerful humans all around the planet and I remember only those who I deem dangerous, and you’re one of these people,” it growled, swiping towards me in a threatening way.

“What about the leaders of Light and Dark city? Do you know them?” I couldn’t help but ask, hoping that it had some information about them.

“I know everyone on the planet, but they aren’t strong enough to make me remember their names. They’re just fools playing their own games. As a matter of fact, I’m even helping them maintaining their barrier by regrowing wildlife, though I’ve been thinking about stopping since they started bugging my nodes,” it started mumbling to itself.

“Do you know the location of Dark city?” I asked.

“Of course. Do you want to know?” it spread its mouth, showing me its giant teeth.

“Yes.”

“Everything has a price, how about you stop fighting against me?” it started grinning.

“That’s not going to work, you’re too dangerous,” I smiled back at it.

“I plan to keep a few people alive as my loyal servants, you could be one of them, along with your woman,” it flicked its tongue towards Lien.

“I would say no even if you gave me the whole planet,” I said.

“How sad, you must die in that case,” it replied, shaking its head.

“You aren’t going to answer any of my questions, are you?” I sighed, starting to write a word into the air.

Waving its giant paw, it started laughing, “Only if you join my side, I’ll welcome you anytime!”

“Are you not going to fight back,” I raised my brows.

“My doppelgangers has no chance against you so it’d be pointless to waste my energy. Go ahead and destroy the node and then follow the path to the next city. Have fun chasing an endless thread of impulse and hope that you find me before my main body hatches because that’ll be the day you all perish from this planet-”

I didn’t let it finish its sentence and activated the ‘PERISH’ word. The giant vine dragons decomposed in the blink of an eye, leaving behind nothing but a huge pile of ash. Just like Daniel said, the vine tree unfolded and a powerful impulse was discharged from the root, splitting into three directions. At that moment, I realised that Valerie never told me which direction would be new so I was left to my luck.

“Stay here for a moment,” I told Lien as I randomly picked one out of the three and followed it to the next ruins. Sensing that the impulse split into four other directions, I simply turned around and flew back to Lien. It was pointless to randomly run around like this. The most important thing was that I’ve got what I wanted since now I knew what the ‘impulse’ felt like and knew how these nodes worked.

I’ve also found out something very interesting about these nodes. They were like ley lines, constantly pouring mana into the atmosphere of the planet. The only difference was that Sylvanus was controlling each node and his mana control was so precise that even I had a bit of trouble sensing it. It definitely had better control than me which made me believe that it was stronger as well.

After spending a whole month without meeting anyone that was stronger than me, I’ve got quite used to the idea that I had nothing to fear, but that clearly wasn’t the case. I understood it all along since I wouldn’t be able to cast magic that covered the whole planet, unlike Sylvanus, but facing a fact was much more stimulating. And it wasn’t just ‘someone stronger’, it was also something that wanted to kill humankind.

The worst of all was that I didn’t know how much time I had left. Did I have enough time to reach Sylvanus’ level and fight against it even if it hatched or did I have to team up with other people at or above my level? The worst of all was that I knew how hard it’d be to kill me and I was sure that Sylvanus was an even harder case.

“Have you found the next city?” Lien asked.

“No, I forgot to ask Valerie which ones were destroyed and the city I went to had no tree in the middle, so it was most likely finished anyway. Regardless, I don’t even understand why I have to destroy these nodes to follow the impulse. I mean, why can’t I simply follow the roots underground?” I shook my head, a little confused by the whole thing.

“Huh? It’s obviously because others can’t sense it. I suppose you can do it only because you’re strong enough,” she shook her head.

“Hmm? But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be easier to dig up the roots on the way to the other cities and they still wouldn’t have to bother with the doppelgangers and the nodes,” I said.

“How deep are the roots?” she raised a brow.

“Let me check… it’s approximately 1300 meters, it goes up and down a bit here and there, but it moves around that number,” I replied.

Rolling her eyes, she said, “Yes, as if it was that simple. Not everyone can create canyons with a thought.”

“Eh, you’re right, and it’d cost more mana than killing these doppelgangers,” I murmured as I started thinking of a way to deal with this problem.

“Before you get lost in your thoughts, could we go already? The students are starting to gather,” she motioned with her eyes behind me. Turning around, I realised that there were thirty people flying towards us who were being led by a black haired man. He seemed to be in his twenties but what caught my eyes more was that he had a white bracelet.

“You’re right, let’s make it short and then leave,” I replied. Eyeing my hostages from the corner of my eye, I added, “I’ve got to question them as soon as possible. I may be able to find out more about the mutated parts on my back. If my theories are correct, I should be able to spread those mutations in my whole body…”

Looking at me with wide opened eyes, Lien slapped my shoulder as she shouted, “Then hurry up!”