Lakeview Town was as literal as its name could get. Located on an area full of grassy hills, houses, and buildings were plastered all throughout the green meadows and slopes. The hills formed a circle-like shape when viewed from above, with a huge lake right in the middle.

The lake was crystal clear, with its depths easily seen by the naked eye. Mana surged from its waters and condensed in the air, providing the down a thick mana ambiance, giving rise to the production of magical fruits and minerals in the nearby area.

Numerous adventurers and wandering mages would settle down in the town for a while, abusing the magical density for rapid progress. They can train more skills, learn magic quicker with lesser recovery time, and many more. The town had also produced numerous mages over the years, allowing it to slowly prosper and develop over time..

Bidding farewell to their travel buddies after having received their payment, bumping up their gold coins up to a little over 10,400 gold coins, Braun and Bear embarked for a local inn. Travel had been exhausting and Bear wanted to sleep on a comfortable bed, while Braun, as energetic as ever, planned on gathering info regarding the rumors he had heard about the town’s mystical lake.

They soon arrived at an inn located near the middle of the town. It was three stories tall, with the first floor serving as a place to dine and socialize, and the upper two floors for lodging.

Braun went straight to the counter and Bear followed suit.

As the intelligent bear curiously stared at the other patrons of the inn who also stared back at him with surprised looks, he couldn’t help but wonder how long they were going to stay at this town.

One day? Two days? Three days? Five days? A week?

“One month please,” said Roan.

“Ror?!” Bear gasped.

“What? Didn’t I already tell you I’m going to investigate the lake?” Roan was surprised by his companion’s unexpected reaction.

“Ror!” Bear rebutted.

“You thought it would only take me a week?” Roan snorted. “You think answers fall from trees? I ain’t some omniscient god… yet.”

“Ror…” Bear struggled to say the words he had in mind.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s plenty of stuff to enjoy in this town!” Roan patted his friend on the back. “Besides, if you want to, you can help me investigate.”

“Ror.” Bear immediately disagreed.

“Well, then you should find ways to enjoy yourself, because I sure as hell gonna get occupied soon.” Roan grabbed his keys from the woman behind the counter and walked up the stairs.

Bear sighed and shadowed Braun. “Ror…”

…

After getting accustomed to their room, Braun left his furry companion inside and went back down to the lively area below to perhaps gleam some info from fellow patrons of the inn. When he walked down, some of them recognized him as the friend of that curious creature and gave him cursory glances.

Braun casually walked up to a couple of people, asking them, “Hey, you guys know anything about the mystical truth-revealing lake? I’ve heard there was an artifact that caused it to become like that. I’m trying to find it.”

While the majority of them laughed at the second part, they were still courteous enough to give him info about the lake and the unusual phenomenon surrounding it.

As he continued to ask random crowds, Braun heard someone snort from behind him and he turned around to look at a rugged bald-headed man with bronze-colored skin snicker in his direction.

“You really think you could find the artifact of the lake?” he said condescendingly.

Braun smiled, not offended in the slightest. Instead, he took this opportunity to approach the man, pulling back one of the chairs on his table and sitting down with a pleasant smile.

“What? You think I can’t?” Braun rebutted.

“I think nobody can,” replied the man as he sipped on his beer. “I’ve seen plenty of adventurers like you try and be the next legendary figure who uncovered the secrets of the lake, but all of them failed.”

“Well.” Roan leaned back on his chair. “I’m not just a nobody, you know? I’m Braun Berry, professional artificier, kick-ass adventurer, and a genius only seen once in a millennia. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Heh, sure.” The man was amused by Braun. “The name’s Willy Billy. Once an adventurer like you too, trying to find the secrets of this lake, but eventually settled down in this place.”

“I guess you’re the nobody, hmm?” Braun snickered.

Willy shrugged his shoulders. “Sure am, so I’m pretty sure you’re no different.”

“Well, why not entertain the musings of a fool, eh?” Braun leaned forward. “Why not help a stupid man in need?”

“Give me a free drink first-“

Braun waved his arms and a gold coin appeared out of nowhere. Sliding it forward on the table, Willy’s eyes dilated for a moment, but he quickly reacted and grabbed the coin as fast as he could.

“Ready to talk now?” Braun smiled.

“Hehehe.” A sleazy look appeared on Willy’s face as he carefully hid the gold coin in his pockets. “Sure am.”

…

Hundreds of years ago, back when Lakeview Town was no town and was just a hilly area with a scenic lake in the middle, an adventurer had found themselves arriving at this uninhabited on a full-moon night. When they curiously glanced at their reflection in the mirror-like surface of the lake, instead of meeting their normal visage, they were instead greeted by a warped sight of themselves.

Intrigued by this strange phenomenon, the adventurer led others to the lake to see if it would work on them two, and just like him, they too saw warped visages of themselves when nightfall came.

More and more people began to head towards the lake to see the magical sight for themselves, and this eventually led to the establishment of a small village, and now into the bustling Lakeview Town.

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As for the rumors about a magical artifact being the source of the lake’s magic, it stemmed from a powerful mage who once visited the budding village and tried to divine the source of the lake’s magic. They mentioned the existence of an arcane object looming in the depths of the lake, providing it the power to reveal the truth about people.

“Huh, pretty standard magical world stuff.” Braun walked across the lively night streets of Lakeview Town with the inconspicuous Bear following suit.

Strangers gave a curious glance at the unusual create wandering the town, but Bear remained unperturbed after weeks of receiving the same treatment over and over. At this point, he just muted out all of those stares passersby gave him.

Instead, Bear asked, “Ror?”

“Why we’re only going here at night?” Braun sighed. “You really didn’t even bother to research on the town, huh?”

“Ror,” Bear said matter of factly.

“What do you mean I’m the one who’s supposed to do research? What? Is it because I’m the human between us two?” Braun immediately tried to denounce Bear as racist, or is it speciest?

“Ror.” Bear rolled his eyes. His words roughly translated to, “You’re the one who wanted to go here, so obviously you’re the only one who has to do research.”

“Oof,” Braun reeled back in pain, clutching his heart. “I can’t believe I got bested by you.”

“Ror!” Bear accusedly pointed at Braun. “Racist!”

“I’m not racist.” Roan snorted. “Everyone is equally beneath me. A human is as insignificant as an ant. How can I be racist to something I am indifferent to?”

“Ror…” Bear was aghast by Braun’s response.

“It’s not a god complex.” Braun shook his head. “I can’t have a god complex since I’m a True God, you know?”

Bear wanted to rebut, but remembering Braun’s previous response, he’d much rather shut up and let that self-glazing man to his own thoughts.

As he delved into his own musings, the bear felt a shift in the density of mana in the air and looked up. He was immediately greeted by the sight of the mirror-like surface of a massive lake, with its end stretching right onto the horizon, meeting with the distant hills at the opposite end of the town.

Numerous roads converged into the middle of the town, all leading to the lake in the center. He could see hundreds of people, whether they be locals or tourists, adventurers, or wandering mages, standing at the edges of the lake, patiently waiting for the moon to rise and experience the magic of the lake for themselves.

“The moon, huh?” Braun glanced at the cloudy sky and saw the tip of the rising moon hovering just right below the peaks of the distant hills. “How does that even relate to the magic of the lake?

How does it even relate to the lake’s phenomenon? Is it because of the different gravitational forces at play? Or maybe it’s due to some arcane principle I’m unfamiliar with? Maybe the solar-lunar cycle holds some sort of mystical influence on the lake?

His thoughts were interrupted when the lake suddenly took on a luminescent blue hue.

The moon finally peaked through the peaks of the hills, its tip gradually enlarging to reveal a crescent glowing rock in the air. The clouds parted, revealing the celestial object in its full glory.

“It’s starting!”

“Woah… It’s real? The lake is actually magical?”

“Why isn’t my reflection changing though?” One adventurer had hurriedly approached the edge of the lake to look at themselves through the lake, but no change had occurred.

“You have to wait,” a local said. “The moon has barely sprung. The magic is at its clearest at midnight.”

So it’s also affected by the moon’s placement. Roan mentally took note. As he waited for the magic to reveal itself, Bear had instead busied himself by approaching nearby stalls and vendors to buy food.

A young man selling meat skewers to visitors of the lake was happily earning money when he saw the brown bear approach from a distance. He was at first scared, thinking a wild animal was coming to ransack his stall, but a bright yellow light abruptly flashed above the bear’s head.

“Hi! I’m Bear Berry, an adventuring bear! I mean no harm :)”

After having been together for weeks already, Bear had encountered many issues in his attempts to be autonomous without his human companion’s help in human encampments. Fortunately, Braun was a genius artificer and he had made many magical tools to help Bear communicate with people.

Glancing at his companion’s attempts to buy food, Braun clicked his tongue and murmured, “If that fool would just eat more humans, then he’d have already developed enough adaptations to speak like a human.”

Or maybe he doesn’t even want to develop human speech. Zenithral evolution, when uncontrolled, is influenced by the user’s subconscious thoughts. If he has no plans of developing human speech, then he won’t even evolve into that path.

As he contemplated his friend’s future, Bear had returned with meat skewers at hand. He gave one to Braun, who accepted it with a thanks, and the two munched on meat while waiting for the moon to rise higher.

A few minutes later, tourists began to cry out in amazement as the magic of the lake finally unraveled itself.

Braun curiously approached the edge of the lake, glancing at their warped reflections.

A young man wearing a white shirt, black pants, white vest, and a black necktie tied around his neck, had their reflection transform into a human-size gold coin with cartoonish hands and arms. A devil’s horns and tail had sprouted on the coin’s head and back, and it wielded a net that grabbed money from a pool of poor souls.

A young child had transformed into a humanoid owl resting in a library full of arcane books. It sat on a wooden chair, its legs propped on a tree’s stump, and it flipped through a book clutched in its feathers and wings.

A large fluffy dog barked in surprise as its reflection warped into a smaller version of itself, retaining the same general qualities, just shrunk.

“Aww.” Its corner, whose reflection was a human-shaped beam of sunshine, smiled when she saw her dog’s reflection. “You really are a small dog at heart, huh? If only I was bigger, you wouldn’t have to struggle so much trying to rest on my lap.”

“Woof!” The dog wagged its tail, propping itself up on its hind legs and using their owner as balance. It barked loudly, a wide smile on its face.

Observing the changes, he silently waved his hands and cast an illusion on a certain edge of the lake. As a conman, his illusion magic was powerful even without the use of chants, wands, or hand signs.

He did so just out of caution. Who knew what kind of reflection he’d have? Maybe it’d reveal his eldritch past, or the malevolent god that nested within his human shell.

“Ror?” Bear curiously glanced at his reflection on the mirror-like surface of the lake. Under the shine of the rising moon, Bear watched as his reflection transformed from a simple bear to a strangely human, metal-furred bear with draconian horns, wings, and tail.

“A human-ish bear with nanites and dragon features. That’s a pretty apt reflection.” Roan smiled, patting Bear on the back, who appeared rather mesmerized by his figure on the surface of the lake.

“Ror…” Bear couldn’t help but stare down at his feeble body of flesh, and at the fearsome, majestic creature on the lake’s surface. “Ror…”

Braun snorted noticing his companion’s reaction, and turned to look at his own reflection. Just like Bear, his reflection began to transform into waves and disappear, and was instead replaced by a…

“Huh?” Braun was stupefied by his own reflection, not because it was some strange appearance like a devil with goat horns or an eldritch creature of incomprehensible visage. No, he was stupefied because his reflection didn’t change a single damn thing!

“Is it defective?” Braun tried to wave his arms around and move, but his reflection remained the same.

On the other hand, Bear’s reflection roared fiercely as Bear tried to roar on the surface. He then mentally tried to flap an invisible pair of wings on his back, and his reflection did the same.

“It’s not defective? Then why?” Braun was surprised by such an outcome and looked closer into his reflection. “Let’s see.”

This lake clearly reflects the true inner self of those who are reflected on its surface. Braun summarized. A dog who sees itself as a small dog is shown as a small dog. A greedy businessman with a gray moral compass is shown as a devilish gold coin. A person of pure sunshine is a humanoid sunshine.

Bear, who sees himself closer to man than most bears, and is influenced by his draconian lineage and nanite-infused body, is shown as a human-ish robodragonbear.

Extrapolating on that data, he soon came to a conclusion. Is it because my true self is just myself?

While a bit surprising, Braun found himself slowly agreeing with that conclusion.

“Maybe if I were still acting as Braun Dolus, I would appear different, but ever since I donned the mantle of Braun Berry, I’ve barely tried to hide my true personality from others.” Braun smiled. “Though I am surprised I don’t find myself as Freidrich Braun. Is it because that data stems from another reality? Or maybe it’s because of the sheer level of my past out-leveling the source of the lake’s power?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Braun took another bite from his meat skewer and glanced at the moon hanging high in the sky.

“Moon, lake, truth-revealing magic.” Three connected dots appeared in his head. “That’s three points to delve into the lake’s secrets.”