“A real job, huh…” Alex thought, “Must be related to something only the Legion can do.”

“Fine, lead us to officer Highgaze,” Alex said, turning his head towards Amber.

“Understood,” Volsa replied quickly.

Turning around, Volsa took off in a quick stride, confident that Alex and Amber would follow after him. Exiting the main hall, he started leading them through the inner corridors of the administration. Contrary to the main hall, which was bustling with activity, the inner corridors could be said to be deserted, barring the occasional official they passed by in their little journey to wherever Pahan was.

“Compared to the inner parts of the Legion’s Keep, this is just as big, if not more so, but not nearly as confusing,” Alex commented to himself, keeping track of the layout of the inner corridors, creating a mental map.

After exactly eight turns, passing through what seemed to be living quarters, Volsa finally brought the two before what seemed like an inconspicuous stone door. Not waiting for Alex or Amber, Volsa approached the stone door and used his finger to outline a weird, flowery character on the smooth stone surface. The place where his finger slid across the surface glowed with dim azure light, giving contour to the character. As soon as he finished, he spoke.

“Acolyte Volsa reporting. I’ve brought Legionnaire Farwalker as instructed.” Volsa said with something akin to reverence in his voice.

As soon as he was done, he became silent, content to await an answer from whatever was behind the stone door. After about twenty seconds, right when the silence hanging over the group started to become somewhat uncomfortable, the stone doors opened. In the instant the doors opened, a wave of something escaped the room and rushed into the corridor. The substance escaping the room rolled off like morning mist, enveloping everything in the corridor when a voice resounded from beyond the stone door.

“Hasten your steps, Acolytes, lest you waste more Prana,” a vibrant voice, unlike anything Alex heard in his life, resounded.

“We should enter,” Volsa told Alex and Amber as he quickly entered the chamber.

“Well, there’s our invitation,” Alex said before entering himself, quickly followed by Amber.

Entering, Alex felt like he was walking through slightly liquid air. That’s what he felt though. In reality, the new feeling overwhelming his senses didn’t come from his body, but rather, his Unity.

“It…can’t be. The concentration of Divine Breath inside this chamber is so above and beyond compared to the rest of the outpost, not to mention the outside. The sheer density of the stuff is overloading my perception of the surroundings. It’s like walking through mud.” Alex tried keeping his surprise in check.

Taking a couple of steps inside, Alex was greeted by a weird, and somewhat familiar image. Great columns of gold and deep blue supported a bell-like roof. The floor of the interior possessed the same colour scheme, with a lavish carpet rolled out on the floor leading to what seemed to be a giant floating stone circle with an intricate and insanely colourful design of a palace of some kind on it.

“Is that a giant mandala? On a giant floating stone!?” Amber exclaimed in surprise.

“Mandala? As in, Buddhist paintings?” Alex remembered what little he read about the subject while growing up surrounded by nothing but books. “The palace is supposed to represent a symbolic picture of the universe or something,”

As he walked along the path leading to the gigantic mandala, Alex finally took notice of what was beneath the gigantic stone circle. Five individuals, seated on bright red cushions discussing something. Concentrating, he focused on the individual seated at the head of the little gathering, directly beneath the ever-turning stone circle. A scantily clad, coal-black skinned woman. Were this all, it wouldn’t be enough to shock Alex into opening his mouth agape. The woman had three heads and six arms. Golden bracelets, necklaces, and earrings covered her many hands, ears, noses, neck, and legs, while red, intricate lines crisscrossed her body forming a mystical pattern.

“Alex, finally. Join us.” Pahan said, seated on the woman’s left.

Approaching, Alex took in the other seated individuals. He knew no one aside from Pahan, and so he was content to simply record their appearance into his memory. Three individuals were seated opposite Pahan, who was wearing his perpetual smirk on his face. A bald man dressed in the garbs of a monk with a ringed staff laying by his side, a red-haired woman dressed in the pure-white leather armour with a small black cape of the Healer’s Guild, and a blue-skinned androgynous individual with a massive leatherbound tome floating on his right.

Finally arriving in front of the small gathering, Volsa bowed towards the three-headed woman, then to Pahan, and then assumed a neutral position to the side. Turning his head towards Alex, Pahan spoke once again after taking a quick look at the flabbergasted Amber.

“I’m glad you made some friends, but unfortunately she will have to leave,” Pahan explained.

“She has news. News you might be interested in.” Alex said calmly, then looking towards Amber, prodding her to speak.

“Uh, yeah, it’s about the zoo, and the request issued by the administration,” Amber spoke at the same fast pace she usually did when she was nervous.

“Not like I can blame her, either.” Alex thought.

“Not the time,” Pahan said.

“Oh, uh, okay…” Amber replied disheartened.

“Impatience will not serve you on the Path, young one” the three-headed woman spoke in the same vibrant voice, “Let her speak,”

“But of course, Arhat Gatebreaker,” Pahan deferred to the woman as he turned to look at Amber again.

“That’s why it felt weird hearing her. It’s like three people speaking at once when she talks.” Alex noted.

Feeling everyone’s gazes on her, Amber felt a little nervous as she started recounting her tale.

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As Amber finished, a grim silence settled over the group. With everyone deep in their own thoughts, it was Volsa who broke the veil of silence hanging over them.

“But, it is impossible. How can a Divine Initiation beast appear so soon after the uplift?” Volsa said incredulously.

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Hearing him, everyone was silent, even Pahan, who simply furrowed his brows into a small frown, furiously thinking about something.

“Impossible? No. Highly unlikely? Perhaps. But when you live as long as I, highly unlikely events happen all the time, and the only thing you can do is take them in stride. Think of that as advice from the older generation.” Arhat Gatebreaker said.

“Gratitude, esteemed Arhat!” Volsa bowed, completely flustered at the response.

“As worrying as this might be, the matter we have to discuss still ranks higher on the priority list.” Pahan said, his frown gone, and smirk back, “Volsa, take Amber back with you, and pay her the contribution points for the intel.”

“I’m done with my request as well,” Alex said, extending the duffel bag full of Awakened Beast body parts forward. “Fifty-seven Awakened Beasts exterminated.”

“Take Legionnaire Farwalker’s bounty and Darkstone with you. Deposit the reward, and return it to him on the way out.” Pahan added.

“Understood, Officer Highgaze,” Volsa said as he took the bag and the Darkstone from Alex’s hands in a hurry.

Bowing once again to Arhat Gatebreaker and Pahan, Volsa motioned for Amber to follow him as he turned around to leave.

“Alex? I know I said this already, but thank you.” Amber said.

“No pr-“ Alex was about to say ‘No problem,’ when he changed his mind with a smile, “No, you’re welcome.”

Flashing a smile in response, Amber followed Volsa out of the lavish interior of the chamber. As soon as the two left, the stone doors closed in their wake, providing the group gathered inside with privacy.

“Now then, back to our order of business,” Pahan spoke in a serious manner, “We are here to discuss the issue of the growing community on the outskirts of this city.”

“As you all no doubt know, the obelisk’s outside is littered with enchantments, one of which is the major compulsion enchantment, meant to attract the inhabitants of this world towards the outpost.” Pahan said, turning towards Alex, “Now, granted, it’s not perfect, and a particularly strong-willed individual can easily resist the compulsion, but overall, it did its job. Until now, that is.”

“After the uplift, a greater part of the population of this city has made its way to the outpost during the last week. The remaining population is mostly composed of stragglers that have either resisted the compulsion of the enchantment or have hidden themselves away, unaware of what is currently happening.” Pahan explained. “This is all within the predicted behaviour of uplifted worlds.”

“The problem we are faced is outside any of those predictions,” Pahan added. “According to our reconnaissance as well as information from the native population, there is a small military base on the outskirts of this city. It seems this base has organized itself, are picking up any other stragglers that come to them, and are overall hindering our recruitment process.”

Pahan paused after finishing his sentence, letting the information sink into everyone present, aside from himself and the Arhat. Taking a look at the other three individuals present, he could see that none were even remotely surprised at what they heard.

“They must have already known, judging by their reaction. This means this little explanation was done solely for my benefit.” Alex concluded.

“The lone fact that a group of people between five to ten thousand can collectively resist the enchantment while keeping an organized structure is already bordering on impossible, but, as Arhat Gatebreaker said earlier, nothing is truly impossible.” Pahan continued, “The real issue though began a couple of days ago. At first, three life candles were extinguished on the outskirts of the city, extremely close to the military base. Again, granted, there always exists the possibility that the three neophytes were killed by some Awakened Beasts, but considering our scout’s reports, the people from the base used their superior numbers to clean out most of the forest around themselves. Then, we’ve received reports from various people about large groups of uniformed individuals venturing around the city, raiding all major storage spaces containing food and water, while actively avoiding the outpost judging by their pathing. And third, the most disconcerting one of the bunch. Two disciples of the Heavenly Allure sect made contact with one of the parties sent out by the military outpost. Only one of them survived, and according to his words, the group was extremely hostile to them, screaming ‘Kill the warlocks! In the name of God Almighty!”. All these things together paint a rather grim picture.”

“I see. And my job is related to this military base?” Alex asked, already suspecting what it was he had to do.

“Indeed. Your task is to do whatever it takes to disassemble this group. Secondary objectives include guiding the population there towards the outpost, either by force or guile as well as investigating the whole base for any foreign influence.” Pahan said, “Though you should primarily focus on the main task.”

“By foreign influence, you wouldn’t happen to mean the Demonic Path?” Alex asked.

“Yes, that is a distinct and highly likely possibility.” Pahan answered, “While historically, the Demonic Path usually never arrives as early as this, nothing is stopping them from doing so. Of course, they will be at a disadvantage if this is the case.”

“Disadvantage?” Alex asked.

“There is a reason we issue all administration requests to the new arrivals, instead of sending someone from the outpost to do them. One of those is to allow the uplifted population to advance. The other reason is that we have no choice but to do it.” Pahan answered, “The quantity, quality, and density of Divine Breath on a newly uplifted world are barely enough for Mortal Step cultivators to get by. And while the situation improves with each passing day as more and more Divine Breath permeates the world, most of the outpost inhabitants are at the Divine Initiation stage, and all of them, much like myself require more Divine Breath than is currently available to function properly outside of the outpost; we would be constrained in our cultivation and brought down to the Mortal Step, unable to perform even the most rudimentary Divine Initiation ability. All the Elders, which are beyond the Divine Initiation stage are even more intricately linked with the Divine Breath, forcing them to spend increased amounts of time in chambers like this one, chock full of denser quantities of Divine Breath. Fortunately, this applies to the Demonic Path as well. If, and that’s a big if, they are already here, then most likely their vanguard is someone at the Mortal Step stage.”

“If I do find traces of the Demonic Path, what am I expected to do?” Alex asked, fully aware of the answer.

“Vanquish them, young one.” Arhat Gatebreaker spoke in a chilling voice. “These three are the finest Mortal Step cultivators this outpost has to offer. They are to assist you in this endeavour. Sravaka Heartsinger of the Skysong Temple, Apprentice Lifetide of the Healer’s Guild, and Initiate Mindforger of the Knowledge Seekers.”

Hearing their names uttered by Arhat Gatebreaker, the three turned their heads towards Alex. The bald monk simply cupped his hands and bowed slightly towards him, the Healer’s Guild apprentice made a small waving motion with her hand and spoke.

“Hi, nice to meet you!” Apprentice Lifetide said giddily.

“Greetings, Legionnaire. May the brilliant light of knowledge illuminate your Path.” the blue-skinned individual spoke in a monotone voice.

Taking a moment to gather his bearings, Alex turned towards Arhat Gatebreaker before speaking.

“I suppose Elder Bellum knows about this?” Alex asked.

“I’ve spoken to him. He agreed to lend your assistance to us, while he himself hastens to finish his preparations.” the Arhat spoke. “The four of you leave tomorrow at daybreak. Now, dismissed.”

The first to stand up was Pahan. He bowed to the Arhat before turning to Alex and motioning for him to leave together. Before taking his leave, Alex turned to the three who would constitute his team and spoke.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, and I guess we’ll see each other tomorrow,” Alex said before turning his back on them and leaving with Pahan.

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Deep within the command centre of the military base, inside the Post Commander’s office were two people. Darkness covered the exquisite office as a man well in his fifties, with grizzled face features was seated in an antique armchair with a glass of whisky in his hand, looking into the bottom of the glass. Behind him, only the silhouette of a face could be seen. The formless shape spoke from the pitch-dark corner of the room behind the armchair, whispering dark things into the commander’s ear with an eerie voice.

“Yes, yes, we cannot allow the impure to walk upon this earth granted to us by God almighty.” the Colonel spoke in hushed, trembling tones.

At his reply, the face continues whispering furiously into the commander’s ear.

“More blood, more blood…ah…” the Colonel mumbled, lost in his own mind.

Seeing the Colonel dancing in the palm of its hand, the formless face retreated back into the darkness, flashing a wide, eerie smile as its ringing laugh echoed across the room. And in that instant, the only visible feature left of the formless face was a shiny, silver tongue.