Lev woke up refreshed, like he never had before. His whole body was brimming with power, now far more noticeable than yesterday. He had been too excited to really scan himself. Only now he noticed just how outclassed his past-life self would've been in a physical confrontation.

Lev didn't know how well his attributes worked exactly compared to others, as they worked on what was already present. Every person produced different results, but it was widely accepted that each physical attribute before the first threshold gave somewhere around a 2-3% bonus to a person's base capabilities, very slightly decreasing with each point.

It was far from absolute, as other physical attributes were just as important. Imbalance of Strength and Dexterity and lack of training also hindered a person's capabilities greatly.

Safe to say, Lev could handily trounce his past self without even breaking a sweat. He would estimate himself to be nearly two times as strong and fast, and he had yet to even fully grow up.

Getting out of bed on that amusing note, Lev took care of his morning routine. His mentor was already waiting for him as he came out of the room. Lev beheld something he hadn't expected to see in this world.

Is that power armor?

Alec smirked at Lev's dropped jaw. "This is one of my most intricate creations by far. I call it the Illusion armor." He turned it around, letting Lev see that it was mostly hollow. It was slightly over 6 feet tall, comfortably spacious enough for Lev to step into. The inner free space started above the feet, letting Lev stand a foot higher than his actual height.

The illusion armor itself looked… ugly. Lev suspected that aspect would be covered by the illusion, which left the armor looking unfinished and mismatched without it. It seemed to be made of some dark green and black metal, which Lev didn't even want to guess the origins of. Identify failed to work on it as well.

"Get in and summon your armor." His mentor waved him in. Lev eagerly stepped inside. The interior was tailor-made to fit him. Quite literally. Lev could feel the metal wiggle to make him more comfortable.

"You usually direct mana through your arms so I made the trigger behind your shoulders. Try to feel them out and send mana into them."

Lev did as he was told. Just a second of searching yielded two triggers that stood out in his mana sense. They both seemed to demand mana. Carefully, Lev sent a stream into the first but nothing happened.

"That one closes the space through which you entered." His teacher helpfully supplied.

The stream stopped flowing inside after a bit. It seemed to need a set amount of mana to open and close the backside of the armor. Sending mana into the other trigger, the armor suddenly vanished.

Lev jerked back in surprise but his head still hit a hard surface. Moving around, he could feel the armor still present, just invisible to his eyes.

This is so amazing. How does this even work??

"Is this what I think it is?" Lev asked, his voice not hindered by the invisible armor either. Instead, his voice sounded older, deeper.

"Yep, it's invisible to you and you’re now standing taller than me," Alec cheerfully answered. "This is how it looks from the outside."

He summoned a full-length mirror in front of Lev. The figure reflected in the mirror was robed like a generic assassin from movies, the most prominent colors red and black. The illusion was extremely lifelike, and even Lev wondered if his armor had been replaced with that outfit for a moment.

The face was the only thing out of place. It was a blank dark green mask with only two holes for eyes and a nose.

"So this is how we will hide my age?" Lev looked at his mentor. Getting a nod, he tried to move around.

The armor didn't budge. He hadn't really exerted himself but it was far too heavy for him to move around physically with any form of dependability.

"This is the main and pretty much only downside," His mentor explained. "Summon your armor."

Whoops, forgot about that.

Lev focused on his active skill. Pale blue armor came into existence around the illusion armor, close enough to be touching its surface.

"The system seems to consider it a physical armor, which is great. The skill also goes over it while mine didn't," Alec commented, nodding in satisfaction. "I took into account the weight assisting passive to make it as heavy as I could without hindering you much at lower levels."

With his mind, he tried to move forward. It was difficult, but not nearly as bad as he was expecting. Lev would say it took half his total mental effort and focus to move himself. Gradually getting used to it and increasing his attributes would soon make the effort redundant.

The passive skill seems far more useful all of a sudden.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Lev had mostly considered it a tool to assist in levitation and eventual flight. This experience changed things.

This also means that such armor is not a foreign concept on Monarch. I'm excited to see how many people use them. Existing firearms would pair extremely well with them.

"What about the face?" Lev asked. It was the final thing they needed to take care of.

"I wanted to leave that up to you. Do you have any ideas from your past life?"

Lev chuckled. "Definitely something demonic and intimidating. Preferably with horns," Seeing his mentor was about to accept that, he hurriedly added. "I'm kidding."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah, I want to meet new people and eventually make friends too, not scare them all away. The robe will only make the mask more prominent," Lev pointed out. "How realistic can it be?"

"Very." came the sufficient reply.

"I have a decent idea then, I think."

****

Lev gazed at his face in the full-length mirror. It was beyond realistic, something that would've been entirely impossible without illusion magic.

The illusion represented a swirling blue galaxy that was always in motion, slowly rotating. It was entirely blue and depicted something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The mask itself was hidden behind the illusion which removed any traces of its edges, making the illusion even more realistic.

Since the robe on the armor was also an illusion, everything was merged seamlessly. In the mirror, it looked like Lev simply didn't have a face, only one rotating blue 'eye' looking at the world.

Besides the swirling galaxy, everything else was pitch black under the illusionary hood. With no visible eyes, ears, or nose, it looked quite terrifying.

"While it is certainly… unique, what exactly is the blue galaxy supposed to represent?" Alec asked with a smile, already having an idea.

"Why, what else but my mana pool?" Lev answered with a matching grin. To him, it was more than just an illusion.

It was his future.

****

People stared at the two distinguished figures walking down the main road.

The famous crafter Alec Zar was well-known around these parts, usually walking around as a break and defending in the case of any monster waves.

Far and wide, people knew of his generosity and accomplishments, both his crafting career and status as a hunter.

Equally interesting was the figure walking a step behind the crafter. The outfit he adorned was fit for a rogue yet there was no face to be seen under the hood. Instead, what held everyone's gaze was a swirling mass of blue, endlessly rotating around the center.

The obvious illusion was extremely detailed and well-made, almost demanding everyone's attention. Which was why many stopped to stare and gave them a wide berth.

Or maybe they're just weirded out and don't want to come near the psycho with such a facemask. Lev snickered to himself, uncaring of what they thought about him.

The walk to the Hunter's Guild took nearly half an hour in the huge outpost. Lev gradually became acclimated to the armor during the short stretch of time. The burden on his mind from carrying the armor had already eased a little, which was a good sign for the future.

The building was just as grand as he remembered. Stepping inside for the first time, Lev beheld organized chaos. Despite being an outpost branch, it was nearly filled to the brim with people.

The huge quest board to his right still displayed dozens of quests for all ranks up to Master. Alec walked up to that and checked it briefly before walking up to the receptionist.

The girl behind the counter smiled involuntarily at the ridiculous mask before greeting them.

"Welcome to the Hunter's Guild. How can I help you today, esteemed sirs?"

Lev tried not to make a sound at being called that while his mentor took it in stride.

"I am registered for caravan quest # 7. There's also an item waiting under my name."

"Please give me a moment." She said and dipped below the counter. Seconds later, she put a large book and an envelope in front of them.

The Guild Records. It is an extremely large spatial notebook that can take mana signatures as proof of acceptance for tasks and quests. I wonder if my teacher made this as well.

"Please put your mana here." The girl pointed at a very obvious red circle under the details of the quest. The payment was a simple one gold coin upon arrival to The Pit.

Alec did as required. Lev marveled at how a part of the paper felt like his mentor's mana after he was done.

"Thank you for participating in the cycle." The receptionist said with a small bow.

Since they had already packed necessities and food in their storage rings, Alec led him to the gates and the waiting caravan without detours.

"What is the cycle?" Lev asked after a few minutes of silence. The Illusion armor made his voice deeper, resembling what Alec expected him to sound like when he grew up.

"Cycle of teaching and gratitude. It's a tradition that was considered old even in the Empire. Basically, an experienced group willingly takes along a new team of hunters to show them the ropes of different quests. The clerk knew you were new, obvious with that getup, and deduced that I was going to help you along which is correct," His mentor patiently explained, aware of how little Lev knew about everything.

"That's nice," Lev commented. The people of Monarch kept proving their better nature time and time again.

Alec opened the envelope from the receptionist, which revealed an iron badge. It was rectangular, and as long and wide as his finger. "Take this."

"Iron?" Lev asked. The iron rank was for levels 75 - 100, which was far from Lev's current level.

"You'll be using the badge soon. It will only take a few weeks to get to level 75. With my word, you don't need to take any tests either."

Lev shrugged and put the badge in his ring. It was certainly convenient to have with his blocking-stone stopping identification skills. Lev could just show the badge to prove his level, which he shouldn't need to anytime soon with Alec's company.

The ranks in Hunter's Guild followed a simple pattern. Like the coins, except iron, they started from Copper, Bronze, and Iron for levels 1 to 100. The first threshold ranks, from levels 101 - 250, were Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

The ranks after Silver were awarded based on merit, with Mythil given only to Masters. Titanium, Irinite, and Oscium were the three highest ranks, and only the Exalted were automatically considered Titanium-ranked.

In the past, there were many Titanium and Irinite-ranked adventurers. Now, the top two ranks were vacant. Lev always wondered why that was the case, and the conclusion was terrifying.

Just what were they being compared to?

****

The guards at the gate naturally recognized Alec, letting the duo pass without any trouble. They did however stare at Lev's new mask for a long moment.

Honestly, Lev still wasn't sure what people thought of it.

On one hand, they stared. On the other hand, they stared. It was hard to decipher.

On the side of the road was a large number of huge carts and similarly huge horses. Lev had expected to escort a small group of merchants to The Pit but there were dozens.

"I thought I had misheard when someone said Alec Zar was coming with us," Someone called out while peeking out of one of the carts. A man in his twenties with blonde hair and a clean-shaven face stepped out. "Thank you so much for joining us, sir. I am Peter, the lead hunter for this trip." He introduced himself with a smile.

"Well met, Peter. I just wanted to travel to The Pit so I thought I would show this young man the ropes." His mentor replied with his normal casual demeanor.

Peter's smile widened when he looked between Alec and Lev. His attention lingered on Lev's mask before he spoke. "Glad to see that. Come, let me introduce you to everyone else."

Peter led them behind the carts in front, where Lev realized the scope of the quest was even larger than he expected. Dozens of carts were stationed in a circle. The merchants and hunters were all sitting on the smooth grassland, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Alec's appearance caused quite a stir. Everyone present recognized the crafter by both his aura and reputation. Most merchants kept their distance, only looking at him with awe and reverence while some moved forward to greet him.

He's getting the fanboys and fangirls treatment. Lev chuckled to himself while he and Peter broke off to meet the rest of the hunters.