It felt like my energy moved at a trickle as I pushed it forward. Forward toward the only ray of light, I could see in this situation. My second foot stepped into the liquid and I could hear my robes burning the acid. The voice had gone silent for some reason which was the only reason I could form this plan. My spiritual energy poured into the one spell I hadn't used since entering this place. I said in silent prayer that whatever was holding the sound away was what stopped me from opening portals. The sigil filled and I could almost cry with relief. The portal began to open directly in front of me. My relief was drowned as an explosion of anger filled my mind. For a moment it felt like the world was furious with me. I fought to stay on my feet as the slime surged around me. It was like the hands of the angry dead were reaching up to drag me down. Something snapped inside me and I wasn't sure if my scream was mental or real nor did it matter. For just a moment I ripped myself free from whatever creature this was and fell through the portal.

Apportation wiped away the lingering rage and mental agony just in time for physical pain to replace it. I glanced down at my legs and found them burned. My shoes and robes were gone below the knee. My legs throbbed angrily as if my heart had moved from my chest and into my legs. I bit back the fear and panic as I realized I wasn't bleeding. Mental images of crimson slime spreading through my veins and my body forced their way into my mind. It happened so suddenly that I thought the monster had somehow found me. A pulse of mental energy emanated from Apportation's sigil as the portal reopened. Panic shot through me as I was thrown into a lake. I thrashed, screamed, and fought as panic overrode the rational part of my mind. I refused. I would not die like this. The water wouldn't—water? I fought the panic just enough to see where I was. It was the spirit water. It took my mind another moment to process what happened. The water was the first place on my mind. The spell took me there and forced me out? Was there a time limit to how long I stayed in that space?

I crawled my way to the bank of the lake and tried to calm down. I had less than a second before the cave began to tremble. Panic surged inside me only to be slowly devoured by another feeling. I got to my feet and circulated the strand of adamance. I reached the small flame inside me that fought against the fear and panic. The flame that had gotten me through the tutorial. The flame that reforged me into a weapon that would survive whatever hell this world would throw at me. The sound of burning stones filled the air. My heartbeat sounded like the drums of war in my ears. I activated Psychic Aegis and Realm of Consciousness. Grey-white fog spread out from me and claimed the cavern. "My name is Amari Jackson and I will not die today." The crimson slime surged into the cavern like a tidal wave. A second later an army of voices slammed into my mind.

"Consume! Join us!"

This time I was ready. My will bolstered by Intellect Fortress met the army and I roared defiantly. The spirit water poured in through the burns in my feet and legs. I welcomed the pain and turned the torrent of energy into my weapons. Psionic Rain and Psychic Blast activated with so much force that it felt like my psyche was being ripped apart. In the next second Psychic Aegis joined its brothers. Psychic blades formed and launched themselves faster than they ever had before. Acid burns formed across every part of my body as the slime continued forward. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as I viewed the fight. I couldn't feel the pain anymore nor could I hear the voices. There was a pop and then Intellect Fortress drained even more energy. It turned into a vortex and more than half of the water was stolen to pay it. I felt a gentle caress at the back of my mind. Same as the one that guided me before. The strand of lucidity flowed into the sigil.

Once the sigil drained its fill the world came crashing back. The voices. The pain. All of it slammed into me with the force of a freight truck. I screamed and cried but kept attacking. The slime suddenly lost its cohesion and like a tiger, I pounced. I summoned my tao field as close to my body as possible and rushed forward. A black amalgamation of a skull sat like a beacon. The crimson liquid attempted to stop me but it was like I had become a charging rhino. Spiritual energy surged into my right hand as I delivered a straight jab with everything I had. As soon as my fist hit the skull the voices reached a deafening pitch.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head!" I slammed my fist into the skull again and again. The slime surged around and on instinct, I pushed the strand of lucidity into my fist and continued. The voice let out one final scream. A scream that made my psyche feel like it was on fire before an explosion of spiritual energy surged inside me. The skull crumbled into dust and the slime collapsed into inert puddles. Adrenaline coursed through my body as I tossed my head back and roared. "I am still standing!"

The adrenaline rapidly faded and the pain rushed to replace it. My psyche felt like it had been a tiger's chew toy for the last while my legs, arms, and parts of my chest burned. I summoned a pill bottle from my bag and gingerly shook two into my fingers. Fingers that trembled from the pain. It took me nearly ten seconds to swallow them. I almost wished I hadn't. The pills rapidly destroyed the damaged skin and replaced it with fresh healthy skin. The whole process felt like thousands of thin needles poking into every part of me. "More shields. Many, many more shield abilities." I limped away from the puddles of slime and into a safe section of the cave and collapsed. The darkness claimed me before I hit the ground.

I groaned as I returned to the world. My physical pain was gone but whatever that thing did to my psyche was much harder to deal with. I made a mental note to ask about psyche-healing treasures. I wasn't sure if pills could fix that kind of injury but there should be something. I pulled up my quest log and found the quest gone. I checked for any kind of reward and found a small box waiting on the opposite side of the room. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Once again I stood at death's door and clawed my way back. I could almost feel the lightning-like adrenaline flowing through me. The pain rapidly became an echo by comparison. I wanted it. I wanted this. Putting myself against my opponent in a dance of supremacy made me feel more alive than after years of study, school, or sports. I didn't want the old world back.

I shook my head and pushed my introspection to the back of my mind. Next, I pulled up my spell menu and let out a low whistle. Intellect Fortress had leaped two stages to the Advanced stage. Even Realm of Consciousness had gone up a stage. From what I could tell neither of the spells had changed outside of potency and distance. The domain spell should have a radius of about 200 yards and my defensive spell should be more than four times as effective now. Neither were the most exciting upgrades but very much wanted. That was the end of the improvements from the battle so I got to my feet and made my way over to the box. When I opened it I stared in confusion. There was a new set of robes as well as a second box smaller box inside. The new robes looked like they were of much greater quality than the last ones. I could vaguely tell that they were still made of 2nd-realm materials though. I still wasn't sure how that translated to durability. The robes themselves were beautiful.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

They were primarily black with white accents and were made out of a silk-like material. The collar and cuffs were white with black embroidery with the image of a raptor-like bird in flight. The design was so life-like that it felt like the birds would rip themselves free and rip apart whatever they wanted. The belt was mostly black with white geometric designs that made it seem impossible to look away. Unlike the last set, this belt had a clasp that was in the shape of a dragon's head. The pants were long, unadorned, and the purest white. They were baggy but tapered around the ankles somewhat like sweatpants. Instead of taking away, the simple pants somehow made the ornate robe part look better. Same with the undershirt though it was black. A complex sigil was spread throughout the back of the robe that reminded me of an upgraded version of the last robe's shield. I sent a small amount of spiritual energy through the garment. It took me a second to fully parse through the information but once I did I couldn't help but laugh. It had the auto cleaning and resizing feature as well as the damage redistribution. On top of those benefits, the robes had a bubble shield. I wouldn't be able to activate it as often as my aegis spell but it would do wonders in an emergency.

Part of me wondered if the System determined my reward after seeing what I lost or if the System knew what I would need. Either way, I got what I wanted. I turned my attention to the second box and was pleased to find a new set of twenty 2nd-realm spirit stones. I tried one but found that the energy was sluggish as it entered my channels. At first, I panicked, assuming that the battle had done something but after some experimentation, I learned the truth. My body had become acclimatized to the energy. The spirit water was like purified stones. This also answered a question that had been bothering me. Why couldn't I just use stone to rush to level 20? It seemed that eventually, I would reach a point where the stones wouldn't work. Of course that made me wonder about alchemy. If they could turn this stuff into a pill or potion wouldn't that make it easier to process? If I had an amazing pill could I jump straight to level 50?

At the end of the day, I had no way of finding out the answer to these questions until I got out of here. I put the boxes into my bag and got dressed. The sight of my old robes completely ruined filled me with annoyance. It was probably time to replace the older ones anyway but having some slime beast thing steal them sucked. I spread my tao field out around me and made my way through the tunnels. I arrived back at the slime's home and found the graveyard. I bit back my disgust and searched for a path to the surface. I found a tunnel that led upward but it was just big enough for me to squeeze through which was a hell no from me. I would rather have been eaten by the slime monster than get stuck crawling through a tunnel. Instead, I activated Apportation and tried to aim the opening just above the top of the tunnel. It took a couple of tries to get it to open just right but when I did the rest was easy. I repeated this process several more times before I was in a tunnel that was filled with fresh air.

I ran up the tunnel and was outside in less than twenty minutes. A full moon was high in the sky and the breeze felt wonderful. The lack of death and sulfur in the air made me want to drop to my knees and kiss the ground. I let myself relish in the unrestricted world for several minutes. Once I was satisfied I looked around and had no clue where the fuck I was. The forest here looked a bit more like the Amazon but with the reshuffle, I couldn't tell if that was close by Amara or far away. I pulled up my map but it was no use. There were no cities near here nor were there any landmarks I recognized. After a few minutes, I shrugged and picked a direction. I made it around thirty minutes before I felt a light burn at the base of my skull. It wasn't painful but it was impossible to miss. I raised an eyebrow and waited to see if anyone was going to appear. When no one did I decided to play dumb. I shrunk my tao field to less than three feet across and kept it moving.

A few minutes later a man in dark green cultivator robes stepped out from behind a tree. The man looked to be in his early twenties and was likely Southeast Asian. He had a nasty scar over his right eye and a burn mark going down his right arm. Despite that his aura was decent. Probably a bit weaker than Aaliyah's before we started training. I raised an eyebrow at him as three more people stepped out. One was behind me and two were on my sides. The one behind me had a long bow while the other two had swords. I assumed the leader was a pugilist or hand-to-hand fighter.

"Drop the bag, put your hands behind your head, and interlace your fingers. Then kneel in the dirt." The man behind me spoke first.

I shook my head. "I just got out of a real shitty place fam. I got no problems with any of you but I am not in the mood for kindness. Go about your business and we won't have any problems."

The quartet was quiet for a moment before the one behind me spoke again. "Drop the bag, put your hands behind your head, and interlace your fingers. Then kneel in the dirt."

I could practically feel his grip on the bow tighten as the other three looked at each other. When I didn't move the two at my sides came forward. They reached for me only to find my field. I chuckled as the pair looked a bit like mimes as they tried to figure out what was going on. "Last chance fellas. I doubt any of you can make this a good fight. So go on home no need for anyone to die."

The man behind me let an arrow loose. I heard it whistle through the air before slamming into my field. It was like the arrow had met solid steel. The force behind the arrow caused it to collapse inward. I was slightly impressed when the quartet moved into action. I could tell that they had some kind of military training. They had almost moved in perfect sync. Which only made their attacks easier to see. Two swords went for my neck while the third attempted to cave my chest in. All three attacks were blocked by my Tao field. I chuckled and raised a hand toward the leader. "Remember you could have stopped this at any time." I formed two psychic blades and was just about to kill two of them when a fifth person appeared. He was an older man maybe in his late fifties with salt and pepper hair on his head and face. He wore a black suit and walked with a cane.

"I hope you wouldn't mind showing them a small bit of mercy. We haven't had the best go of it over the last few days and that has put a few of us on edge. If I am correct in my assumption you are that gentleman from the skycrapper?"

I cut my connection to my attacks and nodded. "How would you know about that? Are we close to Amara?"

The man smiled and shook his head. "I suppose that depends on what you consider close. For us, it would take four days to get there assuming we didn't come across any monsters and only took cultivators. If you are the person I think you are you should get there much sooner."

"And just who do you think I am?" I stared at the old man hoping he would betray something in his body language but he didn't even seem afraid. It wasn't like he didn't understand how strong I was either. He seemed to know that I would come out on the winning end of a battle right now and yet he was here.

"I have heard rumors about a man going on a tear. Wiping out a city and killing a portion of the Commonwealth's citizens. There aren't many willing to travel at night around here. You will have to forgive me for assuming that you are that person."

I cocked my head and nodded. "I am. Though the details of both those events are—" He held up a hand to stop me.

"I assure you that I am in no position to judge you. My hands are more than bloody enough for multiple lifetimes. I was hoping that you would allow us to share some of our hospitality with you. There is something I would like to discuss with you before the auction."

I considered it for a moment and nodded. Ultimately the other should be able to handle Amara for a day and then I would head back. My gut told me that whatever he wanted was important.