“Give him some room,” the Adventurer’s Guild Master said. Everyone around began to back up until there was several feet between me and the closest person. Still, they hadn’t departed and were looking for answers.

“What happened?” I asked while sitting up. My head still pounded and I found that to be a result of my pitifully low MP. “Wait! Where is my rod?” I grew frantic. In my final moments of consciousness I had seen it split like chopped wood.

“It’s been sent to a magical blacksmith—after that it will need to be augmented with a rune, but it should be fine,” Rhea assured me. My feeling of impending doom subsided slowly and I let myself fall flat on my back again, eyes staring up at the patchy sky and thick canopy.

Somehow or another my mind shifted to Julian, and Amber, and Joy and Rodrigo. This hadn’t happened for a long time: my mind trying to reminisce. I still had Julian’s Runecrafting book, and hadn’t taken the time to look it over after that night competition. I guessed runes could mend weapons as well as add features.

Judging from the lack of any questions about the book after I first returned to Arturii, it was likely Julian never made it back, or quite possibly Rhea never even got the news of that competition. “Aren’t you going to explain yourself?” Rhea interrupted my wandering thoughts. It wasn’t just her though. Everyone around me seemed to be expecting answers.

I actually didn’t know exactly how long I was gone for—and that prospect scared me. Zilean and Amy were nowhere to be seen, and I feared the worst of that situation. “How… long have I been gone?” I asked with a bit of trepidation.

“Two days.” Rhea said. It made sense now why my MP was full after being sucked clean in that lab. It felt like a moment but it was actually two full days. My body suddenly itched as I feared the mysterious sphere.

“And Zilean and Amy? Are they okay?”

“They’re both fine. In fact, they were never in danger at all. They said you disappeared into the fog just a few feet from the compound. That put everything on hold.” She said.

So it was like that then. They were never really in danger at all. That was a weight off my chest and I started to recount the entire ordeal in careful detail.

“We found out about the flies a few hours after you disappeared actually. The fog subsided around mid-day and we haven’t seen it return since. So it isn’t just an everyday thing,” the Adventurer’s Guild Master said.

I recounted the details of my escape and then when everyone seemed to be attentive and wondering just how I managed to escape that hoard of blood-sucking flies… “I made a discovery—an underground lab. I managed to hide out there and sort of lost track of time.”

It wasn’t wise for me to tell them that a magical sphere sucked all my MP and knocked me out for two days. The questions might come, but I would dodge them by bringing up things people cared more about: potions, enchanting books and research!

“You found an underground lab? Are you sure?” The Adventurer’s Guild Master seemed most excited by the prospect. Without any hesitation I pulled a beaker from my inventory and passed it to him. His eyes glowed like those of a child with a present as he examined the decrepit liquid inside that still retained its reddish hue.

“This… I don’t know what this is,” he confessed. And those words excited everyone else who hadn’t appreciated the significance of my discovery. “What else do you have?”

“Why don’t we talk about it on the way?” I carefully dodged his question while getting up and wiping the dirt from my tattered robe. “It’s not far from where you found me.”

The whole camp was in a commotion as even those unrelated to me wanted to come. It was hard for the Adventurer’s Guild Master to say no, and so he selected only the most important members from each guild to tag along.

I stood in the front and he walked by my side. “Can we speak in private for a moment?” I asked.

The Adventurer’s Guild Masters face grew stern before swishing his arm behind him. He had created an invisible barrier that blocked sound, one that surrounded us and moved along with us. I would have been surprised by this, if I had never saw the Arturii invasion. “You can speak now,” he said.

“There are a lot of things I’ve found—Research books, Enchanting books, Runecrafting books, Alchemy books, documentation on monster mutation and evolving,” I started to list off the books that I’d seen and pocketed.

“And?” He knew what I was getting at.

“I want you to take control of them. You decide how this is sorted. Please keep in mind the Valkyrie guild while doing so.”

I was not strong enough to protect these things now that the laboratory was public knowledge and we were approaching it. My original thought was I could just hand distribute them without much issue. The fervent greed in the eyes of each and every member here, however, scared me to no end. These people would tie me up in the night and skin me alive for these items.

My only option was to take shelter under the Adventurer’s Guild Master. The other guilds might develop designs on the books I’d found, but it would be hard for them to pry them out of the Adventurer’s Guild Masters hands. I could make a show of handing them over clearly right now.

The barrier blocked sound, but it did not block sight.

“Everyone stop for a moment!” the Adventurer’s Guild Master shouted. This was my cue, and in front of everyone I began pulling out book after book and passing them to the Adventurer’s Guild Master. The vials and beakers and research liquids were no exception.

Nothing was left in my inventory except the mysterious sphere and its glass container. Everyone was following the items to the Guild Master and the fact that those fervent eyes of desire were now focused on him meant that my feeling of having a crawling skin subsided greatly.

The barrier of sound completely dissolved after the items were passed over.

“It’s just ahead,” I assured them.

No one could remain patient and behind me I heard people bickering as they bumped into each other.

“Watch where you’re stepping!”

“Those are my toes you idiot!”

I blocked out the sounds behind me as I studied the area ahead. My eyes nearly dropped from their sockets at the sheer difference in scenery from the last time I’d come here. This was definitely the spot, and yet the trees ahead were sliced in half for at least twenty feet ahead. It was a clean slice as if a giant scalpel had come across and dissected each tree in half.

The tree I originally planned to use for its vines was sliced in two just ahead, but that was enough to know the lab was just below our feet. “What happened here…?” I asked, to see what conclusions they might have arrived at.

“We aren’t sure yet, but this is where you were found,” said Rhea.

“Well, the lab is just below us.” I walked to just a few feet in front of the tree before pulling away the vines and jungle brush below. The plant-life was no joke, and without my Mana Scythe to assist me it was a real struggle.

“Move out of the way real quick.” Corbin appeared at my side. His sword didn’t leave his sheathe; instead he leaned over like a bear and gripped the foliage below. In one motion he ripped it up revealing a empty square entrance—one that no doubt had a wood-covering hundreds of years ago.

I had seen enough of that moldy lab and simply waited above while the group disappeared inside. To my surprise, they didn’t come out empty handed. No, they came out carrying the shelves and desks and tables.

The Adventurer’s Guild Master noticed my curious stare, “This wood is all specially enchanted. We can learn from this. This discovery also locates us on the map. You did good.” I wasn’t used to praise from the Guild Master and didn’t ever expect to receive any, unless I escaped a life or death situation against all odds.

Finding a lab from Fresey put us far west on the West Abithos continent. Much farther west than anyone was expecting. Things had been relatively calm considering the location we had arrived in.

We had managed to gain a small foothold.

***

Only after settling back into camp did I see the full extent of their progress. The earthen walls were well fortified and had been expanded greatly. The trees had been removed and the makings of a small, frontier city could be seen.

Vichi was nowhere to be found and it felt odd not to be pestered by her. Her willingness to approach me directly had grown on me somewhat. Other people would only stare at me and speculate from afar, but her approach was bolder. My curiosity got the best of me, “Where has Vichi gone to?” I asked Rhea.

“She has a special role to fulfill. We weren’t expecting to find clues as to our location so quickly, so she and a select few scouts that excel in information gathering have been branching out from each side of the compound for the past three days.”

“I see.”

“They’re returning by nightfall and will be updated on the situation. Your discovery is great news. Now that we have an idea of where we are, we can focus our scouting in more specific directions. Don’t you find it odd we didn’t encounter much resistance?”

She wasn’t wrong in that regard, “It is odd.”

Rhea pulled an aged map over her lap, “Well, if you look at where we are… we should be on the far west of the West Abithos continent. We estimated the seed should be somewhere in this general area,” she pointed.

“If that’s true, why are there no monsters here?”

“Exactly, and that’s the crux of the problem. The speculation is that this teleporter was unknown, and the forces meant to oppose us are more eastward towards the coast. If that’s true then we are behind enemy lines.”

“Then why don’t we find the seed now and dispatch it? Shouldn’t that be the best course of action?” I asked.

“That was discussed, but the probability of failure is extremely high. If we put all of our effort into scouting the seed, it could take a month to find it. In the worst case scenario—that finding the seed takes a month—monsters could return and destroy this compound and kill all of us. Humanity would be doomed to extinction at that point.”

“So what are we doing then?”

“By tomorrow we will know how bad the situation is to the east. If our beast masters work through the night they can scout the east coast without a problem. It is likely we will be retreating for reinforcements, though.”

“Once we are discovered here, and so close to the seed at that: a tide will wash over us. We need to reinforce, resupply, and bring as many bodies here as we can. Regardless of what we find tomorrow we will retreat. If this encampment can go unnoticed completely, that would be for the best.”

Her explanation made sense and the mission had succeeded without much of an issue. Looking around at the compound now, there was no doubt it could shield a couple hundred adventurers and expanding would be no problem with flesh blood.

This hub would need to become humanities foothold on the West Abithos continent. There was nothing further for us to accomplish, short of finding the seed. That was unlikely to happen in a short enough time frame. It was best we retreat and bring enough reinforcements for the impending fights to come.

There was nothing for me to do anymore unfortunately. I was only here to gain some experience, and the fights were non-existent. Everything else had been accomplished while I was in that underground lab.

“Rest up for now. Tomorrow we’ll depart and head all the way back to Arturii. You’ll be able to reconnect with Briele and them when we do,” Rhea said before departing.

It felt awkward resting while everyone else was still rushing around me. The finishing touches before departure were being taken care of. Honestly, I hated these moments with a passion.

My mind would always start to race when I was left with nothing to do, and more often than not it was not filled with pleasant thoughts. The nostalgia I’d experience typically started off well, but would quickly spiral into a negative whirlpool of emotions.

This would be the perfect time to have all those reading materials from the underground lab. A tinge of regret washed over me. Giving them up was definitely the right choice though, as most of those avaricious members of other guilds went back to ignoring my existence completely.

I still had the Runecrafting and Enchanting books, but the Adventurer’s Guild Master made it clear he didn’t want me to pursue any profession. My attention focused on those around me as I watched them move around in a daze.

Sometime around dark I managed to fall asleep. Vichi and the others hadn’t returned yet either. Everyone except the beastmasters were calling it a night. Their mission was only just beginning.

I woke before the sun rose over the horizon and fortunately there was no fog. A few people were moving around. Oddly enough a barrier had been erected over the entire outpost. Maybe it wasn’t a barrier, but I recognized the break in my vision as I looked at the canopy above. It was like looking through a piece of glass.

I sought out Rhea early that morning and found her huddled in the main tent with several other guild leaders. They didn’t mind my presence as I hovered around the outskirts quietly listening.

“The forces are around three days east. Judging by the size, a formation that large might take even a week to return,” a beastmaster said.

“What about the numbers?”

“Hard to say exactly. It was nothing less than what we experienced in Arturii though.”

“That bad?”

“Maybe worse…” The news was definitely daunting to hear, but none of them showed any signs of discouragement. We were all coming into this with low expectations.

“Alright, gather your guilds and let’s pack it up. We should be ready to leave within the hour,” The Adventurer’s Guild Master gave the final order and everyone began to disperse.

Rhea spotted me waiting outside, “Did you hear the news?”

“Yeah, doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not good, but we were expecting worse. The situation even giving us this chance to recoup is good enough. Do you have everything you need?”

“I didn’t bring much of anything, so yeah. By the way, what’s with the barrier?” I asked.

Rhea looked up, “It’s not a barrier but a mirage. It’s to camouflage this outpost. Anything looking from the outside will simply see nothing but more trees.”

“How come we didn’t put it up sooner?”

“Well, if we leave and it’s only the miniscule amount of MP coming off our walls and structures, the illusion should be enough to mask that. Fifty odd high-level adventurers though? No chance.”

It would be hard to mask our presence currently, we were just fortunate that almost every monster had gone east. Only the non-intelligent plant life and insects really remained.

We didn’t even spend twenty minutes as a group getting ready and we quickly formed a circle around the teleporter. “When we return through the teleporter, eighty percent of us will be heading back to Arturii. The other twenty percent will remain with the teleporter and dragon egg. Absolutely nothing is to happen to either of them.” The Adventurer’s Guild Master spoke loudly.

“While we return to Arturii, no one is to use the teleporter for any reason. If it’s broken, or unusable, all of this would be for nothing, and our chances of success plummet into the single digits. Begin!” he finished.

Everyone began traveling through the teleporter, and this time I was one of the last few to go through. Vichi was also in our group but she hadn’t started pestering me yet, which left me curious as to what was on her mind.

When it was merely ten of us left, the Adventurer’s Guild Master cast an ability that surrounded the teleporter, similar to the illusion that was casted over the entire outpost. My guess was it was much more concentrated. The teleporter was our lifeline after all.

“Go.” The Adventurer’s Guild Master was the last one through.

A rush of cold air assaulted my face and lungs. A desire to hurl was non-existent now as I had traveled through the teleporter many times. It seemed everyone faired a bit better as well as I didn’t see anyone coughing or hunched over.

The Adventurer’s Guild Master came through just a moment later and immediately started to speak, “Those who are staying know their roles, everyone who is departing prepare yourselves, we leave in five—” He suddenly stopped speaking as his attention shifted towards the dragon’s chamber.

The barrier he erected was still there, but something was clearly wrong as his face turned grim. With the wave of his hand the barrier disappeared and he rushed into the chamber. All eyes followed him as we peered inside. The dragon egg was gone.

It looked as if the Adventurer’s Guild Master had eaten shit. He didn’t turn around for a dozen seconds but the atmosphere immediately grew heavy. Everyone could hear the large breath of air escape his lungs as he turned around, his calm composure returned.

“There will be one chance…” He muttered. “Only one chance—if you know anything about the disappearance of the dragon egg step forward now.” No one made a sound, or even moved an inch. Their heads turned as they looked into each other’s eyes.

“Who… IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO PLAY WITH HUMANITY’S LAST THREAD OF HOPE?” His voice started off calm before he lost his composure once again. The entire chamber shook in his rage.

“Do you not realize how powerful a dragon is?” His voice trailed off. “The teleporter will be destroyed… Arturii will be sieged…” He paused for a dozen seconds. “Speak if you know anything.” I felt as if he had aged a dozen years in that single moment.

And yet no one spoke up. The atmosphere was stifling as everyone expected the Adventurer’s Guild Master to fly into a rage again. I had never seen him like this either. The matter was truly disastrous. “Fine, you will not speak because of your greed. I will say it now—if you are caught, you and everyone you are associated with will die—no exceptions. We return at once, we must move before the dragon returns!”

The previous good mood from our small success had been completely shadowed by the dragon egg’s theft. Even if we found it now, could the situation be reversed? Everyone became suspicious of each other. There were now two new threats to worry about—the Adventurer’s Guild Master’s fury and the dragon’s rage.

Because of the extenuating circumstances, we traveled even through the night. No one dared to complain at all. The Adventurer’s Guild Master was sure that someone here was guilty, as only these guilds knew of the location of the dragon’s egg.

Clearly the situation had been leaked in some way. The assassination attempt on me was proof enough of that. Those two never returned or tried to infiltrate as members. Our only hope was that the dragon egg was currently at Arturii and we could somehow recover it.

Our trip was merely three days back. I also managed to find the reason for Vichi’s unusual silence. A good friend of hers, someone that I had met—the man who rebuked me on that first day for ignoring her—had perished just the night before.

The details weren’t clear, but I did know it was during their scouting. It hadn’t even been possible to recover the body. The words I wanted to say didn’t come out. I knew what that feeling was like, and nothing anyone said could change that gut-wrenching feeling.

No one was waiting for us at the Arturii gates. Those that had any knowledge of the expedition only knew that we were departing, and would come back an unknown time later. The fine details were not divulged to anyone outside of this group.

“One week—recruit who we can, prepare what we can.” The Adventurer’s Guild Master said before waving his arm and dismissing everyone.

The mood was heavy and no one dawdled around. Someone in this group was an enemy of humanity. It left a sour taste in every single person’s mouth. No one was in the mood for idle chatter.

Even amongst friends the mood was bad, and no one spoke a word all the way back to the Valkyrie guild. Only after passing that majestic Valkyrie outside and entering the front lobby did a bit of liveliness return, mostly because of the warm welcome from those in the lobby—the unaware.

The Valkyrie guild was bustling with new and old recruits. I pushed the thought of the dragon egg and my assassin to the back of my mind. It had been nearly a year since I saw my party.

I looked at Rhea expectantly and asked that if my party were back, we could go in search of EXP, “They should be here now. I don’t have anything for you to do, so feel free.” She said.

I immediately made my way through front entranceway and disappeared deep into the Valkyrie guilds dorms, only stopping after reaching the lounge area. It wasn’t exactly a lounge area but more so a large room meant for strategic planning: the place most people chose to hangout and chatter.

The amount of people inside was surprisingly few, and as I scanned the room I almost thought I missed them. They were there though, off in the corner chatting amongst themselves.

“Joseph?” It was Bryan who noticed me first.

“Hey guys,” I said while coughing. I was actually a bit nervous. They knew I had been on this expedition, but as far as they understood, it was extremely dangerous. It was expected that many of us would die.

They rushed up as a group and raced to me. Against my expectations it wasn’t Briele who overbalanced me, but Luther. They inspected me from head to toe, “I’m alright, I’m alright.” I said while fumbling to my feet.

Only after their initial excitement had passed could I get them to relax enough to sit down and talk. I wanted to hear about their experiences this past year, but none of them would have it. Their minds had been focused onto the expedition: they were desperate to know what was coming next.

Rhea hadn’t specifically ordered otherwise, so I went ahead and spilled the beans on everything: the assassin, the dragon, and even the dragon egg theft. I left nothing out. Looking back, it now sounded to me that the entire journey had been quite anti-climactic.

The effect on my friends was the opposite though. Their mood improved immediately when they found out West Abithos wasn’t a bloody battleground. We would all be heading there next week. My story gave them a bit of hope.

Only after they were satisfied with my account did I get to hear what they had been doing. It was similar to my year, but definitely less brutal. They trained as a party and had managed to break level 50 on each of them.

The Valkyrie guild had shared no expense on their behalf, but it wasn’t just them. There were several other parties, even lower level ones, that had received incredible treatment. There was no point saving guild wealth if the world was going to end.

Most guilds held that mentality, and the overall strength of Arturii had noticeably gone up over this past year. Bryan sent me a party invite and I happily accepted.

“You’re level 51 now?” he gasped.

I was 38 only a year ago, and while that didn’t seem like too big a jump, leveling up grew exponentially harder as you climbed higher and higher. I was glad to be in a better EXP share range with them. Our leveling as a group would go much smoother.

We couldn’t go hunt right away, and, unlike me, Bryan and Briele both had tasks they needed to accomplish over the week. We chatted happily for about an hour before they departed. Still, a bit of melancholy had left me: I wasn’t alone.

There were no tasks for me, and Rhea expected nothing of me. It was a blessing and a curse, being completely bored with nothing to do. I had no family, no loose ends to tie. It was just me and a lot of time when they weren’t around.

I found myself practicing my MP manipulation as the Adventurer’s Guild Master had directed me to do before. Besides that, a lot of time was spent thinking about my choices up until now. The Tyrant guild; my fallen friends; the future.

Nights were rough, and I found myself badly wishing time would just speed up. It was hard to sleep and I often lay there until my body could stay awake no more. The first night back was the worst.

After that, a bit of creativity allowed me to find a solution to my endless circling thoughts. I pulled the mysterious glass container from my inventory, and stared at the beautiful sphere within. Holding this should suck my MP dry… it would ‘put me to sleep’ for sure. Someone would surely wake me tomorrow anyway.

I thought about it for a dozen more seconds before deciding. My hand reached into the container and grasped the sphere. The suction picked up and in a matter of seconds my MP was dangerously low.

My brain wasn’t completely lacking in thought as I made sure this was all happening under the covers. It would look no different than if I’d fallen asleep. Even if I somehow dropped the sphere, and the container, it would be in my bed.

Those were my last thoughts as I leaned back. I felt light when my head touched the pillow. The dizziness wasn’t nearly as bad as last time. The black curtains around my eyes closed slowly.