Return of the people

"You are useful to me."

Noah's voice was casual. But, it filled Silv's mind with countless questions.

'Why am I useful?' He couldn't help but ask himself. He himself knew he wasn't that useful except for being a mage and having a family background. But Noah had both superior than him.

Noah grabbed Silv's on his chest and pulled him up. Suddenly, getting raised startled him and he nearly fell again.

But due to Noah grabbing him, he didn't fall.

"Come inside."

Noah walked ahead. Silv was in no condition to reject Noah's order. Not to mention, he didn't have a single ounce of confidence in escaping from Noah.

He entered the house.

"Sit."

Silv sat on the small sofa just in front of Noah.

Noah placed the two core bags on the table. Seeing the huge amount of cores made Silv drool but he quickly calmed down.

"You are from a noble family, right?"

"Yes"

"So, you must have some connection with merchants."

"Yes"

"So, I want you to sell these cores."

"..." Silv fell silent.

'Why the fuck do you need me to sell cores? Aren't you a prince, can't you do it yourself?!' Silv badly wanted to retort. But, he remained silent.

"Of course, don't worry. I have one spell ready to test on you. I will put a seal in your brain that will interrupt you if you even tried a bit to betray me. Even telling your elders is forbidden. And, if you dare to disobey, you will get a free ticket to hell."

Silv reflexively gulped down hearing the words of Noah. He couldn't speak a single word and nodded along.

Noah placed his hand on Silv's head. Before casting the spell, he glanced at Silv and said it casually. "I haven't tried this spell, so there could be an accident. If worse you will die. If simple, you will get some brain damage that may place you in your bed for your whole life. Not that bad, right?"

Silv's body strengthen. He looked at Noah. 'What the hell you mean, not bad. This is freaking bad!' Before Silv could even resist, a binding ray of light flashed in his eyes. He closed his eyes reflexively. Noah cast a simple magic spell.

The simple magic spell duplicated and mixed into the same. There was a small magic circle and in front of the small magic was a big magic circle. A red light emitted from Noah's hand, which was his blood. His blood entered the small magic circle and changed its color into white.

The white light turned blue after passing through the big magic circle. The blue light entered Silv's head and surrounded his brain. The magic spell disintegrated into twinkling lights and followed the blue light.

The blue light had surrounded the brain. And the twinkling light wrapped itself around the blue light. Many magic patterns formed on the blue light and the contract was sealed.

Silv felt an intense headache. He grabbed his head and grunted. But, the headache went away after some time.

"Now, our contract is sealed. Hope, we would have wonderful cooperation."

'Like hell, we would!'

------

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Silv had left for the capital. He has sent a letter and written that he would probably sell all of those cores in a week and send the money next week. The money would reach after two weeks.

The lonely town is also slowly filled with people. The folks who had retreated had already returned. Since this is their house, and they have land here, they can't leave it.

As for the monster invasion, Silv reported some unknown mages had defeated it. And, like this, the event ended. Since monster invasion wasn't that rare and dangerous, not many big cities care about them.

Noah was casually flipping the pages of the books. He was reading how to advance. It had been a while since he had remained in the second tier. He didn't have total knowledge on how to advance his level.

"Meditation, circulation of mana, and intense mana flooding"

Noah muttered.

According to the book, there were some simple instructions on how to advance. Since Noah had nothing else to do, he began meditating.

He crossed his legs and took a deep breath. He straightened his back and took some rapid breaths. He circulated the mana around his body.

The circulated mana escaped his body from the skin pores. But before they could scatter in the air, they were forcefully made to cover the skin.

Mana depleted rapidly. But, it was a small amount for Noah. The mana created a dense layer and became like clothes that covered every part of his skin.

The mana melted down and was absorbed by the skin again. The mana had heated the body. And as it melted, Noah felt like his skin was burning. But his face didn't waver a bit nor his concentration was lost.

The absorbed mana again came out and covered the skin and again melted down. The skin tampered repeatedly. Not only that, the mana was gradually strengthening the skin and making the pores bigger.

The mana also expanded the mana veins as they were following the same path continuously. And Noah's skill of mana circulation improved.

His defense increased, and he felt a little bit more strength in his arms. His fats were all burnt and he had gotten some muscles.

After some time, the mana stacked over each other. Suddenly, it exploded. There was a small sound of an explosion. But, not only inside his body but outside his body, the mana was raging. The mana overflowed and covered his entire body.

They were like burning fires swallowing the human. But, this was refining Noah's body.

And Noah felt energy flooding inside his body. He opened his eyes and smiled.

"I have broken through."