“Wh-... what do I do? Arthur… Arthur!”

Chris looked around but saw no signs of Arthur or his other companions. He inwardly cursed and shifted back his attention to the dog-sized beasts slowly approaching him.

They crawled on the sand like lizards, their bodies made of hard scales and their tail occasionally bursts of fire. These were Salamanders.

A common type of enemy found in hot climates. They were a threat to the average human, but Chris was able to kill seven of them using his spells.

However, for this fight, Arthur had forbidden him from relying on his Spatial Magic.

Chris had to be put in temporary danger and resort to other types of Magic. He had relatively high stats and a sufficient Mana Reservoir to cast powerful spells, but his lacking theoretical knowledge greatly limited him.

“Shit!”

Chris raised his hands and concentrated for a second before shooting half-visible projectiles made of condensed Mana.

[Mana Bolts] was an elementary magical spell, one which every aspiring mage would learn in the beginning.

When the Mana Bolts hit the Salamanders, it merely pushed them back and barely cracked their scales.

Chris’ attack only made them angry as they let out unpleasant sounds before opening their mouths, ready to spit fire.

“Argh… fuck this!”

[Space Fracture]

There was a soft shattering sound as the air around the Salamanders twisted, forming a minuscule tear that ripped through their bodies.

The closest targets were brutally dismembered and the farthest ones suffered heavy injuries,which made them hastily flee.

“You have [Magic Amplification] and [Mana Control]. You need only understand the concept of converting Mana into a specific type of energy. You can’t always rely on the skills given to you by the System.”

When the Salamanders were dead, Arthur appeared and started his lecture, which only made Chris glare at him.

“Easy for you to say. I wish I could get skills just by possessing corpses.”

“Yes, it is for me. I don’t like constantly jumping from one body to the other, however. I kind of miss my old body.”

Chris grumped at his friend’s brooding and even clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“I’m Lv29 now. Those Salamanders were Lv37.”

“They were monsters. Against an experienced fighter, you’d stance no chance unless you take them by surprise and use [Spatial Fracture] to hurt them. Hmm… at least try to cast it successively or multiple ones simultaneously.”

“Yeah yeah… it makes me a bit happy that I’m no longer the weakest one in the group.”

“In terms of usefulness, I’d say Isabella is a step ahead of you. She’s determined to learn how to fight from Evelyn, and her Immortality skills makes her practically unkillable. I want to see how much her body could recover from… alas, she can feel pain and to subject her to such tests would be cruel.”

“Damn right it’s cruel. I can see that the girl has gone through a lot.”

…

South of Raml Asfr

The Rocky Mountains were in sight and the group was getting closer to the spot marked on the map.

They only knew that the Devil Doctor’s hideout was underground, but they’ve yet to find any cave or similar entrance that led below the sands.

Their only company was the sandy hills, the blazing sun, and the incessant attacks of monsters.

Arthur took care of most of the danger. Not only were they a source of Experience and stats, but some of them were useful to have in such a biome.

The Ground Worm, especially, was a 3 meter-long monstrosity that was able to dig through the sands and move freely underground. Unfortunately, it didn’t have any eyes, instead relying on sound to move and detect nearby prey.

Still, Arthur would use it every night to investigate and search for an entrance of somesort. Of course, he did it out of Charles’ sight.

The apothecary was still under the impression that Arthur was a mage, just like Chris, and he didn’t see anything peculiar that made him think otherwise.

When Arthur and Chris returned to their temporary camp, which was just a small spot behind a cluster of boulders, they found Evclyn facing a sweating and exhausted Isabella.

“Try again. Keep your back straight and put all your strength in each swing. Stop only when I tell you to stop.”

“...”

“Faster!”

The maid nodded to Arthur before continuing to shout at Isabella.

Meanwhile, Charles Harper was leaning against the boulder and wiping his face with a wet handkerchief.

The poor youth had really bad stamina, so much so that he wasn’t able to walk for more than two hours before needing a rest.

Even then, he didn’t always ask them to stop for him. He resorted to some concoctions he brewed to wash away some of the fatigue and keep walking.

Chris tried them out of curiosity only to curse at their bitterness. He did, however, say that he felt rejuvenated, so the apothecary’s potions weren’t useless.

“We should be able to reach the mountains in a couple of days, give or take. We should be well-rested and ready for whatever is waiting for us there.”

Arthur’s declaration was met with a meek nod from Charles, a shrug from Chris, and silence from Evelyn and Isabella.

It had been a little over a week since they left Raml Asfr, and although the journey wasn’t particularly dangerous, it was tiring.

By now, all of them wanted to find the Devil Doctor and be finished with this search.

Raml Asfr

The Sultan’s Palace

“Escort him here.”

Mehmed sat in his spacious dining room, but he didn’t touch any of the lavish dishes on the long table.

In fact, he looked a bit anxious as he kept fiddling with the bracelets made of beads around his right wrist.

There was still no word from the Devil Doctor, but the Sultan knew that the old man had actually succeeded in creating what he wanted. The issue was: he was refusing to part with it, claiming that such a thing wasn’t meant to be used.

Mehmed sent more than half of his Hashashin to the Devil Doctor’s hideout, instructing them to wait for ‘them’ to appear and cause chaos.

Then, as planned, they would interfere at the last second and ‘save’ the Devil Doctor.

‘I doubt he’ll actually need saving, but he cares more about his precious laboratory than his life, so, with a little bit of help, he’ll finally relent and give ‘it’ to me.’

When the unexpected guest entered the dining room, accompanied by a tall female knight in armor, Mehmed snapped out of it and stood up.

“Viscount Kirn, it is a pleasure to have you. If I knew you’d be coming, I would have prepared a proper welcome.”

One of the Ten Seats of the Militant Syndicate, Kirn Sparrow, elegantly bowed toward the Sultan before taking a seat.

“Pardon my arrival at such a short notice, Padishah. Time is of the essence and I thought it better to come meet you in person.”

“Very well. You can stay as long as you want.”

‘I can’t read through this snake.’ Thought Mehmed as he scrutinized the blindfolded Viscount.

The Sultan was amongst the handful of people that knew Kirn Sparrow’s identity, and he only learnt that through sheer coincidence.

Kirn was an Arman, a real Arman. The Seat of Nobility, Olivia, was also of Arman descent, but she didn’t hide that fact, nor did she care about her ancestry or the tragic downfall of the Arman Empire.

“Shall we forget the pleasantries, Padishah?”

Mehmed softly smiled and nodded his head. More than ten Hashashin were spread around the room, all ready to strike in case something happened.

Kirn’s knight was like an immovable fortress, standing behind him and continuously glancing at the invisible assassins.

“I assure you that there are no Imperial spies in my abode, Viscount. You can talk freely.”

“I certainly will. I also will not coat my words with vagueness.” The Viscount picked up a wine glass and took a small sip before continuing,

“Your recent, shall we say, activity, has not escaped my ears, Padishah. Nor am I going to feign ignorance about your desire to turn this Desert into an independent nation. A kingdom. I will not deny that there are an outrageous amount of resources beneath the sand… or argue against Raml Asfr’s ability to be self-sufficient even without the support of its two neighbours. You and I know that the only thing you lack is an army.”

Kirn cleared his throat before a wide smile plastered itself on his face, “You are forbidden from having a proper, real army. Instead, the Desert is offered what little protection the Empire and the Militant Syndicate are willing to spare. However, having their armies waltz in as if they own place is surely something you dislike, yes? Put bluntly, Padishah, I wholeheartedly want you to succeed… more than that, I want to help you succeed.”

“A strange thing to hear from one of the Ten Seats.” Responded Mehmed, looking a bit amused, but not at all surprised.

Kirn’s smile vanished as he raised his hand and removed the blindfold.

What laid behind was a pair of golden eyes that let out an ever-so-slight distinct glow. They were mesmerising, unique, and the sole characteristic that distinguished the Armans from normal humans.

“Were you to try and, let’s say, ‘scare’ them, it wouldn’t last in the long run. At first, I can make it so that you do not have to worry about the Militant Syndicate. What I’m proposing, Padishah, is an alliance. I will help you turn the Desert into a kingdom, and you will help me get someone.”

“...”

“Unleash your deadly weapon, Padishah, but do it at a perfect time.”

Kirn paused for a second and took a deep, excited breath, “The Militant Syndicate will fall and the Imperials will be more focused on something else… not you. You will have my support, now and in the future.”