Mash recognized where he was immediately. They were outside of the dungeon they had entered for their trial. The results of the sparring matches they had had here were still covering the ground. The occasional toppled tree and disturbed ground acted as evidence of frequent fighting. In this case, the damage was mostly done by him. The weather was nice though he couldn’t see the sun. It was late in the day, but not late enough for the moon to appear either. The sun was simply out of sight, but its light still illuminated the sky.

He saw the others just standing around, Jill and Daniel included. Mash would’ve expected them to chase after Jeral, but it seemed like they were waiting for him. When Jill saw him, she pointed toward the dungeon portal casually. Her thumb directed his attention as she spoke.

“He’s in there.”

She spoke so casually about it, but he was still pretty confused about the situation. He looked over the group as a whole, his disbelief painted on his face.

“Wait, what happened? I thought the shackles was supposed to stop him from doing anything? And how do you know he’s in there?”

Daniel and Jill looked toward one another, and Mash realized he had directed questions to both of them unintentionally. He just kind of asked the questions as they came into his mind, not really paying attention to what he was doing. He had believed that Jeral would be trapped. Jill responded first.

“I placed a mark on him in our last fight. I know where he is, just can’t follow him. The dungeon won’t let us in.”

She turned to look at Daniel after replying. Mash had forgotten about her marks and was relieved by the reminder. Her skill would let her track him anywhere. He actually had one of those marks on him as well. That lessened his worry significantly and diminished his mistake as well. With all their skills they could easily find and follow Jeral if he left the dungeon. Daniel started to speak, and all focus shifted to him. Everyone was curious to know what had happened.

“I do not know. I apologize, but the shackles should prevent any use of Ki. Even now they should have stopped him. He won’t be able to remove them on his own either.”

Daniel sounded so certain, and Mash felt like he was misunderstanding something here. He felt compelled to ask too.

“There is no way around it. What if he knew some trick?”

“No, it doesn’t function that way. It is a relatively simple item that simply interrupts the passage of Ki. Imagine it acts as a closed gate for the pathway, nothing more. Once closed, it is just that.”

The response came instantly, and Mash frowned. He didn’t quite explain what he intended. In his mind, there would always be a way around something like that, but he didn’t know how to describe his idea. Maybe, Jeral had an item or something that worked around the shackle. It was Red who seemed to figure it out the fastest.

“What if the technique doesn’t use any Ki, or uses a different energy altogether?”

Her question made him realize the flaw of the item. Jeral might have gained mana when he copied their skills, but the skill fundamentally didn’t require any mana. If that was the case, that would mean that Jeral would need to survive without using anything other than Mash’s domain and Jill’s teleports. While the combination of the two skills would make him hard to kill, it was a relief. He probably couldn’t do much damage at the moment, and they would know when he left. Essentially, this meant that they could leave the situation alone until Jeral decided to make the first move. He was fine with that and wanted to do other things anyway. Daniel seemed to have a different idea.

“Yes, I believe what you suggest would get around the shackle. But I’m uncertain since his path should rely on Ki.”

Daniel was always honest, and his response made sure not to make any hasty assumptions. It was something Mash could and should learn from. The conversation moved past the shackle, and they discussed their next course of action. It boiled down to a few decisions. Daniel decided he would follow Jeral, and Luke had given him his translation item. Mash would’ve done it himself, but he still couldn’t remove any of the items he had attuned. After he received the item, Mash actually gave him one of Priscilla’s bodies.

Priscilla’s recent evolution had changed her somehow. It was easier for her to develop bodies, and she actually had five left over after giving one to Daniel. Her abilities weren’t affected as much by getting new bodies anymore. She was more closely tied to his own development. The stronger he got, the stronger she got. Both her individual capabilities and the strength of each body too. It was a welcome change because it would let him leave one of her bodies around more casually. He already had a few ideas of where to put them. Although, he wasn’t completely free to just leave them everywhere. It still took her around two days to make a body if she focused on it.

While Daniel wanted to chase Jeral, the rest of them wanted to visit their respective families. Well, everyone but Red. The way she had expressed her disinterest made it seem like she would literally want to do anything else. Their immediate plan was to go to the capital, then figure out where to go next. They would need to find some seriously high-level dungeons or areas now, and he didn’t know if there were any nearby. Plus, it was probably getting pretty close to his brother’s wedding at this point. Currently, he was preparing to speak with his siblings. He was going to tell them the truth and was hesitating to make the connection.

The message was sent, and he waited for a response. It took a few seconds, but he got the reply pretty quickly. His sister was rushing, he could practically feel her excitement.

Mash sighed but accepted that he wasn’t being the best about this. He did tend to start every conversation by asking for the date. It was not really what he wanted to talk about anyway.

There was no response. He waited patiently, but after a minute of nothing, he tried again.

He still didn’t get a response, but Priscilla told him what was happening. She was being prodded by her fellow priests and paladins. They were asking her about something. Priscilla didn’t share what as she decided that it wasn’t her place to do so. Mash felt weird about that response. It felt like Priscilla was more polite and careful with his sister than with him.

[She is kind to me, so I act the same in return. She uses her own funds to purchase crystalized mana to feed me. When I rejoin with the body, I will gain a significant amount of that mana.]

[I constantly give you mana. How is that any worse?]

Mash felt Priscilla give him a mental shrug. It seemed to him that she just liked her more than him. Well, he guessed it was fine. Even better if it meant that she would take protecting Luna more seriously. Finally, he got a response from Luna.

He froze upon hearing the question. That was not what he was expecting, and he looked away awkwardly. The gesture was involuntary, but it wasn’t like she could see him. That was relief otherwise she would’ve definitely been able to read his expression. He wasn’t either of those things. Well, he didn’t think he was a God. He owned a world now, but that wasn’t the same thing.

His sister’s follow-up got him to respond. If he hesitated any longer then she would definitely suspect something. Knowing her, she probably already suspected him.

They were definitely talking about Jill and Luke. Honestly, the latter might also be related to him. And if spun a certain way, Red’s class could be seen as it was in opposition to the gods. That was a stretch though. However, Jill was definitely the anti-god class. He didn’t want to lie to his sister either, so he decided to force the conversation elsewhere.

The response was almost instant now. He guessed that whatever was distracting her had left. He gave his reply soon as well.

As he sent the message to her and turned toward Jill and Luke who were standing nearby. They couldn’t overhear the conversation so he would need to explain what happened.

“They know about you both. Apparently, some prophets noticed your arrival or advancement. Maybe don’t mention your class. Well, Luke can I guess, but Jill, you really shouldn’t.”

She looked at him like he was crazy. Her words were filled with incredulity, and he realized that his warning was unnecessary.

“Isn’t that obvious? I mean my class is so obviously taboo, that I would have to be insane to think anything else. I’m not an idiot.”

Jill didn’t sound angry. Instead, she sounded like she thought he was an idiot for considering anything else. Mash wouldn’t have done it, but he got looks from the others that said they believed otherwise. Feeling slightly hurt, he spoke sourly.

“Whatever let’s just go. She said it was fine.”

Jill didn’t need anything else. The world shifted around him. He found himself standing within the house itself. They were in the training ground. There were areas designated for teleportation and this wasn’t one of them. He looked toward Jill, who didn’t seem to care much about it. Not wanting to sound like a fool again, he made no comment on it. No one was in the training ground, but that changed in an instant. His brother along with Robert appeared at the entrance. Mash was surprised to see them together and noticed that Robert was wearing what looked like a uniform. It seemed like the twin was working for his brother now. His military outfit was one that somewhat matched his brother’s clothes.

His brother had a weapon in hand, frost already coating the ground. As soon as he realized what happened, the weapon began to dissolve into mist. He didn’t yell, but he was clearly not happy with their arrival.

“Mash, would it really be so hard to not break in?”

His brother didn’t really sound all that mad. It sounded more like a familiar kind of annoyance. Mash was smiling though, momentarily forgetting the difficult conversation that he needed to have. He let himself forget about it for the moment and just ran over to his brother. He felt like a little kid and was just glad to have his brother around. There were so many things he wanted to talk about, both serious and just out of curiosity.