Prologue
Have you ever wondered how many times a person feels like they are walking towards their death through the course of their entire life?
That was the question that was going through my head as I went through the imposing ornamented stone portal.
After a brief flash and feeling of disorientation, my vision cleared up and the final challenge of today's Trials stood before me.
Master Sura.
The leader of the Lanova Council and the strongest wizard in the kingdom sat in his throne room with a relaxed demeanor.
"There you are. I was waiting for you, Regis. Congratulations on getting this far… " He tried saying regally, slowly getting up while taking great care not to step on his violet cloak.
"Master Sura. Can't we get on with it?" I cut him in a tired voice, just about done with this bullshit. I've just battled through six realms with an army of enemies in each, plus three of the strongest mages in the entire world. To say that I was weary would be an understatement.
Not to mention we've been in this exact scenario often enough that I can recite his speech and any of the variations he has from start to finish in my sleep.
Master Sura glared at me for a second at the disrespect before sighing. "Regis, I know you hate me. But you know that my hands are tied regarding your situation."
Bullshit, I wanted to shout. Considering that he was the one that put me in this hell, he should be able to take me out.
But I know better than anyone that he's telling the truth.
Letting out a sigh and with it my anger, I regained my mental clarity. "Can we start the fight, please." This time I ask with some of the respect someone of his position and power deserves.
The legendary wizard regained a smile and said. "We as well might. Now, let us begin the final challenge." He stomped on the ground and suddenly the throne room disappeared and was replaced by an arena with a crystalline floor and walls made of dense chaotic energies.
Master Sura stood in the center of the room, a magic circle already alight with abundant mana. Not wanting to waste time, I dashed forward and cast tectonic drill.
A giant drill made of stone appeared in my hand and started to spin at high speeds. I quickly approached his position in the middle of the arena and struck him with the drill.
Instead of drilling through him as one would expect, an avatar made of chaos energies cloaked his body and my attack was stopped. He raised his hand an my instinct honed though countless battles told me that staying put against a wizard of his caliber after an attack like this was the same as committing suicide, that's why by the time he cast his chaos storm, the only thing he destroyed was the ice decoy left behind by my frost feint dash Arcana.
The chaos avatar was regenerating already, so I pressed my attack. Homing Flares and an Aqua Beam were cast in quick succession. A halo of fireballs came alive around me and a cannon of highly pressured water was unleashed from my hands quickly making its way towards the center of the arena.
This time the chaos avatar cracked like glass, and I knew that my chance had come. I cast Evading Zephyr and an aura made up of protective winds cloaked my body. With my preparations complete, I rushed towards the strongest mage to ever use Arcana.
While I was preparing my attack, Master Sura wasn't idle. A truly unfathomable amount of mana was being contained in his hands and from it, he unleashed a monstrous beam made up of destructive energies.
Unfazed by such an attack, I faced it head on. When it was about to vaporize me, the winds around my body pushed me around the beam, allowing me to continue my charge without losing speed. Recasting my tectonic drill, I was already a few meters from Master Sura who was focusing on regenerating his avatar. But it was already too late, my homing flares hit the already cracked construct and just a split a second later I was hands deep into his stomach, the drill penetrating his defenses.
The now injured mage dashed back leaving for the first time the center of the arena. He took a potion from the inner pockets of his cloak and was about to drink it.
But I wasn't going to allow that. I raised my hands prepared to cast Aqua Beam again when I noticed a dark orb. More on instinct than anything else, I interrupted my own casting and dashed backwards.
The orb exploded just a second later in a violent explosion. Thankfully, the enchanted cloak took most of the damage.
By the time I had my feet under me, Master Sura was already healed and putting the flask of the potion in his cloak's pocket.
"Well, that was well done, Regis. You've broken through my chaotic avatar. Thus you've passed the 'Might' part of this final challenge. Now, you have demonstrated you possess magical might, but what about speed." The most famous wizard of the world said before he started to dash so fast around the arena, he might as well be leaving after images.
Instead of running around, I stayed in place at the ball of my feet. Keeping my eyes peeled on the other mage. This wasn't my first rodeo after all. If I were to try to move, he would just outmaneuver me. He was far faster than me.
After a few seconds of looking for an opening, Master Sura dashed to my left, his hand was glowing blue. 'Water' was my immediate thought and dashed away from him leaving a decoy from Frost Feint. From his hand ice spikes were created and launched at me at high speeds.
The ice spike impacted my decoy and both were destroyed. I was about to launch myself towards him with a tectonic drill, but by the time the decoy and the spike were cleared out he wasn't there anymore. More on instinct than anything else, I cast homing flares. A halo of tiny fireballs appeared around myself just in time to intercept a trio of charging rocky dragon snakes at my back.
The spells canceled each other again, kicking up smoke and dust in the air. Knowing Master Sura usual pattern of attacks, I cast Tectonic Drill to my right charging through the cloud just to find myself faced by a torrent of fire. I ignored the danger and continued charging through it trying to cover as much of my body behind the drill as I could.
After a moment where I was completely enveloped by the infernal hot fire, I felt feedback on my drill. The fire disappeared and I could see my drill striking Master Sura on the shoulder, unfortunately my drill was blunted by the fire and the attack wasn't strong enough to finish the fight right there.
Fighting through the pain caused by the burns on my body, I casted my basic Arcana Bolt rail. A short stream of lightning was conjured through the hand which held the remnants of the drill using the earth as conductor to strike directly at Master Sura.
Master Sura stood there shocked by the lightning for a second in which I recast my Homing Flares. I was about to strike at him again when he put his hand on the ground and disappeared in a burst of lightning. Suddenly appearing and disappearing around my body and striking at me at different angles at lightning speed, expertly maneuvering around my flares.
After a few moments where I didn't know where was up and down, instinct kicked in and I dashed backwards leaving a decoy in my place. Now with some distance from him, my halo of fireballs launched themselves at him striking just as his shocking assault ended knocking him backwards.
At this point I was in so much pain that I felt about to fall to the ground, but one thought allowed me to stand my ground. Today, I was going to escape from this place. That means that it was the last time I was going to be able to punch Master Sura in the face.
Rejuvenated by the feeling I stood my ground and saw Master Sura casting Gust Volley. Conjuring seven blasts of air in my direction. I simply cast Evading Zephyr and started running at a fast speed but not quite a sprint towards him, the flowing winds around my body pushing me away from the dangerous windy blasts conjured by the enemy.
Seeing me start running towards him, Master Sura started dashing to the other side of the arena far faster than I ever could.
Having released one spell of each element, the only other mage in the world capable of casting Chaos Arcana prepared himself to cast one of his specialties. Three huge orbs of highly destructive chaos energy that were accompanied by several smaller ones were launched at me.
Instead of executing evasion maneuvers I accelerated, turning my running into a sprint. Getting to the chaos spell just before my protective winds expired which allowed me to bypass them directly. I made Master Sura mistime his spell making him think that my aura would disappear just before the orbs hit me. Which is what would have happened if I went chasing after him at full sprint from the beginning since he would have waited a bit more to cast his attack at me.
Now free from the danger of one of his most powerful spells, Master Sura was before me, and I continued running after him trying to read where he would dash next. He went right, trying to win the couple of seconds needed for his arcana to refresh and he could cast again.
Not in the mood to allow him that luxury, I timed my attack just as his feet touched the ground and nailed him in the face with a full powered Aqua beam. Launching him against the walls of the arena.
I heard a crystal-like sound break, signaling the end of the second phase of the final challenge. And allowed myself to relax for a bit.
The first phase always ends when I break the huge chaos avatar, while the second ends when I break the artifact that protects Master Sura from death by absorbing a decent amount of damage.
Master Sura, after a second to collect himself, stood up from the ground with a smile and started to walk towards me. "Congratulations Regis, you've passed the second phase of the final challenge of the Chaos Trials. With this you've attained the rank of Legend for the fifteenth time. Just like the other times, I will send another Chaos Arcana to your room for you to play around with." The smug bastard told me with a hint of teasing in his voice knowing that this whole battle was a farce.
In reality I stood no chance of beating him in a serious fight and seeing the mood he was in, he was about to demonstrate that quite thoroughly.
"But, I've sensed that you've been thinking unkind things about me for a while, so why don't we go through the third phase. You know, the one governing Skill…" With that he returned to the chaos circle in the middle of the arena and most of the mana that was collected in the walls converged into his body forming an aura so thick you would think you were staring at the abyss itself.
"Now let's begin the real fight" He said in an ominous voice. I've experienced this exact scenario fourteen times in the past and despite all I experienced up to this point, my thoughts remained the same as the first time I saw him in this state.
The only true legend in this place was the wizard in front of me.
I would like to believe that I put up an epic fight and won despite all odds. But reality was often cruel and I barely managed to last twenty-eight seconds against the greatest wizard of the current era going all out before I was completely and utterly obliterated.
But hey, silver lining.
I lasted five more seconds than last time.
//////////////
Dying and being reborn was always a horrible experience no matter how many times I went through the process.
First comes the complete sensorial void of being without a body, with only your traumatic memories of your death repeating in your head keeping you focused enough to not lose yourself into the nothingness.
The feeling of your soul slowly being eroded away by the aether because it doesn't have a body to keep it grounded it's a harrowing experience in itself. But the truth was that being 'reborn' again was even worse. Imagine suddenly being thrust in a new body whose head was completely blank. Then imagine having to feel as if your soul, that was kind of tender because of your time into the void, was slowly being connected to that body's nervous system which wasn't calibrated to yourself. It was painful on multiple levels. And it never got easier.
To a normal person, this process would be something that scarred them for the rest of their life. There's a reason that souls connect to newborns when their bodies weren't fully developed.
For me though, I go through this process every Tuesday and Saturday.
By the time I was feeling like myself again, I found myself with my face pressed against the wooden floor of my base. Slowly getting up while working though the nausea and urge to throw up. I knew that it wouldn't help, this body has never eaten so the only thing that could come out would be stomach acids so it would only make me feel worse.
I slowly walked towards a wall to get myself some support. As I walked through the base I eyed carefully the chaotic mess of books I left behind everywhere. I especially focused on some items that I'd memorized the exact position of to know if someone had been here while I was away. Fortunately, it seems like no one came by.
A feeling of relief came over me and some of the tension of my body left. It seemed that I was going to be able to complete my escape today. After getting to a pile of books, I delicately took the top book of the pile and instead of more books, a small compartment was revealed inside the pile. In the compartment, a sphere-like relic fully covered in runes was placed in the center of a magic circle carved on the floor. Looking at my only hope of getting out of here I couldn't help but reminisce how I got here in the first place.
I was in my room, looking through the files and research of the various laboratories inside Academy city that I'd managed to hack into. When suddenly a weird artifact appeared in front of my face. Before I knew it I was in this very room, the artifact secured around my neck.
I was understandably confused, until Master Sura arrived and explained everything to me.
First, it appeared that I was going to be a wizard, the fact that I was in that very room meant that I had the potential for it.
When I heard that, I was very excited. Since I was very young, I've longed for some kind of superpower or magic. It all started at the orphanage I was raised in, when one day while watching TV I saw an advertisement about Academy City. A city where any kid could receive first class education and above all, there was the possibility to be an esper through the curriculum program.
Immediately I went to the matron of the orphanage and asked for it. The orphanage wasn't well funded and since it seemed that the city itself was paying for kids to attend, she was happy to fill the forms necessary to see If any of us was allowed to go.
Two weeks later, a couple of scientists from the city came and ran some tests on all the orphans. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately as I would come to learn later, I was told that I couldn't go. When I asked why, the scientist told me that the ability I could possibly develop from the curriculum would be too chaotic and that the math that was available at the moment wouldn't allow me to harness my ability safely.
As a precocious small child, being told that I couldn't get powers infuriated me, so to know more and get powers for myself, I started studying computers and everything related to them. I also might have been told that even If I couldn't be an Esper, I still could be a Tech wizard and to my six years old self that was more than enough to put everything in it and excel. My talents would later get me into trouble, but that was a matter for another time.
Anyway, the matter was that after years of looking for ways to get myself a supernatural ability, suddenly being summoned to another place and being told that I was going to be a wizard made me very happy.
I was a little worried about the kids at the orphanage and my friend inside Academy City, but there wasn't much I could do for them at that point and I'd left everything I owned to them in case I disappeared. Considering what my job was, it wasn't an impossibility so I was prepared for it.
But I knew that when someone summoned someone else, it was because they wanted something from the other party. So when I asked how I got there in the first place, Master Sura signaled the pendant attached to the necklace tied around my neck.
It seemed that they had activated a very special relic that through magic would find someone with the right aptitudes to complete a certain task. Said task had to be specified at the moment when the relic was activated.
When I asked which task it was that I had been chosen to do, Master Sura was happy to answer, but when he tried to tell me, the artifact started electrocuting me to the point that I almost passed out due to the pain. That was the moment I noticed that somehow something had gone very wrong. It didn't matter which way he tried to communicate it, the relic made sure that I wouldn't be able to receive the message.
In the end, Master Sura concluded that for me to complete the task they've imputed, it could only be possible if I didn't know what the task was in the first place. When I asked what I was supposed to do, he explained how Arcana worked and that I could get started getting used to them. He told me that the relic would signal me what I would need to do when the time was right.
A week of relative peace passed when the relic started guiding me somewhere. When I tried to resist, it started to electrocute me. Eventually I reached the portal to the Chaos Trials.
The Chaos Trials were supposed to be the ultimate test of any wizard. Where a wizard would have to face armies of monsters and the elemental Lords and Ladies. And I, with a single week of training, was in no way prepared for them.
The conclusion of my first Trial wasn't any surprise. I managed to defeat some ghouls with my fireball arcana when suddenly I heard something fly at me from behind. I tried to dodge, but by the time I reacted, an arrow was already impaled on my eye. The only reason I didn't die immediately was due to the defensive enchantments on my robes.
Being in more pain than I've ever been before, I tried to surrender, I begged for someone to take me away from that place. But while other wizards were granted that right, it wasn't the case for me. For some reason that to this day I still haven't managed to discern, the stupid relic wanted me to die in there. And die I did, moments later a swordsman spawned behind me and my head rolled on the ground. Which sparked my first death and rebirth.
At that moment, my hell began.
The only reason I didn't fall into despair and break from what was happening to me was oddly enough the same relic that caused it in the first place. I had on my person an object that was capable of spiriting me away from another world after all. So I put my all into learning magic and enchanting. When I wasn't training for the Trials, I was studying magic and everything I could get my hands on. Thankfully, I managed to guilt Master Sura into giving me all the books I wanted. I sold it to him that if I didn't distract myself from the trials somehow, I was going to break. It wasn't that far from the truth so I think I managed to hide my true intentions.
Five years later and the artifact in front of my eyes was the result of my sweet, blood and tears. One way or another, today was going to be my last day in Lanova, I managed to reverse engineer a similar artifact to the relic that summoned me here.
The difference was that, instead of looking for a soul to entrust a task, this invention would pick my soul and transport it to another world where someone with a body compatible with my soul just died and whose soul already departed. Then it was supposed to heal it with a healing potion and link me into that body.
It wasn't an elegant solution and the risks of something going wrong were really high. But I've done my best and I really didn't think I could do better at this point.
So with a quick prayer to the Chaos gods, I decided that I'd procrastinated enough. I picked up three very specific Arcana from my Tome and my relic.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself.
"Alright, let's do this."
First I cast Chaotic Rift, a dark portal opened before me and I dashed inside, but instead of designating the coordinates for the return portal I left it blank. Something that Master Sura warned me to never do if I wanted to avoid being erased from existence.
Jokes on him, that's exactly what I wanted.
The reason I needed to enter the Chaos Sea was because my soul was trapped inside the relic that summoned me. And while such relics can survive the Chaos Sea, the Chaos Sea is extremely corrosive and the relic needed a lot of energy to power its defensive enchantments to avoid being damaged. That was why I had a period of three days between Trials, or at least that was my theory after studying it for the past few years.
The plan was to enter the Chaos Sea while the relic was low on mana and thus break it, then I would activate my own relic that's fully charged to absorb my soul before I too was destroyed by the sea.
After entering the portal, I quickly found myself inside the chaos sea and casted Earthen Aegis and Vortex Veil in quick succession. Walls of earth and air formed a protective cocoon around me giving me the necessary time to activate the relic. A request was needed to activate it, so that it could find a world where to search for my future body, so from the bottom of my heart I wished.
"Please bring me to a place I could genuinely call home."
The relic lit up and soon enough the elemental shields failed and I knew no more.
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AN: I'm editing and cross posting this from SB for peace of mind. So expect around 2-3 chapter a day until I finish editing everything.
Chapter 1
I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
Looking around the room, I noted that it was made of wood and while it was well-made, it had a rustic feeling.
Trying to sit on the bed with great effort, I noticed my body was frail. I felt numb and the bed was made of a really uncomfortable material. Feeling the fibrous material with my hand, I could only conclude that it was straw.
Alright…, it looked like I at least managed not to kill myself and my escape was successful. I didn't have much to go by, but I thought I wasn't in a modern world either.
Now, onto the magic front…, I closed my eyes and started focusing on my astral body.
Huh, that's unexpected and mildly infuriating.
Why the heck was my mana pool on my head? Who thought it would be a good idea?
If I were to use all my mana I would lose consciousness and could even die! You know, since the astral body is what kept the soul attached to the body.
I took a moment to breathe and calm myself. It wasn't like it was all bad, I managed to escape my personal hell and finally was in a normal body again.
The bodies that I used in the Trials were not normal, they were more like avatars made of magic, thus I could never physically or magically improve. I believed I hadn't aged a day while I was there either. Being trapped in a teen body for eternity was a hell on its own.
So that was good news, I managed to survive and now I had a chance to live any way I wanted. Concerning the state of my magic, I didn't think it was wise to try anything with it for now.
My current body was dead for some time after all, which was probably why I felt so weak at the moment. I was also feeling the connection between my soul and my body slowly improving so until that connection was complete I would have to content myself living like a normal human.
While trying to get up I was interrupted by the door opening.
"Ah! you shouldn't be getting up. From what I heard it's a miracle that you're even alive." A feminine voice said. Looking at the source of the voice, I saw a woman. She had gray hair and her face had some wrinkles but she moved with a youthful energy toward me.
"Ah–" I tried to reply but my throat was parched. Before I could try to say anything else, the woman was already helping me to lie down in the bed.
"Stay in bed, alright dearie. I will get you some water, just don't move, you should be resting." The woman said gently before exiting the room.
That was weird, the way she manhandled me. Either the people here are bigger and stronger than I'm used to… or as I observed my tiny hand I concluded that I reincarnated into the body of a preteen.
I sighed at having to go through puberty again. When I got summoned to Lanova I was fourteen, and I spent five years there. And now I was going to have to go through puberty again.
I resigned myself, there was nothing I could do.
A couple of minutes later the woman returned with a glass of water, this time followed by a man. He seemed similar in age to the woman, but he had a more imposing aura. Similar to the one someone in positions of leadership usually had. Looking at their mannerism and the matched rings around their fingers I deduced that they were probably married.
"I see that you finally woke up." The man said while the woman gave me the glass of water. "I heard that you nearly died, do you remember what happened?"
I drank the water slowly to give myself some time to think. I couldn't exactly say that I was practically committing suicide to escape my slavers. Moreover, he was probably referring to what caused the death of the kid whose body is now mine.
I was going to try not to think about the whole body-snatching thing. I knew that eventually I was going to confront myself about it but now wasn't the time.
I tried to recall any memories this body could have had and a fractured image of being in a carriage with an old man appeared in my mind. When suddenly a green silhouette stabbed the man in the heart and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground choking on my own blood.
"I remember being with the old man when suddenly we were attacked by something. My memories are kind of blurry." I said. "Is the old man okay? How did I end up here in the first place?"
The woman had a sad expression on her face while the man answered what I already suspected. "You were brought here by a couple of adventurers from the Astraea Familia who were on the way to deliver a package. According to them, they barely managed to kill the monsters that attacked you in time to save your life, but the old man was already dead by then."
The adventurers were probably late to save the boy too. It was just that my relic reanimated the body just before they probably got there. Still, that means I was in debt to this Astraea Familia. If it wasn't for them, these monsters would probably have killed me again while I was unconscious.
Wasn't Astraea the name of a Greek goddess? What were the odds of such a name being in this world?
I ended up burying my legs between my knees to hide my reaction. I knew that I was supposed to feel sad that the old man was dead but I didn't know him and I wasn't a good enough actor to feign sadness convincingly enough. "What's going to happen to me now?"
I kind of felt bad tricking them like this. They seem like kind people.
The old man sighed while the woman started patting my back. "I'm going to be honest with you, my village isn't a place for a young boy like you to live." The man or the mayor of this village said.
"Dear, you couldn't possibly just throw him out in the wilderness." The woman said
The man put on a complicated expression and gave a look at his wife trying to convey something before he finally sighed. "I guess I can give you two options, I could let you rest in this house for a couple of days and then give you enough supplies to last you the trip to the nearest village, or you could stay here for a couple of years. But if you decide to stay here you're going to have to help around the village. And in a couple of years, there will come a day when I'm going to tell you to leave and never return. And you're going to obey. Am I understood?" He said in a tone that he wouldn't accept any kind of disobedience.
I nodded before deciding. "I would like to stay here if you'll have me." The second option was better for now. I was currently defenseless and knew next to nothing about the world. I needed time to grow up and rearm myself and despite the imposing tone of the mayor, I could tell that they were good people.
"Rest for a couple of days. When you're fully healed we'll talk again about where you'll be staying and the work you'll need to do if you want to eat." The mayor said before leaving the room.
"Don't take my husband's words personally. He's been under a lot of stress lately. He's a good man, you'll see it. I wouldn't have married him otherwise" the woman said, giving me a half hug. "Now I'm going to get some food for you. Be a good boy and stay in bed alright?" she said before leaving the room.
Being treated like a kid kind of irked me but considering that now I was still one, I couldn't really say anything.
I have two years to prepare for the outside world. This means not much time at all. I decided to not waste time and meditate to accelerate my recovery as much as possible.
Still, what could possibly happen to the village in a couple of years that the mayor was so adamant about kicking me out of the village?
////////////////
A couple of days later, I found myself in front of a wooden hut that seemed about a day away from meeting its end.
"This is where you're going to live while you're here. I know that it isn't much but it's what I can offer you." The mayor said.
"Don't worry sir, it's more than I could ask for. Thank you for letting me stay."
"Don't thank me for this. You're going to be helping around the village now that you're healed. According to the farmer, the fields are ready to be harvested. So use the rest of today to repair the hut and make yourself at home. I want to see you tomorrow morning in the fields." He said in a tone of authority.
"Yes sir," I replied. After looking at me with a complicated expression, he left to check on the other villagers.
Letting some tension leave my shoulders, I looked at the hut. The hut consisted of a single room, on the left there was a bed, on the right there was a table with a chest under it and in the back there was a small hearth to heat up the place. It was far inferior compared to my base in Lanova. But at least in this place, I wouldn't have to experience death every other day.
While I started cleaning the place, I started wondering about the village I found myself in.
The village was called Drait 87.
I wonder why it has a number attached to its name.
Anyway, the place was tiny, and by tiny I mean that its population was in the twenties. They were all also pretty old but seemed to have enough strength to be self-sufficient in general. I saw a farmer, a seamstress, and a smith on the way to the hut, so the village seemed to have most of their bases covered.
I was also presented to the few villagers we saw and all of them seemed pretty conflicted to see me here at first, but after the mayor talked to them in private for a couple of minutes, they seemed to relax and start being kind to me so I didn't think I'd have any problems being accepted.
I didn't really mind working in the fields either. While now I could move around freely, I still felt pretty weak and my astral body was far from being fully synchronized with my body. So some honest hard work at the fields would be a nice way to exercise.
I also went through some of the residual memories that this body carried. Most of them were really fragmented, but in these two days I've started puzzling over some of the common sense of this world. There were apparently real gods walking around. A thing that chilled my spine, since gods were usually apathetic monsters to mortals but I'll reserve judgment considering that the world was still standing and the world doesn't appear to be apocalyptic.
I wonder if praying to the Chaos Gods before using the artifact was the reason for finding myself in a world full of gods.
To tell the truth, I felt a little like I was the butt end of some kind of cosmic joke.
Anyway, from what I was able to piece together these gods form organizations of mortals around them called Familia. When you enter a Familia you receive the Falna. From what I was able to gather, the Falna seemed like a blessing that gets stronger over time depending on what you do. Everything seemed very video game-like from my perspective.
There was also the fact that I recognized the names of most of the gods I remembered. Which was weird because they weren't from just one mythology. How did this even happen? Maybe they somehow traveled from my first world to this one and that was why my original world seemed godless. Or maybe these gods were some kind of universal constant between some worlds. There were way too many possibilities with my current data.
The two curious things I discovered these past couple of days was that the gods didn't require or wanted prayer and that they were for some reason sealed their powers.
Which was weird.
The sound of a bell interrupted my train of thought.
It seemed it was time for dinner.
According to the mayor, since the village was so small everyone ate breakfast and dinner together.
Hopefully, everything was going to turn out alright.
Chapter 2
The gentle rays of light from the dawn woke me up from my slumber. I looked around my little hut while yawning. I couldn't help but reminisce about my time in the village.
A month has passed since I arrived in this world. The first few days were really tough, my body felt really numb and my dexterity and my general strength were barely enough for the simplest tasks they gave me.
Thankfully the villagers were understanding and didn't demand more of me than what I could do.
They did laugh at my clumsiness though.
I didn't think I was ever going to live down the whole tripping on flat ground every few minutes.
Getting used to such a small body wasn't something you could do without some growing pains.
Thankfully little by little I was getting used to this body and I could tell that my astral body is getting more developed by the day.
It's was developing weirdly though. It's created some sort of mana nodes in my body that were different from what I learned they should be back in Lanova.
Which makes sense since my mana pool was still in my head for some goddamn reason.
Breathe Regis, Breathe. Trust in Darwin.
If my mana pool was in my head there must be a goddamn good reason for it.
If not, I will figure out how to open a portal through time and space and brick him in the back of the head for giving me hope.
All in all, I was grateful that the month went by peacefully and there wasn't any disaster.
After I finished putting my clothes on and did my morning routine, I heard the morning bell so I went to get breakfast.
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"Put your back into it, Regis. Come on, youngsters like you should put your all in everything you do!" The old farmer said merrily while he was just about to pass me by again for the third time in the last ten minutes.
"I already am, old man" I replied while ducking a slap that came from behind my head.
We were cutting the wheat from the fields with scythes. I was on my second row while the farmer was already at his fifth.
The sun in the sky was trying its best to kill me, I swear.
It was that hot.
I would worry about the surprisingly springy old man.
But if it wasn't already obvious, the farmer was cheating. Even in his old age, his body was powered by the Falna of a God. According to him, he also acquired a skill that made him better at anything farming-related.
A Skill was a special power that you could acquire from the Falna that was unique to each person.
I still hadn't figured out what exactly it did and how it worked, but that seems like the norm around here.
All the villagers were old adventurers, so most of them had developed a Skill or Magic throughout their lives, but when I asked how they all worked, no one could tell me. To them, they just did.
That's why it was magic to them, it seemed.
I had to fight my whole being to not roll my eyes.
Taking a deep breath and strengthening my grip on the scythe, I continued making my way through the field slowly cutting the grain.
A few minutes later when I was just about to finish my row, a feeling of vertigo almost made me miss my step. Instead of the golden wheat field and clear skies, a chaotic mess of colors and sensations overwhelmed my senses.
The colors were so mesmerizing…
"Oi Regis, it's not time to sleep. What are you doing lying on the floor? Come on, get up! You know we pour excrement to fertilize the fields right?" I heard the farmer's voice.
Eh? Since when I was on the floor? What happened?
Wait, the soil is full of shit? I tried to ignore the colors that I couldn't see with my eyes and quickly got up, the disgusting fact breaking the trance I had been trapped in.
Ew! I tried to wipe away the earth that clung to me with my hand.
"Are you alright Regis? Did you faint?" The farmer asked worriedly.
Looking at my hand and then at the farmer. I decided to ignore the weirdness.
"I think that hot weather may have sneaked on me ehehehe." I laughed a little embarrassed.
"It seems like we pushed you a little too much too soon." The farmer murmured to himself.
"Go to the well and drink some water Regis. Then rest for the next couple of hours in the shade"
"Alright, sir. I'm sorry for this." I said.
"What do you have to feel sorry for? Come on get going, I don't want your ass fainting on me again." He told me while pointing in the direction of the well.
Walking away from the fields, I can't help but wonder. What the hell was this!?
I could see perfectly well, and my other senses work as usual. So why was it that I could sense a chaotic mess of strands, points, and clumps of different colors superimposed with reality?
Looking at my hand I 'saw' a mess of blues, greens, yellows, reds, and purples.
I tried closing my eyes. And yeah, I could still 'see' this phenomenon even when my eyes were closed.
Alright Regis. Breathe.
There has to be a perfectly logical explanation for this…
By the time I got to the well, I was still drawing a blank. To my defense, these extra senses were really distracting.
Getting the bucket from the bottom of the well was mildly straining. But a couple of minutes later I had the bucket full to the brim with water. I couldn't help but stare.
Blue. Deep blue with little hints of green and yellow but mostly blue. Moreover, now that I can focus, this is a familiar blue.
The image of Master Sura throwing that water spell at me in our last fight came to mind.
Oh. Of course.
Roll with it Regis, continue thinking.
If the Deep blues symbolize water then the greens should symbolize the minerals inside and the yellows the electrical charges…
Suddenly, with that context, the mess of colors starts to make more sense. The ground is predominated by greens and yellows while the air is full of sky blue and deep blues.
I didn't see it at first because the air was also full of dust which painted the air greenish and the light also was tinted yellow which I guess made sense since light was a kind electromagnetic radiation.
Was this whole thing just some weird synesthesia? No, that didn't make sense either.
All my senses were working as they should. Besides if yellow symbolizes lightning, that wasn't something my regular senses would help me feel in such detail.
Not to mention that I could feel the colors all around my body and not just in front of my eyes.
I scooped some water in my hands and drank while trying to figure out what was happening.
Feeling refreshed, I returned to the field and sat under the shade of a tree. The farmer saw me and I signaled with my hand that I was alright.
After he turned back to work, I simply observed the world around me. Trying to get used to the new sensations.
But looking at the mesmerizing collection of colors dancing around me just distracted me and didn't give me any additional hints about what was going on.
So, looking outwards didn't help, but what about inwards.
Closing my eyes, I tried to sense my astral body but couldn't.
What?
No, it wasn't that I couldn't, it was just that I could sense the colors inside myself too, and that made it difficult to feel my mana.
In fact, now that I looked more closely, there were parts of my body where the colors were better defined than others and these coincided with the structures that my astral body was naturally developing to bind my body and my soul together.
Those node-like structures were also where my mana was more concentrated.
So I could conclude that I was somehow casting a spell to sense the world like this. Since the higher the concentration of my mana was on a place, the better I could sense that place.
The problem with that conclusion was that I'd been a wizard for five years and I knew that magic in Lanova didn't work like this. And from what I learned from the villagers, the magic from this world didn't work like this either.
This left me confused because my gut told me this new perception field of mine had clearly been tinted by my time in Lanova. The colors were identical to the colors the mana adopted from each elemental spell Arcana.
Wait a moment, a field, an involuntary spell, an involuntary movement…
Guts?
I picked a pebble from the ground with my right hand and focused on the deep green colors inside. I closed my eyes and imagined a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system and centered it in my mind's eye on the pebble. I attached a variable name to that pebble's specific shade of green with its coordinates and I added a vector that would direct the pebble upwards.
Following a gut feeling, I attached the kinetic energy formula to my previous vectorial equation. (1/2mv^2)
Nothing happened. But my gut was telling me to continue, that there was something here.
I focused on the formula in my mind. More specifically to the mass and velocity variables. I could somehow tell that I had weighed the pebble right and my speed value was not outrageous. If my gut feeling is right then this should do something.
I started to feel frustrated.
Mass and velocity.
I knew what those are.
But, maybe that's not enough.
I needed to understand them.
*Crushed under a boulder weight, being speed blitzed by the lightning twins, splattered to death by fiery meteors, squashed by water pressure, perforated by sharp winds in the blink of an eye, mashed to a pulp by an earthen spiked morning star, being cut by a blindingly fast electric cutter, penetrated by a giant ice sword, smashed to the ground by a wind hammer…*
Yeah, mass and speed. I intimately _know_ what those are.
The numbers in my mind suddenly being infused by those memories lit up, then the pebble in my hand shot upwards, static ran through my arm, my pants caught on fire, the little remnants of water in my hands drizzled in the air and the air itself tousled my hair.
Yeah, that kind of confirmed my suspicion.
I was an esper.
More specifically, a Gemstone.
At least that was what I thought since I hadn't taken any drugs.
I hoped so.
Maybe I should check the water of the village later just in case.
The relic I crafted to jump worlds, was designed to search for the most compatible body possible with my soul. Considering that I charged that thing for months. It should have had enough mana to search for a near-infinite amount of worlds. So I guessed this result is not that surprising.
Still, I was an esper with the power of a wizard.
I could feel my the smile forming on my face.
There was some irony in there somewhere.
I thought I could feel certain scientists dying a little inside.
It was wonderful.
Suddenly a burnt smell reached my nose.
"Holy shit! I knew you youngsters were hardcore, but lighting your pants on fire by rubbing one. That's a new one puahahaha." I heard the farmer say.
"What no? I can't get it up yet, what are you talking about old man" I cried at him embarrassed while quickly patting my pants with my still-wet hands to extinguish the flame.
"Erectile dysfunction? At your age? Man, youngsters really pick up grown-ups' problems fast nowadays." He told me with a shit-eating grin.
"I'm twelve you sick old man! Are you sure you've taken your medication this morning" I replied.
At that, he busted out laughing.
I really should check the water in this place.
Chapter 3
I could barely hear the strong winds from outside as I ran for my life. The sound of footsteps nearby made me try to squeeze a little more speed from my tired legs.
As I ran down the corridor, I saw an intersection at the end. When I got there, I cast Frost Feint, leaving an ice decoy of myself looking like I was going right. When in reality I had gone left.
A couple of seconds later, an arrow detonated my decoy, and a couple of Wind Lancers and a Wind Knight reached the intersection and turned right, being fooled by my Feint.
Seeing the opportunity in front of me I unleashed the Thundering Chain Arcana and an Exploding Fireball.
Three huge lightning struck in front of me followed by a sizable fireball that hit one of the two Lancers. I was prepared to unleash another Arcana when suddenly the Knight dashed just before me. Protective winds having defended him from my spells.
I barely had time to dash backward before the knight struck, but I managed to dash and the knight froze because of the decoy left by my dash Arcana.
Then when I was about to cast my signature Arcana, a shadow blocked the light from reaching my left eye for a split second. I turned my head upwards just to see the point of a lance about to penetrate my eye.
With a jarring jolt, I awoke in my bed. Sweat was falling around my face and my breathing ragged. With a glance around I realized that I was in my hut in Drait and let out a sigh of relief.
It was just a nightmare.
Breathe Regis.
Just, Breathe.
After a couple of minutes of calming down, I looked around the room making sure that there wasn't anything on fire. Again.
My ability had kind of activated on its own a couple of times in the past while I was having nightmares.
It had been around a month since my astral body finished synchronizing. And these nightmares had been a semi-regular occurrence since then.
Apart from the nightmares, the last month hadn't been half bad. Well if you discount the villagers teasing me about being haunted by a fire spirit… and okay the farmer still continued with the dick jokes.
I think that dementia was kicking in early for him.
Anyway, I had been practicing with my newfound abilities as an esper and I came to a couple of conclusions during this time.
First, my ability wasn't like five different types of kinesis for each element.
It was true that I had managed to control fire, water, earth, lightning, and air separately. But each time I tried wielding any element, the other four would also react supernaturally. That was why I thought that my true ability was something like Chaoskinesis. Since the chaos of Lanova consisted of the five elements mashed together.
It was the only thing that made sense. There was also the fact that in my first world, I once took the tests to enter Academy City and they rejected me because my ability would be way too chaotic to develop. Or at least that's what they told my six years self.
Years later, after a whole lot of learning 'cybersecurity', I learned that for me to use my powers they would need to elevate me to Level 4 in terms of calculations for me to start manifesting my ability.
For them, I simply wasn't worth the investment for an ability that didn't seem to have direct scientific applications.
Thankfully Academy City didn't know that by apparently experiencing death a few hundred times in specific ways, you could fuck around your personal reality until it turned into something more usable.
"And oh God, please, if you exist for the love of yourself don't let them discover it." I couldn't help but pray.
I still had nightmares about the orphan crusher.
But I digressed.
The other thing I had figured out was that I still didn't have enough calculation ability to control it freely.
Who would have thought it wouldn't be easy to keep five different equations running simultaneously in your mind, right?
Thankfully I had figured out that I could practice my calculations by using sensing formulas and those didn't form accidental pseudo-poltergeists.
I also figured out how to use my ability without any calculation if the burn in the form of a line that's on my table is any proof.
But that spell took three hours of preparation and thirty minutes of pure concentration to even attempt so I'll table that method for now.
With a yawn, I exited my hut and saw the sun peeking from the horizon. Seeing what time it was, I decided to go to the village's center where we usually eat breakfast since it should be about time for the bell to…
Yeah, there it is. As if talking about the devil the bell was ringing.
On my way to breakfast, I noticed that the leaves from the trees around were starting to fall. It seemed that Autumn was about to start.
"Hey Regis, good morning!" I heard the farmer's voice call out to me.
"Good morning everyone" I replied with a yawn, and I heard a chorus from the rest of the villagers.
"You seem like a very sleepy raccoon this morning, Regis. Your face is kind of hilarious." The farmer said laughing. As it was already tradition at this point the farmer said something silly to tease me.
I'was already used to it so I don't really really react.
Which made him pout. Ew, stop pouting old man. That was cute when children do it. When you, with your face full of wrinkles, did it... it was creepy.
My disgust must have shown on my face because he burst out laughing.
That was when the mayor's wife came from behind him and gave the farmer a slap on the back of the head and said. "Stop giving him a hard time, you idiot. Don't you see he's not had a good night?"
I didn't know my face was that easy to read.
The farmer was about to say something but a glare from her made him reconsider and decide to go elsewhere.
"Are you alright dear? We're not pushing you too hard are we?" she asked while kneeling and cupping my cheeks to get a good look at my face.
"No, I'm fine. '*Yawn*' Just a nightmare." I replied.
"I see… Let's see if I can get you some time off today. That way you can get a nap in. Children need their sleep to grow up. For now, here is your breakfast." She said while handing me a plate with some bread and cheese and I began eating.
"Come, Regis, let's go talk with my husband." She said and directed me towards the mayor who seemed to be talking with the farmer.
"See, I think we're about done with…" The farmer was saying when we arrived. "Oh, you're here Regis. I was telling Mr Mayor over here that the harvest season is almost over and that I don't need your help anymore."
"I see." The mayor said. And put on a thoughtful expression.
Seeing him considering something I decided to ask something that had been bugging me. "I thought fall was when fields were usually harvested?"
"We entered fall awhile ago, though" The farmer replied confused. At my confused look at the mostly green trees, understanding entered his face, and said. "Ah, I see. The trees around here are fairly resistant to the weather so they start shedding their leaves well into the season."
When I was about to express my understanding, the mayor seemed to come to a decision. "Regis, the smith came earlier to complain about having too much work. Since it seems that this clown doesn't need your help anymore, you'll help him for a while instead."
That was fine by me. One of the reasons I had bags under my eyes was because I spent some nights trying to see if my enchanting still worked as it did in Lanova. Since enchanting in this world seemed limited to adventurers with a rare Skill.
The problem I had been having was that to enchant, I needed to carve runes and the knife they gave me just wasn't sharp enough to carve wood with any precision. Hopefully, if I helped the smith I could convince him to make me a better knife.
But how to frame it… Oh, I know.
"Alright, sir. Do you think he'll make me a dagger if I ask? I don't want to be defenseless anymore…" I said gripping my left arm with my right arm defensively and hunching a little.
"Probably, but it'll take a while. We have some things around the village that we need to fix first. And don't worry about being defenseless, Regis. We were planning to teach you how to fight after all." He said seriously while putting a hand on my shoulder.
"What!? Absolutely not. Can't you see that he's barely keeping up with his current workload? He is unblessed Roger. You can't just treat him like he is a new recruit." His housewife said in an alarmed tone.
Goddammit! Please don't let your wife win Mr Mayor. I need that knife!
"Calm down dear, I wasn't talking about teaching right now. He's still too weak. I'm planning to wait until winter to get him started." The mayor explained.
Yes, good job! Wait, winter?
"I still think that spending the entire day in the smithy is too much." The housewife said.
The mayor put on a thoughtful expression once more and looked at me once more. "Then what about this, you'll spend the morning with the smith helping in anything he asks of you, and then you'll go with the seamstress in the afternoon. It's going to get cold soon and you don't have winter clothes yet. What do you think?"
"I'm fine with it, sir," I replied hiding my disappointment at not getting the knife, I knew didn't really have a choice.
And like this, my immediate future was decided. I didn't really mind that much, as long as I got my knife somewhat soonish I would be happy, and if there was anything I've missed from Lanova, it was my mage's cloak. That thing had air-conditioning enchanted into it, so if I worked with the seamstress on my clothes I could probably sneakily replicate it.
/////////////
"Come on boy! I don't have all day. The metal is hot enough, take it out of the forge." The grumpy smith almost grunted at me. Breaking me out of a trance I'd found myself in.
"Yes, sir," I said and moved to pick the scorching hot metal with the metal tongues.
"Now, place it on the anvil and follow my instructions." I picked up the iridescent metal rod and placed it on the anvil where he started to hammer it.
To say that I was entranced by the experience would be an understatement. I didn't particularly care about blacksmithing, but no matter what world I've found myself in, learning has always been one of my passions.
And there was a lot to learn from the old blacksmith. He appeared like a wrinkled fossil at first, but when he picked the hammer it was as if he acquired a weird aura.
No, he definitely acquired an aura. I didn't see it at first, but when I looked at him with my ability I could see something out of the ordinary. Other people always looked like a mess of colors under my esp perception, but I could see some smooth red/fire mana currents flowing from the hand holding the hammer, directly into the metal.
"Pay attention boy! Rotate the rod!" The smith said.
I quickly rotated the metal and he continued hammering while I observed everything.
The fire mana seemed to be absorbed into the metal and I could see that the impurities in the color of the metal were slowly being extracted.
Was it purifying the metal?
The metal was also keeping itself hotter longer than it should. The redness was being strengthened over time instead of fading away.
I shifted the metal rod again absentmindedly while continue observing what I could only conclude was a Falna-based Skill of some kind. The mana was moving way smoothly compared to how it usually was.
"Hahaha, very good boy. Continue like this." He shouted, which almost made me jump, he had a smile on his previously grumpy face.
What did I do?
Oh right, I shifted the rod to his perfect spot exactly where there were more impurities.
To me, because of my ability, it was obvious where he needed to hit to extract the impurities. Not only that, I could kind of tell where he wanted to hit next…
Weird.
Anyway, for him, it was as if I was reading his mind, which made his job easier. Never mind that I was a total newbie and I shouldn't know anything about it.
Oops.
Well, no harm no fool.
He continued hammering the metal until it turned into a pan. Then we made a spearhead, and soon enough we were producing one item after another at a breakneck speed. Between his experience and his Skill that helped keep the metal hot and extract impurities and me moving the metal to the optimal spots for him to hammer we made for an excellent production machine.
Pity that by the second-hour mark, my body was already flagging. The heat from the forge had taken a toll on me. I was about to ask for a break when I turned my face to the smith and was astonished. I could see that he wasn't anywhere done. In fact, if anything else he seemed more youthful.
Compared to the mess of an aura that all the villagers usually had, his at this exact moment was anything but.
His aura, to my vision, straightened up and kind of crystallized like an almost perfectly cut ruby. He still glowed with other colors since, you know, his body was made of flesh and thus possessed water and solid matter. But instead of coalescing into the usual mess, it painted a masterpiece giving the ruby a beautiful inner light instead.
At that moment I realized a few things:
First, the old man had entered into a state of absolute flow.
Second, the apocalypse could be happening outside right this moment and he would continue hammering the metal.
Third, everyone in this world could become espers. The Falna was probably just a different kind of esper power curriculum. Because If what I was seeing in front of me wasn't his personal reality made manifest I would eat the manure the farmer keeps teasing me with.
And lastly, I wanted to extend this moment as long as possible.
Seeing as my body wasn't going to last much longer, I put my mind to work. I couldn't cause an accident now. I needed an effect that would be useful with as few calculations as possible.
My gut told me that two simultaneous formulas were my limit.
First, the metal tongs were becoming heavier for me to hold by the second. I formulated an equation that combined earth and lightning to lighten them. I used electromagnetism to keep the tongs clamped tightly around the metal. I decided to put the field just where my hands were to hide the sparks and applied a constant upward force with Earth to counter some of the force exercised by gravity.
For the second, I decided to rid myself of some of the heat. I was already soaked in sweat so I flagged in my formula the blue-tinted mana that was in my sweat with Water and expedited the transfer of the heat/Fire into the Air.
The resulting two equations were ugly as sin but were constant so while difficult to calculate at first, they weren't difficult to maintain.
With a flex of will I activated them. The physical burden I was under immediately lightened. But in exchange, my mental strain augmented.
My sleep-deprived mind didn't appreciate it.
But I didn't really care. I could feel myself starting to enter into another trance.
Before losing myself in the work, I looked at the smith one last time. I saw him having the time of his life and decided that, Yeah, I could last a little longer.
Besides, it was good training.
///////////////
On my way to the seamstress's house, I was regretting everything.
Following the advice from the Mayor's wife, I took a nap after lunch.
Well, with or without the advice I would have taken a nap.
I was dead tired after work with the smith.
We continued working all morning, and we were so into it that if someone hadn't interrupted us we would have stayed there all day. Of course, when I was broken out of the trance I almost fainted right there. My body was sore everywhere and I had the mother of all headaches.
The scolding that fell on the blacksmith afterward was the stuff of legends according to the farmer.
Anyway, while my body was still screaming bloody murder, at least my mind was refreshed after the nap. I was mentally tired but felt kind of like I would usually feel after a really good workout.
It was also the first useful use of my ability for a prolonged period. I was definitely experimenting more with this kind of formula from now on.
It had just been a morning but I felt I improved a lot.
Finally, I knocked on the door of the seamstress, when out of nowhere the door suddenly opened and hands reached me and dragged me inside.
"Waah, you're so pretty and cute! Look at this hair… and this skin…" My would-be kidnapper said.
A granny with amber eyes and gray hair was circling around me with a measuring tape.
"I'll make you all the dresses." She said as if affirming to herself that there was only one path forward and that to do anything else would be a travesty.
"Eh? Granny? I'm a boy you know" I said hesitantly. I didn't know if she was hearing me.
I knew it was rich coming from me, but she seemed to be a very in-her-world person if you know what I meant.
"Of course, I know." She said with a very satisfied smile.
She doesn't care, does she? If she suddenly exclaimed that 'cuteness is justice' I wouldn't be surprised.
"But cute is Justice! And you little sir, with the appropriate clothes, have a lot of potential."
There it is.
With a sigh, I tried to corral this conversation into something productive. "So, I'm going to need some winter clothing soon. And the mayor told me that you could use a helping hand?"
"Ah of course. You must be my model. I have so many ideas…" At my deadpan stare, she corrected herself." I mean we have a lot of wool from the last sheep-shearing, that we need to turn into yarn. I could use some help with that."
Ladies and gentlemen, the granny had limits.
Thankfully after that, the granny taught me how to process the wool to turn it into yarn. From how to clean it to how to spin it. The process was pretty interesting and filled me with plenty of ideas for formulas to try to do it faster.
I was busy cleaning the wool when the granny with a pair of knitting needles and yarn sat next to me and said. "Umu, you're doing fine. About what I was saying before, I wasn't joking you know."
"About what?" I asked
"I'm referring to your beauty. You're going to grow up to be really attractive," she said.
Some of the villagers had told me that I was cute. But it seemed that it was more than simple teasing.
To tell the truth, this made me uncomfortable. Talking about my body and appearance made me conscious that I was wearing a body that wasn't truly mine. I had been avoiding looking at my new appearance in the mirror because of this too.
Seeing that I wasn't answering, she continued "Before coming here, I ran a place in Orario. It wasn't anything special, I just fitted dresses and sold some outfits. But thanks to that, I served some of the highest ranking Familias where all of the great beauties and hunks were, you know. I'd even seen some of them grow up. That's why I can tell." Her eyes were looking at me with a conflicted gleam.
Orario was the center of the world. The place where the dungeon and the majority of the gods were. If she was bringing this up…
"Gods are going to be a problem is what you're trying to say?" At that, she smiled and said. "Gah! And you're smart too." while glomping me and patting my head.
"Yeah, and don't forget this Regis. Beauty is a blessing and a curse. Most will treat you better because of it, but it'll also generate a lot of attention and greed."
She was right, of course. If the gods were anything like what I had been told. I was going to need to do something.
I turned to the granny and asked. "Will you help me? I was thinking a cloak would be us-"
"Of course, I'll help you! We're going to have so much fun Regis." She said with an almost carnivorous smile.
Oh, I might have made a mistake.
//////////////
A few hours later I was finally let out of the house.
I was done and ready to sleep for a week. That woman was truly relentless.
So many outfits, and sketches. Well, at least I managed to convince her to make me a cloak and the clothes we came up with looked good so there was that at least.
I was about to return to my hut when I heard some voices approaching my position.
"There's been more monsters lately…" A quiet voice I couldn't quite place said. "I see, we knew monsters would come in waves so it's probably nothing to worry about yet. Continue patrolling as usual for the moment." Another more familiar replied.
Finally, I could see the mayor coming around the corner with someone next to him who continued on while he stopped and spotted me. "Oh Regis there you are, come with us. It's time for dinner."
"Alright, sir," I said.
"What's with that face, Regis?" He said
"You could have warned me," I said
"I don't know what you're talking about." Liar, I can see your mouth twitching. Someone could have warned me about the seamstress 'seamstressnes'.
"I'm sure you don't, Sir. I'm sure you don't" At that he laughed.