During the trip back to Grathum he was confused, he had left abruptly, normally he would have taken the time to say goodbye to the group, he hadn't even figured out the necromancers name, where she came from or any information about her at all for that matter. It was unlike him very much so, he wondered just how much this mind magic influenced his thoughts.

It was truly bothering him, the choices he made perhaps not being his own. The more he thought about it the more frustrated he became, Crimson pressed her snout against him trying to reassure him with a rumbling purr. He patted her flank, sighing. He realised there was nothing to be done about it now but that did not make it easier to accept or process the feeling of being controlled.

He spent most of the three day trip lost in his own thoughts, Crimsons presence was enough to deter anything that thought attacking them would be a good idea. Faster than he would have thought possible he stood in front of Vyria's compound again, with a deep breath he knocked on the gate, he waited, hands clenched for her to open the door. When she finally did her appearence once more took his breath away. It took him a few moments to get his bearings back.

"I solved the problem the villagers of Snowhome where having, things should have calmed down now." He told her.

She smiled at him, "Yes Reginald told me about the necromancer, and how you helped talk her down. After valiantly fighting off hordes of undead, quite an heroic tale the way he told it."

Three coughed and felt the heat rise to his cheeks, "Yes well, only doing what I can, same as anyone would."

She stepped closer, a gentle smile on her face. "I think you are of a rare breed Three, not many would have selfessly done what you did, I heard from Reginald that you suspect mind-magic to be the cause of that."

Three blanched, Reg had already told her about it. "Take a breath Three, the choices you made, no matter if they were influenced by others, were the right ones as far as I and the others you have helped are concerned. Mind magic, no matter how powerfull, will only strengthen certain aspects of yourself. So if you are worried that you are not a decent person, and only the mind magic makes you just, you can rest at ease."

Some of the pressure left Three's shoulders. He locked gazes with Vyria, his heart pounding at their proximity, the rush of blood pounding through his ears as he tried to keep focus. "It is dangerous none the less, some secrets are not meant to be shared."

She nodded, her raven colored hair shaking with the movement, her crystal blue eyes met his once more. "Then allow me to take a look."

She lead him to one of her rooms, telling him to take a seat in a large leather recliner. She pulled a stool over and sat next to him, she put her hand on his hand, gently squeezing. "This won't hurt, but it will feel... odd."

He nodded, rolling his shoulders as he settled back into the leather. Oddly conscious of the physical connection between their hands. He tried to calm his heart, to no avail. She gently put her hand on his forehead, causing his heartbeat to speed up even more. He felt a chill as the temperature dropped slightly, a white haze materializing from her fingers.

She pulled her hands back and frowned. Three saw the expression and felt his heart clench, "Whats wrong?"

"I can't get my magic to manifest properly, it keeps getting... torn apart." She stared at her hands in confusion.

"Because of the mind magic?"

"No it's not the mind magic, it should not be anywhere near powerfull enough to do this, I can't get my magical sequences to line up properly. It's comparable to trying to catch water with a net, I simply can not hold on to them, they disperse before I can get them to do what I want them to." She started tapping her chin with a finger.

"I think this has something to do with that core you told me about, from what I heard from you and Sumi, whom I have had several conversations with over the past week orso, you are the one who physcially changed the least, Correct?"

Three nodded, "I grew a bit, and my muscles are... odd. But other than my skin becoming pale and my eyes turning black nothing much has changed."

"My point exactly, the others are made of completely different substances, Sumi isn't even made from flesh and bones, same can be said for Fliít and Jer as I understand, yet your body stayed remarkably human, so that leaves the question, what did change?"

Three folded his hands in thought. She spoke true, he had always felt different from other humans, yet compared to the others he was the most similar to a human. The hags would not have gone through all that trouble for a simple muscle enhancement, it did make him stronger but not enough that it was comparable to the invulnerability that Jer and Fliít enjoyed to common weaponry. What if his defences weren't actually focused on the physical as theirs but had been but on the magical aspect. He shared his thoughts with Vyria.

She nodded, "I was thinking the same, there are few creatures capable of this, the ones that are most prominent in the dismanteling of mana are the Dread Lords."

"Dread Lords?" Three asked, he had never heard of such a creature.

"Dread Lords are a mysterious creature, they are humanoid in appearence, but no one has actually seen what one is made off, they wear the shadows themselves as their armor, they incite fear in those around them from their sheer prescence. What makes them the most dangerous however, is how any magic used in their proximity is chaotic, the magic user can lose control of their magic, in some instances the results are disasterous."

Three blinked, was that the core of the creature that had been pressed inside of him. How had the hags even managed to acquire the core of such a creature. Another question immediatly sprung to mind.

"If my core dismantles magic cast at me, or near to me. Then how did they plant the mind magic inside of me?" Three asked.

"I am not sure, the most likely option would be that they planted the mind magic before they implanted the core. Magic that already has a presence might be harder to dismantle, especially if it is tied to the physique, but that is all speculation on my part."

"So in the end we are left with more questions than answers." Three concluded.

Vyria smiled gently at him, "While I cannot remove the mind magic, at the least not yet, I can tell you what its purpose is." She grabbed one of his hands in both of hers. "It amplifies your trust, you trust people easily, it also instills in you the need to help people, to save those in trouble."

Three frowned, "Why would they implant such a magic in my mind? It does not make sense, why destroy our minds to froce us to kindness in the end." He started wringing his hands, uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Your guess is as good as mine, you will have to confront these people and ask them yourself, although I am sure that moment is still a while off. For now be sure that the magic does no harm to you or others, now that you are aware of it and what it does, you will find that it has far less of a hold on you." She patted his hand.

Three nodded standing up, "Thank you for the help, I have to go see my friends. I have been away for a while and need to make up for my absence." He noticed Vyria's eyes wandering over his bare chest, the scrutiny causing the heat to rise back to his cheeks.

With a brief shake of her head she focused her gaze on his eyes. "I would love to have you visit again, perhaps we can..." She coughed, "Have a dinner some time to talk about our theories and stuff."

Three smiled, "I would love that, I will make sure to come by sometime soon to plan this dinner. For now I have some making up to do."

Vyria walked with Three back to the entrance, she watched him go with longing in her eyes, when he dissapeared over the hill she smacked herself in the head.

"Theories and stuff?" She stomped her foot, "Smooth Vyria smooth, you are the model of sensuality, al these men asking for your hand in marriage and you can't even ask a boy to dinner properly what is wrong with you!"

She stomped her way back into the compound muttering about her incompency.

---Three POV----

Three headed back towards the village, he had been gone for over a week, he wondered how the others were doing, and what they had been up to during his absence. He walked up to the gate, waved to a guard he recognized but did not know the name of and entered the village. It took him a while to get used to the regular hustle and bustle of the village, although small it was still much larger than Snowhome. People were crying their wares on the street and the food stalls spread a delicious aroma through the air.

He walked towards Emmi's house, waving at the people he recognized along the way. He saw Grimli and Bob arguing over the fine taste of ale and wine at one of the stalls, seeing the two of them made him smile. He still felt it was a good idea to trust the dwarf, regardless of magical influence. Same for Emmi and her family, he was not sure how the others faired however. He really wanted to hear Jer's opinion on the subject.

He stood in front of the door, hesitating, he felt strangely nervous after being away for a time. With a cough and a shake of his head, he knocked on the door. He could hear the footsteps heading towards the door, they were heavy yet feminine, that meant Emmi. The door opened to prove him right, She grinned when she saw him and swept him up in a hug, to his surprise easily lifting him off his feet despite his weight. He was even more shocked when she smacked him upside the head.

"Next time you go off on a grand adventure make sure to take us with you!" She scolded, "Who knows wh-...." Her gaze slipt passed him as she stared with open jaw behind him. Three confused by her reaction followed her gaze, she was staring a very large, very curious Jurgor in the eye. Three looked at the two of them and smiled.

"Crimson this is Emmi! She's a friend." Crimson cocked her head and sniffed at Emmi, then her long tongue licked Emmi's face. The jurgor nuzzled the new friend she just made happily, purring all the while.

"Oh my, how did you, she is so... beautiful." Emmi breathed as she stared at Crimson.

Crimson understood what she was saying and continued happily slabbering Emmi as thanks for the compliment. Emmi giggled and was soon playing and scratching the Jurgors scales enthusiastically.

"Oh Three you're back!" Davis called as he walked over, Talin close behind. "Things have been quiet without you here, we mostly did boring training, it's a lot less fun without the actual fights."

They both watched with wide eyes as Emmi was playing with the largest Jurgor either of them had ever seen. "W-whats with the Jurgor?" Davis asked.

"I met her, we fought, I won, now she's my bloodbound Companion, Her name is Crimson." Three stated, "I have other tames, but it will take them a while to reach Grathum, by what I'm feeling atleast a day."

"Tames?" Talin asked, running a finger over his pointed ear. "You have a class, and became a monster-tamer then I assume?"

Three nodded, "Yes, the class... spoke to me, I just realized I should have discussed my decision first."

Talin shook his head, "Everyone must choose their own class themselves, the class most suited will feel right, natural to you. It is best to pick the class you feel fits you best, few people actually have a thought out level plan. In the experience of adventurers, instinct works best in these cases."

Three nodded his head, thankful for the reassurance. "Where's Sumi?" He asked.

Davis pointed at the house, "She was getting ready for bed, she felt you coming and said that it was high time to 'Gather'." He scratched his growing stubble, "I assume she means that white room and your friends, you should head on up. We can catch up tomorrow, it's late and you've traveled for quite a time."

Talin smiled and nodded, "You do not have to worry, I'm sure Emmi will take good care of your Jurgor."

Three smiled, saying his thanks as he entered the house. He made sure to politely greet Emmi's parents first, apologizing for his time away without notice. Both told him that running off to save others is the right thing to do and he should continue to do so should he ever have the chance. He smiled at the both of them when they shooed him to his room. He opened the door to see Sumi sitting there waiting for him, her blond hair loose and semi-messy as she smiled her enthusiastic smile.

"Glad your back bro!" She said grinning. "Felt your fluctuating emotions from here, I'm sure you have a lot to tell us so I figured I'd go ahead and make the beds, no need to tell the same story twice and all that!" She patted the bottom bunk as she swung herself into the top one. "Let's go see what the others have been up to!"

He smiled and took off his pants, he got into his bed, making himself comfortable under the blankets. He closed his eyes, and felt his mind drift away into the strange room where they gathered.

He felt the other strings tied to his own gather, turning into a ball and creating walls, a roof, a floor. Every time he did this he had to admit it was an odd feeling. Then once again he stood there surrounded by those he felt most comfortable with, his brothers and sisters, family, kin.

He stared around at the others smiling. Fliít walked up to Sumi, trying to give her a hug only to walk right through each other, both of them bursting out in giggles. The rest exchanged greetings and small talk. Then Three stepped up and cleared his throat, the others swiveled their gazes to him, shutting up to hear what he had to say.

"A lot of things happened to me this week, and although I could show it to you, there are some things I have to talk about first." He conjured couches for the rest of them and motioned for them to sit down. He conjured a chair for himself and placed himself in front of the others, meeting their gazes. "I found another experiment."

The rest froze, the atmosphere turning colder as they all adopted serious looks. "What do you mean by another experiment," Jer asked. "Someone like us?"

"Not exactly, I think this girl was an experiment before ours, and I do not think the experiment was successful. She is more powerful than people her age, similar to us. But I am sure her mind was damaged during the experiments, nor did her body change as much as ours. I snuck a peek at her status plate, and she has a core like ours, except hers is shattered."

The rest muttered at the implications. "So what happened to her, how did you meet her." Strem asked, folding his hands.

"She has become a necromancer, she holed herself up in a cave to hide from the hags, she created an army of undead and was having them level in an attempt to evolve them into more powerful creatures in the area around where she hid. She did not know however, that a village was nearby and that they had come under attack of her undead. Luckily no one had been killed and the village has decided to take her in."

The rest relaxed a little to hear that the girl was doing alright. Jer folded his hands, placing his elbows on his knees and resting his head on his fingers. He looked Three in the eye and asked, "There is more that you want to tell us isn't there."

The rest focused their gazes on him, Three took a deep breath. He released his breath and spoke. "I believe we have all been infected with mind-magic."

The rest froze, before all hell broke loose, Most started asking questions at the same time. Others were trying to remember what they had done and if that was unnatural. Jer shouted to clear the air, "Let's listen! He's not finished!"

Three nodded in thanks before continuing. "I went to a friend to have the mind-magic parasite or whatever it is, examined. Unfortunately due to my core, I seem to have magical interference. Magic cast on me or near me, will not work properly. So she could not properly examine what the magic did and what its purpose was. What we have ventured to guess is that it makes us more trusting, it forces us to help people, to connect with people. We are unsure why or how this works but you guys will have to investigate that on your own, as I can't do it."

Valana spoke up, "I don't think I have the parasite."

All the gazes in the room swiveled to her, Jer arched his eyebrow. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

Valana stared at him, "When you taught the mercenaries our sign language I thought it was the wrong thing to do, when you brought in the tortured bandit slaves into the fold, I thought it a dangerous decision. Now that I know there are parasites in our heads I think that it is what affected your decisions. Since I don't seem to be as trusting as the rest of you, either I am resistant to the parasite or I don't have it at all."

Everyone stared at Valana for a moment, most of them simply surprised by the sheer amount she had spoken. Jer nodded thoughtfully, "This explains a lot of things now that I have given it thought. The true question is why did they do this to us, we need to get a magician to investigate this parasite. This raises a lot of questions."

The rest nodded, each of them lost in thought for a time. "We won't get anywhere just thinking about it." Fliít said. "We should do what we came here to do, then find out what this parasite thing is first thing in the morning." The rest nodded doing their best to put their thoughts to rest.

Strem walked forward and spread his arms in grand gesture. "Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to show you my wonderous days of far less troubling affairs."

He bowed and with a flourish of his arm he put his memories up for projection.

—— Strem POV ——

"I still do not think this is wise." Yinta said looking at the enormous building in front of them.

Strem grinned, "Jer told us to get stronger and where could one possibly become stronger than here, it levels us and it gives us experience in fighting, plenty of it!"

"Jer also told us to find allies, which you will not find in a place such as this." She reminded him.

"So we split up, I focus on getting stronger, you focus on finding allies. Jer didn't mention funds but we are sure to need money. If you use that idea of yours to start that merchant guild you keep talking about, you can do both, I'll even provide some brawn should you need it!"

With a sigh Yinta swept her gaze over the building, The Colosseum. A monument the yalisian people were extremely proud of, their fighters grew and tested their strength in this arena. Many warriors seeking strong opponents traveled across the world and fought in the Colosseum. Even people from a country at war with Yalisia were allowed access to the arena, Yalisia had a long and proud tradition of warriors and would accept any coming challenger. The fact that they respected any strong warrior made this a gathering place for a great many races.

"Fine, I shall join as well. I will need some strength myself. Even if I do focus on my guild, I should be able to make time to enter sporadically. I could even use it as an advertisement opportunity."

Strem patted her on her back ."That's the spirit." He grinned as he walked through the entrance, towards the many desks.

Warriors stood in long lines waiting their turn to enter. Tournaments of various levels took place daily, signs above the desks showed were they would need to enter. They stood in line for the level one to ten tournament, these took place twice a day, as many as a thousand participants would join the lower ranks a day. The higher the levels the fewer contestants, many of the lower leveled contestants came here not to achieve glory and fame through battle but to catch the eye of a potential employer. Many such potential employers filled the stands, keeping a sharp eye open for any talent that suited their needs. Contestants would be given a number, the employers could then contact the people of the Colosseum to arrange a contract and a meeting. This system gave the fighters some anonymity, they could refuse to meet anyone whos interest they managed to spike.

The amount of desks available for the new fighters were by far the most, yet their lines moved the slowest. Yinta and Strem got into their usual banter, the people in front of them and behind them not taking any steps to form a conversation. Eventually they reached the desk, stepping forward Strem put his status plate on the desk, Yinta followed his example.

"We would like to register for the earliest tournament."

The receptionist nodded, she was a young woman with dark hair and slightly slanted dark eyes. "Will you be registering for the single, double or group battles?"

Strem frowned and scratched his chin he looked over at Yinta. "Single combat, if you please."

Strem shrugged, "Single combat then."

The receptionist nodded and wrote some things down, she glanced at the plates, her eyes widening a fraction. She said nothing and dutifully wrote down whatever information she needed. She fixed Strem with her gaze before switching to Yinta, then back to Strem. "Are you aware of the rules and regulations?"

They shook their heads, "I'm afraid its our first time here." Strem said while trying for a winning smile.

The receptionist ignored his attempts, "Mages will use the inherent mana in your body to create a copy of you, your conscious mind will be transferred to this copy. While a copy of you is active you will not be able to use your mana. This means no spells or abilities reliant on mana will be usable for the fight. Once in the arena it will be a simple straight-forward brawl till one of the copies is destroyed, the copy will have the same status as your own true self, with a slight loss in the transfer. This loss is equal for all combatants so it will not influence your capability to fight. There are no further rules, except that you must listen to the attendants, or face expulsion from the arena. Any questions?"

"Yes I have a few actually, There are no entry fees but I understand that there is prize money depending on how far you proceed. I also heard there are accommodations to those who make it far enough. For the lucky few in the arena and for others there is a dormitory of sorts in the city?"

"Correct, if you pass the first two phases of the tournament you will receive compensation for your effort. For a small fee you can enter the dormitory, food will be available in the cafeteria but this you will have to pay for. The rare few who are sponsored by the Colosseum itself will be granted several benefits and will be exempt from such payments, anything else?"

"Nope, just point us in the right direction!"

The receptionist nodded politely and pointed them to a door to the far left, Strem looked over to where she pointed, to see another entrance into a deeper part of the Colosseum. The hall itself really was humongous, it was a few minutes walk just to get there, the towering ceiling of dark stone arching far above their heads. They said their goodbyes to the receptionist and headed over, a stern well muscled looking individual was standing next to the entrance. They nodded to the man.

"First time?"

"First time."

"Head through the door, if you need weapons you can choose one in the first room to your left, if you need armor first door on the right. After you have outfitted yourself head to the waiting room at the end of the hall. You will be called upon when you are needed, the man at the end of the hall will give you your numbers."

Strem nodded in thanks. "Much obliged!"

Strem entered the weapons room staring wide eyed at the rows upon rows of weapons, neatly in stands. He saw swords of every shape and size, including but not limited to, broadswords, shortswords, greatswords, scimitars,a yalisian weapon called a katana. He saw maces, hammers halberds, even a simple stick. Not a staff, quite literally a stick. He shook his head and perused the wares, he eventually found what he was looking for, a needle thin rapier. He smiled and gently picked the weapon up. He took a stance, lunge, parry, riposte, followed by a few beats, he flowed into a remise, then finished with a smooth passato sotto. He smiled as he ran his finger over the weapon, he had missed having a sword of his own. He would be sure to buy one the first chance he got.

Yinta tapped him on the shoulder. "You seem experienced with that weapon."

"And indeed I am," He stroked the blade, "My father spent many hours teaching me how to use it, before… well you know."

"I do know yes and I understand." She said putting a hand on his.

He gave her a smile, "How about you, not going to pick a weapon."

"No, I would be better off without one."

He shrugged and they left the room, neither of them entered the armory, both preferring their mobility and flexibility over the heavy protection armor provided.

They entered the waiting room, the man had given them the numbers 427 and 428. They looked around the room seeing mostly younger people like themselves, they spotted a free bench against one of the walls and took their seats. Strem took a look at the competition, seeing both boys he was pretty sure were fresh of the farm, and some who he was sure had been training their entire lives. He spotted what he thought was a half-giant sitting across the room, the young boy stood at least seven meters tall. Strem found himself wondering if his rapier could pierce the giants thick skin.

He spotted some stranger races as well, he spotted an orc and even a goblin or two. Both had a somewhat civilized society of their own but their kind were rarely found outside their own realms. A decent number of the competitors where red sand giants. He grinned, he had been pretty sure he had a decent chance at winning before he took a look at the competition. He would be hard pressed to win here, his skills might help him, but he knew that his mastery over his weapon was rusty at best.

Anxiouly he waited for his name to be called, a man stepped into the waiting room from another entrance. A sudden hush fell over the room, "If you hear your number, follow me!" The man started calling out numbers in a seemingly random order. "427!"

Strem grinned as he stood up, he winked at Yinta. "See you after, if we drop out meet at the entrance."

Yinta nodded.

Strem followed the stream of people into the next room, the man called about a hundred numbers. He walked out among them into the arena to a roar of sound and thus Strem Xilivor made his first appearance in the Colosseum.