Chapter 527: Four options

I open my mouth to try to talk to them, to make them stop, to ask them to wait, or so I can 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 into 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 their movements, providing just the second of reprieve I need to break through.

The scout leader, whose name I don’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. Resonating as it always does, all the forces it contains straining 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 clashes with the scout leader’s sword, my sword slicing through with ease. Destroying mana, material, and connections. All his barriers, defenses, body strengthenings are for nothing as the sword cuts through his chest just over his heart.

[You have defeated Bowbound Seeker – lvl 376]

[Lvl 301 > Lvl 302]

[Lvl 302 > Lvl 303]

Wraith Dance takes me over his corpse and into the snowstorm, leaving the black crown behind to start devouring the defensive arrays of the camp to force them split their 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 mark and tracking technique they try to tie to me with Fracture. The sword remains unsheathed, its bone-and-white-molten-sand blade fracturing further as black and gray smoke swirl wildly within.

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

I regulate my heart’s signature. I try to stop any movement or 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 and catch up to me in the storm. Each would be 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 we did maintenance not long ago there are signs of it being worn, along with the damage to 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, relying on my eyes alone as I watch for any movement in the mana around me. 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, I open the Community. Ignoring the wall of messages from Group 4 I write mine.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) –

I'm fine, just don't be stupid. 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, from the others as well. After a while, they calm down, likely Tess telling them the same thing I wrote.

Noname (Hell, Group 4) –

gonna hide. If things get too dangerous I will go to Beyond.

With that, I close the community to avoid getting 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.

I give my arm another once over, realizing that it’s the most damaged I’ve seen so far by Fracture. From previous experience, I know it will probably 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 throw another line far off into the distance.

That feeling grabs on my insides again, a pulling sensation as my flesh, bones, and organs start trying to move toward a single spot to implode on themselves. It disappears with the teleport, and I shoot multiple lines and change the defensive field around 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 resounding through the area as the air rushes to fill the empty space.

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

Serabeth herself is hunting me. Someone I have no means of surprising as I did with the scout leader before.

Finally, her skill—likely higher level than anything I have—takes hold of me and sends me crashing into the ground. And then it grasps my

[Ley Line]

. Even though I’m sure it costs her a lot of mana and effort since disruption isn’t her specialty, she implodes the line of mana.

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

The world loses its colors, and my mind races as black mana powers my

[Focus]

. Dozens of thoughts rush through my mind at breakneck 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, so I try to observe it. Min-Jae could find it useful, so a part of me takes note to create feedback for him.

And through all this, one more thought holds sway over my mind.

Who is the impostor 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 end, only to be replaced by that never-ending void in a sea of stars and my handler sitting behind her old wooden table.

“Hello,” she greets.

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

Huh, I didn’t notice it. That was closer than I thought, Serabeth.

I recreate it with mana which I weave together with mana, making use of the new technique. I do the same for the missing portions of my right arm which may as well be bare bones. Then I allow myself to use Lily’s healing marks to restore the parts that weren’t damaged by Fracture, which also gives me my feet back and makes me stumble as my mana prosthesis is rapidly replaced with flesh and blood.

“What do I have to thank for meeting you here again?”

“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 I won’t be able to share much for a while afterward.”

“Do I want to hear it?”

“I think you do.”

“Tell me.”

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

“Why.”

“This is the third time you’ve abused a stay token to avoid danger. The system doesn’t look kindly on that.”

I form a chair from my mana and sit on it while facing my handler. She is very powerful, so it’s possible she could be trying to hide her intentions and manipulate me into something. Hell, her next piece of advice, or offer, whatever words she decides to use will probably be designed to prod me in a direction 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 is to use all of your stay tokens and extend your stay as long as possible. Then when you return, there will still be backlash, but not as severe, and though it will still be 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 the probability of saboteurs or hidden mimic in the camp, everything spiraled further. Then there’s the mystery of what the Champion’s trying to accomplish, 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 of Earth’s rounds of the tutorial have been synchronized, which allows you to take Beyond quests. As your handler, it’s up to me to use my influence and resources to sort through the available Beyond quests for you—obviously according to their requirements and your current rank—and that’s what I did. Leaving the tutorial for a few days and going on a Beyond quest before 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 just happens to fit into your plans somehow.”

“What plans? I’m just a handler.” Her eyes meet mine with a challenging look, daring me to respond.

“Sure,” I say, waving my hand dismissively. “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. It’s fairly peaceful at the moment. Its Absolute created a court where the four strongest families, each led by a Champion, are competing to become ‘the strongest,’ while the Absolute watches on in 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? Experimentation?”

“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 learn that gesture? 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?”

“He can create some sort of mind space to drastically increase the speed of your thoughts. 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. It would probably melt your brain without your mid-arcane passive, 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?”

“It tends to be easier than searching normally, and the system allows them to be sure of what they are getting. Maybe they don’t have a qualified person on their planet, maybe they don’t have a coalition backing them or don’t have access to the coordinates of other planets. It could also be that they can’t travel to different planets. And the system likes it too because it allows you to gain experience with the system outside of the tutorial, so it subsidizes the payment.”

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

“Often yes. It also gives you a chance to build connections. Anyone capable of accessing Beyond quests probably has the potential to become a Champion at some point 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’s the one you really want me to take?”

“Don’t worry you’re going to like it.”

Then she tells me, and I really do.

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

We don’t wait any longer, and I follow my handler without a moment to send a message to my group. Not that I could do it from Beyond anyway.

My handler waves her hand, and a set of double doors extend from the floor. They even look like normal doors; with no inscriptions or anything crazy like that.

I take a moment to look them over before taking the knob and throwing them open, revealing a long, dark hallway.

Even though this place is taking me out of the tutorial to somewhere extremely far away, there’s no wild surge of mana or even the slightest unsettling feeling. I simply step through and find myself outside the tutorial, in a different place.

Just the sheer thought that it could be so easy is incredibly scary, especially given that I now know more about the powers of the beings overseeing the tutorial.

I hear the doors close, and when I turn to look, they’re gone.