Revelations and Temptations.

After the death of the swordsman, I made sure he was dead by casting a barrage of Charged Icicle Shots. The razer sharp icicles pierced his skin and embedded itself in his body.

'Phew... He really is dead...', I sighed in relief.

I had learnt a very important lesson from this fight - The swordsmen in this world are very strong. Their strength lies in their high HP and their 'Ability' to imbue their sword with some kind of Blue Ethereal Energy.

'Tsk! I should have asked the guide about this... I can't believe I forgot about swordsmen!', I was angry at myself.

"Query! How are the Swordsmen in the world of Arcadia?"

[Query Received!]

[Required FP: 150]

[Answer to query: There are 6 levels of swordsmen in the world of Arcadia - "Beginner", "Lesser Sword Expert", "Sword Expert", "High Sword Expert", "Sword Master", "Sword Grandmaster". The ranks are determined by their strength, technique, experience, and most importantly, their ability to control 'Aura'. 'Aura' is the name of the energy swordsmen use to strengthen their bodies, and make their weapons supernaturally strong. From the High Sword Master rank, swordsmen can even lengthen their Aura and hit things out of their reach, making the impossible possible, hitting far targets with a sword. 'Aura' is nothing but Mana. It is the name of the Heavily Condensed, Liquified state of Mana. Aura is stored in the Dantean of the swordsman, in form of a core. The denser the core, the lighter the color and the stronger the swordsman. An Aura user can never be a Mage or a Sorcerer, as their bodies can't handle both states of Mana at the same time.]

"Wow... that's a lot of Information...", "Query! How can I defend Myself from Aura-wielding swordsmen?"

[Query Received!]

[Required FP: 150]

[Answer to Query: Aura deals Physical Damage, and All types of physical damage can be blocked using Ice magic, Earth magic, Wind magic and Gravity Magic. The most efficient one for you would be Gravity magic, as your casting speed for gravity magic is far higher than any other mage or sorcerer in the world of Arcadia. To learn a defensive spell under Gravity Magic, learn "Force Shield."]

"Learn Spell: Force Shield.".

I understood what Force Shield does. It creates a barrier of mana with the properties of Gravity in front of me, where I'm casting the spell. The mana creates Field lines, just like the Magnetic field lines on Earth. These field lines deflects any attack it can deflect out of the way. The field lines get weaker the more hits they take, before finally dissipating.

I'm saying they are Field Lines, just like the ones Earth has, but the ones on Earth are actually Magnetic Field Lines, whereas the field lines created by the spell 'Force Shield' is not at all magnetic. They are basically 'Paths', resembling Magnetic Field Lines, in which Mana with the 'Gravity' property flows through. The 'Gravity' property basically gives the Mana mass (Mana is massless in its natural form). This actually breaks the Law of Conservation of mass, which states that mass can't be created nor destroyed. I didn't pay it much attention, since this 'Mana' is already so mysterious.

I also learned some new things about Mana. It's a kind of Demi-Matter. Basically, It's a type of virtual particle, that can mimic many different properties of real matter. A mage or a sorcerer understands this and creates 'spells', which are basically circuits that can tap into Mana and force it to mimic different properties of real matter. For example: A fire spell forces the mana to change it's property to 'Highly Combustible'; An ice spell forces the mana to change it's property to 'Kinetic Energy Absorber.'; An electric spell forces the mana to change it's property to 'Very Good Conductor.', so on and so fourth.

"Lots of new intel... I can't wait till I reach the 3rd circle!", I could feel excitement in me. A feeling I thought I had forgotten.

After I had reorganized my thoughts, and replenished my Mana, I proceeded to go into the 'Storage' chamber.

What I saw, I had already expected. Women. Most of them were under the age of 30, some were even younger than 20. All of them were completely naked, and had some kind of thick metal collar around their necks, which were tied with chains, to some bars in the ground.

"Holy shit... this stuff actually exists... Disgusting.", those were the inly words that left my mouth.

Also, I was in no way 'Aroused'. I might have some sadistic fetishes, but I didn't have any fetishes about doing the deed in front of someone.

I was tempted though, I'm gonna be completely honest. I spent my whole life bedridden. the only tits and pussy I have seen are through computer screens. Just thinking about those days depresses me. It's not like I had any choice in the matter.

Honestly, I definitely would've partaken in some sexual activities there, if I felt safe. I thought it would be very bad if reinforcements came in, so I decided to let my libido rest.

I started to quickly pace around the chamber, ignoring all of the women. I was only looking for money to loot.

While looking around though, I saw something that completely threw me off-guard.

An elf.

I couldn't see her face, but she had light blonde hair, and was slightly injured in the legs and wrists. It looked like she wanted to end her own life before... Understandable, If you knew what was gonna happen to you, death might seem like a better option.

'Thats odd... why is there an elf inside this slave storage unit? I thought elves were a strong race, with extremely high proficiency with the bow and arrow, and have very high agility... Also, don't they live much longer than humans? She may not look like it, but I bet she's older than me by a long shot.', as I was thinking about many things, I got startled when the elf suddenly moved one of her fingers.

I immediately casted an overcharged force shield, and an overcharged atmospheric barrier, which took me around a minute. I didn't want to take any chances. From what I knew at the time, Elves were strong, and one of them could easily kill me, if I hadn't put my guard up, at least.

She slowly started to move her hands. And then I could hear something hitting the floor. They were tears. She was crying profusely. I didn't care about any of her crying, and started to overcharge an Electrocute spell. I started to panic.

Hearing my spell's charge, she slowly raised her head. She looked at me for a few seconds, and suddenly her crying stopped.

"Xavier... is... that you...?", she said with a broken and trembling voice.

My heart fell into the deepest depths of fear. Hearing my name from a stranger, especially an elf, made my mind go wild.

'what..? she knows my name? SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!! NOOOOO!!! WHAT ELSE DOES SHE KNOW?! SHOULD I KILL HER RIGHT HERE AND NOW?!?! no, I need more info from her.... But I'm so scared! I don't wanna die! not yet! I just started living!!!', My mind resonated with panic thoughts.

"Xavier... its me... Anna... your friend...", she had a distorted smile on her face. It looked like a smile out of desperation. Desperately believing that I knew who she was. She looked absolutely terrifying to me. She was clearly out of her mind, and was extremely unstable at the moment, making me even more panicked. I almost discharged the electrocute spell, when I suddenly remembered something.