Congratulations, you have learned the spell Realm Hop (Legendary): A spell fit for a worldly traveler. While not the most elegant transportation, this spell more than makes up for its ambition.

Create a link between two places. This spell can open between Realms, Dimensions, Worlds, Domains, and Territories.

Be warned! Most do not take kindly to invasions.

Requires 30% of users mana to open links.

Requires 50% if that link is between Realms, Dimensions, or Worlds.

If traveling between Realms, Dimensions, or Worlds, additional mana will be required directly relating to the distance between.

Warning: Failure to provide full mana cost will result in a partial link.

Congratulations, for creating your first Legendary ranked spell you have gained 45,000 experience!

Notice: Creating a Legendary ranked spell marks you by the System. Any Ruler or Divine ranked beings have the privilege of viewing a list of all Legendary spell holders.

Notice: If this Legendary spell’s creator is alive, they will be notified of your success.

Max scoffed at the notification, his annoyance too great. “What a joke.” He seethed.

Emi nodded along, stepping away from her partner. “It feels like we are being forced into a poor position.”

“Of course we are! When are we not? Every single thing we do, someone takes advantage of it. Asking for a favor is one thing, but feigning that they are doing us a favor is something else entirely!”

“This just goes back to Eden.”

Max rolled his eyes at the King’s name. “This goes back to why I’m even here. You remember what we were told in Abyss City, right?”

Emi nodded. She remembered very clearly what her father, Tiodepth, told them. That Max was taken from Earth to progress Nava but other forces were out there stopping such a thing from happening.

“Since the beginning, then.” The little monster finally said.

The forest of Lesterwood was as still as it was before the meeting with Subuntu, although the two who stood within were vastly different. Telling off a God was something Max did with the utmost caution, he didn’t want to be on the hate list of anyone other than Eden. But he was so sick and tired of all of the games.

Losing the potential of Divine support for ending the relationship with Subuntu now rather than later was a great sacrifice in his eyes. If he continued down this course of business, who’s to say where it would take him. Would he eventually become the lap dog of a God? Would he become a [Champion]? One thing was for sure, he would be used. Time and time again.

It was better this way… right?

With a sigh Max opened the entrance to the Pocket World. The purple glimmer of the door in space flickered as its residents exited one by one. They inspected their surroundings, only Celenia confused by their location.

“I figured you’d want to see the forest before we leave.” Max said to his girlfriend trying to hide his anger and disposition.

She wasn’t fooled. “What’s wrong?”

Max and Emi looked at each other before they sighed and went into the details. The story of their meeting with the God of Healing lasted several minutes, most of which were filled by questions from the audience. Once they finished, Isaac was the first to speak.

“The Divine are scum. They think we are dumb and that our lives don’t matter. You did the right thing.”

Alia gave a reserved nod. “While I don’t agree with some of his statements, I think you ending your relationship was correct. At least, for you as you are now.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

“You are… not as powerful as you seem. You don’t have backing other than a few in Lesterwood, you have no army, and you are not at the level of a one-man-army that some individuals are at. While it sounds blunt, your strongest attribute is that you can teleport. But can teleporting change nations? No, the Divine does, Kings do, tier fours do.”

Celenia scrunched her eyes. “There are no tier fours, unless you are counting the Divine.”

Alia gave a small smile. “I’m not, and there are. There are few, but my father kept an extensive and updated list.”

Max’s face twitched. “Was Lester on that list?”

“At the bottom, yes.”

“Cresthill?”

“No. At least, I don’t believe so. She wasn’t on the list, but she was presumed dead for many years, so she may be now.”

Emi spoke up. “Anyone else we should know about?”

Alia grumbled over the thought. She looked to Celenia. “The [Druid] Order leader is a tier four.”

Celenia quenched her curiosity and moved on with the real subject at hand. “What do we do now?”

Isaac answered this one. “Nothing. Send a message to the others then continue on. Max already helped by getting the Healers back into Salae. There is nothing more for him to do until he is called upon again. And hopeful that will be when it is time to strike at Eden.”

Alia nodded at this. “In the meantime, we all need to get stronger. And I don’t just mean levels. Max, would you be opposed to etiquette and world politics lessons?”

“What do those matter if I’m not powerful enough to stand with the big dogs?” The others went wide-eyed at the Lost Lords question. He instantly saw his mistake. “No. Sorry. I didn’t mean that, Alia. I agree with you actually. Sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I understand. It’s been a rough day.” The princess said softly. “Think of lessons as a preparation. There is no doubt in my mind that you will one day be able to stand beside the world powers. All Lost Lords who make it this long are.”

Max went to respond but something tickled his ear. Or rather, Emi’s ear. Through their shared bond, she alerted him of a stick breaking in the distance. The crunch of leaves. The sounds of footsteps. Someone was coming, and in a full sprint.

“Wolf! Wolf!” They began to hear. The yelling started out far, but came closer and closer until an ethereal wolf pushed past the underbrush.

Max and Emi recognized the animal instantly. The wolf, promptly named Wolf, was the spirt bond of the Stalker hunter Beolen. Making the connection put the voice in the distance as the outdoorsman partner.

Besides the random encounter, something else was odd about Wolf. He was growling and snarling at Max.

“Hey buddy…” He tried. “Remember me? Max? Remember Emi?”

The spirit continued to gnarr, his eyes almost locked on and predatory. Just then, Beolen broke past the brush. His eyes went wide at the sight of the congregation, specifically at the man his bond was enraged at.

“Max?” The hunter asked. “Why here? Why Wolf? Friend. Friend!”

Beolen tried to force his mutt down, patting him on the head, and when that didn’t work, standing between the two. Wolf’s eyes flickered for a moment as an ability was redoubled over the bonded pair. When it faded the man spun on his heel and stared at Max.

“Marked.” He said. “Spirit marked. Close. Nearby. Wolf smell danger-“

Beolen’s broken words were cut short by a shrieking call and a blast of metal. A thin and deceptively long needle rushed from the canopy, barreling towards the ethereal wolf. It connected causing a wallop of vibration and damage. The needle shoved Wolf across the forest floor, dragging a flume of mud in his wake.

Max sprung to action first, opening his Pocket World entrance and shoving Celenia in while Isaac grabbed Alia and pulled her in as well. A second needle whipped forward, this time for the wolf’s master. Water surged from the nearby slush, protecting the Human.

Except it didn’t.

The needle phased through the curtain of water like light bypassing glass. The spike cut into the man, drilling a deep hole into his thigh. A third needle arrived, and again it went through the water. It pierced into Beolen’s shoulder, knocking him away.

It was then that Max and Emi saw it, the being of the surprise attack. A ghostly white-blue woman in formal dress, the kind worn for a cultist sacrifice, hovered within the trees. She wore a horned mask of bone and conjured needles like the wind. She didn’t have eyes, only hollow sockets of endless void.

Emi fired off several attacks, all failing to connect. They simply passed through the ethereal woman. Briefly, a conversation flared to live within her and her partner’s connection. They formed a plan, and moved to act.

A shriek sounded as the woman drew another needle, her target, the now standing Wolf.

Max arrived beside the animal and with a mighty yank, pulled the beast out of the line of fire. He opened his Pocket World entrance and pushed the spirit into the spell. The needle landed in the dirt right as Max teleported again, this time to Beolen. The man was thrown into the Pocket World as well.

A moment later, Max and Emi had teleported far away.

“Okay, what was that?” Max asked, moving water to the two injured parties. He and Emi frowned as their healing magic didn’t work. It didn’t take, it didn’t react to the wounds. It was as if Beolen and Wolf were not hurt. A drop of Divine didn’t help either.

“I can’t heal you…”

Beolen coughed up a bit of blood. “Spirit attack. Need spirit heal.” He fumbled around in sparce clothing, pulling out a small sack. He emerged with a vial, to which he threw to Max. “Drink. Temporary spirit magic.”

Max eyed the vial. “Spirit magic?”

Celenia answered, as she motioned for him to drink it. “They sell the vials in [Apothecary] shops mainly to adventurers who take on jobs to deal with spirit monsters… not that Lesterwood gets many. It will only work for a few minutes, so be quick with healing the two of them.”

Max finished drinking the vial and briefly waited for it to take effect. It was obvious once it did, as the world seemed to heighten. Everything glowed, especially Wolf who looked like a miniature blue-white sun. Beolen glowed as well, but to a much lesser extent.

Surprisingly, Max himself glowed. It was less than Beolen, but more than the others. Two small thin line of spirit branched off the Lost Lord. One ran to Emi, signifying their shared bond. The other to Isaac, showing their magical binding.

For the next few moments no one spoke and only Wolf made noise. He quietly cried as the pain was elevated and his ethereal skin closed.

“Beolen.” Emi said once the man was sitting up. “We are going to need answers about this.”

The man, for his credit, was rather calm for the events that just took place. He seemed more interested in sniffing the air as this air wasn’t any he was used to. He could tell he was somewhere not of Lesterwood’s forest. Somewhere not even a forest to begin with. There were trees, plants, flowers, but it was all fake… all odd.

“Wolf smell rogue spirit. Rushed off. I follow.” Beolen looked to his bond, gently brushing its fur. “Found you. He scared, ready for fight. I not understand, ask to see. Wolf share sight. Spirit attacked when I could be hurt.”

“Be hurt?” Max asked.

The man nodded and gestured to the empty glass. “Same as vial.”

Celenia scrunched her eyes. “Your shared ability with Wolf gave you the same effects as the vial?”

“Yes.”

“So you could be hurt, oh I see.” She turned to Max. “The vial is a double edged sword. It allows you to see spirits and the chance to harm them, but spirits can also harm you.”

“Which is why my defenses didn’t work.” Max said.

“Yes. Only with vial.”

“But why was it there?” Isaac asked. “Seems unlikely for this all to happen.”

“Smell on you, Max.” Beolen said. “Follow you long time.”

Max’s eyes widened. “The informant. I guess I’m going to have to buy some vials.”

Beolen shook his head. “No. Followed by [Spirit Master]. Army of spirits. Too many.”

It took a bit of back and forth, but eventually the man explained that the spirit that attacked was a humanoid one – which directly referred to a classer’s involvement. [Spirit Master] was the general term for the rare class, but suffice to say being marked by one was not a good thing.

The class was similar to Beolen’s own, but a much more aggressive version. He equated it to a [Reanimator] but much more elusive. Being marked meant only one thing for Max, he was going to be followed for a long, long time. Even if he killed all spirits as soon as they arrived, other spirits could simply start where the last one ended.

“What I don’t understand is why could Emi and I see the spirit without drinking the vial?” Max asked.

“Spirit attack.” Beolen said. “Only see with vial or when attack.”

Emi rolled her eyes. “We would need a constant supply of vials…”

“And to be under the effects at all times if we want to be able to fight back. Which brings upon more dangers as they can harm us…”

“Not to mention the effects are temporary. We’d have to drink hundreds a day to check for followers.”

Alia cut off the back and forth. “Can you remove the mark?”

All eyes fell to Beolen. “Do not know. Guess, yes.”

“You think so? How?”

The man just shook his head. He didn’t know.

The Pocket World was silent for a few minutes until Max spoke. “Well Beolen, Wolf, it was good to see you again. I take it the spirit doesn’t care about you? Would you be safe back in Lesterwood?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, good. I’ll drop you back off in the forest. Sorry to get you involved but you have helped us out a lot. Thank you.”

The man waved the Lost Lord off and got to his feet. Wolf following along. A few minutes of conversation about what’s been happening in Lesterwood later, the man left the Pocket world.

Dinner was drawing near, so the group put a pause on deep conversations to eat. Max excused himself from helping cook and instead wrote a letter to Clammy. He explained what happened with Subuntu and their falling out. It was a tough letter to write as written words simply couldn’t put the feelings he had into perspective.

But still, Clammy needed to know.

“The spirit has to be connected to the informant. That’s how they are following us.” Max said to the others. “They keep telling the nearby Salaen patrols our location.”

“We could go even further…” Alia said, not enthusiastic about her own idea.

They had been traveling further and further away from Lesterwood and Salae, even out of Salarin a bit. But the pace had been slow, much slower than the speed they traveled around Salarin. Max had long brought up his issues with moving far, far away, a sentiment matched by the others.

They didn’t want to go. It was true that Max could always bring them back, the fact of the matter was that none of them wanted to leave their home. At first they didn’t mind and even were excited to visit foreign cities, but that came crashing down as time went on.

Only Isaac wasn’t home sick, although he could sympathize.

Max sighed. “Let me talk to some people first, then we can make a decision.”

Abyss City, the port under the crushing depths of the Dimension of Water. Home of the last Mur and the being that protected their ancient race. In a sense, the city was a stronghold. A safe haven for those forgotten by history, both with the System and not.

The city was perpetually damp and dark, the limitations of being within a mass of underwater caves. Even with the protective air bubble, cracks could and would form. Some were no larger than a drop or two an hour, others were like a leaky shower. On the rare occasion that a hole appeared, one larger than that of what the Mur could handle, Tiodepth was forced to intervene.

It was rare for the Leviathan to use his magic as an ounce of involvement could cause those of equal power to set their sights on him. Not to mention he was somewhat of a System anomaly, forever cast away for a lifetime of love and hiding.

But Max and Emi weren’t in the city to meet with the little monster’s father. Not necessarily at least. They needed information about several things, most importantly being the five Primordials and if there was a way to remove the mark of a spirit.

And while Tiodepth surely had the answers they were looking for, the Leviathan had already shown his reluctance to simply answer asked questions. Whether it was due to the fact that he didn’t want to cause attention to himself or that he simply didn’t care for mortal affairs, he was last on the list to ask.

The issue was that Max and Emi didn’t know anyone else in Abyss City. They knew Aquis but the [Water Elementalist] seemed to be more of an envoy rather than an old age fountain of knowledge… But at the same time, talking to him was a better approach than randomly walking into shops asking if anyone could help them.

As soon as Max and Emi appeared on the streets of the wet city, a set of mana lights flickered on. The twin edges of the street raced with light, stretching the once incredibly dark area into a vibrant person-less void.

Uhh… Max said to Emi through their bond. Where is everyone?

Monsters? Dead? She echoed back.

Or… and it’s just a thought, everyone is asleep. Is this night time for the city?

Emi mentally facepalmed. Oh, yeah. That’s more likely.

Idly, the two began to walk along the slick stone floor, past closed-up shops and stalls, buildings of importance, outside sculptures, and even a fountain or two. Max found it ironic that the Mur built intricate fountains even though their city was literally underwater.

Eventually the duo found themselves at Tiodepth’s cathedral. They thought, briefly, about exploring the city, but as they were guests they decided it would be impolite. After all, it seemed the whole city was asleep, unlike the cities of Nava who always had patrols wandering around.

As they sat on the Magestone steps of the massive place of warship, Max had time to compartmentalize his thoughts. Since dealing with Nix, his life felt odd. He felt oddly powerful, like he could take on the world itself, but at the same time weak and frail. The Doppelganger was powerful and only a glimpse of what future battles would delude to.

Subuntu was no different. Leaving the good graces of the God left Max feeling somewhat sick inside. He didn’t like saying no, he didn’t like telling others off. But he had done both to a God. A literal God of Nava. There were going to be harsh consequences, he just knew it.

Part of that sickness he felt was due in large part to how he felt about said consequences. He didn’t care. For the first time in his life on this planet, Max didn’t care about the something that could have massive effects on his life and those close to him. It made him feel guilty.

Emi felt about the same, but she had trust in her partner. She kept reassuring him that he had done the right thing. Hells, she said she would have told Subuntu off if he didn’t. That made Max smile, the image of a small little cute monster calmly yelling at a God. He was glad Emi was around, his sanity even more so.

That thought made him think of Celenia. She was tucked away in his Pocket World, sitting in wonderment about what he was doing. Max felt bad about this as well.

She wanted to be stronger, to walk beside her boyfriend, to fight alongside as well. She had been working harder than anyone else, far harder than Max and Emi at their own magic. Results were slow, however, as she was flying blind within her discipline. Oftentimes she wished someone was around she could ask for help. But those people had long since betrayed her trust.

Maybe someone in Abyss City could help the young Elf. Maybe if Max opened his Pocket World and let her explore she would find a teacher. She would be safe in the city, safe from Eden, from the informant, safe from all danger.

Cautiously Max reached out with his space magic and touched the miniature world entrance. It felt the same as it had been in Subuntu’s Domain, like it could easily be opened. That was some-

“I would not do that If I were you.” A sudden presence calmly said.

Max and Emi whipped around to the newcomer. “Tiodepth.” He said. “How did you-“

“The crushing pressure of this realm would kill them instantly. Do not open it, Max. Other realms maybe, but not here.”

“I didn’t expect you to come here personally. We were waiting for Aquis or someone.”

Emi’s father held up a Human hand. “I know. Do not worry yourselves about it. You have permission to be here. All of the Mur know who you two are.”

“Then you know why we are here.”

“Indeed. But I only appeared to stop you before you do something dumb. Which happens often, might I add.”

The image of rough waves crashing into the infinite beach came to Max’s mind. “Thanks, I guess. Who can we speak to then?”

Tiodepth slowly blinked. “Aquis will be here momentarily. He will take you to the respective spots when they open their doors.”

The Leviathan slowly looked past Max, to Emi. For a moment the two shared a silent stare, estranged father and daughter. A sad smile crested his lips and glassy eyes invaded his vision, he looked away before speaking again.

“My child, continue with learning to shift, it will be helpful before too long. You are getting quite big.”

Max and Emi shared a look before a sinister smile spouted on the Lost Lord’s face. “He’s calling you fat.”

Tiodepth sputtered. “I did not! Do not put words in my mouth, mortal child!”

The duo’s stress acted like kindling, springing a flame of laughter in their bellies. They cackled and howled with giggles, watching the city’s Lord scowl in unprecedented annoyance. The man eventually disappeared, but not before Max swore he saw a smile. A new presence filled the void.

“Lost Lord and Lady Max and Emi. Welcome. Forgive my tardiness, this is a most unusual time for visitation.” Aquis the Mur said, his beautiful wings glittering with sparkles of mana.

Max rubbed a tear from his eye. “Sorry about that. If we had known this time of day was your night, we would have come later.”

“It is no bother. What can I do for the two of you.”

“Information.” Emi said promptly.

“Specifically on the Primordials and spirit marks.” Max added.

Aquis slowly nodded, a range of emotion washing over his face. “I know two specialists to speak with. But to bide my curiosity, why do you want to know about the Beasts?”

“The Primordials? Oh, because a new host was born… or something like that. We are not really sure, the presenter of such information couldn’t tell us much.”

The winged man shuddered. “Dreadful creatures… well maybe not. Do you know what aspect this individual is?”

“You mean which of the five Beasts he is gaining power with? No.”

Aquis frowned. “Allow a warning. Primordials are vast destroyers of land or cultivators of something else entirely. It is important to find out which this host is. And quickly.”

“You say that like you have experience with them.” Max said.

The pseudo immortal man smiled ruefully. “Yes. But that is not a story I wish to share. The Keeper of the World Before will explain everything you need to know. Please, follow me.”