Silence reigned over the area. Zane stared at the young woman and the entire group stared back at him. The woman’s claim took the group by surprise and sounded ridiculous, but one look at Zane’s face was all they needed to change their mind.

Zane was unable to hide the shock he felt. The young woman in front of him had effortlessly seen through the secret that he was trying his best to hide. Zane didn’t expect to hide the fact he was from another world forever. He figured the group in front of him would figure it out after he his lack of basic knowledge became obvious. He didn’t expect to have his identity revealed after someone took a long look at him. Zane let out a sigh before he put on a cold expression and coldly responded to the woman’s question.

“Yes, I’m from another world.”

After Zane said those words, he continued to look at the group with a cold expression. He didn’t make any movements or summon a weapon, but he was ready to attack at a moment's notice. After all, Zane had skills that would let him fight without weapons. The moment the group made a move, he would make them pay the ultimate price.

“Please help us! Please help us save my home.”

Looking down in disbelief, Zane tried to figure out why the female mage was kneeling before him. At first Zane thought she was getting up to fight. However, she immediately knelt in front of him after taking a few steps forward.

There was no hostility coming from her. The only two feelings Zane sensed from her was hope and desperation. Confused, Zane looked to the rest of the group. Things were not going as he expected, and he hoped that one of them could provide some clarity.

“Star, stand up.” The oldest male said.

“Star, listen to mister Blake,” another young woman said.

“No, not until he agrees to help us.” The woman named Star looked up at Zane form the ground with tears in her eyes.

“Why do you think I can help you?” Zane asked with a curious expression on his face.

“We were told that people coming from another world are very strong. Although you might be weakened after coming to this world, we have ways to help you recover. As long as you agree to help us, we can give you the resources you need to recover.”

Zane was surprised by what she said, and he didn’t bother to hide it. The system messages made it seem like he would be affected by the debuffs for as long as he was in the Kaleem world. Star smiled when she saw Zane’s expression. She was about to continue talking, but she was interrupted by one of the male mages.

“Why should we help him recover? Instead of wasting our resources on him, we should capture him and force him to reveal his secrets.”

“Shut up Kent!”

“You know I’m right Star!” Kent directed his greedy gaze toward Zane. “The moment he recovers we won’t have a chance to obtain his secrets. Also, he might refuse to help us after he recovers his strength. Our best option is to capture him now.”

Seeing the greedy look in Kent’s eye was reassuring to Zane. Kent behavior was exactly what he expected, and he preferred it over the reaction Star had to meeting him. Since Kent revealed his greed and hostility, he could beat Kent up, ask a few questions and kill him before moving on.

Dealing with Kent could be simple and straight forward. Dealing with Star would be a lot more complicated. She might really need his help, but there was no telling if she was harboring a secret desire to harm him. Zane was confident he could fend off any sneak attacks in the event of her betrayal. However, he would prefer to avoid the anger and frustration that he would feel from her betrayal.

“What secret do you think I have?” Zane directed his question toward Kent.

“Knowledge. Since you people from other worlds are stronger than us you must have some secret knowledge.”

“I don’t have any secret knowledge. Even if I did what makes you think you could use it?”

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“You can’t talk your way out of this. Everyone let’s attack now.”

“That’s enough Kent.” Blake said. “I apologize for my companion’s words. We don’t wish to be your enemy and have no desire to attack. I hope you can forgive us for the disrespect we showed you.”

Zane nodded his head to show Blake he didn’t mind. He didn’t mind Kent’s greedy eyes and hostile words because he saw the rest of the group didn’t behave like he did. Most of the group remained silent and looked at Zane with curious eyes.

Only the other male mage in the group shared Kent’s greedy eyes. Zane wouldn’t become hostile with the entire group because of two greedy people. After all, both of them were weak and Zane had no reason to see them as a serious threat.

“My name is Blake. What name do you go by?”

“Zane.”

“Sir Zane are you willing to help us? If you are, we will immediately help you with your recovery.”

“I can help you, but I have two more conditions. I need you to answer any questions I have about this world, and I need you to hide my identity.”

“No problem.”

“Good. Then we should have no problems working together.”

Exploring the world and obtaining information where Zane’s two primary goals. Working with Blake’s group would help him accomplish those goals. They would provide him information and take him to new place. Also, traveling with them would give him a way to protect his identity and avoid unnecessary trouble.

“Great!” Star leapt to her feat with a smile on her face.

“I wouldn’t get too excited.” Kent spoke with a sneer on his face. “We don’t know if he is as powerful as the rumors say he is. We might waste our time helping a weakling recover.”

Blake frowned and Zane smiled when they heard Kent’s words. “The moment you saw me you immediately wanted to attack me because you believed I had some secret knowledge that made me powerful. Now that you can’t attack me you say I’m weak. I would probably be insulted if I didn’t find your words so funny.”

“You-"

“Kent. Focus on recovering and try not to say anything else.” Kent grumbled as he sat down to meditate. “Allow me to apologize again.”

Zane shrugged his shoulders in response. He didn’t like Kent and thought he might become a problem, but he didn’t think the other members of the group would quietly stand by the side as he killed him. So, he would put up with him, for now.

“I don’t care about him. What I care about is how you were able to tell that I was from another world?” Zane stared at Star's brown eyes with an expression that was a mixture of serious and curious. “What gave me away?”

“I-I have a special ability that improves my connection to mana. I can easily sense the quality and quantity of mana in different items and people. The quality of mana you have is at the Magic Expert realm, but the quantity is way more than any Magic Expert. When i sensed how well you controlled the mana within you, my mind immediately connected you with the people from other worlds.”

Zane assumed the Magic Expert realm was the Kaleem world’s version of tier one experts. “So, I wasn’t able to hide my identity because I was too strong?”

Star shook her head in response. “It's not a matter of strength. There are plenty of people stronger than me at the Magic Expert realm in my world. However, none of them would have the amount of mana that you do. At most, they would have double the amount of mana that I have. You feel like you have ten times the amount of mana that I have.”

Both Zane and Blake’s group were shocked by what Star said. Blake’s group was shocked by how much mana Zane had and Zane was shocked by how little mana Star had. He had more mana than her before he even reached the first tier.

“Does, does he really have that much mana?” Kent asked with a shaky voice.

Nobody replied to his question. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts after the small window into the disparity between the two worlds were opened. Even Zane found it difficult to grasp the difference between the two worlds. Looking at the people before him Zane suddenly had the desire to look at their status. Sadly, they weren’t apart of the system, yet.

“I have a gift I would like to give you.” Zane told Star.

“A gift? For me?”

“Yes, a title that will give you access to the system.”

You have chosen to grant this person the adventurer title. Do you wish to gift this person the power of the system? Yes or No

Gentle white light began to emanate from Star’s body. However, Zane was the only person who was able to see it. Zane didn’t think about the ramifications of his decisions. He couldn’t say he liked Star, but he didn’t dislike her either. Also, the quest the system gave him didn’t have any restrictions on who he could gift the system too.

Truthfully, Zane was simply coming about with excuses for his actions. He was burning with curiosity and there was a way to get relief right in front of him. The moment Zane said yes to the message in front of him, he saw Star’s eyes become unfocused.

“What, what is this? What is the system? The system can give me power? How much power can it give me? How long will it take?”

Everyone watched as Star asked question to the empty air. At first, the group looked at Star in confusion when she asked the first two questions. However, that confusion quickly turned to worry when they heard the third, fourth and fifth questions.

“Star, I think that may be the corruption we were warned about,” A woman told her,

“You should stop and think about your next decision very carefully,” Blake added.

Star’s face became determined as her companions continued to speak to her. Zane had no idea what the system was telling her. He simply watched on from the side while he silently wondered why they thought he was corrupting her.

The person you have chosen has agreed to accept the system. Granting the adventurer title and access to the system will require some of your source energy. Are you ready to spend your source energy? Yes or No