Ike vanished before the black-robed mage’s eyes. Startled, the mage looked left and right, searching for him.

A hand wrapped around his neck. The mage kicked and grabbed at his neck. Ike shoved electricity into him. The mage spasmed, then went still, stunned.

Ike looked at the other black-robed mages. He tightened his grip, and his eyes narrowed. “Get outta here, or I kill this guy.”

At the head of the table, Mont continued to peacefully eat his meal. The fox-servants bared their teeth, ears and tails appearing on all of them. Wisp crouched in her seat, more alert than she’d been since they’d arrived.

The black-robed mages exchanged a glance. One of them made a hand signal. Without hesitation, they charged Ike.

So that’s how it’s gonna be. Ike clenched his hand with all his might. The man’s neck and spine exploded in a blast of gore. He kicked the man’s body toward the next closest mage, then leaped forward. Lightning flashed behind him, and a thunderous boom cracked across the room.

He reached a pair of mages just as one drew a sword. The other one massaged a fireball into existence. Both looked surprised to see him.

Ike grinned. He jumped into the air and let loose a flurry of kicks, kicking from the swordsman to the fireball man. Both of them fell back in a splatter of blood. Their limp bodies hit the wall with a wet smack.

Footfalls behind him. The hollow drum of feet on wood. Ike spun, punching even as he turned. His fist didn’t connect, but the shockwaves threw back two of the men and slowed the third. The third one caught himself and dashed in, punching toward Ike.

Ike opened his storage ring for just a moment. He met the man’s punch. Their fists struck one another.

Blood splattered. The other man screamed. He fell back, gripping his wrist. His hand had been torn asunder, sliced in half by something unseen.

Ike looked down at his fist. The invisible wolf’s tooth punch dagger was now splattered with blood, leaving it less effective, but it had already done its work. That’s a good weapon. I used it in the opening salvo just now, but if I kept it in reserve until the last hit… yeah.

The man with the ruined fist rallied. Screaming, he raced at Ike again.

Ike swept his feet. The man crashed to the table. Ike didn’t hesitate. He followed the man down and punched him in the eye. Through the invisible dagger, he watched the man’s eye rupture. The tip pierced through the flesh behind the eye and carved through the soft grey gelatin beyond that. He grimaced, disgusted. There were a few drawbacks to the invisible dagger, it seemed. Sometimes, it allowed him to see too much.

Blood soaked into the tablecloth, and the man went limp. Ike stood. He quickly wiped the invisible dagger on his shirt and sent it back into his storage ring. In its place, he withdrew his sword. “Come!”

The other two men instantly reappeared from wherever they’d vanished to. They leaped down at him from above, sweeping out a synchronized sword attack.

Ike crouched. As the two closed in on him, he stood, sweeping upward at the same time. He pushed aether into the strike. His sword glowed with energy, which released from the sword in a short wave. The sword strike carved through both men. They fell in pieces on either side of the table, shorn apart.

Mont clapped. Wisp stood, whistling and clapping. Even the fox servants applauded politely.

“Neither of you two wanted to help?” Ike asked, pointing at the two old experts in the room.

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“No,” Wisp said honestly.

“You looked like you were having so much fun,” Mont said. He took another bite of his meal and closed his eyes, enjoying it deeply. “Besides, the food here is delicious. I didn’t want to interrupt my meal.”

The fox servants stepped forward. They retrieved the bodies, packing them quickly away. Wisp frowned. “Hey! I was going to eat those.”

The lead servant bowed to her. “We’ve had a shortage of meat lately. We’ll use these for the main course.”

Ike startled. He turned, slowly. “You’ll… what?”

The servant turned to him. The man stared for a second, lost. Abruptly, realization crawled across his face. He bowed. “My apologies, sir. I did not consider that we might have an herbivore in our presence. I’ll be sure to request the chefs craft a meat-free main course for you.”

Stunned, Ike could only blink at him. He opened his mouth to protest, then slowly closed it, eyeing the human corpses strewn all over the dining room. Several thoughts ran through his head as he questioned a great deal of the assumptions he’d made so far. He sat next to Wisp and leaned in.

“Wisp, they said they were reformed, right?” he whispered.

She nodded. “Mmm, yes. Indeed, they are quite reformed. They used to be utter savages who would attack anyone, man or beast. Useless, save as food for my hungry stomach. But now, they craft such delicious meals and act in such careful ways. Yes, I think they might have earned the right to win.”

“Utter savages, huh. But now… now they only attack humans, is that it? Instead of humans and monsters.”

Wisp glanced at him. She grinned, just a little. “Who knows? Perhaps.”

“But they haven’t attacked me because I use aether, now, so they’ve assumed I’m a monster,” Ike continued at a whisper.

Wisp’s grin stretched wider. “Perhaps.”

He looked her in the eye. “Tell it to me straight. Have I eaten any human meat?”

“Not yet. If you’d swallowed some soup, you would have. Made from the men they killed this morning—the ones they didn’t eat directly. It had a nice medicinal quality to it, you know? Just like how monster meat has magical qualities, so, too, does human meat. It’s the great equalizer! Everyone provides delicious benefits in death,” Wisp said, smiling happily.

“Right. Well. I’m not about to become a cannibal for some ‘benefits,’” Ike muttered.

“Why not? You eat monsters. What’s so different about this?” Wisp asked.

Ike gave her a look. “Even you refuse cannibalism, you glutton!”

She raised her brows back. “First off, what’s that supposed to mean? Even I…? Second off, that’s me. You’re free to make your own weird decisions.”

Ike sighed. He watched the last of the foxes retreat and shook his head. “Damn. I was looking forward to the food.”

“You can still eat it. I imagine the herbivore courses will be full of strong herbs to strengthen your aether almost as much as eating human meat,” Wisp offered.

“Yeah, but… no meat,” Ike complained.

Wisp spread her hands. “You can eat the meat! It won’t poison you.”

“I’m not going to become a—”

Mont cleared his throat. “You two seem to be having such fun down there. What are you talking about?”

Ike stiffened. He glanced at Mont. I almost forgot about him. He’s so quiet, and he has no pressure. But he’s way more powerful than he seems. I can’t be reckless around him. After all, a powerful monster like Mont probably had all kinds of Sensory Enhancement-like skills, if not enhanced senses from birth, thanks to whatever monster he’d been born as. Ike had been careless, to easily reveal his human status around Mont.

After all, humans and monsters kill one another all the time. Wisp likes me, but even she’s a maneater. I have to be careful not to accidentally let it out that I’m a human while I’m here, or else I’ll end up on the menu.

He nudged Wisp. “Should we get going?”

“We haven’t even spent the night! And there’s the whole mana veins thing. Aren’t you curious about them?”

“Not that curious.”

“No…? Not even when I tell you that mana veins can carry so much mana that you might be able to immediately Rank up again?” she asked.

Ike hesitated, then shook his head. “No, I just Ranked up. I still need to consolidate my Rank and figure out how to get to the next level in the most ideal way.”

“Not even when I mention how there’s usually super bloated monsters that almost always drop cores or skill orbs around the veins?”

Ike thought for a moment, but shook his head again. “No. We can find monsters anywhere.”

“Not even when I mention how skill orbs sometimes form spontaneously around mana veins? Unique skill orbs, that is, with the kind of powerful skill that brews for eons in the belly of the earth? Not even when I point out the obvious that a mana vein that suddenly vanishes or is suddenly stolen by someone is probably about to erupt with a Unique skill?” she asked, leaning in.

Ike froze. He looked at her, his eyes wide. “A new Unique skill?” Lightning Dash is my entire foundation. If I could add another Unique skill… A good foundation is required to move up to the next Rank. Two Unique skills almost guarantee that I get to Rank 3. No—Rank 3 is an underestimate. Rank 4? Rank 5? It isn’t a dream to enter the ranks of the most powerful mages if I can find that new Unique skill.

Wisp grinned. She nodded. “That’s right. A new Unique skill. What do you think? Worth it?”