Author: Thank you all for reading,

--------------------------------------------------------------

As per usual me and Shiro did our morning practice to keep ourselves limber, of course since this wasn’t a training ground it was limited to the surroundings. The [Monster Warder] did wonders during the night. It’s pretty much a stone that produces a sound that monsters don’t like and avoids. They are usually kept in a jade box during the day because they are inactive until the night.

After preparing a meal to cook, I went to reinforce the cart. Somehow Puerial is sleeping so soundly in the cage. Isn’t it cramped, she has been laying around for a while now so you would think she would be uncomfortable by now. Anyways the cart was damaged by the {Gorcs attempt to get to Puerial, but with some of the parts and tools salvaged from the wagon, it can be fixed up.

Having decent knowledge of architectural structures sure does help. All the time I spent analyzing buildings and the best ways to destroy their foundations just reminds me of how obsessed I was. Plus the [Soul bound mind] trait reminds me of things I would have normally forgot, so useful.

It didn’t take long to get the cart in suitable shape for the rest of the journey, much to Puerial’s relief. With more wood and such, I can probably give it a good upgrade.

Finishing our meal Shiro went to practice her mana control while I went to fix up all the equipment for our use. Cutting away at the stitching of all the fabric left me with an interesting assortment of cloth. I removed all of those uselessly gaudy jewels, if anything I’ll just make something nice for Shiro later. Using the abundant amount of sewing string I bought I was able to make a few articles of clothing for me and Shiro with the curtain cloth. Some of them I'll used for something else. For the hell of it I even made a simple outfit for Puerial since the rags she was wearing looked uncomfortable and too revealing.

Since I ran out of string the rest was stored away for later use.

The results were:

Nice White Shirt X2

Softness up (very small)

Textile Strength up (very small)

Nice Black Trousers X2

Softness up (very small)

Textile Strength up (very small)

Nice Green Dress

Softness up (very small)

Textile Strength up (very small)

Simple Brown Cloak X3

Textile Strength up (very small)

The leather was a bit tricky but since it’s different from working with cloth all I got was some bracers for the arms, leg guards and some covering for the chest to protect the heart. They were all improved with ‘Durability up (very small)’. The weapons were also included in my work for maintenance. Our undergarments were also fashioned to fit well and be unrestricting with 'Softness up (very small)' and 'Textile Strength up (very small)'. I pretty sure the were Shiro's favorite pieces.

Being focused on all of that was tiring so whenever I took a break I would spar with Shiro to relieve some stress. When we spotted a stream nearby we took turns cleaning ourselves of all the muck we have accumulated over the journey. Me especially, I don't know why, but Shiro doesn’t seem to mind.

It was heading toward the afternoon and I set something to cook before I tackled my most important work for today. Dealing with a slave collar will play a major part in my plans for the future. Turning enslaved soldiers into a rebelling army can definitely make a difference, but if one of those monstrous people show up…

I say monstrous because Amare showed a stat comparison to me of how ridiculous those guys are. *Sigh* if these guys had the same level range as a trained soldier things would be so simple.

------------------------------------------------------

When I approached Puerial I discussed what I planned to do in the meantime and to not distract me. To get some information on it i used my identify.

Slave Collar

A mass produced collar that enslaves the wearer to a place or master.

Effects:

Restricts actions

Binding - current location

Pain giver (massive) (inactive)

Death (instant) (inactive)

Seeing this made me sick to my stomach, so I decided to proceed immediately.

When I reached my hand toward her neck she visibly tensed and started holding her breath. I awarded her with I flick to the head telling her to calm down, which she did but not without protesting my actions with teary eyes while rubbing her forehead.

When I grasped the collar I could barely feel the mana within. It seems to be running in a set pattern but I can’t be sure, my perception of mana is still in its early stages. Trying a little harder I finally spotted how it is connected to her. At the back of the neck are tethers heading into her spine. I don’t do anything to them yet. As an otherworlder the slavemancer would be very keen on the idea of a booby trap. The identify skill showed it had an instant death effect, so it may also activate when someone tries to forcefully remove it. It’s what I did for my explosives in that compound during my final moments. I wouldn’t have wanted my presents to be disarmed after all.

So reanalyzing the structure, I traced the tethers toward their origin. It seemed to be a structured in a type of coded manner, most likely to direct the tethers to perform specific functions.

I took a momentary break, it’s already been 2 hours since I was analyzing the collar and I needed to relax a moment. When I checked my stats, doing this gave a good boost in my focus, everything else today mostly boosted my dexterity and a little in strength. [Handicraft] is approaching the first bottleneck in it’s proficiency. My [Physical control] reached it a few months back and I still haven’t broken through.

*Sigh* as I relaxed and thought about the way everything worked in the collar, all I could see was a pretty simple layout. Other than the formation everything seemed simple. The mana circulated uniformly throughout the structure, the connection to the victim is stable, and the function of the formation seemed to be obvious. Making the formation is another thing entirely. The intricacy in its design is thorough, but oddly feels like it's simple to copy. The formation was complicated, but it was designed in interconnected layers that are individually easy to copy. Most likely each layer performs a specific function.

Based on this, if you don’t have proper control over your mana and understanding of each layers function, than you can’t ‘hack’ the collar. The only other way to release it is with the key, but that is if the key exists. Amare got pretty thorough with the mindset of the people in this world. She can’t directly give information on how to do things for the most part, but can give hints and basic understanding of certain subjects.

People in this world don’t care about whether a slave can regain their freedom because that would be one less product on the market. Once you are a slave than you will be worked to your death without any hope of relief. So [Slave collar] makers only make keys for the wealthy as an insurance for them to avoid capture or protect their own. Everyone else is fair game to them.

If I can figure this thing out, then maybe I can make a fake key or destroy the layers keeping it locked onto the slave.

When I came to this conclusion I went back to work on the collar.

...

Another 5 hours and I finally managed to make a breakthrough. I seriously wanted to sleep but I was too determined to finish this.

To spot the layers that went active when Puerial disobeyed orders, I had her extend her foot out the cage in set intervals while I analyzed the collar. I couldn’t do it for too long because it was extremely painful for her.

When this happened three layers would flare up. I focused on the inactive ones and saw one that was connected to only the tethers but didn’t do anything. If my guess is right it might be the kill switch type, if I’m wrong than Puerial isn’t going home.

No matter how I see it that layer is placed in a way that would make it look like a kill switch. It’s not connected to anything else but the tethers, and my instincts are telling me I’m right. *Fuu* I took a breath and channeled my mana toward it and it shattered. Waiting a moment nothing happened and Puerial kept looking at me with eyes filled with expectations. Stop it..look away or something…

I couldn’t see anything else that screamed danger when I re-looked everything and decided to use identify.

Slave Collar

A mass produced collar that enslaves the wearer to a place or master.

Effects:

Restricts actions

Binding - current location

Pain giver (massive) (inactive)

*Sigh* this is nerve racking. At least I know what to look for first from now on.

I had her step out the cage again and the three layers would flare up, the tethers would also glow brighter. After a while I decided to start. When I channeled my mana to the layer closest to her neck, it shattered and her pain was lessened greatly. That one was probably the one amplifying the effects. When I shattered the next one her pain stopped but she felt weird. It probably means that one caused the pain since the tethers were still glowing. When I finally shattered the last one the tethers stopped glowing, so that layer may be for transmitting the formations function.

At this point even if there are other layers still functioning, they have no way to harm her. Now that I got this far I re-identified the collar.

Slave Collar (broken)

A mass produced collar that enslaves the wearer to a place or master.

Effects:

Restricts actions (inapplicable)

YES! SUCCESS!

I got some good information from this and have the knowledge to break these damn collars. I wasted no time to destroy the rest of the collar.

When it fell to the floor I got a notification.

Mana SynthesisActive SkillNovice Level 1Description:Analyze and create mana formations with varying effects. Effects are dependent on the user.EffectsAnalyze a mana formation

Replicate known formations

Create a mana formation

Destroy a mana formation

I was left shocked at this notification. This means I can enchant things now. So far I can only enhance the properties of objects, now I can add to them. *Sigh* this is gonna take a lot of work to master, especially because it's not a proficiency this time.

“T-the...the collar...it came off…*light whimper*...it came of...*heavier whimper*...t-tank yew *sobs and incoherent rambling*...I...I…*sob*...I thought I would never...I thought you...no, you didn’t…*sob*...lie to me. When I was taken...*heavy sobbing*...everyone lied...everyone hurt me...I thought you…” (Puerial)

Before she could continue, I held her close to quiet her down. Her crying was getting too loud, and from what I remember from whenever I cried on earth, a hug helps. Thanks to the [Soul bound mind] trait I can remember my mom a lot better, and the good times we had. How when I was upset she would give me a warm hug to make the bad things go away.

I break away from these thoughts, and noticed Puerial finally calmed down. She seemed embarrassed but I assured her when we are able to send her home, we will. Even with her face a mess from her tears and snot, her smile warmed my heart.

I gave a glance to Shiro and she gave an as expected of me look, and smiled. It was really late and Shiro doesn’t seem to be able to sleep when I’m not around. So we all huddled together for some rest. First watch was taken by Shiro, then me.

------------------------------------------------------------

We had an early morning, everyone was still tired but we managed to have a decent breakfast and finished our usual training exercises. When Puerial asked what I was doing to Shiro during the regular massage. Surprisingly Shiro got excited and explained how my hands make her feel good, and that her skin used to have scars and a lot of other things. I was embarrassed when she kept narrating my technique so I ended the conversation. Puerial however wanted to try it but I refused.

To get her to stop pestering me I told her that I only do it for people who work and train hard. It was a mistake...Puerial suddenly started trying to help out, but her inexperience was showing heavily and she kept hurting herself.

I stopped her when it started getting too out of hand and decided to give her a massage during the night with Shiro just to end this. *Sigh* I bet Amare is enjoying this. Lately she keeps trying to give me advice about relationships, and I can’t ignore her because she quizzes me. All it takes is one wrong answer and…*Shiver*.

I swear having the goddess of ‘Love and Connections’ technically as your boss is extremely…

*shiver*...crap I think she is watching right now. ENJOYABLE, SPENDING TIME WITH AMARE IS FUN AND HER COOKIES ARE DELICIOUS...I think I’m safe for now.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The town was only half a day away with our current speed so we decided to start heading out now while there was still light out. Most likely we we get there just before dark. We fed the horse and got rid of that cage, much to Puerial’s happiness, and proceeded down the road.

As we chatted leisurely and got to know each other I noticed something that is really starting to bother me. These two...aren’t they too close…

Even if I say that our time together was interrupted halfway through our departure.

“Oi, you lot seem to be havin a good time aye. How bought you give me an me friends a fun time too, hahaha” (Bandit)

We were stopped and surrounded by a large group of 15 armed men...this will be a bit tricky.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Haha sorry for the cliff hanger. I’ll try to release the next chapter soon.