His voice was deep and I saw he had a beard when he removed his hood and shawl. Many of us had started growing facial hair, but his did not fit with the age range of the rest of the manaless at all. I was certain that he was older than any of us.

His brown hair and oversized clothes made him so forgettable, that it struck me as no surprise that I had never noticed him before.

“I visited your village in order to receive the gift of mana,” he continued. “Where I come from, people do not have mana.”

A murmur rippled across the hall once more. All of us knew that Elysia was the only nation in the whole Apocosmos to receive mana from The Divine. Judging by his accent, he probably came from the other side of the sea, which was populated by manaless people. However, I had never met anyone from there, nor did I know of anyone else who had.

“You’re coming from the kingdom south of the Endless Sea…” said Krysha, who had evidently come to the same conclusion.

“Well, it’s not actually endless,” he said smiling, “but yes. I come from the kingdom of Leka An. My people are merchants, but I was always fascinated by your culture. So, I lived in one of your ports for some months until I heard about the liturgy and I came here in order to receive mana.”

“Are you expecting us to ditch our country and follow you across the sea?” said one of the youngest manaless who was standing next to me.

“Oh, but I am not expecting anything, my friend,” he replied, in a more serious tone. “I am merely suggesting that we head south first. People are much more used to manaless in the south than here. Once we reach there, you can decide if you want to cross the sea or not.”

There was a pause while everyone thought this over.

“That sounds like a reasonable plan,” agreed Krysha, and started listing the details under her breath.

“I agree,” I seconded as I saw most of the manaless nodding in agreement. “Seeing that you know the way to the south, Man, please take one team with you and catalog whatever you think would prove useful on the journey.”

“I will, Adel. Thank you,” he said and moved to a corner in order to start forming his group.

I had not mentioned my name to him but I was sure that he probably knew most of our names by now. There was something in his manner of speaking and behaving that made me think he was capable of much more than his appearance suggested.

After forming the teams, we moved out and began to write down everything that would be even remotely useful on our journey. The thin clouds were a blessing as they made running around the village much easier than a bright sun would have.

We used the center of the village’s market as a starting point and each team took one cardinal direction, with my team taking the south one. The market was brimming with spices, food, and alcohol, but that was not what we were looking for.

Fortunately, the market was also filled with magical items of all kinds—things that only in our wildest dreams would we be able to afford. I noticed that this raised the spirits of our group just a little bit and I agreed to include many items that would perhaps be more of a luxury than a necessity.

As we worked, it became clear to me that there was a big chunk of spellbooks missing. While we had no use for them now, I was sure that there were a lot of stalls that had books.

Before the liturgy, I had made a mental note of some of those I would buy after I received my mana. I played back Myriam’s last words to me as I lay unconscious on the hill. ‘You can find everything you need in the market. Please forgive me.’

Myriam and Kai must have taken them before leaving. That’s how she knew that the market could provide me with everything I needed. I chased all thoughts of her and Kai away for the moment, as anything related to them immediately threw me off balance and I could not have that now. Not while so many people were depending on me.

Damn, Kard’s plan seems to be working.

***

We were the last group to arrive back at the inn, even though our list was not much longer than those of the other groups.

We spent a few minutes comparing our lists and then another ten minutes idly chatting as the atmosphere had taken a much more energetic turn.

The hunt for magic items had proved to be a great remedy for our spirits and I wanted this feeling to linger as long as possible.

Eventually, I climbed on one of the tables with a consolidated catalog in my hands, ready to announce how the workload would be divided.

“There are one hundred twenty-seven of us,” I said loudly, and waited for everyone to turn their attention to me. “Unfortunately, there aren’t enough magical mounts for everyone but we have something better.”

To the left of me, Krysha and her group were on the verge of exploding from pride as they were the ones that found the artifact I was talking about.

“We have this,” I said, and gestured toward a large wooden door that two teenage male manaless were carrying. “This is a magical artifact the likes of which I have never seen before. Since Krysha’s group found it, I will let her explain exactly what it is.”

Item : Entrance

Type : Magic Item

Durability : 615,000,000/615,000,000

Rarity : S Grade

Weight : 4000st.

Description : This is just the entrance.

Everyone’s eyes now fell on Krysha since the description provided by the Dark Energy was not helpful at all. She was standing right next to it, holding the big door knocker that was shaped like an owl.

She knocked on the door that was now staying upright on its own, and it opened. I could only see white marble and a lot of bright light coming out of the door from where I was sitting.

“This,” Krysha began, “is our own wizard’s tower.”