Alden's up crack of dawn, getting the squad prepped to roll out.

Turns out, they've got their own carriages and horses. No wonder, they have to have their own carriage when escorting the Ikokha’s convoy.

Since he's not lugging much gear, he's ready to roll in no time. He switches back to his lightning tower robe. No point hiding his allegiance when the squad leader knows he's from there. But he keeps the mask on. Still handy, even if they know his tower, they don't know his face. Oh, and quick note, his mask can change patterns, so he can switch up his look for each mission. Pretty slick.

Then he's just chilling, zoning out in empty space.

Actually, he's staring at his status window, wondering why his Hidden Boss Progress Bar suddenly shot up. On the journey here, no change. But as soon as he met Alden, bam, progress shot up.

The only notable thing? Spooking Alden. Huh. Maybe the key to filling the bar is just freaking people out? He needs more data.

He checks out the squad, packing up camp like a well-oiled machine. These guys are pro.

They roll out once everyone's squared away. He hops a ride on a carriage. Two hours later, they're almost there. They veer into the woods and ditch the carriages temporarily for better mobility.

They're prepping for action, 'cause there's a chance that Ikokha's convo is under attack.

Regret thinking that, 'cause 30 minutes later, he's staring at a full-blown skirmish.

Four large and fancy carriages, about 20 folks from Ikokha's side guarding the second-to-last one carriage. On the other side? Forty attackers going hard. Looks like they wanna wrap this up quickly.

The big focus? The lone wizard on Ikokha's side and the two enemy wizards. They're tag-teaming, leaving the friendly wizard scrambling.

Friendly's a high-level 2 apprentice, while the enemies are mid and peak level 2.

At first, he figured the fight hadn't been going on long 'cause there were no casualties. But when he saw the wizards, he knew it was just getting started. If they didn't act fast, our wizard buddy would be toast in a minute.

He clocks all this in a split second as he sizes up the scene.

He kicks [Stealth] into gear, which is just a mix of [Hidden Strength] and [Environment Mimicry]. Yep, just made that name up.

Then he boosts his body with [Body Enhancement - Lightning] - 30 seconds version and [Body Enhancement - Mana] - base enhancement.

World slows to a crawl. He watches the squad leader mouth "Charge!" in slow-mo.

He darts for the first wizard, manipulating vines. Just as he reaches the guy's back, he channels mana into his palm, making it crackle with blue light [Body Enhancement] - arm focused, and slams it into the wizard's neck. Dude's head's gone before anyone knows what hit 'em.

Everyone near the plant wizard was totally baffled. They hadn't sensed anything weird before, but out of the blue, bam! The plant wizard's head got chopped off.

Quick as a flash, he's on the second wizard. But this guy throws up a mana barrier in a snap. Must be from his necklace. No way he could've whipped that up so fast otherwise. Still gotta commend his reflexes though.

He ditches the lightning boost, recasts it for a shorter burst, and moves in: [Body Enhancement - Lightning] - 5 seconds version. He amps up his mana to move normally in the slowed-down world: [Body Enhancement - Mana] - max output. His body faintly glowing blue from the lightning traveling under his skin.

In a flash, he darted towards the blood wizard, his fist clenched...

By the second tick, after his tenth punch, the barrier shattered.

In the third second, he slammed his palm into the blood wizard's neck. He could see the wizard's eyes bulge in surprise.

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By the fourth second, he's back near the leader, just as the time warp ends.

Then, all of his opponents began to scatter. "Monster! There's a monster! RUN!!"

"Hey, chill out now," he thought to himself, rubbing his neck. "I'm no monster. Just your average lightning wizard."

"Oof," he groaned inwardly, feeling his entire body screaming in pain.

Alden's staring at him like he's grown a second head. "Something up?" he asks.

"Nah, nothing" Alden says, quick to get back to business. He starts directing the squad to clean up the mess, grab the carriages, and set up camp.

Meanwhile, Alden's chatting up Ikokha's wizard about who knows what. Don't care. Got loot to grab.

As he goes to loot the plant wizard, he doubles over and pukes. Thankfully, he's already ditched the mask. Adrenaline kept the nausea at bay during the fight, but now it's hitting him full force.

No matter how hard he tried to justify it, the truth was staring him in the face. He knows, in this world, survival often meant he had to take lives. In this case, he couldn't afford to let the wizards live, fearing they might strike back in ways he couldn't predict. But deep down, he couldn't shake the reality that he had taken human lives.

As he leaned against a tree, his stomach heaving, the leader approached. He had sensed Alden's presence long before he arrived, quickly using [Clean] on his face and putting on the mask again. Despite his efforts, he still felt weak in the knees and the nausea lingered, so he remained propped against the tree.

Alden's got this relieved look, watching him throw up. Yeah, he currently has that punchable face.

"It's okay, let it out. It's natural to feel this way. Is this your first time taking someone's life?" Alden pats his back.

He hates to admit it but that warmth on his back is weirdly comforting.

"Surprise, surprise," he muttered. Then, forcing himself to move, he hurried to the plant wizard's body, quickly searching through it and finding two small bags.

He wasn't sure if the wizard had any more items on him, but he wasn't going back to check. Whoever stumbled upon the body could have whatever was left.

He slows his approach to the second wizard, braces himself, and searches him. Only finds one bag. Then the nausea hits again.

Casting [Clean] and putting his mask back up, he bolts for camp, pitches his tent, and crashes.

Loot can wait. He just needs some shut-eye.

Waking up, he feels better. Tries to focus on anything but what went down earlier. But when he cracks open those bags, it all comes flooding back.

He had no choice, okay? He wasn't that kind of cold-hearted protagonist from other novels. He was weak-hearted. Once, a friend showed him a video of someone getting their head chopped off, and let's just say he still remembered that incident vividly.

But in this world, you couldn't afford to be weak-hearted. He forced a bitter smile, shaking his head as he looked at the bags once again. This time, he firmly suppressed the feelings churning in his gut and started rummaging through the bags.

Plant wizard's bags: potion ingredients, several unknown potions, and a spell book called [Vine Bind], plus 80 low-quality mana stones. Blood wizard's: spell book called [Sanguine Shrapnel Burst], 100 low-quality mana stones, and blood vials.

Not bad. He won't learn the spells though — already got something similar to [Vine Bind]. [Sanguine Shrapnel Burst] is a powerful attack, but needs enemy blood or vials of the stuff. Might hand the spell books to the tower library. If they don't have copies, he could score some points.

No clue what the mana stones are worth, but coming from mid and peak level 2 apprentices, they're probably valuable.

Just as he's eyeing the stones, someone calls him from outside."Excuse me, Mister Wizard, would you mind if our Ladyship greeted you formally, if you have a moment?"

Meh, alright, there’s nothing to do anyways. Plus, he could learn some wizard world common sense outside the tower.

"I'll come to her, lead the way," he says, stepping out of his tent and heading for the posh carriage.

Getting inside the carriage, he noticed an elegant middle-aged lady seated on the right. She was flanked by a similarly elegant, younger lady who he assumed was her daughter. On the other side sat a scholarly middle-aged man in his forties, presumably the Ikokha's wizard.

"Firstly, permit us to acquaint ourselves. My name is Isadora Grace Ikokha, and this is my daughter Vivienne Belle Ikokha. The gentleman in our company is our Barony guardian wizard, Caleb Locke," elegantly stated Isadora, inclining her head ever so slightly, followed by Vivienne and Caleb offering similar gestures of respect.

"Would you be so kind as to share your name with us, Mister Wizard?" she inquired politely.

"Just Zack," he replied, feeling a tad awkward. He scratched his cheek, expressing his discomfort with his brief response. It wasn't that he meant to be curt; he just wasn't sure how else to respond.

"First and foremost, we express our deepest gratitude to you, Mister Wizard. Without your timely intervention, our convoy would not have prevailed this day," continued Isadora, skillfully steering the conversation.

"We bore witness to your formidable prowess in swiftly dispatching our adversaries. Please accept our sincere apologies for our inability to immediately reciprocate your aid," she added.

"No need to apologize; the tower has already promised me a reward," Zack reassured them.

"That matter aside, we would like to personally present you with a token of our appreciation later," Isadora insisted warmly.

The conversation continued as Isadora lavishly complimented him, promising to give him extra rewards later. As they wrapped up, she kindly asked him to continue escorting her, apologizing profusely for any inconvenience she might have caused.

He reassured her repeatedly, saying it was all part of his mission. Then, Caleb asked him if he had some time to chat.

"Absolutely," he replied. "That's actually one of the main reasons I came to this carriage in the first place."