Azrael and Alena turned to each other, before looking at the door. There was a moment of silence, where he heard two hushed voices speaking, before the knock sounded again, this time a little louder.

Alena walked to the door slowly, opening it. Azrael got ready to fire a [Magic Bullet] at the intruders brave enough to approach his house. He applauded them for their willingness to die, although next time he hoped that they would not come to him for assisted suicide. Then again, if he killed them, there would probably be no next time.

In the end it turned out to be Villager A

“Albert” Sera supplied

and his brother Villager B

“Bernard”

He let the [Mana Bullet] dissipate. As it turned out they had come on the orders of the village chief, to bring him to the village. They were too nervous to get any more information out of, despite his numerous attempts. They might have been more comfortable speaking to Alena, except that she couldn’t exactly ask them any questions. Letting out a long- suffering sigh Azrael picked up the status cube and followed them. He was going to visit the village anyway, but thought he could give it a bit more time.

Trudging through the forest he got Alena to carry the cube, while he blasted a few deeper snow drifts with a [Fire Bullet]. The furtive and fearful glances that the brothers gave each other lightened his mood and he decided to push it further by slipping into [Stealth]. Sensing his intent the ever mischievous Alena copied him and the next moment the two brothers found themselves all alone in the forest.

Albert realised first, after they passed through deeper patch of snow, without Azrael torching it. His cry of alarm prompted Bernard to turn as well and the two of them shared a fearful look.

Across from him Azrael saw Alena’s fingers make the sign for laughter. It wasn’t necessary for her to make the sign, as he could feel her mischievous glee across their soul bond. Her large smile and sparkling eyes were also clear indicators. He gave her a rueful smile, before appearing before the two brothers.

They stumbled away from him, landing seat first in the snow. Alena appeared too and he took the stone cube from her arms, prompting her to help the startled brothers up. She did so, continuing afterwards to lead them back to the village. He did feel a little sorry for them as he watched them stumble towards the village, glad to have an excuse to reach it quicker.

Just like all the other times he’d visited, the villagers were gathered waiting for him. As the Azrael was greeted by Cairn, the two brothers took that as an excuse to vanish into the crowd. Azrael replied to the villagers’ bows with a nod of his head.

“Welcome my Lord” Cairn greeted.

Azrael nodded “Cairn. You summoned me?”

Carin gulped “My Lord, I would never presume…”

“Cairn”

“Yes, my Lord. Sorry, my Lord.”

“You sent for me.”

“Yes.”

Azrael internally sighed. Of all the villagers Cairn was the bowiest and scrapeiest. Those weren’t proper words, were they. He sighed. The stone cubes in his arms wasn’t getting any lighter either.

He turned to the village chief “We’ll talk in a moment”.

Taking the stone cube, he carried it to the village square, where he laid it before the large stone stele. Letting some mana seep into the ground he let it flow downwards, until he found stone. Reaching it, he latched on and began pulling it up, moulding it with [Stone Shaping].

Under his will the stone rose, raising the status cube up on a pedestal and slowly beginning to flow around it, encasing it. The pedestal encapsulated the rune plates, covering the sides and only leaving the top of the cube free. As a final touch he slanted the top of the plate at forty-five degrees, to face the user.

All the onlookers stood silently. No one dared to speak, unsure. Azrael shrugged and walked over to Cairn. Behind him voices slowly began to whisper in hushed tones.

“So, what did you need?” he asked the village chief.

Before he could receive a reply, an unfamiliar voice boomed through the village.

“Marvellous! Fantastic! Absolutely intriguing!”

Azrael spun on the spot, summoning two stone daggers and enchanting them with [Reinforcement].

Standing there, with his hand on the newly integrated status cube, was a portly man with a bushy brown twirled moustache. The man’s maroon clothes stood out in contrast to the villagers’ own drab browns. The man’s status screen hovered in the air, although it was too far away for Azrael to see.

Azrael activated [Lord’s Insight].

Name: Bartlos

Class: Merchant (Lv.9), Warrior (Lv.3).

The man turned to him. “Marvellous, simply marvellous.” He said. Azrael gripped his dagger tighter, ready to pounce. He hadn’t expected his village to be found this quickly. To protect it he was willing to kill this man right now. He didn’t want other players discovering this place. The man’s death would hopefully dissuade him from returning, and if he did, well then, Azrael would just have to kill him again.

Cairn stepped in front of him, blocking his line of attack. “Bartlos! Don’t disrespect the Lord!”

Bartlos chuckled “He he he, sorry Cairn. You know how I get.” He bowed to Azrael “Forgive me. I meant no disrespect. It has simply been too many years since I’ve seen an artifact. And a working one at that. Where did you find it?” A sly look passed across his face. “Perhaps we could find an arrangement?”

Azrael looked at the man and was surprised to find that he was actually considering it. He didn’t need it and it would be easy enough to remove from the pedestal.

“Bartlos!”

Cairn’s cry came out the same moment that Azrael felt [Calm Mind] automatically activate, breaking him out of that train of thought. It was the first time the skill had activated without him actively drawing upon it.

Azrael narrowed his eyes as his mind cleared. The man had used a persuasion skill. Azrael got ready to kill the player there and then. Cairn stopped him before he could.

“Forgive him my Lord. Bartlos is a good man and has been a great friend to our village for many years; however, he only thinks of profit.”

“Cairn, you wound me.”

“Wait, years? He’s not a player?”

Bartlos and Cairn turned to him. It was Cairn who spoke.

“Player? Ah! You mean the Chosen? No, he is not one of you.”

Bartlos bowed deeply “A pleasure. Bartlos, at your service, Wanderer, adventurer and merchant extraordinaire.” He pointed to two pack ponies that Azrael had missed. “For all your daily needs. Fantastic iron tools from the greatest blacksmiths of the city, seeds of all kind, pots, pans, ropes and cloth. You name it, we have it.”

“Chosen? Is that what you call us? How do you know that he’s not one?”

“My Lord, can you not feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“Only the God’s Chosen, the ones you refer to as players, have a divine spark. You are the only one here that has one.”

Azrael frowned. Divine spark? He dipped into his soul realm, then followed the soul link over to Alena’s. Disregarding the skills, stats and classes, they were identical. He returned to his. There had to be something different. He kept searching.

A patch of soul mist swirled, briefly opening a little gap inwards, exposing his core. Like a ray of sunlight between the clouds he felt the energy form his core radiate out, before closing up once more. He flitted to Alena’s soul realm, watching her soul mist move. Nothing. No shining core, no ray of light. Nothing.

“Sera?” he asked in his mind.

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

He exited his soul realm, before using [Soul Sense] on Cairn. A moment later he checked Bartlos. Neither of them had a core. He let [Reinforcement] drop.

“I see.” He said, before scanning the rest of the villagers. None of them had the spark. Not even… were those dwarves?

Two men, stout and muscly stood behind Bartlos’ Pack horses. He didn’t realise that he’d spoken his question out loud until Cairn answered him.

“Indeed, my Lord. That’s actually why I called for you.”