City of Othre, unknown location.

'What the heck?' The one controlling the Carpenter remained mildly amused discovering that their creature was incapacitated.

'It takes barely more than one second to switch the main body after the first one becomes poisoned. The little bastard must have saved a tier four, if not even five, magical ring for the grand finale.

'Otherwise the Ranger had no way to deal that much damage in such a short amount of time.' They reviewed the whole fight, assessing each team member's threat level.

'Playing with them was the right choice. Manohar is just as dangerous as they say he is. No one has ever managed to extract one of my puppies from its host before. I've spent a long time to make sure it's something impossible to do, yet he pulled it off at the first attempt.

'He even managed to neutralize its assimilation abilities after less than a day worth of study. There's no telling what he could discover if they catch another made mage and I can't hope for the same trick to work twice.

'I need to find out the weak point Manohar exploited, or the next time they could stop me.' Yet instead of being worried about their plan being ruined, they smiled instead.

'It's refreshing finally meeting a worthy opponent. Fooling Constables and leading Healers by the nose becomes boring after a while. He seems the kind of man that would gladly join me, I need just to…'

When they noticed that the sun was about to set, they were forced to interrupt their plans and prepare for the evening.

'Dammit, I shouldn't have chosen this ridiculous body. Between family and servants, I have barely the time to collect mana from my puppies. My next alias will be someone inconspicuous and with much fewer responsibilities.'

***

Tista and Lith had a hard time explaining they had nothing to do with the two guards' disappearance. It was the first time for her seeing two humans die in such a gruesome way. Compared to the Carpenter, even the Fallen races looked cute and cuddly.

As for Lith, being found with a bloodstained blade while standing right in front of a pile of ashes made him the prime suspect. Their situation improved the moment Great Mage Thane checked Manohar condition and discovered he was fit as a fiddle.

Unluckily, things took a turn for the worse when he woke up.

"Idiots! Because of those idiots, I've lost a unique specimen!

" He yelled in a temper tantrum.

"Not to mention your life.

" Lith was serving a tee spiked with a strong liquor hoping to calm the mind of those present.

"Who cares about my life? I mean, I survived far worse.

" Manohar corrected himself once he realized he was the one they were talking about.

"If those incompetent fools weren't already reduced to dust, I would raise them from the dead just to have the pleasure to kill them myself!

"

"How dare you?

" After Manohar, Thane too spilled most of his tea.

"Trewan and Assa were good men! Trewan had a wife and two small children. They died because of your crazy research. What I'm going to say to Trewan's wife?

"

"That he should have followed his colleague's example and not spread his idiocy to the future generations!

"

Lith and Kamila took good care of Tista while the two men quarreled like children. Tista was still in shock. Even covered by multiple blankets, she kept shivering with cold.

"Does this kind of things happen often to you?

" Once the adrenaline rush from the fight had faded, she turned pale as a ghost.

"Gods, no. Aside from Balkor's thralls I've never met a monster like that. If you start traveling like I do, though, sometimes you're bound to see people die.

" He shrugged, drawing to himself a reproachful stare from Kamila.

"No, he is right.

" Tista drank a big gulp of liquid courage.

"I don't plan on playing tourist. I'd rather hear the truth, scary as it may be, instead of lies that could coddle my feelings and get me killed.

"

Soon Tista fell asleep despite the two mages yelling at each other. After Jirni and Dorian returned from the Marquis' house Lith shared his doubts with them.

"As I told to Great Mage Thane, we witnessed a blue pillar. What I have left out is that, after it vanished, the surroundings were almost devoid of mana, just like Kaduria after I destroyed the Black Star.

"If my hypothesis is right, it means that someone is stealing huge amounts of world energy, just like the Black Star did. The process is faulty, though. The vessels can hold only for a limited amount of time, after which the energy dissipates in the form of a light pillar.

"

"Are you crazy? Why did you hide such an important detail?

" Dorian said.

"Because this could mean that Manohar is right. Someone is using people to harvest mana, and only a cursed object or worse could require so many sacrifices.

" Lith explained, making the Professor grin with pride.

"Thane questioned us in front of his unit. If I told him the truth, one of them might have preferred to lose his job but save his family and the news would leak. If people think that Othre is going to become the next lost city, panic will kill thousands.

Also, until we don't learn what's actually happening, we can't risk spreading those critters to the rest of the Kingdom.

"

"Interesting.

" Jirni mulled over his words.

"Yet now I'm the one who thinks cursed objects have nothing to do with this story. Didn't you say that the creature had glowing blue eyes?

"

Jirni told them about the two new leads they had gotten from Marquis' Lanza home.

"I just know the basics of lesser necromancy, but I don't think this is the work of a Necromancer.

" Lith shook his head.

"The vessels are all living beings, and so was the specimen. Sounds more like Forbidden Magic to me.

"

"Maybe the blue eyes are just the sign of a mage's will controlling their creation, and maybe not.

" Jirni replied.

"I'll request the Forbidden Magic and Necromancy department to provide us all the information available on the matter.

"If what Hessie told us is true, then the made mages, the blue pillars, and the missing people are all the work of the same person.

"