'They're way too careful. My clone even ran out of fuel.'

"I am poor and naked..." Ben sang softly with a monotone. His sensory overload didn't allow him to feel it was funny. But Ben had to do something. Or else he would be too jumpy.

Unfortunately, he couldn't turn off his high alert mode instantly. Even if he believed he overcame the worst, the change would happen slowly.

So he could only calm down while following his plan.

After he jogged out of sight, Ben immediately focused Spirit in his mouth and whistled.

His movement was efficient and abrupt, but he kept jogging.

Around two minutes later, a horse appeared. And involuntary, every muscle of Ben's tensed up despite him expecting it.

"Hello. Thank you for the help." Ben forcefully acted calmly.

The horse responded to Ben by turning around and getting ready to be mounted.

"It was a bit risky, but fortunately, my clone did amazingly. So don't worry, I'll not hold you for too much. Once we get closer to Podtown, you can go and reunite with your friend."

Ben made a deal with those Spirit creatures. Freedom in exchange for a small ride.

So before blowing up, the clone broke the control seal from the horses and explained the directions to one of them.

The agreement was simple, a ride for his main body. The destination was a small ruin close to the border intersection between the Kingdom of Latwelia, the Republic of Slet, and Srok.

So back then, while Ben chose to destroy the ring because it was trackable, he was also building enough confusion. A simple smoke cloud.

His plan wasn't out of this world, and it wasn't that creative, either. But Ben still bet on his enemy's biases. He abused where he could break presumptions.

His ability to make a clone was one of them. A technique built with the small poll of knowledge he could remember from Earth.

However, it wasn't a complete clone, as Ben found no way to connect the two brains to be him. And he couldn't be so cruel as to spark another life like it didn't matter. But that, Ben knew, was only a legacy from Earth. That's how he grew up, but he didn't want to change that aspect of himself.

So after creating only the empty shell, Ben wrote inside a complex circuitry using Spirit. And that special doll could act on his order for a while.

Yet, Ben didn't use this often because the main ingredient was his refined soul. And that black matter wasn't easy to grow.

But that wasn't the only risky bet Ben took. The second bet was his ability to stay hidden from monitoring. If he didn't have a tool in the open, he could change his emission pattern precisely. So even if he kept the same face, anyone would find it hard to identify him from some distance. Their arrays were just as biased as their owner.

However, if they all knew his ability, they could easily counter it. But they didn't. So Ben slipped through their fingers effortlessly.

But for that to happen smoothly, he needed a means of transport. And that was the creature he was riding right now. So Ben's last bet was on their blind spot involving their taming skills. They might consider it as if they were absolute, but those slavery spells weren't, and Ben cracked them before.

So that was how he could convince the horse to give him a ride. And those clever creatures didn't squander the opportunity, either.

...

The horse, at full speed, got to Ben's destination in just a few days.

Ben used that time to turn down his sense of urgency.

"From here on, I'll take care of it. Thank you for the ride." Ben patted the side of the horse as he said goodbye.

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He was now older again and had an exhausted expression.

'It was a risky move, but it paid off. It hurt so much, though.' Ben thought as he felt his torn insides.

However, he didn't put much thought into the situation and just focused on his plan.

As a result, Ben arrived at the ruin he aimed for in less than half a day. There, he dug up a hole below the river and hid away.

He chose this place because Podtown Ruin had the perfect conditions for concealment.

It was a place dry of Spirit and life, where cultivators drowned as if fish out of water.

Yet, due to Ben's unique development, he felt extremely comfortable in this place. He couldn't thrive here, either, but he felt relaxed. As if unchained.

Ben stayed in this hole for a few weeks while recovering and analyzing the situation.

First, he focused on healing his refined soul matter because instability might cause problems later.

Then, he carefully studied the events that took place.

Ben knew the persuasion wasn't active anymore because he worked hard to break his link to the suggestions. So this surprised him since it still felt off and unnatural.

So while he felt no connection to the strong current entangled with Ginn Aravyz, he still concluded it was related.

At first, he couldn't make a good guess out of everything.

He could only guess that he found the ritual because the current pushed his teleportation in that direction. And then it influenced him on which place to choose.

However, the reason he found the Ghost Doctor only became apparent when he heard the rumors while traveling in the carriage.

'A fire. I was very hurried, but I wouldn't misfire that technique since I've used it many times. And the little bird also wasn't enough of a trigger. But it still caused it despite it being unlikely. But also how unlikely it was for her to offer help. Does she have a connection to the plateau? Or does she have a connection to the ritual? She shouldn't. There are too many eyes on her. Too many big shots are afraid of her, and they wouldn't mind sacrificing her whole clan. The only reason she's alive is probably because of some agreement. Her specialization makes people too uncomfortable.'

The bad news was that Grimhorn Plateau became a fiery hell, and many were worried that it was a sign of a worse tragedy.

The fire was just too perfect that it felt unnatural. In addition, cultivators tried burning that place before but couldn't.

'Some might blame me, but it's not my fault. Heaven is merely taking care of their child. Now, why Ginn needs that place on fire, I wouldn't know. But likely, many years in the future, he'll come and solve this and find some treasure. Cliché, but this world is annoying like that. It doesn't even try to hide it.'

'Then, maybe the broken ritual was an essential piece, and me breaking that gave their child enough time? Maybe? It's not like we don't know about them or that I couldn't tip the group with enough info. Or perhaps, the little kid needs to be aware of the possible involvement of those guys, specifically. My instinct guessed that, so Ginn would likely guess the same eventually. But I wasn't affected when I sent the note to the Empire, which is weird.'

'Lastly, does he need the Doctor? I can't think of a clear reason. The Dragons don't need someone like her. But I'll likely figure this out eventually if there is a connection.'

Ben's head worked tirelessly on building assumptions as he overthought every accident.

Fortunately, he didn't need to enter full meditation again, or else he would find it hard to wake up any time soon. So Ben just carefully predicted every push he would be receiving from now on.

One was the last acquired connection with Ginn. The second but weakest was the Formation Core inside him. And lastly, but not least, there was nature's tendency to scream at him when anything was tearing it apart.

Ben's cultivation was too close to nature. A connection to the core. He wasn't as much human anymore but merely a hacked extension of this world.

And that characteristic was the main reason Ben was so aware of the world refinement plans. He didn't want to know, but he felt THE DREAD. And this was the best way he could explain it. The world just dreaded the passage of time and the layering up of scars on itself.

'If they're going to be more active, nature will scream a lot more. Well, it'll likely scream because of Ginn, too. If only nature was conscious. But in that case, I wouldn't have succeeded back then. I'm merely some crazy bastard. Why would it prioritize me? I would even bet its mindset would be closer to cruel and practical, like Marie.'

After finishing his guesswork, Ben spent some time preparing for his encounter with the Dragons.

---

A few weeks later.

Ben slowly swam up to the shore of a river after popping out of the riverbed.

Once out of the water, he exchanged clothes. But this time, he didn't throw the other away since he lacked those now and had enough space.

"Okay, Syd, you can come out."

From a container, an angry squirrel jumped out, yelling at Ben.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Quite claustrophobic. But I couldn't help it since saving ourselves back then was hard!"

Yet, Syd just kept squeaking.

"You might be angry about how I put you to sleep. But at first, you would've walked out to be some monster appetizer. And the last few weeks, you would've just not allowed me to think at all!"

"And don't look at me like that. I don't have food. We need to get out of this ruin and find some fruits."

Unfortunately for both of them, after Ben cut a part of himself, his spatial chest pack shrunk by about one-third. And Ben couldn't even fill that up completely without feeling bloated for now. So he didn't and chose to instead be at his peak.

However, while he talked like he was annoyed, a big smile stayed on Ben's face the whole time.

"What now? I'm just happy. Being alive is great!"

But Syd didn't want to be mellow and just ran out while seemly calling Ben to come with him to get food.

Despite being irritated, the squirrel clearly didn't want to leave alone.