If the name of this academy being the same already didn’t, then this would confirm it. This place is definitely related to the sect, and we aren’t the first ones from it to travel between the two worlds.

The trio continued exploring around the underground rooms, hoping to find something useful to evade the phoenix, and as Kai walked, he speculated about his sect’s position in this world.

From What Sydney said before, it sounds like they might’ve had some influence in the past, but were wiped out in the beast wave. He sounded surprised that there was no mention of the academy here in Hillhold’s library, though… It’s possible it’s just a consequence of the beast tide’s destruction.

The trio searched around, but they’d already entered every room, and everything was just as empty and barren as the first time they looked around. There was nothing they could use to combat the terror bird outside.

“Well, since we used a dispersion spell before running down here, I doubt the beast up there knows this is where we fled to. If we wait for a while for it to leave, we should be fine to sneak away.”

Sydney looked over at Kai’s injured arm as he spoke.

“I know a very basic spell to boost recovery. If you’re able to learn it quickly, you might be able to recover in just a day or two. I should be able to recover enough by then as well.”

[It shouldn’t be a problem for me, I’ve actually been working on a spell for recovery at the same time as we were researching how to repair your robes. I doubt that I’ll have any trouble understanding Sydney’s spell.]

After chatting for a few more minutes, the trio fleshed out their plan. They didn’t have any food with them, but Kai had their partially-full water flasks on him. It was enough for them to hide and recover underground for the next two days, hopefully getting Kai and Sydney back close to top condition.

After that, they would make a break for the nearby settlement of Talonia. The highest ranked mages and knights there were only tier 2, and didn’t stand much of a chance against the terror bird. If it led a beast tide in the settlement’s direction, the roughly hundred people living there could be completely wiped out.

“Everyone there is in danger until the bird is taken care of. After we warn Talonia that it’s in the area, we’ll head straight back to Hillhold.”

After making their plans, the trio’s conversation started to wander. Sydney finally heard Kai’s backstory, and even got to talk to Halia, but he was surprisingly unbothered by the mystery surrounding them.

In his eyes, anyone who would stand against the beasts was already a friend.

Aside from chatting with each other, there wasn’t much to do in the featureless underground space. They tried to take another look into the crawlspace in the ‘butcher room’, but once again found it to be empty of anything useful. It was just filled with an unfathomable amount of dust.

Sleeping was a near-impossibility with how hard the floors were, especially considering how they didn’t have any of the cushions they had grown used to sleeping on. Knowing how much time had passed was also nearly impossible, and the group ended up just waiting until their injuries had healed enough not to inhibit them in battle.

If there was one positive thing that came from hiding out underground, it was that Kai’s robes were finally repaired. They went from raggedy, stained, and torn back to their original pristine white majesty.

Halia also used the spell to repair Brewan and Sydney’s clothing, but neither of them could hold a candle to Kai’s revamped appearance. The cold, regal otherworldly young master reappeared in the world of magic. Paired with the ruby sword that glittered in the morning sun as the trio crawled back above ground, Kai almost looked mythical.

The moment they climbed out of the passageway, though, Brewan and Sydney’s gazes were everywhere but on Kai.

“Didn’t there used to be a building here?”

The first sign of a problem was that there was sunlight shining down the entrance of the passageway. When they climbed outside, they could see the full scope of the destruction around them.

The brick stables building was leveled into rubble. The classroom building wasn’t faring much better, only having one wall remaining upright, while the rest had all been turned into mounds of destroyed bricks.

Stationed directly between the two destroyed structures, the brick dorm building somehow looked relatively unharmed. There were a few new scorch marks blackening its walls on either side, but the building itself hadn’t sustained any major damage.

The same couldn’t be said for the temple and the wooden storage buildings attached to it. The already decrepit pillars were now just a bunch of cracked stones and rubble, and three sizable piles of still-warm ash sat to the side.

“Wow. That thing was not happy that it couldn’t find us.”

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“Yea, that’s an understatement.”

Kai walked over to the rubble pile that once was the temple, then looked down at the pile of ash to its side. Marks clearly resembling the feet of a huge bird were left in the ash.

These ashes are still warm, but it’s probably been quite some time since the fire started. Even if that bird has fire magic stronger than Brewan’s, it wouldn’t be able to destroy these buildings in an instant, so these probably took some time to burn.

The trio only took a few minutes to refill their water flasks and examine the damage to the academy before they departed for Talonia. They skirted around the surprisingly still intact town below the academy, then cut through the woods on a direct path for the nearby settlement.

Kai was initially worried about running into too many beasts, but after the group had walked for nearly an hour, they still hadn’t seen even the shadow of a single one. Even Halia only managed to vaguely sense a couple weak ones hiding away in underground burrows.

Somehow, the absence of dangerous beasts tickled the hairs on the back of Kai’s neck more than running into a bunch of them would have. It was clear that he wasn’t the only one on edge in their group.

“The terror bird might already be gathering a beast tide. Normally we’d be running into monsters left and right.”

Just as Sydney finished talking, Halia finally detected something.

[There’s a beast straight ahead, coming right our way. It’s a strong tier 1, probably around level 16. I can’t sense anything else… I think it’s alone.]

Kai drew his sword, getting into a battle stance.

I didn’t have a chance to really test how much stronger my attacks were using the Moonlight Sword Technique when I was fighting the bear. I got a lot stronger from beating it, too.

Kai’s mana started to flow into his sword as Halia called out the beast’s rapidly decreasing distance away. Both Brewan and Sydney also got ready to attack as the beast burst into the small clearing they were standing in, but Kai jumped in to fight before they had a chance to do anything.

A large boar charged into the clearing, not slowing down at all even as it saw the three humans in front of it. There was already a long, fresh scar scored on its back, and Kai could see fear shining in its eyes.

It looks like it’s running away from something, not trying to attack us.

Kai brushed away the thought and leapt forward to strike the beast. Halia still couldn’t detect anything else coming this way, and Kai felt no guilt at killing a beast even if it wasn’t trying to end his life.

Mana surged through the ruby sword as Kai swung it towards the boar’s neck, making the serene blade emanate a faint crimson glow. It left behind a thin line in the air as Kai swept his sword downwards.

He didn’t feel any resistance.

Shit, did I somehow miss it? Does this boar somehow have illusion magic, and dodged my strike-

Kai whirled around to face the beast, but stopped as he saw its body go limp. The boar’s body slid for a couple meters before coming to a halt. A thin line of blood leaked from its neck, right where Kai had been aiming his strike.

[Heh. I told you that this sword is really sharp.]

Kai’s left eye twitched as he felt mana running into his body through the ruby sword.

Without the technique, it was still a bit tough to cut through the hide of a similar-level boar. With it, it’s like slicing through warm butter!

Sydney and Brewan were also staring at Kai as if he were a monster. Humans were supposed to have an advantage over tier 1 beasts because of their superior intellect, not by one-shotting them.

It was especially unbelievable for Brewan, who knew that Kai hardly had any mana whatsoever just a week before. Humans could rapidly improve their strength in stressful and dangerous situations- Brewan’s own improvement was a testament to that- but Kai’s improvement was just too outrageous.

[Hey, don’t get overconfident. You only have enough mana to do that three times.]

[Mana: 19/29]

Kai frowned as he looked at the blue numbers floating in the air. So far, he’d been putting almost all of his stats into strength. Back in the sect, cultivating Qi increased his physical strength, and Kai wanted to go down the same route again. He’d spend way too much time practicing with the sword to give up on it now.

Unlike with Qi, though, he now had to make decisions as to how to develop his strength. Continuing to pump mana into his muscles would let him regain and possibly even surpass the strength he had as a cultivator, but it would also mean him missing out on magic.

Kai didn’t mind not being able to cast fireballs like Brewan, but being limited with his use of sword techniques was a serious concern.

Also, if our sect’s founder was originally from this world and managed to adapt the moonlight sword technique to work with Qi, is it possible for me to do the same for Qi techniques? If I could adapt a movement technique to work with mana, I could increase my combat strength twofold.

“Halia, what do you think about splitting my stats equally between mana and strength?”

[With that sword… I think it’s probably worth it. I designed it with the moonlight sword technique specifically in mind, so even if you are losing out a bit on both magic and strength by splitting your stats, you probably won’t have any issues with your attacks.]

Kai’s brow furrowed as he listened to Halia.

Designed with the moonlight sword technique in mind? Halia claimed before that she made this sword for herself, but she doesn’t even know that technique.

Kai glanced down at the beautiful ruby blade.

Well, even if she’s lying about making it specifically for that technique, it does work really well.

“That beast was coming from the direction of Talonia… the settlement might already be in trouble.”

Kai was jolted out of his thoughts as Sydney leaned over the boar’s corpse. Aside from his strike that ended the beast’s life, there were multiple other marks on its pelt. Fresh wounds scarred its back, including one cut that looked too clean to have come from another beast’s claws.

“They might already be under the assault of a beast wave.”

Sydney let out a sigh as he turned and started walking again, his pace considerably faster than before.

“We can only hope that this is just a random beast that wandered too close to the settlement and was driven away.”