While the experience was neat enough, exploring a real underwater city wasn’t all that different from my memories of doing the same thing in the game.

Sure, this time, I was wearing a rebreather and a scaled bodysuit instead of transforming into a mermaid, but that wasn’t enough to make it feel like a new experience.

Granted, my previous experiences were from decades earlier and a whole other timeline, but that didn’t change anything.

It was a lot like going to visit another country (or world) and realizing that cities were pretty similar no matter where you went. There might be minor differences in style or whatever, but the core of what makes a city a city wasn’t any different.

There were restaurants, stores, workshops, offices, mana exchanges, and all the other things one would expect to see in a normal city. Really, aside from the building materials used and the fact that the city was underwater and was illuminated by a massive glowing pillar, there wasn’t much to write home about.

I purchased both the rebreather and the bodysuit from a local retailer on the surface at a premium. But given the resources my mentor and I had access to, the cost was hardly worth mentioning.

Tier Four items, no matter how extravagant, were not worth all that much to those who were at Tier Eight or above.

I briefly considered crafting my own items for the short excursion, but the time and effort weren’t worth it.

However, I did take note of the design and enchantments used for the rebreather. Having a face mask that converted carbon dioxide into pure oxygen was far more convenient than bothering with tanks or [Water Breathing] enchantments.

It was also far less awkward to use.

After picking up several small gifts and sampling the local cuisine – something we waited to enjoy until after leaving the water – my still-disguised mentor and I left Osana.

A quick trip to Ranbar showed that Edgar was also doing well enough. He was alive, in any case.

Somehow, the fighter had found his way into an Alliance army instead of becoming an adventurer. Per his request, I’d warned him about the conscription, but it seemed the warning hadn’t had the effect that an older version of Edgar had expected.

Instead of avoiding a local war, he’d somehow landed himself in a bigger one. Or, at least, he was about to.

The facility he was training in was used by those preparing to go to The Waste, the lowest tier of the war planets, where members of the Alliance and the Collective were locked into an endless war.

However it had happened, Alliance forces were almost purely volunteer, so I didn’t think that he was participating against his will.

Marcus and his twin sister Marissa were still adventuring on Pylos. In the other timeline, I’d actually replaced Marissa when she got married to a crafter and quit adventuring. It seemed that didn’t happen in this timeline.

Marcus hadn’t wanted to change anything, specifically. Instead, he asked that I inform him about a few investment opportunities. It was one of those ‘if I only knew that XYZ company would do so well… I wish I’d invested,’ kind of things.

While I couldn’t be completely certain that the ripples caused by my actions wouldn’t change things, I passed the information along. Based on the twins’ equipment, I felt confident that at least one of those investments had paid off.

“You don’t want to talk to them either?” Kai asked as we watched the twins and their party pass by.

We were sitting at a table outside a café next to the local Adventurers’ Guild. It wasn’t one that I was familiar with, but they all blurred together after a while.

“No,” I said before looking away from the retreating group. I took a sip of this world’s version of a hot chocolate and sighed. “I accomplished my goal for this part of the trip.”

My disguised former Master tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table a few times. “What are your plans now?”

A mischievous grin spread slowly across my face. “Well, since we made a full circle, we might as well head back to Aether Pass. We’ve got some unfinished business looking for us there…”

= = =

Looking like himself again, Master Kairos smiled as I exited the pentagon-shaped building that housed the Arcane sect allied with Epikairos. Now that I was specifically looking for signs of people watching with [Stealth] enchantments or spells active, they weren’t all that difficult to locate.

“I hope you weren’t too bored while I was in there,” I commented, knowing our observers could hear me.

“Not at all,” he said with a smile before his eyes shifted to my hair. “Is that a permanent change?”

I hadn’t checked my appearance after canceling the [Disguise], and the fact that the tendrils of hair around my face were still dark hadn’t stood out since I had grown used to them. But now that he’d pointed it out, I removed the tie from my hair and pulled it forward.

“What the hell?”

Master Kairos’s expression looked like something between a wince and a grin. “It looks fine. Sometimes affinities manifest in strange ways.”

I frowned. I liked my lighter hair!

“There are spells and products that can change it back,” he offered.

“No, it’s fine. It’s just hair,” I grumbled as I quickly tied it back.

Master Kairos cleared his throat and struggled to hide his amusement. “Where to now?” he asked, returning us to our planned dialogue.

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“I wouldn’t mind just relaxing for a while. Meditation is great and all, but it’s not particularly restful,” I said as if considering my options. “I’d rather not get stared at all the time because of my affinities. Is there a nice, private resort somewhere on this planet?”

While it was possible the Sovereignty Sect people would attack while we were in public, we’d decided it was far more likely they’d wait until there was little to no chance for collateral damage.

Though they might not care overmuch since the system normally didn’t label people as offenders unless deaths were intentional or grossly negligent, I didn’t want others to get caught up in our conflict.

I was tempted to relocate to a Tier Eight world to minimize the risk, but I figured that would only encourage others to interfere.

Ultimately, we decided to provide any would-be assassins with a good opportunity to attack while also allowing ourselves a bit of a home-court advantage.

Preparation was important.

“I know just the place,” Master Kairos said. “Ascender’s Reach is perfect since it has hot springs. I know you like those,” he added with a smirk.

I grinned. I’d spent a lot of my time in the dungeon soaking up the positive effects of the hot springs. I’d even gotten Zavira to delay leaving the dungeon for a few extra months so she could squeeze in a bit of extra regeneration after she reached the eighth floor.

“Is there a teleportation beacon there?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course,” Master Kairos replied. “Any worthwhile resort wouldn’t skimp on something so basic. I’ve already let them know to expect us.”

A few moments later, we disappeared, leaving our watchers behind. I had little doubt they’d catch up soon enough.

= = =

We got three days of relative peace before the first would-be assassin made their move.

“Hey! What—” The man struggled against his bindings. “What is this? How dare you attack an employee of Ascender’s Reach!”

I shook my head and activated a second formation. The first had worked perfectly to capture and neutralize the trespasser.

“You don’t work here. If you did, you’d know better than to enter my suite.”

The apparent human sputtered. He wore a uniform marking him as an employee of the resort, but I didn’t believe it, even with Assess claiming he was only a Tier Two Servant.

I’d made my instructions very clear – nobody was to enter my suite.

But just in case, I removed all of the talismans from the restrained and mana-locked faux-employee.

What a surprise. I never would have expected a Tier Eight elf, I thought sarcastically as the disguise fell away.

With a look of shock, the elf asked, “How did you—”

“You don’t need to know,” I cut the elf off, not caring about his question. There was no reason to share secrets with dead people, after all.

Repeating the approach I’d used with the Springheart heir in the dungeon, I interrogated the elf multiple times, resetting the scenario once the interrogation reached a certain point in an attempt to squeeze out additional information.

At first, the elf was like a rock, refusing to even acknowledge his association with the Sovereignty Sect. Threats of death did nothing, and real torture was one of those things the Accords protected against.

It wasn’t until I started talking about the deceased sect disciple that the elf finally reacted.

“You’re probably just as pathetic as the foolish disciple that challenged me,” I sneered during the fourth reset, hoping to goad him into incriminating himself. “You certainly were captured easily enough. He at least… no, he really didn’t do anything other than try to use Void and borrowed Time magic against me. The duel was over in a second. Literally a second. How pathetic is that?”

I could see the elf’s expression darken as I talked, so I knew I’d finally found the right approach.

“What was his name? Jaden? Javin?” I gave an exaggerated shrug. “Eh, it doesn’t really matter. He died like a pathetic loser. It’s not worth remembering his name.”

“How dare you?” the elf seethed, his eyes turning a bit wild. “The Young Master’s name was Javan’deSovereignty! He was better than you’ll ever be!”

“Obviously not,” I smirked. “You know, since I killed him.”

“You! You, you… human!” the elf half screamed, half spat. After a few moments of struggle, the elf regained a measure of control. “Do what you’re going to do, child.” He said it like a slur, making me chuckle. “Your days are numbered! My fellow Elders will make sure of it!”

“Oh, so you’re an Elder?” I mused. “That doesn’t say much for your sect, you know. Maybe you guys should have sent your Patriarch. He’s Tier Eight, too, right? Or has he finally crawled his way to Tier Nine?”

It was a new piece of information that Master Kairos had given me while we were planning our little ambush.

“That’s pretty pathetic, now that I think about it,” I added. “How are you all so full of yourselves when your Patriarch is so weak? Don’t elves have a super long lifespan? Is that really the best you can do? When was the last time one of your sect members ascended?” I tsked and shook my head like the elf was a great disappointment.

His face was so red that I worried it might explode. I’d only seen something like that in cartoons, but that didn’t mean much where mana was involved.

Eventually, I granted the would-be assassin a quick death and stored the body in my ring, keeping the elf’s storage ring separate to prevent any mishaps.

While I was sorting through my newly acquired loot, a second elf covertly entered my room, falling victim to the same [Mana Locking] and [Restraining] formation. After having another friendly chat, I added an additional ring to my collection.

The other sect members must have gotten the message because no more elves snuck into my suite that evening. I was a little disappointed that the trap didn’t catch more would-be assassins, but I figured there was always the next time.

“I’m surprised that nobody bothered you,” I commented the next day as I floated next to Master Kairos in a huge outdoor hot spring-fed pool. It was snowing lightly, making the experience a bit surreal.

The pool was really more of an artificial lake. It reminded me a bit of pictures I’d seen of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, though the water wasn’t quite as blue. I’d always wanted to go there, but it hadn’t been on the itinerary during my pre-dungeon trip.

I’d have to go when I visited Earth next time. Hopefully, it still existed. It would be fun to compare the two.

Master Kairos chuckled lightly as he brushed a loose strand of platinum blonde hair out of his face. The movement drew my attention to his defined upper body. I quickly looked away, opting to focus on the puffy snowflakes falling from the sky.

“They wouldn’t risk it against someone at a higher tier. It’s why I don’t have to bother with assassination attempts by those racist jerks.”

“Can’t they just hire someone?”

“Who?” he asked with a raised brow. “There aren’t a lot of Assassins who make it to Tier Ten, and those who do aren’t inclined to take risks. Fighting a Time Mage is a huge risk for most people.”

“Surprise attacks will still take us out,” I pointed out quietly.

Master Kairos’s lips twitched. “Sure. That’s a valid point.”

Left unsaid was ‘… for anyone who doesn’t have access to the right enchantments.’ However, even automatic [Restore] enchantments and items like my E3 talisman had weaknesses. In fact, a properly layered Null Field and mana restriction was usually enough.

‘Usually’ being the operative word there.

I’d put a lot of time and thought into ways someone might circumvent my protections, and I’d already started incorporating fixes for the most likely weaknesses.

Of course, nothing was perfect. A strong enough attack could potentially kill me and destroy any lifesaving talismans before they could do anything. And just because the Accords restricted higher-tier people from killing those who were lower-tier, it didn’t do anything to restrict people from using higher-tier weapons.

If one of the elves attacked with the right Tier Ten item, I’d be in trouble. Even if I acquired an equally strong defensive artifact, there was no guarantee I’d survive such an attack.

“Master Kairos—”

“We’re alone,” he interjected. “You can still call me Kai.”

I shifted in the water so I could look at him directly. It was a lot easier calling him Kai when he was disguised. It felt wrong when he looked like himself. I doubted I’d get used to it anytime soon.

“…Can you help me acquire a few Tier Ten materials?” I asked, opting to just avoid addressing my mentor altogether. “I could also use your help crafting a few things.”