Chapter 527 - Four options

I open my mouth to try to talk to them, to make them stop, to wait, or to explain, but a single glance at the lumorans’ faces tells me enough. And I know the rules.

There is no talking the moment someone is identified as a mimic.

The attacks get pulled and pulled to the crown, none reaching me at all, so with eerie efficiency they switch—melee attackers rushing toward me.

Some of that absorbed mana channels through me, powering [Redistribution] and halting the movement of them, just the second I need to break through.

The scout leader, whose name I didn’t even remember, lets his hold slip. He blocks my way out of the camp, switching from his bow to two daggers, mana seeping from his crystalline features. And he attacks to kill.

Fracture devours the mana I hold in my body. It resonates as it always does, all the forces it contains about to break free. [Eclipse] holds it down, but it’s more difficult than ever before.

The sword has sensed the Mana Crown, and it either doesn’t like it or likes it too much.

Fracture and the scout leader’s weapons clash, my sword slashing through with ease. Destroying mana, material, and connection. All his barriers, defenses, body strengthenings are for nothing as the sword cuts through his chest where the heart is.

[You have defeated Bowbound Seeker – lvl 376]

[Lvl 301 > Lvl 302]

[Lvl 302 > Lvl 303]

Wraith Dance takes me over his corpse into the snowstorm, leaving the black crown behind that starts devouring the defensive arrays of the camp to force them split the forces and hopefully slow down Serabeth.

Over and over again, I channel kinetic energy and mana through my body to take myself as far as I can.

I cut through every tracking attempt or mark they try to tie to me with Fracture. The sword remains unsheathed, its bone-and-molten-white-sand blade fracturing further as black and gray smoke swirl wildly within.

My arm holding it barely has barely any flesh on it, and there are holes eaten into the bone. The healing marks I activate do hardly anything to it, and my mana is unable to hold it back. But left with no other choice, I run, I fly, I use the sword against attempts to slow me down.

I regulate my heart signature. I stop any movement vibrations from passing beyond my body. I regulate my mana and keep it inside.

Hour after hour, I’m tracked by lumorans and mercenaries trying to locate me in the storm and catch up. Each is capable of facing me alone, and multiple attacking at once would easily be enough to kill me.

When barely anything of my arm remains, I put Fracture in its scabbard which also cracks immediately. Even though maintenance done not that long ago there are signs of it being worn show off, as well as the damage on the sword’s handle.

I slide against a tree and make snow fall from it, hiding me entirely. More than before, I calm my mana and beating heart, and only with my eyes I watch the movement of mana. Even though the ever-present movement of the snow and wind is there, I try to use my kinetic senses as well.

As I do so, I open the Community. Ignoring the wall of messages from Group 4 I write mine.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) – I'm fine, and don't be dumb. Just keep checking the number of people in Beyond before you declare me dead.

Some of the messages I see are a bit… emotional. Especially from Lily and, surprisingly, even from some others. After a while, they calm down, likely Tess telling them the same thing I wrote.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) – gonna hide. If it becomes dangerous I will go to Beyond.

With that, I close the community to not get distracted by the messages and check my tokens.

Tokens:

Beyond 3 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

All good.

Another check I do is to my arm, which is the most damaged I’ve seen so far by Fracture. From previous experience, I know it will likely take a week or three for it to fully regenerate, even with Lily’s healing.

Still better than dying. Much better.

Before I continue that train of thought, I teleport myself through the [Ley Line] I set before. The area where I was implodes, and immediately I feel myself pulled to the ground. My insides twist, and before I myself implode, I teleport again and shoot another line far in front of me.

That feeling grabs on my insides again, a feeling of pull as my flesh, bones, and organs start being sucked toward a single spot to implode on themselves. It disappears with the teleport, and I shoot multiple lines and change the defensive field against me, strengthening it with my [Mana Domain] and [Eclipse]. This time, that feeling slides by me, the area behind me imploding into itself, a loud pop released as the air rushes to fill the empty space.

Again and again, dozens of these attacks follow me, also attempting to slow down my movement or change the gravity affecting me so I fall in a different direction.

Serabeth herself hunts me. Someone who I have no way to surprise as I did the scout leader from before.

Finally, her skill—likely higher level than anything I have—takes a grab of me, and I crash into the ground. It then grasps my [Ley Line], and even though I’m sure it cost her either a lot of mana or effort, she implodes the line of mana.

And she is a mile away. A distance that won’t take more than a moment for her to pass, as I observe her mana signature and sense the increasing strength of her hold on me and more attempts to implode my entire body.

The world loses its colors, and my thought speed increases as black mana powers my [Focus]. Dozens of thoughts go through my mind at incredible speed.

Should I fight her? Do I have a chance? Is it worth it even if I win? There are likely multiple people behind her.

The way she uses her skill is interesting, and I try to observe it. Min-Jae could find it useful, so a part of me uses it to create feedback for him.

And one more.

Who is the impostor in the camp who messed up the Signature Isolation Framework?

“Use Beyond 1 day stay token.”

With that, the area around me changes. The bone-chilling cold is gone, the attempts to squash me stopped, all replaced by that never-ending space with a dark sky full of stars and my handler sitting behind her old wooden table.

“Hello,” she greets.

“Hello,” I answer back, and with a groan push myself back on my feet, only to find one of them missing.

Huh, I didn’t notice it. Well played, Serabeth.

I recreate it with mana I weave together with the Mana Waving technique I work with lately. I do the same for missing parts of my right arm that is nearly only bones. Then I allow myself to use Lily’s healing marks to restore the parts that are not damaged by Fracture, which also gives me my feet back and makes me stumble as my mana prosthesis I just made gets replaced.

“What do I thank for meeting you here again? I thought summons to you when entering Beyond are rare, and often it is only when leaving Beyond.”

“That’s true,” she confirms, but unlike before she doesn’t seem that playful. “There is information I want to give you, and I think I can because of some guy… doing stuff. But it will cost me a bit, and for a while, I won’t be able to share that much.”

“Do I want to hear it?”

“I think you do.”

“Tell me.”

“If you return to the 7th Floor after one day, it’s very likely you or some other member of your group will die.”

“Why.”

“This is the third time you abuse the mechanic of stay tokens to avoid danger. The system doesn’t look at this kind of thing kindly.”

I form a chair of mana and sit on it while facing my handler. She is very powerful, so it’s possible she could try to hide her intentions and manipulate me into something. Hell, her next advice, offer, or words will likely try to poke me in the way she wants. But at the same time, I don’t think she is lying.

“What are my options.”

“There are two of them. The first one is to use all of your stay tokens and extend your stay here for as long as possible. Then when you return, there will be backlash, but not as severe, and even though dangerous, you should be able to survive it.”

I let my mind race as I imagine all the consequences of that. I should be fine, but Group 4 will have to take care of themselves for a while. After I was wrongly identified as a mimic, with a likely saboteur or hidden mimic in the camp, everything spiraled further. There’s the mystery of what the Champion wants there, what the Ardenyx pilot obtained, Exoria, Praxion, and more.

It feels annoying to leave such an enticing mystery behind.

“The second option?” I ask.

“I told you about it before, but all 10 of Earth’s rounds of the tutorial are now synchronized, which allows you to take a Beyond quest. As your handler, it’s up to me to use my influence and resources to pick from the available Beyond quests for you—obviously according to requirements and your current rank—and that’s what I did. Leaving the tutorial for a few days and going on a Beyond quest, then returning to the 7th Floor will work even better than using stay tokens to extend your duration.”

“You really want me to pick the second option, right?”

Crossing her arms on her chest, she leans back in her chair, that smile of hers crawling on her lips. “Please, don’t insult my intelligence. We both know which option interests you more.”

“And that option somewhat fits into your plans.”

“What plans? I’m just a handler.” Her eyes meet mine in a challenging expression, asking me to say something.

“Sure,” I just wave my hand. “So what are the options?”

She stops leaning and picks four papers off the table and taps on the first one. “Planet of Cairnthal went through the pairing a hundred years ago. Fairly peaceful currently. Its Absolute created a court where the four strongest families, each led by a Champion, fight to become ‘the strongest,’ all while the Absolute watches with amusement. This info is extra from me. So the quest comes from a powerful Champion who is looking for an attendee with a high-grade mana-based trait.”

“Huh, so my eyes or physique? What do they want? Experimenting?”

“Nope.” My handler shakes her head and lifts her hands. The left one uses the thumb and pointing finger to create a circle and the finger of the other one moves to…

“Okay, okay, got it. Where the hell did you pick that gesture from? And no,” I refuse.

She laughs. “Are you sure? The pay is really…”

“No,” I repeat.

With the same big smile, she continues. “The second one is a Champion looking for a teacher for his son who awakened kinetic energy.”

“Wouldn’t a few days be too short for it?”

“Yup. He can create some sort of mind space to drastically increase your thought speed. This gives the illusion of more time passing. It’s probably only three to ten times faster, but with enough preparation, he can maintain it for a long time. Without your mid-arcane passive, it would probably melt your brain, but you should be able to keep up.”

“It’s the best one so far. Why are they picking attendees instead of searching for people from their planets?”

“Often it is easier than searching for the right people, and the system allows them to be sure of what they are getting. Maybe they don’t have such a person on their planet, maybe they are not in a coalition, or don’t have coordinates of other planets. It could be they can’t travel to different planets too. The system also likes it because it allows you to gain experience with the system outside of the tutorial, so it also takes care of some part of the payment.”

“Oh. Got it. So it’s cheaper for them.”

“Often yes. It also allows for building connections. Everyone capable of going to Beyond quests is often someone capable of becoming a Champion in the future.”

“I see. The third?”

"The third one is looking for someone with a highly mana-conductive body for experimentation. It could help you learn more about body modification, but the risk of death is... well, significant. The pay’s terrible, but I doubt you’d care about that anyway."

With a sigh, I stand up and let my chair disappear. “So what is the last one you wanted me to take the entire time?”

“You will like it.”

She then tells me, and I really do.

Trusting my instincts, I decide to go with the fourth option.

We don’t wait anymore to send me to Beyond, and instead, I follow my handler, not even being able to send a message to my group. She waves her hand, a door extending from the floor. They look like a normal door; there are no inscriptions or anything crazy to them.

After observing them for a while I take the knob and open them up, the view opening up into a long, dark hallway.

Even though this place is out of the tutorial, there is no crazy burst of mana or eerie feeling. I just step through and am out of the tutorial, in a different place.

Just the sheer fact of it being so easy is incredibly scary, especially as I know more about the powers of beings in the tutorial.

I hear the door closing and when I turn around, they are gone.

***

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