Chương 167: Chapter 172: Boundary

I looked at Adrian, his bombastic introduction didn't fool me. I saw the way he looked at me during our crossing of the bridge, and felt the influence of his words slide over me, failing to find purchase. He was using some kind of charming skill, or magical item to let himself look more charismatic.

Not that the man had a reason to boost that aspect, he was handsome in a roguish way that attracted the crowd, brown-blonde hair, short beard, sparkling green eyes and an impressive physique made him look like a hero straight out of a fairy tale book. He had some kind of bloodline I was sure, there was something about him, a presence that was… undeniable… for lack of a better term. I felt like I should follow him, despite my higher than normal Willpower, I found it hard to resist listening to him.

He was a kind of charisma build for sure, but not only. I could see power, so much power contained in his body… He could use aura too, for sure, his own was so controlled inside of himself that my mastery of it paled in comparison. And his eyes, I felt like they could peer through my secrets as if he was reading me. With a startling realization I came to a simple conclusion: he was strong.

Too strong, actually I didn't see myself capable of facing him at all, I got the feeling that he could demolish me in a heartbeat if he so much as wanted. I hated it. I had my curses, I was sure that I could give him some trouble if it came down to it, but I wanted to see if instead it was possible to use him, to learn more about the tutorial, the kings and everything else.

But I feared there would be a price for that kind of information, if he was even a little bit smart, and I didn't doubt that he was, he would gatekeep that knowledge to get something out of us. I extended a hand.

"That would be much appreciated," I told the still smiling Hero of Humanity.

"My name's Elias, but I'm sure you know it already, still, it's a pleasure to meet you finally." He gripped my hand in a strong grip, but without squeezing too hard, no dick measuring contest here, he looked and behaved just like an honest guy by all accounts. As we shook hands though, I could feel his aura churning and roiling just beneath the surface, a monster on a tight leash, waiting to be unleashed. This man was really dangerous, but I had no idea how things would pan out, we'd have to wait and see.

"The pleasure is mine old friend!" He laughed jovially as he released my hand, "You have no idea how hard it is to redo this over and over, but I'm happy to see you!" Then he moved aside, addressing the crowd as a whole, "Sorry to keep you here folks! Follow me so that we can get you settled, it's already late and you sure can use a good meal and a bed, let's go!"

He gave me a wink and raised his arm to beckon us to follow, while he walked ahead I first gave a look at his people, my Piercing Eyes alongside my aura scanned the ones near him, and came to a simple conclusion. They were strong generally, and nine of them at the forefront were at the level of Rhea at least, most of them clearly more battle oriented than her with the exception of a couple of mages I think. If it came to a conflict we would be decimated in a heartbeat.

But there was a woman in the middle of the less powerful people who was a cut above that group too, someone not in the party of Adrian maybe? I would have to see what that was, maybe she would be amenable to talk. I thought a bit more about what Alya said to me previously. She was right, I made a grave mistake in not uplifting the group as a whole through the fruits, abusing my curse removal of the stat enhancing items, or through hunting more Barons…

But I could do that in the next days, if the curse didn't kill me first, it was straining to just keep up pretenses by now. I turned around and nodded to Tom, the man didn't disappoint.

"You heard him! Let's get in the city and get some proper rest! You deserve it!" He was right, the group performed admirably, in the span of two days everyone who fought gained much needed levels, evolved their class or improved their skills by leaps and bounds, after the boost I would give everyone it would put us on the right track to tackle this tutorial properly. Not only that, but there was a sense of camaraderie now between them, even the crafters, as they provided support after the others fought.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. My starting group and the new one were on their way to become a unified whole. I reentered the formation as the people passed me by, happy smiles and talks of resting lifting their spirits. Quinn and Marcus gave me a glance and I mouthed to them to keep their guard up. Marcus nodded while Quinn looked at me with a quizzical expression.

"Later Quinn."

"Ok…"

"So what do you think of the city?" Adrian's charming voice sounded from beside the teenage rogue, I didn't sense him coming into our midst. Fuck, either he was extremely fast, or he was very good at hiding his presence, maybe both. In any case this casual display of prowess was worrying. Quinn startled, but then he grinned, "Damn man, how did you move so fast? How high is your movement skill?" Adrian gave a laugh as he patted Quinn on the shoulder.

"I missed you brother, finally I can talk builds with an expert! I'll tell you all later though, there are a couple of things you need to know about this safe zone though."

"More slaver alien bastards?" asked Cole from behind.

"No, nothing of the sort, actually they are quite nice, the city is managed by elementals, they are of many different kinds, and as you can see the buildings reflect that."

"Elementals? Cool! Like every element or the main four? Or the Chinese ones?" asked Quinn. I looked around, after passing the crystal rainbow bridge, for lack of a better term, I could see in the distance houses and buildings made of more crystal, wood that looked grown in the shape of the building instead of cut into planks, one that gave off a kind of fog, ice maybe?

But there were more, made entirely of stone, some that looked like they were on fire from the inside, but nobody was panicking so it must house these "elementals" maybe made of fire? Is that even possible? Until now I saw a great many beasts and creatures, some very strange, but something made of fire that can think? Actually scratch that, the Lybi were birds made of rocks, maybe they were the birds from the world that the elementals came from… Still I was very curious about them.

"All of them!" replied Adrian enthusiastically, pulling Quinn forward and gesturing to a building that was actually floating up, defying gravity in its entirety.

"That one is the house of an old gravity based elemental, I call him Torg because his real name is a real pai-" I lost the connection with five of my Veiled Marionette curses. My Accelerated Perception flared at its maximum, making it look like the others were frozen in time, I didn't move physically, but took in the scene and the feeling I was getting from my Arcane Sense, and reached a conclusion: we weren't under attack, and the people who I lost contact with were all in front of me.

As my eyes focused I could faintly see a boundary of sorts all around the town, like a bubble, that was the cause of my curses dispelling. A flash of light came from the shadows of those that crossed it, and in that moment I saw in the periphery of my vision Adrian move, he looked like he could move nearly at normal human speed even in my accelerated perception, fucking monster. I had to solve this issue now, without arousing suspicion on myself. What should I do? Dispel the remaining curses?

No, it would look too obvious that there was somebody in our midst that was responsible for that, and if everybody got the curse removed except me, it would be clear who was the culprit, even if the curse actually made them just cooperate better, but they won't know that. I could stand to lose everything I built, and more than that, exacerbate the effects of the curse.

Only one solution came to my mind, curse myself and pretend that it was an external party that did it, I could pass the blame to the aliens of the previous safe zone, actually I'm sure that I wouldn't even have to point a finger, they could reach this conclusion by themselves, or believe it was a monster of some kind that did it. Whatever the case I had to act immediately.

I activated my skill with the least possible movement of mana, keeping it all internal and shielded with my aura, then the Veiled Marionette curse, same as the others, with the idea of cooperation slipped into my aura, and I could feel it take effect on me as I heard a ding! A level up probably, I didn't even think about cursing myself with that skill…

I should have, maybe it would help with pushing my trait to the next evolution, and I could think of many ways to abuse that passive suggestion that the curse gave the host.

My brain was about to smoke as I let down the Accelerated Perception and walked ahead like the others, crossing the boundary alongside Quinn, Marcus and Rhea, I turned to look at the light that was escaping our shadows, while many noticed the strange phenomenon, many went forward, not even paying attention to the commotion in the excitement of having reached the safe zone.

"Don't worry everyone!" exclaimed Adrian, "There is a protection in place when entering the city, any debuff and adverse magical condition will be dispelled!" Then his tone became more serious, "But what do we have here…" He appeared in front of Rhea in a heartbeat, I didn't even see him pass by me, not even a blur.

"Why, pray tell, are you the only one not flashing like a disco ball? What did you do to these people?" Fuck. SHIT! I never put the curse on Rhea.