Batara then went back to Lorelai’s Reverie to sleep. The next day Batara woke up and went downstairs to find that Isha was not at the reception desk as per usual. So Batara just left and headed to the adventurer’s guild to take on a general collection quest like he was planning to. He then went straight to the guild reception desk and quickly handed over his license as usual before nervously saying “gen-general collection quest.” The guild staff was confused and said “What? Whats happening? Uh right let me check your license.” The guild staff checked Batara’s license before he took a bag of money under his desk and said to Batara “You have an outstanding reward for the investigation fee in Cedar Grove and investigation quest in Murloc Swamp, for a total of 10 golds. The guild master personally asked that you are required to receive this before taking any quest.” Batara sighed and said “Alright” before taking the money. The guild staff then confirmed and granted Batara the general collection quest.

Batara then headed towards Cedar Grove. Along the way Batara thought about what Lisandra said to him about how weak he is and the map from Ajak the imp that leads to an artifact. Batara thought that maybe, the reason he was able to cast the strange magic that saved him from Queen Arachnid was his Hood of Facade since he felt the same sensation when he casted the magic and when he put on the hooded vest for the first time. Thus, Ajak’s words and artifacts might not be complete bullshit. After giving it a lot of thought, Batara decided to fulfill his curiosity and check if the map Ajak gave him was legit.

So Batara went straight to Cedar Inn instead to gather information about the location on Ajak’s map. However upon arriving at the inn, Batara only sat there for quite a long time. He overestimated his ability to gather information, or even, talk to other human beings. Margaret was not around at the inn making it worse for him that he didnt recognize anyone. After a while, Margaret’s son, Marco, entered through the inn’s door with other hunters. Marco then noticed Batara and immediately greeted him “Hi Batara! Great to see you again!” Compared to when Batara first met him, Marco seemed very energetic and cheerful. All of a sudden Batara felt nervous and only nodded his head in response. Marco replied awkwardly “Eh as timid as ever.” The other hunter asked Marco cautiously “Who is he, Marco? I never saw him around here.” Marco replied “He is the one I told you about dad! Batara, he saved me from Red Hobgoblin.” Marco’s dad looked at Batara and was not sure how a weak looking kid like him could defeat a red hobgoblin. However, he knew that his son would never lie to him.

Marco’s dad tapped Batara on his right shoulder and said “My name is Enza Sore. I am a senior hunter in Cedar. Thank you for saving my son, I owe you one.” Enza sounded very genuine in showing his gratitude. Batara replied “D-d-dont worry. I just got lucky.” Enza thought that might be the case, but Batara still saved his son so he insisted “No please, ask anything you want I will do my best to grant it.” As much as Batara wanted to refuse, he also didnt want to prolong this uncomfortable pressure any further. Since Batara was looking for a direction to Ajak’s map, he took the map from his bag and asked Enza about it instead. Batara pointed to the map and said to Enza “T-then tell me where I can find this.” Enza checked the map and said to Batara “I’ve seen this before. Its an abandoned ruin with strange stone markings southwest of Cedar Grove. There is nothing in that ruin but a strong unpleasant stench that comes out from it, so no one ever comes there.” Batara fell silent, lost in thought. Seeing Batara’s reaction, Enza asked him “Why are you asking about this ruin?” Batara didnt answer and suddenly stood up ready to leave. Enza grabbed his shoulder and said “H-hey where are you going? At least let us accompany you, that ruin doesnt look safe.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The last thing Batara needed was to see more deaths caused by him. So Batara turned towards Enza, brushed off his hand, and said “Leave me alone.” From Enza’s perspective, Batara’s gaze looked like he had seen enough deaths or even ready to face death himself. Enza knew better not to mess with someone like that from experience, so he refrained from stopping Batara and let him leave. Batara left Cedar Inn and headed straight to the ruin directed by Enza. Batara walked southwest from Cedar Grove’s entrance as instructed by Enza. However, Batara forgot to ask the specific location of the ruin or any landmark that led towards the ruin. Thus, he ended up walking around for hours trying to find the ruin. As the sun was almost set, Batara decided to head back and continue the search tomorrow. However, as he turned his back, Batara smelled something unusual. Batara then tried following the smell as it got worse the closer he followed. As the smell got more and more unbearable, Batara looked ahead and finally found the source of the smell. It turned out to be the abandoned ruin Enza was talking about. Batara walked closer and checked to see if it was the same ruin as the one in Ajak’s map. As pointed out by Enza, the ruin had strange stone markings around it. Batara checked Ajak’s map and turned out the markings on the ruin matched the one in the map.

Despite the strong unpleasant stench, Batara, who had only planned to check the place out, got curious and decided to go in. As he walked through the entrance, the stench got so unbearable that Batara had to cover his mouth. Inside the ruin, there was indeed nothing aside from rubbles. Batara thought that maybe Ajak was telling bullshit after all and decided to return as the sun was almost set. Just as Batara turned his back towards the entrance, the patterns on his Hood of Facade started to glow. Batara was surprised and confused on whats happening, so he ran towards the entrance in panic. The patterns on his vest glowed brighter as the unpleasant stench in the ruin slowly vanished. As soon as Batara reached the entrance, the gate suddenly closed shut causing Batara to be trapped inside the ruin. The ruin suddenly got so dark leaving only Batara’s vest as the source of light. Batara tried to blow up the gate using his magic “Gust Blow!” but it did nothing. He tried lighting a fire with his magic, but strangely no light came out from it. Batara breathed heavily, panicked, terrified, and didnt know what to do until the runic patterns on his vest started to come out. The glowing patterns then formed pathway lights before Batara but he couldnt see where the lights led into. He was aware that the lights might lead to trouble, but since he couldnt see or do anything else either, he decided to follow the lights. At this point, Batara started to believe Ajak’s words after seeing his Hood of Facade reacted strongly in this ruin.

As he followed the lights, the overwhelming darkness was starting to engulf Batara in fear and anxiety. Causing Batara to feel hesitant to walk where the lights lead to. Thus, he casted his utility magic “Pulse Sense!” that sent mana waves through the ground to detect vibration around him to overcame his fear with being cautious. However, his magic didnt pick up anything. Due to Batara’s low mana pool he could only cast it one at a time as he walked which made Batara even more anxious. After walking for a while, the pattern lights stopped. Batara couldnt see anything around him and felt confused until all the pattern lights behind him suddenly gathered forming a circle before him. The pattern lights then dispersed and spread around the area revealing an entirely different place from the ruin Batara ventured into. The ruin has turned into a large court hall. Batara then saw a sign on the wall written in ancient language he couldnt understand. Suddenly, one of the pattern lights moved to the sign and turned the writings into Batara’s language. Batara read the sign “The Lord’s Court Hall.”

The moment Batara was able to read the sign, a surge of memories were etched into Batara’s mind. Batara bent on his knees and groaned painfully “Arkkh…” as the memories entered his mind. After a while, Batara fell unconscious and woke up in another person’s body without being able to do anything.