Alex held his hands out to the warmth. The fire and small natural shelter were a welcome change to the chill of the forest.
He’d found an enormous tree that had fallen over. Its roots brought up huge clumps of dirt when it tipped to its side, causing a small crater in the ground where the roots had once been. This refuge allowed him to easily nestle in and create a small fire without fear of being seen or the wind blowing it out.
He’d set up a ritual around the camp to keep any sounds he or the fire made from escaping to the surrounding area. The only way he could be found would be from the light or happenstance. Val was also circling the area, watching for anyone who might be coming in his direction.
This allowed Alex some peace of mind and time to think through the ambush he’d planned for the following evening. He stared into the fire, holding a cut piece of the silk that the elder Mana Spinners had given to him. It had an odd blue sheen to it, and while it was light and mostly see-through, it had a bit of a sticky texture.
Alex held the silk mask to his face, marveling at its transparency. Even without activating [Mirage], the material clung to his features, smoothing them into an eerily featureless visage that reminded him of a mannequin.
This could work, but let's see how it handles the illusion.
Activating [Mirage], Alex infused the mask with mana, causing the silk to become even more transparent. The illusion of his old face settled into place, but as soon as the mana flowed through the material, he winced.
Shit.
Alex was forced to squint his left eye. The silk’s mana-conductive properties, combined with his Heavenly Eye's ability to perceive mana, created an effect not unlike staring directly into a bright blue light. It was disorienting and potentially dangerous if he needed to rely on his enhanced vision.
He pondered the problem for a moment before an idea struck him as he remembered how well the dead trees had blocked his mana from the sect members. Standing, Alex walked out of his ritual circle and began to cut at the side of one of the dead trees. When he had a small piece broken off he held it up to his left eye, pleased to find it blocked his vision entirely.
Perfect. This should solve the problem.
Carefully, Alex positioned the wood beneath the mask, covering his left eye. When he activated [Mirage] again, he found the bright blue light was gone, replaced by simple darkness on his left side.
"It's not ideal," he muttered to himself, "but it's better than being blinded by my own magic. I'll just have to be extra aware of my left side."
The trade-off was clear: he could use the mask effectively but at the cost of depth perception and his enhanced mana vision. It was a compromise he'd have to live with for the sake of his disguise.
More accurately, it was his own face with a normal left eye and a shaved jaw.
Alex reached up and idly touched the stubble on his chin while thinking about what the elder had said when the spider had passed on the gift.
‘Good at look changes. Help hide.’
He hadn't understood at the time, but now he realized that it was meant to be a cloth that would be very receptive to mana and absorb skills easily. He didn't have any idea how the Mana Spinners knew he'd learn the [Mirage] skill, but the ability to use the silk to make a detailed mask solved one of his big fears.
While he was doing his best to stay grounded in the situation he was fighting through, part of his mind couldn’t help but wander to once he made it out. With the time that had passed in the Rift, he was close to having been gone for two full days at this point. He’s sure that Mark and Sarah would have noticed something was wrong by now.
My parents would probably just think I’m ‘being dramatic’ and not answering my phone or something. Shit, my car is still out there.
Stress filled his chest as he thought about how screwed he’d be if his car was towed. Though as he thought through the situation, he found that he wasn’t nearly as worried as he might have once been. He had already travelled many miles during his time in the Rift; all he would need to do is use his movement skill and follow a road and he’d reach civilization quickly enough. The threat of the New Jersey winter also seemed like such a small worry when compared to his current predicament.
He had also been stressing about how others would react to the visual changes to his left eye once he returned… but with the discovery of how to use the silk, he had a way to hide it, at least until he could assure them that he was okay. Then he would want them to hear the full story, including how he had gained the eye from Eura.
In the meantime, the mask would play a crucial role in allowing him to blend into the encampment he wanted to ambush the following day. He had planned to use a hood before and approach in the night, but with the discovery of the mask, he would be able to enter in a much less conspicuous way and get more intel during the day.
The [Mirage] skill was extremely powerful, and Alex was thankful to have found the consumable manual. He could create complex illusions by activating the skill, and depending on the size or detail of the illusion, an amount of his total mana pool would be reserved and unusable as long as the illusion was in effect.
Both [Mirage] and the silk were just two examples of all the rapid progress he’d made in the last three weeks. While he’d been pushed to the brink physically and mentally, he couldn’t deny that the gains were immense.
His level had sky rocketed, along with Val’s. The stats from his titles added to the stats gained from his class and levels, made him stronger than he ever would have thought possible.
While all of these gains were good, Alex felt that he was beginning to lose a grip on his situation. Too many new tools in his tool kit were causing him to second-guess his plans. The stats specifically made it hard for him to determine what he was capable of. Physically, he could run further and faster than the most fit human. He could jump higher and had no problems lifting the deceased sect members. His entire body and appearance had changed. While bathing earlier in the day, he’d been surprised to note how much more pronounced his muscles were and how much fat had shed from his body. While the change in his mental and magical stats felt a bit less noticeable to him than the physical, Willpower was definitely the most apparent.
His mind felt sharper and quicker. It wasn’t that he was smarter, but his mind processed the information that it was taking in at a much faster rate. He’d most noticed this in his fights with the Shadow Serpent Sect members. This allowed him to make a decision faster, and though he couldn’t be certain, he felt more confident in himself.
Is that because of the stat, or because I feel more competent?
Stats aside, Alex had gained skills, a new weapon, and a style of fighting with that sword and his Heavenly Eye. Adding even more confusion to that, he was actively trying to improve his [Mana Shaping] and [Empowered Step] skills. [Mana Shaping] had reached level 19 and Alex could feel a sort of mental block that was preventing him from pushing into the next level. He believed that innovation or an improvement to how he was using the ability was the key to making the next step. Alex’s solution to this was to keep working at his fine control of the mana tendrils with [Mana Shaping] while emulating the Mana Spinner webs.
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The final layer of chaos in his progression came from Valtherion. His companion had gained stats and abilities as well, and they’d largely been operating as two separate components. There were combinations of their abilities that he wanted to practice and train in using. The most prominent was that after a bit of testing, Alex learned that Val could use the [Mana Infusion] ability that the wyrm got from their bond to send mana directly into Alex’s body. Now that Val was level 21, his base mana pool was 500. When {Mana Glutton} was taken into account, it doubled to 1000, and if fed to Alex, it would effectively triple his available mana.
With all of the new and potential upgrades to his power, he felt that he should slow down and allow himself some time to practice and experiment before continuing the raids or gaining more experience.
But what’s the option there? To wait in this nightmare for another week, dodging these guys that are hunting me?
Alex knew that things had been going too smoothly so far and that it would only be a matter of time until he ran into a group with someone too strong for his rituals to handle. Even if they had someone who was too fast or too smart, his traps wouldn’t work properly. **
No. No more waiting, no training. The ambush tomorrow is the last attack since the camp is between myself and the dead fields that lead to the Rift exit. As soon as the attack is finished or enough damage has been done, I’m sprinting out of this place.
It excited him to think that he could be back in his apartment by tomorrow evening. That thought of comfort was almost enough to make him abandon the ambush the following day and just try to sneak around the small encampment.
It’s just fifteen people, and the attack will be set up to hit all of them at once. They won’t ever see it coming.
While the groups had gotten more careful when traveling through the forest, Alex had done surveillance on the camp, and they were much more lax when in greater numbers.
He pushed his hesitations aside and began to review the supplies he’d gathered and the preparations that he’d made. Now that he’d had some time to calm down and think about his next actions, he realized there were many things in the forest that he wanted to take back with him. He grabbed several logs and branches of the dead trees. Alex found it fascinating that they didn’t conduct any mana and seemed to block any flow on the other side. He had also killed and stored the corpses of some of the wildlife or lesser monsters of the swampy forest area, wondering if someone from the Guild would be interested in studying them.
He continued to mentally catalog the items in his spatial bag and back pouch. When he felt satisfied that he was as ready as he could be, Alex tightened the stolen black cloak around himself and settled back against the tree’s roots to review the plan.
----------------------------------------
Everything with the plan and preparation of his ambush had gone smoothly.
In the morning, he snuck into the camp. Alex couldn’t help but feel like he was in some sort of movie as he set a fire at one end of the camp, near the tent of the person who was in charge. While the camp of 15 men ran to put out the fire before it could spread, Alex snuck into the mess hall tent.
Just from watching the group for a day, he knew that this was the area where most everyone in the camp congregated together at least once per day. Once he’d snuck into the eating area, it had been nerve-wracking to crawl under most of the wooden tables and draw explosive and slowing ritual circles under most tables. The entire time, Alex had been worried that someone would enter to find him doing something suspicious.
There were no issues, and once the fire was put out, most things went back to normal. Alex had staged it to look like a lamp had fallen over in a nearby tent to cause the fire. The man was disciplined harshly, and the area was cleaned.
Alex had almost abandoned his entire plan when two more small groups of five to seven acolytes joined the camp. Suddenly, he was facing twice the original numbers and Alex was getting more nervous that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish his goal.
He used his Heavenly Eye to scan most of the enemies in the camp as he did his best to blend in. The levels ranged from the low thirties to the low forties. The exception was the leader of the camp.
Hong Xiu - Level 49
Class: Shadow Adept
Primary Stat: Agility
He was easily recognizable with the purple sash to signify his position and long black hair tied into a ponytail. It made Alex very nervous to have someone so high leveled in the camp. He did his best to stay far away from the man and stall until the sun began to set.
The plan had been to wait until the evening meal to activate the rituals. With the new additions, he’d been worried that things could not continue how they had in the previous nights. His fears were quieted as the Hong Xiu sent word through the camp that he would be giving a speech during the evening meal and everyone was required to meet at the mess hall tent.
Alex’s heart beat wildly in his chest as the long line of people entered the tent. He hid outside of the tent with Val hidden beneath his robe top. Despite the tension and stress, Alex extended a tendril of mana toward the tent. He made it as thin as possible and let it snake into the tent to activate the chain of rituals from a distance.
Everything in the plan had gone perfectly. He had even received a notification and several windows to signify that he’d broken through to the next level of his [Mana Shaping] ability. He dismissed them and forced his breath to steady. He was hesitant and couldn’t help but feel that he was the bad guy in this situation. Even though these people had attacked and hunted him, he was about to set off a bomb while they were gathered and preparing to eat. This wasn’t honorable combat, it was going to be a slaughter.
Were there innocents here? They were all fighting age males and in sect robes. They wouldn’t show me the same mercy, would they?
In the end, Alex realized that he wasn’t strong enough to fight these people one-on-one in an honorable fight. Even though that would be his desired choice, they were all higher level than him and they outnumbered him by a vast amount. The Shadow Serpent Sect had already shown their willingness to be ruthless and that they would look down on him and take his life without a second thought.
He stilled his thoughts and activated the chain reaction of rituals through his mana tendril. He ran out of mana halfway through, and Val used [Mana Infusion] to send a large flood of mana back into Alex, allowing him to finish the chain reactions. The multiple explosions shook the air, and Alex stumbled back from the tent. His vision became crowded by a startlingly large number of notifications.
You have slain Human - Level 32 You have slain Human - Level 31 You have slain Human - Level 34 You have slain Human - Level 38
Congratulations Awakened. You have leveled up!
You have 3 Free Points to distribute.
You have slain Human - Level 40 You have slain Human - Level 33 You have slain Human - Level 33 You have slain Human - Level 36
Congratulations, Awakened! You have gained a Title!
You gain: Title - One Against Many
The notifications continued, and Alex couldn’t look at them. He dismissed them quickly and surveyed the chaos he’d caused.
As the mess hall tent collapsed, several people scrambled out, covered in dirt and blood. People within the tent screamed, and he saw lumps on the ground moving as the tent fell slack and onto the bodies on the ground.
Everything had gone according to his plan and with the added casualties and sect members, it had gone better than Alex expected. Things lined up perfectly throughout the entire day, even with Hong Xiu calling everyone to one area.
Blue motes rose from the bodies, and gold light began to rush toward Alex. At the same time, a sword slashed through the tent, revealing a calm and confident man. Instantly, Alex recognized the purple sash he wore and watched as his head swiveled around the camp. His angry eyes landed on Alex, and he shouted at him while pointing his rapier.
This is where everything began to fall apart with his plan.