“GAH”

My head, I think it’s creaking. I don’t remember drinking that much yesterday?

Strange, my hands seem to be tied.

I slowly open my eyes. As I lift my head I see that I am in a room. Sitting in a chair. Tied to a chair.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

I feel liquid dripping off the back of my head onto my neck.

I focus, I see a man standing on the other side of the room, observing me. The way he looks at me feels like he is looking at a particularly interesting animal, something that has two heads and a tail growing on its arm. With a side-glance I see that there more people in the room, at least three that I can see from my location. Well this would be a lot worse if I couldn’t reload. However they seem to want to question me, I guess not everything is different in this world. Well maybe the rope instead of duct tape.

“So Mr.. Leaf? You are quite an interesting conundrum.”

I hear the man speak. He looks unremarkable. Short brown hair, slightly dark skin akin to a tan, not too high, or too short, cleanly dressed and shaved. He is wearing simple leather armor, the kind that’s not cheap but not expensive either. In a word, average. Except the eyes, at first glace they look brown, but the more you look the redder they become with slight specs of gold, like rubies glittering under the yellow tinted moon of this world.

“First you see past the active concealment of my shadows. Then you resist all forms of mental probing, while unconscious mind you. I have heard of Arch-Mage Manipulators putting up passive mental blocks on themselves sure. But right after the status stone works on you, giving only your name, Leaf.”

The man steps aside to reveal a table behind him. On it my stuff is spread out. My gun, extra magazines, knife, and other tools I have. The man picks up my gun.

“But this, most of all, is why I haven’t just killed you yet. For you see my God has given the command that us mortals shall find the ability to surpass magic using fire and steel. Anyone who is able to create such a device shall be rewarded nobility status without any other requirements.”

The man keeps turning my gun in his hands, almost enjoying the sensation of the smooth and cold metal on his skin.

“Sure the dwarven smiths have been able to create something resembling that description. However compared to this….”

*Bang*

*Thud*

One of the people standing behind me falls. As I try to reconcile the pain in my left ear to the pain of my skull the man continues his monologue.

“… they are nothing but children’s toys.”

“So in light of this discovery I decided that your questioning is more important then my current mission.”

I try to struggle a bit to see where it gets me.

“Oh you won’t be able to do anything so you can stop moving around. Were are in the city proper so magic is useless here.”

His expression changes for the first time. It is a grin. It is a grin of contentment, of a man who has been allowed to do a job that he is talented in and enjoys doing, pure happiness and bliss.

“Even though I am only an Adept I still lead this little unit of mine. Do you know why? Because my God recognizes talent unlike these barbarians.”

He gestured around, with both of his hands including the gun. Waving as though to cover the whole of this town with his hands.

“They only care about your magic aptitude. This city disgusts me.”

“It is a gift from my God that I am able to use my talent to destroy these Mage ranches.”

He puts the gun down. Leaning over behind the desk he takes out a bag, a simple brown bag with two straps. He puts the bag flat on the table. Undoing the straps it unfolds like a rolled up newspaper. I can see some shiny tools on it, scalpels, needles, and others.

“For you see I am very good at asking questions. Without bypassing the mental blocks, without breaking your personality, without memory alteration, I simply ask questions and people answer me without the influence of magic.”

“It is not an important skill, since even a Journeyman magician can glean information from a simple probe.”

The man pauses. The smile on his face grows wider.

“However my God has found a use for someone like me. He personally told me that my skill is needed.”

“You should ask your questions in a Provided Town. In a Provided town even a Magus would answer you.”

“Those words changed my life, they gave me purpose.”

The man points at me with his scalpel.

“The reason I told you all of this is simple. I care not weather you answer truthfully or falsely. For I simply want to ask my questions, for I enjoy the process.”

I finally decide I might as well open my mouth. Since I don’t plan to let that knife come any closer to me.

“What is your name?”

The man blinks.

“Ah, yes. I should introduce myself. I guess it won’t matter since you aren’t leaving this room.”

“My name is Raum Abolidge, a specialist serving the Godking’s Shade Division. Now lets me ask you a question…”

As I see the blade coming closer to my skin I think,

Load.

----

I sit down on my bed, back in my room at the Grey Boar Inn. There is no longer any pain. I should feel fine. There is not a scratch on me.

But my hands tremble.

That smile, a pure smile of joy. I got lucky, again. Lucky that I only got knocked out, lucky that I woke up with all my skin intact, lucky that his magic didn’t work on me for some reason.

Why didn’t that magic work on me? As far as I know only if a magician is of a significantly higher tier then you will mental magic just not work. I don’t even know any magic. Raum had no reason to lie to a dead man.

Also that ‘shadow’ of his seemed surprised when I saw him. Almost like I wasn’t supposed to see him.

Add in the fact that I can’t open my status window, whatever that is.

I think there is something interfering with magic used on me. When I think back on it, back when I first woke up, back when I was in excruciating pain…

*Shiver*

…I heard two voices, the voice that gave the painful error, a slightly robotic voice, and the voice I constantly ignore, the slightly feminine voice.

Load.

Command accepted, loading world state…

Load complete.

Now that I am standing again I mull over this development. I just assumed that both were the same voice. The robotic voice spoke in English after all. I just assumed that after the error correction the voice changed.

But it seems to me that there are two distinct voices here.

One that is native to this world, the one that governs status and magic.

One that is mine, and lets me alter time.

It seems my power has provided me with, if not nullification then at least a form of resistance, to magic. I haven’t actually been hit with any long-range magic nor have I seen any one cast it on me. However from this last excursion it seems that the system I use and this worlds system is different.

This also explains why I can’t bring out my status.

“Ah…”

Raum said that he used a status stone on me. It must be similar to the one the guards used on me when I entered the city. If I steal one and use it on myself I should be able to see my status.

“Huuu…”

I really have been too relaxed this past year. Sure I learned the language. Sure learned about magic.

But I completely ignored my inability to use magic. Like this power would be enough to prosper.

In my old world I would be akin to a god.

But in this world I got hit in the head by a cudgel and almost got skinned by a torturer working for the Godking. Honestly I though the title of Godking was just preening but I ignored the existence of magic. What if he is a literal God King?

One problem at a time, first deal with murder-guards.