Walking across the barren, sandy land, under the heat of a blazing star as it beamed down its everlasting energy, giving life just as easily as taking it, Gerald accepted the heat and covered his head to protect his face.

Clothed in airy leather trousers and a tunic, with a white gown overtop, he went, step by step, closer toward his home. The soles of his boots sank into the desert sand, requiring extra effort to continue moving forward.

To say that he didn't regret taking one of those Sand Crawlers with him would be a lie. But the beasts were long gone, spooked by the sounds of battle, they ran away as soon as their riders died.

And now he was alone, walking across the Great Desert, but that was fine. With plenty of time to think, it allowed him to remember the many unfinished businesses, as well as things he still wanted or had to do in the future. There were so many, that he doubted he even had the time to accomplish it all.

The plan was to expand his potion business massively, which would require a lot of new connections so he could get new suppliers for his endeavors. Buying ingredients on the open market would be easier, but also much more expensive.

If the demand increased rapidly, the prices of herbs would sharply increase in Auralba, especially after the already high demand for potions after the war. Perhaps going to the west would be a smart decision. He could gather God's Blood as well as all the other common plants he needed.

He intended on increasing his team's powers as quickly as possible, and filling them with potions seemed the easiest way to do so. At least their magical abilities could advance quickly. The physical increase would have to wait.

Preparing for the future was also a must. Gerald already knew what had to be done. He drained his spell scroll stores quite substantially, and they had to be replenished. Now that money was not a problem anymore, he ordered his butler to buy all possible ingredients such as cores, high-quality parchment, and beast blood so he could focus purely on production after getting back.

With a bit of luck, a mountain of treasures would be waiting for him when he gets back home. At least that's what he hoped would happen. Then he could spend a few days or weeks relaxing while training his scroll-making skill.

Then again, he had to reorganize his magic knowledge, so that might take quite a bit of his time too. He had learned so many things, many of them wrong or incomplete, that he wasn't even sure exactly which theory or information was correct.

It was best if he organized it all neatly in one single book so he could teach it to his students as efficiently as possible. The work was bound to drain a lot of his free time.

And, of course, how could he forget the most important thing of them all? The Elixir of Life and Fire!

The potion was something he had to make, no questions about it. However, despite getting his hands on the most important ingredient, it was still not enough. He was still missing a few minor ingredients, so that might also take some time.

Then there was the million-dollar question… Should he even use it?

Should he use the Elixir of Life?

It would most likely regrow his hand, however, the potion was apparently pretty harsh on the Soul. And he just had his Soul nearly torn to pieces not too long ago. It hurt like a bitch and left his magic nearly crippled.

And then there were the Nanites. The microscopic robots protected his body from poison and toxins. If his flesh suddenly burst into flames while healing his wounds, they were bound to be destroyed, no doubt about it.

They were quite fragile in that regard. Being made to work inside a human's body for their entire lifetime where the temperature didn't move more than a few degrees even in most extreme scenarios was completely different from being tossed into a glowing furnace.

Besides, he got quite used to his silver hand. It was already a part of him now, so getting rid of it for no apparent reason was not an easy decision to make.

"Decisions, decisions…" Gerald murmured. "Ah! Why can't it ever be simple?!"

It was a good thing then that he didn't yet have to make that decision. Until he got his hands on a proper Elixir of Life, every plan was just that, a plan. Thinking about it for more than a few seconds, he realized the futility of his thoughts and pushed them to the back of his mind.

"I'm going to cross that bridge when I get there…" he decided.

The last thing he still had to check out was the box Dug gave him.

On a closer look, it was made out of white ivory instead of wood. Intricate geometrical patterns covered all six sides, giving his eyes always something interesting to look at. He carefully took it and opened the lid. Inside was an expertly-cut dodecahedron crystal of varying colors. It was mostly dark blue, however inside was also a mix of brown and green, like streaks of jade through stone.

Golden Runes covered the surface as they were packed tightly like sardines in a can. Gerald tried his best to decipher their meaning, however, he quickly gave up on that thought. It didn't take him long to realize that he would need at least a week to just untangle the mess that was before him, much less figure out what exactly it did.

But he clearly felt a lot of power coming from the crystal, and Dug said it was a weapon, so he wasn't going to question it. He just stored it in the Ring in case he needed it at a later date.

The next few days went by in a flash. He mostly just walked during the morning and evening hours and rested during the day and night when it was too hot/cold to move with any urgency. Plenty of time was spent on fixing his Soul, and a rough estimate gave him a week or two until he would be back in business. He just hoped there wouldn't be any permanent damage.

The journey back across the sea went without a hitch this time and they avoided any close calls with the inhabitants of the deep. After traveling on foot for so long, he was slowly getting sick of it, and so, as he came back to the mainland, he bought a horse in the city and rode it back towards his home.

It took him a few more days to reach Auralba, or almost… The war was bad for business, and the local bandits were trembling in their holes as the monsters roamed the land. But now, as it was all over and it was safe to go back outside, they were emboldened and the attacks increased.

It just so happened that Gerald seemed like a good target riding on a horse all by himself. He was a fat morsel for the hungry thugs, so to speak.

It only took one well-aimed arrow to bring him to a standstill. The horse was shot in the neck, got spooked, tossed Gerald off, and escaped into the distance where it soon collapsed due to severe blood loss.

"Motherfucker! Who was it?!"

You probably already know what happened next. There was just one thing that was to be done in this situation where a gang of bandits surrounded a lonely traveler.

That's right, Gerald didn't kill anyone. I'm serious, he just broke a few legs, and arms to disable his attackers.

"Count yourself lucky I don't want to dirty my Soul more than necessary! If it wasn't for the fact that cleaning corruption was such a pain in the ass you'd be already dead!"

The thugs had no idea what he was talking about and just trembled at his feet, "Please mercy, sir! Mercy! Don't beat us anymore, we won't do it again!"

"Silence!" Gerald kicked the leader groveling at his feed. "First you kill my horse, and now you are dirtying my boots with your blood! Get out of here!"

"Ah, mercy, mercy!"

Gerald rolled his eyes and left the sorry excuse of a man behind. He really didn't care what they did in their free time, but killing his mount… And he was so close to the capital as well! Now he had to walk the remaining few kilometers across the muddy ground and over the rotting corpses of the battlefield.

No matter how much the people of the city cleaned it up in his absence, it was impossible to remove it all. The place stank like the inside of an Orc's asshole! Not that he would know from personal experience. He just guessed.

Then the familiar black fortifications came into view. The beautiful, tall, scorched walls of Auralba!

"Finally, I'm back!"