Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.11]

  A long, slightly slopped passageway was leading to the isolation room. It had three doors that were opening one at a time, like in a double decontamination chamber. Recessed shelves dotted the walls in the first part of the passage and he left all his clothes, amulets, and other belongings there, as per instructions.

  Walking to the second chamber, he immediately felt the difference in Ambient Mana density. As he waited for the last doors to open, the density rose to the levels just below his current tolerance and, a few seconds later, the doors to the room opened.

  It was small and empty. No decorations or furniture were present to cover the smooth, black walls that were forming a dome. The dim light seemed to come from the whole floor – as if it was the surface of a gigantic computer screen that was turned on but only displayed a black wallpaper.

  The air and Mana were still. Unnaturally so. In some strange way, the room resembled an anechoic chamber, just built with the Mana in mind.

  He walked to the center and sat down with crossed legs.

  A notification opened with new instructions. It was a long list that started with simple tasks – like stilling the flow of Mana in his body and Veil, powering the enchantment on the floor to empty his internal Mana reserves, and so on. But the further he read, the stranger the instructions were becoming. At some point, he was required to just react to the sensual stimuli while limiting, as much as possible, all metal-stabilization effects he possessed – Will and Willforce Morphon standing proudly at the top of possible interferences.

  He sighed after realizing it was as much a physical test, as it was a psychological one. Which meant, it would probably take much longer than two hours.

  Nonetheless, he focused and started with the first part, determined to follow the instructions as closely as he could.

  ~~~

  An uncertain time later, the System sent him in a direct message while closing the Soul connection they used for the latest test.

  Zeph sighed in relief. The exercises and tests weren’t difficult, but he was still under a lot of stress and felt mentally exhausted. The uncertainty of his situation wasn’t helping. The fact the System started to communicate directly again was a good sign, though.

  “So, what was all that about? You could have been more informative…”

  As much as that information calmed him down, he still had some questions and doubts. “Well, you can’t detect Netherlings, don’t you?” he asked skeptically.

  “Next time, take something like that Soul fragment for yourself and pay me in normal ones,” he said, massaging his temples. A slight headache developed over the course of his time in the room. “Especially because the thing is clearly dangerous.”

  “Yeah, sure…” He squinted at the message. “What’s with the ‘higher-quality’ and ‘cohesive’, though? How much do you want for the information on its state? I should be able to integrate it.”

  Zeph’s eyebrows raised at that…

  …And quickly came down into a deep frown. “Why?”

  He didn’t have anything to say to that.

  The message was oozing with disappointment and scorn. Zeph grimaced, expecting an earful.

  Zeph sat there in silence and shame, already suspecting why the System was angry with him.

  “Wait, wait, wait! How am I even to do that? And Willforce Morphon shouldn’t work when my resources aren’t full,” he exclaimed indignantly.

  The System flipped an imaginary table.

  He paused and slowly closed his mouth.

  Zeph shook his head in disbelief at his own stupidity. He closed his eyes and concentrated on redirecting the flow of resources in his body. He left his Will alone and strengthened the connection between his body and Soul. He was, indeed, already proficient in doing so. “So, I’m mentally unstable?” he asked in a small voice.

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  “Yes, yes, I understand. Recovery first… Should I take some medicaments?” he asked, sighing again. “Is that what I saw during the journey back? A hallucination?” That is good news, all things considered, he thought.

  He opened his eyes in shock, looking at the message with fear. “What do you mean?”

  This was confusing for Zeph. “You said it was a Netherbeing?”

  Zeph felt his Soul lurching when the System spelled the names, as if it was trying to panic by instinct. There was no stimulus, though. In this room, he couldn’t feel a thing from his auguring ability, not to mention Mana.

  Zeph gave up after that explanation. If he had his mental capabilities in order, maybe he would as more. But right now, all he wanted is a peace of mind.

  “I have a feeling we should talk about that with Makani… Anyway, medicaments? And, what’s wrong with my contaminations? The modulation seems to affect them in a strange way…”

  “Understood,” he nodded. After taking a better grip on his internal Willforce circulation, he slowly stood up. “Shall we visit Makani?”

  Not wasting time, he left the room and put on his clothes.

  The travel down was swift thanks to the technologically-advanced lifts in the Shrine, but it was enough for Zeph to feel worse for wear. The isolation room managed to soothe his mind and Soul somehow, but he could immediately tell that the System was right – something was wrong with his Will.

  It tried to act when he started receiving sensations from his Veil and Soul. And what it tried to do stood exactly in opposition to his desired state of peacefulness.

  As he stepped into the conversation room, though, his ‘ethereal’ senses were dampened once again. As so, he decided to leave working on his Will—if that was even possible—for later.

  “You don’t look too good,” Makani greeted him, seeping from a steaming teacup.

  “Oh, what could have given that away?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

  “Pale face and blueish lips, for one,” Makani said indifferently.

  Zeph frowned as the doors closed behind him. “I don’t have hypoxia, right?” he asked into the air.

  “First things first,” Makani said, shaking his head slightly. “Are the talks with Custos Naturae finished?”

  Makani groaned. “I’m starting to understand why Zeph is complaining about your business practices…”

  “If we survive that long, that is…”

  As they spoke, Zeph walked to Makani’s table and sat down in a soft, golden armchair. The room had many more tables and a small, self-service bar. The two of them were the only occupants at the moment, though.

  “I see that you two finally got acquainted?” Zeph asked casually.

  “Don’t even start. Why do I feel like I ended up with a worse deal than at the very beginning?” He massaged his goatee. “How were the results?”

  “Acceptable. After the Tournament, I will need to take a few days off to get my mind in order… and maybe talk with someone…”

  “…”

  Zeph sent a deadpan look at the notification. He was much too tired to even answer that suggestion.

  Makani was grinding his teeth in silence, but Zeph didn’t have this much restraint.

  “This sounds like bullshit,” he said, losing himself in the anger for a moment.

  As soon as he felt that, though, he tried to calm himself down, re-establishing the questionable balance inside his body.

  Makani hid his face in his hands, evidently giving up. But Zeph saw a small flaw in what the System said.

  “So, you are supporting their decision? You are giving your word for him?”

  “Great! Then you shouldn’t have a problem helping us if something goes wrong with his involvement, right?”

  Makani suddenly looked up, sending him a grateful nod.

  “We made a mission for you. I am working for you. Are you going to stand by your word or not?” Zeph pressed the ‘god’.

  Zeph nodded with approval. “And that is a good business. As long as you keep us alive. But… maybe you should abstain from giving me commissions sourced from other Onjis? Let’s keep it safe, for a while at least.”

  “Sure. Anyway, you were talking about some limited hospitality? I’m getting hungry…”

  Makani perked up and raised his hand. “Ummm, does that involve entree with certain Soul contamination maybe?...”

  ~~~

  The System refused them any entree, stating that the Shrine wasn’t a restaurant, but the food they got was of such high quality that they couldn’t even complain about the lack of Soul fragments. Especially Zeph, as it seemed that the meals were prepared specifically to enhance and resupply his body. A few quite rare ingredients he found in his dishes convinced him of that.

  The night passed peacefully. Zeph slept on the hard floor of the isolation room while Makani occupied the leisure one.

  All too early, their transport arrived. Zeph was awakened by the System and after a few minutes, was back on the ground floor.

  The first thing that welcomed him after the lift opened was a hardened breastplate of Aisha’s armor crushing his face.

  She was silent as she lifted him. Zeph could tell it was because she was holding her breath. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to stop her tears or an angry shout, though.

  As he felt his feet touch the floor again, she finally let the air out of her lungs, took another breath, and spoke, grabbing him by the shoulders and violently pushing him away to the full length of her arms.

  “I just had a very strong urge to crush your head, so be nice and don’t worry me this much ever again,” she said sternly. “For your own safety, of course.”

  He smiled awkwardly at that, fully aware how easy that act would be for her.

  A gigantic, armed hand fell on her shoulder just then. “Leave the guy alone. He did what he could.” The head of an almost-four-meter high metal monstrosity turned to him. “Welcome back,” Ghrughah said, slowly pushing Aisha away.

  “Is that true?” Pavail’s excited voice came from behind the giant. A moment later, she stepped around him, pushing the shyly protesting Irra before herself. “Was the letter true?”

  “T-the f-f-fa—” Irra started, stuttering. She was holding her hands together as if praying, looking at him in awe.

  “Stop it, brah!” P’pfel shouted from somewhere. “Not here, you idiot!” Zeph could swear he heard a bottle crashing on the ground after that.

  Someone clapped their hands. Loudly. “We should pack up and move on,” Kwan stated. He saw her a moment later, as Ghrughah turned around and to the side. “We are happy you are safe, and all that,” she said without emotion. “But we are now on a schedule,” she looked around at all gathered people.

  Zeph noticed Makani at the back of the small crowd, lying face-down in a small pool of blood.

  Haha… it’s good to be late, he thought with a shiver.

  But inside, he was trying to suppress slightly different emotions.

  Involuntarily, he swept the corner of his eyes.

  It’s good to be back… he thought with a small smile.