The Imperial Road was wide enough for three carriages to travel it side by side. Made of stones that had once been white, but looked brown after years of traffic, it drew an almost straight line between the Royal Palace of Illyria and the nearest kingdom, just as the Thenor Empire demanded from all its vassal kingdoms. It was also the only road heading east for almost a dozen miles until secondary roads that led to other places in the kingdom finally appeared.

The Royal Guard had set up an inspection point a few miles from the capital and were inspecting everyone coming or going. A small line of travelers had formed in both directions.

'My first police blitz in another universe,' thought Aaron.

It was impossible to hide or avoid the blitz. Soldiers observed the road attentively on the side, and the only building visible amid the almost endless plantations around the road was a two-floor stone small building that belonged to the guard itself. The kingdom's flag hung vertically from its top, covering almost the entire front of the building.

It didn't take long for the Fire Wolves to reach the front of the queue. Three guards in full plate armor, Two Star Qi Manipulators, had control over a barricade made of sandbags and thick wooden palisades, while four One Star Qi Manipulators, dressed in leather armor, approached to inspect the group's belongings.

"Get off your mounts," ordered one of them.

Aaron obeyed, but Alys removed an emblem from her robes and displayed it to the guards. It was a round black piece of metal that radiated Arcane Energy. It had the words "Arcane Circle" written on the edges and three eight-pointed silver stars in the center.

"You have no authority to give me orders," said Alys in a firm voice. It was the first time Aaron had heard her use that tone of voice.

The guards stopped approaching. One man at the barricade pointed a finger at the Fire Wolves.

"Stay here, I'll fetch the captain," he said and ran at the building.

Aaron, caught in the middle of dismounting, just finished the movement, waiting beside his liguru.

The captain left the building a few minutes later. He was a middle-aged man with a thick mustache. A golden cloak with the royal blue griffin of the king's flag almost completely hid the dark red gambeson he was wearing. He had no visible weapon, but he probably carried one in the spatial ring Aaron felt on a chain around his neck. He was also a Two Star Qi Manipulator.

"If she's from the Circle, let her pass," he said irritably as he approached. "Search all others."

"They are with me," Alys said firmly when the man reached the barricade.

The captain winced. "Are you the king? No. Shut up then. The Circle has no power here. Here, I'm the one in charge."

"You dare to talk like that to a Three Star Sorceress?!" Tia intervened.

When stating someone's power and status, social conventions dictated that the class — Sorceress, in Alys' case — and the level — Three Star — should be mentioned.

The class was used instead of energy specialization for two reasons. First, because the Heavenly Skill Check Level allowed anyone to uncover the target's specialization. Second, because it was common for distinct classes focused on the same specializations to hold different social status.

Both a Knight and a Rogue, for example, were mainly Qi Manipulators, but their status was completely different. If only their classes — and not their connections — were taken into account, the Knight would be welcomed by the lower nobility, while the Rogue would be scorned. In the criminal underworld, on the other hand, the Knight would be seen as a target, while the Rogue, as a professional in the field.

When classes of similar status were involved, the one with the most power, that is, with the highest level, came out on top.

There were other nuances to determining someone's social status, such as the grade of their strongest skills or even common things like being noble or wealthy. On the whole, however, someone powerful enough could ignore these factors without negative repercussions.

No one would scorn a Five Star Rogue in this kingdom, no matter how much they might want to do so.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" The captain crossed his arms. "The king himself ordered that all travelers are to be inspected, and he said not to let anyone pass unless they are from the Circle or the Council. It doesn't matter if you are level Three, Four, or Five Stars, my orders remain the same. So, I repeat: shut your damn mouth! And stop resisting!"

All the team members opened their mouths, shocked. Apparently, they weren't used to being treated that way.

Aaron raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "Captain, we have nothing to hide." He turned to teammates. "Guys, you heard the man. But let's avoid giving unnecessary work to these brave warriors. Give all your belongings to Alys." He took his spatial ring off and threw it to the Sorceress. "You can store everyone's belongings in there."

It was the captain's turn to open his mouth incredulously before shouting angrily, "I forbid you to do that!"

Aaron smiled. "You are as stupid as I expected, thank the gods." He used the local expression he had heard several times the night before when he told someone he wouldn't kill them. "Captain, under Thenor Empire law, you cannot prevent imperial mercenaries from interacting with each other unless at least one of them is under arrest. That order of yours is illegal..." Aaron rested a hand on the hilt of the sword "...and we have the right to defend ourselves."

Aaron had heard some soldiers complain about this law while they were making the rounds at the Royal Market. It was extremely abused, enough that criminals were known to become mercenaries just because of it.

"Now," Aaron continued, "are you going to let us pass, or would you rather fight a Three Star Sorceress and three Two Star mercenaries?"

Aaron didn't know what the guards were looking for, and he had nothing to hide, but the captain's attitude had antagonized him. He saw no problem in making the man bleed for the sin of being arrogant before Aaron Ironblood.

His threat caused the guards to react immediately. They all took their weapons out of their scabbards and circled the captain defensively.

The captain, however, did not order an attack but raised a hand instead. "You can go," he said grudgingly.

It was an obvious conclusion. There were about twenty Three Star people in the Illyria Kingdom, all of them much more powerful than Two Star individuals like the captain and the armored guards.

A Two Star level only had the power to destroy a room in a single attack, while Three Star cultivators could destroy a nine-room house. The difference in each level was enormous and the higher the level, the greater the difference. From a wall to a room, from a room to a nine-room house; the growth in the power needed to destroy them was exponential.

Another important factor was that Alys' attack range was much greater than the Two Star Soldiers', who would also be battling three people on the same level as theirs while under her attack!

The captain had correctly concluded that it would be suicide to go against the Fire Wolves, and he didn't even have an honorable cause to die. If some investigated the incident later, it would become clear that he had disobeyed imperial law. No one would cause problems for a Three Star Sorceress of the Arcane Circle for the sake of a dead Two Star Royal Guard. At most, she would have to pay a fine as reparation, but he would remain dead and would be quickly forgotten.

He was the type of person who would abuse his power if possible, but he was not a fool and knew the time to retreat to save his life.

The guards reluctantly sheathed their weapons. Aaron remounted, and the Fire Wolves tensely passed through the barricade, under angry and resentful looks.

When they were out of sight of the guards, Tia finally exploded. "Are you crazy?!" She stopped her liguru in front of Aaron's. "Never do that again! Ever!"

Aaron raised an eyebrow at her. "Never do what? Put an arrogant captain in his place?"

"No, you idiot! Never risk putting us in a fight against the Royal Guard!" She was red with anger.

He frowned. "What's the problem? With a Three Star Sorceress on our side, we would have had no trouble dealing with them."

Tia opened her mouth to scream, but Alys intervened. "Tia and the others have certain reasons for not wanting their names associated with something like this." It was the first time she had spoken directly to Aaron and her voice, almost a whisper, was shaking, in direct contrast to her attitude moments ago.

"Oh," said Aaron. Having something to hide also explained Alys' intervention against the inspection. "Okay, I'll avoid doing something like that again." He waved his hand forward. "Let's go?"

Tia was even more furious with his lack of regret. She tightened her jaw and let out a low shrill before turning the liguru over and moving on.

Aaron, on the other hand, didn't believe he had any reason to apologize. He hadn't been forewarned about the situation, and nothing serious had happened. Not to mention that he even pledged not to do that again without asking for anything in return. In his book, that great kindness, since he owed nothing to anyone there, no matter what their circumstances were.

He turned to Alys, nodded in thanks for her help, and followed Tia.

Alys sighed and moved on, along with Lana and Logan.

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Madam Selna slowly came down from her floating silver armchair that looked like a throne. Her purple robes had engravings of silver mystical symbols that shone with energy, as was common to the robes of the members of the Arcane Circle.

Despite being a One Star Qi Manipulator, she was already old enough for her thin body to be bent and her skin to be wrinkled. She could solve both issues with magic potions, but she would rather keep exploiting her image of fragility and wisdom. In fact, she exaggerated the curvature of her back to appear more fragile and make her enemies underestimate her.

She looked at the three corpses on the floor of the filthy alley, one of which was half-naked.

The report she had received stated that they had been relieved of their money and weaponry, and she had considered the incident a mere routine crime in the most dangerous layer of the city. However, when her investigation into another subject brought her to the general area, a suspicion made her come to see this place for herself.

As soon as she arrived, she noticed something that wasn't on the report, a robe thrown in the alley's corner, close to the half-naked body.

The robe was filthy, covered in a thick layer of dark fat, easily mistaken for a used floor cloth. Such a scene was common in the secondary streets and alleys of the fifth layer, and it was understandable that her investigators had not thought of including it in their reports. Even she might not have noticed the peculiarity of the garment if she hadn't been informed about a young man who had left the Royal Palace the previous afternoon.

A young man who had been wearing a white robe.

Madam Selna was confident that this was the place she was looking for. She could only use her Temporal Reversal three times a week, and she had already used it twice in the current investigation. Nevertheless, she didn't hesitate to use it again.

Sixth Grade Arcane Skill: Temporal Reversal!

Time Energy left her body and drew mystical symbols all over the alley. When it was done, the symbols flashed with a powerful light before disappearing. Then, time was reversed in that place at a high speed.

A cat that had passed by walked in reverse; the sunlight went from the West to the East and disappeared on the horizon; and finally, a man came to the alley, walking backward, wearing worn clothes and carrying five daggers on his waist.

The man put the daggers on the waists and hands of the bodies on the floor, removed his clothes and put them on the naked body, put on the dirty white robe in the corner, "unkilled" the three men, and sat in the empty alley.

Madam Selna continued with the reversal until the man got up and left the alley. Then she "reversed" the reversal. She couldn't interact with the past, but she could see everything happening with the same clarity and distinctness as if it was happening at that moment.

It was as if the young man had just arrived in the alley, sat there, and meditated for fifteen minutes, the exact duration of the energy disturbance she was investigating.

The impurities leaving his body while he meditated showed that he was cultivating and leveling up, which should be impossible to do in the low-energy zone which the alley had become the night before. Unless, of course, he was the one creating the "dead zone" by absorbing all that energy for himself.

Undoubtedly, he was responsible for the energy disturbance and, therefore, the target of her investigation.

She wasn't sure if he was the young man who had left the palace the day before, but that would explain why the king canceled his own investigation on the disturbance a few hours after starting it. The youth and the king were connected in some way, and the king didn't care that the young man caused such a scene in the capital.

While she thought about the consequences of this revelation, the images of the alley kept advancing. Three men arrived and exchanged words with the young man. Madam Selna's skill only allowed her to see, not listen to the past, but basic lip-reading allowed her to find out what was being said.

Then, after the three seconds the young man gave the men to leave passed...

Madam Selna had never seen anything like that. Such speed... Four Star Qi Manipulator? Five Star?

Common sense dictated that Qi Manipulators were inferior to all other energy specialists and that improving one's Qi level was useless. She herself was merely a One Star Qi Manipulator, but only because she had been deceived by common sense. Nowadays, she knew the truth about energies, that the path she had taken was incorrect.

But even if she hadn't known it, the way that young man moved was proof enough that Qi Manipulators could be fearsome opponents.

After memorizing the young man's face, she canceled her ability and returned to the Arcane Tower, the Arcane Circle's base of operations. There, she learned that a Three Star Sorceress had gone to the Palace on the same day the young man appeared.

Madam Selna had already questioned her spies in the palace. The young man hadn't been seen entering the palace, and the first time he had been spotted, talking to a maid, he had been relatively close to the Hall of Summoning. Summoning rituals required Space Energy, and the Sorceress in question was a Shaper.

Madam Selna didn't believe in coincidences; the Sorceress had most likely summoned the young man from another world.

But if a summoning had happened, why would a Hero like him be walking around freely? Why wasn't the king using the Hero against his enemies? Or was he, discreetly? Or was it all just an act? It made no sense to leave a Hero unused.

"Alys Tyren, huh?" said Madam Selna to herself as she looked at the Sorceress file. "Imperial mercenary in the Fire Wolves unit. Sky Splitter Sword? You stupid enough to fall for it?" She sighed, disappointed by the innocence of some Sorceresses in the Circle. "Wait, where did I read about the Fire Wolves today?"

A simple spell allowed her to search her memories and find the report on the mercenaries that had caused a commotion with the Royal Guard shortly after leaving the city. The attitude of a young Two Star Qi Manipulator, likely a Rogue, had been especially aggressive. Said youth had the same physical description as the one Madam Selna had just seen in the alley.

To investigate further, she took a ring with a green and blue stone out of her spatial ring. As soon as she put it on and pushed some Arcane Energy into it, a transparent white rectangle that mimicked Heavenly Messages appeared in front of her. It gave her total access to the local, non-confidential records of the Imperial Mercenary Guild.

A quick search revealed that an Inept young man had registered the night before and left the guild just before the power disturbance, the same young man who was part of the Fire Wolves unit. He had appeared out of nowhere and been marked as PI — Pending Investigation — which meant that he was too weak for the guild to care about his past, but that eventually, when there were no more important tasks to do or if he became more powerful, he should be investigated.

With a mental order from her, a picture of the young man appeared, revealing that he was the very same she had seen with her Temporal Reversal skill!

The Arcane Circle was not just a Sorcerer training organization; far more important assignments required her to investigate the one responsible for the previous night's energy disturbance. The reasoning behind such assignments became clear when the investigation revealed that the responsible for the energy disturbance didn't use any special artifacts to cause it. He had even become a Two Star Qi Manipulator in a single night!

She reached that conclusion because the guild reported him as an Inept, and the Royal Guard as a Two-Star Qi Manipulator. The alternative to her assumption was him being able to use skills powerful enough to hide his level even from the guild's level detection formations. And that had even greater implications than leveling up so fast.

She also concluded that he was not a Hero. Heroes came to the world at the Champion level and lacked any skills or knowledge, completely the opposite of what the young man had shown.

Something very suspicious was going on.

Usually, as strange as the situation was, she wouldn't leave the city to continue her investigation. Instead, she would send a subordinate.

However, if the young man... She looked at the file again. If young Aaron Ironblood had secrets on how to level up quickly, no subordinate of hers would resist an attempted bribe that offered such secrets. If he had the skills to hide his level even from the guild, he was too powerful for any of her men to prevent him from running away.

Either way, they wouldn't be able to capture him.

And if he escaped, she would be responsible for letting a potential spy from another empire escape! A spy who had help from the kingdom under her responsibility!

The consequences of such a failure would not be pleasant.

On the other hand, if she personally captured a formidable source of knowledge or a powerful spy, she would receive substantial rewards from the Arcane Circle. Rewards that would come after she interrogated him and got all his knowledge for herself, which could be even better than the official rewards!

There was also the possibility that he was a Hero with special circumstances that had allowed him to maintain his memories and abilities, even though he had come with the power of an Inept. Since he had already shown aggressive tendencies against the Royal Guard, if he also remembered being abducted, he would be a great tool to use against the king.

This possibility, although very unlikely, gave her another reason not to trust the search for the young man to any of her subordinates.

Just as she had spies in the palace, the king had spies in the Circle, and she wasn't entirely confident in her ability to avoid sending an enemy spy on the mission. Unfortunately, just as Psychic Energy could read people's minds and expose spies, it could also plant false memories. The king was a powerful Four Star Psion, and all his agents had false memories that made them immune to this form of inquiry.

After taking it all into account, she decided to go after the young man herself.

Fortunately, he was traveling with Sorceress Tyren, and Madam Selna could easily locate her thanks to the Arcane Emblem she carried. Even if he happened to have already left the Fire Wolves by the time she reached them, she would be one step closer to him.

A thread of Arcane Energy came out of her body and touched a blue crystal on his table. Her secretary quickly entered the room.

"Yes, Madam?"

"I'm leaving. Prepare provisions and an escort," ordered Madam Selna.

"Where to, Madam?" asked the secretary. Depending on the destination, the preparation of supplies, personnel, and equipment could change completely.

"The Red Forest."

The young woman's eyes widened. As Madam Selna's secretary, she naturally had access to sensitive information. Wasn't it in the Red Forest that the king had set up a trap using the Sky Splitter Sword?

For the Madam to go there... Would the Arcane Circle finally respond to the pressure the king had been applying on them for the past few weeks?

Excited, she quickly left the room to take care of the travel arrangements.

Meanwhile, Madam Selna closed her eyes and focused firmly on the memory of the young man's face.

She wanted to make sure she would immediately recognize him, even if she saw him from the corner of her eyes.