Another message was carved by the mysterious sender. This one was far more ominous than the previous ones, but likely told the same story.

I had to listen to it no matter what.

As I thought about the possibilities, I got goosebumps all over my body. Something definitely isn't right. None of the people in this small town were enlightened, so I should have no problem with any of them. Even if they tried something, they wouldn't be able to kill me even in my sleep.

I would be able to sense anyone that's enlightened here. My aura sense can basically cover the entire town, through which I've walked whole.

I guess whatever will endanger me during my sleep will come during the night. Brushing it off as much as I could, I decided to take a stroll through the town and take a seat in a local bar to clear my head.

The bartender that ends his shift in an hour glances at me while raising one eyebrow. "I don't serve minors," he firmly states.

"I'll just have some juice," I order, preferring it over any alcoholic beverage. I've never tried alcohol in my entire life, so I don't even know if it tastes well. My body has become fairly resistant to poison since I've come across many poison users in my past life.

During my missions with Lucidel, I've been poisoned quite a few times. Every time I did, I had to use magic to flush it out, which wasn't easy. I could stop lethal toxins from killing me long enough to get to Obiwon, or any medical facility for enlightened ones. Normal hospitals wouldn't do it, since they couldn't interact with mana inside the toxins I've been poisoned with.

During this lifetime, I trained my body to resist poisons, by ingesting small amounts of them to create an immunity. I've developed an immunity to almost every poison, as my body fights anything that tries attacking my immune system. Honing this was a pain in the ass, but it will be worth it, since I won't falter under any venom.

After a while, the bartender warned me that he was closing soon. I took my pouch out, offering an amount that could buy everything inside this bar.

"Could you work overtime?" I ask, not wanting to go back to my rental. I would just sit in the chair or in the bed and fall asleep, since I was tired from traveling.

"Where did you get that ungodly amount??" the bartender gasps, his shaking hands doubtfully accepting the money.

"I come from a royal family," I answer, after which I repeat my question.

"Y-yes, of course. Do you want me here, or would you like to have the bar for yourself?" he asks.

"Serve me for a few more hours, please," I demand, needing company until the night passes.

I've barely gotten any sleep for the last 2 days, as the desert isn't a nice place to sleep in. I didn't have to worry about dehydrating or having a heat stroke, but I wanted to get to a nice bed in a small town. After all of the training I've endured, it was time for a well-deserved rest.

If I knew a message like this was awaiting me, I would've kindly accepted the sandy ground of Emperia's desert.

The bartender talked to me for the next few hours, until it was almost time for the sun to rise again.

"You're telling me you're a god that can't be hurt by mortals which aren't en... enlightened you said?" he doubtfully asks.

"Yes, you can try it with that knife," I answer, my eyes almost closing from the exhaustion.

The bartender picks the knife up, hesitantly approaching me. His shaking hands bring the knife over my resting hand, looking at me while sweating a river over his face.

He was fairly drunk from intoxicating himself with his arsenal of whiskeys and gins, so I could tell him everything about myself without worrying that he might spill that information elsewhere. We only got to the topic of enlightenment now, after he asked me what it was and my long explanation.

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"Yes, you can try it, don't worry," I assure him, praying that he manages to hurt me in order to wake me up.

He wouldn't do something as dumb as trying to pass a knife through a kid's hand if he wasn't as plastered as he was. He grabbed it with both hands bringing it down at my hand with all of his might. He could've tried to make a small cut, but I guess his inebriated brain couldn't think of that.

Expectedly, the knife bent and my hand was unharmed. I didn't even feel the contact, just knew he did it.

"See?"

"H-how!?" he looked at the knife in disbelief.

"Didn't I go over this a hundred times already—"

I hurriedly jumped out of my seat, sobering up from my weariness. I sensed a small fluctuation close to the bar we were in. The bartender got so startled that he fell backwards, landing on his ass.

"W-what happened? Did I do something wrong?" he shivers.

"Shush," I silence him, perking my senses up to see if I'd mistaken the fluctuation because of my dreary state.

I begin questioning myself and my senses, until a sharp object flies through the wall of the bar and almost pierces my heart. I dodge it just in time, the flying object destroying the portion of the bar behind us.

The bartender screams, and I tell him to run through the back entrance. As he stands up to run, another bullet-like object shoots him in the head, opening it like a flower and spilling blood all over the counter.

"Shit," I murmur, taking the Sunsword out.

The door leading outside is broken through, and once the smoke clears a man can be seen leaning on the wall.

"Oops, I missed. Adam, am I right?" he asks.

The man has a bandana covering the upper portion of his head. He has a biker leather jacket and jeans, also carrying a few pebbles in his hand. His eyes glow a red shade that I'm oh-so familiar with. Dream magic...

He swings his hand, launching one of the pebbles at lightning speeds. I now see that there are traces of electricity in the trail left by the pebble. Lightning magic again?

I dash at the man, swinging the Sunsword diagonally. The man takes a sai out, jumping backwards. My slash continues on as a crescent of light sailing through the air. The man's sai was in position to block the light slash, which he did effortlessly. My light magic was negated easily, returning to ambient mana in the air.

I walk out of the bar and into the empty streets of the town.

"I was told that you'd be troublesome," the man laughs, spinning his sai.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask, gripping my sword with one hand.

"Me? I'm a worthy follower of someone you have a very good relationship with," he answers.

My eye twitches at those words.

"The Dreamer... you know that magic you're using will kill you after it disappears?"

"It won't disappear, don't worry," he assured me. Mana starts forming into magic around his body, indicating an attack.

I point my index and middle finger in his direction, firing a beam of light.

As it was about to hit him, the ground opened up and he got sucked into it. After he completely dove into the dirt, there was no trace of a hole left behind. I put both hands on the Sunsword while closing my eyes to sense the ground better.

Now.

I jumped into the air as he emerged from the ground. Like a dolphin jumping out of the water, he flew out of the dirt while swinging his sai. I swung my sword backwards, but suddenly crashed into something solid.

I quickly regained my wits, spinning my head frantically to observe my surroundings. I hit the ground, as the direction of gravity reversed for me. I was sitting in the place where the man emerged from the ground, while he...

I jumped out of the way as he dug his sai into the ground, shattering it on impact.

He reversed our positions with a spatial effect. When he jumped out, we switched positions, so he could attack me instead of the other way around.

"Good reaction time," he praises.

I realized that my aura wasn't active enough. He managed to switch our positions because I was focused on the offensive, forgetting to use my defensive aura. I clad my body in a protective barrier, so that effects like that one don't work on me. My lack of sleep managed to disable my focus, which wouldn't happen again.

I slapped myself, as adrenaline coursed through my veins.

His movements were careful and calculated. I could see he's trained well and doesn't underestimate his opponents, even if they are a 12 year old kid.

After all, if a 12 year old kid got enlightened and made it this far, it means there is something special within him.

I dash forward, obscuring the Sunsword behind me so he couldn't see my next attack. An upwards slash made him block with his sai, my Sunsword getting caught between one of the spikes and the blade.

Luckily, the force behind my slash sent him flying into the air, which I used to my advantage.

I pierced the air with my sword, releasing a cutting ray of light magic towards him. As my attack connected, a magic circle thrice the size of his sai appeared in front of his weapon, blocking the energy beam.

That dagger seems to have magic-disruption properties of high level.

My opponent lands on his feet, unbruised from my offense. He spins his sai and points it at me. "Interesting artifact, don't you think? Your lovely nemesis gave it to me as a present. He said I had to kill you with it," he grins maliciously.