[Your current level is 133]

“My god, that’s like 30 levels!” James couldn’t believe his eyes.

“I’m not surprised. We defeated a truckload of enemies. No, more like a thousand truckloads. Even I gained 3 levels from killing all those demons, and it’s much harder for me to level up. That unexpected demon horde turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I’m now lvl 287, and once I get past 300 we’ll start kicking some real ass.” Helios said while flexing, admiring his own bicep.

“Do you think you can reach 300 after we kill those agents?” James asked.

“Nah, not even close. These neophytes are deadly, but I seriously doubt they’re at 300 level-wise. It’s the same situation as in the Soul Grinder. They’re extraordinarily powerful for their level, and they do give more xp than usual foes, but it’s still not enough to really give me that much xp.” Helios sighed. “Still, 3 levels gained is already great for me. Once we get you to above level 200, the rate at which we gain xp will probably be a lot more similar.”

Helios seemed to have realized something. He began staring at James, squinting intensely.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Helios replied, shaking his head. “I just really hope you don’t keep leveling up as quickly once you get to 200. I can’t imagine the horrors we’d have to face to gain so much xp in one go when at that level.”

“Well, whatever we’ll be facing, you can be sure I’ll be getting some xp too this time around.” Lunaris chimed in. She still regretted that she had to completely stay out of the last fight. It wasn’t even missing out on xp that bothered her. If she were there, James wouldn’t have had to go through all that torture. Self-inflicted, but still torture nonetheless.

Now that they were fully recovered and buffed up, the group were ready to go into battle.

There was no point in trying to ambush the agents, but for the many miles that they still had to travel towards them, they still kept their stealth up, just in case.

Even though the forests were quite desolate, there were still demons lurking around. Who knew what other horrors were hiding in the dark? They didn’t want to accidentally attract any additional enemies, their mission was hard enough already.

As they were approaching their destination on their flying carpet, Denmac had been keeping up his divination skill, trying to gather any additional clues. Theoretically, the closer they got, the more efficient his divination should’ve been. But these lands were too hostile, the darkness was obfuscating his visions.

The closer they got, the riskier it became. Even if stealth wouldn’t work against agents, they still had a chance at striking first. Being attacked by the agents first would be a worst case scenario.

So with each passing minute, the group grew more and more restless. If Denmac couldn’t discover what the energy signature was before they got to the agent encampment, then they’d have a real problem on their hands.

Only when they were minutes away from their target, Denmac saw it with his mind’s eye. It felt foolish that he hadn’t seen it before. How could he not? Even Helios and Lunaris felt a hint of its presence. Only James was blissfully unaware.

“God damn it, what is that? I’m going to be sick.” Helios spat out, the vile presence leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

Denmac’s skin was quite white already, and given his propensity to spend so much time in a floating sleeping bag, the concept of a tan or even pigmentation was alien to his skin. But even his already pale ass turned visibly white.

The energy signature had been worrying him ever since he had divined it, but he had no way of knowing what it really was. They were too far away, and the darkness was too thick. But now that they were close, there was no doubt about it.

“Guys, it’s a Bloodwell!”

As soon as he said that, Helios and Lunaris turned pale as well. They seemed stunned for a few seconds. When Helios finally regained enough of his composure to start moving again, he began spitting vigorously, as if the vile taste in his mouth had gotten a thousand times worse.

While James didn’t know exactly what was going on, their reactions told him all that he needed to know.

They stopped their flying carpet, and even began moving backwards, trying to put some distance between them and the agents’ base. At least they hadn’t been discovered yet.

“That certainly changes the situation.” Lunaris said. “What do we do now? With a Bloodwell, they could power up to an insane degree. Agents are deadly as it is, this was already a suicide mission for most people. With a Bloodwell on their side, not even we can handle them.”

“What’s a Bloodwell? I mean, I can sort of guess, but why is it such a big deal?” James asked.

“We’re not experts in the matter or anything, but we know that the Bloodwells are sources of great power for the agents and all the minions of Darkness.” Helios answered. “But it’s not just the amount of power that it gives them that makes us so disgusted by it. It’s the way they are created.”

Helios started spitting furiously again, so Lunaris continued where he left off.

“The name already implies that it’s not a pretty affair. But it’s even worse than it sounds. As you know, agents usually gain power by killing mages. Well, maybe mage is not a specific enough term in this case. At Hedonia, we call everybody who is actively leveling up and learning skills mages, while those who stopped leveling and are pursuing a simpler, calmer life are called civilians. But as horrible as their actions are, apparently killing mages isn’t the worst thing they can do. These Bloodwells are another way they can gain power. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a mage or a civilian, your flesh, blood and soul will be grinded down and absorbed into it, to be used as fuel by the agents.”

Now Lunaris was the one not able to get any more words out, so Helios had to step back into the conversation.

“Usually they just kill you, they get their xp and whatever else they can absorb out of you, and that’s it. But some even sicker bastards do much more than that. They take your body, trapping your soul inside it. Then they drag it to a ‘well’, and they … use you. Not just your blood, as the name implies. But your entire body, every inch of flesh. And even worse … your soul. The well consumes it all, and thus it gains tremendous power. Anybody who drinks from it is temporarily given great powers.”

“But a Bloodwell is borne of such intense malice, the energies being so powerful, that they can’t absorb too much of it at once. However, if they keep drinking from it over and over, for an extended period of time, eventually they gain permanent powers. And they are elevated to a whole new level of agent.” Lunaris said.

While they were talking, Denmac was still pale as a ghost. Given his gift for divination, he was much more affected by the Bloodwell’s presence. He could barely keep himself from fainting, even though he already looked like he passed out.

Seeing his dire state, Helios grabbed one of the two bottles of wine from his storage and gave it to him.

“Drink this, mate. It’s an extra special bottle. I was going to give it to you after all of this was over, but it seems like you need it now.”

During the current stalemate, it wasn’t all that easy to find a mercenary. Especially one that would go on such dangerous missions. As a thank you for Denmac joining them, in addition to the actual fee, Helios had procured some gifts for him. While Denmac doesn’t get drunk off it, such a precious bottle of enchanted wine would definitely have a very pleasant feeling to it.

In this world, when something was expensive, it wasn’t because people were deluding themselves into thinking that it must be better since it costs a lot. Instead, the bottle of wine was overwhelmingly packed with gentle mana that would soothe the body and soul. Wine wasn’t even the right word at this point, the term couldn’t even begin to describe the nature of the invigorating nectar that was in that bottle.

Helios felt bad about ruining the gift, but Denmac looked like he really needed it at the moment.

As soon as Denmac sipped it, his face immediately regained its color.

“Wow, I have no words.” He wanted to thank Helios, but no other words were coming out. “Thank you so much.” He bumbled a few seconds later. “I felt like I was dying and this gave me life again. Thank you!”

Helios simply answered with a bright smile.

“So what should we do? Do we bail for now and bring reinforcements so we can deal with both the agents and the Bloodwell?” James asked.

“That would indeed be the smart and ideal thing to do, but we can’t.” Helios replied. “We don’t have the time to find powerful mages that would be able to help us deal with the agents. Even if the war is at a stalemate, strong combatants are hard to find. But even if we could find some, we simply don’t have any time at all. Now that we’ve discovered this abomination, we need to deal with it right away. The agents might not have pounced on us yet, but they’d discover we were here soon enough. By the time we got back with reinforcements, they will have been powered up by the Bloodwell to unprecedented proportions. It would be a massacre.”

“And the Bloodwell always requires more sacrifices. The more they kill, the more powerful they get. If we delay, many other mages could lose their lives.” Lunaris added emphatically, barely able to hold her tears. While she wasn’t as sensitive to the Bloodwell’s presence as Denmac, the mere thought of it was heartbreaking enough for her, and now its influence was intensifying her emotions.

“All right, so we have to deal with them right away. And if I’m getting this straight, the Bloodwell could also make them much stronger right away? Not a permanent power increase, but long enough to deal with us?” James asked.

“That’s right. Their primary goal is getting permanent power, but the temporary buff is the immediate threat.” Lunaris replied.

“So it’s obvious that the first thing we need to do is to destroy the Bloodwell.” James stated.

“That’s not as easy as it sounds. The first thing they’d do is jump at the Bloodwell, to drink from it and protect it.” Helios replied.

“So we just need to be much faster than them.” James said nonchalantly.

“And how would we do that? I’m fast, but I doubt I can destroy it fast enough. They’d protect it the moment they notice us.” Helios said.

"You don't really need strength, but you do need a lot of mana. By infusing a lot of mana into the Bloodwell, you could temporarily corrupt and disable it so it's unusable by the agents, at least for the duration of the battle." Lunaris replied. "Either way, James is the only one with that much mana, and he's not nearly fast enough to get to the Bloodwell in time."

“That’s true. I'm much slower than Helios." James conceded.

He thought for a few seconds, but then an unusually confident smile appeared on his face. “But what if I was as fast as you?”

“What do you mean?” Helios asked, baffled at the notion. James’s magic and mana was strong, even more potent than Helios’s. But when it came to speed or toughness, they were in completely different leagues. It wasn’t even comparable.

“Well, I still need you to be a tank. But that can wait until after we make the first move. For now, sheathe your sword and shield. You’ll be carrying something else.” James grinned.