"Uncle Aaron, who are the quintessence invaders?" Lenore asked, Ash also looked when he heard the question.

This group was mentioned two days ago during the Grandmaster and the King's speech, but they didn't explain what they were or what they wanted, only to attack on sight, which was kind of hard when you don't even know who you're fighting.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders, "How am I supposed to know, Aster never tells me anything."

"You're lying, my father tells you everything, you should see him, always mumbling, 'Oh I have to tell someone about this, maybe Erica... Would Matthew be willing to hear me out... No, he wouldn't... How about Aaron, yeah definitely Aaron'."

Aaron's mouth twitched when he heard her words, that was definitely a good impersonation of her father.

But he still shook his head, "I'm being honest, I don't know anything." Yet despite his efforts neither Lenore nor Ash believed him.

"Uncle Aaon, why didn't my father leave me with Uncle Matthew then? I mean he is still stronger than you, and..."

"Well he isn't your blood uncle now is he?" Aaron snapped before she could finish, "Besides he wouldn't be willing to take you to all the dangerous places needed for you to get stronger."

There was a small glint in Lenore's eyes as she said, "I don't think I need to get stronger right now, not in this time of peace."

"That's Bullsh... Crap, right now is the most important time for you to get stronger..!"

"Why so adamant on getting her stronger Aaron, unless you know something about the dangers we're in." This time, it was Ash who butt in.

The moment he said this, Aaron realized he fell right into a hole, so with a sigh, Aaron said something he knew would shut them up, "All you need to know is the Quintessence Invaders is what caused the Immortal Ring to fall apart."

...

Sitting at a desk in his room, Cronix pulled on his horns as he looked at the cloak in front of him. He hated to admit it, but the formation inside the cloak was way too complex for him to understand.

Compared to all the formations Cronix had created since studying formations, including the teleportation array, nothing even stood close to the one he was looking at right now.

Even when he compared the formation to the one he remembered seeing on the Spell Collection Tower token, it was hard to say which one was stronger.

Trying to navigate the formation was the most annoying thing Cronix had ever attempted, every time he put a finger on the lines to try to find out the pattern, he would get lost, like he was traveling in a constantly changing maze.

Cronix couldn't help but groan as his head slammed into the surface of the desk in defeat.

In one of the rooms across from his, Lapsa was beginning to take out some fabrics, the pile he made with them were mixed from the fabrics Cronix gave him, and the ones they bought.

As it turned out, they were right to buy some of the fabrics sold at the store since they were needed in order to properly tailor mystic attire.

He tipped up some of the fabrics they bought from the store, and grabbed a needle.

In Cayden's room, he went through the spell book Riley gave him. At the moment Cayden couldn't practice reading since Wendril wasn't here and everyone else was busy, so instead of waiting, Cayden decided to be productive and follow Cronix's idea.

Thankfully Riley took in Cayden's inabilities, the spell book didn't have words but visual instructions.

The first spell didn't look like much in his eyes, just a slightly superior version of the lances he usually used, but at least it might help him build a foundation of knowledge on how earth spells are usually structured, which might help him learn his new spell.

Back in Cronix's room, regardless of how many times he banged his head on the desk, no ideas appeared in his mind.

Fine, I obviously can't think of anything helpful, so I'll take a break. If I remember correctly, Cayden mentioned the M.M.C having a branch or something here, I should go take a look.

Grabbing his cloak and slipping it on, Cronix left his room. On his way out he ran into Wendril, who was walking into Cayden's room.

He was going to ignore her and continued walking on, but a sudden thought stopped him. "Wendril..?" He said her name before she fully entered Cayden's room.

Wendril stopped moving and looked at Cronix, "Yeah?"

"Do you know where the Magic Miner Company is located?"

Wendril paused, and pondered on the question for a few seconds, "They're located on the backside of the city, near the mountains."

"There's mountains here?" Cronix furrowed his eyebrows, the spell collection tower was one thing, but now there were supposedly mountains here as well, none of these were visible from the outside.

Thankfully Wendril had already entered Cayden's room, so she didn't hear Cronix's mutterings.

After a few minutes of gathering and preparing his materials, Cronix left the residence, it was only then did he realize how far the backside of the city was going to be.

He walked out of the area and onto the road, he didn't want to ask Madame Potpourri for a carriage in case she considered it a favor.

While walking down the road Cronix passed by fields and farms, occasionally there was a patch of trees covering both sides of the road, making it hard to believe this was really one city.

After a few minutes of walking down the road, a carriage came into view being drawn by a green lizard. A thought of hitchhiking crossed his mind, but he forcefully erased all traces of that thought, thinking about what happened last time.

He continued walking, and ignored the carriage riding by him. The cloudy sky, and the many water elements in the air, matching his overall mood.

Ten minutes went by, and Cronix finally found the industrial part of the general area, and he found carriage rides being sold by 10 lower grade crystals per mile.

Cronix didn't hesitate to pay for a ride, which sadly didn't go as he expected. With how obvious he made it, everyone could tell he was a foreigner, which made him an easy target for scams.

Such as intentionally taking the longest way possible to charge extra.

When he finally made it to the backside, the sky was already dark, and the moon high in the sky, not only that, but it began raining partway through.

Cronix ended up paying 700 lower grade crystals, and he knew nothing about how much more he lost compared to taking a normal route.

When he got off the carriage, he thanked the driver after paying him, and was immediately greeted by the building for the M.M.C.

Cronix's gaze was filled with awe when he saw the base for the Magic Miners Company, that's because it didn't look like a building, but a pickaxe mining a multicolor crystal.

The aura from the buildings representing the crystal didn't feel real, like it came from someone else's imagination.

But there was something missing in this scene, there were no mountains.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

He wanted to get a closer look at the building, but he first had to go through a gate, and security. As long as they didn't force him to take off his cloak Cronix was fine with this.

Despite the time of day, there was a line in front of this gate, and after watching what the guards did to those people, Cronix joined the line.

After about another hour of waiting, Cronix made it to the front of the line. When he stepped up, there was an emotion disc waiting for him, being looked after by a Star Core Magician guard.

Cronix placed his hand on the disc like before, the blue gem began to glow. The guard nodded, and another guard led Cronix forward to the gate, they opened it for him.

Taking a step through the gate, Cronix's eyes widened, and he almost walked back out. He finally saw it. The mountain Wendril was talking about.

It was like the world around him had changed, his environment was completely different, while the building Cronix saw on the outside was still there behind it were several mountains that went beyond the clouds, snow fell from the sky on this side of the gate.

"How does this all fit in O'Kairo?" He couldn't help but mutter. Cronix didn't waste anymore time, he quickly strode towards the mountain.

It only took him a few minutes for him to find the adit, especially since it was the only direction he could walk to, if he went any other direction, he would be stopped by guards, even if he went towards the building he saw when he was on the other side of the gate.

As Cronix was walking, he thought out of everything in O'Kairo, the mines had to be the thing he had the most experience with. It kind of made him feel like he was back in Alktarsha, it was a little relieving in its own little way.

But there were a lot of differences, some subtle, other major that differentiated this place from Alktarsha. One of these changes were the abundance of formations being used.

Inside the mines in Alktarsha, using formations for mining was very rare, considering how expensive such equipment were.

But in O'Kairo this was a very different story, and this was very obvious from the moment Cronix set foot inside the mines.

The very first thing he saw was the countless miners using formations, some the energy sensing array, others had formations with similar effects, there was even a small few that had metallic equipment that helped them track down crystals.

It wasn't a mystery where they got these supplies, within the mines were stalls selling all sorts of formations, and resources needed to effectively improve their mining rate.

Cronix's eyebrows furrowed,

There goes my plan...

While others may have tried to sell their products either way, Cronix knew he wasn't going to get any crystals unless he had an opportunity to show his products worked, even for the miners who didn't have the resources the others had.

And nobody was going to magically want to switch from the existing brand out of nowhere, and who knew how long such an opportunity would take to appear?

Besides, from what he could tell with his mental energy, the power in those formations wasn't something his own formations could compete with.

But just because he knew his original plan was going to fail, doesn't mean he was going to leave immediately, he came all this way, and spent so much crystals, he had to come out with something, so he took out his own energy sensing array.

While it wasn't going to be as efficient as what the other miners had, it was still going to be more useful than nothing.

But when Cronix activated his formation, it drew the attention of someone else.

This person wasn't in the mine, he was at the top of the pickaxe building talking to the current leader of the M.M.C.

Anyone who looked at this man would only feel the air he gave off, it was the feeling he wasn't fully real. Every so often, it looked like he flickered out of existence.

It was very difficult for anyone to fully see his appearance, yet if one paid close attention, they'll notice he walked with a limp on his left leg.

This man wore blue attire, although no one could see it, and as he looked in Cronix's direction, his eyes widened,

That's... My style... But who's using it?

The moment Cronix activated the energy sensing array, it already began to shine, which surprised him.

The formation guided him to a nearby wall. When he approached, a memory appeared inside his head, something he wanted to try now that he could.

Placing a hand on the wall, Cronix gathered his mental energy, and concentrated it in one point, using that point to penetrate the wall.

Ice slowly began growing out of it, before it shattered, revealing the hidden magic crystal.

"Mr. Williams did it so much more fluently." Cronix said while shaking his head, and grabbing the crystal.

When he turned back around, he jumped back, there was a man standing in front of him. He didn't know when this man appeared, but he couldn't sense him in the slightest.

Cronix couldn't see him clearly,

Is this how people feel around me when I wear the cloak?

The man didn't say anything, and only looked at Cronix, yet what Cronix couldn't see was the frown on his face.

Why can't I sense his presence?

The man then looked at Cronix's right hand where he held the energy sensing array.

"The array is sloppy..." Cronix heard the man mumble.

The man's words left him stunned, who would've expected he'd be insulted right away, but the man didn't stop talking.

"If you add lines going from the middle to the outer area of the array, its power would improve."

Cronix's eyes lit up when he heard this, and using his mental energy, he drew those lines that the man was talking about.

When the man felt Cronix's mental energy, his frown deepened,

He's only in the second level of the Expansive Phrase, so why can't I sense his presence, is it the cloak?

Cronix felt the power of the formation improve without his mental energy having to get stronger.

This gave him a small hint of who this man was, and this small hint gave him a bit of confidence that this man could help solve his problem.

But he hesitated whether to ask his question or not, however seeing this eerie man awkwardly standing there, gave him a bit of confidence, "How would you decipher a formation?"

The man eyebrows jumped in a surprised way, but all Cronix could see was his head tilt.

His response was, "If I could feel it, I would focus on the energy, if I can't, I'll see how it interacts with different formations, but make sure you aren't using an attack formation.

"If that formation is on a similar level, it will reveal a hint of the energy of the formation you're trying to decipher, and if you use a formation that is weaker, pay attention to how that formation is destroyed, and it could give you an idea of how the formation looks if you pay close enough attention."

Cronix nodded as he listened along to the new information. These ideas could work, but it worried him that he may not be too proficient at that, considering how he couldn't even find a simple way to improve his energy sensing array.

However this strange man wasn't done, right on the spot he created a formation more complex than Cronix ever thought he could create himself.

"Do you know how to see using your mental energy?" The man questioned, to which Cronix nodded, "Then close your eyes, and watch with your mental energy."

Cronix followed his instructions and closed his eyes, using his mental energy he examined the formation.

But before he could fully focus, he realized something strange, he couldn't see the eerie man with his external eyes.

This only lasted for a few seconds though, as his figure appeared into view, yet now Cronix could feel a hint of his presence, like it had weakened.

Turning back to the formation, Cronix noticed the energy of the formation moved in a peculiar pattern, but he couldn't decipher the structure just from something like this.

"You see the energy's pattern right? Now watch carefully at what happens when it interacts with another formation."

Another formation was instantly created, but this one was weaker. When the new formation touched the old one, for less than a split second a tiny change occurred that only someone with skilled eyes could see, which Cronix didn't really have.

Cronix frowned, and said, "I didn't see anything."

"That's..." The eerie man suddenly looked away from Cronix, and past the gates of the M.M.C, to his office, Under his weird aura laid a frown on his face.

"I have to go." The man quietly muttered.

Cronix nodded, but he wanted to know something, "How should I address you?"

The man tilted his head again as he turned back to Cronix, "I guess you can call me Mr. Ezerta."

Cronix's eyebrows slightly furrowed and he shifted his vision to the side, the name was familiar, yet he couldn't place it at the moment.

Cronix shifted his vision back to the man to commit his figure into his memory. Mr. Ezerta didn't want to leave immediately, feeling like he left things unfinished with his teachings.

As a solution, he grabbed an information tablet seemingly out of nowhere from Cronix's view, and placed it on his forehead, before he tossed it to Cronix, "This could help you catch those changes."

Cronix looked at the information tablet with a bit of surprise, "Thank you..." When Cronix looked back up, the man had already disappeared.

The illusionary figure of Mr. Ezerta reappeared inside the spell collection tower, at the very top floor, in front of him was a door, the door to his office.

However when Mr. Ezerta grabbed his door handle, he didn't enter immediately, instead he took a deep breath, like how someone who was about to meet their boss would.

He then opened the door, the room looked empty, but he knew that wasn't the case, "Aster, stop hiding and come out."

In the next moment the room that looked empty suddenly had a man with white wings, like he materialized out of thin air.

"It looks like I still can't hide from you." Aster said with a smile, that sadly wasn't reciprocated by Mr. Ezerta.

"What do you want Aster?" Mr. Ezerta's tone contained no warmth.

Aster's smile faltered a bit, "So not even my first friend wants to be in my presence."

Mr. Ezerta frowned, "Don't use that on me, don't even call me friend."

"Oh, don't be like that, come on, you can't still be mad." Aster's voice held a tiny hint of desperation which would've been missed if it was anyone besides Mr. Ezerta.

But Mr. Ezerta didn't give Aster any pity, "If you want my forgiveness Aster, you already know what you have to do."

Aster went silent, then he sighed and spoke with a soft tone, "Matthew, you know I can't do that."

Mr. Ezerta scoffed, "It's not that you can't, you just don't want to."

"Well, what would Erica and Aaron think..."

"Aster, stop lying, you don't care about their feelings. Their opinions mean nothing to you. It's you, who doesn't want people to know about Uvira, about the Vivacity Realm. No... Actually you don't care whether people know, you care whether Lenore finds out."

Mr. Ezerta's words caused Aster's face to turn slightly pale, and his entire being to be still for several seconds, then he finally sighed.

"Lenore shouldn't have to live in a world that doesn't feel like hers, if she knew it was stolen, how would she react? I don't want to find out."

The room went silent for a few moments, there were countless thoughts going through both their heads.