Chương 12

" another person in the cavern said." I got it," the first man responded. He frowned at the rat, standing close enough for me to identify features through the rat's poor vision. He was an Asterran man with sharp features, made less attractive by an arrogant scowl. His hair was roughed up, and he wore a black t-shirt, no full-coverage masks, and not a mage officer's outfit." Call boss,"he said quietly but with urgency." We've been found. He can reverse the tracker."" Shouldn't we run?"

the second man asked." This isn't an attack; it's a tracker. Just go get him!" The second man hurried off, deeper into the caverns. The first man kept frowning at the rat. He seemed to be casting some sort of paralysis spell, as the rat had suddenly stopped moving again. Spy Perspective didn't offer a sense of touch, and I couldn't sense mana. He didn't seem to know I was watching, guessing from the fact that the rat hadn't been blasted down yet.

Less than thirty seconds later, the vivid, rustling footsteps returned, accompanied by a person who I could only identify as the tallest person I had ever seen, though that came partly from the skewed perspective of the rat's eyes." A tracker rat, huh.

"The deep voice sounded suspicious, yet oddly familiar. A short silence later, he added," Put on your masks, boys." The man knelt down in front of the rat, close enough that the blue glow of its eyes lit the black fabric of his full-coverage mask. He held out his palm, mana calmly materializing within. He raised his hand. And slammed his fingers down on the rat's face. I flinched as a third presence invaded the link between me and the rat.

I canceled the spell immediately, cutting my flow of mana, but it was too late. The mana of the unfamiliar presence followed, reversing the link back to me. It didn't have much distance to cross; it all happened in less than five seconds. A new link formed as something invaded my mental presence. A cloud-like feeling above my head. This wasn't an omnipotent, absolutely overpowering presence. Something was just there, like the string to a kite I was involuntarily holding.

But even though this was weaker, much weaker, the feeling was all too familiar. The man had traced a spell back to me and formed a link to mine in the process. The marvel of the revelation broke when a crushing attack landed on my mental barrier. I flinched. I felt no physical pain, but the sight of a crack on my barrier sent adrenaline rushing in. Another attack of similar power slammed down immediately after. It felt like my mana core was pounded with a hammer, and I was saved only by a helmet.

With each blow, more cracks formed. The link allowed the man to attack me from a distance, it seemed. Through gritted teeth, I pushed mana into my Mind Protection spell. That was an active spell, meaning its pattern wasn't spent at once to cast a spell. It instead stayed continuously in my core. By pushing more mana into it, the cracks were slowly repaired. That hardly helped when the next blow hit. With each attack, my barrier took damage faster than I could strengthen it. This was bad.

The moment it shattered, my opponent could access my core and mind, no doubt with spells I didn't even know existed. There was no time for a plan; I needed to act, now. I stopped pouring mana into my insufficient Mind Protection spell, and instead began drawing another one. My spell needed to be upgraded right now. In theory, I knew how it could be done. I'd invented my spell, and I knew which pattern determined the thickness of my spell.

I cursed myself for never properly testing this, but I looped the thickness pattern around itself. With the pattern ready, I waited for the hammer to hit one more time, and just when my old barrier shattered, I pushed mana into the new one. Loose cloud-like mana of a mental attack pushed against my head, but the new barrier appeared just in time to block the invasion attempt. The patterns filled entirely with mana, and in a few seconds, the thicker barrier was fully strengthened.

The pounding continued immediately after with no breaks to think of. It probably wouldn't stop. How can I attack back? I probably needed a target the other end of the link pattern of sorts, but I didn't have that. I wondered if I should run, to physically get as far as possible, but I deemed that risky. I would be tracked wherever I went, and I couldn't conceal my core in case I ran into officers. A spell probably existed to sever the link between us, but I didn't know it. An idea came.

Instead of running away, I ran forward, taking the path the rat had taken. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It didn't take long. In fifteen seconds, I found the same hole. There was hardly any need for a link anymore. I felt the man's mana core inside, and I could have probably attacked back from here. Instead, I shouted into the hole.

"Stop! I'm an ally!" The attacks continued. I gritted my teeth.

"It's me, Vora!" That worked. The pounding stopped on the spot. The link remained as seconds passed in silence.

"Vora?" he called back. The voice was dim and muffled through the crawl space. Yet, Vora clearly recognized it. I knew this person. Very clearly, Vora remembered something this person had said to him." Wear this underneath, Vora. A jogging suit. When you're done with the job, just toss your cloak somewhere and fucking run back home. Nobody will know a thing." The hole in the wall dissipated into mana, as if it had never been there. The rats fell down, scurrying off, and a hole was revealed.

On the other side was tall a man with an ascended level two crimson core. Clearly, the same person who had attacked Vaela. He lowered his head under the hole and entered the sewers.

Standing straight, his masked head was a head taller than me. He stared at me. He pulled his mask off, and the shocked face of a person Vora knew very well was revealed.

"Since when," Tonir asked, "have you had a mana core, Vora?" Oh my god, I thought. This was Vora's older brother. The one who moved out a few years ago. Tonir, the mastermind who had planned the attack on House Ellaris, and second in command of the Survivors of Ellaris.

"Um, ever since we got separated," I said, somehow managing to form words past the shock.

"I stole one from the officers." Vora knew Tonir as the biggest role model in his life. Anything Vora lacked, Tonir had. A tall, muscular body and a handsome face that could make any hairstyle look good, currently with a middle-parted look, very similar to Korean models. He had the charisma to pull every girl in school toward him, and he somehow had perfect grades despite partying far more often than studying. A shocked snort came out of his mouth. That evolved to a laugh.

"Are you kidding me? So you really did kill those guys? Dear Lord, Vora." He approached me and patted me in the back, though his hand hit my physical mana barrier. I took that off, trusting I was safe now.

"I'm so sorry for attacking. Holy shit."

"Sorry, I should have left you a letter to meet," I said. Memories came to me now, of course. Vora had never actually been underground. He worked with the gang only through Tonir, and all meetings happened in his apartment.

"But now that I have magic, I figured I might as well come down." That drew a dumbfounded laugh out of Tonir.

"This is way more dangerous than you'd think. You'll get in trouble if an officer as much as spots you." He gave me an odd look.

"Speaking of that, how has dad not sensed your core?" Shit, do I need to lie? I thought of my options. In Tonir's perspective, I was a completely new mage that just obtained a mana core a few days ago. It was simply impossible for a mage to be as skilled I was three days in. Both options had their pros and cons. Me acting weak would make more sense to Tonir—though that path was already made harder from the fact that I just defended against his mental attacks.

Admitting the extent of my skills would lead to Tonir taking me more seriously, but I'd need to deal with the problem of explaining how Vora was this advanced already. I activated Core Concealment, demonstrating my trick.

"I managed to avoid officers with this. It's not perfect, but he hasn't seen through it." He stared at me in concern.

"Holy shit. What even is that spell? How do you know that?" Suspicion began to show on his features.

"And I apologize again for attacking you, but how did you survive that in the first place? I wasn't going easy." Now, then. The next problem. Should I reveal the truth and admit that his brother was actually dead already, or should I come up with some bullshit? Sharing the truth wasn't really what I wanted right now. I needed a believable excuse. Vora's memories came in to help me. I grinned at his brother, the perfect idea presenting itself.

"Have you heard of a phenomenon called dream stuck?" He raised his eyebrows.

"No way. That can't be what happened." Dream stuck. As far as I knew, that was a complete myth. It was a famous superpower in this world, just as fake as flight, but a lot of people believed in it. The concept was that a person could fall into a dream-like state in space, where they'd have their full consciousness and memories, all entirely sane and vivid. A person could spend years in that state, only to wake up minutes later in the real world as if nothing had ever happened.

"I ambushed one of the mage officers with a knife," I said.

"I stole his core. I obviously didn't know how to cast magic back then. That's when I lost consciousness. I found myself in space."

"You're fucking lying," Tonir said again, but his grin was widening.

"I'm fully serious," I said.

"I was stuck in the dream for maybe a month or two. But up there, my mana core worked perfectly, just like in the real world. So, knowing that I was literally in the middle of danger in the real world, I kind of just spent the entire two months spamming patterns… Combine that with a good visual memory, and I actually got pretty good at magic, I think."

"That's insane," Tonir said.

"It would explain a lot." The other two watched me from behind the hole in the wall with far more suspicion, still keeping their masks up.

"I'm not really sure how to convince you if you don't believe me," I said.

"I guess the only proof is that I can cast magic now." Tonir snorted, shaking his head.

"Wow. Out of all people, that happened to my brother. How did it happen?"

"I'm not sure," I said.

"I've been trying to replicate it myself, but I really don't know how. I just accepted I got lucky, and it saved me."

"Mhm," Tonir said.

"What next? You were dream stuck for a month or so? What then?"

"I woke up exactly where I'd been when I lost consciousness," I said.

"In the middle of battle. I still almost lost, but I'd practiced enough to beat the two officers and escape." The man who'd trapped the rat spoke to Tonir.

"And that doesn't sound far-fetched to you?" Tonir laughed.

"Guys, this is my little brother who, one week ago, didn't even know what the different colors of magic were. Look at his mind barrier. That thing is as thick as a fucking boulder." The two guys stared at me, having no response.

"It sounds insane," I said, "but it turns out that being dream stuck is real."

"That's incredible," Tonir said.

"And great work, Vora. I'm so glad you survived. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please." We held eye contact for a long moment. My serious look spread to Tonir as he studied me.

"Still hungry for revenge, huh? I was about to contact you about everything we've found. I'm not sure if you'll like the news."

"I'll hear them out," I said. With my eyes serious, I asked, "And I would like to know. What did we actually manage to steal from Ellaris?"