The Mage Emperor

--- Seth’s pov ---

“They’re finally gone,” Lien sighed.

“Come on, don't be like that. They weren't bad people,” I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah? That's what you say, but I’m quite sure they had ulterior motives, or do you think otherwise?” she asked.

“No, that's not what I meant. As a matter of fact, I listened in on their conversations and heard them talking about how good it would be to have me as their friend. Obviously, the reason was that they’d gain all kinds of perks for being friends with someone as powerful as these Grandmasters. But that kind of mentality is quite common in humans.”

“I mean, why would you want to start getting along with someone you’ve just met if you had nothing to gain from it? You could say that they were friendly and wanted to know more people, but I don't think many like that exists. Most people do everything for the gains and going by this logic, I’m not better than them. Hell, I spied on them and then pretended that Sean was the asshole when I noticed him, even though I was doing it the whole time,” I laughed.

“Hmm- so you knew,” she murmured.

“Yes, but they will be fine as the kind of 'friends’ you spend time with when you have nothing better to do. I will make good use of their knowledge and in turn, I'll ignore whatever they gain from being ‘friends’ with me. You shouldn't bother with stuff like that or you'll die knowing nobody except for me. Bonds form only after you get to know each other. Weren't we the same in the past? You came to play with me because you were bored alone and-”

“God, just shut up,” she rolled her eyes. “I know this much, but I’d lie if I said I was looking for friends. I'd be fine with dying knowing only a few people, you know? I’ve got used to living like this and I don't feel the need to change my way of thinking either. I’d rather stay away from them,” she shrugged off my hand.

Raising my brows, I said, “I've just realised that you're more introverted than me, aren't you?”

“I don't know, I sure am. Is that a problem?” she turned towards me and looked into my eyes. “Wait, didn’t I sound a bit annoyed? I’m not annoyed just so you know, I’m merely want to hear your opinion,” she added, pondering about her own wording and tone.

Caressing her face, I replied, “No, it was alright and I was just surprised. You have no trouble with crowds as long as there aren't many men while I hate masses and feel insecure if I’m forced to mix with strangers. That's why I never thought that you are even more of an introvert than I am. I thought I knew everything about you, but there is always more to find out,” I smiled at her.

“If that was the case then I would have had 'friends’ like Alex and Leo were for you. Based on what I’ve seen, you were together only to not be alone.”

“Haha, I can’t say that’s wrong. Honestly, I just didn’t want to look like a loner else I’d have turned into a target of bullying. It wasn’t that I couldn’t have dealt with it, even if I had little mana at the time, but it was easier to group up with others. That’s what the weak does,” I sighed.

“Heeh~ were you really ‘weak’?” she asked playfully.

“Like I said, I either killed them with my trait, or I could have struggled to fight them back by using only a few spells at most. My mana was much weaker so the latter was sort of impossible while the former would have sent me to jail. I don’t think I had a better choice,” I flicked her forehead, seeing that she was trying to annoy me.

“Ouch- that hurt. Why’d you put so much strength into it?” she frowned, but before I could apologise, she continued. “By the way, did you have some sort of pact, like ‘no girls’, or what? I mean, Alex stopped talking to you after we started going out,” she raised her brows.

“Nah, I think he just felt uncomfortable around us. I'd have done the same in his place since I wouldn’t want to spend my time in the company of a couple either. If you think about it, our relationship was fresh and new and we couldn’t restrain ourselves. We always gave each other the dirty looks and cracked dirty jokes. I had the misfortune to experience something like that in the past so I know exactly what it feels like,” I shook my head. I felt a bit sorry for him, but he made friends easily and he definitely found my replacement by now.

“Hmm, that makes sense. Maybe I’m strange for being fine on my own. I always plugged my ears and listened to music when I didn’t have to pay attention to the teacher and stuff like that. Regarding flirting, I don’t think it’s any different now, even though we’ve been together for more than a month,” she replied.

“I know, but you’re too cute so I can’t help but- shit, I’m doing it again,” I covered my face.

“Haha, you can do it all you want, it’s just the two of us now,” she chuckled as she threw her arms around my neck and raised to her toes. Gazing into my eyes, she stared at me in silence and waited for me to do something. Seeing her glistening soft lips, I couldn’t help but push her down in the sand and kiss her. Placing my right hand on her breast, I slowly ran it down on her side and stopped only when I reached her ass.

Stopping for a moment, we looked into each other’s eyes and then with kissing. Consumed by our desires, we ended up indulging in pleasure, even though we were out in the open. Once we were satisfied, Lien laid down to take an afternoon nap while I teleported back to our house to fetch our clothes.

I also told my parents that we wouldn’t come back for a few more days or maybe another week. They weren’t happy when they heard our decision, but it couldn’t be helped. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to stop us, my mother told me that I should also tell Michael about our trip. Naturally, that was my intention all along.

Since Lien would be able to notify me if there was any trouble, I felt at ease even if I left her in the middle of a monsters infested forest. Well, it wasn’t like they could get past my barrier.

Since it was a weekday, Michael was at work but I knew exactly where to find him law so I teleported to an alleyway nearby. Just as I appeared, I felt a slight fluctuation of mana behind my back so I turned around to look at its origin. I couldn’t see anything in the alleyway which was really strange considering that it was broad daylight. I knew it wasn’t natural and that something consuming the light, but I knew who was doing it.

“Why don’t you come out?” I asked.

A pair of golden eyes appeared in the middle of that pitch black corner and stared back at me. “As expected, you’re stronger than me,” Leo said with a smile as he stepped out of the darkness. Reaching into his pocket, he took out his phone and looked at the time. “It’s three in the afternoon. Good, I think I have enough time,” he murmured.

“For what?” I asked.

“To chat with you,” he replied as he hopped onto a large stack of cardboard and sat down.

“And what do you want to talk about?”

“First of all, thanks for doing as expected. I hoped you’d take care of Sylvanus’ doppelganger during the night since I was in a bit of a pinch. You see, Mary is quite crazy and I really wanted to avoid her ‘reward’,” he shook his head.

“Is she really the incarnation of Aphrodite? Wait, never mind. Even if you told me, I would have no way to verify that you were telling the truth,” I waved my hand, realising that it was pointless to ask.

“Well, it’s not a secret. She was stupid enough to tell you and out of consideration for helping me out, I’ll tell you that she’s using mind magic to make people love her. The whole first school is under her control, along with the White clan and a few other clans. After showcasing her abilities, even more clans wanted to make connections with her, ‘the leader who would unite Ushua and Eglon’, but they all fell under her control. Originally, I was hoping that you’d fall under her control since you wouldn’t be in the way like that, but since you are strong enough to kill Sylvanus’ doppelganger, I changed my mind,” he said.

“Is that so?” I raised my brows.

“Yeah, we could make each other’s lives easier. I’ll give you information and in turn, if I tell you to leave the city or just ignore the things that may happen, you’ll follow my words. Simple as that!” he clapped.

“This is nice and all, but I’m not really good when it comes to following orders,” I smiled at him.

“I know, don’t worry, but you can leave along with your family if you want and your dear wife’s life won’t be threatened eith-” before he could finish his sentence, I jumped over to him and caught his throat. I didn’t want to kill him, but I also knew that some people were better off dead. I grabbed his blonde hair with my other hand and started pulling on it without saying anything. I didn’t like the idea that somebody dared thinking of threatening me with the life of my family. Maybe he’d be better off dead.

Grabbing my wrist, he wanted to kick me in the stomach, but I expected that much and blocked his knee with a barrier. Tilting my head to the side, I looked deep into his eyes while thinking about what to do with him.

“Guh- let go of me, you monkey,” he kicked once again, but I stopped him again.

Sighing, I threw him against the wall and then pushed him onto the ground with my knee, only to hear a shriek behind me. Turning around, I realised it was a student from one of the four schools, though she seemed to be younger than us. “I- I’ll call for help!” she shouted as she turned around and ran away.

Turning back towards Leo, I stood up while saying, “I’ll let you stay alive but the next time you dare to threaten anyone from my family, I’m going to get rid of you. I may regret it for the rest of my life, but it’s not like I have no regrets. Having one more wouldn’t really matter.”

“I didn’t even threaten you with her, you idiot,” he coughed as he sat up. “I just said that you don’t have to worry about me threatening you and kidnapping people.” Standing back up, he dusted off his butt while shaking his head, “Since when have you become this violent? I’ve never seen you this aggressive in school, even when you saw something that pissed you off.”

“I had no reason to act violently but you better remember my words. I’m going to hunt you down if you dare to think about threatening their lives,” I replied. It wasn’t like I believed everything he said, though based on his demeanour, he seemed to be telling the truth.

“Fine, fine. So? How about it?” he ignored my statement as if he had nothing to do with it.

“How about you show me a ‘sample’ of this information? If it’s useless, it’s not worth listening to you,” I replied.

“Hmm- did you notice that the ‘Sylvanus’ you killed was connected to something else?” he put his hand on his chin, visibly trying his best not to tell me something unwanted.

“I did,” I nodded.

“Now then, you must understand that there are tens of thousands of such doppelgangers in the world, all connected to a single entity who’s way stronger. So much so that it’s a threat to the god incarnation communities, even if they’re all combined. Sadly, many of the incarnations are trying to evoke wars between these communities since they’d gain a lot of power. For example, the incarnation of Ares is one such person, but there are obviously more like him in the world.”

“Light city was one of the first god communities and it’s one of the most powerful ones. Maybe out of spite or to show their enmity, the incarnations who want wars named their city Dark city. There are numerous problems with this, the most important one being that nobody knows where to find this mysterious city, even though they’re continuously causing trouble to common people and incarnations alike.”

“I’m not going to go on about this since we’re running out of time and if you visit Light city, you’ll find out more eventually. What’s even more troubling is that only they know where is Sylvanus’ main body. I suppose you’re thinking that ‘what does it matter, it’s just a sleeping dragon that doesn’t react even if its doppelgangers are killed’. The problem is the following, my dear friend.”

“I’m all ears,” I muttered.

“Neith’s incarnation, who’s the weaver of fate, had a terrible foresight regarding this creature. You must understand that her foresight always happens exactly as she describes it and one of these was that Sylvanus would wake up one day and destroy humankind. If this wasn’t bad enough, this is where comes the bad news. Firstly, nobody from the ‘good side’ knows where to find Sylvanus’ main body which means that we can’t take it down before it grows strong enough to destroy us. Secondly, the people in Light city and other god communities are battling against the forces of Dark city instead of looking for a way to deal with Sylvanus.”

“Since my power is limited, I have to play around with a few people to get things done the way I want them to be. Hopefully, one day I’ll find Sylvanus and kill it before it kills everyone else, along with me. And just to come clean with you, I’m not a hero of justice and you better don’t expect me to save people. I’m doing this for myself and for my own future, that’s why I don’t want you to be in the way. I’ve known you for a few years and I’m sure that you like fighting, that’s why I said that we may become enemies. I hope that you don’t want to join Dark city and become one of those lunatics.”

Looking past my shoulder, he quickly stuffed a scroll into my hands, “Take this, it contains a part of my plans regarding Balan city and why I need Mary’s magic.” Before I could say anything, he turned into a dark cloud and dissipated. Knowing that the girl from before was about to turn the corner, along with another person, I quickly teleported to the rooftop and then read the contents of the scroll.

I soon found out that Leo wanted to draw the attention of the people in Dark city by turning Mary into a well-known evildoer. Given her magic and the way she had been using it, it was only a matter of time before someone from Dark city showed up and invited her. Her powers would definitely help in creating conflict and wars.

But once they contacted her, as her ‘right hand’, he could infiltrate their ranks and find some clues about Sylvanus’ whereabouts. However I looked at it, these things seemed to be plausible and there was another piece of information that I found very intriguing. I always found it strange that the world was overrun by nature so much so that vines covered even the ruins of the old cities. Even if two hundred years passed and there wasn’t much contact, the change seemed to be a bit too much. Based on the information in the scroll, this was all due to Sylvanus’ true body. Supposedly, every tree could turn into a treant if he willed it, and he could create hundreds of thousands of doppelgangers like the one I killed.

If that was the case, the world was really in danger and the people in these communities were really fools to fight among themselves. Sylvanus was like a ticking bomb that could destroy the world and yet we didn’t even know where to find him. Well, maybe it was a ‘her’, though its gender didn’t matter. The only thing I didn’t like was that he left thousands of people to fall under Mary’s control just to lure in someone from Dark city. And it wasn’t even sure that they’d invite her. Of course, I understood that he had no other choice and that it was for the greater good, but it was still a dick move. Ruining random people’s lives intentionally wasn’t really my style.

I was kind of hoping that if Mary died, they’d be freed, but some things never worked out the way we wanted them so I couldn’t be sure. Thanks to the info in the scroll, I also found out everything he knew about Mary and her power and her personality as well. The only problem was that I had no way to verify that the things he said were true. My only way to do that was to visit Light city, which was what I wanted to do.

It’s a bit strange that despite not hearing my answer, he still told me everything. Well, my facial expressions probably told him that I had no plans to join Dark city. I should hurry up and tell Michael that we’ll leave the city for a bit longer than planned.

Rushing over to his current location, I hopped off of the rooftop and landed in the yard. It was the yard of a common household which made me question why was he here, but I knocked on the door nonetheless. Since nobody opened the door, I used my mana to scan the whole yard. The result was a bunch of holes in the ground right under the house and a giant snake hiding inside, along with Michael. The snake was probably a D or C ranked monster, though I couldn’t be sure without actually seeing it, and Michael seemed to be looking for it.

Since we were close to the border of the city, it wasn’t surprising to see a monster like that. At times like these, people like Michael were called to help out and get rid of the unwanted guests. The family living here either had bad luck and turned into the monster’s lunch or they ran away and called for help. Hopefully, it was the latter. Since there was nobody besides Michael, I barged into the house and shut the door to make him know that I was here. Startled by the sudden noise, he jumped to the corridor from one of the rooms and pointed his sword towards me, casting a spell with his other hand at the same time. Of course, I cancelled his spell with chemical magic.

“Maybe I should teach you later, are you interested?” I asked.

Opening his eyes wide, he quickly looked around and lowered his weapon, “Seth? What are you doing here?”

Sensing that the snake was carefully sneaking up on him, I walked up to him and punched through the wall next to his shoulder. The snake was already coiled up behind the wall, ready to burst through and turn him into his food. Seeing that it was busted, it reacted quickly and shot towards me at the speed of a bullet.

Sadly for the creature, I didn’t even have to move as I attacked its soul and knocked it out instantly. Souls were psionic energies which were quite hard to control and almost impossible to manipulate, but with practice, everything was possible. If my psionic energy amounted to the size of a mountain, the snake’s psionic energy was only a pebble. It was only natural that it couldn’t bear the pressure and fell unconscious.

Well, I used only a small part of my power else it’d have exploded on the spot and I didn’t want to paint the walls red. Looking back and forth between me and the snake, Michael gaped, “What the hell? That’s a C ranked Reticulated Python, the poisonous kind. If it grew up it’d turn into an SS ranked monster and you took it out without moving? I’d be glad to learn that…”

Peering at the five meters long snake, I turned back with my brows raised, “That was a baby python?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“I think I don’t want to meet its adult version…” I murmured, imagining a nest of giant snakes. It wasn’t like I was afraid of snakes, but the image in my head was quite creepy.

“Wait, what’s more important, why are you here?” he shook his head, getting back to the point. “How did you even find me?”

“I can sense you no matter where you go, I deemed you important enough to mark you,” I winked at him. Realising that he could misunderstand this spell, I added, “Oh, but don't get me wrong. I don’t know where you are and what you do because of this spell, it’s only for finding people. Hell, you could go to a strip bar and I wouldn’t know.”

That kind is on Lien, though it’s because she’s my Apostle. I guess I shouldn’t tell that to him, maybe he’d start worrying about her, even though I told her long ago about this. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised she never told me that I was ‘following’ or ‘tracking’ her and stuff like that, though it’s not like I could turn off such components of a powerful soul link like ours. She probably understands that it’s only for her safety.

“Seth… don’t even say that kind of thing to me. I loved Lana deeply and I’ve sworn to myself that I’ll never marry or find another woman. I’m very faithful to her, even if she’s no longer in this world so I’d never go to that kind of place. I’m not that young and vigorous anymore either, you know?” he said with a frown.

Realising that I touched a soft spot, I apologised, “I’m sorry, I get it. And to answer your question, I just came to tell you that we’ll leave Balan for a bit longer than planned. We want to check out Light city which I mentioned to you before.”

“Oh, I remember you talking about some other city. Will she be alright?” he asked.

Showing him the ok hand, I nodded, “Yes.”

“Then fine. Well, enjoy yourselves and make sure to protect her,” he waved his finger.

“Haha, I know,” I replied with a small smile. “Right, I’m going now, but you better kill that while it’s unconscious. It’s going to wake up in two to three hours, probably,” I added, pointing at the snake.

“I think that’s enough to tie it up and deliver it to the headquarters. I can sell it for a lot of money to the White clan and other people with taming traits,” he winked at me.

“How resourceful,” I couldn’t help but remark, cheating a smile on his face.

“A man’s got to use his opportunities,” he shrugged.

Nodding my head, I teleported back to the village and found Lien fast asleep and stark naked on the leaf bed. I had to say, she looked gorgeous with her silky hair spread under her. I also loved how she kept herself clean of hair down there, I preferred bald peaches… Well, it was no big deal these days, there was magic to control hair growth so women could have short hair one day and long hair the next day. And naturally, that part was no different. Averting my eyes from her private place, I put our luggage next to the bed and searched the bag for clothes. Naturally, I changed when I got back to our house, so it was for Lien.

After finding a matching pair of frilly black bra and sexy panties, I put it on the side of the bed and continued my search. Since we’d go to a city where could be powerful people, I wanted to avoid trouble and picked up a dark blue skirt which would end a bit above the knees and a blouse in the same colour. She’d unbutton the top three most of the time, but I planned to make her button it up properly this time. It wasn't like it would hide her assets, but it would draw less attention.

“Do you plan crossdressing by any chance?” she asked, scaring the shit out of me.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Since when are you awake? I didn't even notice you,” I put my hand over my heart.

“Hahaha, did I startle you? I woke up to someone fumbling around, but you were so into it that you didn't even notice the crackling of the leaves as I sat up,” she replied.

Shaking my head, I said, “Fine then. I was just picking clothes for you.”

“Clothes? Who needs that? I feel so free like this!” she spread her arms and her legs, showing everything to me.

“Uh, damn you. Get dressed before those two appear. I can sense them nearing the village already,” I urged her.

Standing up, she quickly put on everything and then curtsied in front of me, “Your wife is at your service.”

Running my eyes over her, I nodded my head satisfied by the sight. She looked beautiful as always, but everything the parts that drew the most attention were hidden properly. Looking at herself, she said, “I'm surprised you have a sense of style when it comes to dressing. Even the colours are matching nicely.”

“Was that a praise or were you badmouthing me?” I shook my head helplessly.

“Both? I guess,” she raised a brow.

“...”

“Aww, don't look at me with that puppy face, you know that you suck at it.”

“Hahaha, and you love telling me that, don’t you? Whatever, let's meet our new friends,” I shrugged it off and made my way towards the southern part of the village. Stopping in my tracks, I turned towards her and added, “By the way, we should name this place later.”

“Is that so? Do you have anything in mind?” she raised a brow.

“Nah, I've thought of it just now,” I shook my head.

“Hmm- I'll also think about it in that case,” she murmured.

Seeing Sean and Em rushing towards the barrier, we left our village and met up with them. Stopping in front of us, they both sat down and panted heavily. “Weh are back,” Em forced out those words and then laid down.

“Why’d you tire yourselves out like that?” I tilted my head to the side.

“We ran into a troublesome person so we had to go past our limits,” he replied, his voice more stable this time. Seeing me looking at him expectantly, he smiled at me while saying, “In case you're curious about what we found, I can tell you that it’s a rather interesting ruin. I could tell you more about it on the way.” Peeking at Lien for a moment, he asked, “How’s her training?”

“I think I’m progressing well, though I was lazing around almost all day today. Today is the last day of our honeymoon so I kind of wanted to take it easy,” she replied.

“Oh, that makes sense,” he nodded. “I was just curious because I was thinking that maybe we could spar. Of course, I wouldn’t hit her,” he added, looking back at me.

I didn’t even say anything, though I certainly wouldn’t want to see her being hurt.

“What are you talking about? Don’t be a pussy, there is no point in sparring if everyone is holding back,” she said, shaking her head. “And you be quiet,” she added, placing her finger on my lips. She knew me too well…

“But-”

“No. Would you like to spar with someone while holding back?”

“Well, am I not holding back when I spar with you?” I asked, even though training her and sparring were two different things. I never really sparred with her.

Sadly, she also understood the difference, “That’s not the same.”

“Uh- I think I’ll just find another partner,” realising that he’d either annoy Lien or me, he tried to back out.

Gritting my teeth, I knew this would be her chance to spar with someone close to her level so I forced out my words, “Fine then, do what she wants. I understand her feelings and you can’t say that I was sheltering you too much either.”

“Yay! I knew you were the best,” she jumped onto me and wrapped her arms around my neck. Leaning closer, I whispered into her ear, “But you’ll have to pay for making me go through this.”

Smirking, she pressed her breasts against me while saying, “I think I have an idea how to repay this ‘debt’.”

“Oh? And-”

My sentence was interrupted by a forced cough. Realising that we weren’t alone anymore, I put Lien on the ground and then apologised, “I’m sorry. We’ve got too used to being alone.”

Damn it, I should stop flirting in public. Well, it’s not like we did anything perverted in front of them. I better get back to my normal self, I lost all my self-control during this week since we could do anything, anywhere, and anytime. But my wife is too cute~

“It’s fine,” Em cleared his throat. Sean was strangely silent ever since they arrived. Maybe Em reprimanded him for his behaviour yesterday.

“Can we go already? Or do you want to spar now?” Lien asked.

“You aren’t a patient one either, are you?” he asked and then peeked at me.

“Doing nothing is boring,” we said at the same time.

Forcing a smile on his face, he said, “Let’s go then.”

On the way to Light city, we ran into quite a lot of bird-type monsters, and some were powerful enough to threaten Lien’s life, but with the three of them fighting together, they took down every monster easily. Of course, we had to leave the area quickly if we didn’t want to draw the attention of even more monsters. I didn’t fight since the monsters were good enough for Lien to practise her spells and her soul control. Although she was clumsy at it and couldn’t turn it into pointy arrows as I taught her, they looked a bit similar to arrows. Well, maybe they were more like tiny mountains, but if she created only one ‘arrow’, its quality was much better.

Flying closer to me, Em asked in a low voice, “Since when can she sense and control her soul force? If it’s not a secret.”

“Hmm- she learned how to sense it about two weeks ago and started controlling it three days after learning how to sense it. She’s clumsier with soul force than with mana, but it’s understandable since she had no experience with it and it’s also harder to control. I believe she’s doing great anyway, though she’s practising even when we’re talking and doing other things, so it’s no wonder. I guess I won’t have to teach her how to multicast,” I chuckled, seeing him trying his best to force a smile on his face.

Heh, I bet you losers can’t learn as quickly as she can. Well, it’s true that I’m helping her, but I’m sure that very few could do what she can if they were in her stead.

“Could it be that I was wrong and she’s got a commandment?” he raised his brows expectantly.

“Nah, she has nothing of the sort,” I replied. Considering that the difference between Lien and them wasn’t large, even though they had a commandment and were two years older, he’d have surely felt better if she had a commandment. He could have said that it was because hers was more powerful, but this way he could only accept his inferiority. Sure, I was teaching her, but I had no time to dive deeper into any of the concepts since she had to learn the basics first. By the time she turned eighteen, she’d definitely leave Em and Sean in the dust. I could see that it was bothering him, but we weren’t close enough to make me want to help him.

“She’s really amazing in that case,” he sighed loudly, his mood suddenly much better. I was surprised by the sudden change and didn’t understand what happened.

“What about me?” Lien slowed down and stopped by my side.

“It’s nothing, I don’t want your head to fly away,” I replied.

Realising what were we talking about, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I appreciate your acknowledgement, but I’m not the kind of person who’d forget how little she knows. Maybe I could feel great about myself when I reached the pinnacle of magic and souls, but that may never happen, so…”

“Never say nev- what the fuck?” I felt prompted to stop midway and curse aloud upon spotting Light city in the distance. It was nothing like Balan, neither in size nor in technology. There was a giant blue energy field surrounding the city with cannon-like machinery built around it. I had no idea how powerful they were, but I sure as hell didn’t want to take a hit from them.

“Amazing, isn’t it? I bet you’ve never seen stuff like this in Balan,” Em said with a smug face. He seemed to be really happy to show me something new.

“It really is,” Lien cried out, her eyes sparkling with interest. Looking at each other, she jumped towards me and as I caught her, I bolted off towards the city at full speed. I made a quick round around the city and by the time I returned, Em and Sean also arrived at the Southern entrance. I saw only two entrances when I circled around the city, one on the Southern side and another one on the Northern side.

“Do you have a rocket built into your body or what?” Sean asked, looking at me strangely.

“Yes,” I replied.

Looking at each other, they both shook their heads and then landed in front of the gate. “Now please listen to me,” Em turned around and looked into my eyes. “I know that you’re powerful, but there are some things even you should keep yourself to. Firstly, murder in the city is prohibited and is punished by death. If you joined Light city and became a Grandmaster, I’m sure you could get off the hook, but don’t take the laws lightly.”

“In the city, the only thing that really matters is your power and your contribution, which also determines your social status. The only exception to this are the Grandmasters and Artemis herself, but they contribute the most to the city even if it isn’t listed and tracked in any way. In fact, just their presence is a contribution to the city since they scare off powerful monsters and they also shelter the weaker incarnations from the forces of Dark city. They’re highly respected and are being looked up at, so even you should be respectful when dealing with them.”

“You’ll learn more about social ranks and how it works in the future, along with the biotic enchantments of your senses, and other modern stuff you probably haven’t heard of in Balan. To be honest, you are unlikely to meet a Grandmaster without requesting an audience, but I’ll tell you just in case. There are six Grandmasters and all of them has a lion’s head engraved onto their tabards. Only Grandmasters are allowed to wear that kind of tabard, so if you see them, you should stand out of their way and go your way. Maybe a small bow wouldn’t hurt either as a show of your gratitude, even if they never helped you.”

“I’m sure you’ve realised by now that our clothes are different from yours,” he added, looking back and forth between Lien and me. Their ninja-like clothes would definitely stand out in Balan, but we were in Light city so we’d be the ones standing out. “I don’t really understand why the people in Eglon and Ushua kept this kind of casual fashion, even though the world outside the cities is deadly for them, but that’s not the case here. You can buy only clothes that are easy to move around in during a battle, and you definitely won’t find jeans,” he said, almost laughing just from imagining it.

Turning serious, he said with a frown, “One last thing, asking others about their commandments and their spells is prohibited. I believe you don’t want to share your knowledge with others either, and most people feel the same way about it, that’s why the law is protecting them. You can share your knowledge with others if you want to, but you can’t ask or demand others to do the same in return, even if you are officially a Grandmaster.”

“Additionally, if I may be so rude to say this, Lien’s is a rather eye-catching woman and thanks to her strange clothes, she may draw even more attention than she’d normally. There are many beauties in the city so once she changes into our clothes, she won’t stand out that much, but just in case anything happens, you can stop the offender by requesting a duel. Well, that’s the worst case scenario and I’ve never seen something like that in this city. In fact, nobody here would be stupid enough to force himself on someone else, so you have nothing to worry about,” he finished his explanation.

“Wait, if I have nothing to worry about then why are you telling this to me?” I raised my brows.

“Uhm- how should I say this. The people in the country you came from are… barbaric compared to the people here. If somebody tried to hit on her and she refused the person, he’d become an offender if he still continued and pestered her after being refused. In that case, you may request a duel to sort your enmity with the person or you could call the authorities with a tool, which you have yet to acquire. You’ll understand more once you live here for a few days. My point was that you shouldn’t just beat up whoever annoys you, things aren’t going to work out for you like that.”

“Ooh- now I understand what you meant,” I nodded. “Basically, much simpler things are counted as an offense and can be punished here than in Balan, right?”

“Yes, your privacy and your personal space are above everything here, so if anyone steps over the line and starts bothering you, you can report that person. Rest assured, they’ll be punished in almost every case, though they’re rare. I warned you because you grew up in a different environment. If you started a fight in the city, you wouldn’t get off with a verbal warning,” he said.

“Well, most of the time you wouldn’t be warned for something like that,” I remarked.

“Erm, I don’t know what to say about that. It must have been terrible to grow up in such a hateful environment… Now then, now that you have some common sense about this place, you just have to go closer to the gate and the rest will be automated. We’ll wait for you inside, you should just follow the guards’ guidance,” he said as they both ran towards the gate.

As they got closer to the gate, a small door opened, and then closed when they entered. Looking at each other, we took hold of each other’s hand and moved closer to the gate. A red laser scanned our bodies and a mechanic voice followed soon after, “Unidentified people in front of the Southern Gate. Initialize integration procedure, first step: Deep scan.”

When it finished talking, all kinds of rays and lasers scanned our bodies. A few seconds later, a door was revealed, though it was a different one than what Em and Sean used to enter the city. As we walked through the door, I looked around with interest and observed every little thing I found. The gate was a ten meters thick metal ‘plate’, but it was made up of multiple parts. On the other hand, the energy field was only as thick as my arm at most, but I had a feeling it was stronger than the wall surrounding Balan.

Upon reaching the other side, we found ourselves in a corridor with only one way ahead. The glass-like floor was actually a giant screen which was displaying arrows moving towards the end of the corridor. There was a circular room on the left where two people were waiting for us.

“Welcome to Light city. The scan showed that this is your first visit, so we’ll have to lengthen the procedure a bit.”

“Even if we came here because someone invited us from here? They’re waiting for us on the other side. Oh, and Cayn also invited us some time ago, do you know him? Would that make things quicker?”

Looking at each other, they both nodded and then one of them said, “Command: call Cayn Gregorian.”

About two seconds later, a screen formed in front of us and Cayn appeared on it. “Cayn, have you seen these two?” the same guy asked.

“I did, you can let them through, but I’m in class right now,” he said and then ended the call.

“Hmm- it seems like you weren't lying, but we can't just let you pass like that,” he shook his head. Despite saying that, he took things much easier and after asking a few questions, he gave both of us a passport and explained the basics. We finished in about five minutes and then met up with Em and Sean.

They were waiting for us in front of the exit, though I was more focused on observing the city. The streets were narrow and the houses were built close to each other since everyone was either walking or flying. Sure enough, I wouldn’t bother with traffic and cars when flying was much faster and simpler, though seeing it in reality was quite unusual.

Most women were wearing tunics, dresses, or tight-fitting shirts and leggings with combat boots. Looking over at Lien, I realised she wouldn’t stand out that much, it was just her blouse that seemed to be uncommon here. But after observing the people a bit longer, I realised that almost everyone was wearing sand coloured, black, dark green, or brown coloured clothes. All of these would be hard to spot in a forest, while Lien’s dark blue blouse would be much easier to spot. The main difference wasn’t in the style as it turned out, it was in the colours.

In my case, I was wearing black pants which was fine, but my white sleeveless shirt stood out like a sore thumb. White seemed to be a no go in the fashion, though I didn’t understand why. “Em, aren’t people here strong enough to massacre monsters? Why do you even care about the colours of your clothes?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Ah, so you’ve noticed what’s the main difference, but that’s not exactly true. Not everyone here is a god incarnation and not all of them are strong enough to live outside. In fact, if you think about it, this city is larger than Balan and the houses are also packed closer to each other. Don’t you find it strange if there are only about a thousand god incarnations?” he asked with a knowing smile.

Furrowing my brows, I nodded, “Yeah, I’ve noticed that much, but wasn’t this city only for god incarnations?”

“Hahaha, where’d you hear that? No, in fact, there are about one million people in this city so god incarnations don’t even make one percent of the population. It’s just that magic is more advanced here and even common families have smaller legacies and special tricks. I think that’s enough to get a noble rank in Eglon and Ushua, right?” he raised his brows.

“Yes,” I nodded, surprised by the difference in quality. I also had a feeling that the commoners here were stronger than the nobles in Balan, though they made no difference to me.

“And how many people can use WORD magic and other types of advanced magic?” I tried probing him since power was what made the biggest difference, even here.

“Hmm- WORD magic requires a shit ton of knowledge and many other things most people lack, so only a limited number of people can use it. Maybe a hundred out of a thousand and I’ve never seen a commoner using WORD magic, so I’d say that only about a hundred people can use it. Regarding other types of advanced magic… that’s widespread but everyone has their own field of expertise. Some excel in physics magic, others in chemical magic, while some is an expert in mixing elements and creating advanced elemental magic. Naturally, they have their ways and can use it even if you fiddle with the laws.”

“Okay, thanks for telling me,” I nodded. Sure enough, there were ways around the laws but I didn’t think it was worth the trouble. If there were people who still decided to go for it and perfect their elemental magic, maybe there were more options than I thought. It wasn’t like I knew everything. It was definitely worth checking it out and making a few experiments.

“What about money?” I asked.

“We don’t have that,” he smiled at me, expecting my surprise.

“Then how do you get stuff?” Lien asked.

“How should I say this, everyone gets a portion from everything that’s necessary for living and if you need extras, you have to get those from the contribution points you acquire through your own efforts. At the age of eighteen, you may request a house of your own from the authorities, but depending on your background and your intentions, your request may be refused. For example, if you have a mansion built, don’t expect to get a house for your son. That’s how it works. Of course, you could always build your own house outside the city, though nobody has ever done it.”

Looking at Lien, I couldn’t help but smirk as an idea came to mind. Looking back at me, she started laughing as she shook her head.

Seeing that both of us started laughing, Sean asked, “What is it?”

“It’s nothing, I just thought of something funny,” I chuckled.

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned around and continued walking. They toured us through the most important places of the city and during the trip, I came to realise that their technology was much more advanced than that of Balan. Although many things have been reinvented, technology didn’t improve much compared to two hundred years ago. Since not many was strong enough to survive the outside world, most people worked in factories, bakeries, offices, and whatnot. The types of jobs remained the same, even after two hundred years passed.

Opposite of that, the people in Light city lived differently. There were AI driven robots doing all the common jobs. After asking Em about it, he told me that AIs were a very important part of their society since they not only substituted people in laborious and routine jobs, they also helped out people in jobs that need creativity and strategy. I found the existence of this kind of system marvelous.

Something like that would never work out in Balan since people thought way too differently and cared only about themselves. If not for my inheritance, my mind would have been surely set on getting a job and working. The human consciousness was brainwashed and everyone found it normal that they had to work to earn money to make a living. That wasn’t the case here.

People were working to advance technology and their own knowledge and power. They focused on creative and social jobs instead of routine jobs, which resulted in more free-time and a higher level of lifestyle. There was not a single person sitting on the street, homeless and poor. Even the estates were of similar size compared to each other since welfare was distributed equally. There was no rich and poor.

The difference in welfare and status came from a single thing, which was their usefulness to the community as a whole. That was the only thing that made a difference other than raw power. But given the different standards, people seemed to value power above everything else here, so nobody minded if someone else was of higher status.

They understood that they were inferior to those people and competed against the people at their own level instead. Even though Em and Sean felt down when they realised that Lien was much more talented than them, they didn’t bother with it for long and accepted the difference quickly. When the same thing happened with Lien because she found out how much stronger I was, I had to talk to her to better her mood.

The people in this city were a power driven community which ranked its own members based on their performance and usefulness. And those who were inferior, stopped looking upwards and focused on what they could do instead of becoming envious and hateful. It was a truly amazing society in my eyes, though I was sure it had its own downsides and darkness, but it was definitely much better than anything I’ve ever seen.

After finding out about all this, both Lien and I felt even more excited to explore the world and see what’s become of humankind. I wanted to see what kind of communities formed out there in the world. I was also hoping that I’d forget all about the standards I’ve learned and got used to in Balan. If I wanted my mind to advance, I also had to forget about the monetary and fame based community in Balan.

My knowledge about history was limited, but based on my knowledge alone, this was the first time human consciousness evolved as a whole, even if it happened only in a single city. I was hoping to see more cities like this one and maybe find something even more advanced in the future. Thanks to their different mindset, technology and welfare advanced by leaps and bounds while things were almost the same in Balan, even after two hundred years.

When Em finished stuffing more common sense into my head, I couldn’t help but say, “This place is amazing.”

“I was sure you’d like it here,” Sean replied as he started laughing.

“And what about joining Light city and stuff like that? Will there be any restrictions? Also, what about the ‘ruin’ you mentioned? The school? What do you learn there?” Lien started bombarding them with questions.

“I was about to ask these,” I laughed.

“You were too slow,” she stuck out her tongue.

“Haha, you’re right.”

Seeing that we finished talking, Em replied, “If you want to join Light city, you’ll have to go to the city hall which I showed you already, and go through the procedures. It won’t take long. The only restriction is that you must earn ten contribution points every month to be able to stay here. That’s not much and even common people can do it easily, much less someone like you two.”

“Regarding the school, we’ve been moving towards it since we finished touring you two. Once we report to the principal, he’s going to assign someone to explore the area and bring back anything that could be useful. Although you can’t ask others about their commandment and their spells, some things should be known by everyone and the school is serving that purpose. For example, we both learned about the effects of storing elemental mana in school and I also learned from the evolutionary paths there.”

“If I bothered listening in class, I’d probably know about more paths, but… haha, you know how it goes,” he laughed, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah,” I muttered. Some things never changed, even if their society was more advanced, humans were the same lazy creatures. Well, most of them.

Looking at me, Lien said in a low voice, “Maybe it’d be worth staying here for some time. What do you think?”

“Just finding out about the evolutionary paths would be nice, though I don’t like the idea of school. I’m not sure. Do you want to stay?” I asked.

“Well, it’d be nice to learn their basics and you could always tell me if something was wrong, no?” she muttered.

“Yeah, in case I’m sure I’m right,” I laughed.

“I also recommend you to stay here for a bit longer, you’re going to like it here and with your power, I’m sure you could become a member of this community with a high status,” Sean stepped in and tried to convince us.

Looking at him and then back at each other, we both nodded. “We’ll stay but I’ve got a question. Is there any repercussion if we don’t contribute enough to the city in a month?”

“Do you mean other than being expelled from the city?” Em raised his brows.

“Yes.”

“No, that’s all. You’ll also have to go through all the procedures if you want to enter the city again and you’re likely to be judged much more heavily. The only exception would be if you became a Grandmaster, but you’d need both power and one million contribution points to become one. Well, if you join us, you’ll get a personal AI which is going to explain everything you need to know.”

“Ah, hell, let’s go to the city hall then!” I grabbed Lien’s hand and pulled her towards our new destination.

“Will you be fine on your own?” Sean asked.

“Yeah, I can sense it and I can also find you two anytime in case I’ve got a problem,” I replied, waving my hand. I could sense them even if they were a thousand kilometers away from me, but the city obviously wasn’t that large…

We were halfway to the city hall when Lien slapped her forehead and stopped in her tracks, “We’re so stupid.”

“What’s it?” I titled my head to the side, not understanding her.

“They told us that there is no money and stuff like that, but we still don’t know how to buy clothes and other stuff. Do we just go in a clothing store and come out with the stuff we need or what?”

“Oh, you’re right, but I’m sure we can ask someone about it. There is no need to worry,” I shrugged.

“Yeah? And will you be the one to ask ‘someone’?” she raised a brow.

“W-Well, I thought you could ask a woman or something since you women are so like-minded and-”

“So you want to dump the social ‘work’ on me because you don’t want to talk to strangers, right?” she frowned.

Clearing my throat, I said, “You could say that.”

“I’ve said it just now,” she smiled at me and then shook her head. “You’re hopeless.”

“Fine, I’ll do it then-”

“No, I’ll save you from the bothersome stuff as payment for all the stuff you taught and are going to teach me.”

“But that's not nec-” before I could finish, she covered my mouth and then started caressing my face.

“I know how you feel about it, but you must understand that things aren’t that simple for me. Even if I’m your wife, I feel inclined to repay you for all the help, one way or the other.”

“Mhm,” I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth of her hand.

Pulling back, she turned around and continued on her way to the city hall. Seeing that I was stuck in place, she grabbed my hand and pulled on it while saying, “Come on, I don’t want to stand here all day.”

“I was just thinking,” I muttered as I started walking next to her.

“About what?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” I smiled at her.

She kept looking at me for a few seconds and then suddenly stepped away from me. “Forget it,” she averted her eyes.

“My, it seems you know exactly what’s on my mind,” I stepped closer and put my arms around her waist.

“Stop it, you moron, there are people around,” she whispered, her eyes darting all over the place.

“Hmm- I kinda want to show them that you’re mine, but let's not annoy others by kissing in public,” I chuckled as I let go of her and continued walking.

Once we got to the city hall and entered, a woman walked up to us and said, “Greetings, Seth Clearfall, Lien Clearfall. Do you wish to become a resident of Light city?”

In our country, it was traditional for the females to take up the husband's surname after marriage. It wasn't a must and she could have chosen to keep her own name, but in the marriage form we filled out, she changed her name to Lien Newin Clearfall. Well, most women did that in Ushua, just like my mother and Lien’s mother did. During introductions, the wives usually used both of their surnames to clarify their relationship. It wouldn't be good if someone thought that we were brother and sister and then saw us kissing…

When we talked with the guards and introduced ourselves, we told them about this, but it turned out they had the same customs. Supposedly the cities in Ushua and Eglon were built with the help of god incarnations from Light city, so maybe we inherited this custom from them. But for this woman to know our names and recognise us instantly, they must have had some really advanced surveillance system.

“My number is 005, I’m a high-end AI that's serving in the city hall to quicken official procedures,” she added, slightly bowing in front of us.

“Ah- I get it. And yes, we came to join this community,” I replied, kind of shocked by this wom- machine... If not for sensing that she had no pulse and mana, I'd have never realised that she wasn't a human.

Based on what we heard from Em and Sean, inventing things was the most 'well-paying’ action in the city. For example, Bernard Dones, the person who invented AI received enough contribution points to stay in the city for the rest of his life, even if he did nothing. As it turned out, if you had enough contribution points, you could request the removal of the monthly 'taxes’. Of course, only if it was your own.

“Then please follow me to a private room to discuss the necessary steps,” she turned around and led the way. Once we reached the room, she asked a few additional questions like why did we wish to join Light city and what were our goals. She also asked about our relationship, though she said that everything we told the guards was recorded and uploaded to a database which only AIs like her could access. Basically, we just had to confirm the things we said at the gate.

After taking a quick look at our documents, we both signed it and then received a few instructions from 005. I knew that she was a robot, but she was so human-like that I had trouble differentiating. It’d definitely take some time for me to get used to AIs, though Lien didn’t seem to feel that way.

As we left the city hall and made our way towards an AI store nearby, I asked, “Don’t you find it strange? I’m not sure how to call her, or it?”

“Are you an idiot?” she raised her brows. “As I see it, it didn’t care about anything other than doing its job quickly and precisely. It had no feelings or anything of the sort, so AIs will stay it for me. Well, I’ll probably refer to them as him and her since using ‘it’ would be bothersome, but that’s not going to mean anything to me.”

“Or are you interested in getting an AI with a female body? She had long blonde hair and a really pretty face. Her breasts were also large. I wonder if she had what I have down there,” she elbowed my side.

“Stop talking bullshit and teasing me,” I shook my head.

“Haha, why? Don’t you men enjoy every hole?”

“You’re so dirty mouthed, I should discipline you,”  I pinched her ass, making her cry out.

Glaring at me, she started rubbing her bottom, “Damn it, it hurts like hell.” Seeing that even a few tear drops welled up in her eyes, I realised that I may have used more strength than I wanted. Raising my hand, I clenched my fists with a frown on my face.

Did my body evolve from the mixed elemental mana?

That was the only thing I could think of upon sensing the colourful energy coursing through my mana veins. I felt kind of lighter and stronger than before, though I didn’t even notice the change up till now. I made a mistake thanks to my carelessness and hurt Lien, which made me feel really bad. Seeing that there were quite a lot of people nearby, I picked her up and dashed into a narrow alleyway.

“Hyaa!”

“What are you doing?” she grumbled as I put her down and turned her towards the wall.

“I must check on you,” I replied as I raised her skirt and looked at her bottom. Seeing that there was a tiny blackish-bluish spot on her bottom, I felt even worse.

“Hyaah- what the hell are you doing?” most likely surprised by my sudden ‘attack’, she cried out. She was about to turn around when I pressed my lips against the bruised part and used my magic to heal her.

“What the hell are you doing?” she pushed my head away and pulled down her skirt, looking around frantically, hoping that nobody saw us.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have done it if there was someone watching,” I said as I stood back up and hugged her. “I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional.”

“Well, I guess it’s fine since you healed it, but it really surprised me and hurt a lot. I hope you’re not going to do this ever again ‘accidentally’,” she puffed her cheeks and turned away.

“Are you angry with me? Don’t be, pretty please?” I asked, moving my head in front of her face. Knowing that there was nobody and nothing around, I couldn’t help but move my right hand from her waist to her bottom. “What a fine material this is,” I muttered as I closed my eyes and started caressing her.

“What the hell?” she started squirming around in my arms, trying to get free.

Finally meeting her eyes, I repeated my question, “Are you angry with me?”

“No, I’m not, you idiot, so let go of me,” she murmured, trying to break free again.

“Then kiss me,” I kept her in my arms. Looking back into my eyes, she started a staring contest but after a few seconds passed, she averted her eyes and puckered her lips. Hoping to make it long, I took a deep breath and then pressed my lips against hers.

I kept looking at her face until I saw her closing her eyes. Knowing that she really wasn’t angry anymore, I followed her example and enjoyed the warmth of her body with my eyes closed. Slowly giving in to her feelings, she put her arms around my back and pulled herself closer to me.

Raising her hands, she put them on my shoulders and slowly moved them down to my chest where she grabbed my shirt and turned us around. Parting her lips from mine, she pushed me against the wall with enough strength to make me bump my head.

“That’s revenge,” she growled as she put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down to the ground into a sitting position. Giving me no time to react, not that I wanted, she sat in my lap facing me and shoved her tongue straight into my mouth.

I wasn’t sure what had gotten into her, but I could feel her lust for me through her whole body. She had never pushed me down so forcefully, and I had to admit, it was getting me a really excited. But the fact that we could be found out if someone came by was so thrilling that my heart started beating in my ears.

Pulling back for a moment, she put her hands on my face and looked at me, her eyes reflecting her desires. We were both weak to kissing, so it was no wonder that both of us ended up being excited. Luckily, despite being in an alleyway, the ground was clean and strangely warm, though it was still a terrible idea to do it in a place like that.

“Shouldn’t we go somewhere else?” I asked.

Leaning over to my side, she bit the top of my ear and then whispered, “There are other dangerous places with smaller risk.”

Running my fingers down on her sides, I sucked in a breath of cold air as I grabbed her ass and felt her up. I needed all my will to stand up and let go of her, but somehow I managed. Fearing that I’d change my mind, I took hold of her hand and continued on our way to the AI store.

The AI in the city hall said that she registered us in the system so we could receive our own AI. The only restriction was that we weren’t allowed to take AIs out of the city unless we were Grandmasters. The reasons why I should become a Grandmaster were piling up continuously, and if what Leo said was true, it’d help a lot if I could control some people. Looking for a mysterious creature would be a chore by myself, and Lien wasn’t strong enough to go on explorations by herself. I wouldn’t want her to go far away from me for too long either.

Upon entering the AI store, I found a black haired human male sitting behind a desk, though he had a few scales covering his cheeks and even his eyes were fiery red. Thanks to my sharp senses, I could feel an explosive warmth radiating from his body, though it just showed me his lack of control over his own mana. It wasn’t supposed to spill out like that.

“You’re Seth and Lien, I take it?” he raised his brows as he stood up and reached towards us.

Taking his hand, I shook it as I replied with a yes. Considering that their system seemed to be connected to everything, I wasn’t surprised to see that he was notified even before we arrived.

“My name is Bernard Dones,” he curtsied playfully.

“The one who invented AIs?” I raised my brows.

“Haha, I knew you’d ask that, but no. You’re talking about my father, I’m just selling his creations,” he laughed.

Well, it wouldn’t make much sense if a person like him was wasting his time in a store instead of doing something. I don’t think those who invent stuff would stop after creating one thing and then start lazing around.

“I get it. I suppose you also know the purpose of our visit,” I smiled at him.

“Of course, of course. You’re new to the city so let me explain a few things to you before you receive your AI. First of all, once you get your own, you must be careful in the city since it’s going to notify the authorities if you break a law. Well, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, but I’m warning you nonetheless. Yeah… you shouldn’t wear it if you’re into some kinky S&M stuff, hahaha.”

Looking at Lien, I couldn’t help but shake my head, though his words caught my interest. “What do you mean by wear?”

“You’ll find out in a moment,” he smiled at me as he sat back down and reached under the table. He put five boxes on the desk and then opened them one by one, revealing a bunch of watches, hair clips, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings. They all had different style and colour, enough to make the decision hard even for a simple-minded man.

“These are all AIs minified into tiny objects you can carry around and wear.” Picking up a ring from one of the boxes, he held it in front of our eyes and said, “As you can see, if I press this gem, tiny needles come out from the ring.”

“All of these have this kind of feature since that’s how AIs connect to your nervous system and send and read data to and from your brain. When my father invented them, AIs were quite big and a bother to carry around, but thanks to working alongside other talented people, they managed to turn them into tiny objects like these. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” he asked.

“It really is,” we both nodded.

“The only difference between these are their looks, so you may choose any of them. They transmit data to your brain by vibrating your eardrums which is obviously something your brain understands. You can change the voice of the AIs as you will, so you could even make your AI copy Lien’s voice, though she’ll have to make a few sounds for the AI to calibrate itself.”

“By the way, AIs are reading your thoughts to help you in your everyday life and before you ask, no, the data won’t be sent anywhere. People in Light city value privacy highly so my father made it so that AIs don’t store data about you, except for the state of your body.”

“Well, you can fiddle around with the options and make it record your habits as well, but those settings are turned off by default. You can test it later,” he explained, making me more and more amazed by the possibilities these tiny objects held.

I still had a few problems with them since I couldn’t be sure that my thoughts really wouldn’t be sent anywhere and some other things that bothered me. Regardless, I picked up a necklace which had a fang on it. As I put it in my neck and the tooth came in contact with my chest, I felt a slight piercing pain for a moment and then heard a mechanic voice in my ears.

“Initialising system.”

As it started reading the data it received from my body, it also transmitted everything to my ear.

“Mana vein thickness… one centimeter.”

“Health condition… healthy.”

“Muscle mass… 41.2 percentage.”

“Fat percentage… 9.4 on average.”

It’d have been really nice if it could have sensed mana and read it for me, but AIs obviously didn’t have the ability to sense mana.

“Body state… aroused.”

Oh, you just had to say that, didn’t you?

While mine went through initialisation, Lien was still looking at the accessories, trying to pick one that’d fit her.

--- Lien’s pov ---

Seeing that Seth picked one so easily, I also wanted to be done with it quickly, but things weren’t that easy for me. I had to pick a colour that’d match anything I wore and then there was its shape and stuff like that. After looking at about fifty pieces, I finally found a pair of earrings which looked the same as the ones in my ear. They looked like shiny white gems and they were really tiny as well. I didn’t like big and heavy earrings since I didn’t want my earlobe to stretch out, not to mention how uncomfortable they were.

These on the other hand, had no weight and even after I put them in their place, my earlobes weren’t burdened. A moment later I heard a mechanic voice in my ears which started talking about the state of my body and that my condition was healthy. Curious to hear more about my own body, I paid more attention to it.

“Muscle mass… 31.9 percentage.”

“Fat percentage… 20.1 on average.”

“Body state… normal.”

“What?!” I cried out.

“What’s the matter?” Seth stepped closer instantly, touching my arms and my hand all over the place. He made such a worried face, I’d have laughed if not for the statement of the AI.

“This thing said that my fat percentage is twenty-three point one!” I grumbled.

“Miss, I haven’t checked where you came from, but you probably don’t know the average fat percentage that counts as below average in the female body,” Bernard shook his head. “Ideally, only women who work out regularly have their fat percentage between twenty-one and twenty-four and any less would mean that you’re either an athlete or anorexic. Let’s be honest, athletes are way too skinny most of the time…”

Looking at Seth, I waited for his confirmation. “He’s right about that,” he nodded. Raising a finger, he added, “I imagine it said that ‘on average’ and if you think about it…” he looked downwards. Both Bernard and I followed his eyes, though the former turned away while I just shook my head, realising that he was looking at my breasts.

“Why? It’s true, scientifically!”

Peeking at Bernard, I looked back at Seth and started glaring at him.

“I’m sorry!” he apologised through Link.

“Why’d you say that in front of him? Let’s leave before I die of embarrassment,” I hissed.

“Haha, is there anything else to do?” he asked, pretending that nothing happened.

“No, you may leave,” Bernard shook his head. Hearing his answer, I was the first to turn around and leave the store with Seth in tow.

“Are you still worried about your fat percentage?” he asked as he closed the door.

“No, I was just surprised because it seemed to be a lot,” I muttered. Raising my head, I said, “I’m more interested in your results. What about your mana vein thickness?”

“My mana vein thickness is one centimeter and my fat percentage is nine point four on average. But if you think about it, you have those amazing bouncy tits and that beautiful round ass-” before he could run his mouth and sprout even more bullshit, I put my hand over his mouth.

“Look, I told you a moment ago that I was just surprised, okay? You don’t have to prove anything,” I said, making sure that he understood. “Regarding your mana veins, that’s really amazing since mine are only three millimeters thick and even a single millimeter makes a huge difference.”

Seeing him nodding, I pulled back my hand.

“You’re causing me a headache sometimes,” I shook my head.

“Oh, come on, stop faking. I bet you’re actually waiting for me to push you down,” he replied.

“Can’t you fucking say that any louder? Why don’t you shout?” I rolled my eyes.

“Haha, don’t worry, I used a barrier. Do you think I’m an idiot?” he stared at me.

“Well, sometimes I wonder,” I shrugged my shoulders. I obviously didn’t mean it, but I had fun bantering with him.

Embracing me from behind, he rose into the air and took me to a small park in one of the outer districts of the city. I wasn’t sure what’s gotten into him, though I was sure I’d find out soon. The sight of the city was beautiful from above anyway, so I had fun even during the travel. Once we landed in the park, I realised there wasn’t a single soul nearby and the lush trees made it hard to see far.

Even if I wanted to think otherwise, I knew my husband well enough to know the true reason he brought me here. My mood was kind of ruined when he asked if I wanted to go somewhere else, but his stiff member was pressing against my bottom on the way here, which made me remember the pleasure my body knew so well. I couldn’t help but get excited again. It was a bit embarrassing, but I wouldn’t tell him to stop just to save some face. He knew that I loved doing it just as much as he did, so there was no point in hiding my desires.

“I’ll make you mine here, you okay with that?” he whispered into my ear as he pressed me against the tree in front of me. His shaking deep voice made me so aroused that I wanted to push him down right then and there, but before I could do anything, he grabbed my wrists and pulled my hands behind my back.

He was about to pull off my skirt when the AI sent a message to my brain, “Requesting help from the authorities. The offender is a male. Name: Seth Clearfall. Age: Sixteen. Crime: Rape Attempt.”

“Huh?” surprised by the mechanic voice, I suddenly realised what just happened and cried out, “Damn it, stop! This shit notified the guards!”

“What? Eh? The fuck? It warned me just now to stop…” he cried out as well and let go of me.

“But I wasn’t even that force...ful,” he muttered as he thought over his actions and realised that it could be interpreted as being forceful.

“Erm, do you think we can talk our way out of this?” he scratched the back of his head.

“I’m sure there will be no problem,” I nodded.

“Well, I won’t go to jail for touching my own wife, that’s for sure. If they keep being bitchy about it, I’m going to leave this damned city,” he muttered.

Massaging my temples, I said, “Even though Bernard warned us, but he said S&M so I didn’t think even this much would be enough to trigger its defensive mechanics.”

“Look at the bright side, only I’m supposed to go to jail if anything happens!” he laughed.

“That’s not even funny,” I frowned.

“I’m sorry…” Just as he finished talking, four people landed on the ground and surrounded us.

Well, him.

“Stay your hands!” one of them stepped forward and shouted.

“Wait, this is a misunderstanding!” I stood in front of Seth. “We started kissing but he got a bit more into it than planned and… that’s why you were notified. We apologise for the inconvenience,” I bowed slightly.

Looking at Seth varily, the same man said, “We must investigate the matter and make sure that he isn’t just blackmailing you.”

“I’m his wife, I even have the documents,” I rolled my eyes.

“He could have told you to say this, so we must investigate this by all means,” he pressed on.

“Uh, you’re so persistent. Oh, I know! Would you believe me if others from the city told you that I’m his wife?” I asked, remembering Em and Sean.

Looking at one of his underlings, he said, “Block transmission.”

“Hai!” he saluted and then took out a strange orb. I had a feeling these AIs could be used for messaging as well, though I didn’t even know how to do it.

“Now tell me their name,” he said.

Although I didn’t know their full name, after I told them their secondary names and described their looks, along with telling them that they were attending school, their AI identified them instantly. The man who seemed to be the leader of the group commanded his underlings to watch over us and made me stand further away from Seth before flying away.

When he left, I wanted to go back to Seth’s side but one of the guards grabbed my wrist and stopped me, “Miss, please don’t go near him until the captain verifies your statement.”

Shaking off his hand, I said, “I’m sorry for behaving this way and I know that you’re just doing your job, I’m also happy to see that you’re taking things so seriously, but you really have nothing to be wary of.”

Stopping by Seth’s side, I put my arm around his waist and kissed him on the face, trying to show him that I really meant it.

“Miss, I believe you and so does the captain, probably, but you must understand that we’ll be punished if he sees you standing next to him when he returns,” he replied.

“Stay there, don’t make it hard on them,” Seth said as he stepped away from me and sat down at the bottom of the tree. Knowing that they wouldn’t label him as a rapist or something of the sort, I was content enough and sat down a bit further away. Looking at each other, we both closed our eyes and started meditating, but I sensed something strange a few seconds later.

The elements started gathering in front of me and turned into a spiral of energy. As I opened my eyes to check on its source, I saw it surrounding Seth’s body. A few seconds later the spiralling energy started slowing down and steadily covered his body at the same time. The whole event took only about twenty seconds, but by the time it finished, there was a colourful mantle surrounding my husband’s body.

Opening his eyes, he looked at his arm with a surprised face and a moment later, the mantle was sucked into his body, disappearing completely. A colourful energy rushed through his veins and then everything returned to normal, but even I could feel a dangerous energy swirling around him.

The guards have surrounded him in the meantime and took defensive positions, ready to protect me. Despite standing their ground, fear was visible on their faces since they all sensed the power of that energy just now. They must have realised that Seth was completely out of their league, though they had nothing to fear.

Raising his hands above his head, he said, “This wasn’t intentional, entirely… so don’t mind me. I have no intentions to attack any of you.”

“F-Fine then,” knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do anything even if Seth attacked, the man from earlier replied and then heaved out a sigh of relief.

“This is so pointless. I should have taken off that fucking AI,” I muttered.

“Indeed, though you’d have been reported for public indecent exposure otherwise, even if there was nobody around other than you two,” the guard remarked.

“Eh?”

“Haah- seriously, you two must be new in the city. You’re probably better off with this warning since you can leave once the captain clarifies your situation. You wouldn’t get off that easily if you continued what you were doing,” he added.

“Doing what? Kissing?” I asked, trying to save some face. Sadly, the guard wasn’t that nice.

Running his eyes over my body, he then looked at Seth and shook his head, “Firstly, I’m married as well and we had our own youth. Secondly, don’t forget that your dear husband was reported for ‘rape attempt’. We aren’t idiots…”

“I shouldn’t have asked,” I muttered, feeling even more embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, this is my fault, I brought you here,” Seth said.

“Nah, I also forgot about the AIs and even let you do as you pleased,” I replied.

Looking at me with those loving eyes, he showed me a gentle smile and then continued meditating. I really wanted to go over to his side and hug him, but I was sure I’d get my chance once the guards left, and I wouldn’t make a mistake like this again!

About a minute later, the captain finally returned and said, “The people you mentioned verified your statement, so you may leave. I imagine my colleagues have told you everything while I was away.”

“In case you mean what would have happened if we continued and stuff like that, then yes,” Seth replied. “I also apologise for the inconvenience,” he added.

“Hmm, fine then. Regarding your apology, I don’t need it, just make sure you don’t ring the alarms again.”

“Erm, I don’t plan to,” he laughed awkwardly.

Nodding his head, the captain raised into the air and flew off with the other guards in tow.

He kept looking at me in silence for a few seconds when he finally said, “That’s one way to ruin a sexy time…”

“That’s what you say, but you should have seen my underwear. Even though I was so much into it…”

“You see, my best side is that I’m very persistent,” he smiled at me.

“Is that so?” I smiled back.

“Well, I haven’t given up yet,” he replied with a smirk on his face.