Daniel sat cross legged in the portal room, which wasn’t too dissimilar to the one that was in the draconian settlement. Though this one did seem a fair bit less effective. There were no runes, and no powerful beings present. He couldn’t be sure, but Daniel guessed it could do little more than receive teleportations while being unable to send any in kind.

The man that'd walked over to heal Daniel's leg was pale, and clearly hesitating to actually begin the process. Daniel sent a glare towards the guard as the man’s shaky hands moved hesitantly around the wound. Daneil found it both annoying and unprofessional, and couldn’t stop himself from asking the guard just what was taking so long.

“I’m sorry sir, but I need to remove the knife before I can start healing your wound. It’ll hurt a lot, so I’ll need you to bra-”

In one fluid motion Daniel reached over and ripped the knife out from his leg. Bright, burning pain flashed through his mind before it was quickly disregarded.

The guard flinched in shock, but after a moment he quickly began to heal Daniel’s wound as his hands glowed a soft green. The other guards in the room continued to watch Daniel like hawks while several others did test after test to him to ensure he wasn’t a monster trying to sneak inside the walls. They described in great care what every test entailed and what it was trying to find, but Daniel just couldn’t find it in himself to care.

His mind felt free, flowing unrestrained like the wind. He could see everything clearly, but most of all he could see his mistakes.

‘Why did I let myself get whisked away by the flow of this city?’ Daniel wondered. Exploring outside the walls, fighting monsters with a single non-combat card. It all seemed laughably stupid in hindsight, and yet he’d done it. Sure, it’d worked out in the end, but that didn’t justify the means.

Daniel watched as a guard pushed a silver coin against his forehead while explaining that the precious metal burned shifters on contact, but he wasn’t paying attention as his mind raced, ‘Foundation of One isn’t strictly a combat card, but it can function similarly enough,’ Daniel reasoned. ‘I can probably use it to get permanent gains if I enhance the right parts of my body while exercising. It can get me far, but is it enough?’

Daniel once again pictured the goddess and shook his head slowly ‘No, it isn’t. She’s too large of a goal for now, I need to think smaller. I need to focus on what I can reach right now.'

Anton and Alexander stood in this world as some of the strongest humans, but he doubted that even they could reach the heights that he had in mind. Even still, they were far ahead of him.’

Then Daniel remembered a man who’d tried to kill him no more than a week ago, even though felt like it’d happened ages ago.

‘That’s a good goal,’ Daniel mused. ‘By the end of the month, the start of the next Blood Moon, I will be comparable to him.’

With that Daniel stood, and several of the guards moved to stop him.

“Sir, please wait just a moment. We're almost done with our tests and then you’ll be free to go.”

“I’m not a shifter, I’m not a reanimated corpse, and I’m not some kind of monster,” Daniel said, staring down the nearest guard.

“You know that, and I know that. So why am I still here? Are you just stalling until Anton arrives? Because if he wanted to be here, then he’d already be here. The man can practically teleport, but don’t you worry your pretty little heads. There’s no need for me to wait here, because I’m going straight to him right now. So just get out of my way.”

Daniel stared down the guard and the dozen or so others behind him. Rationally speaking, he wasn’t sure he could take on this many people, especially when they assuredly had a wide variety of powers at their disposure, but emotionally Daniel stood at the peak of the world. He was untouchable, a paragon of the human race, a messiah.

Daniel remembered clearly what Alexander had told him when he’d been fighting the spector. You need one of three things to survive in this world: madness, ignorance or complete, overwhelming confidence in yourself. And right now in this moment, he felt like he embodied that kind of confidence.

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What was the armor that they wore before a legendary card, what could they possibly do if but a touch would whisk them off to Limbo. He’d done it to the draconian that had ambushed him in the woods, why wouldn’t he be able to do it again? Why couldn’t he do more?

“We can’t let you leave just yet,” the guard said sternly. “We have reasonable suspicion that you are a cognitohazard. Either that or you were temporarily carrying the effects of one. That’s more than enough justification to make you stay.”

The tension between Daniel and the guards grew taunt as Daniel and the nameless guard stared down one another, but before it could escalate any further a new voice intervened.

“David, what is going on here?”

The guards quickly backed down with relief on their faces as the new arrival made his way deeper into the room, and it only took Daniel a glance to recognize who it was.

“Ah, Prince Pavel. I almost didn’t recognize you. How long has it been? One day, two?” Daniel said in a tone completely unbefitting the situation.

The last time Daniel had seen Pavel had been when the kid had broken into his room to offer him his sister’s hand in marriage. As far as break ins went, Daniel could live with that one.

“Daniel, have you added any new cards to your deck recently? Perhaps one that mentally harms those around you?” Pavel asked calmly.

Daniel just snorted and waved his hand nonchalantly, “No, I haven't added anything like that, but I do think I saw the Blood Goddess on my way over here. Not the best looking that one, it was like looking at a woman while getting sand blasted into my eyes.”

The guards gasped and Pavel looked towards Daniel with concern, “Are you sure it was her? That isn’t something most people walk away from.”

“I’m pretty sure,” Daniel said nonchalantly. “That guy was doing some real shittalking towards her, and not the behind your back stuff either. He was doing his best to say everything to her face,” Daniel said as he walked towards Pavel.

“And you think she took offense to that?” Pavel asked.

Daniel shook his head, “I didn’t say that. I’m not sure you can actually offend that thing, but it was certainly paying attention.”

“And you feel alright? You don’t think there are any strange side effects from looking at her, because right now you’re acting a bit… odd.”

At that Daniel actually laughed, “No, I feel quite alright. I didn’t get any cards that mess with other people's minds, but I did get a rare that can affect parts of my own body. Right now I got that badboy boosting my brain, and I feel fantastic!”

At that Pavel nodded, turned from Daniel and began to relay that the situation was under control into a smooth black stone, but he was caught off guard when Daneil snatched the stone from his hand.

“Daniel, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Sorry little guy, but I can’t have you spreading around fake news. The situation is most certainly not over yet. Matter a fact it's gone from a situation into an event!” Daniel said with spread arms with an excited grin.

“Gather the noble houses. I’m going to be holding an auction for the most valuable thing I own!” Daniel said into the black stone.

Pavel’s face squinted in confusion, “And that would be?”

“Me!” Daniel said in exclamation.

Pavel looked aghast, “What?”

“You heard me. I don’t want to marry some count’s daughter, or get adopted by some random baron. I'm a farmer's son, I work for what I get. I’ve had some time to think it through and I’m going full mercenary. I’m going to work for whoever gives me the most appealing deal, and I’m going to do a great job at it. Then I’m going to use that deal to amass some amount of physical power for myself without the need to go running off into the death woods risking my neck.”

“Daniel,” Pavel said slowly. “Are you sure you want to make these life changing decisions while under the effects of a mind-altering card? I strongly suspect that it's having a minor berserking effect on you. If possible, I think you should deactivate it before you rush into any choices. Besides, marrying into a family is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. There’s no need to make this more complicated than it needs to be.”

Daniel stared down at Pavel, unamused. “I’ve made my stance clear and I’ve seen my own value first hand. I won’t let myself get low balled here. The auction will be for ten years of my service. The service of a traveler. Alongside first rights to purchase weapons from my world upon my return. Spread the news for me, would you? That goes for whoever you are as well,” Daniel said into the black stone.

“Who even told you that you were a traveler? That’s not well known information. Was it Anton?” Pavel asked calmly.

Daniel simply shrugged, “Does it matter? Just make sure everyone gets an invite, otherwise you’ll be excluded from the auction. I’ll find out if you don’t invite a group for whatever reason. So be sure to get out there and do your best. I’ll be holding it at Anton’s place in four or so hours. This is a black tie event, so be sure to dress nice,” Daniel said with a wink.