Taking a glance at the map under Lisa's hands and the ceiling over his head, Murai wasn't sure if this was the right time for plans or a better place for mistakes. If someone was watching them—which he was sure of—what was the point in revealing their plans or words?

Was this a plan in itself, or was Lisa once again making a fool of herself? If so, she wasn't telling the right things from the beginning, or she didn't want to include him in something she was seeking. He doubted he understood her that well, so he kept glaring up, noticing a flock of dark crows that would eat him for a snack.

“I doubt this is fine,” he expressed to Lisa, speaking to her mind alone.

“Bullshit. Do you think we should care about every little eye or a bird? Mind you, this is a place full of enemies, so what's the point in worrying when we have such a team? Who looks at us and says we are laughing? There is a lot to think about when Mindarch might be right here. There are also Overlords with their Presence overlooking many places, and even some Gods could watch too. We don't know. Hells have numerous issues, you see? Some could watch us right now and we wouldn't even know, and even if we did, so what?”

Lisa spoke out loud far loudly than Murai liked. It was almost obnoxious and fake. David scratched his head and didn't say a thing to her, Ultium kept his murder close, and Bagus was finishing the stew. His beak barely fit inside the steaming pot, but he didn't seem to care. Itrosh was aside, cleaning up and not taking those crows seriously.

“That's the problem, you damned ghost! Those birds are there, watching along with some spy.” Murai kept going and didn't like these unnecessary acts. He had done them far too much already, albeit not in this Gate.

“Would it help you to kill them yourself? I mean, Demonic Crows,” Lisa glanced up, glowed her eyes in shimmering cracks, and crossed her arms before her chest. Murai wasn't sure what she was doing but he saw an ability when he saw one. He didn't know nearly as much about her as he assumed. “Well, they are Divine Beasts with the Crowdreams Bloodlines and are predators and great at flying. They should be bigger than you by many times, let alone more powerful than some of us here. That Adult one would gobble you at one bite with some satisfaction, yet they aren't attacking.”

“I wouldn't let a bird eat me,” Murai quacked arrogantly, puffed his torso, and figured these crows might not be his problem. Divine Beasts? Crowdream? He was curious about them and knew the concept of Divine Beasts. They were beasts that underwent the cleansing of the Divinity of some God and ascended in a rudimentary form. They weren't Gods themselves, for the universe was too lofty to let them be so mighty to touch the Divinity. It was limited and there were other things they could do. Like becoming the true oppressor of Chaos and Order, or opposing the heavens themselves. It was unfortunate for some, or inevitable for most of them.

In any way, Divine Beasts was a curious point that described some Bloodline relationships, with characteristic ancestors that gave future members of its Bloodline much stronger head-starts and futures.

“Also, don't mention those Levels, Lisa. They don't warrant sense or plans apart from the major thresholds and some connection to something greater. It is nonsense to be worried about it.” He argued, understanding a bit more about the consensus of how Limiters and ways of power worked in this world.

Limiter was a point in growth that was extremely prominent for the future and present. If one stayed relatively tamed and stagnant but accumulated strength, the sudden outburst when one breached the limiter could be massive. It was a common issue in power, flesh, and magic. Some beings could not progress forever, and going past the limits was the essence of going against the Divides.

Murai was doing that with his Beast Core for a while, but that was just because of his Core Defying Fusion Technique's effects. Besides that, one could think of Limiter as a talent itself. Going beyond oneself was typical in many cultures and worlds. In this one, it was put into numbers thanks to Levels and various powers that were borderline forced, stagnant, livid, or too good to be true. Everything had its validation and force, making one reliant on or opposed to some idea.

Murai took this world's ideas slowly until he reconciled his understanding.

Evolutions were a significant concept stemming from this world's unique blessing, and Murai would soon recognize it as burdensome, yet absolutely terrific. Something was borrowing the power of individual Bloodlines, squeezing them, forcing them, gifting them, and taking them like fascinating mechanisms. It was both individualistic and forced like rats in a box.

Murai would much prefer to figure out his evolutions like a mad scientist and he didn't get why this force worked like an achievement. Many didn't get it either, or never will, for this was a choice and rule and everyone should accept it.

Some did not, but that was a story for another time.

Murai understood how Level wasn't worth a lot of care either if further ideas were reanalyzed. Like in the Old World, a place without these shitty rules, there were some concepts that the Battleworld could not force.

Murai recognized it after some chatting with David and Bagus, while Itrosh was too horny to get friendly with him, so she was chatting with him even against his willingness. It was usually a one-way conversation, yet she was rather open-minded with what she expressed and wasn't exaggerating, or suspending her words like a certain ghost. Ultium was reluctant to start any discussion because of his nature, which made the rest of the discussions rather usual. Murai either used Lisa as a medium or proceeded with other forms of communication that he couldn't do.

Out of spite for his training, his Will to touch his Helpers was unnecessary. Lisa suggested trying it as an experiment, but he refused, thinking that there was a better time or no time for that. The cause? Pillage. He forced Murai to put some thought into his training and use every opportunity he could. That result ended up in using an advanced Shaping exercise by using letters and symbols. It was mana writing, which was an excellent way to control mana which was a fundamental form of many professions.

Still, learning Heavenly Shaping will take much more than that. Frankly, he wasn't that good at it in his opinion, even if he had a masterful history with it.

But if Pillage knew how fast he got it going, some puppy would cry and whimper like a fool.

Almost anything related to Conjuring was clinging to the Heavenly Shaping, closing to the art of control and stabilization of mana. There were a couple of things he had found new with this technique that he thought wouldn't be too shocking because of his memories. It was a passable surprise, but so much greater if he took his body and circumstances into consideration. He overestimated himself and underestimated the artwork that Pillage created out of nothing but common knowledge following some beasts.

A little beast though broadly like no dog would, and it followed many centuries of maddening research and wars. Blood, flesh, and mana were the changes for the beast to become better.

But what about the source?

Many kinds of Laws were involved in all living creations, giving magic and the course of lives a much steadier foundation. Humans or beasts or demons, everything had some history and aspects linked to the creation and Laws.

Laws were a source and workings of the universe, while some were primeval or primordial, tracing back from the change of the Epoch. They were ancient memos of creation.

Murai wasn't sure how far he should think about when he watched out for himself, or where to take Heavenly Shaping and his flesh into his mind. In any sense, he was glad for Lisa's idea that gave him this masterpiece fit for this life.

Shaping was nearly unlimited, unlike Mana Core which was one of the major power systems that can change the rules of the game. There weren't a lot of parts to them, so it made sense their importance and progression were tremendous.

The Initialization Stage had three Successes. Small, Medium, and Peak. Levels within this core followed up to Level 50 individuals in the Battleworld, though it wasn't a dominant rule. As long as one had flesh, power, or resources for it, one could get Revolving Core going even below that Level.

Laws were different and difficult to grasp. They could snatch at something or someone, crash them, or someone could try to do that instead. It was a lofty idea stemming from the dominant truth that Laws were finite and one should grasp as much of them as one could. They required something bigger like the Law or Path Core. It was a preference and power that manifested through an individual who accomplished to connect to something greater.

For those who could, focusing on the core alone was a great way to expand their insight, similar to swordsmen who cared for swords alone. That was why Paths existed for as long as Epochs did. The universe had a lot of beings and fewer beginnings, thus focusing on one's talent was omnipresent wisdom.

Revolving Core was a powerful method to increase the might of any Shaping technique, which would then give spells greater effects without leveling or evolving them. It also involved most Affinities, as they resided direly there, or around the mana space.

As Murai dug deeper, he discovered that Revolving Core could grand some changes and choices under the Will of the Battleworld, which did leave its mark on his idea that magic had some seized forms caused by the Gods of this world.

It was a false assumption. It was nothing stolen. It was just work and an example of Gods doing what they often did; to grasp any change to get mortals under themselves.

It was one rare instance of choice, looking like a drug, yet magic did not mean to stop it. One could try for anything as long as one could afford it. Taking up a choice was a shortcut akin to the Resonance and this one was cheaper by an incredible amount.

In that sense, Murai already felt it numerous times. His evolution was a choice. His Shaping was a choice. His Peak was a choice, even though it was adhering to his Bloodline and body, so it didn't mean he couldn't attempt other Peaks. It would be just harder, working against this choice and Levels that were hard to ignore.

It could grant a lot of things, frankly. Murai trusted how David described it and Itrosh was adamant about it as well. By the time Murai accepted it, he was bored listening to their talk about how this world was blissful and one's choices were up to their taking. They were sorry yet blissfully unaware they weren't masters of their Fate.

All Murai heard were notes of force, Gods, and desires. He saw it through himself, as he was taking those Boosts for his power because he wanted. He understood how and why Gods created this, or how Will of the Battleworld charged this world to the kind never seen before.

Well, another wonder was the Paths. Following the Classes under them was an important and easy way to establish a connection with greater authority and history, which was well above this little planet. But the Will of the Battleworld possessed both of those, allowing people to access a power system with great merits and use. It wasn't borrowing anything. It was handling already established rules of the universe. Evolutions worked similarly, but Paths had much more freedom and disparities. One could also have both things. Especially if one was clever about it.

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Then, the Leveling itself made the rest of the picture, which was something Murai was already familiar with, even if he were small.

Major power thresholds spoke of greater discrepancies in this world's politics, and powers. One was Level 70 because of Laws, while the other was Level 90 with its Extreme Gates. Extremes were powerhouses with the finest ones called Sages and Overlords. Above that, Gods were outside of these systems and powers for obvious reasons.

Below Level 70 were beings seeking those heights.

Thanks to his already established context caused by Lisa, David, Bagus, and Itrosh furthered his horizons. Murai realized how to perceive the systems of this world, which involved topics that weren't far from the complicated universe, or his head, for everything had many rules within them. It wasn't that complicated to get used to them if his soul was vast.

He got the hang of the lower systems, apart from the evolution that was kind of harder to control as it was quite built into this world. He had to follow its rules, as he wasn't the one who started it. He was more like an initiator and its benefactor. Changing the species had very enormous merit, as his first already showed, and evolving a lot of times could or might not be the smartest. It depended on many factors that Itrosh pointed out to be gratifying. One had to find the three choices, understand their relations and possibilities, and think of the greater future because evolution will never go away. It was permanent.

Lisa knew that the Limiter that Murai endured for so long was bound to be broken at some point, or... it was the reason for everything bad happening. Either way, if he wanted to use his choices well, Limiter, his future, soul, head, and evolution were tightly knit together.

However, Murai was patient and didn't want to rush ahead like a mad duck. He knew no power or bliss could ever fall from the sky. So far, he liked how evolved abilities worked. They were the best upgrades he controlled.

Everything needed time. No matter how he saw it, growing wasn't something that could happen overnight. Well, there were also attributes. Those were known to be rather limiting factors and readings in growth and a lot of other things. It also described talent in terms of species, race, or Bloodline. Mana was different, as far as Will of the Battleworld granted its blissful Boosts and readings to people who wanted them.

Bagus also mentioned something about Walls and how improper and unfortunate they were. It was a brief comment that Murai heard Pillage mentioning as well. Lisa told him fewer things about these topics than David and the rest combined. They had no stops since befriending curious Anatidae sounded like a great prospect to any of them, though some had smaller or more curious restraints than others.

Apart from David and Ultium, everyone showed him smiles, words, and hopes. There were perhaps some hidden motives, but there were no lies.

When he asked why they wanted his attention so much, Itrosh and Bagus answered him honestly. It was because he was interesting enough on his own and Anatidaes were creatures they both respected. It was either because of their history, ideology, or this place.

Also, both of them were open-minded and strangers when it came to Chaos. They were honest when it mattered, or crazy when they needed to. Murai had no doubts they could be savage enemies, as they showed some talent and restraint, and experience made them dangerous. He already saw some of their fights, and they were cold-blooded killers. Those were the kinds of folks one shouldn't want to piss off.

How and why? Murai saw the reaction of most denizens in the Helltrim City, although he hadn't seen anything worth mentioning since he left it. In that city, many denizens met him, saw him, and felt his presence, while some knew more about him than others. But most saw him as an Anatidae alone, while his uniform and ghost following him behind weren't normal either. It was a normal reaction for those who gave up or were weak. in truth, it was a bit worse because of lacking Order from the Surface, but there was some reality about the Anatidae's reputation that was undeniably wreckful.

The last time, from what Bagus said, the previous Anatidae ravaged this place without one single care about any Order. The repercussions ended up in God's Wrath, God's Trial, and who knows what else. It was perhaps a grudge that made it into the present time, as well as fear.

Murai was curious about it, or his species in general. He learned something and Mindarch made many interesting comments as well. Especially that little golem he fought in the last Gate gave him multiple fears. The owner of this place must be interested in these creatures, so could he do something with this knowledge?

Murai wondered about sense, and it was no fact yet. Even when Itrosh reformed her thoughts and talked of some stories and legends that were widespread around the Battleworld and many Hells. Mainly, it was about battles and some wars, followed by clashes and stories with many individuals. A lot of names followed many ridiculous statements that described ducks, beasts, and many beings, which made his mind spin. So when Lisa mentioned she knew most of that anyway, and that most of such stories were exaggerated, he wasn't pleased.

Murai wouldn't mind stories with specks of lies as long as the overall picture was accurate. In that sense, he did get what he didn't ask for.

As for his interest in Helpers, their power was the easiest answer. Bagus and Itrosh had their roots close at heart. Both of them were powerful in their rights, so they didn't fear the general consequences of some rumors, legends, or realities. They didn't fear Murai in the slightest, which answered some of Murai's questions. So far, he met fools. Some beings feared nothing. Or clever people, who rather didn't want to involve their lives with things like him, never showed up.

This was something Murai appreciated because talking to them was never disappointing, unlike a certain ghost. They had some certain negligent factors, however, while their words never crushed his mind.

Power and truth mattered in all sorts of ways.

So much can be gained with words, Murai knew. The best way to get things going was by action, or by securing a great source of facts that were impossible to refute. Trust was fairly close to that, whereas his Helpers weren't some mind-boggling conglomerates of knowledge. Ways of words had its merits. Better things could be books of various exhibits, facts, and logic. Right. Mindarch was that and he already touched upon him.

Yet, the new Question Mark won't happen, and that spirit had been kind of quiet since Levandis awakened.

He did trust his team, of course; Murai just had his preference.

And with Lisa before him, he wondered if her disregard for those Demonic Crows was fitting or not.

He already understood major thresholds and had a wide spectrum of knowing what they meant. Limiters were the same. They were just words describing what other worlds already had, his living included. His Level 23 wasn't much, to begin with, yet he was battling enemies twice his level, so how sensible was it? Murai realized it wasn't worth bothering about, though he should think about quality and Grades themselves. Not some numbers.

He should have some misgivings to give, like most of his species, yet he was still far from Level 50, while evolutions were there to stay and float. If the grade of his next evolution would breach or touch some principles of his Limiters, he could grow exponentially. In theory. Doing it far enough wasn't something Lisa recommended, as it could get quite higher because the thing about Limiters was virtually breaching the contracts with the blessings of this world and Will of the Battleworld. It was about taking advantage of everything, and there were some advantages one could get by overworking this world or themselves.

How far one could push it. That was Murai's wonder.

So why Lisa of all people, didn't recommend it? Murai was confused about it because she was adamant about focusing on other issues.

Evolution had very little flexibility due to its fixed nature. Murai couldn't just change his sub-species on his own, which seemed suspicious and considerate to all kinds of things he had recently learned.

And from the last references that David mentioned, the ways of gathering power were much more numerous than what Bagus expressed. This discussion took place for a good while, long before the Hunt started.

There were runes, craftsmanship, relying or artifacts, or specific focus on certain abilities, equipment, some unique Paths, and so on. Those kinds of ideas were often perilous to time and growth, whereas focusing on the basics toward mastery sounded about right in Murai's opinion.

Slowly assembling ideology was a great way to grow, with a harder route being almost improper, or good if one did take this world for a joke.

Razmund was part of this ideology at the highest order. Martial Artists held a specific side of authority, which often relied on fewer things to reach the pinnacle. It was a fact that went through many worlds, so Murai wasn't surprised to hear it from his Helpers, whom he started to appreciate much more than he thought.

Having wider choices was something Murai always preferred, and so far into this life, he had a lot and not a lot of them at the same time. It was a daunting reality in many ways, as he relied on this world, or the world was taking advantage of his circumstances.

David didn't refute it either, but he explained how well things work within this world much better. A lot of reasons were separate from many layers of interest due to cultures accumulated for many years. This world was supposed to be in pieces due to its seas and five continents, but its people weren't. Gods touched them all. David met a lot of Blessed and powerful beings, so he knew how to handle his words and give Murai good ideas.

Focusing on compatible ideas wasn't wrong. For some, it was all they could muster or the only way to reach the further Limiters or their utter limit.

Thus, Murai was certain about his haste and took Lisa and her head to a new low. She scoffed at her group when each was so fervent about talking to Murai and teaching him some knowledge that wouldn't change him anyway. At some point, she failed to recognize that Murai liked to grow and learn new things about the world or his surroundings. It was weird if she was honest with herself or her mouth. She didn't complain about them that much; she didn't care for their talking either.

She left them be, listening, or taking Murai's reaction in mind.

He followed that idea, and now, he was thinking of her past words and actions that looked forced and lacking. Just why was she like this? Was this pride, or arrogance, or her past life was so crazy that she was an overbearing figure who couldn't think of his point of view? That was correct in many ways. And also missing from his mind because he couldn't Read her properly.