The problem with the plan was that it took time. Zhang did not live anywhere near Gramma's village. Or town, whatever. The point was that it took a week to travel to Zhang. With how hostile the animals in the Southern Continent were, it was apparently idiotic to travel full speed by air.

Gramma had impressed that on her. If she did that, every monster and cultivator more powerful than a Journeyman within a hundred kilometers would see her coming. That wasn't a bad thing as long as you could handle them.

Althea had been informed in no uncertain terms that she could not, in fact, handle them. There were tens of thousands of Adept stage beasts in the Southern Continent, and the eastern part of it had become something of a hot spot for them since there were no local adepts hunting them down.

So they traveled slowly, at the speed of a car instead of a plane, and at times at the speed of a walk. That still had them in Zhang's city within three days. The problem was, the guy did not have the habit of staying at home.

In fact, his only habit seemed to be traveling around trying to get things that interested him. A normal person would think that it was rocks or souvenirs. But for this waste of space, it meant people. Zhang had been collecting people that seemed interesting, weirdos that had special elements or some strange thing. There were plenty of those in the Southern Continent.

Althea looked on as the Adita performed the funeral of their midday meal. The Southern Continent did that, not because of some sentimental thing, but because it enriched their surroundings.

Adita extracted the blood from his prey, condensing it into a thin line that ran parallel to the water bank. The blood was then let down as a trickle, seeping into the soil. The mana in the blood was pushed out into the water, seeping back in.

The reason was simple enough. In time, mana returned to the world. The bacteria would break it down and the bonds that held it to the body would decay, letting the mana free. In this case, they were hurrying the process along.

The blood had most of the mana, and was the easiest to disperse mana from. The mana that would usually return to the soil and into the trees was instead let into the river. The river which animals drank from.

So, instead of plants getting it and dividing it amongst themselves, it would seep directly into the food chain, enhancing the beasts’ strength and numbers. That allowed the South to continue its meat driven diet.

Just one question remained.

"Why not let the mana go to plants and eat them instead? That seems easier." she asked Adita, growing bored. To be honest, she was a little charged. Meditating through the night instead of sleeping had left her with far too much mana. The dress was also forcing mana into her skin, bones and other parts of her body. That was bound to be helpful down the line, but right now it had her jumping like someone with way too much energy.

Mana had to supercharging some gland or the other. Or maybe it was just acting like a drug. Was this what it felt to be high? Feeling like you had to do something, right this moment? That you had to move your body?

"Like these flowers?" Adita said, pointing to the flowers growing around the river bank. Althea found them quite beautiful. The color of the setting sun, they contrasted the blood-red river quite well. That was something else strange.

The rivers were blood-red.

The result of hundreds of years of blood mana seeping in, the water had changed color, mana itself getting an effect. The entire ecosystem had a lot of strange things not found on the Northern continent.

The violent, scrambled nature of mana had not disappeared when she left the forest, and was apparently spread across the entire continent. The why was lost on her.

"What about them?" she asked, bending down to touch a flower.

"Don't touch them." Adita warned. Althea stopped her finger that was about to do just that.

"Why? Are they poisonous?" she asked.

"Yes, quite." Adita said. "I presumed you knew, given your attire, but it seems it is not so. The plants on this continent are usually toxic. Magistrate Hao used to say that it was because of the mana round here. The animals can fight it off, but not the plants. Now they're stuck like this."

Althea looked at the flower, extending her finger anyway. The gloves would protect her. Not to mention, Masters were immune to most poisons, the mana in their bodies was far too potent by now to let it remain.

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A smidgen of poison stuck on her fingers, its mana squirming as it tried to pierce her jeweled glove. Had it been normal cloth, it would have entered easily. Did the Great Mother plan this? Was the dress one of the reasons she got teleported here? The dress had been far too useful for it to be a coincidence.

Heck, did she control Mira while making it? Looking back, the dress seemed to be slightly beyond Mira's capabilities. The girl was creative, but this was a masterpiece. The mana flow was too natural, too well done. Althea had been putting it off at it being related to the Jewel element, but what if it wasn't? How much of her life was being manipulated, so the Great Mother could use her in this war of hers?

The thought tired her more than doing anything else. Would she ever be able to sleep again? Strengthening her mental defenses further would be difficult, at least before the Grandmaster stage. Mastery made it harder for someone to control you, but she wasn't sure how effective that would be.

The Great Mother wasn't controlling her or using any brute force method that would go against the core of her self. No, her manipulations were far more subtle, changing situations and a select number of memories to cloud her perception and personality.

Shaking her head off these thoughts, she checked her detection fog. A normal human would not have been able to split their mind like this, but she was able to. Focusing a part of her mind was little trouble at all. The only issue would come when she would be forced to focus on something during a fight. That she would just have to deal with as it came.

"Are you prepared?" Adita asked. "Lord Zhang should return today."

"I am." she replied, extending her senses into the city. The plan had struck Gramma when she had mentioned the range she could act on. Adita and Gramma could not defeat Zhang, but they could possibly help their ward escape. The problem was, they would be detected too easily.

Zhang was a petty tyrant that feared anyone rising to a power level near him. There was no way he was going to let anyone, even a Space mage, reach Mater, let alone Adept. Not to mention, he did not have a Space manual.

No, what he planned was trading the boy with someone up north. The most likely buyer was another Lord Zhang, this time an Adept. A low level one, but still far more than she could deal with. If she went up against Zhang as herself, she would be in trouble. And so would anyone that was associated with her.

So, she decided to try something else. Althea Diery would not be rescuing the boy. In fact, no one would be. The boy would flee during a battle. A battle between a fairy and a tyrant.

"As I will ever be." she replied, focusing her eyes as Lord Zhang flew into range. The guy was approaching at a very fast rate. Adita's information was out of date, Zhang was supposed to be much slower.

The carriage passed through the city walls within minutes, speeding towards his castle.

"The bird is in the cage." she announced, much to a certain old man's confusion. The mana tendrils encroached on her mind again. Althea dispersed them, concentrating on the castle. This was going to be difficult. This fight would take place entirely at range. At least for her.

With their location being a place where mana was naturally chaotic, it would hopefully hide their presence.

Zhang stepped off his carriage with another man, followed by several boys and girls that did not look well. So he had gone looking for another 'shipment'. Mana churned in her vision as she let herself concentrate, only letting a small part of her attention cling to her brain.

The two men led their victims inside the palace, not even bothering to hide what was happening. The palace's staff shrunk at their sight, practically fleeing instead of appearing before their liege. Althea wondered how many of them had been victims once.

Mana erupted from the ground as the two reached the courtyard. The victims were kept around publically. There was even a hierarchy among them. The 'city' revolved around serving Zhang and his needs. If they had a choice, she was sure many would escape.

But there was little they could do before a master. Zhang was simply too powerful.

The palace was set on her fire by her remotely, causing people to start running away screaming. Zhang growled, moving to quench the fire. Althea had other ideas.

"Focus your attention here, Lord Zhang, for your end has come." she had the air say as the ground in the courtyard began to melt.

The fire flickered, turning pinkish as a bump began to rise in the courtyard's soil. A warm bump that was literally melting the soil on top of it. Zhang punched it. There was no effect. The idiot was actually punching a mana construct.

"I cannot be killed by your attacks, you fool." she had the voice say again. Fire burned around the courtyard, covering every part of the ground as the soil melted off the human sized 'bump'. What was left was a vaguely humanoid figure of fire that she had spent far too long practicing.

Holding so many spells from so far away was difficult. This was definitely not something she would have been able to do before she had reached the Master stage. Just the amount of mana she was using was enormous. The only reason she was even confident it would work was because she knew that Zhang did not have a battle manual either. And he had the fire element.

A terrible match. For him.

As expected, he launched towards her, using the surrounding soil to push himself and accelerate.

"How dare you use fire against me?" he said, shooting towards her. How cringe. Althea had no intention of clashing with him-actually it wouldn't hurt.

The man hurtled through her, a surprised expression on his face as he passed through his enemy.

"Tell me, how did a fool like you reach this stage? What a waste of mana." the voice revolved around the room. "I am a Fairy of Vengeance, you fool, your attacks cannot hurt me."

Althea dismissed the figure, and then conjured another near Zhang, this time with some Earth. Just fire would not hurt him enough. With Earth, though, he would die quickly.

Punching him in the stomach with a fist made of magma, she let his skin boil as it resisted. Of course, his skin was so hard that even a magically hot fire could not burn it easily. But that was why she was going to strangle him.

Althea held him by the neck in the air as Zhang punched her helplessly. Just a few more seconds and he would be dead.

"How curious." the other man said. Althea hadn't really paid any attention to him, holding the spells was hard enough.

Zhang gurgled as the fire burned through his bone and into his brain. The body was split in two as his neck was separated from his body. But her attention had already shifted. As soon as her senses landed on the man, her senses started tingling.

"A mage." the man said.

Althea gestured to Adita to escape. The clouds in the sky flickered, rumbling. Mana itself flickered.

"I wasn't aware a mage capable of far casting had arrived here," he commented. "I shall spare your life if you surrender now."

The man's voice had a smugness that came with power, power that had gone to his head.

"Do not presume to know my identity." the fairy said, fire curling around her as she disappeared, her voice carrying past the courtyard and across the city. At least that was what Althea intended. The man did not seem impressed by her show.

"I am a spirit of vengeance, called on by the people's anger. Just be glad that I do not hunt for you yet."

Althea jumped into the river as fast as she could. Mana shot down from the sky, lightning shooting down like an orbital attack from a sci-fi movie. The blood river reacted to the attack, trying to fend it off, but far, far too much entered through.

Mana swirled around her and in her dress as even it struggled to protect her. Water churned around her as the river suddenly sped up, her charred skin starting to heal as she suddenly lost consciousness.

There was just one thought on her mind.

Just who was that man, and why did he spare her life?