Alan walked around the edges of the invisible circle of danger. It was already fading, but despite Rust’s untimely leave whatever he had created lasted quite a while.

He had left the interrogations to Rosalyn, and they had given quite the fruit. ‘The city’ was apparently nothing but a large Sanctuary veiled by an expensive barrier that obscured it from the sight of weaker beings. The rest of the ‘conquered’ Sanctuaries were connected to it due to a strange effect—when two Sanctuaries had a single leader, that automatically created a passage between them through the World Temple. That was useful as hell.

It redefined the use of the Sanctuaries and created quite the argument for controlling them all. A system of portals to different areas, holding different monsters, dungeons, and resources? It was priceless.

The one they called ‘city’ was at least a week away with the top speed a tier one was capable of. Rust’s group had used a nearby Sanctuary they had taken over to shorten that distance to a mere few days. That made things more complicated, but Alan was sure he would manage. He had a rough idea of the direction, and his sense of mana was enough to guide him.

There was also apparently some weird fire mage there who had killed the fourth and last tier two along with a large number of the combat squads sent to explore and taunted them, before disappearing. Weirdos seemed to pop up everywhere…

Not that I’m not one of them.

“It’s a ritual, certainly,” Mayra said. The girl was enthusiastic as ever, having donned her serious face. Her makeup was even darker than usual—presumably in preparation for the combat that Alan had nipped in the bud. “I can’t tell what it does. It’s formed with a thin layer of magically charged dust, but it’s unlike any I would use. Strange.”

“Could it be rust?”

“Sure, it could work if the ritual calls for it. Don’t you want to activate it, Master?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sir?”

“No.”

“Boss?”

“Mayra! Shut it.”

“Alright, Da—”

“MAYRA!”

Alan rubbed the bridge of his nose. The girl was treating him like they had spent their lives together. Her trust was absolute, her fear gone, and her desire to annoy him relentless like the System’s desire to complicate things.

“Go back. It should be weaker now, so I’ll just try it out.”

“Yes, sir! Be safe!”

Alan shook his head. Why is everyone crazy? What happened to being just a normal person? He stepped into the circle whose sole purpose was murdering him in what was most likely a very gruesome way with an expectant smile. It just felt right.

It took a few seconds. He could sense the mana acting up and saw some strange symbols forming in the grass while dust floated in the air to create similar symbols above. [Shadow Creation] wrapped around him—layers and layers of dark shadows until the world was nothing but a suggestion to Alan’s eyes.

Then the force came. It was a contained explosion of corrosive mana that tried to eat away at everything in its vicinity. The earth was ground up, sucked dry of nutrients, and left into fine worthless dust. Each stalk of grass and each root were obliterated into nothing as if a million rust particles were simply consuming everything of worth in their way.

However, this was now Alan’s thing. His will permeated his mana and surroundings, draining the color from the world, and his shadows raged against the invading force. Layer after layer of his shields were gone from the sheer force of the explosion, and if he hadn’t been so well prepared, it would’ve probably managed to hurt him.

As it came to the last layer, leaving only the [Shepherd’s Shroud] in the way, Alan drew on the Vitality he had stored and ignited it, fueling [Shadow Creation] like never before. The layer of dark shadows changed, reinforced by the [Pilfered Life Force]. The added destructiveness of burning vitality was like the perfect counter to the strange ritual trap, and soon the force died down.

“Holy shit, master!” Mayra yelled out. “This was awesome! I think I know how he did it. Give me a few weeks and I might put something similar together! Of course, recreating his mana signature and the same effect would be impossible but it should work even better since you’re so much stronger. I’ll—”

Alan let her drone on. For a second there he had been worried. Without preparation this would’ve left him badly hurt, and considering potions were not an option for him, it could get dangerous.

I need more protection. I’ve got the offense covered for now.

They had spoken to the ‘immortal’ too, but he had been hardly useful. The man was dull, and his terror of losing his Vitality was nothing short of amazing. No one had succumbed to Alan’s curse like that before. Sure, Cole might have—Alan hadn’t been there for it—but he was sure this was a new level of mental breakdown.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Questioning him had led to little to no information, other than the fact that his name was Bob. Bob the ‘Immortal’. It made sense he was going under the fearsome monicker, rather than his actual name. He was almost as large as Emerson and much more fearsome in looks alone, but ‘Bob’ didn’t quite strike fear in the enemies' hearts.

Alan was worried about leaving him in the Sanctuary, but Rosalyn had been certain the reinforced rooms would hold the prisoner safe. If not, Alan would just drain him like a lemon squeeze.

“I think I’ll go and visit this guy in his home. I don’t like how he left,” Alan said after Mayra quieted down.

She was sitting on the ground, writing in a notebook that had popped up out of thin air. If she had a spatial inventory, why was she lugging all the scrolls around in that huge backpack?

“Can I come?” Mayra exclaimed. “Please! I’ll be useful!”

“You can’t keep up with me,” Alan denied. He didn’t want to carry her.

“I can. Barely, probably, but I have about thirty scrolls of [Hastened Steps], and paired with [Dexterity Boost] I should barely manage to keep up. I saw your speed earlier, master. Unless you teleport around like you did during the fight it should be no issue.”

Well, he was growing pretty tired of going around alone… She was also the only one he could fully trust due to her Oath to him. The System wasn’t easily tricked.

“What does your patron say about it?”

Mayra seemed uncomfortable. “It’s not like she pays constant attention to me. She did when you first appeared, but now it’s more like the odd whisper. I’ll be rewarded if I hit tier two in the next few weeks, but other than that learning more of the world and its inhabitants will help me level faster and develop.”

“You don’t need to fight and kill?”

“I do, but it’s the shortcut. Most of my levels have been earned by inscribing scrolls. I’m not the best at combat, but I’m good at deciphering skills and learning things. I can be very useful, and I can also stay safe! I promise!”

Alan rubbed his chin. The only minus was having the eyes of an unknown patron always following him, but then again what did he care?

“Don’t you have a spatial skill to lug these scrolls around? Where did your notebook go?”

Her skills were quite the mystery. Alan didn’t recall meeting such a strange class before. She was a [Warlock] but nothing like he had been.

“I don’t. My notebook is a skill of its own, and I can summon it as I wish. It’s for private research I share with other [Warlocks] under my patron. Exchange of ideas, so to speak.”

What the hell? That’s fucking useful!

“If you share anything about me, I’ll consider it a betrayal.”

Mayra blushed. “I wouldn’t do that! I won’t risk all my levels, skills, and class. The notebook is anonymous and used only for magical research! If I violate the sanctity of it I might lose access…”

“Lots of rules, huh?”

She nodded. “[Warlocks] have to be mindful of their Patron’s rules. I’m sure you know—oh, right.”

Alan shrugged.

“Fine. We’ll go together.”

“Yay!”

***

It didn’t take much preparation before Alan left alongside his new sidekick. Rosalyn had been quite unhappy for some reason, despite vehemently supporting the idea at first. She was a strange kind of woman—couldn’t lie, yet prying the truth out of her was damn near impossible.

Alan didn’t care all that much. He was once again venturing out into the wild, this time not alone, and that excited him. True to her word Mayra had an even bigger bag of scrolls. She had explained that ‘equipping’ them was a thing. That way they would become almost like automated or prepared skills she could unleash willingly or when certain conditions were met.

In addition, she had skills and traits that allowed her to understand skills and try to recreate them. That was wildly useful, although Alan was pretty peeved with someone unraveling his hard-earned skills. Thankfully Mayra didn’t seem to be aiming for that, and she admitted his skills were too difficult to understand due to complexity and the overabundance of will permeating them.

She somehow kept up with Alan, although she seemed to have underestimated his new speed. With all the modifiers and the fact that it was determined more by his Mind attribute than Dexterity, had thrown off whatever estimates she had cooked up. Alan didn’t mind and even let her fight a few beasts on the way.

This was yet another unexplored part of the forest. He could sense mana signatures running rampant every step of the way. Most were weaker, but the occasional greater beast would make its presence known.

They found the first Sanctuary in three days. It was a shoddy thing, mostly devoid of life and barely consisting of a few buildings and a World Temple that somehow reflected its state. Did World Temples change along with the Sanctuary? Only a few people could be seen observing them from a singular wall, hidden behind a thin golden barrier. It was left to look more like an Outpost than anything of value. How did that happen? Could Rosalyn level their Sanctuary’s buildings with a thought?

“Hey guys,” Alan greeted with a loud voice, stepping just below the wall. He had left Mayra near the treeline. She could set up her defense with rituals and pre-activated scrolls if needed.

The people didn’t respond, just stared. Few men and women, all devoid of reactions.

Alan frowned. He slowly used his finger to draw a line in the air, forcing shadows to coalesce into a blade-like claw, and for the third time cast [Severing Mana].

A shockwave stronger than any so far quickly passed through, and the barrier crumbled. It was a slow skill, but damn it was powerful once unleashed.

I’m getting the hang of it.

Those on the wall didn’t react, which made Alan wary. He could sense them just as he could sense Mayra behind him. There was nothing to them. No traps. No ritual circles. What then?

He used [Dark Step] to get onto the wall and carefully neared one of the men standing there. Only their eyes moved to try and follow him, but no words were said. Tiny twitches, barely perceptible were the only movement he found.

What the fuck is this creepy shit?

He took another step and coated his arm in shadows preparing to touch the guy, then his eyes widened. He could almost sense it now. The tiny amount of mana reminiscent of Rust’s that was wiggling in the very bones of the people before him, holding them in place, like statues. Alive, but unable to move.

He hadn’t taken Rust for someone so cruel. The guy was misguided and had turned his people into monsters, but… right. He needed to die quickly.

[Dark Step] activated a moment too late as the bodies exploded and vortexes of the corroding mana formed all over the small Sanctuary. Alan fled with haste, but not before losing part of his forearm and hand—three fingers included.

Blood fell to the grass for only a few seconds, then dark mana coated his hand and he used [Internal Mana Boost] to its fullest potential. His body became almost lethargic as the large amount of mana it contained rushed like a flood toward the hurt areas.

“Master,” Mayra whispered from behind. “Are you alright?”

“Never better. And don’t call me master.”

When all the corroding mana was gone, all that remained standing was a small World Temple.