The two were here under the orders of King Estial to get some information on the devilish group that worshipped the Dark Sun.

The information they received led them to the small town of Phyranhol and eventually into the Grizzly Birch after “asking” the locals about any suspicious events.

It was a boring task to watch and wait for any suspicious activity, but a certain individual caught their attention.

They had moved to one of the corners of the establishment after the brawl took place.

One of the figures was precisely the person that made eye contact with Lukas before he proceeded down into the cellar.

“Did you see who initiated it?” The one with droopy eyes asked the other figure next to them who was in a more relaxed position.

“I saw them, but it was quite hard to keep observing them after the brawl truly erupted. They wore a cloak though and exuded a mysterious vibe.” The relaxed figure replied, looking at their partner with a lazy expression.

Their eyes, however, had an exciting light flash across their golden irises.

Droopy eyes caught this and sighed in exasperation. He pushed himself off the wall and slowly moved forward to mix in with the brawling patrons.

“Alright then Germain, just make sure you catch them.” They then disappeared into the chaos.

“Of course… this is the best part of the missions after all!” Germain silently exclaimed before he leaned forward and pushed his sleeves up.

Germain looked around, before walking and throwing a nonsensical punch into the crowd.

It connected with flesh and knocked a person down. The corners of his mouth turn up.

This was going to be a fun night!

He was about to get into the brunt of the fighting but felt a prickling sense of danger well up inside him.

Germain looked around and realized some individuals had stopped and had been making their way out of the tavern in a quick manner. There was a hint of tension and panic in the air.

He spotted his droopy-eyed partner and made eye contact, they didn’t seem so sleepy anymore.

After he saw the change in his partner’s temperament, he knocked down the person in front of him as he rushed towards the door.

The sense of danger didn’t fade as he got closer to the crowded doorway.

It was the feeling of fear when the prey met its predator.

He had just touched the frame of the doorway then heat and the smell of alcohol rushed past him.

The expunged force propelled Germain out of the tavern.

His body rolled onto the stone street, getting out of the center of the blast with minor burns.

Screams and shouts rang throughout the night sky as flames escaped the interior of the Grizzly Birch.

People ran out of the building, throwing coughing fits, rolling on the streets, and smoking from the immediate explosion.

He slowly pushed himself up. Luckily, he didn’t have any fatal injuries from the explosion and was considerably lucky compared to some of the people deeper inside the establishment who didn’t make it out.

Germain coughed and shouted, “Hey, Corinth?”

He looked around trying to spot his partner for the mission, but couldn’t find the familiar figure anywhere.

Germain slowly stood up from where he was thrown and dusted himself off. He had started taking unsteady steps away from the scene and the crowd of spectators that had quickly built up.

Behind him, a cacophony of gasps and exclaims of surprise were heard. Germain looked over his shoulder.

In front of the burning Grizzly Birch, a figure surrounded by flames stood with a charred figure in one hand by the throat and a limp body under the other arm.

Wrathful flames formed where the face of the being would be and embers surrounding its body.

A disembodied, gravelly voice came from the burning figure.

“Our debt is clear. This world is ushering in a new era!”

“Consider this your warning that power can lurk in places you might never expect.”

Germain shivered after he heard the statement. If it weren’t for the fact that he knew it was talking to the charred person it was holding, he might have thought that the flaming monster in front of the building directed those words at him.

The charred figure started to squirm, its hands trying to remove the burning hand on its throat. It opened its mouth, but nothing came out.

The flaming silhouette threw down the charred body on the ground, towards the group of spectators.

It stopped moving and seemed to have become nothing but a burnt corpse.

The flame monster looked towards the observers, “Disperse! There’s nothing, but burnt insects here.”

Before any of them could reply, the burning man had turned away and disappeared into a nearby alleyway.

Germain was shocked at the scene he has just witnessed.

A flaming man?

The churches only ever mentioned such types of scenes as workings of demonic cults like those who followed the Dark Sun or some other nondescript entity.

He had always believed they were mere stories used to scare little children. This didn’t seem like it was just a story.

Germain kept his eyes towards the alleyway where the figure had disappeared to.

Remembering his mission, he silently limped over there. Using the shadows from the fire and the ever-growing night to hide his form.

By the time Germain made his way to the alleyway, he found a familiar relaxed physique standing there.

“Hey… Corinth. Were they the people we’re looking for?”

“No. I followed the flaming man here, but it was gone by the time I passed the corner.” Corinth said and briefly looked over at Germain.

Corinth gave him a once over and resumed his investigation for any clues.

“What we saw seems to match some depictions of what the churches had described what those cults do in the stories. But, there seemed to be something different.”

Germain leaned himself against a wall and slowly breathed in.

The smoke and burnt aromas from the Grizzly Birch had filled the air. He looked up, but the once clear sky now had a haze covering it.

“I didn’t think they were real if I’m going to be honest.” He sighed.

There were a lot of things he and Corinth were told to investigate in the past, but it was usually some misconception or related to some underworld gangsters.

Corinth got up from where he was investigating and looked at Germain with a serious face.

“They are definitely real; however, there is definitely something fishy about it. There was no malicious intent from the looks of it.”

“It seemed to be a retaliation against that corpse.” The lazy tone slowly came back into existence near the end of the explanation.

“We should definitely keep a closer eye on the people in this town. Something is brewing by that flaming being’s warning.” Corinth looked towards the end of the alleyway, he vaguely saw the figures of the townspeople rushing with buckets to treat the fire before it spread.

They looked clueless and innocent, just living out their lives.

Germain followed his gaze before sighing.

“So much for having a fun night.”

If someone were to walk into that alleyway right after that was said, they would be given a surprise, it was void of any life.

The source of the voices was gone and any evidence was erased. It looked untouched.

------

Lukas was breathing hard and sweating buckets by the time he had reached the back entrance of the library.

Gareth’s unconscious body was much heavier than he originally thought and it didn’t help that his own body wasn’t built for hard labour.

He leaned against the door to try and open it, it was locked.

Lukas sighed and cast Prestidigitation to and open the lock. It didn’t work and he had to use the keys to open the door instead.

Sometimes magic couldn’t solve all problems.

Entering the dark library, moonlight shone through the library’s large windows, providing dim lighting to the interior of the building.

The rows of short shelves and empty tables made an ominous sight as their shadows plastered the walls and floors from the dim light.

From the night sky outside, the smoke from the Grizzly Birch explosion could be seen.

Lukas walked to a nearby table and gently placed the limp form of Gareth onto the table. He flicked of his hand and cast Prestidigitation to light up the wall sconces and close the door.

The ominous scene had vanished and a gentle glow spread throughout the almost-empty library.

Lukas took a deep breath and breathed out shakily.

He was using this opportunity to breathe out any smoke in his lungs and to regain some of his lost energy. The pool in his chest was particularly shallow after using all that magic for a long period of time.

As he regained his breath and energy, he looked back at the events under the cellar.

The rage he felt seemed to help agitate the Source around him and ignited the space around him. A spell was created then and it was of a higher order because it took almost all of his energy reserves.

There were the protective measures he had to create on the fly to allow him to escape from the fire unharmed. Because he had to extend that protection to his father, it drained most of his remaining energy.

[Conflagration. 2nd order magic. Ignite all the air 3 meters around the caster. All flammable objects catch on fire and spread profusely.]

[Coat of Fire. 1st order magic. Summons fire to surround the caster, protecting them from minor fire damage. Stronger flames are unaffected and can consume the magic. Lasts for 5 minutes.]

He looked at the two new spells he had created.

Lukas finally understood why he felt drained after casting the two spells.

One of the spells was of the second-order and had a significantly higher need for energy. The other was probably nearing the peak of first order spells that he had to pour more energy to extend its effects over his father.

Considering he cast spells from even before he entered the tavern, he was surprised at how deep his Source reservoirs were.

Name: Eliott Hearthrom

Title: ---

Tier: Source Opening- Master (Peak)

Spells:

(First Order- Prestidigitation, Source Bolt, Subtle Haze, Coat of Fire)

(Second Order- Conflagration)

Evaluation: Stepping towards the road of fantasy, but still far away in realms of strength. You are paper! Keep trying!

Lukas looked at this status. His eye twitched at the evaluation.

He was at a bottleneck now and just needed a push to be able to form the core over his heart which would further improve his spellcasting ability and general strength.

However, he had to heal his father first.

Ding!

[World Record has been updated.]