The group of [Soldiers] and Mages spent a few hours travelling through the woods before they found the swarm of vinebears. In that time, Alice mostly chatted with the other Mages, though a few of the [Guards] travelling with the group also ended up joining into the conversation sometimes. Apart from the occasional swish of [Archers] dispatching overly adventurous spidercrab packs, the group marched in relative peace.

Alice was happy to talk with people from this world who she already knew and could get along with. Even though she wasn’t really a ‘people’ person back at home, she found the way this world’s culture had developed to be fascinating. The [Guards], for example, considered the Sun Knight, the most famous Immortal of Illvaria, to be something like Superman back on Earth. If Superman could be met in real life, at least. Alice was starting to theorize that even though it was well known that Immortals didn’t have the ability to overturn armies and fight kingdoms by themselves, they probably played a hell of a big role in boosting morale. Fighting alongside someone you spend your childhood hearing bedtime stories about was probably like fighting with your idol, if Lady Vallenta’s excitement was anything to go by.

The effect an Immortal could have on morale seemed to be something Allira was keenly aware of. As the group marched forward, Allira would continuously bounce between groups, talking a bit with one group for a while, spending a bit of time cheering up those who felt nervous and preparing people. Something else Alice noticed was that Allira had left Illa in charge of the hunting party, even though she probably could have taken command of the whole thing with little difficulty. Was it because Allira wanted Illa to gain levels in some sort of [General] – related class? Was she just more confident in Illa’s commanding abilities, compared to her own? Alice didn’t know. Either way, however, despite how intimidating the woman’s status as an Immortal was, she seemed surprisingly easy to get along with. She occasionally drifted over to tease or talk with Illa, chatted with the soldiers, and worked to boost morale. If Alice couldn’t see the massive, solidified chunks of mana fractals replacing every bit of flesh and blood in the woman’s body, or the woman’s inhuman, ‘too perfect’ beauty, she would have had a hard time believing that Allira was someone with an extraordinary status.

Which might have been because Immortals didn’t necessarily come from distinguished lineages. A [Farmer] was almost as likely to reach Immortality as a [King], if they worked for it and got the right Achievements. If anything, [Nobles] and [Kings] tended to be less likely to take the kind of loony, insane risks one usually needed to take to get good Achievements and reach Immortality – though they also had access to better [Teachers] and educational resources. Alice didn’t know what background Allira came from, but she made a mental note that she should ask around about it later on, when she wasn’t near the woman. She suddenly found herself increasingly curious to know why the Immortal of Song and Shadow had such a huge flinch reaction towards the Sigmusi Colonia and Sigmusi Imperia, and who she had been before she became an Immortal.

As the group followed the marks left behind by the [Spies] under Immortal Allira’s command, Lady Vallenta glanced at Immortal Allira no less than twenty-three times over the course of half an hour. Alice couldn’t help but feel a little amused by the woman’s focus on the Immortal.

“Anxious?” Asked Alice, giving the older woman a grin.

“Ah!” Lady Vallenta flinched, before she looked back at Alice.

“If you want to talk to her, just do it. I don’t think she’s the type to make a big fuss over that sort of thing. You already mentioned you want to talk to her, right?” Said Alice, giving Lady Vallenta a mirthful look. Even though Lady Vallenta was in her early twenties physical, and probably a fair bit older than that, right now Lady Vallenta seemed more like a kid. Since she had a good personality and wouldn’t mind, Alice suddenly found teasing her to be unexpectedly fun.

“Ah… I just… She does a lot for the kingdom, and as I grew up, I heard a lot about her, so I’m just a little curious… I don’t know if I want to interrupt her…” Vallenta shook her head a little. “Even if she’s the youngest Immortal in Illvaria, meeting her is still really amazing, you know?”

“You know her age?” Asked Alice, unconsciously dropping her voice.

Lady Vallenta twitched a bit, before she looked at Allira again. Then, Alice saw the rainbow mana fractals in the air spin a bit, and a strange bubble formed around the two of them. Sound from outside of the bubble became muted.

“Most people in the kingdom do, actually. Knowledge about Immortals isn’t particularly secret, since any proper organization can usually dig it out. She was originally a [Bard] that lived in Southern Illvaria, before it was razed to the ground by the Sigmusi. She was present during the war with the Sigmusi several decades ago, actually – it was when she became an Immortal. I hear that her home city was besieged by the Sigmusi and over half of the town died from stray debris thrown at the walls by [Kinetic Mages] or starved to death. She managed to survive… unlike most of her neighbors and friends. She levelled up [Bard] by trying to bring hope to the dying citizens of the city… and when she started combining Perks, she somehow managed to make [Bard] into an offensive class with shadow manipulation abilities. She’s around seventy right now.”

Huh. Only seventy, huh. Even if she wasn’t an Immortal, she could quite plausibly still be alive, even back on Earth. Compared to Immortals like the Sun Knight, who are several centuries old, she really is quite young.

Alice shrugged, but dropped the matter. Immortal Allira would probably drop by the group sooner or later anyway. She could ask more if the Immortal felt like chatting – which she seemed to be inclined to do.

It took another fifteen minutes before Allira finally worked her way over to their group as she was making her rounds.

“So how are all of you doing?” Asked Allira. Her voice was faintly musical, almost as if she was playing an instrument instead of simply speaking. Curiously enough, the rainbow mana in Alice’s surroundings also seemed to faintly quiver as Allira spoke. The more normal mana, however, seemed to totally ignore her.

“We are doing well, Lady Allira,” said Lady Vallenta, giving a slight, but visible, deferential bow.

“Are you nervous?”

“Not terribly so, Honored Immortal,” said Vallenta.

“It’s okay to be a little nervous. Monsters actually becoming alphas is pretty rare up North, since Mage Academies deal with mana clusters whenever they form. There is no shame in being nervous, so long as it does not influence your ability to your job.”

“My thanks to Honored Immortal. I will keep your words in my heart and never forget them,” said Vallenta, practically oozing eagerness. Alice, who was starting more than a little secondhand embarrassment, gave Allira a respectful nod.

“What about you? I recall… ah, yes, you were the one who closed your eyes during our first meeting a few weeks ago. I notice you now have your eyes open,” said Allira, giving Alice a smile wider than a Cheshire cat’s. Alice suppressed an involuntary twitch. That was what stood out the most from the first time she had seen an Immortal?

On second thought, she did recall being unable to concentrate whenever she looked at Allira. Now, the rainbow fractals embedded inside of Allira’s body and the world around her were so distracting that Alice had an easier time concentrating. After all, there was just so much moving every second in Alice’s mana vision that it was already easy to get distracted. Still, Alice couldn’t help but wince a little bit. She had rather hoped to either make less of an impression, or a different one.

Seeing Alice’s discomfort, Allira actually laughed. It wasn’t a disdainful or mocking laugh, but one that sounded good natured. Even though she could tell Allira was amused, it felt like she was laughing with Alice, rather than at her.

“It happens sometimes, actually. I remember previous king once tried really hard to convince me to wear really ugly, shapeless dresses by claiming they were the ‘new fashion’ when he was a young lad. He was quite an interesting child,” she said, her lips twisting into a nostalgic smile for a moment. “It was a shame when he died of an assassin’s arrow, but such is nature of life, I suppose.” The nostalgic smile on her lips twisted into a grimace for a moment, and then disappeared entirely.

“Illa said that you are a newly baptized Mage, yes? Do you have any experience in combat from before then? You don’t seem to have any Perks that boost your marching speed or discipline, so I doubt you have a [Soldier] class or anything of the sort. That’s usually the first thing most [Soldiers] take if they don’t want to get yelled at for bad marching posture.”

“No. I’ve had a few smaller encounters with monsters, and I was part of the expedition that scouted out the broken mana zone. However, I can’t really say that I have too much fighting experience overall,” said Alice. “Illa has been helping me boost my combat Skills, at least, so I don’t think it’ll be too bad.”

Allira gave Alice a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry about it. This kind of thing isn’t really that scary, honestly. I’ll be doing a fair bit of the work, and the [Archers] will be doing a lot more of the work. You guys are here to make sure that a huge mass of Vinebears don’t start roaming the countryside and terrorizing farmers or less well-prepared towns, but it shouldn’t be very dangerous. Just mow down the Vinebears where you can, listen to the person leading your team when we break into groups later on, and prioritize your safety first. The [Organic Mages], as well as the Illa and the people around you will keep you safe.”

Alice nodded. Even though she knew Allira was working to improve the morale of everyone, she still couldn’t help but feel more relaxed about everything after the Immortal personally took some time to reassure her. Perhaps it was the woman’s high [Charisma], but Alice couldn’t help but feel like this really wouldn’t be a huge deal after listening to Allira talk about it.

After that, Allira continued chatting with the Mages and [Guards] as they continued walking. Lady Vallenta seemed about ready to burst with excitement, and Alice felt the urge to let out a few chuckles as she watched the rest of the group interact with the Immortal.

It seemed that even after growing older, some things stayed the same. And as amusing as Alice found it, she couldn’t help but feel a little warm inside as well.

This world was very different from home… but it wasn’t so bad. Most of the people here were nice, or at least tolerable. Even though there were a few, like Lady Vallis, who were malicious, most of the people she had met so far were decent people. Even if this world would never replace home…staying here wasn’t so bad.

* * *

Before long, the group arrived near the pack of Vinebears. As they approached, Illa signaled for the group to stop. Then, she turned to the group and began doing a final check. Finally, Illa nodded.

“The vinebear group is currently about a kilometer ahead of us. Before we engage, I will be assigning each group a [Scout]. You are to follow the [Scout], who will be taking you to encircle the vinebears. Afterwards, Honored Immortal will be the first to attack, and with any luck, we can get rid of the vinebear alpha in the first wave of attacks. If that happens, we’re living in the best timeline. Mopping up the rest of the vinebears should be easy because the Vinebears will no longer act intelligently. Even if they won’t immediately turn on each other and start eating each other, they won’t have any interest in working together. From there, just shoot down your street whatever comes in your direction if you’re a ranged figher, or keep the people behind you safe if you’re a melee fighter.

“If it doesn’t die in the first wave of attacks, [Scouts] will be in charge of keeping the groups moving. Remember – Vinebears have the ability to move plants around, so keep an eye on the grass and trees near you. The Illusion should cut off most of their access to the plant life around them, but that doesn’t mean you can completely ignore your surroundings. Stay safe, and stay cautious. The [Scouts] have already found clearings where you should be fairly safe from everything besides some mostly dead roots in the ground, so the odds of getting speared by a tree branch or something are very, very low. Still, surprises can happen. In that case, the [Scouts] have some Perks that will help keep plants from getting in their way, and pretty good reflexes. They will be in charge of countering those attacks. However, they are also currently considered mini team leaders. If they tell you to move, you move and don’t ask questions. [Organic Mages], if you’re close enough that you can interfere with the any unexpected bits of plant life, do so at your discretion. Understood?”

The [Guards] and Mages all nodded.

“Good. All right, stay still for a second while I organize you.” Illa and Allira spent a few minutes getting teams of people together. Every team had at least one Mage, one scout, and about ten [Guards].”

The teams quickly formed up and began following the [Scout] assigned to each respective team. Then, each groups quickly set off.

Alice’s group slowed down considerably under the [Scout]’s guidance, making sure not to disturb make any particularly loud sounds. They also maintained a proper distance from the Vinebears, to make sure that the monsters wouldn’t sense any of the rich mana that all life in this world contained. Every so often, the [Scout] would make them stop and then disappear into the woods, in order to check the vinebear swarm and make sure that they hadn’t made any unexpected movements. Then, he would reappear and urge them to keep moving on.

Finally, the group came to a clearing. For several steps in every direction, the trees that populated most of the southern region were nowhere to be found. The [Scout] ordered the group to come to a halt.

Then, they waited. Several minutes passed, as the [Scout] continued to occasionally check the position of the vinebears. Finally, he nodded.

“Get ready. The other [Scouts] have used {Signal}, so they should be in position now. We should be starting in a few seconds.”

Less than ten seconds later, Alice heard a woman singing.

She had never heard Immortal Allira sing before, but upon listening to it, it was the most beautiful sound she had ever listened to before. It was as clear as a bell chiming in the wind, soaring through the air. However, Allira’s voice also carried an undefinable feeling of weight to it, as if the song carried the weight of grief, nostalgia, and regret on it. These emotions were far heavier than mere physical objects. Unconsciously, Alice thought back to her family on Earth, before she clenched her fists.

The first verse began to drift through the region, speaking of a town that had once stood. Alice quickly lost track of the actual words, because a set of images started to manifest themselves in the forest around her. Suddenly, she could see, instead of the trees of Illvaria’s forests, a paved set of streets. The style of the buildings were still distinctly Illvarian, with wooden streets used to create sidewalks and low, squat buildings made of wood with small bits of stone mixed in. However, the style was also slightly different from what Alice was used to seeing in Illvaria. The decorations on the sides of people’s houses were totally different, and the wood type was a totally different color.

Inside of the town which had suddenly appeared, children played in the streets, laughing and smiling. Sunlight beamed down from a clear, blue sky. Even though Alice had never seen this town before, she was filled with a sense of comfort and Nostalgia. It was as if this town contained a wealth of memories buried within it – happiness, warmth, kindness… the town had an emotional weight to it that Alice could feel pressing down on her.

And a massive set of mana fractals covered everything. Every single building, every child playing in the illusory streets, every single centimeter of land, was made of rainbow colored mana fractals, densely packed together as far as the town stretched.

Alice could, with some difficulty, still see the forest underlying this illusion. If she strained her eyes, she could still see the reality that lay beneath this song. However, when she reached out her hand to touch one of the buildings, it felt like a real, physical object. No matter how she pushed her hand against the building, no matter how she ground her feet into the wooden street, she still had a hard time separating reality from illusion. If she hadn’t known that she was originally in the middle of a forest, it would have been easy to mistake the transparent, untouchable forest as the illusion, rather than the solid, colorful street in front of her. Even if she could still faintly see through the streets and buildings, doing so required a fair bit of concentration and effort.

At the same time, she was able to see the group of vinebears that the group was supposed to be hunting. There were nearly one hundred of them, all of which were standing in the middle of one of the town’s illusory streets. The alpha was also distinctly recognizable – it was nearly twice the size of the surrounding vinebears, and the mana inside of it was several times more dense than the others.

Down each of the streets leading away from the vinebear pack, Alice was able to see the other groups as well. They surrounded the vinebears, giving each group a suitable shooting range and giving the [Guards] armed with spears and shields narrow chokepoints to defend. Suddenly, Alice had a much better understanding of why Illa and Allira were so sure this group would be able to stop the Vinebears from escaping. With only a few chokepoints to control, the [Guards] were definitely able to control the entire street and keep the back lines safe.

Then, the song suddenly changed. From a beautiful, nostalgia – evoking melody, it rapidly changed as the sky began to darken. The children and merchants in the street totally disappeared, and the streets were suddenly barren and devoid of life. She could, just faintly, hear people barking out orders in a language she had never heard before in the distance. The metal gates keeping the city wall quickly slammed shut, but since Alice could still faintly see through the illusory wall, she could see a group of human figures in the distance. A single person at the front of the group held a flag Alice had never seen before, and in the back, Alice could see groups of people wearing distinct, brightly colored armor.

Through training, you have increased a skill!

Sigmusi (Language Proficiency) 0 -> 1

After listening to the people yelling in the distance, Alice almost immediately picked up a new language skill.

Then, as the sky continued to grow darker, Alice saw the people in brightly colored armor break into groups and began grabbing a variety of things from their surroundings, as well as unloading them from carts at the back of the group. They touched clump after clump of rubble, and then, the pieces of rubble sailed into the air.

A sudden boom rocked the world. A giant piece of rubble crashed back into the earth, smashing into the streets below and causing the illusory world to shudder.

It missed the vinebears completely, crashing into one of the buildings right next to Alice’s group and causing the building to shatter. A shower of stone and wood fragments fell upon Alice’s group of people.

The splinters passed directly through them, as if they weren’t there at all.

The vinebears finally came to their senses and roared. However, they stopped as they warily observed their new surroundings. Alice felt {Sense Hostility} began churning into overdrive as the bears temporarily eyed her group.

Underneath the Illusion, some of the trees and vines started to wriggle near Alice’s group. However, their movements were sluggish – much weaker than the Vinebear Alice remembered attacking her when she had fled to Cyra. The [Scout] simply stepped near them, and the roots and tree branches stopped moving entirely. Before the vinebears could mount anything at all with their impaired magic, the [Scouts] immediately stopped any possibility of a counterattack.

Then, another piece of rubble fell from the sky.

This one did not miss. It smashed directly into the center of the Vinebear group – and the alpha, along with several of the Vinebears, were crushed under its weight and immediately died.

The previous patience and careful analysis of the vinebear group collapsed instantly. The vinebears seemed to jolt in surprise. Then, with a start, they began looking in totally random directions. Before, the group had been cautiously eying every one of the groups, as if they were trying to find the weakest point to attack and escape. Now, they were just like wild animals – there was no semblance of coordination or intelligence in their actions anymore.

A few of them immediately charged towards random groups, totally ignoring their surroundings. Most of the vinebears just targeted whatever group was closest to them. A few of them even began trying to chew on the buildings in the illusion, completely ignoring the humans in favor of the mana fractals inside of the buildings.

Alice tentatively pushed a mana tendril into a fist-sized chunk of stone that had passed through her a few moments ago. To her surprise even though the object had passed through her like a trick of light, when she touched it with her mana it felt the same as any other stone.

Alice picked it up with her mana before firing the fist-sized stone chunk towards one of the vinebears. It made no attempt whatsoever to dodge as the chunk of stone crashed into its skull, killing it instantly. The other [Guards] with bows began shooting into the scattered and disorganized pack as well.

What followed was neither difficult nor suspenseful. It was akin to harvesting wheat. There was no danger or difficulty at all. The vinebears were slaughtered mercilessly. Debris kept falling from the sky, launched by the group of Sigmusi Mages outside of the walls. Even though most of the debris missed completely, the debris passed through the humans while crushing any vinebears it landed on. The ‘fight’ wasn’t even really a fight. It was just an organized group of overly prepared [Guards] and Mages mopping up a disorganized group of hungry wild animals. It took less than ten minutes for the last vinebears to be dispatched, including the few who were still insistently gnawing on illusory buildings.

After the vinebears were all dead, out of Curiosity, Alice tried plugging her ears with her fingers.

Immediately, the illusory buildings in the area became fainter. If before they were only slightly translucent, once Alice couldn’t hear Allira’s singing, the buildings became far closer to transparent. Alice tried touching one again, and found that she could now stick her feet and elbows inside of the illusory buildings. There was a faint feeling of resistance, but it was nothing like touching a real object. Alice nodded to herself, unplugged her ears, and waited.

Allira stopped singing, and the illusory world faded away. Alice immediately lost visibility of the other four groups, because she could no longer see through the trees in her surroundings. Mana started rolling in from the area around her.

You have leveled up!

Survivor: 40 -> 41

(Student) of Kinetic Magic: 23->25 (MAX LEVEL)

Exporer of Magic: 41-> 42

Through Training, you have increased an attribute!

Magic 123 -> 125

Through training, you have increased a skill!

Kinetic Manipulation 48 -> 49, Mana Control 33-> 34, Mana control 31->33, Kinetic Force 29 -> 30, Sigmusi (language proficiency) 1 -> 7

Alice dismissed the System notifications. She would deal with her new Perk when she got back to town.

The [Scout] began leading them towards the dead vinebear. As they did so, Alice couldn’t help but reflect on the ‘fight.’

First and foremost, Alice was surprised by both the massive strength and massive weaknesses of Allira. Vinebears were a species of monster that was considered a pretty big threat to most of the inhabitants of this world. Dealing with one usually required a squad of [Guards] or [Soldiers], because the species tended to stick to areas where their plant control could shine. They were considered a big threat to [Farmers] if they were caught off-guard, and could kill low level combat classes if they didn’t work together. In wooded areas, they were a massive problem.

And Allira just literally changed the topography of the entire area. Instead of standing in the middle of a heavily wooded region, suddenly the entire fight was taking place in the middle of a town. With a single action, she had totally nullified the biggest advantage the species had. This sort of reality-altering ability was nothing short of miraculous.

At the same time, just by plugging her ears, Alice managed to remove a huge chunk of this illusion. There were definitely still some remnants of Allira’s illusory world, and Alice was sure the woman had far more than just this ability up her sleeve. Still, it gave Alice a better perspective on why Immortals didn’t rule this world. Even though Allira had a massive, overpowering advantage, as long as an army or nation was prepared for it, they could directly counter her abilities as well. Even though Allira certainly had other Perks up her sleeve, there could just as easily be other counters to those Perks as well.

The higher someone’s level was, the slower their levelling speed. Nations would learn the Perks of Immortals from neighboring nations every time that Immortal took action. Unless they were just unable to counter an ability, they would definitely develop ways to counter the Immortals of other nations every time they learned of a new ability. Countering someone like the Sun Knight, who was reported to be a powerful all around commander and fighter, was probably several times harder than someone like Allira, who had basically forced a noncombat class into a combat role. The massive stone debris lobbed into the city by the ‘mages of the Sigmusi Empire’ who had destroyed the nostalgic, dream-like city at the beginning of the song also weren’t aimed well. Even though each missile was still aimed sort of close to the Vinebears, there were plenty of times that they missed completely. In a smaller fight, especially, this ability had a reasonable chance of just missing over and over again. Allira might be a more espionage focused Immortal, based on her absurdly high [Charisma] and the fact that her title was the Immortal of Song and Shadow. Still, it gave Alice a good perspective on how much an Immortal could change a battlefield – they were both incredibly good at doing so, and likely incredibly ineffective the moment a counter was developed.

Apart from that, however, Alice had another thought. One that, at least to her, was far more interesting.

After her mana-vision trip, she had already been starting to think about the nature of mana more closely. What exactly was a mage? A class? A Perk?

Today gave her even more food for thought.

Because after speaking with lady Valenta for an extended period of time, Alice knew for a fact that Allira was not known to be a Mage. However, despite that fact, Allira was able to do a lot of things that… well, seemed pretty Mage-like. Manifesting a song from what Alice assumed was her memory as reality, darkening the sky, creating an illusion that was almost real… and lobbing around giant chunks of stone. All of those things were remarkably similar to what a Mage could do. In fact, since Allira had constructed a bunch of fake, illusory Sigmusi Mages proficient in Kinetic magic… in a weird, convoluted way, Allira was sort a [Kinetic Mage]. Alice had no clue whether she could influence objects that weren’t created from her illusions. However, the fact remained that she could create a somewhat similar effect, even though she was well known to not be a Mage at all.

As the groups met up and the [Scouts] began to harvest the corpses of the Vinebears, Alice sank further and further into her thoughts.

This matter… required further testing.