As soon as Albert name-dropped the Kirkesis Core, the guild master’s whole demeanor seemed to change abruptly. Albert was not so clueless as not to realize when he made a potential mistake, and with a budding headache already lessening his focus, he very well considered bolting out of the guild as fast as possible.

Which was, clearly, not doable. Surrounded as he was by adventurers, such action might land him squarely from the frying pan into the fire. Not to mention the fact that there was a karmic cultivator in front of him, already working to once again saturate the air with his squiggly threads of mana, blending with the ambient magic itself and tainting it with his own power.

He had no choice but to de-escalate the situation, cursing his own lack of power. He clutched Scrappy tight to himself as he followed the Guild Master to a back room, hoping they wouldn’t have to come to blows. To be fair, he had several contingencies ready – both he and Jeff knew he was prone to finding himself in exactly this sort of situation after the whole incident in the village. Most of the contingencies came from his late-night experimentation, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to use them just yet.

As it was, he touched the small rectangular bump in his pocket. It was a booklet, called Defense Handbook. Associated to it was a notification in his HUD, depicting a buff called Evasive that was still usable for the next 3 hours should he need it. The buff would render him incorporeal for 0.25 seconds after activation, enough time to manifest a sword and plunge it right into the guild master’s brain before Albert lost the invulnerability and intangibility. If he was ready, which he always was thanks to Jeff.

For his part, Scrappy was utterly silent. He was quite tense, almost to the point of shaking, but at the same time he looked around inquisitively, studying the crowd and locating the exits. When the master led them to the room in the back, it felt like Scrappy knew enough to make an escape in case they had to.

There was a tense moment during which the two adults stared at each other, then Konstan spoke.

“The Kirkesis Core is a legendary artifact. As in, it’s the stuff of legends. It isn’t real.”

Albert narrowed his eyes. “If it isn’t real, then why did you bring me here, to a separate room?”

To be fair, there could be many reasons. However, sometimes it was worth to gamble on the most probable item as if it was a known variable.

Konstan nodded, confirming that the gamble had paid off.

“Why indeed. I must admit, you are a strange enough person. Coming here, now of all times…”

“Why would I be strange?” Albert asked.

“You have no mana to speak of. Your magic is like… a void.”

“Interesting.” Albert muttered, and he could feel Jeff taking metaphorical notes. “Why does it matter?”

“Sorceress bless me! It does matter. How can you even be normal, without mana protecting you?”

“You know—” Albert began, but before he could say something he was going to regret, a loud noise came from the main room of the guild.

Konstan excused himself in a hurry and asked Albert to wait for him here while he sorted whatever mess was going on outside. Not willing to do any of that, Albert diverted his attention to two things and gave an order about a third.

“Scrappy, can you read?” The boy nodded. “Good.”

Albert waved his hand, bracing against the wave of vertigo. The far wall of the room suddenly had a hole in it, leading to the master’s private office. In the back of Albert’s head, Jeff was fuming that Albert had performed yet another Free-Bend when it was not strictly necessary.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Go check the room. Take any documents that seem important, classified or have any mention of legendary artifacts or cores. Go, fast!”

Cast Bullet Time on him.

I can try.

While Jeff wrestled with the mana so that it would do something that Albert wasn’t even sure it could do, Albert himself moved on. Part of his attention was focused on what was going on outside, making shameful use of a Jeff-cast COPY: Perception. The other half of his attention was on figuring out how the get out of here, though it barely took any effort since it appeared that the guild master’s room had a back door.

Reality Bending Power: 33 -> 40

Physical Power: 2

Figured it out.

Albert smiled when he saw Scrappy suddenly move with lightning speed.

Meanwhile, outside the situation seemed to have gotten less chaotic. Sorting through what data the lesser copy of Perception was providing, Albert realized that the whole guild was on some sort of lockdown. There were guards at the door, armed and armored. One of those he recognized from when he first arrived at Bastion, the one with the power above 100 who gave him a thumbs up.

He didn’t seem so strong now that Albert was quickly catching up with him.

While it was hard to tell what they were talking about, he caught snippets of conversation here and there. A name was all it took for him to form a picture. Tulebord. Then Sap was mentioned. Chief’s name too, or at least he thought he heard the word Chief but he might have imagined it.

When Konstan pointed at the door when Albert was supposedly waiting for him to return and the guard began to shove everyone aside, it was clear that time was running out. A quick glace at the door revealed several squiggly forms of mana thread snaking through the wood, the guild master’s karmic threads trying to ensnare Albert inside.

“Scrappy, time’s up.” He said, and Jeff dropped the lesser copy of Bullet Time. Imemdiately the strain on Albert’s Focus lessened and with a wave of his hand all the karmic threads were erased. More would soon follow.

“Did you get it?” He asked.

“I don’t know!” The boy replied.

“Well, that ought to be good enough. We’re leaving.”

***

Konstan looked at the hole in the wall. It was like the wood had never been there to begin with, at least as far as the flow of fate claimed. The world seemed convinced that such was the case, and that any idea about a full wall ever having been there was the realm of crazy.

When the guards had come to him he still had doubts. From what little he could glimpse about Albert, the man was not okay in the head but he didn’t think he would be a full psychopath. In fact, he seemed rather clueless and only acting like he did in self-defense. He was able to see karmic threads, after all, something that was not supposed to be possible. It was excusable that he would find them suspicious.

However, it appeared that Konstan was wrong about the man in question. His escape had made it clear. No innocent man brings down a wall, ransacks an office and takes the leave with no reason to suspect anything.

The strange manaless man had killed Chief, robbing Bastion of one of their best weapons against the coming northeners. And now, he was looking for a legendary artifact that not even Konstan was sure existed before today.

“What did he steal?” Borut, the guard liaison asked.

“I think he tried to make it look like he was searching for valuables. But he tripped himself when he asked me a direct question: he’s looking for the Kirkesis Core.”

“The what?” The guard asked.

“It doesn’t matter.” Konstan said. “I never thought it was real. Sorceress help me if it is… we need to assemble a team. Immediately.”

The guard scoffed. “Soon, it won’t matter much. He will never make it out of Bastion.”

“Sure he won’t.” Konstan said sympathetically, already mentally going over which ones of the A-rankers he could ask to go on which might amount to either a fruitless pursue, or the pursue of death.

That was not all. If indeed the Core was real, then it was simply half of a whole. The other piece lay on the other side of the world, across the ocean. A city, lost to the sands of time and yet inaccessible. The birthplace of the Sorceress, as the legend went.

Konstan was an S-ranker himself, but he couldn’t leave his post. It was fortunate that the other S-ranker he knew happened to live near where the city of legend was rumored to be. He would probably never even answer his call, but it was worth a shot.

“Where did he even end up working?” He muttered, searching through his thrashed office. “Ah, there.”

There was a parchment, sealed and never opened. A letter, from an old friend he had never had the spine to reach out to. Not after the incident.

“Kingdom of Timoa.” Konstan spoke into the magical construct, connecting him to the larger network of guilds. “I am looking for Guild Master Kainen.”

A voice that he did not expect picked up. It took a moment for the construct to translate, the voice starting out as gibberish and gaining sense as the magic did its work.

“Kainen is no longer a Master of the guild. He has betrayed us. Left the guild, and tried to kill one of ours. I am Thomas, the new Guild Master.”