Rakna made his way inside the commune section of the Pavilion. He opened the door leading to the main room and walked into it. Right away, he felt many stares land on him.

‘Fame is annoying,’ he complained internally and activated his Stealth. At the level it was, coupled with the Absolution of Belphegor, he could literally stop people from being capable of perceiving him. ‘And the smell… it is even more so,’ he added as he flash-stepped to a Quest Board.

“{You should have considered that before pulling off a political stunt,}” Higure snorted. “{But what kind of scent are you picking up exactly?}”

‘Too many,’ he replied as he swiped through the quest list. ‘Greed, envy, fear, respect, curiosity, and… infatuation… among others. But nothing directly malicious. I guess it paid off in the end.’

“{It’d better be. Have you forgotten? It’s not just the Nine-Tailed that you have behind you. A priest of the Basilica has publicly named your friend ‘Eternal Maiden’ and promised their support. Other than that, you are part of the Throne of Glory and Hybran Blacksteel himself personally has your back.}”

“{It is the perfect social shield as you wanted,}” Fray added. “{However, do be careful. High status does not put you out of danger forever. You can still be targeted.}”

‘By other high-status individuals. Yes, I know,’ Rakna responded after picking exactly seven quests to complete. He was about to leave when a certain icon on the board caught his attention. He eyed it for a moment and ultimately browsed a few additional things before leaving.

* * *

Rakna stepped inside Blacksteel’s Spear and the locomotive rumbled as the train departed from the station. He sat on an empty seat and took out the journal, which he only had a few pages left to finish. But he already knew at this point that it wouldn’t help him anymore.

He had admittedly learned a few things from it but he wouldn’t get anything for his Kzanaria from it and he now had Wis’ hints to follow.

“{Why did you take that hit by the way?}” Higure asked and he shrugged. He glanced to his left and a system prompt popped up according to his thoughts.

❮ ◈ ❯

Title: Hit Task - #12f8wz7x

Description: On the 34th Plateau is located a hub for a minor slave-dealing organization. They are very secretive and hard to find. They hide under the guise of normal merchants and civilians.

Objective: Assassinate the leader, Fang, and dismantle the organization. Only his name is known and there were no prior sightings. Find out who he is and kill him.

Rewards: 5 000 000 Talys (the bounty may fluctuate).

❮ ◈ ❯

‘I’m preparing,’ Rakna replied and dismissed the window. ‘I need to gather more information about Arena Zero. For now, I’ll try to see if I can get that intel from small underground groups. And if there is no relation, there’s nothing bad in ridding the System of those guys.’

“{True. So, do you want to start learning now?}”

‘Sure. Do your worst… or rather, your best.’

Higure chuckled. “{All right. Let’s start with magic formations and circles.}”

* * *

Rakna flapped his wings and produced a sonic boom as he soared past the forests and trees of the First Plateau. His golden eyes scanned the area as Higure went on about her lectures.

“{That basically sums up the three types of magic circles. The enhancement and long-range types are not very useful to your usual fighting style, but the auxiliaries will allow you to have faster casting and more efficient mana usage. Any question?}”

‘Hmm, you said that to make a magic circle, I have to direct mana into artificial pathways that form a visual feedback and algorithmically conjure the spell, correct?’

“{Uuuh… yes? I’m not even sure I understand what you just said, to be honest,}” she confessed and Rakna snorted. “{But as long as it makes sense in your head, do your stuff. Remember, apply your knowledge of runes to it. Also, mathematic is a good way of making magic circles. You just have to try out different combinations and… well, not mess up the calculation.}”

Rakna groaned. ‘I hate math,’ he uttered and extended his arm forward whilst in flight. He squinted his eyes and imagined his mana flow through his circuits. They converged to his hand and emerged to follow a predetermined path. It gathered at one point and then circled it but still, nothing was visible.

He closed his eyes and pondered. ‘Let’s start with the law of acceleration… apply it to my body and convert it to match mana expenditure rules… I guess… let’s translate into runes as well and… done.’

He opened his glowing eyes wide and a magic circle with runes and symbols appeared in front of him. It was entirely cyan and looked like intangible ice. At the center, a six-pointed star with a pair of wings and nine tails on its back was depicted.

❮ ◈ ❯

Magic Theory has leveled up!

Magic Circle Theory has leveled up!

Magic Formation Theory has leveled up!

❮ ◈ ❯

“{That’s perfect! You even made your crest on your first try,}” Higure praised. “{Everyone has their own crest and sigil. As long as it’s elementary crafts, this variation should make it more intuitive to you. Now, this is an enhancing circle. You know what to do.}”

Rakna grunted and accelerated. He caught up to the circle that until now had been moving at the same speed as him, and went through it. Instantly, his speed climbed up further, as if he had used his Reinforcement to boost his agility, but it was slightly different.

The circle had focused everything on ‘flight’. Its sole purpose was to ‘enhance flight’ of anyone that passed through and that’s exactly what it did.

Rakna did a few flips and barreled back into his original course. ‘Pretty nifty. I like it. I will have to get used to invoke a circle whenever I need a little boost in my spells or movements.’

“{Good. How about we expound more on formations now?}”

‘Hm, wait a second, I found it,’ Rakna replied and flew down. He landed near a lake and crouched near the roots of a large tree. His Fabled Sight flickered and he carefully picked a small mushroom growing on the soil next to it.

❮ ◈ ❯

You have found a Rya Mushroom!

10 000 Talys rewarded!

---

You completed the quest Mushy-Mushy Room! The System will take charge of the plant’s transport back to the Pavilion.

❮ ◈ ❯

After this message rang, Rakna watched the mushroom vanish in his hands. It was pleasant that he didn’t need to return every time to conclude the Quest or get the rewards.

‘Good system,’ he thought and stood up. He then looked at the lake and hummed. “Might as well try it now,” he muttered and waved his hand. A magic circle formed above the water and took a few seconds to become stable.

Rakna flicked his hand again and the circle shone and suddenly shot several cold energy needles into the water, leaving small flake-like spots of ice behind. A minute later, they resurfaced; stabbed into some fish.

“Well, that worked fine,” Rakna commented and controlled Sonata to fly above the water and catch the fish like a net. The scarf brought them back to him and another prompt notified him of a Quest completion. “There are some really easy quests… like fishing and herb gathering.”

“{Well, they are doubly easy for you, thanks to your senses and especially your eyesight. The Rya Mushroom is fairly rare; you only spent a few minutes looking for it,}” Fray pointed out.

Rakna shrugged. “I guess,” he muttered and checked his Quests. “Hm, only five more for me to get my Host Rank to II. It’ll be interesting to see what I get from it.”

“{Indeed… what are your next Quests?}”

“A few subjugations, two more herbs, and a camp extermination… which should be nearby based on the coordinates,” he said and looked around. He mused and turned into a werewolf. He sniffed the air a few times and huffed. “There,” he growled and switched to his quadrupedal form to run.

After a minute, he stopped at the edge of a clearing and gazed at a settlement in the distance. He could see wooden fortifications around it and inside, there were lots of green-skinned creatures such as goblins, hobs, and orcs.

“I could bombard it with a well-placed Cataract and get rid of half of them in one swoop.”

“{…while that is a very sound strategy, I cannot help but feel perturbed,}” Fray stated.

“Old man’s tip. If you can blow it up, do it. Saves time and resources, he said.”

“{Of course…}”

“But well, I will use the occasion to try out Sonata,” Rakna said and turned into a therian again. He took off his scarf and turned it into twin daggers. “Time for some action, little guy.”

Pronos hopped off with a yawn and groggily nodded.

“We’ll try stealth. You know what to do,” Rakna instructed and he hissed positively. “Before we go, I might as well equip these,” he muttered and opened his Item Box. He selected the set Nyx gave him and equipped it, but didn’t switch out the Dreorin Boots and Praying Shadow.

Overall, it didn’t change his arsenal much but it did give him an additional skill to boost his agility as well as a little 10-20 increase to defense.

He popped his joints and took a deep breath. His Stealth was activated and his presence became fundamentally equal to a rock on the side of the road. He and Pronos nodded at each other before dashing toward the camp.

Whilst running, Rakna’s breath chilled and his eyes glowed. “[Cold Star Mist,]” he intoned and a literal surge of fog enveloped the whole area. It even swallowed the entirety of the monster camp in a few moments.

Rakna separated from Pronos as they each took a flank. After getting to his, Rakna leaped on the fortification’s wall and slashed the throats of three unsuspecting goblins who remained unaware of what was happening until their very last breath.

‘It feels easier to wield… not bad,’ Rakna thought as he spun the daggers. He observed the interior of the camp with Fabled Sight and raised his hand, where sinister mana was gathering. ‘Let’s try this one now.’

“[Path of Absolution.]”