“You know? The more you talk about it, the more you make me want to visit The Core,” he said, munching.

“Ye’r joking, laddie! It’s not Walking Corpse we’re talking abou’! It’s pure madness ou’ there!” The innkeeper dropped the plate he was carrying rougher than usual as he answered Gabriel.

“I believe it’s called Walking Dea-”

“Gabe, you wouldn’t like it. Believe me,” Garena added. “When a horde of ghouls and their pale commander attacks, there’s nothing that can hold them back. Not even a Champion’s party.”

“Explain.”

“Thousands upon thousands of reanimated body whose fierce Aura makes ye want to puke ye’re damn guts out; all over the place stats that might get ye in just one strike! It’s not a joke!” The Dwarf finally exploded in his dwarven language. He spoke so densely that Gabriel couldn’t even make out the sound of the words properly.”

“Alright, alright. I was just teasing you a bit. But, what is this pale commander thing you were talking about? I have the feeling I’ve heard of something like this once.”

“The Wight,” Garena said with torpor. “I’ve- I think I need to check the kitchen,” saying, so she hurried away.

“What did just happen?” Gabriel said, with his fork halfway to his mouth. Breakfast had started in the best way, but it was quickly losing its momentum.

“Ye’re dumb smoke-filled-rock-smashed head. That’s what happened!” Commodo sighed. “She was born in the middle of that, ye know? Relieving those memories is not easy.”

“You mean, in the middle of this century war?”

The Dwarf nodded to the question. “I was but a young Dwarf looking for a differen’ meaning for life that what my family could offer me. When I met her, I knew I had to save ‘em. Her and her village. T’was so long ago, but it feels like yesterday.”

Listening with intent, Gabriel gobbled his sausage, then moved the plate away and placed his arms on the counter, “Tell me. I want to know your story.”

“Tsk! No, ye don’t. Ye stupid peg-brainer.”

“Hey! That’s just mean now!”

“Who was the one that died yesterday? Not me, I can tell ye that! Now go get yer levels; at least they will help ye not die of stupidness!”

“Alright! Jee… I’m going. But I want to know about your story. I’m not letting this slide, you hear me?” Gabriel said, shuffling away; Liz whipped her tongue at the Dwarf’s cheek before leaving.

“Ye tiny-drake! Don’t get any cuter or any bigger! ‘CauseI might cook ye!” He yelled at her, but there was a smile on his bearded face.

***

Gabriel entered the leatherworker’s shop, and Long-Dozen smiled at him right away.

“Gabriel Walker,” he said, shaking his head with a smirk. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were before? I would have at least made you a special discount, well, an even more special one.”

“L.D.” Gabriel saluted, “It’s not lack of trust, believe me. It’s about favoritism. My mother and I never received them, so neither we asked them or, much less, gave them to anyone. Besides, you would have ended up giving it to me for free. And I didn’t want that. Fairtrade is important to me.”

“Fair enough. However, Gabriel Walker… The Herald, in my shop. Incredible,” he said, shaking his head. “Come, your base armor is ready. Take a look.” Saying so, Long-Dozen slammed a definitely heavy-sounding leather armor on the counter, that contrary to Gabriel’s expectations was… thinner than the sound he heard had given out.

Gabriel passed his hands over the dark fabric; he could feel the scales right away. They were invisible, yet his skin could distinguish each of them as they came in contact with his fingertips. Having explained to him of his idea of layering pieces of heavy armor on top of his leather armor; L.D. had acted accordingly, creating a Mastercraft of compressed layers of leather and hide which all came about together to make what in the end was nothing else but the frame of a more complex design that would come to life given time.

If it could even be defined that way, the leather armor was more like a second skin for Gabriel. However, its softer parts, the ones that needed more protection, were reinforced with pure Dragon Scales.

They were the chest and abdominal zone for the front, the armpit and under-arm, the back under the last ribs extending then to the full pelvis zone, and finally the inner thigh.

It almost looked like a more complex S&M suite, which could be worn a little more loosely.

Gabriel couldn’t help but like the piece of armor and be a little discouraged from wearing it at the same time.

“Are you sure this is mine? I mean, it looks awesome. But am I supposed to fight monsters with this or enslave them?”

L.D. chuckled. “It just looks this way, at first glance, when you’ll be wearing it, it will feel much better. Anyway,” he continued, “You need to bind it before I send it to the Enchanters.”

Gabriel nodded. Here we go.

Warning , you are trying to bind an Epic Rank armor.

If you bind the armor, nobody else will be able to activate its functions; it will only recognize your Mana imprint.

Do you want to proceed?

Yes/No

Gabe's brows arched.

"Epic?"

"It's a masterpiece. I've never forged such a complex piece before. I actually had to close the shop on the last three days, or I would have gone crazy. Trust me, you'll be satisfied with it, but don't analyze it yet. I want you to see the complete thing."

"Alright, L.D. I trust you."

The binding joined them together. Now Gabe could activate whatever type of magic or Skill he wanted, and he would not damage the equipment. Exactly like he did with his spear.

After looking at it a bit more, Gabriel gave the armor back.

"Perfect, now please understand that if you Recall it the Enchanters are going to get mad, we do the binding in advance to discourage theft, but if they are interrupted in the middle of the process, it'll have to start over," L.D. said, taking the armor back.

Gabriel nodded, "Oh, I've come to get you some samples. Of some hide I've come across, I doubt you'll be interested, really. They're things from the Ravenous Wilds."

L.D. shook his head. "I'm sorry I had you go through the binding Gabriel. If you want, we can rescind it?"

"No, no. It's okay. I like having my trusted seller."

"Alright then, however, there aren't many things I accept that come from the nearby regions. I handle more... exotic materials, as you might have guessed. So don't even bother showing them to me. You are free to bring anything that is not Very Rare graded or above to anybody else."

"Alright. I guess we'll see each other in a week's time then?"

"Yes, exactly a weak from today. Now, about my payment, really it is not strictly nece-"

"L.D. If you don't accept my Mana, I'm going to get extremely mad," Gabe said sternly.

The elf smirked, "Alright, that'll be 45k units then."

An internally weeping Gabriel took out his ManaCard. Why do I have to be so stubborn?

It was a sad day for Gabriel's metaphorical wallet.

***

"Do you think they've abandoned us?" Prisha whispered to Fred.

"No… No, I think they are buying time for something…"

"But… Fred. Why is this happening? They should have killed us…"

Prisha was confused. There was no way she wasn't, although she had been taken from Earth when she was still too young to know better, she had grown on Alter, and her mind had been formed under its stricter martial rules. That of Yggdrasil was by no means a regime. However, she had been instructed to become an adventurer then join the druid's main forces since she was but a child. There was nothing that scared her, or at least that's what she believed.

Now she had been taken prisoner, retained in an unknown part of a Dungeon that she had always taken for granted. Her soul had been tainted with Life magic in order to do something that she couldn't explain, and her Spirit had been taken from her and stashed somewhere away from her. She could not feel it anymore. Only a feeble link of their connection remained. It felt similar to when her Spirit died when she was young and less careful.

Fred was on no help. The big man, though it didn't look like it, was just as scared. It was only natural though, everybody was.

Sato, she had never counted much over Sato. He was as cold as ice. Formidable, but glacial. He had done nothing else but meditate in all that time, after having said to them not to be scared and that they would either be saved. He had fallen into his meditation; since then, he had eaten nothing and didn't move an inch from his spot.

The Bastards weren't even speaking to them after they had done the first day. They simply fed them with fruits and roots and mushrooms, let them relieve themselves, and sleep. That was what her routine had become.

Since the first day, they had been chained with roots of formidable strength, and restraining enchantment had been placed on them, to impair their casting and energy mustering. Not that anybody would have really acted, given the presence of Champions and Paragon monsters. It would just be a suicide; maybe all of them together could have taken down a Paragon or a few Champion of that level, but reduced in that state? Even if she rose to the challenge, who would have followed her in her suicide mission? Nobody.

"Do you think they've taken them from us, like, forever?"

"I… I don't know if I can feel her anymore, Prisha. It's so distant, so..:"

"They are still ours."

For the first time in almost a week, Sato spoke.

"Sato!" They both whispered, "Can you still feel Raiju?"

Sato, his eyes still closed, nodded, "I said, do not worry about it. They will come to rescue us. They will make an exchange. It's the logical way. If there's one thing I can't find an explanation for, no matter how I try to reenact the scenario, is the reason?"

He opened his eyes, turning toward them. He, too, seemed troubled, but not the way they were, just differently, "Why now? Why did most of them follow Gabriel and Greta? Why in autumn when they are not in the prime of their forces? What has triggered it? And what is their real aim? I can't answer these questions. Everything else is… logical."

"Logical…" Prisha replied; she could barely muster a said smile at that.

"I'm sorry, Prisha; I know you would have liked to have Greta by your side, but although I'm not her. I care for you in my own way. I care about all of you. It's just harder for me to show. And if worse comes to shove, I'll take the lead and do what has to be done. For now, don't worry about your Spirits. I think I've figured out where they keep them."

"Where?"

"It's a sanctum, I believe. Maybe the Boss is in there. Its power permeates the surroundings. If you wanted, you could feel him too. And one last thing," he signaled with his eyes to look at the branch binding him, "What we were given is not just a curse, it's much more. And I think you'll come to understand its value, but you need to focus, and spread the knowledge, because when the time comes…" they saw the branches tightly holding his limbs slightly unravel, "we will be ready."

***

Before his lessons, Gabe managed to sell most of what he had gathered by hunting through the contacts Greta had given him; everything totaled around a couple hundred units of Mana.

The monster parts buyer charged it in his ManaCard through the ManaCash, making him wonder how the machine really worked and the bank issuer that managed them. But there would be time for that.

After following his lesson, Gabriel communicated with Greta; he now knew that given his shadowy companion, his secret messages might as well be loud concerts. However, in the hope of managing to hide information, he continued using the incredible medium, which was the Gemini paper.

They decided to meet at Wagner's manor. He would spend the night there and be adjourned about the plans. It was an optimal solution given that he had to be accompanied by them to face the Challenge Boss of Ant Dungeon the following day.

Wagner's house was very… techie. Or magitechie would be more appropriate. The house sported an almost entirely magic bound control over both their furniture and their working.

More than that, it had a TV, exactly like the inn. Which made him wonder, how did they get the signal?

"Oh, that's easy," Stefan, Greta's father, answered, "it's all about magical array dissolution, well, we don't have to forget the importance of anchored runic circles. But what we do is simply tying the TV with an identical model present on Earth. It reproduced exactly what the other model is reproducing, voice included; however, commanding it from here is still a far fetch. The most we were able to do is turn it on and off, and it's only Alter-sided."

Gabriel nodded, faking that he had understood something, but he had an honest question though, "But what about the power supply? I haven't seen electricity around? Hell, not even a generator, now that I think about it. Everything is done with Mana."

"Yes, yes. Who would need electrical current in a world where Mana is so abundant? It's infinitely more useful. However, to answer your question, we simply switched it with a nano-brazier. It fuels it continually and barely needs a figment of the house brazier. It's really entirely inexpensive, if you used yours, for example, it would take barely one Mana a day to keep the TV on the entire time."

After having the whole concept re-explained by Greta, Gabriel tried to recap.

"So, let's see if I understood correctly. Somewhere on Earth there's a TV of the same model, always turned on your preferred channel. And what we are seeing now is what that TV is showing?"

"Bingo," said the father.

During the day, Gabriel came to know both of Greta's older brothers, but only in passing. They were both magical scientists like their father, while only her mother and the mythological figure that was her grandmother were supporters like her.

"I can't believe I actually met your grandmother. I thought it was you using some weird trick to look older," Gabriel whispered to her once nobody was around.

Greta allowed herself to chuckle since the start of the day.

"She wanted to meet you in person. 'Let's see this Herald of yours, ' she said. Then she stole the permit from my hands and disappeared as she always does."

"Is she an assassin?" Gabriel asked.

"What? Of course not. There are no such things in my family. She's a supporter like mom and me, I still don't grasp how she has learned that level of magic in the last three years, so I can't answer you. What I believe is that she was already part of Alter and never told anybody."

"I don't understand; why in three years?"

"What? Oh, well, you know we've been invited over to Alter three years ago now. I thought I told you that, then the Yamamoto took us under their wings and used our faculties to turn us into scientists and supporters. No one in my family is a real fighter, apart from me. Most of us have been carried to our level and thought the Magic Skills we would need for our work. It's been tough, getting to this level in three years, but we have been lucky too." She nodded, "Without our capital, we would have never made it to this point without shedding… well, blood."

"So, you chose the fighter life over the laboratory. However, I look at you, I feel the vibes of a researcher tho," said Gabriel.

"Mmh, now I don't know if I should thank you or kick your ass," she answered with a smug smile.

"I believe it was a compliment, but you will never really know."

"Jokes aside," Gabriel continued, "any news?"

"It's almost ready, don't worry about it. Worry about tomorrow. Did you make your preparations?" Greta.

"Preparations? Mental, oh, yes. Anything else? I have no clue."

"Better, you will be informed on the site. I bet you'll like Ant Dungeon. I just hope we won't get abducted there too."

"I don't know, those goblin ant princesses look a little skanky. I can see them playing the part of the enslaver," he said, touching his chin.

"Gabriel, you're nasty… I don't understand what Prisha sees in you… No, wait, no, I think I get it." She nodded. "You are the same level of nasty."

"No one's as nasty as me, Greta, remember that."