After briefing the team about my conversation with the King, we headed back to the river and made our way to Leopold Bridge. Crossing some creeks on the way, where Dean was able to shoot two fish with his arrows and string them up with materials he found… at the event Harry called Level 2.

They also heard my story from my life on Earth to all the events that have unfolded thus far. Dean kept an eye out for threats, while Harry kept questioning about being a Lord. The forest was noisy with howling and screeches in the distance, but with the moon light shining in our path along the river, we could see a fair distance inside the forest.

I knew we arrived when the tall intrinsic stone bridge spanning over thirty meters high came into view, with a grand arch in the middle for ships to pass. However, it seemed to have gates on either side of the arch to block passage, perhaps for a toll way or military defense. It was worthy of the name of their first King.

As we approached and entered the bridge, we noticed a carriage and four men at the opposite end standing in a forward formation. The two men at each end were carrying a pole with a large flag showing a lion in front of a sun, assuming it was their royal mark. The man in the middle-left was wearing blue noble attire with knee high socks, and the one on the right seemed to be wearing shabby clothes, perhaps a commoner?

Dean was preparing his bow, but I motioned to wait. Harry was a bit more calm, as he seemed to have been collecting mana, seeing his aura grow a deeper red.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Sarconia, my name is Julian von Linberg, and I will be your guide to the royal castle," boomed out from the man with an air of superiority.

I nodded without a word, and allowed him to show us into the stagecoach, colored dark maroon, with my team following close behind. The two carrying flags, set them into the corners at the front, and climbed to sit on top, while the shabby one worked his way onto the drivers box.

"You must be exhausted, please use this repair stone to help get yourselves cleaned up," Julius stretched out his hand, but retracted when I didn't accept.

"My apologies, let me show you how it is used. You bring it up to your clothes and pass collected mana into the stone, it repairs and cleans any cloth or leather materials," Julian demonstrated as he pulled a button off then placed it back and used the stone to meld it back together.

Impressed with the device, but I showed no emotion, as this was a game of survival.

I looked at Harry whose black track suit was in bad shape. He grinned from ear to ear before taking the stone and pressing against his legs, as he closed his eyes to concentrate. Slowly the rips sewed themselves closed and the grime faded away, returning to its factory state. It didn't seem to repair his shirt from the pants, so he moved it to his chest, and finished with each of his shoes.

He handed the stone to Dean who had been recovering mana, as I see his blue aura compressing into a deep blue across his shoulders and thighs.

Grabbing the stone from Harry, and moving it to his arm the hole from the arrow seemed to reach out for the opposite ends and slowly sew itself shut, while the blood and grime faded away.

Once he finished, he looked me in the eye and leaned over, putting the stone on my shoulder to help me, knowing I haven't had the chance to learn mana collection.

After cleaning my clothes, he hands the stone back to Julian, who quickly motions for Dean to keep it as a gift.

Julian takes out a red, otherwise normal looking rock, "This one is called the spring stone, it cleans the body."

He slowly moved the stone in front of his chest, pausing for a moment. His eyes suddenly changed shape, bulging, as his lips shifted and curled, showing teeth, and yelled, "For the Kingdom!"

Dean seemed to have been on high alert, as he quickly positioned himself in front of the man, rotating his hips, with his hand gripped tight, arm glowing a dark deep blue, and thrusting it forward, striking right through the hands, catching the stone with his closed fist, and smashing the stone straight into Julian's forehead.

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Julian’s head swiveled straight back, hitting the inner side wall of the carriage, smashing through to the outside, as his head with the stone jammed into his cracked skull was sent flying into the forest. In the darkness, a large explosion reverberated into the carriage, as we peeked through the hole to find a raging fire the size of a three story house lighting up the surrounding forest.

Harry, having moved closer to the stagecoach door, sticks his arm out pointing his finger, shaking his arm, as if attempting a new ability.

Dean and I just stared blankly as a long beam of plasma grew out of his finger eerily similar to a lightsaber. Seeing the smile on Harry's face, making him look like a kid on christmas day, he swings his arm over his head and a straight line burns through the ceiling, slicing at the legs of one of the men above. Harry climbed outside, reaching above on the roof, as he swung his arm and sliced the squirming man on the floor in two. The other man jumped off the stage coach and rolled on the ground, as we saw him get up and run into the forest.

The commoner, not knowing what was happening, continued to rein in the horses who were now in full sprint.

Dean started checking inside Julian's clothes and took out another blue stone by using a handkerchief hanging from the dead man's coat pocket, perhaps a telepathy stone. My curiosity at how these things worked grew as ideas formed in my mind, it seems there were endless possibilities with magical tools. Learning this technology should be a priority, once things have stabilized.

I gazed towards Harry, as Dean tossed out the corpse, "Tell the commoner we have new plans, to move us quickly to the opposite side of the city walls… and please get rid of those flags."

The stagecoach rumbling had calmed down, as the horses were coming under control. We heard a loud shriek outside, when Harry finally made his way back into the stagecoach, "He will follow our orders, to please not kill him. He also said the nobles only played with commoners' lives, and he was personally threatened by Julian to drive the carriage."

"Find out everything about this King and the city, be nice to him as long as he doesn't make any wrong moves," I laid the groundwork for Intel.

Dean, who was poking his head out to investigate our location, came back in and calmly mentioned, "I see the city ahead."

"Great, as for me, I am finally going to attempt to collect mana. Alert me if anything happens."

Seeing Dean nod in approval, I leaned back into my seat and aimed my face upwards closing my eyes.

Accept the mana into myself, my thoughts echoed what Harry had mentioned. My mind wandered through the events of today, as it swung towards my experience in the Sea of Feelings.

My thoughts running in different directions seemed to slow down, growing clearer, and I focused on the emotions and memories I had felt, the feelings of humanity, the memories of my family. A connection with the lives trapped in the sea, my presence possibly giving hope for them to escape.

Suddenly, I found myself sitting on a roller coaster, seeing twinkling sparks of varying colors passing me by. I reached my hand out and touched one with my fingers.

"Coach! Let me play! I know how to cover number 6!" my feelings synchronized with the kid playing basketball.

The scene before my eyes stretched and faded away, as I was flung back onto the roller coaster. Looking ahead, my breathing froze watching a bright empty space up ahead, that I was quickly approaching.

The cart screeched to a sudden stop, jolting me forward, but I found myself standing calmly in the middle of an endless pure white space.

Glancing around seeing nothing for miles but white, as my heartbeat was slowing down, that was when I heard the familiar voice.

"Congratulations! You arrived here faster than all who came before," the eerie tone rang out from all directions.

Long dark cracks, the color of darkness grew in the distance, approaching me faster and fiercer, with an overwhelming aura of black escaping through the cracks, coloring the room.

As the cracks paused in front, footsteps echoed behind me. I quickly swung around to find no one there, causing my breathing to increase rapidly.

"I am disappointed you haven't accepted my gifts, and then you trespassed onto my domain, just what shall we do with you," the voice pierced into my mind from the direction of the cracks.

I twisted back around and stared at a gentleman standing with eloquent posture, a long elegant black coat, white gloves, fierce golden eyes bordered with red, and long black hair.

"Who are you?" I spoke, ignoring what he just said.

"When your s- time is ripe, all will be known."

I was about to respond, when I was yanked backwards, and my vision faded away.