I had found a rather interesting specimen a few days ago. Or weeks. Words are so hard to remember the differences between, especially as small as that. What the point of measuring the difference between the two when time is so subjective I will never know, but I digress.

This specimen was from another world, whether you would believe that or not. Well, universe is more accurate but there’s no point in semantics. I've actually been waiting for it for a while, though this isn't entirely as I expected. There was some, shall we say, interference.

It had such interesting emotions compared to the denizens of this world, with more depth than almost anything else I’ve been able to find excluding. It must have come from a world with none of our kind to be able to develop like that with no mental resistance.

Of course, I had to have them. I was able to get my fill the first time they came here, but that little excursion also gave them a [Skill] that increased its mental resilience so further feedings became more difficult. That, with the influence of that bastard [God’s Gift to Man], meant that my influence was severely limited. By the third excursion I could get practically nothing from it at all, though it was then able to enter this place’s precursor freely.

For a bit I followed it, hoping to get at it during it’s next visit, but unfortunately it’s imperfect return meant it could sense me following it. I decided to call off the whole venture there.

Much love, wishing you all the best

Desolation

----

Time seemed to slow just slightly in that all-too-familiar way it does whenever Reto has a sharp object moving towards them. In this case, an arrow moving right to their eye. The one that launched it didn’t seem to expect something about the way it fired towards them, so he probably had some form of spell that he attempted to cast.

They buckled their knee in order to dodge the arrow coming to their face, successfully dodging it but leaving themselves open to the two swordsmen now getting up to attack them. They brandished their weapons as they charged at Reto, who quickly counted the number of enemies in order to formulate a strategy. There were 5 people, one of which is likely a mage based on her only weapon being a dagger, one is an archer, and the rest were melee fighters. The two charging wielded similar broadswords, however the one that was still getting up was using a larger mace.

The right swordsman, swordswomen more accurately, reached them first and slashed at the middle of their torso with the sword. Upon noticing that they weren’t going to have enough time to get out of the way fully, they started moving the front of their torso to that other place. This meant that what would have been a deadly cut became more of a deep graze.

The woman’s eyes widened seeing what Retos torso was doing, and she quickly called out to their teammates.

”Careful! He can do some weird magic on his torso that makes it smaller, I don’t know the range so make sure to stay only as close as necessary!”

Ah, so they think it’s a spell I can use on other people? That’s pretty good for me actually, make them worried about an attack that’ll never come.

“It’s not a spell that can be used on other people. Don’t worry about anything in that regard. I don’t think that he has any ranged spells at all.”

Retos eyes narrowed and turned to the mage.

How did she know that? She even used my same wording. It must be some form of mind reading then, though I thought that was supposed to be borderline impossible to process? This system is really picking up some slack. Oh, and fuck you by the way.

That last thought was aimed at the mage, not only would it prove whether the mage actually could read minds or not, but it was also quite cathartic. Their theory proved fruitful, as the mage instantly stepped slightly further away, though otherwise showed no signs of fear.

With renewed confidence, both swordsmen charged at Reto once more, with the mace wielder shortly behind.

So I don’t have any weapons, or other equipment, the ability that would be most useful at the moment is sealed off, and somebody is reading my mind, looking at you by the way. There’s only one real chance I’ve got.

Their only options were to run away or disarm one of their opponents and use their weapon. Most of the bandits either are likely to have Skills in relation to weaponry, as well as just regular skill, or have a weapon they won’t be able to use.

The mage, however, is only using a dagger. The implication with that is that she can’t use any other weapons with particular skill, and based on they were willing to bet that she can’t use the one she’s got particularly well. If they can close the distance, she’ll be unable to cast any spells, even on herself if Reto use Cursebreaker on Riven spell. From there, overpowering her should be simple enough. If they move towards the stairs they should be able to make the bandits think that they’re trying to escape for a second before they get warned.

Plan in motion, they moved further backwards to delay their approach, getting no more space to move backwards after that, and then sprinted to the stairs. Seeing their attempt at running, the lead of the three chasing them grinned slightly, assuming that logically they were trying to escape, and then following them. Where previously their formation barred the hallway from anyone else, now there was a gap.

“No! He’s not actually fleeing, it’s a trick!”

The mage’s warning distracted the warriors for not even a second, but it made their reaction to Reto passing them just barely too slow. As she got in range of their aura, she seemed to become somewhat resigned before having a knee driven into their stomach.

I kinda feel bad honestly

The dagger clattered to the ground, allowing Reto to quickly swoop it up. They missed the handle slightly and grabbed the blade with one finger, but though they felt pain there wasn’t an actual wound. They moved their hand properly onto the handle and lunged towards the archer.

They first cut the string on the bow as he was hurriedly drawing it for a shot, causing the string to contract wildly and cut along the archers hand, though not hard enough to draw blood. They used the moment of the swing to spin around 270 degrees and face the warriors, backing up so the archer was also in their vision. The mage, unable to do anything within Retos aura, scrambled upwards as she moved away.

Immediately noticing this, they moved again to the archer and made a cut along his arm, hesitant to do anything that could lead to a death, causing him to drop his bow. They attempted to swing and throw it similar to a slingshot, but it went wild and instead grazed the arm of the warrior with the mace. This caused a flinch, but she held onto her weapon easily.

Dammit! That’s probably going to be really annoying.

Rather than running, the mage turned around and looked at Reto determinedly, seemingly prepared to get her revenge.

“Don’t let him get too close, he’s planning on moving the fight over to me to cancel my magic!”

Maybe I should have stabbed you when I had the chance.

At this the mage winced, but didn’t look away. Reto decided it would be better to turn their attention to the actual threats. The archer had backed off similar to the mage, and was now stood behind the warriors with a long dagger, possible almost a short sword, held in a reverse grip.

Isn’t that supposed to be something the do in movies to make characters look cooler?

The warriors were advancing, this time much slower. They looked to be hoping to prevent them from escaping or targeting the less physically inclined of their group, though this strategy is going against what the mage said. Deciding to avoid a fight on their terms, Reto ran forward with their dagger held in front of their chest, so it can be moved to a wide array of positions somewhat quickly.

The warriors were arranged such that the one with the mace was in the middle, and an attack against her could be blocked by the swordsmen, and then she can retaliate. This same principle also applied to the two on the outside, with them blocking and the mace wielder attacking. The only way around it would be to attack two of them at once, but given their lack of experience they don’t know if they could pull it off.

“He’s planning to attack two of you at once!”

Again, their plans had been revealed, though this time the sting of it was reduced by the fact that they barely even had a plan in the first place. The enemies, now prepared to block two attacks, were surprised to see them sliding low. They, rather than attacking up where they could easily be blocked, threw themselves into a slide at the legs of the one on the far right, the woman.

She didn’t have proper footing to stay balanced during an attack from below and, compounded with the slash along her right leg, she got knocked over completely, her weapon being launched behind her as she attempted to use to attack them.

Seeing this, Reto attempted to grab it, however not only did this cause spikes to grow out of the handle and cut into their palm, but the weapon was also dragged back into the swordswoman’s hand as she was in the middle of standing up.

Reto then decided that going back to the warriors would be a losing ploy and, once again, charged down the mage. Around a metre after they passed the line of warriors, now chasing after them, the mage once again became panicked. However, this time the archer was prepared to defend her. He switched his knife to a forward grip and swung it in an arc, trying to ward Reto off.

Though deterred, they weren’t willing to back down.

If I can absorb all the mage’s Mana, I should be able to focus more on the fight without worrying about any spells or predictions of my attacks, after that I don’t have much of a plan but I should be able to make something work.

With that, they turned the full force of Mana feeding onto the mage, though the archer was also caught in the crossfire due to currently blocking her. As the aura was turned to her, the mage started to look more and more faint, to the point where she seemed as though she may collapse were it to be kept on any longer. What was strange however, was that the archer seemed to experience a little bit of strain at first, though he swiftly recovered.

Was I able to absorb the mana that was enhancing him passively somehow? But then why did the strain disappear from him? Perhaps he has an active skill to block Mana being taken from him, or maybe one of the stats can resist it. Magical durability, most likely.

The archers eyes flicked over to the side, before refocusing on Reto, face fixed into a grimace. He started to slowly back towards the stairs, making sure to keep the mage behind him at all times and holding out an arm to shepherd her towards the staircase.

“I’m going to take Carol upstairs, you three can deal with this, right? He can absorb Mana, and it’s having a pretty negative effect on her.”

The mace wielder took a moment to think and, though his eyes were on Reto, the archer’s attention was split three ways. Quickly, they pointed their dagger vaguely forwards and ran. The archer attempted to jump back, but just ended up knocking Carol over and into the wall. This allowed Reto to run the dagger along the archers other hand, and make him drop the knife with a pained grunt.

They then tackled him backwards, though at a different angle than the mage fell at, and took the knife from the ground, this time without cutting themselves. They swung their new knife in their left hand, cutting across the archers stomach, before stabbing the dagger into his leg, each causing a progressively louder pained noise. Whirling around, they held both blades in front of them, eyes switching between the archer and the warriors, now paused partway into a movement, and aura rotated to face the mage again.

Come on, back down. Just drop your weapons and back away.

The trio, of course, was entirely ignorant to their mental pleas, and instead the mace wielder stepped forward slowly and started speaking, making sure to keep them in her eye-line at all times.

“Listen, we don’t need to hurt you. Just put the weapons down and return to your cell, and we’ll forget all about this, alright?”

Not only do I not believe that, I also completely destroyed my cell. Better luck next time.

“Alright, you don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to. I’m just going to put my mace down now, and then you can put your weapons down after.”

Though she said that, the sentiment was lessened by the swordsman still standing behind her, looking at Reto with menacing expressions. Retos attention was drawn back to the mace wielder when they heard the clink of metal on stone, and then looked to see her standing back up, now weaponless.

They moved their weapons in the direction of the ground, and as they did she gained a gentle smile on her face, which got wiped off completely as both daggers came back up, the short one slicing upwards along the left side of her torso, right from Retos perspective, and the long one stabbing into the right of her stomach. The first left almost no mark, and she had surprisingly little reaction to the second, her first turning more into rage than pain.

“You bitch! I was giving you a way out of this little mess you’ve put yourself in, but now you’re out of second chances!”

Panicked by the sudden change in tone, they twisted the knife, and then stabbed the dagger into her upper arm, before kicking her away. They heard the shuffling of cloth behind them, and swung the knife only to hear a horrible scream of pain, and turned to see the archer holding his hands over his eyes, now in a kneeling position.

Looking back to the two still standing warriors, one stunned with rage and the other with horror, they turned left and ran a quarter way up the stairs. With little to no semblance of strategy the swordswomen started running up to them , sword swinging wildly. Lacking the reach to just stab her or push her down, they threw their dagger. With a stroke of luck it hit point first though in place that looks fatal, just between her left and right collarbone closer to left.

The body fell backwards and the remaining swordsman dodged to his left, leaving him open for Reto to jump from her position on the stairs to bring the knife into his upper arm. They swung around his huge frame, barely keeping their legs from the ground, leading to the wound being further ripped open, and attempted to pull it out as they landed.

They were at a weird angle compared to the entry wound however, causing it to get stuck and them to lose their grip and tumble to the ground. They rolled with the momentum and ended up a few metres away, lying on their back.

The swordsman was running towards them and before they were halfway up, was bringing the sword down on their head. Though they were able to move somewhat out of the way, they also raised their arm up to block. As a result rather than having their right arm severed at the shoulder, the majority of the force was directed to the ground, and they were able to leave the exchange with a dangerously wide cut on their forearm and nothing more.

They slipped around the warrior, attempting to punch him in the neck in the process and being blocked by the arm not holding the sword, before sprinting to the swordswomen and taking the dagger from her chest. Eyes sweeping along the ground, they found their knife had skidded down into the hallway the guards were in previously, far enough that there wasn’t enough time to get it.

Instead, Reto charged directly at the warrior and, as his attack started to fall, leapt backwards and left before running around the swing. Now behind him, they brought their dagger across his throat, blood spraying across the floor in front of him as he slowly fell to the ground.

Oh my god. I probably just killed like three people, maybe even more. I don’t know what happens when they run out of Mana like that, maybe it kills them. But, they were probably part of the group that kidnapped me right? Yeah, obviously they were, so really there isn’t much of an issue with killing them. I mean, obviously I’d rather avoid it but it’s mostly fine. Right. Ok.

They looked up to the top of the stairs in resignation, then to the slightly stirring archer an the women who used the mace. The mage was still not moving, but who knows when that may change.

I guess I have to do something about this then, don’t I? Now, how would I go about locking the cells exactly? I should get them in there before worrying about that.

It took almost half an hour to get them all in there. Carol was easy, but the two that were conscious struggled the whole way there, and the swordsmen were incredibly heavy because of their stature and muscles. They soon managed however and then closed the gate, only to find that there wasn’t a key.

They looked at the chairs that had been haphazardly thrown to the side curiously and picked one up. It was made such that there was a gap between the back rest and the seat of the chair, rather than being a singular construction. Although, just like the market stalls from the military town, it was almost seamless as if it were made from one piece of wood. Smashing it against the wall and bars didn’t do any damage to it either.

Could I somehow use {Cursebreaker} to make the go around the bars on the gate and the wall?

They first tried to move only a portion of the chair inwards with Cursebreaker and, when that worked the whole thing. As they first thought, it would only work if a part of them were being moved as well. They lined the chair up so that the gap was as close to the bars as possible, and then moved it inwards. When it was entirely gone, they moved their arm forward slightly and brought it back, now surrounding the two bars they needed to.

In short order this process was completed with the two remaining chairs, and though the table didn’t have a fully enclosed gap the door would be a struggle to open if they put it in the way as well. The main plank of wood it was made of was between the bars, and the legs would block the door from opening after a certain distance. Of course, once they break the chairs a table will hardly be much of a problem but that’s not really the point.

They wouldn’t be able to take most of the weapons. They weren’t able to get a belt and are unwilling to take it from the bandits, dead or no, because it’s either grave robbery or it would lead to the remaining living ones struggling to keep their pants up. Plus, each belt would only be able to hold one weapon due to the design, so they would need all of them anyway. The armour was also tempting but discarded for the same reasons.

Though, they did now have the opportunity to examine it better. It looks about as they’d expect leather armour to look, and that’s what they’re all wearing aside from the mage who’s in a robe for some reason. During the battle, it’d all seemed to blend into some sort of generic bandit armour, with their focus more on the actions than appearances.

Their health regeneration had already stemmed the flow of the wound, but without the emblem it will take quite a while to heal so they can’t just wait for that, leaving the only thing left to do be find a way to sheath their dagger and knife. Looking to their pockets, they decided to stab them through the pocket and outside the trousers, leaving naked blades hanging out and further ruining their clothes.

It’s not line there’s a better option. Alright. Let’s get up there then.

----

Around an hour ago, the leader of the slavery ring had received a message through Subordinate Monitor, a skill which allowed her to keep tack of those under her employ. She was in the middle of celebrating the big catch she’d caught, already drunk in spite of her physical durability, and as such didn’t think much of it when the only person to use a mace in their group, Tiff, said that there was an escapee but her group was handling. Tiff was trustworthy, didn’t even like parties so she wasn’t going to be spiteful because of that.

The only ones she was worried about were that swordsman, Darron, and the mage Carol. Darron is a bit of a coward, and though he has a skill to bypass it amplifying rage he isn’t really the type to get angry. Carol, on the other hand, has a mean streak. She seems to be a real big fan of trying to stab things, as much as she isn’t good at it. No-one would be surprised if she tried to stab the prisoner just for the fun of it, though she’d have her head for that. At the very least she does her job well with that thought divination magic of hers.

I wonder why she became a mage in the first place if she wants to stab things? Not exactly like you could do it by accident. Bah. Not my problem. I’m sure she’ll tell me eventually, they always do.

She should have thought something of it an hour later when Tiff sent her a message saying that the prisoner was leaving the cell block and had slaughter half her team, but all she could bring herself to do was have a sad thought and move on.

“Aw, the catch escaped.”

She might have said it out loud, not that anyone could have heard because at the time she was in the process of having yet another drink. Too bad for her, really.

[Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.3

Health – 1/20

Will – 24/30

Mana – 55/55

Power

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.05

: Magical – 1.35

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.20

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.30

: Magical – 1.55

{Desolate Survivalism} – {Mana Feeding} – {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Mage Adept}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}