The sound of hooves hitting the ground resonated through the streets, where not many used chariots, let alone one with golden embroidery. Although it would draw attention, the gold also signified that someone really dangerous might be travelling inside, like the Jade Empress. Theo looked at her, happily humming to herself with a smile.

“I’ve been thinking, why did you choose me?” Theo said and looked at the woman.

“Hmm… I don’t really know. I’ve been travelling around and saw a surprising lack of mana particles in the area. Just when I thought it was the work of a necromancer, it happened to be you.” She said with her eyes closed.

“I AM a necromancer, and why are you training me despite all the risks?” He asked.

“I don’t wish to be interrogated.” She said and lied on the soft cushion.

Theo quieted down. Pissing her off wasn’t an option. Instead of leaving him alone, she’d most likely just murder him here and now. And Theo didn’t want that. Talking with the All God was exhausting to say the least. Truly exhausting.

The sun settled below the horizon, the darkness taking over. One thing Theo noticed about the world first was the number of moons. There were three.

Surprisingly no catastrophic event happened like he had assumed, even with the multiple moons’ gravity and all. He had never paid attention to physics, but it came to him sometime the last two years of his life.

The chariot never stopped. Even after an hour after dark, and seemed to go on. The awkward silence reigned supreme, only the sound of nature outside keeping him company. It wasn’t long before he dozed off.

***

The alluring smell of bacon rested in the air, the sound of oil sizzling going with it nicely. The sun fell on Theo’s face, and he chuckled.

“So it was all just a dream.” He said, sitting up. “Though, I wish it was real.”

He had died in a car accident in his dream, with his family of four including parents and an older sister. A knock came from the door, as per the ritual, and his older sister said in her monotone voice.

“Breakfast’s ready.”

“Coming.” Theo said and got up, putting on his clothes. He assumed it was a weekend, as his mother was currently cooking, which would be impossible for a weekday.

One thing he noticed about himself was he was too calm, much like his family. It was probably in his blood. Even his grandparents were too calm and were never bothered by superficial things. It would be fine if those ‘superficial’ things didn’t include being fired and failing a class.

Most surprisingly, Theo seemed to be the only self-conscious one about it. That was the perk that came with his maturity, or simply the blood wasn’t strong in him. His mother’s side, however, was fine, so there was that.

He pulled the door open, the familiar visage of his sister walking down the hallway visible. It usually happened when he put on his clothes quicker than normal. Today seemed to be one of those days.

She descended the stairway, and down onto the first floor. Theo walked past her easily, as he was always taller and thus had longer legs than her.

The kitchen table was placed in the middle of the kitchen, and was located so that anyone could access it from anywhere. His mom was wearing her apron, still cooking. Theo took a seat, and sat there for five minutes. His mom never turned back, and the smell of something burning could be smelt.

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Theo then looked back, and noticed his sister looking to the back, with her back exposed to him, standing in the doorway. Raising his eyebrows, he pulled on her shoulders and she limply turned back, revealing her ghastly form. One eye had been bulged out and a piece of broken glass had been embedded into her other, her face distorted in a painful scream.

He hastily threw her back, and pulled on his mother. She was the same, albeit even worse. Theo’s eyes widened, collapsing to the ground.

He hadn’t expected that. But well, he was now living in his dream world, after all, and some sacrifices had to be made.

“Darling, won’t you be a sweety…” His mother said, her voice distorting into a screech. “… come to our side.”

Thankfully, Theo had learned of the way to awaken himself forcefully even while dreaming or having a nightmare, by moving his real body rather than dream.

***

Theo’s heavy eyelids were forced open, not even the first rays of light penetrating through the window. The sky was slowly, but surely, turning blue from the pitch black with several white dots on it.

Now that Theo thought of it, the chariot would then be have not stopped for the entire night, making the chances of inexhaustible horses more than a distinct possibility. The fact that the Jade Empress never showed any signs of surprise seemed to hint at this being common knowledge, rather than an unique one. Or she might be used to this kind after countless years.

The existence of mana and Saint Arts might have something to do with it, as the particles could possibly be absorbed by animals and beasts, letting them gain more physical prowess, seeing that dragons could also use mana. It was still possible that these were modified, or somehow augmented. There was also a possibility of the horses being golems, as constructs functioned by mana were named. Almost a robot, but the owner could share their sight.

As for the one steering the wheels, it was more explainable as sleeping wouldn’t be a necessity as one got stronger, letting them train more. A genius design. It would in turn let them get stronger as long as they had knowledge and talent if it was magic.

The Jade Empress’s eyes were closed, and her black hair, with green tips reaching her shoulders had covered a part of her face, as if it was a scene straight out of a movie. Theo couldn’t complain, after all, he WAS in a world that some movies were based around.

Even though Theo loved sleeping, he didn’t have the necessity to do it that much anymore, and the nightmares never helped, though it was only this time that he dreamed of his old world. Thankfully, that came with the ability to fall asleep whenever he wanted to. A sweet goodbye to insomnia.

With nothing to do but wait, especially since travel mostly took a long time, Theo decided to meditate. Though his body could absorb mana passively, actively doing so greatly increased the absorption rate.

His mana pool would allow him to fire off about three fireballs the size of fists as of now, seeing that he didn’t have too much talent. The sweet thing was that even if he was a Necromancer, he could somewhat use Evocation to cast tier one spells, albeit with a greater cost.

That served well to hide him from the eyes of the Church, as actively practicing necromancy would attract their attention, even if he didn’t leave any traces of mana. It was mainly his knowledge that kept him away from death for so long. Maybe fates worse than death.

Saint Art practitioners rarely learned magic, and vice-versa, which seemed to be foolish. Even more so when the reason was pride. Joining the two would surely create stronger people. Some that used both were called heretics and relentlessly hunted down by the church, extra points if that was necromancy. In that case, they’d be out for blood.

Whereas Saint Arts came with understanding, magic came with the ability to remember mana signatures and mana pool. Talent helped in enlarging the mana pool, giving them a large advantage. Even if it was a child with a small mana pool, they’d be able to use a tier eight spell if they wanted to.

Thus, his magic practices lagged behind a bit.

However, as mana absorption rate had more connection with the soul than the body, unlocking the limiters greatly improved his mana pool. It was a deep blue, in a small circle around him. Then he noticed it.

The Jade Empress’s mana pool.

Saying it was big would be an understatement. Sensing mana would allow Theo to feel up to a kilometer, but he didn’t count on it as the smarter ones are prone to hiding theirs. However, while travelling or the like, the presence of mana would scare away any decent gang. Roughly speaking, the size was at around six hundred meters, a dark green color.

With a chuckle, Theo started eating away at the Jade Empress’s mana. After all, she was absorbing it from the outside, and she wouldn’t notice a tiny nibble gone from an ocean, just think that there wasn’t much mana in the air.

It was better than absorbing it himself, after all.

Better have others do it than do it yourself. After all, only the smaller particles were left.