Short summary of the last chapter:

Spoiler :

Voice finished clearing the bandits out by disguising himself as a wood elf. He killed them all when he saw a girl being raped in front of her daughter. He actually gained back the lost levels, and even reached level 50. Then he decided to start a new plan, which he has yet to explain.

Also, let me know if anything is wrong with the chapter! Be sure to comment and rate!

Also, if you like the story enough you can support me by hitting the donate button on the bottom! ;)

It was a sunny day. A calm wind blew from the east. The flowers and trees blossomed beautifully. Everything seemed peaceful. A big city. Thousands of people were gathered together in the market, either buying or selling wares.

Despite this the people seemed a bit preoccupied. Their gazes were shifty, and contained a distrust for others. The cause was no secret. Recently there have been dozens of abductions. The people would be there one day, then suddenly vanish.

It was just at such a time that a cloaked figure came into town. He was unassuming in stature. He hunched over greatly. With his straight cane used to help support his weight, he slowly made his was to the market area.

He began talking to someone. After only a few moments, they shook their head in a sneer. The man the older gentleman was talking to slapped him. The old man fell to the ground as he dropped his cane. He grabbed at his cheek as he pushed himself backwards with his legs.

He quickly grabbed his cane, and darted away. Several people had seen the scene, but no one stepped up to help the man. Strangers meant trouble in this time. It would be better if the man just disappeared.

The old man continued to go around town. He would approach anyone that seemed like they would listen.

“Please! Save my grandson! He was kidnapped by someone! I have money! I can pay! Please, someone, anyone…”

He fell to his knees after being rejected again. He began to sob loudly. Normally people would try to comfort him, but the people of the city simply avoided him.

No one would help him, so he was forced to leave. But he didn’t leave with hard feelings. In fact, he wore a satisfied smile on his lips when he was sure none would see him.

He left the city, and followed the river upstream. He walked a bit away, a few hundred yards, and called out. The grass in this area was easily enough to hide grown men.

“Alright. We have our next targets. Here’s the plan.”

Several people jumped from concealment to meet the old man. The ‘old man’ began issuing orders, and disabled his disguise. Voice0fReason.

Let’s go back a few weeks.

After I watched the footage of the city attack, I sealed off the areas with the mana purifiers. That way no one could use them while I was out.

I disguised myself and headed out. Technically speaking, my treasure room was also part of my dungeon. So I disguised myself there, and left.

I waited until the cover of darkness. I covered myself in darkness mana, and flew quickly away. I headed towards a slightly far away city with the greatest speed I could muster. Of course this was not before spending my 64 points. I got strength and endurance up to 100, int up to 350, and wis up to 275.

My goal? The complete destruction of this game.

EDITOR had fucked with me one too many times. I was about to make sure it didn’t happen again. I wouldn’t make it so that people couldn’t play. No no no. I’d change then entire game to my whims. I made sure I traveled far enough towards the city, then logged out. My autopilot could handle going on direction while cloaking in mana.

In the white room I began to look up something interesting. Hypnotism. If I was to destroy this world EDITOR controlled on a whim, I needed to first deal with the peons: the NPCs.

I’m not saying whether or not hypnotism really works in the real world. I’ve heard that one needs to be willing to be hypnotized for it to work. Wouldn’t that just mean they had to be willing to fake it?

Either way worked for me. Because I had something no one else on Earth would have. Mental Domination Connection.

I could also read people like an open book. Unless they had specifically gone out of their way to hide the mannerisms, they would show them. I seriously doubted anyone in the game knew much about body language reading. Even if they did, I still had Analysis.

Of course the body language of such vastly different people, modern day and game day, would differ. I could still easily pick up the new cues.

I spent several days studying the basics of hypnotism, only occasionally checking my auto-pilot. Since everything seemed to be going well, I continued my research.

I’m not going to say by the end I was a hypnotism expert, but I knew enough for my needs. By the time I was finished looking up everything I needed, I was almost to the other city.

I left the city without telling anyone. I didn’t want the bandits to continue to attack the city too much after I left, so the best way was to make it seem like I didn’t log in or something happened. I was hoping that would at least stay their hand.

If not, I had one very powerful defense planned. Chao. I had made sure he would defend the under the disguise of attacking it. To help keep this a secret I had him send some lower powered monsters to attack the city once or twice a week.

Not enough to actually do any damage though. It was sort of a way to train the soldiers.

The area I was in was a large plains area. With a thought I made a small mound of earth. I had Moro, Sol, Tear, and Eli spread a bunch of grass on it to cover the top. In the two or three hours they took growing the grass, I made a small hollow underground, and designed a room under the hill. The stream of water was nearby.

It was close I could reach it by digging for a few feet. I decided to just go ahead with my plan. I put a few drops of my poison in the water. It wouldn’t kill anyone, but anyone that drank this was would definitely get dizzy for a while. The poison took 100 points of mana to regen.

In meditation I could regen over 100 points. So I could pour out a constant 1 drop a second. Although the poison was potent, it still took a lot of time to pollute the river.

I made an earthen jug, and began to fill it with the poison. Every few hours I would take a few drops of the liquid and pour them into the river. The paralysis effect, and hallucinogens, would make everyone that drank too much to become less able to control their own minds.

I meditated, and made the liquid for about a day. My nature mana was becoming slightly more pure, but it was sadly lacking in comparison to the level of my mana purifier.

After making an entire jug of the poison, I summoned Kretchof. I had him summon a zombie, and I enchanted both the eyes of the zombie. These eyes weren’t enchanted to record vision, but were designed to record using ‘mana sight’.

After mounting both eyes, and creating a small recording device I began my practice.

I used short range teleport several times. Afterwards I looked over the recordings. This minor teleportation actually used all eight types of mana at once. I wanted to examine it to try to better it.

10 mana/foot was too much in my opinion. Sure I could move a thousand or so feet in an instant, but why wouldn’t I try to improve that?

I spent about a week studying the effects of the teleport. Every day I would pour quite a bit of my poison into the river.

I studied my teleport by actively using it in combat. Well I say combat. I was really just hunting any venomous animals I could find. I could add their venom to mine to improve its strength.

The mana signature put out by the teleport, appeared as though it had no logic to it, but there was actually a subtle pattern. By studying that patter I was able to enhance my understanding of it.

Over the course of a short week, I wasn’t able to improve the teleport to any degree. Any time I tried to change the ratio of the teleport; it would simply explode in a sort of mana bomb type explosion.

I had the mana signature memorized though, so I no longer needed the floating eye. That made it so that I could at least train it anywhere.

After the first week, I went into the town. They had been poisoned (by me) for the past week. I didn’t know exactly how the town would have reacted, but they should have at least been in a state of panic or something.

I made my way to the town.

The morning sun streamed through the cloudless sky. It was early in the day, but the crisp morning air was becoming warm. It was the kind of air that someone from the city could only dream of.

I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with the freshness.

The long grass that littered the path to the town, was covered in fresh dew. Each time my legs brushed past a blade of grass, a small chill crept into my legs. The coolness of the dew perfectly complimented the warmness of the sun.

I wore the guise of an older fellow. One that had weathered countless years of life. I had deeply inset wrinkles, and hunched over my staff to keep myself up. I had a battered brown robe loosely tied around my body, the hood covering my face.

In order to make the disguise as realistic as possible, I debuffed myself with several spells: Minor Petrification, Enfeeble, and Inferior Self.

Minor Petrification made it harder for me to move, and made my movements less accurate. Enfeeble was the opposite of Damage Immunity. I would have less health and armor than normal. Inferior Self was the opposite of Superior Self; it lowered all five senses dramatically.

Of course I would have Instant Analysis on unless I absolutely needed to turn it off. Even with a decrease in my five senses, I’d be able to make out more information than most people.

My walk wasn’t a quick one. It took about two hours to get to the town. If anyone could view mana, they’d see an awesome sight.

There was no one out in the street. Although I came at an early time, there still should have been someone.

The houses were in ok condition. They weren’t the best houses ever, but neither were they falling apart. The were made from crudely constructed wood. The only one that stood out was made partially of brick.

There was one guard standing watch in front of the door.

I calmly made my way in that direction, slowly hobbling. The guard stood firm by the door. As I approached, I watched his face. A look of concern crossed his face.

According to Analysis, he was actually concerned about me. How cute…

I decided to play a bit since I was here. I activated my skill. In a gravely, aged, voice I said:

“Young man? I know I’ve arrived early, but it’s past morning. Why is this town so lonely? Normally one would be confronted by the whole town when they entered a new town.”

I shook my head slowly.

“I guess some traditions don’t get passed down. It’s so sad. I guess if this town scorns its visitors like this, I won’t stay any longer. You seem nice though. You should find a better place to raise children.”

At first a flash of anger passed across the man’s face, but it was quickly suppressed. He apologetically bowed his head.

“Old sir, it’s not that they don’t want to greet you. It’s that they can’t. A strange illness overtook the town this past week. The people are not fit to have visitors. Sadly not even my family were spared.”

His downcast look would have wounded my heart, if he were a real person anyway. I feigned a look of concern.

“Boy if there’s a plague here you need to warn people!”

I quickly covered my mouth, as I glared angrily at him.

He shook his head, and donned a sad smile.

“It’s not as easy as that.” He stared at the ground as he spoke.

“No one from the Elder’s house has gotten the sickness. Only the people no staying here got sick. The Elder had a special enchantment placed on his house a long while ago; that is the only reason we are safe.

“So the entire town must stay inside the these grounds. The few members of our town that refuse to come have a horrible sickness. They barely have the power to feed themselves. If we go out of the mansion we will become sick as well. So what are we supposed to do?”

I adopted a look of confusion at his words. My hands feebly reached into my robes.

“Where is that thing?”

While rummaging through my robes, I looked at the man and asked, “What exactly do the people act like?”

He went over the symptoms.

“They began to see things that aren’t there at random times, then fall into a state of paralysis. What’s worse is that drinking water seems to cause it to start right away!”

Honestly I had no idea that pouring the poison into the river would cause this to happen. The hallucinations and paralysis made sense, but it seemed like it also had a delayed effect. That could prove potent.

“AH! Here it is.”

The sudden outburst startled the guard.

I pulled out a small yellow vial of liquid.

“Do you know what this is?”

The man shook his head. “I don’t.”

I shook my head and smiled. “I’m an alchemist. I study the inner workings of potions and plants. Take me to the town’s Elder. I think I have something that might help.” I swirled the yellow liquid around a bit for emphasis.

He nodded. As I spoke Analysis showed me that he was getting hopeful. Hopeful and desperate.

The guard opened the doors, and led me into the building. It wasn’t extremely large, but it could house twenty to thirty people. Not comfortably of course. There were blankets laying down on the floor everywhere.

A large group of people were sitting solemnly around the large house. The man leading me cupped one hand to his mouth, and called out.

“Elder! Where is the Elder!”

The crowd of people were obviously curious, but parted before the guard. I was rushed past them, and led into a small area that had been sectioned off from the rest of the villagers.

The guard was hurrying, but paused before a door. After straightening himself, his politely knocked on the door. After a moment a voice came through the door.

“Yes? Come in. There’s no need to knock every time. How many times do I have to tell you all that?”

Although the words were harsh, they were said with, almost a mirth. They seemed to carry a deepness to them, a deepness that could only be understood by someone that has experienced a lifetime.

“Oh?” When the village Elder opened the door his gaze naturally ended up on me. I activated my skill on him as well.

“Hello. Who might you be sir?”

I guess he calls me sir because I look even older than him.

I smiled and bowed slightly. “Greetings town Elder. I’m but a humble traveler and alchemist. I happened to be traveling this way for reasons of my own. I learned of a disturbing thing from this young man. I thought to help your people since it is within my abilities.”

The Elder looked at me quizzically. “Is that so? And how did a man of such, venerable age, come to travel the world alone?”

Damn he’s quick.

I waved a hand in the air, while activating a small amount of magical debuffs. Instantly the Elder and the guard yawned.

With a smile I said, “Because anyone that would get close enough to attack me would be forced into the most peaceful sleep they’ve ever had.”

As I released the debuff, both men suddenly seemed to come to their senses. The Elder had a hint of alarm in his eyes, but the guard seemed to just accept what had just happened.

The Elder seemed the think something over.

“How exactly could you help us? Have you seen this before?”

I almost laughed out loud. His biggest emotion was suspicion. He was good at concealing it, but with my emotional connection, and Analysis, he couldn’t hide it.

“No, but I have something better than experience! The gift of the Great Goddess Mar!”

He, reasonably, balked. A random traveler having a gift from a god? That made no sense. What made less sense was someone as old as what I appeared to make a boast like that. The older one got, the more frightened of death they would become. Who would risk angering a god under that kind of situation?

I took out the vial. “This was gifted to me by the great Voice0fReason! The Chosen of Mar! I helped him with a minor task while searching for an apprentice. He told me he spoke to the goddess Mar, and got this vial from her. It was supposedly be good for finding my apprentice.

“He told me to use it ‘only when the people around you need it’. I can’t think of a better time than this. If this wasn’t what he was talking about, then I have no need to follow his advice. If he somehow saw that I’d need this in the future he should have seen I’d be here. So this is when I choose to use it.”

I looked at the Elder. He was slightly suspicious, but my skill was working on him. He nodded his ascent.

I technically activated two skills on both of the men. Or at least one skill two times on each.

I opened the vial. I infused the yellow liquid with fire mana, and watched as the mixture I had prepared earlier began to bubble and steam. I created a small wind. My eyes opened in ‘amazement’.

I nodded my head when the wind died down. “Your people should be fine now, but could I visit the houses of the people that didn’t come here?”

The Elder nodded, dumbstruck at what just happened.

Normally he probably wouldn’t have let me just use something as suspicious as that, but I had a little help. I had activated my Mental Domination Connection on both him, and the guard.

I gave two instructions to each. One: Trust the robed stranger. Two: Obey the robed Stranger. With my high level of Task Master, I could repeat the two instructions hundreds of times a second. It was no wonder the both seemed to bend to my will so quickly.

Every rank of Task Master evolved Mental Domination Connection into a better version. It was at rank three. That meant Mental Domination Connection was at rank three. It could be used on three people at once. However, I could activate the skill multiple times at once.

Thanks the my little game with Sol, I had used Mental Domination Connection several hundreds of thousands of times. Quite nearly a million. Pretty soon I’d be able to use it four times at once, thanks to Multi-Auto Tasking.

Each connection could only give a total of three commands. So I could brainwash a total of nine people if I only used one connection for each person.

Of course the effects would only normally only last as long as the skill was activated. Unless I made arrangements to actually warp their minds so that they would obey me out of their own ‘free will’.

After we left the Elder’s home, we went to visit the ones that wouldn’t go to his house.

We approached one house. The guard spoke. “This is one of the three families that didn’t choose to go to the Elder’s house.”

He tried knocking, but got no response. “Hello? Renolds? It’s Karl! Open up! I’ve got someone that needs to see your family.”

“Why? We ain’t done nothing! Leave us be! We just want to suffer in privacy!”

I quietly asked the locations of the other houses. The guard, ‘Karl’ pointed them out without thinking. That moment I began to remove all traces of my poison from the people. The poison was so ingrained in them, it even covered up their light mana signatures.

In moments, the rest of the people had been cleaned up. They might stay asleep for a while, but the were all cleared of my poison at least.

“It’s ok.” I interrupted Karl.

“I’ve got what I needed. Let’s go talk to your Elder. I came here for an apprentice after all.”

Karl nodded. He was obeying me pretty well. Although I knew from my reading, this level of control was no where near enough. He’d only do things that didn’t seem weird or harmful to anyone. He wouldn’t act outside of his usual patterns either.

If I tried to make him, it would end up with me losing all control over him. In some cases that I read online, some people even turned hostile after they realized they were being controlled.

A warm breeze blew up dust from the unpaved road.

We entered the Elder’s house again. I frowned when I entered.

The people were all listening to a speech the Elder was giving.

“Ah! Here he is now! Our savior! The one that brought a potion from the Chosen of Mar!”

He spoke a bit. I zoned out while looking over everyone in the house. I was using my Analysis skill to find the best candidate for me.

There were only two requirements. Low level, and low willpower. Both of those things would make it much easier to work with.

A bit sad, but everyone there had both. No wonder the town was so run down. Nobody here had anything worth mentioning.

That did make it quite a bit easier though. At least I knew where I was setting up base.

After the Elder talked for a while, the people dispersed. There was no loud applause or anything, just a bit of cheering.

The Elder slowly walked over to us.

I tilted my head slightly, and questioned him. “How did you know that the potion would work?”

He smiled. “Not many people, other than otherworlders, have Identify, but I do. I knew that potion was actually a poison cure made by Voice0fReason just by looking at it.”

I smiled, and happily nodded.

“Stranger, you may have come here in a bad time, but you can stay her in a good one. You said you were looking for an apprentice?”

I nodded.

“Well you can ask around town. I’m sure there would be more than a few people willing to become an apprentice alchemist under someone that met Voice0fReason.”

I bowed my head in gratitude. “Thank you town Elder. I will at that.”

He happily waved away my thanks. “Don’t bother with it. You can even stay in my home for as long as you are here. It has its own private well and everything.”

THAT’S how they avoided being poisoned! I should have though about that!

The ones that didn’t come to the Elder’s house obviously had to still drink from the river. The people that did apparently could drink from a purified well.

Maybe if I do this again, I’ll make it airborne or something.

You have gained the trust of the town: Apella. You will be considered a friend to all within that town. They will remember you for a long time for what you’ve done for them.

---

Hey guys! This chapter was the start of a more, deceptive arc. He got the trust of an entire (very small) town! I wonder what he can do next chapter?