Zolast's first response to my declaration was a long, lingering sigh. "You're asking very difficult questions. The kind that will get very dangerous if they spread."

"Don't worry. I didn't get to this age by blabbing about things that were best left buried," I answered. "Living as a mercenary taught me a lot more than just fighting."

"I can see that," Zolast answered. He paused a bit, looking around. "The question you ask has a complicated answer, one that has to do with the Gods."

"I can keep my heresy suppressed for a while, don't worry about it," I said. "Now, spill."

"At the beginning, there were only gods, living in harmony, at the center of the universe, in alignment, bringing order to the existence of the chaos," he said. "However, that task was difficult, so they created mortals to do their task, and granted us the System to give us tools to defend. In the beginning, it worked perfectly."

"Until it didn't, right?" I asked.

"Yes," Zolast said, annoyed at my interruption. "It has been told that, at those times, there was no restriction to the System, no leveling. Immediately after the bestowal, every mortal had powers to rival gods."

"I can see where this is going," I cut in.

"Fascinating show of intelligence," Zolast said mockingly. "Now, do you want to interrupt more, or should I continue?" I nodded. "As you guessed, mortals rebelled, although they were not alone. Some of the gods betrayed the rest, whispering promises to mortals to entice their rebellion. And just like that, the War of Heaven started."

He took another deep breath. "I don't know much about the War of Heaven, and I doubt you care about the ones I knew as well," Zolast said. I nodded. He was correct. That kind of dubious and sanitized information was not really useful. Certainly not when I had more important things to do. "What we know is that the rebellious gods had been defeated and banished, their connection to the System cut."

"But not killed," I said.

"No, not killed. Just chased at the edge of the universe. And there, they had embraced the chaos, using it as a weapon against the order, to destroy everything that they had been denied."

"I suspect that those monsters that somehow radiate that disgusting red energy are somehow connected to those evil gods," I said.

"You have seen them," Zolast declared.

"From a great distance. I was in the forest, hunting when I saw a monster-filled castle flying into the clouds —" I started, only for Zolast to gasp in shock. "I'm guessing you didn't know that detail."

"No, I did not," Zolast said, his voice the sharpest I had ever heard. He examined me carefully, and I even felt some kind of energy spreading. I had a feeling only my exaggerated Perception allowed me to feel the subtle energy, and it didn't feel offensive, so I acted unaware. "How close were you?"

It seemed important. "Around twenty-five elatriss," I said, even though admitting that meant I had revealed some of my capabilities. Still, it was worth squashing his other suspicions. Not that I blamed him. That red energy was bad news.

"You must have a really impressive Perception," he said. "And level," he added. "Why the hiding?"

"Similar to you, I didn't want to deal with the hassle. The mess that's going on is not for someone that has already retired to deal with," I said. "Especially for someone that always lived at the border, hunting leisurely."

"You're a ranger," Zolast guessed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"You can say that," I answered, deliberately smirking mysteriously. It seemed that I was going to spend a lot of time with Zolast, and it was better to keep him guessing rather than reveal the truth. Positioning myself as some kind of ranger was a part of it, explaining my combat capabilities and my lack of knowledge at the same time.

That didn't solve all suspicious points, but I was hoping that Zolast assumed some questions I asked despite knowing the answers just to conceal the truth of my situation.

Zolast sighed. "Returning to your question. You remember me mentioning the banishment of the rebellious gods," he said, and I nodded. "It meant they were cut from the System, and along with it, their ability to empower mortals."

"I have a feeling they didn't just accept that."

"No, they discovered a way to corrupt our connection with the System. They can't empower us with the connection of the System like the gods can, but they can steal and corrupt those connections. The Promotion rituals are especially vulnerable. Their unique brand of mana allows them to suffocate the message of the gods and replace it with their seductive whispers."

"I'm guessing that's the red energy."

"Yes, and you're lucky you had seen it from such a great distance. Even the smallest amount can corrupt unless a priest is willing to waste a lot of mana to purify it," he said.

My own experience showed it was not that difficult — but in his defense, I had a lot of unique advantages, and no way of knowing how they interacted with it.

"That sounds bad. Was that why every monster was desperately throwing themselves into that castle."

"Yes. Chaos Mana is cursed, and everything fights against it. When it's present, the planet ignores the System and the mortals and focuses on the corruption instead."

"Isn't it good news that the monsters are returning to attack us," I said.

"It was until you revealed a flying castle was corrupted," Zolast answered.

"Didn't you already guess it?" I asked, pointing at yet another flying castle moving toward the forest. "Why should the military continue to move if the corruption had been suppressed?"

"I was hoping that they were trying to establish a dungeon at the point of breach. It's a good way to hit back against the chaos." Rather than acting all-knowing, I made sure to look confused at his mention, hoping he would spill some more information.

"Oh, right, you think the dungeons are natural occurrences," he said. I nodded. The way he said implied that dungeons were common knowledge — whatever they were — so I decided to act as if I knew them. I could always question someone else about it later.

"Actually, dungeons are artificial, though, at this point, it's more of an open secret. They are seeded by the church, on top of the spots with dense mana. It slowly drains the mana and turns them into single-type monsters and rewards, rather than dangerous natural disasters … or gods forbid, protectors."

"And, chaotic mana?" I asked.

"Those dungeons work a bit differently. They can't be controlled by seed, and as a consequence, they are much more dangerous, spewing much more dangerous monsters, especially if left unattended. They are riskier, but they also offer better rewards."

"And, I'm guessing, stealing the power from the chaos gods at the same time."

"Exactly," Zolast answered. "The breaches are their only way of invading the mortal plane, and dungeons turn those attempts into nothingness." Then, he shivered. "Unless a breach occurs, of course."

I faked a shudder, understanding the implication of what he had just mentioned. "I'm guessing that it's more or less the whole story," I asked. "A chaos god is trying to invade us, and he has a flying castle to create as many gates as he wants, while the military tries to plug the holes. And, they are evacuating us to deny the corruption to take hold."

"A masterful summary of the practical aspects," he said as he turned back, and started walking back to the camp. He seemed to explain all that he needed. I was happy with it as well, so I followed him.

I could ask him more questions, but with my own alien status, I was afraid that the questions would reveal more of my secrets than his. I could always use Charisma to question others to understand more about the world.

"So, what do you know about our noble brat?" I asked as we returned.

"Nothing much. As far as nobles go, he's harmless. He's from a small barony, and he's the last member of his house, with nothing to his name other than a few retainers that had followed his father. I don't know much about him, but considering he is assigned to our camp, his estate is either gone or under the control of regents assigned by the crown."

"I thought that someone had mentioned a brother or something?"

"Lies, just to make it look like he has more support. He has no one but his retainers," Zolast declared.

"Interesting," I muttered, thinking about following up, but after a while, I discarded that. A young, spoiled noble was a good target to investigate to further hide the true nature of my situation, but the effort that was required to convince a bunch of old, suspicious retainers was not worth the trouble.

Silently, we returned to the camp… I still wanted to test the effects of my enhanced Charisma. I might not be in a hurry to use the Experience I earned, but it was better to have and not use it than the alternative.

I had a lot of work to do…