A group of over 30 people walked in a single file through the dangerous Shadowlands. They were led by a shadow man covered in tribal tattoos and a blood-red mask. As everyone moved along following his instructions, he gave additional explanations from time to time.
"Whenever you travel through the Shadowlands, there are two paths that are considered the safest… The Ash River route and the Shadow Mountain route. As you have noticed, we are currently following the Ash River route. On this route, you can be much safer from land predators who dare not approach the dangerous river, but you are also exposed to the monsters that inhabit it…*[1]
…The safe zone is a narrow space that is 10 meters away from the riverbank. But never stray more than 13 meters away from it, or you will enter the range of the land monsters… Keep walking in a straight line, and stay within this short safe space of 3 meters, keeping the distance between each person only one and a half arm's length apart…
…The strongest lead the caravan at the forefront and protect its rear. The weakest stay in the middle, but even in the middle, your job is to watch the sides of the line, keeping an eye on the dead forest*[2] and the banks of the Ash River."
When Salim repeated the same speech about lines, rules, and distances for the third time, the importance of following the words was already engraved in everyone's minds. He also realized that the day was about to end. And he signaled to Rafael, who was at the back of the line, and Omar, who was an arm's length in front of him. Soon, the entire line stopped in seconds, and everyone gathered together...
Setting up the camp where they would spend the night was simple and quick for a group of such powerful and well-equipped apprentices. But there were not only apprentices in this group. There were eleven ordinary humans*[3] besides Salim himself.
Among the humans who accompanied the caravan, most were blacksmiths, miners, and builders of the Order of Sages. There was also a cook and a servant who would take care of the mundane tasks of the two newly recognized Masters: Rafael and Omar.
Usually, when night fell, Salim would guide the people of the caravan to one of the shelters that his tribe created and kept hidden. But here, in a group that had more than a dozen apprentices, a round of earth magic was performed, and the ground was leveled by removing all the ghost grass and piling it up in strategic places to maintain the little light it provided. Stone Walls were then erected to create a circular perimeter. In the center of the shelter created a fire artifact was activated where the group's cook began to prepare dinner, and several tents were quickly set up.
Omar then took care of the many defense rituals, making a barrier that hid the signs of life inside the shelter, one that blocked the view of the open sky to avoid attacks from flying animals. And finally, he activated the Golems and undead that patrolled the area around it.
At the entrance to the shelter, Salim saw Rafael go out towards the Ash River and sit on its bank, something considered very dangerous. When he tried to go there to warn him, he was stopped by Omar, who told him he should leave him alone…
Using the water from the Cinzas River to wet his face, Rafael sat admiring the colors of the black daytime river slowly changing with the fall of night, becoming the popular phosphorescent green. Rafael felt he would never tire of watching this frightening and beautiful phenomenon.
As he ate one of the many sandwiches prepared and delivered by Aisha before leaving, his thoughts turned to the system's new function: the automatic note recording. This recorded all the conversations that happened around him as if it were a diary. The function was released as soon as he fought against Iahssa and the Val Brothers, and his system leveled up. It recorded all the dialogues that happened during and after he lost consciousness the night he slept with "Silvia". He highly doubted that was her name.
For someone who came from Earth, and still had all its principles and customs engraved in his mind. Relationships between family members were something he would never accept in good conscience. But now, not only had he crossed that line with his "aunt" (he hoped it was half-aunt at least), but they had also conceived a child...
The whole situation made the feelings and plans he had when he met his mother again become a complete mess, something he had never imagined, since she had also agreed with everything that happened between them and even helped. The existence of a letter from her that was discarded by his father unconsciously was also something that upset him.
The woman, whom he also doubted was called "Marta", had called him Rael, not Rafael. It seemed that this was his real name. The system itself had also made this change, but the surname was still blank, but from their conversations, there was a family there, and one that was in trouble... As someone who grew up as an orphan on Earth, Rafael had sworn that he would never abandon his son or let them grow up the same way he had. But now he barely had a clue as to where he was. And the fact that his mother had disregarded his current strength and left him behind to "protect" him was another blow to his newly inflated confidence after his recent battles…
At that moment, Rafael snapped out of his thoughts upon receiving a system notification. Still ignoring the dangers of the Ash Riverbank, he moved 2 meters away from it and closed his eyes, taking control of his blood clone…
***
When he opened his eyes again, he was on the tenth and second floor of the Central Tower of Asshai, fighting alongside Jhon, Jack, Yuri, and Laura against the former leader of the Tower of Distortion. Just as the Adventurers' Alliance suspected, the Tower Master was indeed still alive within it, well… Alive was just one way of putting it… Still using his artifacts and wearing his black cloak, the man had become a hideous aberration with a distorted face. His left arm had deformed and was as thick as a barrel and almost three meters long.
Each blow from that deformed limb was accompanied by angry roars and huge bangs as they hit the black stone floor of the tower. But fighting against Laura and Yuri, who were true Masters, and the other 3 who were also pseudo-masters of combat. It only took 2 minutes for the crazy mutant to be defeated. And in the end, something unprecedented happened, in his body, a Relic was found…
Rafael looked at everyone and said:
"Good job, guys! I'll let you decide who gets this Relic using the rules of the Order. Do all the necessary security procedures now that we're entering the exploration of the underground floors. See you soon."
As soon as Rafael's clone finished his words, his look and gestures completely changed, becoming something more robotic. Everyone knew that what was left behind was just a consciousness that performed basic tasks without much dialogue, but everyone still found it fascinating what the clone could do even without him observing it closely...
This improvement in his clone's autonomy was also something that came with the system's leveling up and improvement of its AI.
***
When Rafael opened his eyes back to his main body, he saw a creature that resembled a drowned man walking slowly from the shallow bank of the Ash River towards him. Seeing the creature that resembled one of the first monsters he fought when he arrived in Asshai, it made him feel nostalgic.
Opening his inventory, he took out a
second sandwich and began to eat it while still sitting, completely ignoring the monster. When the creature was less than 1 meter away from him, he fell to his knees on the ground and got on all fours, trying to resist an invisible force that was pushing him towards the ground, making him bend over. But the drowned man's resistance was in vain; in two seconds, he fell face down without the strength to get up, his wet and rotten skin began to crumble, while his bones creaked.
In the third second under this enormous force, which continued to press him from head to toe with an incredible weight, there was a change. The force diminished throughout his body and concentrated on his head, crushing his rotten skull and killing him on the spot.
Rafael finally got up, still eating his sandwich, and walked back to the shelter. As he walked with his back to the body, the same gravitational force that crushed the monster's skull dragged him back to the Ash River, preventing his smell and corpse from attracting more predators in the surroundings…
AN:[4]
***
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magical Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, and Niteo akuma!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley!
[1] Land creatures fear the monsters of the River Ash, even those that hide in the shadows. While the shadow men find it easier to defend themselves from them...
[2] Although it is said that ghost grass is the only thing that grows in the Shadowlands, the origin of these leafless black trees is unknown. Their wood is also toxic and is not considered suitable for use in campfires or other items.
[3] Despite being ordinary humans, everyone in the Order is an Altered.
[4] Coincidentally I was eating a sandwich while writing this chapter…