I was curious about the sudden and unbidden transformation in one of my opponents. It wasn’t the first time I noticed that transformation, but the other times, I was only able to observe it through the passive detection ward, making me miss the details.

It was the first time I watched the process directly, not that it made the mystery any easier to solve.

There were no spells targeting him, no great trap, nothing. One moment, he was fighting together with his allies. A second later, they lost all reason to the point of targeting allies and enemies without rhyme and reason, with no sense of self-preservation to limit them. And it wasn’t just an alignment shift. They were literally fighting on reflex, with no actual objective.

However, with reinforcements on their way, I didn’t have a lot of time to waste, certainly not enough for experimentation.

I needed to save my damsel, and escape.

The incompetence of my enemies came useful at that moment, especially when three unskilled mages were pushing as much mana they could to their spells in a desperate attempt to put some distance between themselves and a berserk warrior.

Unfortunately, with their lack of skill, they might as well trying to use clouds as a shield.

Then, something even worse happened. Their spells entangled, about to create a dangerous commotion that would likely kill all of them.

They should really thank me, I thought even as I stretched my mana and took control of their spell — conveniently, their combined mess of a spell going chaotic was an excellent way of hiding from the omnipresent detection ward. Barely for a few seconds.

That was all I needed.

First, I melded my mana and reached for the chaotic spell that was about to explode. Trying to steal control of an opponent’s spell was as dangerous as trying to grab the sword of a charging warrior. Luckily, it was considerably easier if the charging warrior was a three-year-old and barely able to lift the sword itself.

I didn’t suppress the spell, or make it even more destructive. I shaped its direction, targeting the dragon, and in the process, saving the lives of the three unfortunate guys trying to deal with the betrayal of their ally.

My aim wasn’t to kill the dragon, of course. The moment the spell hit against her already-damaged wards, threatening to demolish them completely. And my scaly acquaintance had no chance but put her full focus on maintaining the wards, even as the raging fires covered the full range of her defensive wards, scorching the mist completely.

And conveniently, blocking both magical and visual detection.

Focused on her task, the dragon didn’t notice the net flying toward her until it wrapped around her completely and turned her into an unlucky critter.

A shocked roar escaped her mouth, but that was all she could have done with the net suppressing her mana. Exhausted with her desperate defense, it was much easier than I expected.

Of course, that wasn’t the extent of my tricks. I pressed my hand on a large piece of rock, and rapidly transformed it into a facsimile of a dragon that had been just burned under a deadly inferno, even using Biomancy to create some fake scales, burnt flesh, and cracked bones on the surface.

-2352 Mana

It wasn’t my best work. Not only materials were missing, but I only had a second to create a work of art – a macabre one. Still, it looked convincing enough to pass ordinary muster, with people distracted in their little game, and their out-of-control spell still hiding my presence.

Just as one lasting touch, I destabilized the defensive wards remaining in the area, the resulting explosion mixing into the blast of the chaotic inferno.

Then, I rushed back into the tunnel, triggering the runes I had inscribed along to collapse the tunnel and erase my path, dragging the huge net, along with my prey.

I was prepared to attack the dragon — non-lethally, enough to make her fall into her consciousness, just to make sure she didn’t make a commotion to destroy my attempts at hiding. Luckily, she turned out to be smart enough not to react when she had been saved from immediate mortal danger.

When I finally stopped at a hiding spot nearer the protective ward, supposed to work as a defensive structure, the dragon looked at me calmly, silent, even her breathing even.

“Long time no see,” I said with a smirk. Not a lot of time had passed since our last meeting, but it certainly had been a busy period, at least for me. And if the number of missing and damaged scales on her otherwise shiny emerald body was any indicator, it hadn’t exactly been a holiday for her.

She looked at me expectantly. Seeing she wasn’t about to lash out, I loosened the net around her and let her go.

Her wings opened and she took a threatening stance, like she was about to lash out. But her magic stayed calm. It was a smart move, she was posturing in a way that leveraged her physically-intimidating qualities perfectly, but without being overtly threatening.

She was trying to equalize the playing field.

Too bad she was trying to play the game of posturing against an expert.

I was the king of posturing.

I just smiled and sat down, a chair that might even be classified as a throne rose from the ground and met halfway. Another exaggerated move, telling her that I understood her move, but was not particularly impressed.

A dragon ducking her head shyly, realizing her trick had been seen through in a second, was an amusing sight.

“We can posture some more, or I can heal you while you tell me what’s happening here. Which one do you prefer?” I asked.

The way her threatening posture disappeared even as she stretched her front claw toward me was my answer.

I placed my hand on her scales, and sent a rush of healing energy into her body, healing the surface wounds, and even purging some leftover necrotic energy from the previous ritual in the process.

-1032 Mana

However, the healing only cured a portion of her wounds. She was in an even worse condition than I had expected.

Of course, even that surface-level healing wasn’t entirely altruistic. I was also using the opportunity to examine her soul space, or more accurately, where her soul space was supposed to be.

There was no soul space. Though, after the lengthy history lesson from the headmistress — along with the detailed assessment I had managed to give her during the transfer process — the lack of it wasn’t a shock.

For a moment, she was immobile, uncertain what to do. A metaphorical clock ticked in the corner, while the small cave I had carved with my magic was illuminated soft light of the glowing lights of the wall, shining beautifully on her emerald scales.

And since she seemed unwilling to start her story, I actually conjured a clock, ticking very pointedly.

The sigh of a dragon was an impressive show. But her apparent distaste didn’t stop her from explaining. Not by speaking, but once again by drawing glowing letters in the air with her claw, using the same ancient language she had used in our previous encounter.

Interestingly, she had no problem understanding my modern speech.

‘I was minding my business when suddenly, the Knights of the Eternal Vigil appeared, warding the whole mountain, locking me inside, before they opened many cages, filled with monsters,’ she wrote.

I just nodded, gesturing for her to continue like I was aware of that particular fact, barely holding back myself from calling her an idiot.

The fact that she was able to detect the cages meant that she was using magic even after the detection ward was established, because otherwise, with the domineeringly-thick mist of Mount Doom, directly seeing them was not an option.

However, it was interesting that she had mentioned the Eternals with their full, correct name, casually like they were already a known factor. However, the implications of her history knowledge weren’t as important as their immediate urgency.

“Do you have any idea why they are dropping those animals?” I asked even as I sent another wave of healing energies into her body. It helped to use the time more efficiently.

-213 Mana

And if the healing energy was making her warm and comfortable, and more likely to slip something carelessly before she could realize, well, it must be a complete coincidence.

‘Maybe training,’ she wrote. ‘They were definitely not as strong as they were supposed to be. Maybe this is the way they train their new members.’

Another statement, that if honest, implied more about her lack of relative knowledge about the System in general. They certainly didn’t need to make such a huge commotion to train their new members, not when a few weeks of practice would teach them all they needed to know.

However, the sudden berserk state they seemed to be suffering was a more interesting aspect. I remembered the soul spaces of the three I had ambushed back in the town Titania was defending. In particular, the jagged, damaged state of their soul space, with skills and achievements pushed almost in a haphazard manner.

Clearly, like me, they had a way of helping people to push through their level limit and level up at the same time. Considering the number of people that were flying on the surface, they clearly had a higher capacity in creating artificial high-leveled warriors.

Unlike mine, however, their approach clearly had some disadvantages. Maybe one of these side effects was a mindless berserk rage.

And if that was the case, it made sense for the Eternals to lock all of them in a huge ward, with a constant detection ward to monitor their movement just to make sure they didn’t leave behind a berserk warrior once they departed.

While I had dismissed their combative capability, it was only in comparison to my capabilities. It didn’t change the fact if let out, those men would turn into natural disasters, destroying towns and cities on their way, cutting their defenses like butter.

I didn’t bother explaining my chain of thought to my scaly friend, of course. “Probably training,” I said dismissively.

‘After that, I tried to run away and hide, but before I could create a hideout, they managed to use their ward to find my exact location an hour later, and started sieging me.’

I nodded even as I continued to heal her, my mind on how to handle the situation.

—————

Level: 31 Experience: 493210

/ 496000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6324

/ 6324 Mana: 4231

/ 7750

SKILLS

Master Melee 100

/100

Master Tantric 100

/100

Master Biomancy 100

/100

Master Elemental 100

/100

Master Arcana 100

/100

Master Subterfuge 100

/100

Expert Speech 75

/75

Expert Craft 75

/75

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1

/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

Cornelia – Level 22

/26

Helga – Level 22

/26