42 41 (1/2)

”You have everything you ne-” Rainer started.

”Ah wait, Ra-Francis. You should bring some Fairy Dust for grandpa,” Sarah interrupted.

”Why?” the two 'twins' echoed.

”He's… he's on his last leg. He's pretty much expended every method of life-extension on Earth.”

”Should I bring some Magicite too?” Francis asked, inwardly wondering why Sarah never mentioned anything about their grandfather running out of time till now. No matter, it wasn't his problem. No doubt by the semi-constipated look on Rainer's face - his Charisma made it somehow look enchanting - his less unfettered half was worrying enough for the both of them.

”No, he's used it already. Well, it's called something else on Earth but you get the idea.”

”Off I go then,” Francis said, grabbing the split off bag of Fairy Dust from Rainer and putting it into his ring. He had gotten Gunthar's spatial ring at the Undead's request. Gunthar was the best.

”Are you sure you don't need anything else?” Rainer asked.

”I'll be fine, dad.”

Rainer chuckled awkwardly before moving out of the way. He still wasn't sure how to act around his second self. A small part of him was glad they wouldn't be spending too much time together.

A drop of blood later, and the former Avatar had honed in on 'his' mother and grandfather. Using [Arcane Energy Manipulation], Francis started weakening the space. Streams of Arcane Energy torrented past his right and left. With a final grin and wave towards his 'audience', he vanished to a world far beyond this one.

Francis walked through the Void as he neared his destination. Normally, only his high Intelligence would allow him time enough to glimpse the Void when walking through it, but this journey was longer than anything he took before.

He imagined even an ordinary Human would have a chance at seeing the darkness within this place. To his right he felt a fearsome power in the distance - only for it to vanish suddenly. Any thoughts pertaining to what that was were interrupted as a Divine Presence swept over him.

As he was traveling sans passenger, he didn't even have to use [Void Presence] to cover himself.

So it's a place without the system?

He wondered curiously, having received the same treatment when 'he' entered Earth. Even his Void-dampened self had been excited to learn which Classes his mother and grandfather had. It looked like he'd have to wait and find out till he could bring them back. And it likely wouldn't be hard, though he guessed based on what he saw in [Void Seer] he might have to make multiple trips.

His expectations were raised high just before he entered the world. After all, to anyone else, Earth was incredibly different from the other places he visited. What about this place?

However his elation soon turned to a searing pain. He slammed in and out of the Void several times as he missed his destination. The very air itself seemed to be disrupting his Void-walk as he crashed in a mangled mess onto sand. Several pieces of his body were strewn about him.

With a guttural scream he managed to take control of himself, stopping himself from blacking out from the pain. Only his experiences in [Sleep Learning] prevented that. He poured his Arcane Aura into [Arcane Invogration] and used [Flesh Manipulation] to drag the pieces of his body back to him. All of his attention was on either reattaching limbs to stop the bleeding or healing essential processes to live.

He quickly realized his 27 Arcane Aura wasn't enough. He dumped 40 points into Aura Attunement, and another 40 into Aura Control, when the former only increased his maximum but didn't give him any Aura. Aura Control both improved control as stated and also helped with refining World Energy into Aura. It made [Arcane Invigoration] far more efficient.

Francis sunk into a meditative trance and focused on both recovering his Aura and healing his body. But the World Energy here felt thin. Instead, he felt something far different permeating the atmosphere: Mana.

It wasn't like the scattered Mana of the Dragon Isles, but instead it was a thickness that could almost be physically felt. He even felt that his body was practicing Affinity Attunement on it's own.

Sinking deeper into his trance, he left any questions for later.

The [Harbinger] woke up confused. There was the sound of other people breathing around him and a cold metallic feel on his wrists. Gingerly he sat up, using his recovered Arcane Aura to finish any healing. He had no regrets about the points spent, given he had originally put a single point in to test whether he and Rainer shared points. They didn't. Even then, he doubted Rainer would complain about it. Nor would Francis care if he did.

He stared down at the restraints, giving a faint chuckle as he thought to cut them open with his [Arcane Blade]. A frown marred his face as the spell failed. It was as if the Runic formula was scrambled in his head.

Using his Aura, he cast [Arcane Revelation] and took another look at the restraints on him. He tried to cast another spell and the restraints lit up with Mana in the center. They weren't enchanted and yet they seemed to the source of his casting issue. He thought of just Void Calling them away, but he didn't know what failsafes might be built in. What if there was a explosive in the wrist parts, rather than in the connected bar?

For now, he set the issue aside. While he was pretty sure he could regrow limbs with [Arcane Invigoration], especially with the addition of [Flesh Manipulation], there was no reason to risk it before he had to.

He took a glance around the place he was in. As far as he could tell it was a wooden… something. It was definitely moving and seemed far too large and wide to be a carriage, but they weren't over water or in the air either.

Technology then?

He wondered, but [Arcane Revelation] showed the thing, whatever it was, had Mana flowing through it and in use. Not like an enchanted item, but rather as if the object itself was casting a spell using the ambient Mana - something that shouldn't be possible.

He saw seven other inhabitants, all of them wearing the same restraints. They looked Human, and [Appraisal] didn't show otherwise.

[Male, Human, Classless]

[Title: None]

And all were Mages, probably, given the restraints' purposes. They had far too much Mana for their ages. He knew from his own body the reason for that. Not only was it attuning to Affinity without any effort from him, it was a bit better than his usual practice. For the non-talented [Archon] it still wasn't significant, but for anyone with a smidgen of Mana Talent, it'd be impressive.

Five were girls and two were boys. He figured approaching a girl would be an easier bet with his Charisma, but then he remembered his eyes. While his Charisma might make it so his Void-dark eyes didn't detract from his appearance per say, they were still frightening.

So he sat in front of the boy to the left of him. The 14-year-old or so boy's tired eyes looked up at him before jerking back a bit at Francis's eyes.

”Y-yes?” he asked, a bit shakily.

”I have some questions for you. If you can answer them, I'll take you out of here.”

All of the inhabitants perked up at that. Even if there was a tinge of disbelief on their faces.

Francis smirked before manipulating a variety of elements all around him. The restraints may stop spells but they did nothing to his manipulation skills. A fire burned, only to be smothered by water and then froze into a ball of ice before shattering and raining snowflakes across the watching mages.

”Arch-Magus…” one of them reverently whispered.

”And so many elements,” another added, with equal parts confusion and awe.

”What do you w-want to know?” the boy said, his voice nervous but mirroring the hope in everyone's eyes.