"70... no, 60%." She replied.

"So, who is it?" Aster asked.

"I think…" Cecil was about to say but held back at the last moment.

"Actually, I am still not completely sure. In addition, you being an accomplice is a possibility as well." She shook her head.

Aster looked at Cecil with a weird gaze before turning around. "If you had nothing to say, then you shouldn't have said anything."

He was done with Cecil leading him by the nose.

'I'll figure out who is the traitor by myself.' Aster decided.

'For now, I should go to my room and rest.'

It had been a busy day.

Aster learned a lot of ancient history.

He was also constantly tense about the traitor.

Not to mention the boss fight and the fact that they had to walk and climb back.

All he wished was to enter his room, relax, and study magic.

Passing by the busy corridor, he looked at survivors.

"Hey, Ast!"

"Aster!!!"

"Hey boy, how did the exploration go?"

They greeted him, but after what Cecil told him, Aster couldn't look at the survivors with the same eyes.

"Fatty." He called out one of the survivors that greeted him.

It was a middle-aged man that was considerably thicker than the rest.

"I always wondered, how long have you been in the temple?" Aster asked Fatty with a hidden intention.

"It had been almost two months," Fatty answered Aster with a grin. Inside his mouth, Aster could see bad teeth and many leftovers of food.

Usually, he wouldn't have minded such a sight because it was incredibly hard to wash teeth in the temple.

Yes, wash. It was impossible to brush them.

Explorers were lucky because slimes could somewhat replace toothpaste, but other survivors were doomed to live without properly washed teeth.

Aster looked at Fatty's mouth and noticed pieces of meat. 'Meat is something that survivors weren't supposed to have until the day after tomorrow.'

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Aster barely controlled himself from narrowing his eyes.

"When did you last wash your teeth?" He asked, pretending as if he was disgusted by the smell.

"Oh, I washed them this morning. I didn't think that they would stink that bad." Fatty scratched his head.

"I see." Aster nodded. "Thanks for answering."

He held himself from showing a disgusted expression and continued on his way, ignoring all other survivors.

'That damn Fatty is being fed by someone. Why?' Aster narrowed his eyes as he entered his room.

"Something is seriously wrong here." He concluded.

"First, there's a traitor."

"Second, the traitor doesn't take the bait during the boss fight."

"Third, some survivors are obviously much more healthy and cheerful than others."

Slam. He hit the wall with his fist.

"It's the same as that bitch from the orphanage. All conspiracies, kidnapping, and all. It's all the same." He felt like choking someone.

Usually, Aster wouldn't have cared much. All he wanted was to leave the temple. Especially after the Mana Block punishment became relevant.

However, now, he wanted to stay.

He didn't care about the traitor.

He cared about poor kids who were placed in an unknown, scary place. The kids that someone was using for their own agenda.

It was a sense of responsibility that a victim had towards another potential one.

"I first need to get stronger." He decided. "After that, I'll lay low and see how the situation proceeds."

Aster sat down beside a wall.

He could feel mana in the walls.

Some spots had more, some less. Some none.

'I hope it's not living beings, or I'm done for.' He bitterly shook his head. He didn't wish to waste time thinking about that mana, or he might go crazy.

'Let's start with magic lessons.' He thought before opening his System option, Programmer Mage.

He reread some of Zoroaster's introduction to magic again, feeling awe.

'I still can't believe that magic is the connecting force of the world. It's basically equal to the energy of my old world.' Aster thought.

The energy was everything. Whatever could be seen, touched, smelled, or even perceived, was energy.

Even what he couldn't perceive was energy.

That's what he had been taught in school.

Now, he had learned that magic is actually really similar.

It connected many living beings at a deeper level. A level that Aster currently had no understanding or knowledge of.

All he knew was that every living, and most of the time, even dead nature could hold mana to some capacity.

"Is it safe to treat it as energy?" He wondered.

"No, that will require experimentation. For now, all I know is that although it appears extremely similar to energy, it's not energy." The reason why he concluded that was simple.

There were things that existed without mana, but there was no such thing that wasn't energy.

Aster reread the entirety of the basic manual before looking down at the three spells that appeared.

[ Enhancement ]

[ Weakening ]

[ Burst ]

The three spells were the most elementary spells that a 'Sorcerer' could learn, according to Zoroaster.

The first spell, Enhancement, allowed the user to invigorate things or living beings with mana, enhancing its functions.

For example, if Aster used Enhancement on a stick, it would become much more durable. If he used Enhancement at the master level, he could even change some attributes of the stick, making it appear like a sword.

And be as sharp as one.

Naturally, if he used enhancement on himself, he'd have all his stats boosted.

'I am getting excited about this.' He thought. 'Maybe I can reach Cecil's level. Maybe even Nyle's...'

At that moment, he heard a knocking sound that came from his door.

"Coming." He said aloud. Taking his knife, he carefully strode towards the door before stopping just before it.

Closing his eyes, Aster tried concentrating in order to see whose mana it was.

Maybe he couldn't differentiate between mana, but he could surely differentiate the amount.

And because of that, Aster knew that in front of the door was Nyle.

"What is it, Nyle?" Aster asked. He didn't like how Nyle interrupted his learning session.

"I came to bring you grave news, Aster," Nyle answered.