Upon entering the tower, Reed saw three things. Stairs leading up to his left, stairs leading down to his right and a corridor in front of him.

He noticed the wolves hadn’t come with him. Either they were scared from the huge amounts of mana coming from the tower, or they disliked this place for some reason.

Sensing that the mana was coming from upstairs, Reed went towards the stairs to his left.

Going up, Reed saw that the second floor was some kind of armory, with various weapons around the room. There was a door to the left and right of the armory as well.

However, he wasn’t interested in those doors. What grabbed his attention was the cape that was displayed in a pedestal. He could feel some strange kind of mana coming off it.

Ignoring the huge amounts of mana coming from upstairs, Reed went towards the black cape, as if in a trance.

He picked up the cape, and…

Wore it over his shoulders.

The moment he wore the cape, he felt something click inside himself. It was as if the cape had become part of his body.

He could feel the ability the control the cape to his will, like he would do to an arm or leg.

Trying out this ability, Reed tried to move the cape and make it pick up a sword on the floor.

Then, a black tendril came out of the back of the cape, grabbing onto the sword and bringing it towards him.

Marveled at the powers of the cape, Reed started to make tendrils come out in all directions, picking up everything he could see in front of him.

Lifting multiple weapons up above his head, Reed played around with the cape like a little kid, when suddenly:

We can feel your power coming out from this tower, demon lord! Show yourself! Hum?

Reed heard people screaming from downstairs. Letting everything he was holding up drop, Reed started to run towards the stairs, going down to ground floor.

He heard the scream coming out from the corridor he saw before. He went through the corridor, and once he saw a set of doors, he rapidly opened them.

In front of him, there was the most splendid room he had ever seen. Multiple candles and pillars adorned the side of the room, and at the very back, he could see a gigantic black throne with an enormous window looking outside behind it.

In front of the throne, there was the source of the scream. Four people stood there, in armors of different colors.

One was a man in probably his twenty, with brown hair, blue eyes and wearing a shining silver colored armor. He held in his hands a sword that shone as much as his armor, and he had a look of determination in his eyes.

Behind him, there was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a priest robe and hat. She had a staff in hand, and Reed noticed she had long, pointy ears. She was most likely an elf, habitants of the great forest to the north.

To the left side of them, there was another man. This one had green hair and eyes, and wore light leather armor with a bow in hand and an arrow scabbard in his back. He also seemed to have a dagger.

The other woman was just as pretty as the other, with short silver hair going up to her shoulders and black eyes. She had a robe on and a wizard hat on her head. She held a staff in hand with an blue rock on top of it.

Once they noticed Reed entering the room, the brown haired man screamed:

Demon lord, so you finally show yourself! …Look closely, Leon. His mana is different from the one we felt from outside.

The silver haired woman said, to which he replied:

You’re right. Could it be one of his underlings? …If so then he would have attacked us already, wouldn’t he? Once again you’re right, Anna. Your intellect never fails to surprise me. …I’m just stating the obvious.

Looking confused at their exchange, Reed tried to as something of them:

Who are you? So you ask who we are, do you? My name is Leon, the Hero! …I am Anna, this group’s wizard. I-I am Sylfina, the priest. My name’s Adris. I am the archer and rogue.

For some reason, they immediately introduced themselves, as if on cue. Reed, trying to make sense of what they were saying, decided to introduce himself as well:

I am Reed, I-

Before he could finish saying what he wanted, he felt an enormous mana presence behind him. Reed hair stood on end.

He looked back to see-

Humpf, another group of heroes, I see. Let’s get this over with.

Serion, his father, wearing multiple black clothes all over his body.