Time seemed to slow down as the people on the streets ran while screaming for their lives. The cacophony of human screams could be heard from a distance and elicited a primal fear in the people further inside the town. They had no idea what caused a crowd of people to run in panic, but they ran all the same. In a matter of minutes, the entire southern area of Erfeld was plunged into panic and chaos.

Liz was stuck in a daze. She gazed at the wolf at the end of the street, feeding on the man it had taken down. The crunching of bone and the squelching of his innards being shifted around by the wolf's snout could be heard as a faint, distant noise, but to Liz, the sounds were as loud as if the wolf was beside her and triggered memories she had buried deep inside her mind. She could feel something tugging her arm, but her mind was stuck in a reverie as the only thing that seemed to register in her senses was the sound of the wolf ravaging the man's corpse.

The little girl was being hidden underneath a pile of corpses. Her parents had put her there to keep her scent hidden amongst the stink of the dead. The little girl was crying for her parents, trying to convince them to hide with her. The father could only smile with resignation while the mother sobbed profusely and said her final words to her daughter. Distant screams could be heard, and a faint growl emanated from nearby.

When the girl was finally buried under the pile of bodies with only one eye peeking out, her parents stood up and ran towards the other direction while shouting all the curses they could think of. The girl saw a large green humanoid monster emerge from around the wreckage of a house. The naked ogre grinned at the sight of two humans vying for its attention.

The girl's parents began to run, but the ogre was quick despite its size. In three large strides, it caught up with the two humans and bashed the first one, the father, with the large tree trunk it used as a club. He wasn't even able to emit a single cry before the club smashed him into a pile of blood, bones, and viscera. The mother stumbled and sobbed on the ground, shouting to her hiding daughter that she loved her, over and over again.

The ogre grabbed the mother by her torso and began eating her starting from her legs. The mother screamed and begged and sobbed, but the ogre only grinned in satisfaction. When her legs were gone, the ogre proceeded with her arms, chewing the limbs slowly as it listened to the mother's dying screams.

When only her torso and head remained, the mother quietened, but she was still alive. Her dying eyes found her daughter, still hidden amongst the pile of corpses, and mouthed her last words before the ogre devoured her. The ogre belched, then suddenly turned to the pile of corpses. It heard a faint whimper, like that of a child's. The ogre grinned once more, then started walking towards the pile of corpses.

Liz felt a strong slap hit her across the face. She looked up to see Brogen in front of her, his face twisted in fear and panic.

“We have to go back inside!” he shouted, pulling the dazed girl into the chapel and closing the large wooden doors. The last thing Liz saw were more wolves emerging from other alleys before the doors finally closed.

“Brogen!”

Liz saw her mother—no, Helen, rush inside the chapel from the backdoor leading to the garden. Her face was pale with fear, but upon seeing her son, she sighed with immense relief.

Mother Betha and the two nuns also entered the nave in a rush. The pastor had a grim look on her face while the nuns looked terrified, but nobody was panicking.

“Everybody upstairs, now!” Mother Betha barked.

Everybody immediately followed her orders and rushed up the stairs. Liz looked around her and noticed that she, Brogen, and Helen were the only civilians inside the chapel. When the panic started, the other people immediately thought of rushing towards the center of town instead of the chapel.

When everybody was on the second floor, Mother Betha positioned herself on the top of the stairs while holding a long wooden staff in her hands. “All of you, go hide in my office at the very end of the corridor. Close the door and make sure not to open it unless I say so.”

“We can't just leave you behind here by yourself!” Helen exclaimed while clutching Brogen by her side tightly.

“Don't worry, Helen. Mother Betha is more capable than she looks,” Sister Tillie said in a calm voice.

“Let's go, we're only going to become hindrances if Mother Betha needs to protect us while fending off the monsters,” Sister Lina said.

Liz looked at Mother Betha worriedly as they started rushing towards the office, but her worry turned to shock when she felt the pastor's presence suddenly increase in pressure. Liz finally realized that Mother Betha had been concealing her mana all this time, just like what they did in training. Without concealment, Mother Betha's mana exerted pressure on everybody in the corridor, invisible to the naked eye. So this is a mage's aura, Liz thought. For a moment, Mother Betha's aura cast away their fears and brought back some calm to their hearts.

“Don't just stand there gaping like a bunch of idiots and get in the office!” Mother Betha shouted at the stupefied group.

They immediately rushed into the office, locking the door and closing all the windows. When every possible entry to the room was closed, the group huddled in the center of the room, seeking safety and reassurance with the presence of one another.

Liz jerked when she felt a tap on her shoulder, but sighed in relief when she saw Brogen giving her a worried look. “Liz, are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Brogen. Seeing all this… it just brought back some bad memories.” Liz gave a shaky smile to her concerned friend, internally chiding herself for being comforted by a child eight years younger than her. Unlike me, Brogen is far braver and more capable, Liz thought, remembering the time when Brogen chose to use himself as a distraction when they were caught peeking into the mansion by the Baronet's guards. She remembered the determination on her friend's face when he chose to risk himself without hesitation for their sake. I sometimes wonder whether I really am the older one between the two of us.

The group suddenly heard a wolf's growl behind the locked door. The nuns' faces frowned in worry for the pastor, but they knew the old woman was capable of more than healing. They had lived with her ever since they were children, and they knew that even though Mother Betha only had an affinity for Life magic, that didn't mean healing was the only thing she could do.

The group suddenly heard the wolf's growl turn into a series of high-pitched whimpers. It grated on their ears, but after only a few minutes, the noise died down and the smell of charred flesh permeated the room.

“I knew that old hag was actually a secretly overpowered mage,” Brogen muttered, but Liz didn't catch his murmurs.

The group heard a series of growls from the other side of the door again. This time, the pastor had multiple enemies.

“I hope she's gonna be alright,” Brogen said. “I don't think—”

Brogen was interrupted when one of the office's windows exploded inwards and sent shards of glass flying toward the group. Everybody ducked and covered their faces to protect their eyes, and when they looked up, they saw a large wolf struggling to enter the room through the small window. Half of its large body was already inside, its dark grey fur littered with shards of glass. Its eyes had a feral look as it growled and gnashed its teeth towards the group, trying to squeeze itself through the small entrance. The wolf had jumped for the window on the second floor.

Everybody retreated in fear at the sight of the monster before them. They screamed for Mother Betha to help them, but they knew that the pastor had her hands full holding back other wolves from entering the office. Nobody was there to help them, and all they could do was wait until the wolf successfully forced its body through the window and maul them to death.

With a forceful movement, the large wolf finally broke through the window and jumped at the nearest prey, Liz.

The ogre heard the little girl's whimper and was now headed her way. The girl didn't know what to do. She had just witnessed her parents die right in front of her eyes, and because of her weakness, she had just revealed her location to the monster. The girl had rendered her parent's sacrifice useless.

The girl cried, choking down her sobs as her tears mixed with the blood and shit from the corpses around her. She felt something warm flow down her legs as she wet herself from seeing the ogre's grin, the same grin that her parents last saw before they died.

The ogre reached for the whimpering girl in the pile of corpses, then suddenly stopped. There was a rumbling from the distance, the thundering of hooves. The ogre looked up and saw dozens of knights in shining armor charging atop their steeds, a handsome young man leading the charge. The monster trembled in fear and began to run, but the young man gored the ogre's back with his sword covered in golden flames, killing it.

Various other monsters emerged from the wreckage of the village and attacked the knights, but they were quickly cut down. The girl emerged from the pile of corpses, watching everything in a stupor. The leader of the knights approached the girl and comforted her, hugging her as she trembled and cried. The last survivor of the village had been saved.

The wolf never reached its prey as black tentacles made of thread and fabric stabbed into its body with tremendous force. The wolf cried as the tentacles pierced through its body and pinned it to the ground.

“Die,” Brogen said with a grim look on his face. He was naked, his clothes having been turned into tentacles made of fabric. The tentacles retreated from the wolf's body and stabbed again, over and over as the wolf whimpered and let out howls of pain. Blood and bits of the wolf's organs sprayed out of its body and splattered across the room as the tentacles repeatedly stabbed the monster, but despite its injuries, the monstrous wolf still struggled violently as if it didn't have dozens of holes in its body.

In a last effort to kill the wolf, the tentacles entered its body like worms and split into countless threads, piercing and tunneling around the insides of the wolf. The wolf howled in pain, then with a single thought, Brogen willed the threads to violently burst out of the wolf in all directions, resulting in an explosion of gore, blood, and organs.

Everybody was frozen in shock at what they had just witnessed, except for Sister Lina, who was gagging after some of the organs went into her open mouth.

Liz slowly looked at her friend, who had just used a strange kind of power that didn't follow the rules of magic. There were no magic circles, no incantations, no rituals, and no sacrifices. All Liz felt were vast amounts of mana roiling around Brogen as he used his power with nothing but his will. So this is the secret he was hiding from me, Liz realized.

Brogen stood naked, covered in the wolf's blood. Nasty burns covered his body from his excessive use of mana in a short period. Like a puppet with its strings cut loose, Brogen collapsed. Helen and Liz rushed to catch him, and they lowered him to the ground. Helen had a look of panic and desperation on her face as she frantically looked at the others in the room.

“M-My son, please, don't tell the others,” she begged, crying as she hugged her child to her chest.

It took Liz a few seconds to realize the reason for Helen's behavior. Brogen wasn't using magic. He was using something else, something far more ancient and primal than magic. The power of Ascendants.

Liz immediately hugged Helen, much to the woman's shock. “Brogen saved me. I owe him my life, Aunt Helen, and I swear upon my life and name that I will never forget this debt.”

Liz broke down in tears as she remembered the past. Back then, she was saved by a knight in shining armor, and now, another knight had saved her from her nightmares, albeit without the shining armor. In fact, with no clothes at all.

“Don't worry, Helen, we already knew what Brogen was,” Sister Tillie said as she too hugged the crying mother.

“Did you really think we would sell you out?” Sister Lina said as wolf's blood dripped down her face and mouth. She hugged the mother as well.

“S-Since when?!” Helen sputtered, but there was no reply as she was smothered by the embrace of the three women.

“Are you done with the drama? Brogen will get scars if I don't treat his burns soon.”

Everybody suddenly stood up in shock after hearing Mother Betha's voice. The pastor didn't look worse for wear, although she leaned heavily on her staff for support. A faint heat emanated from her body and a thin mist rose from her skin. Nobody heard her enter the room.

The group immediately gave the pastor some space to treat Brogen. Mother Betha approached the boy's body and pointed the end of her staff at him. Four concentric magic circles of increasing sizes came into existence at the staff's end, emitting a warm, yellow light. The pastor fed her mana into the rune in the center of the magic circles, casting a fourth-circle healing spell on Brogen. The burns on his body started healing at a visible rate, leaving only healthy skin stained with wolf's blood.

When all his injuries were healed, Mother Betha slowly slumped to the ground in exhaustion. The nuns immediately rushed to her side to attend to her, but the old woman waved away their concerns.

“I'm just low on mana, but I'm not injured. Brogen on the other hand had suffered a moderate backlash from his power. Let him rest in one of our rooms.”

With everything settled down and the monsters dealt with, everybody could now breathe in relief as they took care of the young Ascendant that saved their lives.

●●●

With a single swing of his greatsword, Carson bisected two wolves coming at him in a single strike. “Double kill!”

“I don't think it's the right time to shout out those kinds of things, father!” Terric called out as he held back a dire wolf on his own. The large wolf tried to strike at his legs, but the young man adeptly fended off the monster with his sword.

“It's been a long time since the last time I killed some of these bastards, so I can't help but enjoy this!” Carson said with glee as he split the last wolf's head with his greatsword. “That should be the last of 'em.”

“There's still one left here!” Terric shouted as the wolf he was fighting started including feints in its attacks. Terric fell for one of its feints, losing his balance as he attempted to block a non-existent attack. The wolf didn't miss the opportunity and lunged for the boy's neck, but a greatsword suddenly met its open jaws, slicing through the monster from head to tail.

“Looks like the training I'm giving you is not enough if you're already struggling with a single dire wolf,” Carson said as he helped his son to his feet.

“Are you kidding me? Those are D-rank monsters! I'm not supposed to fight those until I'm at least at the late-stage of the First Level!”

“Bah, that's what's wrong with kids these days, always nattering on about your Augmentation Level. Your Level of Augmentation doesn't decide the victor in a battle, son.”

“But it does gives me an idea about my chances of living after the battle,” Terric grumbled as he and his father proceeded to find more wolves. His face frowned with concern as he thought of his friends. “I hope the others are okay.”

●●●

“Do you get it, son?” Jannik asked as he danced in the middle of three dire wolves trying to catch the man with their teeth. The wolves were fast, but Jannik was even faster as he performed the Gravekeeper's Ritual while dodging the wolves.

“Yes, father,” Ralf replied as he danced with a single dire wolf. Ralf was slower than his father, but his movements were just as graceful as he dodged the rabid monster at just the right moments. Jannik had seen the monster attack as a training opportunity for his son, and so he instructed Ralf to perform the Gravekeeper's Ritual without killing the enemy.

“I-I think I'm starting to reach my limits, father.”

“Only after five minutes? Looks like your training has been a bit lacking as of late,” Jannik commented. Ralf grimaced at his father's observation but did not complain. “Very well, we shall end this lesson for today.”

Jannik suddenly moved so fast he only appeared as a blur to Ralf's eyes. The chests of the three wolves trying to catch Jannik suddenly burst in an explosion of blood as they dropped to the ground, dead. Jannik's shovel was dripping in blood as the man stabbed the blade into the ground.

Ralf took care of his enemy by dodging the wolf's lunge sideways and bringing down his shovel's blade on the monster's neck, decapitating it.

“We will start training you in the forest in real combat situations next time, so be ready,” Jannik said as he patted his son proudly on the shoulder.

“Yes, father…” Ralf said with exasperation.

●●●

“Mommy, is everything going to be alright?” Maly asked worriedly as she held her mother's hand.

“Everything will be fine, honey. The guards will handle the monsters,” her mother replied. She was a petite woman with dark blond hair and was only slightly taller than her fourteen-year-old daughter.

“I do hope you're right about that, Emmie,” Hayes said beside them. The Matson family was hiding in their stall in the town square. The majority of Erfeld's citizens had gathered here when news of the monster attack had spread. People had stampeded into the town square when they learned of the attack, and it was only until a while ago that the guards managed to calm down the crowd and secure a perimeter. Over the past hour, several dire wolves had tried to approach the town square, but the guards had successfully scared them off each time with their numbers. With the town square secured, the Baronet had sent the guards to patrol the town in teams to kill the remaining monsters one by one.

“Do you think the others are alright?” Maly asked.

“I'm sure they're fine,” Garin said beside her while chewing on an apple, although there was a slight frown of concern on his face. He decided to join the Matsons in their stall to pass the time. “Ralf and Terric are augmenters, while Brogen and Liz had been spending time together lately at the chapel. I'm sure the pastor has a trick or two to scare off a bunch of wolves.”

Maly's earlier worry turned into an unpleasant surprise at Garin's words. “Brogen and Liz had been hanging out with just the two of them?!”

Garin grinned at his little friend. “Oh, you bet. I think they share the same interest in reading books, so they've been hanging out in the chapel's library in their free time.”

Hayes and Emmie chuckled at their daughter's dissatisfied face as she grumbled about starting to read books from now on.

“How about your parents, Garin? Where are they?” Emmie asked.

“Ma and Pa are in the market area, using this opportunity to sell our produce to the plenty of people waiting around for the all-clear signal.”

All of them prayed and thanked the Holy Mother that they were in safe places when the monster attack happened.

●●●

I woke up with Mom embracing me. I raised my head and saw that Mom was sleeping in the same bed as mine. Looking around the room we were in, I realized we were in one of the chapel's extra rooms. Looking over my body, I sighed in relief when I saw that I was clothed.

I recalled the events that transpired before I passed out. When the wolf broke in through the window, an internal debate had immediately triggered inside my mind whether to use my power or keep it hidden. Unfortunately, the decision was taken away from me. With the wolf leaping for Liz, all my hesitations were instantly discarded and I used my power to slay the monster.

That was the first time I had used my power in an offensive manner, and oh boy did it hurt. The force required to pierce the wolf's body was great, so the mana requirement was also large. For every stab I did, I felt huge amounts of mana exiting my body and burning my body as a side effect. I didn't even have time to lament the fact that I had killed another living being before passing out from the pain. The only thing on my mind at that time was the pain I was feeling and that I was naked. Oh god, I can't believe I just stripped myself naked in a room full of beautiful women.

I was nervous about facing Liz and the nuns about the secret power I revealed back then, but seeing Mom sleeping with a relaxed face beside me, I concluded that they probably weren't going to turn us in to the authorities.

I looked out the window and noticed that the sun was still high in the sky. The attack happened late in the morning, so not much time had passed since I lost consciousness.

As carefully as I could, I escaped from Mom's embrace without waking her and left the room, although I immediately regretted it after smelling the strong stench of burnt flesh in the corridor. Holy guacamole, what is that smell?!

When I made my way to the stairs, I saw Mother Betha watching over the nuns. When I saw what they were doing, I finally found the source of the smell.

The two nuns were picking up charred pieces of wolf parts on the stairs and putting them into a cloth bag. With the amount of flesh and body parts present, I estimated that there may be about three or four wolves that died here.

“Are you feeling fine already?” Mother Betha asked once she saw me.

“Yeah. My body still feels a bit weak, but other than that, I'm fine,” I answered with a shrug. “I remember getting burned by my mana, but since my body doesn't even have a single blemish on it right now, it looks like you healed me. Thank you, Mother.”

“Bah, it's fine. Sadly for you, you weren't able to see me cast a Fourth-circle magic spell, which would have been a great help for your magic lessons,” Mother Betha said with a grin.

“There's still plenty of time for learning magic anyway, so it's alright.”

“Since you're all hale and healthy, can't you use your power or something to help us?” Sister Lina called out. She wiped a bead of sweat on her forehead with her dirty arm, smearing blood and ash on her face. I saw Sister Tillie chuckle at Sister Lina's ignorance about her new face tattoo.

“Er, since you know about it already, might as well, right?” I found it a bit awkward that the nuns were nonchalant about my status as an Ascendant, but I was also grateful for their acceptance.

“Be careful not to force yourself too much. You're still recovering from your backlash,” the pastor warned.

Heeding the old woman's warning, I summoned some of Sister Lina's clothes and underwear from her wardrobe and turned them into threadtacles.

“H-Hey, stop! Those are my undies!” Sister Lina screamed as she tried to catch her floating polka-dotted panties. Before she could catch it, its seams tore and unraveled to join the multiple threadtacles picking up the charred wolf body parts. “NOOOO! THAT WAS MY FAVORITE!”

“Calm down, Sister Lina, I'll turn it back to normal after everything's done,” I said while chuckling. Using my threadtacles, I picked up all the remaining wolf parts, put them into the cloth bags, and wiped the blood off the floor by using one of the threadtacles as a rag.

When I was done, I disassembled the threadtacles and returned the fabrics I used back into Sister Lina's clothes and underwear, albeit soaked with blood and ash. Sister Lina fell to her knees and hugged her panties as she shouted at me. “I'll get you back for this, Brogen!”

“You were the one who asked for help in the first place!” I shouted back while laughing.

“This is the first time I have seen you using your power, and I must say that it is impressive,” Mother Betha said beside me.

“I know, right?” I said smugly.

“Although I noted that your mana usage is pretty inefficient and resulted in a lot of mana being wasted,” she added, bursting my bubble. “That may be the reason why you suffered from mana backlash. You used up a lot of mana and most of it went to waste by turning into heat, burning you.”

“Then how do I make my mana usage efficient?”

“You'll learn it on your next magic lesson. Focus on recovering first before worrying about your training.”

Since I had nothing else to do but focus on ‘recovering,’ I decided to help the nuns with disposing of the cloth bags. Mother Betha told us that we should keep the fact that wolves managed to break into the chapel a secret and I agreed. People would start raising questions if they learned that we killed four of those monster wolves when the only people in the chapel were a bunch of civilians, two nuns, and a healer.

“How did you kill those monsters anyway? I thought you could only heal and mend stuff?” I asked Mother Betha.

“Just because I'm a healer doesn't mean I can't defend myself. Just like how fire magic can be used for creation rather than destruction, life magic can be used for killing rather than saving,” Mother Betha replied. “I killed those wolves by accelerating the metabolism of their bodies. In a span of a few seconds, their bodies burned up all their fat and muscles, raising their body temperatures to scorching levels. As a result, they were cooked from the inside.”

“I always thought you look like a witch, but I never thought you are one.”

Mother Betha smacked me on the head. Despite her frail-looking arms, the old hag could hit.

“If you're done being a smart-ass, then start burying the cloth bags,” Mother Betha grumbled. I didn't know she was insecure about being called a witch. Hah, that's my revenge for that ginger candy.

We dug several holes in the chapel's garden and buried the cloth bags containing the remains of the monsters. Mother Betha said that monster corpses contained a lot of mana, so it served as a good fertilizer for plants. Not only did we erase all evidence of monsters infiltrating the chapel, but we also gave the plants in the garden a big boost to their growth.

“Now that everything here is taken care of, I will be leaving to report our situation to the Baronet,” Mother Betha said with a profound grimace on her face. “Lina, stay here in the chapel. Tillie, you're coming with me.”

Sister Tillie, who always maintained her calm in most situations, had a look of discomfort on her face.

“Why do you need to report to the Baronet?” I asked.

“As much as we despise the Baronet, he is still the ruler of this town,” Mother Betha answered. “In certain situations, such as a monster attack, people with important positions in town are required to give a report to the Baronet, such as any damages incurred or important information about the monsters themselves. Basically, it's a town meeting to decide the course of action the town should take in response to an incident. As the pastor of the Holy Mother Church here in Erfeld, I am included in the ‘people with important positions,’ as much as I hate to be a part of it.”

“So it's like a council? All of you take a vote on what the town should do?”

“It isn't a democracy, Brogen. We act more like a group of advisers for the Baronet. He will listen to our reports and make the decisions based on the information he learns.”

I wonder what the Baronet looked like? Despite the many bad rumors about the Baronet, little was known about him, even his name. The people around here just called him ‘the Baronet,’ and nobody has actually seen his face. Even the guards and servants that worked for him kept a tight lip regarding their boss. Smells very fishy.

“Well, good luck and take care,” I said as the pastor and Sister Tillie left for the Baronet's mansion.

“Slap the Baronet for me if he acts out of line, okay?!” Sister Lina said.

As they disappeared from view, I turned towards Sister Lina. “How come both you and Sister Tillie seem alright about me being an Ascendant?”

Sister Lina looked surprised for a moment with my question, but answered with a small smile. “We already knew way before the monster attack that you were an Ascendant, Brogen.”

“Wha—?! Since when?!” Sister Lina's answer gave me a big shock. If she found out that I was an Ascendant a long time ago, then there was a very high chance that somebody else already learned about me.

“Relax, Brogen. Only Tillie and I know that you're an Ascendant before the monster attack. Well, Mother Betha too, but she kept it secret from us.”

“How did you know?”

Sister Lina explained the circumstances on how they found out and I blushed in embarrassment. They were eavesdropping on Mom and me?!

“Sorry for eavesdropping, Brogen, but it just seemed interesting!” Sister Lina said with a huge grin. “It turns out it really was interesting!”

“That's the biggest understatement I ever heard.”

“By the way, you should talk to Liz. She also saw you using your power and she seemed so interested in it. She's in the library by the way.”

Recalling Liz's love for books and knowledge, I guess it's inevitable for her to gain interest in my Authority, but unfortunately for her, even I didn't know what the hell was happening behind my power and how it worked. Maybe with her knowledge, she might know a thing or two about Authorities in general.

“Alright, I'll talk with her,” I said to Sister Lina before making my way to the chapel's library.

“Also, make me a cute dress with your power sometime!” Sister Lina shouted behind me, but I chose to ignore her.

●●●

Mother Betha and Sister Tillie were seated at a long table inside a meeting room, although it would have been more apt to call it an exhibition room. Gaudy decorations and tasteless furniture filled the room, with a long table positioned in the center. Nude paintings covered the walls to show off the owner's ‘taste’ in art, each one illuminated by its own magic lantern powered by expensive mana crystals.

“The Baronet seems to be making up for something by showing off all this expensive stuff,” Sister Tillie whispered beside the pastor. Other people were also seated by the long table, fellow townsmen who held relatively important positions in Erfeld. All of them were staring wide-eyed at the blatant display of wealth around them as they waited for the arrival of the Baronet.

“It's a common intimidation tactic used by nobles to let people know who's in charge,” Mother Betha replied, looking at the intricately-designed table with disdain. “It would have been more effective if the decorations were authentic or if the Baronet was a real noble in the first place.”

“Baronets aren't nobles?” Sister Tillie asked curiously.

“Baronets and Knights are commonly referred to as ‘lesser nobles.’ They are awarded lands and titles for their services, but they're not considered a part of the peerage,” Mother Betha answered. “The Baronet title is just like a Knight title, the only difference being that the former is hereditary while the latter is not.”

“Then doesn't that make the Baronet a glorified town chief?” Sister Tillie asked.

“Yes, they're basically town chiefs, but Baronets are usually given much more respect,” the pastor said with a chuckle. “As much as the Baronet tries to pretend to be a noble, he is far from it. Those paintings may be expensive, but compared to the paintings created by Artisans, they're trash.”

Sister Tillie laughed quietly at the pastor's words. Artisans were rare and unusual people who truly mastered their craft. They could be painters, woodcarvers, sculptors, or musicians, but unlike the mundane, their skill in their field of expertise was unparalleled. Because of this, their products and services usually cost hundreds, if not thousands of gold. Even if the Baronet sold all the expensive paintings and decorations in this room, he would still be far from buying a single piece of painting made by an Artisan, and true nobles bought Artisan-made pieces by the dozens.

“I dearly hope that the Baronet has changed since our first meeting, but I highly doubt it,” Mother Betha said with a grimace.

Sister Tillie remembered the first time they met with the man. When the pastor and the two nuns first came to Erfeld many years ago to establish a chapel of the Holy Mother, they had met with the Baronet to discuss the specifics of their plans. But the Baronet had used the meeting as an opportunity to threaten the three women. The Baronet demanded that Mother Betha charge the people she healed and pay him most of the money earned, then he unashamedly commanded the two young nuns to sleep with him.

The Baronet had to learn the hard way that Mother Betha wasn't a simple healer who would let herself and her children be harassed. The pastor had accelerated the obese man's metabolism and burned all his fat until he looked more like a malnourished man who suffered fifth-degree burns. Before Mother Betha left, she made sure to heal the man to stop him from dying and to stop scars from appearing. It would cause controversy if the people learned that a pastor of the Holy Mother harmed the Baronet.

“Let's just hope that the man gathered enough fat again, or else he won't survive the next time I cast Metabolize on him,” Mother Betha muttered.

All conversation in the room suddenly ceased as the door opened. A corpulent man entered, dressed in expensive clothing and bejeweled with various accessories. His dark hair was plastered to his oily face as he eyed all the people in the room. When the Baronet's eyes landed on the pastor and nun seated by the table, his glare looked like it could melt steel. Mother Betha grinned, and the Baronet had to look away just to keep control of his temper.

The obese man sat down at the head of the table and spoke with a deep, raspy voice. “Dire wolves have attacked my town. Six of my guards have been killed and the southern gate is destroyed. My captain has informed me that the pack consisted of at least fifteen dire wolves. How fares the town and the civilians?”

“There has been forty-one injured and fifteen confirmed civilian fatalities, Sir,” said a man near the head of the table. He was the appointed manager of the town square and was responsible for overseeing the area's day-to-day activities. “After the turmoil, it has been confirmed that five of the civilian fatalities were directly killed by the dire wolves while the rest were killed in the stampede.”

Everybody in the room grimaced. When the people had panicked, a stampede had occurred as they rushed to the town square to seek safety. Unfortunately, the people themselves have caused more deaths than the monsters.

“How about the town's operations? Will it be able to continue?” the Baronet asked.

“A small portion of the farms have been ruined, Sir, but we'll be able to fix it soon,” spoke an aged man, Garin's father and the representative of Erfeld's farmers. “Fortunately, we've just started with the spring planting, so there wasn't much damage done.”

Other people spoke up to give their reports. The representatives of the woodcutters reported that they won't be able to go into the forest while monsters were active and the representative of the merchants said that prices would be increasing for a short while due to the temporary travel ban that was imposed.

Mother Betha and Sister Tillie quietly listened in to the discussion. As much as they hated the man, they had to grudgingly agree that the Baronet was great at his job. His personality may be despicable, but he knew how to run a town and listened to the people for their reports patiently.

When the discussion was about to come to an end, the Baronet looked at Mother Betha once again. His face had a neutral look, but the pastor knew he was angry from simply seeing her face. Knowing that fact made her happy.

“Will you be handling the injured, pastor?” the Baronet asked rudely, not even bothering to mention her name.

“I'll be glad to do it,” Mother Betha answered with a grin, returning the favor by not addressing the man by his title. The disrespect made the Baronet clench his teeth, but he remained silent. The other people in the room noticed the tension between the two but chose to stay out of it.

After a few more reports from the rest of the people present, a plan was created. Men will be hired to repair the southern gate, more guards will be hired, people who had their livelihoods affected will be assisted, and funerals would be arranged for the deceased.

With the meeting adjourned, the Baronet quickly dismissed everyone and left the room. Mother Betha and Sister Tillie chuckled and proceeded to the town square to treat the wounded.

●●●

I found Liz reading a thick book titled ‘The History of Thera’ when I entered the library. She looked up when I entered and gave me a bright smile. “Hey, Brogen. Are you finally feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I was able to recover some of my mana after my short rest. How about you?”

Liz looked uncomfortable for a moment, but put on a reassuring smile. “I'll be fine, Brogen. You saved my life earlier with your power, so I want to thank you and swear that I will repay this debt in the future.”

“You don't have to worry about it, Liz. I did it 'cause we're friends. By the way, Sister Lina told me you wanted to talk to me?”

Liz suddenly became excited and closed the thick book she was reading. “I really just wanted to give my gratitude to you, Brogen, but now that you're here anyway… Can you tell me everything about your power?!”

I took a nervous step back at Liz's enthusiasm. Her face had a similar expression as Sister Lina's when the nun eyed the food she was about to eat. Well, at least she isn't terrified of me.

Since Liz knew that I was an Ascendant anyway, I told her all about my Authority in hopes that the smart woman would be able to uncover at least some of the mysteries behind it. I explained to her my ability to sense thread, to control it, and to strengthen it.

“For some reason, the threads I control turn black when I use too much mana and when I relinquish control over them, they always end up into a bunch of fibers,” I told Liz during one of my explanations. I was referring to the cases when I used my Authority to make the threads and fabrics I controlled to exert more force than usual, like when I stabbed the wolf with sharp threadtacles or when I bound Mom during my second Awakening. “I guess I could turn the fibers into usable material again, but it takes way more mana since I still have to spin them into threads.”

“Maybe because the material couldn't take in too much mana?” Liz pondered. “They're like those cheap kinds of enchanted weapons that could hold a strong enchantment but break after a short while because of the low-quality material.”

“I have no knowledge about enchanted weapons, but maybe that's it.”

Liz interrogated me more about my Authority and made me use it in front of her, and because of that, we found out some new information about my power.

I already knew that my control over the clothes I owned was better than those that belonged to other people, but I just found out that the mana cost to control my own clothes was less expensive. Not only that, it turns out that the mana cost was even smaller when I controlled clothes that I made myself or while I was making them, to the point that it was almost insignificant. Now I know why it only takes me a few percent of my mana to make a single garment.

Another thing we learned was that the moment I took control of a piece of fabric, it immediately gains extra durability and comfort, even if I relinquished control over it. That was why the clothes I sold remained strong even when I didn't control them.

Lastly, Liz told me that the threads turned black when I put too much mana into it because I was ‘Overloading’ it. According to her, mages sometimes overload their spells with more mana than usual so they could exhibit a far stronger effect than they normally should, although they rarely do it since the results were often random and chaotic.

Overloading my threads ate a huge chunk of my mana every second, but in exchange, the durability and hardness increased dozens of times. That was why it was able to pierce a dire wolf, a D-rank monster, easily.

“I'm not sure about it yet, but I think Authorities can control the soul itself,” Liz muttered after hearing my explanation about how I could conceal my mana by ‘closing’ the holes that appeared on my mana circuit periodically.

“What gave you that idea?”

“Well, there's a lot of scholars who believe that the soul is the one responsible for holding a body's mana. According to them, that was the reason why mana circuits often dissipate as soon as a person dies since there was no more ‘container’ for it. Maybe a human soul is like a living sponge and mana can go in and out of it through these ‘holes.’”

I considered Liz's theory and immediately thought of an obvious way to test it. My mana pool was currently at sixty percent and was regenerating at a moderate pace. Ever since I passed out after the monster attack, my mana regeneration had slowed down, maybe because I pushed myself too much.

Using my Authority, I sealed the holes that constantly appeared on my mana channels, which stopped my mana from escaping my body. Liz noticed me concealing my mana and looked confused for a second, then her eyes suddenly lit up in realization.

Both of us waited for a short while, and when I was pretty confident that my mana wasn't increasing at all, I stopped my mana concealment. It turned out that the holes that appeared on my mana channels not only released mana, but also absorbed it. Maybe that was how mages regenerated their mana.

“I think you're right. I don't gain any mana at all when I close up the holes. Maybe my Authority does control my soul itself.”

Liz's eyes opened so wide I thought they were going to pop out of their sockets. “Brogen, this is a groundbreaking discovery! With this knowledge, scholars and researchers could find out how Authorities function!”

“I don't know about that. The only thing we proved is that souls exist and that Authorities work through them.”

“All advancements in magic and science stem from a fundamental truth,” Liz chided. “Magic as we know it today only exists because the existence of mana was proven in ancient times. With the fundamental truth that mana existed, mankind was able to harness it through many different ways!”

“So you're saying,” I said with realization dawning on my face, “that the proof of the existence of souls could lead to more advances in the study of Authorities and such?”

“Yes! With this fundamental truth, an entire field of knowledge about souls will open and may even lead to the advancement of the entire human civilization!” Liz said excitedly.

“Well, that's only gonna happen under two conditions,” I said grimly. “One, only if you tell this knowledge to other scholars and researchers, and two, if said researchers have an Ascendant guinea pig to study.”

The realization that Liz and I had was extremely different. Liz realized that with this new knowledge, an entire paradigm shift would happen across the world where advancements in a whole new field of study would happen. But the only thing I realized from this was that I had another deadly secret to keep if I wanted to live a long life.

If word got out that Ascendants were the only ones that could harness the power of souls, all Ascendants would immediately become targets of study. Ascendants were already considered as valuable assets by nations, and this new knowledge will only make them more valuable. Just like the Industrial Revolution on Earth, advancements in civilization brought benefits to the entire race as a whole, but there was no way I would offer myself as a guinea pig willingly.

Liz quickly realized the same thing that I thought of and her excitement waned. “I guess it's not possible, huh? Even if I did share this knowledge of souls with other scholars, they would ask me where I got this information from, and I can't just offer you up as a test subject.”

“Well, who knows? Maybe someday some other person will make the same discovery as we did and share that knowledge with the world?” I said, trying to cheer up the dejected-looking Liz.

“Even if somebody else out there made the same discoveries as us, it would probably be a nation's government since they're the only ones who have access to their own Ascendants, and I bet they'll only use that information to develop new weaponry or something,” Liz said bitterly, slapping the top of the book she was reading a while ago. “Throughout history, every time there was a discovery in the field of magic, the very first thing that governments do is find applications for it in war.”

In this world where magic could give a single person the power to annihilate entire armies, I could easily believe Liz's conjecture. “Er, what's that book about, anyway?” I asked, trying to change the topic. Liz looked like she would bury herself under the ground if we kept talking about not being able to share our discovery, so I tried to keep her mind off of it.

“It's the most famous book when it comes to world history, written by Julius Dan Magrath,” Liz answered as she handed me the thick book.

“Come to think of it, I have no clue as to this world's history,” I said as I felt the thick leather-bound book. “Can you give me a quick summary?”

I expected Liz to look exasperated with my request, but she agreed good-naturedly.

“Although the concept of world history is important, not many know much about it,” Liz said when she saw my reaction. “Education is pretty limited and usually catered to the rich. That's why I am glad to share any knowledge I know in hopes of spreading this information to as many people as possible.”

Liz's words truly proved her intense passion for her love of knowledge. People like her who earnestly sought and shared knowledge for the good of many were extremely rare, here in Thera and on Earth. I just hope she is given a chance in the future to make full use of her passion.

“Although this book is titled ‘The History of Thera,’ it doesn't actually detail the entire history of the world since the beginning,” Liz began. “It only tackles recent history starting with the Corruption more than twelve centuries ago. Almost all knowledge before the Corruption was lost, so nobody has any idea about the world's history before that.”

According to the book, a mighty empire that existed twelve centuries ago opened a portal to another world in an attempt to invade it and conquer it as their own. Because of their arrogance, they didn't realize that the other side of the portal didn't lead to another world, but to another dimension that wasn't a part of this plane of existence. Nobody knew where the portal led to, but the people of that time instinctively knew that it was not a part of this universe at all. Because of this, they simply called it the Other Side. Pretty unimaginative name if you ask me.

Mindless monsters called the Eldritch spilled forth from the portal and attacked Thera, destroying everything in their path. A black fog also seeped in from the portal that tainted anything it touched, driving living organisms insane and corrupting anything it touched. Because of this, the entire event was officially known as the Corruption and the dating system used today used the acronym ‘A.C.,’ which meant ‘After Corruption.’

“Then, when all life on Thera was on the verge of extinction,” Liz said dramatically. “A Hero was summoned from another world.”

“Wait, what did you say?!” I asked incredulously.

“Amazing, right?!” Liz asked excitedly, misunderstanding my reaction entirely.

“Was it mentioned where this ‘Hero’ was summoned from?”

“It doesn't say anything about it in the book so I have no idea,” Liz replied.

For a moment, my mind focused on the thought that there may be another person in Thera that came from Earth right now. I reincarnated in this world when I died on Earth, so who's to say that there wasn't anybody else that was reincarnated here the same way? I don't know whether I should feel excited or frightened about that fact.

“So, what happened next?”

“When the Hero, Aelina, was summoned, it was revealed that she was an Ascendant whose power was to heal people,” Liz continued. “The Hero's arrival was the vital piece that turned the tides of battle. When the Corruption happened, there was only one Ascendant alive in the world, and a young one at that. He was only able to delay the onslaught of the Eldritch before falling in battle because of his lacking strength. If that Ascendant had been stronger, the Corruption would have been stopped in its tracks long ago. With the emergence of a new Ascendant, the few remaining people regained hope.”

“Are Ascendants really that powerful?” I asked, astonished. I was having doubts whether one person could change the entire tide of war on a global scale.

“Don't underestimate your power, Brogen. Give yourself a few years and you'll see why Ascendants are feared by nations across the world,” Liz said. “Anyway, the Hero's story is quite long and complicated, but to make it short, Aelina became an extremely powerful Ascendant that could continuously heal soldiers during battle. As long as a soldier isn't dead, Aelina could heal them back to a healthy state, and the Hero did this to thousands of soldiers at the same time.”

My jaw dropped. If that was true, then it basically meant that whenever Aelina the Hero was present on the battlefield, then all the soldiers there were undying fighters. Holy shit, now I see why Ascendants are kept under lock and key.

“Aelina became a symbol of hope for the people, but because of this, she received the enmity of the Orthodox Churches.”

“Wait, isn't that the loose organization of churches that Mother Betha hated?” I asked.

“Yeah, that's the one. Their high priests at the time were petty and avaricious men, so when they saw the Hero acquiring so much political power with the people's support, they became resentful. After all, they were the ones leading the fight against the Corruption ever since the beginning. So when Aelina led the forces of Thera on the last battle to close the portal, the Orthodox Churches betrayed her.”

I balked at the sheer selfishness of that decision. I tried to imagine myself living in a time when dark monsters from another dimension could overrun the entire world at any moment and the only thing stopping them was the Hero. I couldn't think of any sane reason why anybody would think of sabotaging the Hero when she was working for everyone's interests. I didn't know greed could make men do insane stuff like this one.

Liz continued her narration. “The Hero and her loyal forces fought the Eldritch constantly pouring through the portal, waiting for the mages that were assigned to close the portal once and for all, but no mages came. For several days, the Hero fought against the endless tides of the Eldritch constantly spilling forth from the portal, surrounded and unable to retreat. And then—”

“The Hero awakened some newfound power and successfully sealed the portal?” I predicted with a smug grin. Stories like that one always ended in stuff like that.

Liz looked at me weirdly. “No, the Hero and her loyal soldiers died.”

I was speechless at Liz's words. “But I thought stories like that should always end in a happy ending!”

“Not this one,” Liz said. “When the Hero died, the Orthodox Churches intended to seal the portal themselves to get the credit for it, expecting it to be an easier task now that the Hero took the brunt of the enemy's forces. Unfortunately, they underestimated the world-ending threat that menaced Thera for a century and failed spectacularly.”

“If they failed, then how come the world is so peaceful right now?”

“Although the Orthodox Churches failed to close the portal, they were at least able to contain the Corruption in the continent it originated from,” Liz answered.

My eyes opened wide in recognition. “Wait, are you referring to the continent whose people are constantly fighting against invaders from another dimension?!”

Mother Betha had mentioned it once in one of her Sunday School sessions. According to her, the continent was virtually a wasteland, and yet people still lived there, fighting against an ancient threat. “What happened next?”

“When the people learned of the Orthodox Churches' treachery, a massive rebellion occurred that resulted in the high priests getting drawn and quartered. The people then built shrines that commemorated the Hero and they worshipped her, creating a religion out of it. Because of the people's belief, the Hero was elevated into godhood.”

“That's possible?!”

“Yeah, people were also flabbergasted at the time. They saw a bright pillar of light rise into the heavens, but they had no idea what it meant, up until a priest of the new religion worshipping the Hero gained a Divine Blessing.”

“Are those like the blessings that pastors like Mother Betha receive when they swear their Oaths?” I asked.

“They're somewhat similar, but Divine Blessings are far stronger and more significant,” Liz replied. “And so with that proof, the Hero was declared a god and worshipped up to this day.”

“What's the religion called?”

Liz gave me a cheeky grin that I didn't like. “It's now called the Church of the Holy Mother.”

“I knew it,” I muttered. Liz looked disappointed that I didn't look surprised at all. “The moment you said the Hero turned into a god, it was already obvious it would be the Holy Mother since She's the only goddess with healing powers.”

“But I did hope that you'd be shocked by the revelation or something,” Liz grumbled.

“I think I've had enough shock for a single day.” I suddenly realized that the monster attack happened just several hours ago. The only reason I still had my composure was my short nap a while ago.

Liz returned the thick history book back to its place on the shelf and turned to me with a tired face. “I'll be taking a short rest in one of the vacant rooms, the past few hours had been too stressful.”

“Oh, okay. I also need to rest my body too anyway, so I won't be doing any training for the meantime.”

“I guess I'll see you later, Brogen. Once again, thank you for saving my life.”

After waving away Liz's repeated statements of gratitude, I bid her goodbye and decided to wait for Mom to wake up. Alone in the library, I decided to reflect on my actions in the past few months.

The monster attack had been very sudden and limited my choices too much. As a result, I was forced to reveal my secret to Liz and the nuns. Although letting them in on the secret was a dangerous move, I'd still do the same thing if I relived that moment. Even if it put me at more risk, saving their lives made it worth it.

As for my magic lessons, I was pretty happy with my decision to ask Mother Betha to tutor me. Given a few years, I was pretty confident that I would be able to become a powerful mage with my ability to quickly expand my mana pool. I don't think people around here realized it, but Mother Betha was definitely a powerful mage. I have no idea what her past was, but I had no intention to pry into her secrets. Receiving tutelage from her was worth hundreds of gold.

And speaking of money, I was starting to have some doubts about my decision to use my Authority to earn money. When I learned earlier that the two nuns already knew I was an Ascendant before I even revealed it to them, it worried me. They were able to learn my secret even though I tried so hard to conceal it. The only reason I wasn't being abducted by secret agents right now was because of our trust and friendship with each other, but what if people other than those I trust learn about my Authority?

With the way I'm handling our clothing business, I finally realized that it'll only be a matter of time before people start getting suspicious as to how we're making such high-quality clothes so quickly and selling them at low prices.

As much as I hated to think of it as such, the monster attack had been a boon for me. Right now, the peoples' minds were distracted with more important problems caused by the attack, so I had a chance to make my store sell more normal clothes to keep attention off ourselves. Some of my former customers might be confused about the change, but all I had to do was think of some excuse. The ones that managed to buy my sturdy clothes were few compared to the total number of people in town, so it wouldn't attract attention if I suddenly changed my products from ultra-durable heavy-duty clothes to mundane ones.

The door opened and Mom peeked inside the library. “There you are, sweetie. Lina just baked some meat buns, come down to the kitchen if you want some.”

Looking at Mom's carefree smile, I wouldn't notice at all that she just faced a dire wolf several hours ago if I didn't kill that monster myself.

“Alright, I'll go with you,” I answered as I got up from my chair.

“What were you doing there anyway? I didn't see any book in front of you.”

“I was just daydreaming,” I answered with a chuckle. Having a definite plan of action for the future added a spring to my step as we walked towards the kitchen for some homemade meat buns.