Lena remembers the scene from this morning as she walks down the town behind Octan. Her knees bent to the ground as her upper body bends over the bed to rest as she slept, alongside her height it looked quite comical.
Octan keeps spitting out all kinds of information from what the waterfalls gushing out of the walls are like, to what the fruits and vegetables grown here are like. He became a walking Zoomorns guide.
"Hey, do you know that the water here is actually more mana rich than The Lake of Wothand? It's closer to the earth's core --which is where most people believe mana originates from-- and is even sucking mana from the superior's portal up top."
"That so?" Lena enjoys these meaningless info.
But something about how Octan has been acting makes her unsettled. He's too nice in a way.
"Wanna take a dip? There is an organized area made out just like those hot springs outside!" Octan said turning around.
With a nod Lena agrees.
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A refreshing dip it was.
Though it was more of a bath. They had spent there enough time for the 'sun' to set.
It felt too good, that even as she left she regretted it. It was as if every problem she had ever had suddenly disappeared the moment her leg touched the water.
The mana rich water made it as if she had become one with the earth, it was definitely bliss.
She hopes to visit it once again with Octan.
"Hey want to eat something next?" Octan said rubbing his hair with the towel he had taken with him.
Lena was quite sure he shouldn't be able to take it with him, but decided to pay it no attention.
With a nod she agrees once again. "Sure."
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This time they enjoyed rather the exquisite meal.
Even though Zoomorns were known for being empathic to all creatures, surprisingly they didn't cut out all meat. Octan explained it to her that as long as they saw it as necessary they wouldn't stop themselves, but would be merciful while killing the animals by giving them a very comforting lifestyle and feed them as much as they needed.
The meal was made up of all kinds of things Lena didn't know food could be made out of. From brains, to tongues, to intestines, to kidneys, to legs, to even testicles. It was one hell of an experience.
"Hey, want to watch a play?" Octan asked turning around.
Lena agrees with a nod.
Though she did have her questions.
'A play?' She had never watched a play herself as she had seen them rather boring.
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By 'play', it turned out he meant a children's Puppetry...
Lena was confused at what was happening in front of her as she watched it, and when she looked towards Octan expecting him to be doing the same, she saw a deep smile, One coming out unconsciously. Seeing that she sat down in silence like a good girl.
With a smile Octan says "Man... every time I watch that it's always the same...".
Lena didn't understand why that is, the play was quite simple. It's about a boy who lives a normal life, has no issues, and no difficulties. He finds a girl which whom he likes, and falls in love with. Their parents disagree for no reason (or rather it wasn't explained by the narrator). They escape get married and live happily. It's something you would see in every children book there is, A simple story with absolutely nothing.
There was nothing to stop in the main characters way other than his and his lover's parents, which even they barely play apart other than saying no. They simply escape with no difficulties and live the rest of their life as if nothing happened.
Also, what confused her the most is how he could take the whole thing seriously... They were both full on adults sitting among children in front of a puppetry. Lena couldn't help, but think about it every other second. Maybe that had ruined the experience for her.
"Hmmmm... what else is there left to do?" Octan asked Lena.
"Sleep. It's very late you know."
"Whaaaaaaaaaattttt.... But it's still too early! Plus this is our last night here, we have to go all out!" Octan said raising his fist to the air.
"Oh I know! Come come!" Octan said immediately running.
Lena followed in a hurry.
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This time he had brought her to some kind of pub. Except it was all muscular scary Zoomorns drinking menacingly.
A lion man with muscles that are about to burst, and a tiger female with breasts harder than rock.
Lena sat down next to Octan with her usual indifferent expression.
"So... what are we doing here?" Lena asked confused.
They had a drink last night, so couldn't he just say they were going to have a drink again? Why did he act so excited.
"Just wait." Octan replied with a grin on his face.
"Sure..."
Both of them indeed waited.
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A good hour or so later.
Everyone was singing and dancing, all the previously intimidating and menacing Zoomorns suddenly all joined up together and started singing while some danced in the clearing they all surrounded in the middle of the pub.
Octan was dancing alongside the Zoomorns, while Lena was joining on the beat that was made by hitting the tables in a certain rythm. She had none of the songs they were singing, so she didn't raise her voice and only followed the rythm's beat.
Octan laughed like there was no tomorrow, and Lena smiled through the whole night.
Everyone in there was having the time of their life as they all sang, danced, and enjoyed the little things.
Lena had even Arm wrestled with a couple of them and landed a strong streak of 10 consecutive wins, until the Tiger woman defeated her. In which then Octan defeated ,and made a world record 59 streak, beating every single one that was there.
"FUCK YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Octan screamed as he won the last match. After that he smashed a table with his head. Adrenaline was a bit too high.
That night was indeed fun.
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"Hey.... Wake up..." Lena shoke Octan who was in very deep sleep.
"One.... and... only one...!" He was still singing the song from last night.
Lena sighed.
They were supposed to leave that day, so she wanted it to be over quickly. After all she didn't even know how they were going to leave, actually she doesn't even fully understand how they got here.
They dropped into a very deep hole and then she found herself on that bed.
She looked outside towards the window towards where Octan had once pointed.
The iron rod still stands there hanging.
'hmmm... Just how does that have to do with us falling down all that...' Lena thought.
'Actually why did I hit my head??!!' Suddenly she remembered the bandage she had when she first woke up.
Moving her hand through the back of her head she couldn't feel anything, it was all thanks to Octan's healing magic.
Sighing she walked outside.
She didn't want to disturb Octan, and with how he has been acting recently she doesn't have to worry about him up and disappearing.
She walks through the town once again.
This time she is a bit more welcome by the people.
Mostly simply greeting her, while those she had fun with last night flexing their muscle in reference to the arm wrestling tournament. Lena simply waved back with an awkward smile, after all she could only remember embarrassing moments...
Even though she was convincing herself she walked aimlessly, she wasn't. Deep down she was walking towards a very familiar home.
Oliva's home. She wanted to check something out before leaving, she didn't doubt anything Octan ever said to her, but she just had to check. She had to know before leaving so that it she doesn't regret it later.
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Reaching Oliva's home she knocked on the wood outside making up the wall, even though there was no actual door.
"Come in!" A welcoming voice screamed from inside.
It was oliva's mom.
'Well that would work too.' She said walking in.
Walking in she was welcomed with a warm smile resembling that of a caring mother.
Well, she was a caring mother so maybe that's to be expected.
"Good morning, miss Lena. How could I be of help?" The woman asked as she pointed towards the empty chair opposite of her.
A closed book, with a piece of paper bookmarking a certain page in it, sits on the table next to her, and on top of it are a pair of glasses.
"G-good morning..." Lena was overwhelmed with the warm welcoming.
Awkwardly sitting down on the chair Oliva's mom had gestured towards Lena speaks "I just wanted to ask some questions that's it..." .
Oliva's mom replied enthusiastically "Sure, go ahead!".
"ahaha... ehm... So, f-first..." Suddenly she had forgotten her questions.
'Shit... why is she so into this...' The pure passion the woman was showing to answer Lena had taken her off guard.
"O-oh right! first, do you know what a perfect mana flow is?" Lena asked the woman.
"Of course! you might not know this miss Lena, but us Zoomorns are very close to mana. We are born with a stronger average mana pool than terrans, but weaker than that of the old demons. But even though our mana pool is less and weaker mana pool than the demons, we have a stronger link to it, so while the demons could reach unimaginable strength feats, we would be able to reach must deeper uses of mana. For example, spatial magic! The first instance of spatial magic was done by a Zoomorn around a thousand years ago! But sadly now with how limited we are to this village town underground we can't study mana as much as before. It's all because of the ter-- Sorry... I went a little off topic there hahaha... In short, yes I know what a perfect mana flow is!" The woman had passion for talking.
"R-right... So second, This might be a little personal sorry, but does Oliva have A perfect mana flow?" Lena asked.
"Nope." The woman replied instantly and informally.
"B-but... Wasn't it Octan who made up his mana flow? And even made it similar to his, so why?" Lena questioned the woman.
"Miss Lena... A perfect mana flow is something extremely precious. To even think someone could replicate it would be a joke. Other than Sir superior Of course, and that's because he is a being of mana. So even with all my respect to Sir hero, to even imagine he could replicate a perfect mana flow with be straight impossible... Well, not that easily anyway. Creating the perfect mana flow isn't impossible under the right circumstances, but to study these circumstances... I would rather not talk." The woman's passion dwindled.
"..." Lena listened to her in silence.
"I see..." Lena slightly nodded.
"Anything else you want to ask?!" The woman's passion suddenly showed itself once more.
"N-no... that's it." Lena said rubbing the back of her head.
'I had a third question, but she answered it along side the second question, so no reason to ask it.' Lena thought deeply about the woman's answer.
"I will be leaving now... Sorry for any inconvenience." Lena couldn't help but act polite towards the extremely welcoming woman.
"Sure, anytime!" The woman said raising the book to her face.
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Once she has reached their "home" She finds Octan waiting outside.
"Yo, done with your goodbyes?" Octan says with a welcoming tone.
"...Yeah..." She didn't feel like correcting him, nor explaining what she was doing, so she went along with it.
"Alright let's go." Octan said moving.
Octan had prepared the bags right next to him, so Lena quickly picks them up and follows him from behind.
"Where to now?" She asks.
"The demon lord." he replies.
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They walked out the town and reached on the 4 cave walls surrounding it, It's a completely dead end.
'Did he lose his way?' Lena wonders following the man.
"It should be here..." Octan says as he looks all around the wall in front of him.
"There." finally deciding on a spot he walks towards it.
With all the confidence in the world, he walks into the wall and... passes through it?
Lena's confusing hits its maximum as she stares baffled.
'Did he just die?' Was the first thing Lena's head thought of.
"Hey just walk right through it, I made sure you can pass." Octan said from inside the wall.
Lena then followed his instructions and walked in without hesitation.
It went surprisingly smoothly.
Inside was a long stairway, as if leading to heaven. The end of it wasn't visible, and the only source of lighting was the multiple torches on the sides reaching all the way to the top.
"It's a special mana wall that's impossible to detect and that which blends in with it's surroundings. Something only the superior is capable of. Gladly I know it, so we can skip the hassle of climbing all the way to the surface by hand. We can just walk up these endless stairs." Octan says not wasting a second as he climbs the stairs.
Lena follows his example.
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It took too long, but in the end they reached the top.
The climbing was nothing of note, and all they did was have the most meaningless conversations. Like which tasted better, lemon juice or lime juice (they ended up deciding orange was better anyway.).
Finally seeing the sunlight Lena stared at it only to then instantly regret it.
"Ouch..." She said with her arm covering her eyes.
"Ha... Knew it. Don't worry this is the actual surface, and that's the actual sun." Octan said.
"Actually, why is the sun up? I was pretty sure It would've set down by now... after all we had spent way too long climbing those stairs." Lena asked.
"Well you see my cute little Lena, It's because time here and there are different!" Octan said once again turning into a walking trivia.
"As I had told you before, The superior's portal which projects sunlight to the Zoomorns is somewhere out there taking up extremely massive space. Do you think such a thing wouldn't have been find out by now?" Octan asked.
"Ehm..." Lena nods for him to continue.
"It would! So what our very dependable man had done was search for the perfect place which is inaccessible place to monsters, animals, and Terrans! I don't even know where it is! But, it's far enough to have a completely different time than here, So It's nowhere in the middle lands that's for sure." Octan said.
"Right..." Lena didn't really understand, but decided to just go along with it.
"Well, you were unlucky, If we had come at some other time, we could have experienced snow." Octan said intriguing Lena.
"Snow?" Lena asked.
"Indeed, it's this really cold white powder that feels incredibly nice and satisfying to play around, but becomes extremely annoying and inconvenient a day or two later." Octan says explaining snow.
"Doesn't sound that nice..." Lena hated it's idea.
"You would like it more if you saw it for yourself, but you wont, and you have your ancestors to thank for that." Octan said walking.
"Right, my ancestors." Lena said remembering her doubts on the letter.
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Even though Octan had stated that they were going to go after the demon lord next, they had only been walking away from the center of the world, the middle lands, so it had left Lena in confusion. But just like the obedient girl she is she didn't question it. After all, all this man has been doing since their reunion was non-sensical tricks and life hacks, for all she knows he is going to find some weird room that takes them right there.
Night fell as they walked opposite of their destination.
"we will camp here." Octan said planting the sword on his waist to the ground.
"Start a fire I'm cold." he said even though Lena felt quite hot.
Lena didn't question him and did as he said.
"If you have any questions, ask them now while you have the chance." Octan sitting on the ground with the sword he had planted in front of him.
Lena was taken aback by the sudden change of mood that hit him.
"Uhh... Um..." Lena suddenly given the chance couldn't choose.
Thinking about it for a second she started a fire and asked while sitting to the opposite side of Octan.
"Then, tell me about yourself. How are you like this, why are you like this, and just how did you get that perfect mana flow?" Lena asked with the woman's words running in the back of her head 'Creating the perfect mana flow isn't impossible under the right circumstances, but to study these circumstances... I would rather not talk.' Just what are these circumstances.
Octan's face grows dark. A face of true thought, a face that ponders over every little detail.
Finally raising his head once again he says.
"Sorry, I know you've been wanting to hear this... But that's the only thing I can't tell you about..." Octan said with a serious expression.
Lena sighed as she had expected the answer.
"Then just tell me about the outsiders, and their 'system'." Lena said staring at the fire.
"Sure." Octan replies and starts his long speech.
"There are 2 worlds, or should I call them realities? Anyway, Our world, and another which contains no mana. Instead they use science to explain the universe with theories and such. In that world there is nothing such as a demon lord, nor a greater evil, so they are always fighting each other. Well, that's what I've heard from a Outsider at least. Back to our point, outsiders, As I said there are 2 worlds which shouldn't be connected at all, but for whatever reason sometimes when people in the other world die they end up here with what we call a 'system.', the reason for that is total mystery. The only hint we have for it is that they all acted as if they were talking to someone the moment they appeared in this world, so there must be someone behind this all, and whoever they are, they hold great power. One that might even rivals the superior's superiority. That person somehow found a way to connect the two worlds together and transport the dead of that world here. And since Just like I had told you, they have no mana, they are given a system which instead gives the ability to grow.
While most end up dying in the early stages as they are extremely confused or don't take it seriously. Those who do follow the correct procedure end up having extremely fast growth, but every thing has its negatives, and for the system it's the loss of creative use. Unlike us who can use mana freely in any way, they are given a set of uses that only can be used in fixed ways. So while we can learn and use mana freely, they have follow a fixed procedure. That makes magic related to Earth magic impossible for them, so iron control magic, blood circulation magic, and that one trick you used one, where you took over the monster's mana core. For example, While you can short fire and make up different ways of using it, they can only shot out fire balls as beginners or make it our to be a small fire cloud as beginners.
As they grow stronger the system gives them more options, but compared to a magician on the same level it's a joke. While they would indeed have the 'stronger' magic, they would have the smallest arsenal. Now for their other abilities, things such as swordsmanship, and martial arts even have their separate parts in the system where they can strengthen it manually or leave it to grow as their 'level' increases. It was if I'm sure... they can reach up to level 99 with 1 stat bonus every 10 levels, and the other 10 need to be achieved manually. So an outsider who has never touched a sword can still be half as strong as one who had dedicated his way to the sword.
Can you name any outsiders?" Octan asks as he had noticed lena's silence.
"I think his name was james... the top 10th adventurer, The rigid champion." Lena says replying to Octan.
"Oh you know about that nutcase, indeed he is an outsider." Octan said with surprise on his face.
"Yeah I met up with him at some point." Lena threw another piece wood into the fire.
"Y-you met with him? and yet you're still here? Weren't you a wanted criminal?" Octan questioned the authenticity of Lena's story.
"Yeah, I didn't get it myself too, we did have our reasons, but still. I believe he had personal reasons, but I never really dug deep." Lena said staring at the crackling fire.
"That so... Still a nutcase's still a nutcase." Octan made fun of the man.
"Oh yeah that reminds me. You said outsiders only use basic, but strong mana... are you sure...?" Lena hesitates to ask.
She remembers the feeling of fear she held when she had witnessed the man using that dark magic. It was as if her primal instincts screamed at her the moment it formed at the palm of his hand.
"What do you mean?" Octan asks confused.
"Well you see... Some time ago I had attended one of those top 10 battles with the rigid champion participating in it." Lena said slowly sweating.
"And at some point in the fight, he had used some kind of magic... No it wasn't magic... It was a lot more terrifying... Something extremely horrific, It was as if the world had bended to his will..." Lena's pupils started to dilate as she remembered the effect the 'magic' had on the walk.
"Hmm... and what did it look like?" Octan asked with his hand covering his mouth as if his in deep thought.
Lena staring at the fire like a lunatic said.
"Pure darkness."
"I see... So that's what that was about." Octan says in a know-it all tone.
"What?" Lena confused at the man's knowledge looks at him.
"You see, I just told you that I talked with an outsider once. It was during the time period between leaving the zoomorns' village and meeting you. I asked him a lot of questions about that, and apparently they have something like a list that decides what magic they can use and when, when as in at what 'Level'. At the very top of it, there was something called 'Rewrite.' at the maximum 'Level' of 99, and according to him not a single Outsider has ever made it to the level 99. I guess The rigid was hiding it. He probably used it without knowing what it's all about and decided to never talk about it again, after all that magic is truly terrifying."
"What is that... That magic, what is it?!" Lena asked seeking to understand her fear.
"Calm down, I will tell you don't worry." Octan said gesturing her to calm down.
"Lena, Firstly, you know what condensed magic is right?" Octan asked a simply question which Lena quickly nods to.
"Then do you know how magic is made? As in fire water air? How is mana turned into these elements?" Octan asked.
"Well, If I'm right it's because mana already has these properties, all you have to do is bring it out." Lena answers.
"That's good enough."
"Then, Lena, What is mana?" He asks.
"Well it's what makes up this world right? everything in this world needs mana to live and was created from mana." Lena answers.
"That is correct."
"So, Tell me, What happens if we condense life itself."
"What happens when you use Condensed Mana."
Following his sentence Octan Raised one hand and had a black orb slowly form at the tip of his palm. The orb sucked all the air around it as it sat there on his palm.
"This is what happens you condense life into one point, while fire grows stronger, and water and air increases their pressure. Life ceases to exist."
"This, Lena, Is what Condensed mana is. When condensing everything that makes up this world, It has the power to 'Rewrite.' The universe." Octan says waving it around.
Lena is in a state of Horror she sits there staring at that orb of mana, scared fearing the unknown.
"Well 'Rewrite.' might be too grand. It's more like, 'Erasure.' completely erasing anything it comes into contact with, making it as if it had never existed. For example..." Octan aims the orb at Lena.
Lena's body shakes for a second then stops.
"If I were to release this at you, you would simply cease to exist, not a single hint of the existence known as 'Lena' would be left. Not a single drop of blood." Octan said with a smirk.
"But... C-can't... a-anyo-one d-do t-that..." Lena trembles as she talks.
"Calm down, I won't do that to you sheesh, and no. It's something only usable by those with a perfect mana flow. After all to be able to condense life and mana that's only the first step." Octan says making the orb disappear.
"But you said only 3 people exist with perfect mana flows: you, the demon lord, and the mana king." Lena calmed down as she slowly watched the orb disappear.
"That's true, but you see Outsiders are different. They do not poses mana flows, all their magic is directly produced by the system under their command. Where they get the mana and how is of course a complete mystery, but that is how it works. They simply have the power to use it, without having to learn the concept behind it. It's like how all their magic works, it's just given to them. All they have to do is reach the top of the system which is Level 99." Octan says waving his now empty hand around.
"I see..."
"Any thing else you want to ask about now?" Octan asks as he raises his sword from the ground.
"...no..." Lena decides that that's enough for now.
"Then I will head to sleep. Goodnight, Lena." Octan simply turns around and uses his arm as a pillow as he lays on the grass under him.
"Oh and... Thank you Lena... for everything." Octan said quietly.
Lena didn't reply and simply headed to sleep herself.
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Lena wakes up. She can smell the usual forest scent greeting her. She opens her eyes only to regret it as she had still not been used to the actual sun. She yawns as she faces the sky with her eyes closed. Something about her face feels weird, but then her stomach growls, so she thinks about what she could have for breakfast with Octan instead. She then turns around to see if Octan is still awake.
Octan Isn't there.
She rubs her eyes, but yet, Octan isn't there.
She stands up and looks around her, Octan isn't there.
Where he should be is instead a piece of paper with a something on it to hold it in place.
"This is..." Lena picks up the "something.".
It's a golden adventurer crest, exactly like the one Lena used to have.
She had lost her old one at some point, but by the time she had realized it was too late, so she never got to find it.
She places it in her pocket and faces the letter.
Lena picks it up and reads it.
'Hello, Octan here. Do not worry, I didn't get kidnapped, nor killed, nor anything bad. I simply left on my own. Firstly, as you can see, there's a gold adventurer crest, use it as you please. Secondly, the capital closest to here, I recommend heading there, you will get to meet someone there. and finally, This is where it ends Lena, this is where we go out separate ways. I'm not your father, so I hold no responsibility for you. In short, Leave me alone.' -Octan Trikovac
'his last name...' Lena thinks as she throws the paper away.
Why?
Why now?
Weren't we going to defeat the demon lord?
Weren't you going to show me all that you had found in this world?
Didn't you need to me to be your observer?
So... why?
Lena walks into the woods in disbelieve.
...
There she finds him.
Even though he had wrote to her he was disappearing, he was still so close.
Octan was there.
Sleeping like a child, not a care in the world.
His back to a tree's trunk while his neck is in a terrible posture.
It looks quite painful, but yet his sleeping so peacefully.
On his lap is a piece of paper.
Lena lifts the piece of paper.
This time it's not from Octan.
Looking at who it's signed by, she throws it away immediately without reading it.
With a gauntlet cladding her right arm, a sword with a dull edge to her waist, Leaving the bags behind she lifts Octan and walks away.
Where? To the capital just like he had wrote.
...
This is what she wants.