Staring at the guards standing on his doorstep, Zeth found himself unable to respond. His heart was beating in his ears as he fought to keep a straight face.

“Who is that?” his mom called from the dining table.

“U-um, it’s the guards,” he shouted to her, then looked back at them. “I, uh, I don’t own this place, or anything. Do you want me to get my mom? She’d know more about all this stuff.”

The lead guard gave a curt nod. “Whoever can give us some answers about these reports.”

One of the guards off to the side sighed. “An illegal Class holder is just what we need after the aftermath of that Sixth Realm monster. If we start getting abductions, random killings, escaped demons…This town’s going to shit.”

“Can it,” the lead one said to the one on the side. Then he looked back at Zeth. “Just go get the owner of this residence.”

“Uh, right.” He turned and hurried away from them. Seemed like they at least didn’t suspect him in particular. But if they were here, at this house, things weren’t looking particularly good no matter how well this individual meeting went.

As he walked up to his mom, he found her looking at him with a curious frown. “You said it was the guards? Are they here because of the monster attack yesterday?”

“Uh, something like that,” he replied.

“Oh!” Sophie leapt up from her seat. “I want to go talk to them, too! Do they know what kind of monster it was?”

Within a couple minutes, the guards were sitting inside at the table, with Zeth, his mother, and his sister all sitting to face them, Zeth the only one feeling any kind of anxiety. His mom was just getting them something to drink, and Sophie certainly had nothing to worry about. She kept pestering them with questions the whole time they walked inside.

But once everyone was settled, the lead one cleared his throat, leaning forward. “So, we’re here because last night, a fleshtaker came down the street near your house. It—”

“Where did it come from?” Sophie asked, interrupting him.

He looked at her with an annoyed expression. “It came from the guild’s mineshaft. Now, the monster was intercepted on its way down that road by an individual who, from all reports we’ve been given, had their face hidden by some sort of a cloak or a hood. Nobody could give us any information on narrowing down this person’s identity. Did any of you happen to see their face? Or even just get a good sense of their build, height, catch any sort of a glimpse of them?”

Zeth’s mom frowned. “Wait, you’re trying to identify this person because…?”

“There is a warrant out for their arrest.”

“What? Why? I mean, they saved our lives. Didn’t those people tell you? That person was the one to kill the fleshtaker. I saw it with my own eyes; you shouldn’t arrest them, you should be giving them some sort of an award.”

“That person killed that fleshtaker using an illegal Class.” the lead guard said.

She frowned. “...Oh.”

“At least, we believe that was the case. The reports we heard said that the magic they used caused a flash of pink electricity, and then the monster caught fire. Does that align with your memory of events?”

“...Yes, yes, that sounds about right.”

“I remember the pretty pink lightning, too,” Sophie said, nodding sagely.

“Well, those two effects are the exact description of a Skill the Blood Mage Class has access to. As you may already know, owning the Blood Mage Class in any capacity is grounds for execution, as it encourages individuals to commit assault and murder, and allows access to the summoning of demons. This person being allowed to continue operating unimpaired would likely lead to countless deaths, even if they happened to help you this time. Additionally, if they were capable of defeating that monster this close to the house, you and your family may be in extreme danger right now.”

Her eyes grew wide. “What? Why? Do you think they’re still around here?”

“They could be, but that’s not the issue. The Blood Mage Class uses things called ritual circles. They must be drawn on the ground prior to being used, and cannot be moved from place to place. So, if the Blood Mage was capable of defeating the monster out in the middle of the field, that means they must have had that Fire Ritual circle set up hours, maybe even days in advance.”

“But how could that be?” she asked. “How could they know the monster was coming before anyone else?”

The guard took a breath. “Short answer is, they probably didn’t know. Blood Mages typically set up these traps all over the place, readying them to be used at a moment’s notice. And where they’ve set up one circle, they’ve likely set up more nearby. So, if this happened near your house…”

“Oh, my gods!” She immediately stood, looking at the seat below her as if she’d suddenly find a ritual circle there.

Holding out his hands, the guard attempted to calm her. “Don’t worry, even if you do accidentally make contact with one of these, they need to be armed first using a blood sacrifice. That said, I would strongly recommend you exercise caution while moving around in this area. You can normally see these ritual circles when they’re laid out on the ground, but Blood Mages can sometimes get tricky with how they hide them.”

Huh, Zeth thought. I wonder how you can hide them? If you cover them up, then people stepping on them wouldn’t actually make contact, but maybe if you covered up the majority of a circle and just left a tiny bit revealed for them to touch?

“Ca-can you search our property for the circles?” his mom asked as he thought. “Our house, our farm…I don’t want to suddenly catch fire like that monster did.”

“Absolutely,” he responded.

“Oh, and we’ve got a shed out back, too. My son does some butchering work in there, so it might be a little messy, but if there’s some sort of fire trap waiting to kill him, we need to know.”

The man nodded. “Of course. We won’t rest until we’re sure this place is safe.”

Zeth’s face drained. The gigantic Empowerment Ritual circle was still sitting on the ground in the shed, ready to be found. And there was no way they wouldn’t make the connection in that case.

“Officer Arinn, Officer Pine, you two go get one of those mages,” the lead guard said to his subordinates. Then he turned back to Zeth’s mom. “We’ve got some specialists who will be able to detect the circles even if they’re hidden. They’ll go get one, and then we’ll get to looking. In the meantime, I can stay here and keep you and your family company. Is that okay?”

“Yes, thank you so much.”

The two guards stood and one of them nodded to us. “We’ll probably be back in an hour or so. Depends on how soon one of the mages will be free. They’re all busy sweeping the city right now, but it shouldn’t be long.”

With that, they left and shut the door behind them, leaving the lead guard in the room with Zeth and his family.

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One hour.

Zeth had one hour to figure out some way to hide that ritual circle in the shed, or he’d be doomed. There was no way they would see a gigantic, obvious circle in the middle of his exclusive workspace and buy an excuse like “whoops, I must’ve missed that one despite working here all day, every day.”

He had to either figure out a way to erase it or figure out a way to prevent them from entering in the first place. Both of which seemed pretty impossible, considering he was stuck in this room being surveilled by a law enforcement officer.

“So what’s your Class?” Sophie asked the lead guard, breaking the silence. “Can you do magic?”

Her mom looked at her. “Sophie. It’s rude to ask questions like that.”

The guard waved his hand to dismiss her. “It’s alright, ma’am. I’m a Swordsman, specialized in a defensive combat style. There are a few Skills you’re required to have when you’re a town guard, so that much is public knowledge. Why, young lady? Do you want to be a town guard one day? It’s a very noble—”

“So you can’t even do magic?” she asked.

He blinked. “Well, there isn’t much on a System level that differentiates what most people consider ‘magic’ from any other Skill, beyond the fact that ‘magic’ is influenced by the Shaping Stat. Some of my Skills can allow me to move more quickly than a normal human would, for example, which could be considered magic from some perspectives.”

“That’s not magic,” she said, arms crossed and back straight, speaking as though she were educating him in a classroom. “Magic is when you shoot fireballs and teleport and stuff. You can’t do magic.”

He chuckled awkwardly, clearly not sure how to respond. “Um, alright.”

She gave him a look. “The Blood Mage person could do magic.”

His face went flat. “That person is using an illegal class. Their magic is evil. Young lady, no matter how much you like magic, a person like that should not be your role model.”

“Evil magic is really cool, then,” she muttered.

“Sophie!” their mom hissed, slapping her arm.

The man sighed. “It’s alright, ma’am. Kids her age go through a rebellious phase sometimes. I don’t take offense to children making a game out of making inflammatory statements.” Clearly eager to change the topic, he looked over at Zeth, who was still covered in bandages. “I imagine you must be Classed, too, if you’re getting into fights that end with you looking that bad. What are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Uh, I actually don’t have a Class,” Zeth responded. “I just got hurt in the fire down in the residential area. A building fell down on me.”

His eyes widened. “Oh. I’m very sorry. The fires got out of hand extremely quickly; we’re still not sure what the original source was for any of them. But any disaster of that magnitude is a failure of us as a guard, so I apologize profusely for the—”

“No, no, don’t apologize,” Zeth said, holding his hands out to stop him. Even the slight movement irritated his burned skin, like it might split open on its own if he wasn’t careful.

Then he paused. He needed to get out of here and do something about the ritual, but he didn’t know what excuse he could make to get out on his own. Except now, he had the barest inkling of an idea.

He continued, “Besides, I got fixed up well enough by a friend of mine. I trust him to handle my injuries. But I appreciate you and your department so much for doing what you could to handle the fires. Can I get you anything to eat as thanks?”

The man shook his head. “No, that’s fine.”

“Really, I insist,” Zeth said, getting to his feet.

Alright. Prepare for a world of hurt.

As the guard tried to convince him to sit back down, Zeth intentionally caught his foot against the leg of the table, tripping and heading straight for the floor. He held up a hand to catch himself, feeling the burnt flesh of his chest crack and split open as he stretched his skin. Everyone shouted in surprise as he impacted the floor, dozens of wounds reopening the moment he hit the ground. Blood splattered across the wooden planks as he coughed and groaned in pain.

[Requirement fulfilled: Cause life-threatening harm to yourself.

You have unlocked Universal Skill: Self-Destruction.]

“Zeth, oh my gods!” his mom cried, jumping out of her seat and rushing over to him.

His sister screamed in horror, sprinting over to him as well. “Zeth!”

“Good lords, are you alright?” the guard asked, getting to his feet. “I’ll call a Healer over right away.”

“W-we don’t have the money for a Healer’s services,” Zeth’s mom muttered, hands shaking as she knelt over him.

“I’m okay,” Zeth got out through his groaning. The trip was an act, but his suffering absolutely was not.

Well, he thought, glancing over at his System notifications. I guess now I know how bad an injury’s got to be before it counts as life-threatening.

He felt like he’d live through this, though—which was perfect; the plan was going swimmingly. Slowly, he placed one hand on the floor, then another, pushing himself up to his knees.

“Zeth, no, don’t exert yourself,” his mom said. “Stay where you are. I-I’ll figure something out.”

He shook his head, getting to his feet and leaning against the wall. Looking down at himself, he saw that his entire shirt was soaked in blood. “I can stand. It's okay. Mostly just some reopened wounds from the burns, I think.”

“Sir, I really think you should sit down,” the guard said.

“No, really, it’s fine,” he murmured. “I needed to go to Turin’s for my checkup anyway, so now’s as good a time as any. He can get me patched up.”

His mom nodded. “Okay. Stay here, and I’ll go get him.”

He shook his head again. “No, I’ll go. You stay here.”

“What? No! What are you saying? You need to sit still and rest.”

“It’d be quicker if I went.” He forced himself to take a step toward the front door. “If you have to go all the way there and then bring him all the way back, it’d be twice the trip compared to me just walking down there myself. Besides, my legs aren’t hurt at all, so I can move just fine.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, panic still clearly in her eyes. “F-fine. I’ll go down there with you, and—”

“No, no, I’ll go alone. It’s dangerous outside, with the Blood Mage on the loose. I’m really fine on my own, and it’d be a needless risk to have everyone leave the house during this time.”

“Zeth, you can’t expect me to let you walk around alone in your state! If you think it’s really that dangerous, then you need to have me there to protect you, don’t you?”

He looked over at the guard. “Sir, you know the most about this stuff. Would having her with me help if I did step into one of those armed ritual circles? I mean, from the way I hear it, a monster as powerful as a fleshtaker was killed in seconds by one of those Hellfire Ritual things.”

“They’re actually called ‘Fire Rituals,’ but yes.”

Zeth fought the urge to frown at the incorrect correction, and continued on. “Well, still, surely having someone else around wouldn’t do anything to protect anyone, but would just make it twice as likely that someone would step on one. Right?”

“I…I suppose you’re right,” he responded. “Still, sir, I can’t recommend—”

“Just go already!” Sophie interrupted with a scream. “Zeth’s hurt! He’s going to die! Everyone, stop keeping him here and let him go get help!”

“I promise I’ll live,” Zeth reassured Sophie. “You have my word.”

With that, when everyone was still frantic and confused, he stepped out the door and closed it behind him.

He started stumbling down the road toward town, glancing back behind him to see if anyone came out after him, but after a couple minutes with nobody in sight, he turned and headed into the grass, circling back around the house and into the shed. The pig still tied to the fencepost stared at him as he entered.

“Good gods,” he gasped, falling to the floor of the shed after closing the door behind himself. He was severely sleep-deprived, covered in reopened wounds, and in extreme danger. If those guards came back sooner than expected and started searching the property in the next few minutes, it’d be over. He had to work quickly.

Throwing the curtain open and ripping the cover off his Empowerment Ritual circle, he stared down at the project he’d been working on over the past eight hours. Throwing it all away by erasing the thing would be painful.

Then he glanced over at the shirts he’d used to soak up the fleshtaker blood. The rags were sitting in a corner, almost completely dried after having been left out for so long. If he had to redraw the whole thing later today, there was no way they’d have any usable blood left in them anymore. This horrible timing was going to cost him an entire Level-up. And Levels would need stronger and stronger sacrifices as he went on. Who was to say mundane farm animals would work for this next one? Level five was a big milestone, likely to unlock an extremely useful Skill. If he threw away this opportunity, when would he next be able to find a sacrifice strong enough to get him to that point? His body certainly wasn’t in shape to fight more monsters and claim their blood.

The guards said they’d be gone for an hour. He wasn’t totally sure how much longer this circle would need to be finished, but with Vile Focus discounting the normally ten-hour requirement down to around nine, it was possible he’d have enough time to finish it and get back into the house before they got here.

He had to try. The Blood Mage would likely realize he was alive and well after a spectacle like him killing the fleshtaker, and it wouldn’t be long before they came hunting him down. If he wasn’t prepared to strike them down by then, all of this would have been for nothing.

Zeth crawled over to the almost-complete ritual circle, forcing his body to move despite the pain, and got to work.