[Master, it’s time to get up. I have breakfast.] Dresil attempted to wake the sleeping Cain by bribing him with food. Hmmrmrmrgg…. Let me sleep longer. He groaned, burying himself further into the blankets. His actions stumped Dresil, the poor tree had never come across such a problem before.

[Master, there’s cookies.] Dresil attempted to bribe Cain once more, but this time with sweets. Hm? “I’m awake.” Cain rose abruptly from the depths of the blankets upon the mention of sweets. His pillow slid off the top of his head as he scooted his back against the wall. Cain’s long hair danced on his head; Dresil unmerged from the blankets and sighed when she saw the sight.

She pulled out a few dozen dishes of assorted fruits and meat. Before Cain could ask about the whereabouts of his bribe, Dresil brought out a few plates of cookies. Cain immediately reached for them, his fingers grazing the edge of the plate. So close, yet so far.

[Nuh-uh. Eat your normal breakfast first. Also you forgot to dismiss the sound-proof magic circles around your ears and the leaf on your eyes.] Dresil’s revelation stunned Cain for a few moments. Did I just use the mana zone subconsciously then? Weird… He contemplated while following Dresil’s instructions and gnawing on some meat.

Cain opened a portal to the Mana Storage and created a clay cup filled with water. He ate his breakfast and upon the third refill of water, started to transmute the refills into soda.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (36ms)

Rex: Why don’t you just make glass cups?

Cain: Clay is easier to clean if I accidentally break them.

Cain: I’m not quite used to my enhancement that I can trust myself with such delicate objects unless I constantly monitor my strength.

Cain: Not to mention, the constant increase in my enhancement due to my mana circulation.

Bob: The enhancement right now is overshadowed by your 10 mill physical enhancement, but will indeed make fine tuning your strength difficult since it’d need to be adjusted every day.

Rex: Huh… And here I thought it was a habit left over from not exposing glass dishes to the party.

Dresil: Dang… I think Rex may actually be getting smarter.

Bob: Indeed. Looks like those parental controls benefited him.

Rex: :proud: :hehe:

Rex: wait, no. Please don’t keep them on forever.

Dresil: Ah, I need to get back to distributing dishes.

Bob: I need to focus some more on the Star Dimension.

Cain: This food tastes great.

Rex: Guys?

Rex: Guys….?

Rex: No pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Rex: :Pain:

--------------------------

Cain suppressed a chuckle by eating faster, cleaning out each dish quicker than Dresil anticipated. She brought a few more then put the plate of cookies behind them. Cain left his bed after devouring everything up until the cookies, then savoring their taste. He stretched his limbs then did some additional stretches to breathe life down his back, neck, shoulders and hips.

Huh… it’s already 12:50ish. Looks like I need to head on over already. “Do you even know where they’re meeting at?” Dresil asked Cain, interrupting his thoughts as she stored the memory foam mattress. “Not at all. I just need to teleport somewhere near Victoria and the rest will figure itself out though.” Cain replied as she merged into his clothes.

Cain used SRI to open a portal near Victoria, Dresil combed his bedhead back using her vines. “See? I told you he would be here soon.” Veronica’s voice traveled through the portal. Hm… looks like this is going to be annoying. Cain thought as he walked through the portal.

He squinted his eyes as they quickly adjusted to the change in light. Cain saw a man wearing a robe tapping his foot on the ground, his back propped against the large carriage. “Good. You’re here. You’re also late.” An annoyed, rough voice spoke from the mess of a man within the robes.

His bedhead is wilder than mine, at least I hope that’s bedhead. Cain thought as he checked the time on his watch magic circle. The mana feedback told him it was 12:53pm. “It’s not even 1pm yet, why are you fussing around so much.” Cain replied to the man; he received stern looks from Victoria as he spoke.

The man flipped his pocket watch, closing and stuffing it in his pocket in one swift movement. Before he could speak, Cain interrupted him, having read his identity from his tag. “Oh? So you’re from the Magic Tower. Well, since you’re in a hurry then let’s go.” He spoke as he used SRI to open a portal to the Tower using SRI in front of the horses.

Cain boarded the carriage and waited for the others to follow him. The mage stared through the portal, completely perplexed as to how this unknown adventurer just bypassed all of their defenses and opened a portal to the heart of the plaza within the Tower. “You coming or not?” Cain called after the mage, his tone mocking his punctuality.

“Y-yes…” The mage replied and absentmindedly boarded the carriage. The coach driver hesitantly entered the portal, preparing his heart for many spells to be launched at him. He had heard from a colleague that the last time he drove the carriage through a portal to the capitol, the guards’ spears almost impaled the horses.

The carriage emerged in the center of the plaza within the Magic Tower. The name itself described the estates that surrounded the plaza in horseshoe formation and the Mage Towers at the end of the horseshoe. Each Tower towered at the foot of the horseshoe, a cement and steel arch connecting the two.

Cain noticed the peculiarities of the architecture within the Mage Towers. They used modern techniques with magic and medieval methods to compensate in some areas where it seemed the engineer lacked the knowledge to fill. The estates and the plaza itself seemed to have been built a few years later using common medieval techniques.

Cain detected a vast underground system beneath the plaza, so vast even his mana zone couldn’t give him a guess as to where it ended. Multiple well lit catacombs filled the many layers. From what Cain could glimpse from those within his zone, these rooms housed the necessary space for the mages to conduct their experiments, making the Mage Towers a false target for intruders.

Cain glimpsed at the mage towers from the carriage windows as numerous mages flooded out of them and the estate houses. He saw a multitude of magic circles layered upon the structure, along with a dome of similar ones encompassing the Magic Tower. Cain deduced that they were like the barrier within the arena and the ones on the Mage Towers like the guild’s, yet their density was vastly more.

The hoard of mages surrounded the carriage and began casting a multitude of different spells. Flames wisped in between arcs of electricity, ice spikes hovered over shifting earth, the mages launched all of their spells towards the carriage with no questions asked. The party was completely calm, to the point one would mistake it was their tea time.

The mage who knew the fleet of mages who launched their spells panicked. The mages had at least 5 circles around their hearts, and there were hundreds of them. Their spells inched closer to the carriage, seemingly in slow motion.

The coach driver closed his eyes, wishing to be reincarnated to serve under a better employer with better pay. The mage curled into a ball faster than one would run for his life; his robe shone faintly from the defensive magic within activating. “Do something!” He cried out as the hundreds, almost a thousand, spells scraped the wood of the carriage.

“Oh, right.” Cain muttered; the mage's scream brought him out of his examination of the defensive spells laid within his robes. “Vanish.” With one word from Cain’s mouth, the mana in the air vibrated furiously. In the next second, the spells that once threatened the lives of those within the carriage evaporated into thin air. Cain had used every particle of his mana within the Mana Zone to convert their spells into his mana.

An enormous explosion echoed throughout the plaza, roof tiles erupted from one of the estate buildings, launching a human figure into the air. The mage opened the carriage door, thinking that since there was no impact, everything was safe. When he saw the human figure floating, the mage instantly went to his knees and held his badge above his head.

“Please stop firing! I’m from the Magic Tower too! We’re here on a request the guild sent us!” The mage screamed at the top of his lungs as a lightning bolt flew over his head and headed straight for the people within the carriage.

The rampant lightning bolt burrowed through the air at speeds that were near impossible to track, even with a trained eye. The tip of the lightning arced its way past the open door, only stopping when it impacted Veronica’s head.