Cadmus was sweating and panting as he finally finished imprinting the encryption to the pocket dimension onto James’s soul.

“You know, usually it’s the person who is being imprinted that is panting and sweating.” Cadmus said with an awkward smile. He had done thousands of imprintings in his lifetime, and yet he had never seen a soul as stubborn as this. It felt like trying to write something on the waters of a tumultuous ocean.

“Oh, you’re done already?” James turned towards Cadmus with a sandwich in his mouth. He hadn’t felt anything, so he figured he could just eat during the procedure.

Lunaris quickly figured out that James’s nonchalance in these circumstances could be quite a shock to an old man’s heart, so she immediately intervened. “Cadmus, we should hurry. You never know when the dark armies could attack. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Y-yes, we should get going.” Cadmus nodded, but he was obviously still a bit freaked out by James’s extreme nonchalance towards a process that would’ve usually left a person exhausted and in extreme pain. “Now that James is done with his part, it will take less than an hour for the pocket dimension to be ready.”

“Hedonia is now safe. But we can’t say the same about Andarmat.” Helios replied.

“That’s why I think that James should leave right away.” Cadmus nodded. “The rest of you will just be helping out around Hedonia, so you can take your sweet time. I even insist that you relax a little bit. But I’m afraid that Andarmat can’t wait any longer.”

“That’s not a problem, I’m going right now.” James replied with a smile.

He turned towards Helios and Lunaris and gave them a bear hug. “Guys, please don’t leave the pocket dimension. I’ve probably angered the dark side quite a bit by plundering and destroying so many cities. They’re bound to come after my home and my friends. So promise me that you won’t go out of the pocket dimension without me.”

“Don’t worry, you’re the reckless one, not us.” Lunaris chuckled as she hugged him tightly. This was the first time in a long while that they’d be apart. It was a very odd feeling. Somehow, this weird little man had become an essential part of their lives.

“We’ll miss you, brother.” Helios hugged and saluted him. But the salute somehow turned into a headbutt, and the headbutt turned into an arm wrestling competition, to the point that the emotional impact of saying goodbye had somehow vanished completely. Which is what Helios intended all along. Beneath those hotheaded exteriors they were both big softies.

After having won the arm wrestling competition by cheating through using his unlimited god damn supply of mana, James turned around with a shit-eating grin and bowed towards the rest of his group.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Guys, you deserve some rest as well. Even though it looks like I did most of the work during the mission, but you guys were the ones who were doing most of the stressing out. I can’t imagine how mentally exhausted you are. So make sure to relax as much as possible, you’ve earned it.”

After another quick hug session, James was rushed towards the portal to Andarmat.

“Wait.” Cadmus said right as James was about to go through the portal. “I didn’t want the others to hear this, but I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?” James looked at Cadmus with a curious expression. This was very weird, Cadmus was usually very open, he didn’t hide things from Helios and Lunaris.

“You can’t save Andarmat.” Cadmus’s face was unrecognizable. He looked as if he had aged twenty years compared to just minutes ago. It was like he had been putting up a front when Helios and Lunaris were around.

“What do you mean? You’re the one sending me there to help them.” James was growing more confused by the second.

“I still want you to go.” Cadmus continued. “But even though that battle hasn’t even begun, it’s already lost. Dozens of diviners have confirmed it, the dark side is sending some very high-ranking armies to Andarmat. Their defeat is inevitable.”

“Isn’t that why I’m going there? Won’t my presence there change the odds? Maybe I can defeat those armies. After all, I wiped dozens of their cities off the face of this planet.” James said with a cheeky grin.

“You did wipe out their cities. But you should know better than anyone that there’s a huge variance between agent power levels. Even the strongest of the cities you’ve destroyed are nothing compared to their upper echelons. Some of their agents could wipe out those cities with a mere sneeze.”

“Ok, so what’s the plan? I’m literally standing a few feet away from the portal to Andarmat. Are you saying I shouldn’t go, or what?”

“Your mission is still to assist the kingdom of Andarmat. More specifically, your mission is to protect their nobility. Their kingdom gives noble status to any mage with significant potential in any school of magic. But not all schools of magic are combative. In other words, they have thousands of mages that are very vulnerable, but are invaluable resources to mankind as a whole. We cannot let them die, no matter what. So your task isn’t to help Andarmat win, your task is to protect those mages, and lead them back here to safety.”

“Back here? You mean to Hedonia? Is there even space for them in the pocket dimension?” James asked.

“That’s another reason why it was so surprising that you weren’t feeling drained at all after you filled the cube.” Cadmus replied, looking strangely at James. “We made the pocket dimension extra spacious, able to host millions of guests, on top of the millions that are already part of Hedonia. And yet, you filled the cube as if it wasn’t a big deal at all.”

“Well, it wasn’t a big deal. I just filled it with mana, who cares? There’s plenty of mana in this world. Even bugs have mana around here.”

“You... nevermind.” Cadmus realized there was no point in talking to him about this. The man had too much mana to appreciate just how amazing his gift was.

“Ok, so you want me to save their nobility and bring them back here. Does that mean that I should leave everyone else to die?”

“There’s nothing you can do. Think of them as already being dead.” Cadmus said in a grim tone. James could tell that saying these things was ripping him up inside.