A moment after Rose had revealed the truth, the air split apart. My soul was once again pulled through a white abyss for several minutes before it was dumped into a clump of soggy grass. Raindrops smacked on my face from the heavens as I struggled to my feet.

Not the best entrance, but it was better than my last attempt.

A quick glance confirmed no slime queens waited to greet me this time. The white light was also absent, so hopefully, my appearance wouldn’t be noticed by anyone. He had dropped me in the same spot as last time, as far as I could tell.

After a short time to re-orientate myself, I set off towards the town. Several slimes attacked me on the way across the fields, but a quick strike burst them with ease. The voice rang out each time when it ‘collected’ the drops. If I was close enough, it grabbed them like the thief it was.

It was a slight concern. If I joined any parties, they would not believe me if I explained an invisible helper had picked up the drops and hid them away. They would be more likely to believe a thief had stolen their hard-earned goods, at which point the blame would fall directly on my head.

“You know you can just call them back, right? I’ve unlocked your inventory for you now as I promised.”

Rose had spoken to me, but she was nowhere to be seen. As she watched me search the area, her hearty laughter rang out in my ears.

“I’m not really here, silly. Drake did mention that your soul is damaged, right? I’m keeping you in one piece until you heal up a bit more.” Rose giggled at my worried look. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I’ll have to spend most of my time focusing on your injuries, so don’t expect too much. It’s still on you to not die like an idiot.”

“Can you speak to Claire for me?”

“Unfortunately not, no. Her soul is more injured than yours, which is saying something… I’ll keep an eye on her for you.” I could feel Rose as she rolled her eyes at me. “Focus on the here and now. Open your inventory before I get bored of waiting.”

“Inventory.”

It was easier to ignore her sarcasm and follow the suggestion. Rather than all of the items appearing in a pile before me, a list ran through my mind which contained all of the loot stolen by my invisible helper. With a thought, I could divide it into categories, or sort them by quality or quantity. The first item I summoned out should have been obvious.

I held the image in my mind of the thing I wanted to pull out, and focused on it.

“Come out.” I muttered and held out my hand. The slime queen core dropped into my palm. The experiment proved the voice didn’t need me to physically say the items name, which would save on some embarrassment. If it did, it would look like a weak sleight of hand trick to someone who could use real magic.

“Sreee.”

Three slimes popped out from a bush in front of me. Before they would have posed a major threat, but now they were just a target. They would be the perfect opponents for me to practice on. I returned the slime queen core to my inventory and turned to the slimes.

“Accelerate.”

I launched the first strike as my staff thrust out at the central slime. A perfect hit on its core caused the little creature to pop like a balloon. Its comrades didn’t take the loss lying down as they launched an attack at me from both sides.

A quick sidestep avoided one whilst my foot caught the other mid-leap. Its body crashed into the floor as the core at its centre rolled across the grass. The slime would take a significant amount of time to collect itself after such heavy damage. The last slime had barely gathered itself before my staff smashed into its dome and pummeled it into the ground.

After that, it was a simple task to tap the last slime core lightly with my staff, which was enough damage to destroy the mass which had congealed around it. Three slimes down in a few seconds, and it hadn’t been a difficult fight. Slimes were easy opponents, sure, but the speed at which I took them outmatched to some of the groups I had seen previously.

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Claire was faster, though…

It was hard to force away such thoughts. No matter what, this place would remind me of her. The only option I had was to punish the person responsible for the attack. There were multiple options on that front, the first and foremost being the god named Bael.

He was put to the side for the moment. If you jumped right to the end boss, it was obvious what the result would be. With the main target dismissed, for the time being, I was left with the cult and the bandits, who had joined together to attack the town. In the distance, I could see a pair of guards by the gate, which proved they had managed to wither the assault as expected.

There was one other goal I had. The old god had given me another book but had said it shouldn’t be read until I returned to this world. It was thin, only around twenty pages long, so it shouldn’t take too long to go through. His face had been stern when he gave that order, so I had followed his command.

I wonder what it’s about…

I glanced at my mana, but what it showed made me do a double-take. The maximum was still one hundred and ten, but the one use of Accelerate had dropped it by thirty. that meant the cost had doubled when it was increased from Basic to Master. While the effect was noticeably improved, and the buff now lasted fifteen minutes instead of five, the increased mana would need to be taken into account in future.

I wouldn’t want to run out of mana accidentally mid-fight.

Either way, it would have to wait. The guards grabbed the hilts of their blades as I approached. They wore the same armour as before, but now they also sported a full-faced helm to complete the outfit. Compared to the relatively friendly welcome from my last visit, their responses were closer to outright suspicion.

“Who are you?” One of them shouted. Her voice echoed a little through the chunky helmet as she stepped towards me. “Name yourself.”

“My name is Rook, and I came here before-”

“Rook?” The guard pulled up her helmet and stared at me with widened eyes. “How are… what..”

“Hello. It’s good to see you again.” I smiled at the guard. It was the same lady who had greeted me the last time. Maybe after the last attack, the rules had changed for the guards. Their leader had been the one to launch the attack, after all.

“This a friend of yours?” The other guard stared at me as he spoke. “He can go in if you vouch for him.”

“I… yes, he is.” The female guard shook her head and waved me through the gate. “Go on through, Rook. Bryan will be happy to see you again.”

Her tone was a bit odd, but now wasn’t the time to argue. The other guard watched me suspiciously as I walked into the town. The street was the same as last time, but one change hit me as soon as I entered.

Karen’s cart wasn’t there.

Even when she hadn’t been actively manning her station, the cart had remained in place. Each day she had loaded it with her goods to hawk to the adventurers and traders who moved past this exit. The fact it was gone cause my stomach to twist in knots.

Don’t tell me she… no, she wasn’t a fighter. She would have evacuated before the battle started.

There was only one way to know for sure. The guild should have a list of those lost in battle. If they didn’t, it would be possible to request it from the guards. If that failed, my old friends would know. They knew Karen better than I did. If anyone would be aware of her fate, it would be them.

The guild was in the same place as before. The large shield-shaped sign was battered on the front of the building, but I ignored that and moved inside. Compared to my first visit, those inside were somber and quiet. The crowd turned and eyed me suspiciously as I walked in, which changed the atmosphere entirely compared to my last visit.

“Hello, welcome to the-” The receptionist started her speech as she looked across at me. She froze mid way through as she stared at my face.

“Rook? How is that possible?” She blinked several times and glanced at a plaque on the wall behind her desk. She glanced back at me several times as she read through the words carved on its surface.

“What’re you sayin’? Rook?” A slurred voice echoed out from the far side of the room. “No’ heard tha name in ages.”

“Bryan?” I turned to face the speaker. A man was slumped across a table against the far wall. He looked up at me blearily for several seconds before his eyes cleared up a little.

“No, not possible.” Bryan muttered as he waved at me angrily. “Rook died. I saw it. Who’re you!”

The rest of the room watched us in awkward silence. The atmosphere was tense as I lowered myself into the seat opposite my old friend. Bryan watched me suspiciously as I raised my hand and placed it on the table before him. It was only after an item appeared in my grasp that his expression softened

I had summoned the slime queen core.

“Rook, it’s really you.” He sobbed as he grabbed my arm. “How are you still alive?”