13 - City

I walked for a long time before the scenery started to change.

There were trees, plants, and fruits I had never seen before, and the animals also seemed to become moderately stronger.

Then, it happened.

I sensed an assailant behind me, and hurriedly dodged despite Ixtra being able to handle it for me if need be.

I didn't want to let him out so easily. He was a demon after all. He could hide his horns, and otherwise looked a young boy, 12 or 13 years old, but if someone saw him menacingly coming out of my shadow, it would probably spell trouble.

Looking at my attacker, it was a lion. But, there was something odd about it.

I could vaguely sense mana emanating from it.

It wasn't a lot, not even equal to the start of the explosive heart stage. Hell, it wasn't even close.

But still, just that small amount of mana had seemingly perfectly mixed with the beast's body and actions, making it more effective.

Perhaps because it was a wild animal, hunting for food everyday; it seemed to have a better instinct on how to use the mana than I had for a long time.

Of course, by now my mana control was decently precise. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was leagues better than the lion's current abilities. That's just talking about control, not to mention raw amount.

It should be said that my current mana pool was enough for me to blow a house to smithereens in one or two attacks.

Even more if I used a treasure weapon that enhanced my attacks.

Treasure weapons would enhance your attacks separately, in addition to the base effects it gave like stat bonuses and the like.

Not all of them, but most of them did.

If I wanted to gain that advantange with my own body, I'd have to turn my body itself into a kind of weapon.

I didn't know if that was possible, and even if it was, I didn't have the slightest clue how to go about it.

I carefully observed the lion, not killing it immediately.

It was my first opponent that could use mana. I felt like only a fool would be careless, even with the difference in strength.

A few moments later, there was a tiger corpse stored in my treasury and I walked along my path while sending part of my focus into the treasury.

I couldn't literally split my consciousness in two or anything, but a bit of multitasking was still doable. It was like I had a separate pair of eyes in the background space of the treasury. I could still see what was inside without going in.

I asked Ixtra to go in and dissect it for me.

I could bring people inside the treasury if they were unconscious or willing. And Ixtra happened to be willing.

He had been in charge of food while we were on this long journey through the wilderness, as well as washing clothes by the river, keeping guard while I slept, setting up camp when I wanted to rest...

Ok, I was a slave driver, alright? I'll admit it first, so don't call me out on it too much.

Despite all that, he never complained. When he saw that I was nice to him, and it'd be more of a hassle not to develop a relationship of any depth with someone who you would serve for the next 100 years, at least, he started opening up to me quite a lot.

I didn't know if it was just a demon thing, or what, but he was quite gloomy and dark in his thoughts. He opened up, but only to the point of being willing to talk.

He didn't share his deepest secrets with me, and he openly admitted he wouldn't entrust his life to me if he didn't have to.

He was a closed off soul.

I asked him about where he came from, and he told me a lot of interesting things. It was a place called the "demon realm"...

Well, that's a story for another day.

In the treasury, Ixtra was using his now expert butchering skills that he had picked up over the past long travel, and by the end of it, he found something unusual inside the corpse.

'Hmm?'

Ixtra took out a small blue crystal from the lion's abdomen. It was nestled inbetween the outer folds of the small intestine.

Well, it was small enough that it was more like a fragment of a crystal than full crystal.

Taking him out of the treasury, I took the crystal from him and instructed Ixtra to guard my body. I went into the treasury to ask if Tom knew what it was.

"That's a mana crystal. Albeit, a pitifully small one."

A mana crystal? So there was such a thing, huh.

"It forms in ferocious beasts, monsters, and certain other groups. It's not found in humans so you won't have one in you. It can help replenish mana, so it's like an impure mana potion, but it's mainly used for slotting into objects that need mana but when it's onconvenient to supply it yourself.

For instance, for when something needs mana supplied to it but you, the caster, have to go to sleep. Well, not that you could ever be a caster with that mediocre ability for spells you've got."

Ouch. That last line was really unnecessary, wasn't it?

Coming to back in my main body, I told Ixtra about it to ask his thoughts.

After all, Tom slowly awakened his memories as a gift from the world, for being born as a treasure spirit. Ixtra was a full blown ancient demon, and he knew a lot.

He didn't look it, but he told me he was over 300 years old.

"A mana crystal? That thing? Weird. All the mana crystals in the demon realm are red or black. Guess it must have to do with the element."

The magic's element.

Ixtra and Tom had both explained it to me separately. I thought it'd be best to hear to two differing perspectives.

A treasure spirit and a demon's perspectives on the basics of magic.

There were bound to be some unique insights from both of them.

Demons held the [Demonic] element, and demonic magic was cast using a mix of demonic mana and certain other energies, like death energy, or killing intent.

"What element is blue then?"

I asked Ixtra. He replied,

"No idea. I've never seen a mana crystal outside of Hell before. I've never even been outside of hell until you summoned me."

Hell. Another name for the demon realm. Well, I knew that before he had told me. The Goddess Eyja's scriptures spoke of Hell, although it was never described as "the demon realm", so I didn't immediately make the connection when Ixtra first told me about it.

I asked Tom, and he said it was a neutral color. Attribute-less mana.

Ah, mana attribute is the same as the mana's element. I don't know why there are 2 ways of saying it.

My mana was also blue, so I guess that meant it was also attribute-less.

I asked Ixtra to release some mana for me to see and indeed. I already knew as much, since I had seen it before, but it was indeed reddish-black.

Speaking of, Ixtra's eyes were an unbelievably saturated shade of red. It wouldn't be wrong to call it scarlet. I had an odd idea suddenly, and I felt compelled to test it. Well, that was for later.

For now, I stored the mana crystal and went on my way.

Slowly I started encountering more beasts that could use mana, before they started to taper off again, and finally, I came to the edge of the forest.

It was a cliff overlooking a plains area, without many trees. There was a river nearby, and in the center of the large basin was a decently sized city.

Not a town, but a city. With high walls and all.

Making my way down the cliff, and being a bit irresponsible as I did so, I almost tripped and fell all the way down a couple times, but Ixtra manifested a hand out of my shadow and pushed me back into the cliff wall.

I appreciated it, since it stopped me from dying, but I felt kind of helpless at my carelessness. Soon, I got the hang of climbing down and stopped needing his help.

The city was a ways away from the cliff, but it was nothing crazy. I'd get there after a few hours. Especially on this flat landscape.

***

"Halt. If you want to enter the city, you need to pay the toll."

The guard smiled eerily as he looked at me.

Damn, did I look rich?

No, it was probably just what the guard always did. There would always be people like this.

I couldn't be bothered to bargain, so I just tossed him a gold coin and walked forward, only to be stopped again.

"Hold on. Do you really think just one gold coin is enough?"

Just one gold coin? Then what were the normal people supposed to do? Cut off an arm and a leg every time?

It was clearly too much, but noone stepped forward to stop the guard.

I wondered why.

Well, guess I'd just find out.

Laying low was great and all, but you had to know when to take a step forward as well.

Balancing risk and caution to maximize reward and minimize punishment. That was the game of life. And anyhow, it didn't look like I'd be getting out of this easily no matter what I did.

"Just one gold coin? I think that more than the monthly income of most families though? How could the 'toll' possibly be more than this?"

The guard looked annoyed that someone with a backbone had appeared, but that immediately disappeared as a broad smile plastered itself onto his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose you're right. I must've mistook your gold coin for something else. My sincerest apologies. Here, how about this? To make it up to you, I'll guide you into the city. Please, come this way."

Well, that wasn't suspicious at all, eh?

Still, I said yes. I was curious what he'd do.

I wasn't afraid of him. If people in this city could use mana at a level where a mere corrupt guard could beat me, than it would have been a much larger and more flourishing city.

Of course, it was still decently large.

He took me into a side room in the tower of the wall. Said he wanted to show me something to prove he was sorry.

Bullshit.

It was pretty clear what was happening by now, but I didn't run off quite just yet. I didn't have to after all.

I was the predator here, even if my prey didn't know it.

Truth is, although I doubted their strength, there was something that caught my eye about this guy.

I hadn't noticed it at first, but there was a very minute mana fluctuation coming from him.

This implied a lot of things at once, but for now, I just decided to play along with him.

When we were finally alone, he turned around and the smile on his face disappeared like it had never been there.

'Come on, man, at least keep up the act until the very end. This is, like, unprofessional of you as a villain.'

Suddenly, as soon as I had that thought, a brilliant smile lit up my face as another one appeared to replace it.

'Since you, my dear little brother guard, don't know how to roleplay the villain properly...let me give you a proper demonstration.'

Yes, thus was going to be just a friendly little demonstration. Perfect.

Well, if I got into trouble with the stronger guards over this, it'd be bad, but I was kinda feeling myself in that moment so I ignored the very clearly present risk.

The guard looked confused.

"Hey, are you really that dumb or what? Why are still smiling? And why are you walking over here, it's killing my vibe. Stop it."

"Oh no no no. You can't say all that. Not when I'm being so kind and helping you achieve your full potential with this awesome demonstration."

The guard slowly turned solemn as he sensed the wisps of mana I purposefully let leak out. Then, right as he was about to say something else, I flicked my wrist and a dagger flew out and hit him in the leg.

It was from the treasury, but the flick made it look like it was in my sleeve.

This dagger had a special effect. It would cause someone hit by it to become extremely fatigued and almost unable to move.

I walked up to him and took the dagger out as he started bleeding.

"You'll bleed out here if I leave. Noone will come in in time since they all think you're having a party with me in here. Well, they're not wrong, but it's just the opposite of how they probably think it's going."

I knelt down and grabbed the guard's head by his hair, pulling his face to look at mine.

Eyes interlocked, he could sense that I would really leave him here to die.

He croaked out, moving his mouth with what little strength he could muster,

"O-ok. I'll do whatever you want. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? I'm the one that indiscriminately attacked you. You're the victim here. I'm the villain."

"Yes, yes, you're the villain. I-I agree."

That got a chuckle out of me.

"Tell me, why didn't anyone stand up to you back there?"

"Th-they wouldn't dare. Not to someone with mana awakened like me. The city doesn't care what happens to normal people if it's someone with mana doing the bullying."

"..."

Well, that made sense, but I couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted by it nonetheless.

Were people not allowed to live safe lives if they had no talent for mana breathing?

This...

There were a lot more things I would have to come to understand about this city, and this world on the other side of the mountain range, but for now, I treated the guard's injuries and knocked him out, putting him in the treasury.

He and I would have a nice, long conversation later.