Chương 24: Chapter 23: Worldsoul

After some talking, Marcus and his students found out that the caves they were in were not where this world's civilization was located, and were actually fairly remote and rarely visited. That made sense. Very few people wanted to live in a cave. However, this meant that the city of Behis where Darayush wanted to bring them was quite a distance away, and going there on foot would take a lot of time… especially because they would have to navigate the cave system first in order to reach the surface.

Something that Darayaush didn't know how to do. He teleported here directly, and had no knowledge of the local cave layout.

All of this meant that the best way to get out of here was by teleporting. However, neither side fully trusted each other, which made arranging this a bit complicated. On Marcus's side, he didn't want to just let Darayush teleport them wherever he wanted, because that could easily lead to them being teleported into a heavily warded prison cell. He was confident about his combat abilities, but suppressive wards could be extremely potent, especially if they were powered by an entire leyline or several.

On Darayush's side, he was clearly worried about teleporting them to the city directly, since he would have to give Marcus and his students a ward key to do that. Such a key would allow them to bypass all of the city's defenses and detection wards, come and go as they pleased, and generally act as trusted members of the city's ruling class. As friendly as Darayush seemed, this was too much for him.

Eventually, it was agreed that they would jointly perform the teleportation spell as a ritual, and that they would transport themselves some distance from the city itself, and then spend an hour or so walking on foot until they finally reached Behis. This would allow Marcus to use divinations to scout the destination beforehand and make sure he wasn't walking into an obvious ambush, and Darayush would be able to bring them into Behis as foreign guests – respected, but restricted.

"Now that I think of it, it's better this way," Darayush commented.

"This way you'll be able to see Behis from distance as we approach. Behis is the envy of a thousand kingdoms. I've grown a little numb to the sights, having lived there all my life, but I'm told by travelers that it's quite the sight for first-time visitors."

The ritual went through without any issues. Marcus had never used teleportation in this kind of way, but that was due to the local conditions of his homeworld preventing it. The actual teleportation spell was an ancient piece of magic, spread far and wide by entities of the Outer Planes, and the one Darayush used was identical to what Marcus himself was taught. It was just that this time, Marcus could pick a destination and expect a spell to actually take him there.

Suddenly, they were elsewhere – Darayush, Marcus, and his three students. Plus three caterpillars. Couldn't forget those, especially since the one on Renatus's shoulder immediately started whining after the teleportation was complete, swaying side to side due to vertigo, and then fell off the boy's shoulder and onto the dry, dusty ground.

They were on a small hill, with nothing but rocks and empty ground surrounding them. The sun was big and bright, shining down on them with uncomfortable intensity, and his three students were immediately blinded after spending so much time in a gloomy cave environment. The air was hot and dry too, adding to the environmental shock.

Darayush and Marcus were largely unaffected. Marcus's sight was magically enhanced, and his clothes blunted temperature extremes. Looking around, he noticed that the land was… well, not quite a desert. There were some shrubs here and there, and Marcus could see some trees in the distance, but it overall seemed quite arid and lifeless.

He decided to ask a potentially stupid question.

"Brother Darayush, is your world a giant desert?" Tasloa was a lush world full of life and vegetation. There were no large deserts there, only small areas where the land was barren for one reason or another. However, one of the two other planets in the system, the Windswept Realm, was a desert planet. It had a single small sea, and a number of rivers flowing into it, but it was otherwise an endless expanse of sand dunes.

Story writers from Tasloa often wrote stories of adventures happening there, since that kind of environment was completely unknown to the readers, and therefore exotic and exciting. Plus, since so little was known about the Windswept Realm, you could make up any wild, made-up place and put them there. Some even claimed they were actually writing real accounts, and that they visited the other planet in dreams and whatnot.

The landscape Marcus was looking was more rocky than sandy, but it otherwise looked a lot like some of the descriptions in those books. However, he knew from Celer that some worlds had large deserts without being mostly desert, so he could be on the wrong track.

"No, we are not a desert world," Darayush said.

"I have read historical accounts of past visitors, and they often remark on how arid the Sixth Manifold is. Nonetheless, our planet has seas and forests and all manner of different environments… including actual deserts. Or, well, what we would call a desert. This is all I have known, so it all seems normal to me."

He glanced at Marcus's students, who seemed to be recovering somewhat, blinking rapidly in an attempt to adjust themselves to the sudden reappearance of the sun above their heads.

"Will your students be alright?" he asked Marcus.

"We're fine," Diocles said. His caterpillar poked its head out of his backpack to check up on what was happening and then immediately retreated back into it when it realized how bright and dry it was outside.

"It's just a bit of a shock. How are you not affected, teacher?"

"My eyes are magically augmented," Marcus told him.

"Unfortunately, it's not a spell, and I can't cast it on you."

Marcus actually had a spell that could shroud an area in shade and protect a group from intense sun. However, he hadn't memorized it, as that wasn't something that was often needed back in Tasloa.

Besides, they would spend several days here. It was better that they adjusted to the conditions as soon as possible.

Renatus picked up his fallen caterpillar, only for it to follow the example of its two brethren and immediately retreat into his backpack.

After a few minutes, his students recovered enough that the group set off towards the city faintly visible in the distance. They were still carrying bags of cave moss, so Marcus decided to be merciful and conjured a horizontal disc of force to trail behind them and carry them. The bags weren't heavy, but if they had to carry them for an hour or two in these kinds of conditions, they would quickly regret it.

Darayush gave him curious looks as he observed the bags.

"It's just low-grade magic moss," he told the man.

"You can check if you're suspicious."

"Magic moss?" Darayush repeated.

"To serve as caterpillar feed," Marcus said dismissively.

Darayush didn't say anything to that. He did open one of the bags to check it out and took a clump of moss to examine as he walked, but afterwards he switched to a completely different topic. There was nothing overtly wrong with the moss, and Darayush clearly didn't see anything interesting in it. He and Marcus traded interesting tidbits about their worlds as they walked. Marcus thought about offering to take them flying to the city, but this was kind of nice, as it gave him time to look around and ask questions.

As they talked, Marcus considered their host. He was initially inclined to label Darayush a mage, and now that he had cast a spell with him and talked with him for a bit, he was all but certain of it. He might not be an exact equivalent to Tasloa's mages, but he was certainly pursuing a very similar adept path.

Darayush was also clearly a spirit-rank adept. Marcus could sense it, and no doubt the man sensed the same in Marcus. However, the exact level of power Darayush had was hard to guess. He had detected Marcus's arrival at the planet very quickly, and could teleport across vast distances with ease, so he was clearly very powerful.

Yet, he was also quite cautious around Marcus and didn't try to throw his weight around immediately upon arriving to meet them, which suggested he wasn't assured he would win any confrontation. If Marcus had to guess, he would say Darayush was anywhere between fifth rank and seventh rank, but he chose to assume the man was on the higher end of that scale. It was always safer to assume an unknown mage was your equal than your lesser.

Eventually, they approached the city of Behis.

Even from the distance, the city looked massive. The buildings were large and colorful, built from some kind of white stone but also richly painted with vibrant red, blue, and other colors. A stream of people was constantly leaving and entering the city through a wide, well-maintained stone road.

Wagons drawn by some truly giant oxen traveled along the road, usually overloaded with giant jars and other goods, though one of them was transporting a disturbing chimeric beast with a lion's body, a human head, and a tail covered in spikes. As the wagon approached, the beast snarled at their group in irritation, probably because Marcus's students were staring at it too intensely.

Though the head looked human-like at first, once it opened its mouth it revealed several rows of terrifying triangular teeth, looking nothing like a human mouth. It reminded Marcus of sharks more than anything.

Renatus fell back with a scream at the gesture. Agron and Diocles also jumped back, but without panicking quite as much.

The beast looked visibly pleased at the result.

They continued on towards the entrance to the city proper. Or maybe it was the inner city? His students probably couldn't see it, as the buildings around them blocked their sight, but all of these buildings around them were mere outskirts of the metropolis. For Marcus, who could project his vision up in the air and observe the area from a bird's eye view, the truth was much clearer.

The center of the city was entirely surrounded by a tall, gleaming white wall decorated with carvings of lions, dragons, dog-headed birds, and other magical creatures. At some point, the city grew too large to be contained by the city's walls and spilled over into the surrounding area. In Marcus's experience, such a situation often resulted in only the walled part of the city being considered the city proper, with the population living just outside the walls often existing in a politically grey area.

However, he had no idea if Behis operated this way.

In any case, Darayush was clearly taking them towards the walled part of the city. There were eight large gates offering entrance to this inner part of the settlement, and their path was advancing squarely towards one of them.

Marcus cast his bird's eye view in various directions, taking in the sights. Inside the city walls, there were several very large buildings, including what looked like a temple and a palace complex. A large river cut a course straight through the middle of the city, and many ships and transport barges could be seen going in and out. An adept riding a brilliant blue bird was currently flying towards the palace, paying no heed to their own little group, or really, any of the people on the ground.

"No wonder you said this place was the envy of a thousand kingdoms. If this place was on Tasloa, everyone would have surely heard of it," Marcus remarked. Darayush visibly beamed at the praise.

"If it's not too impolite to ask, what is your position here? Are you some kind of noble or elder here?"

Powerful adepts were rarely free actors. Once an independent adept got powerful enough, every nearby power would start courting them with various benefits, out of fear and greed. Under such circumstances, staying independent was very difficult, and required a very stubborn and peculiar personality.

"Some kind of noble or elder?" Darayush repeated with amusement.

"Brother Marcus, I am the City Lord of this place! You are looking at the ruler of the great city of Behis and all of its various vassal cities."

Marcus gave him a surprised look. He honestly hadn't expected Darayush to be such a prestigious figure here. He was basically casually chatting with the local equivalent of Gaius and the other academy leaders, then?

He supposed it made sense. Who would be better placed to detect outside incursions from a great distance and quickly respond, if not one of the great powers that ruled the planet?

He couldn't imagine Gaius going out to personally confront an out-of-world incursion, though. There is no way that coward would risk his own life in such a manner. He'd send a subordinate to confirm things were safe first.

"What about you, Brother Marcus?" Darayush asked.

"Are you also a leader of your own nation back home?"

"No," Marcus said, shaking his head.

"I am merely one of the elders of Great Sea Academy. We are one of the great powers of my world, but I am merely an elite member, nothing more."

"That makes sense," Darayush said.

"I suppose it would be irresponsible for a nation to send their leader on an expedition to another world. I know that if I tried to do that, my advisors would do everything in their power to try and stop me. I imagine they are already about to give me an earful about going out to confront you on my own like this."

"It was a rather risky move," Marcus remarked.

"Does this place not suffer from abyssal incursions?"

"Ah, so you are familiar with the Enemy of the World," Darayush said.

"Truly, is there any place free of their evil?"

According to Celer, yes. However, this sector of space was relatively close to one of the main battlegrounds of the war against the Abyss, so Marcus did not expect there to be many such worlds in the vicinity of Tasloa.

"I do not know how things are in your world, but Lord Wisdom has been quite effective in foiling their schemes and preventing them from establishing any beachheads on our soil. I actually wasn't too afraid of you being Abyssals," Darayush exiled.

"Is Lord Wisdom a god?" Marcus asked.

"The greatest of gods," Darayush asserted.

What followed was a quick explanation about how the local divine powers were set up. It was actually shockingly simple – there was only one pantheon on the planet, which had been led by an extremely powerful head god called 'Lord Wisdom'. It had been this way since anyone could remember, meaning the planet was virtually free of the usual divine bickering and clashes between different pantheons that usually plagued planets.

He would have to ask Celer how likely or unlikely such a setup was the next time he saw her.

While Darayush was explaining things, they finally reached the entrance to the inner city. The gate was vast, and the walls around it were painted bright blue and decorated with many golden statues. They were curiously undefended, but the reason for that became apparent when they approached and the two golden statues of enormous lions suddenly came to life and turned their heads to look at them.

"Don't worry, so long as you are with me, they will not harm you," Darayush said, motioning for them to continue through the gate.

"However, if for some strange reason you find yourself outside of the city's walls without an escort, please don't try to force your way in recklessly. The guardians known no mercy, only duty."

"So leaving the city is easy, but getting back in is the problem," Renatus stated.

His three students were mostly silent along the way, dazzled by all the strange sights around them and reluctant to involve themselves in the conversation between their teacher and this highly important figure. But, as usual, Renatus was the most brazen and talkative of his students.

"Exactly, young man," Darayush said with an amused smile. Some leaders might have been insulted at a lowly student trying to talk to them, but Darayush didn't seem to be that prideful.

"Do not worry, however. I will make sure you have appropriate escort at all times while inside the city."

That was something Marcus did not doubt for a second.

Darayush led Marcus and his three students into the palace complex, and then gave them a tour of the building, showing off his wealth and power by leading them through hallways lined with beautiful statues and murals, preserved heads and furs of defeated monsters, and other interesting things. Marcus took the whole thing in stride, nodding at various things and offering token praise at regular intervals, so it wouldn't seem like he was looking down on the… City Lord? King?

Emperor? He realized he actually had no idea what formal title Darayush had here as a leader.

In any case, it would be a mistake to say that Marcus was wholly unimpressed. Darayush's palace was very impressive… in terms of wealth and aesthetics. It was just that Marcus had never cared too much about luxury. In all honesty, he thought the giant lion statues guarding the gate outside were more impressive than this, as the magic that animated them seemed old and powerful, whereas the contents of the palace were mostly just expensive, difficult to acquire things with little practical benefit.

Darayush did point out a few of the monster trophies that came from beasts he personally slew, and that was somewhat interesting. Especially the head of a young dragon, its red scales still vibrant and gleaming in death.

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The trophy head impressed Agron enough to make him break his silence and ask for more details on the circumstances surrounding it.

"Funny story about this," Darayush said.

"I had to fight pretty hard with my craftsmen to have this made. True dragons are powerful creatures, and every part of them is incredibly rare and valuable. Having the dragon's head preserved like this, as a mere trophy, did not sit well with some of my subjects. They felt it was a waste. Sadly for them, I can be quite stubborn when I care about something."

"Are there many dragons here?" Agron asked.

"No. They were a common menace once, but as the power of Behis rose, we started to thin their numbers in our territory. They are quite rare these days, which is a good thing. As glorious and profitable as it is to kill one, they are a dread presence in the lands they inhabit," Darayush explained.

Marcus could attest to that. He, too, had once killed a dragon. Also a young one, just like the one whose head was mounted here on Darayush's wall. Even a young dragon like this was a spirit-rank magical creature, and they were so innately strong, versatile, and cunning that it was generally agreed among adepts that they should be thought of as being at least one rank higher than they actually were. If Darayush was able to personally kill one like he says, he was a unification mage at least.

They continued the palace tour. Unlike him, his students had never experienced something like this, so they were visibly impressed and awed by things they were seeing. Marcus was glad for their presence. Their enthusiasm clearly pleased Darayush, and allowed Marcus to stay silent most of the time.

The palace complex had a large library (filled with books Marcus and his students couldn't read), a walled-off plaza with a huge fountain, an observatory tower, a craftsman workshop, and a large kitchen. A lot of servant staff was moving around the palace, and guards were standing at every notable entrance, but few of them dared to interrupt Darayush as he led them from place to place. They didn't seem terrified of the man, which was encouraging, but clearly they didn't think he was very approachable either.

His current friendliness probably wasn't something most people got to see.

The most interesting place Darayush showed them, at least in Marcus's opinion, were the palace gardens. They were huge, and filled with many flowers, trees, and bushes that Marcus did not recognize. Quite a few of them were magical, some of the radiating powerful magic. Acquiring powerful plants like these was impressive enough, but the fact Darayush could keep them alive and thriving in garden conditions like this was even more so.

Powerful magical plants were notoriously difficult to nurture outside of their natural wild habitats.

These gardens were almost like their own miniature world. Most of the outdoor sections of the palace were hot and dry to an unpleasant degree, but the moment Marcus stepped into the gardens they were greeted with cool air, the sound of water, and a lush, calming environment. Marcus quite liked the place. The presence of so many magical plants gave it a bit of a spiritual quality. He could tell the plants hadn't been arranged randomly, but instead formed some kind of esoteric pattern that intrigued him.

He couldn't help but study it as they walked, trying to puzzle out its mysteries.

His internal musings were briefly interrupted by a commotion caused by the caterpillar sitting on Renatus's shoulder. It tried to take a bite out of a bush of brilliant white roses that radiated powerful magic to Marcus's senses, but thankfully Renatus managed to stop it before it could cause an incident.

"That bush is protected by a powerful ward," said Darayush, giving the caterpillar in Renatus's arms an amused look. It was currently screaming in protest and trying to wriggle itself out of his grasp.

"Even if it managed to jump out of his arms, it wouldn't get anywhere. Not to mention that even without external wards, spiritlight roses are hardly defenseless. Their thorns are both spiritual and physical."

Eventually they came upon a large tree in the middle of the garden. By this point, Marcus was heavily immersed in trying to figure out the pattern the garden followed. He had already noticed that the garden was divided into four parts, symbolizing the elements of earth, water, air, and fire, but the tree at the center suddenly put his various observations into proper context.

A tree to unite the elements and connect heaven and earth. A bridge to connect all things…

The world around him faded away as he comprehended the logos of this place. Perhaps because he was in a whole different world, but a lot of the logos he encountered here was wholly new to him, and he was eager to absorb it. In an instant, he isolated the logos around him into a multitude of smaller fragments and then drew them in, integrating them into his spirit's microcosm.

The process wasn't too difficult, but it did take some time. By the time he came to his senses, Darayush and his students were seated on one of the benches installed in the garden, eating some kind of juicy fruit off a platter in front of them while they waited for him to finish. They didn't seem to have waited for too long.

Marcus wandered over to them.

"Finished, Brother Marcus?" Darayush asked casually.

"I like this place," Marcus said simply.

There was little reason for Darayush to be angry about Marcus absorbing the logos of this place. Unlike mana, logos did not get consumed when one isolated logos fragments from things and integrated them into their own magic. Isolating a logos fragment was akin to creating a lesser copy based on the original pattern, which served merely to inspire, and was not damaged or lessened in the process.

As such, adepts typically did not interfere with other adepts while they sought to understand the logos of the things around them, unless the two were enemies.

"This might be the most honest praise you've given me today," Darayush commented with a sly smile. Was he that obvious?

"Is your spirit a tree, Brother Marcus?"

"It is," Marcus confirmed.

"If I'm not wrong, yours is fire."

"Correct," the man nodded. His orange eyes shone brighter for a moment, like a flame burning more fiercely, before calming down again into their usual dull glow.

"Fire is the holiest of the elements, and the one most fit for a king."

"I shall not comment on this," Marcus told him.

"But since I come from a place called Great Sea Academy and practice a tree-based technique, you can probably guess my opinion on this matter."

Great Sea's main rival was Heartfire Academy, however, and they would no doubt agree with this sentiment. Thankfully for Darayush, Marcus wasn't too invested in this rivalry, so his comment didn't really anger him.

"A tree is not bad. It is a holy symbol in its own right," Darayush graciously conceded. He motioned to Marcus's students.

"Your students have told me they are somewhat tired from all of today's events, so we should stop here for today. I will find a guest room for you so you can rest for a while and discuss things in private. We can speak again in the evening."

Marcus didn't expect any conversation here to stay private between them, but he did appreciate a break. This excursion had gone pretty well so far, but it was quite clear to him by now that Darayush wanted something out of him.

The only question was what.

Darayush brought Marcus and his students to a large guest room. Like most things in the palace, it was extremely lavish – it was probably meant for visiting foreign dignitaries. Agron, Renatus, and Diocles, worn down by their passage through dimensions, their time walking in the scorching light of the local sun, and all the exotic sights they witnessed today, quickly fell to sleep on giant bed in the room.

In the corner of the room, the caterpillars were sitting on top of the bags of magic moss they had brought with them, happily munching away.

As for Marcus, he wasn't tired. Instead, he was looking at a bunch of books he had taken from the palace library with Darayush's permission. He couldn't actually read them, as he was neither familiar with the language nor the letters used to record the words. Darayush's translation spell allowed him to make himself understood by Marcus and his students, but it did not do the opposite. However, Marcus did not need to understand the text to get something useful out of the books.

They were great focus objects for divination spells, the result of which were perfectly understandable.

Marcus wasn't exactly a divination magic expert, but he had spent six years wandering all over the world. In that time, he had gotten quite good at a type of divination that informed the caster about the society, social norms, and other basic facts of the area they were in. After all, he frequently found himself in completely novel locations where people spoke unusual dialects and might not necessarily trust outsiders much.

Although their time in the city of Behis and the palace was highly restricted and monitored, it was enough, coupled with a right set of material objects, to give Marcus enough material for the spell.

The people in the city were pretty much standard humans, the sort that lived on Tasloa as well. Darayush's glowing orange eyes could be seen on a number of other people in the palace as well, but they too were just humans. All of the people with glowing eyes were adepts, and they probably all practiced the same fire-aligned foundational technique that produced this effect. Foundational techniques that produced visible magical effects on the practitioner were rare on Tasloa, but not unknown.

Behis was a kingdom, but all kingdoms here were basically one city ruling over a collection of vassal cities. Thus, Darayush was both the City Lord of Behis, and the king of the state formed by all these vassal cities that swore fealty to it. There was no division between the state, adeptal organizations, and temple organizations the way there was on Tasloa. In theory, everything was subordinate to the king, though in practice a lot of it seemed to be very autonomous.

For instance, every vassal city had its own City Lord, and they basically ran their settlement according to their whims… so long as they didn't do anything overtly treasonous and paid proper tribute to Behis.

Marcus could sense the complicated spellwork in the room, and recognized a few of the enchantments as spying elements. However, he ignored them. He didn't attempt to hide his divinations, since he didn't feel he was doing anything wrong. If Darayush thought this was out of line, he could complain to him when the next time they met.

The sleep of his three students was uneasy and did not last long. After a few hours, all three of them woke up.

"How long were we out?" Renatus asked, yawning. He froze.

"And did the caterpillars seriously eat a quarter of the moss already?"

"Do you seriously want to keep dragging those bags around?" Agron asked rhetorically.

"Let them eat it all, I say."

Marcus hoped they could preserve at least a few of the moss clumps to bring with them back to Tasloa. He may have pretended the moss was inconsequential in front of Darayush, but he suspected the giant's blood had affected it and that it may have interesting properties… and he wasn't sure how long it would be before he could get more of it straight from the source.

"What will we do when they eat it all?" Diocles said.

"Hopefully we won't stay here long enough for that to become a problem," Marcus told them.

"But if things get complicated, we can always ask Darayush to buy some cheap herbs for us, the way we do back home. I have a stash of various gems on me. At least some of them should be as valuable here as they are back home."

Marcus typically stored his wealth in gems, both magical and mundane. They were small and easy to carry, and usually not too difficult to turn into whatever local currency was used for buying things. Plus, he could use them for his spells. Two birds with one stone.

"Are you three alright?" Marcus asked.

"You didn't get sunstroke or something?"

"We're not that delicate," Agron said, almost sounding offended at the question.

"The heat is not that different from Adria in the summer," Diocles said.

"It's just that we spent all that time in a dark and damp cave, so it was a bit of a shock."

"Yeah," Renatus agreed, looking around nervously.

"Teacher, are we, umm…"

"You can assume we're being watched at all times, yes," Marcus said, guessing his thoughts. Even if they weren't his thoughts, he wanted to make them aware of the issue.

"Don't say or do anything that would embarrass me, understood?"

The three of them shared a silent look with each other. He really hoped they said nothing about the fallen giant and mysterious inescapable caves while they were in there, or else he would be very cross with them.

The other potentially catastrophic secret to reveal would be Renatus's divine blessing… however, Marcus had faith in the boy's ability to keep that secret. He had been very good at this thus far. Though it occurred to Marcus that Renatus's storage bubbles were his best bet of smuggling something out of this place if such a thing became necessary. Marcus did not intend to betray Darayush's hospitality without cause, but depending on how things developed… well, it was something to keep in mind.

"Don't worry teacher! We'll be on our best behavior!" Diocles said proudly.

"We would never tarnish your reputation!"

The other two gave a much more subdued and hesitant agreement to this.

"Teacher, did you notice how much metal they're using everywhere?" Renatus asked.

"How are they doing that? I know this Darayush guy is some kind of ruler here and it's a palace, but even in the city we passed on our way here, people were sporting metal buttons and knives like it was the most normal thing."

"I noticed it too," said Marcus, though he had no real answer for Renatus. The fact didn't surprise him too much, since the first portal he found led to a cave lined up with metal machinery. Clearly they had access to a lot of iron, and their craftsmen were a lot better than those of Silver League.

"Perhaps their mines are more bountiful than ours? Though it might also be that they possess secrets of metallurgy that dwarf ours. Darayush did say fire is holy here. Fire is often associated with smithing. A lot of the buildings have transparent glass windows too, which is another fire-related thing."

Marcus also noticed that the letters in the book he used for his divinations were far too regular to have been made by human hands. They seemed to have been made with the aid of some kind of machine that simply stamped the letters onto the page. Darayush also used some kind of elaborate wrist device for his spellcasting instead of staff or a wand. So all things considered, people here seemed to be fairly good with artifice of all sorts.

"Some of the weapons used by the guards were also strange," Agron remarked.

"The long metal tubes on wooden handles?" Marcus asked. Agron nodded.

"I managed to divine an answer to that. They fire lead bullets at high speeds, propelled by some alchemical mixture. Like a more lethal sling."

The more common knowledge something was, the easier it was to divine with his spells. And fortunately for Marcus these 'guns' were pretty mundane knowledge for the inhabitants of the city.

"Aren't slings toys?" Renatus asked.

"Slings can be very deadly in right hands," Agron said seriously.

"I saw a tribeswoman kill a dire wolf with one. Hit it straight between the eyes and shattered its skull in one hit."

"Halfling adepts of old had a knack for slings," Marcus said.

"A lead bullet, if propelled with enough force, can kill you as surely as a spell."

"Alright, alright," Renatus sighed.

"I get it. Not toys. Not like I was going to provoke the heavily-armed guards anyway."

In the evening, another unfamiliar mage came into the room to invite Marcus into a private talk with Darayush. Like the City Lord, the unknown mage was under a translation spell and could make himself understood just fine… getting the translation spell out of Darayush or someone else around here, if at all possible, really should be a priority. It would be such incredible help if he wanted to explore any other worlds in the future.

That aside, his three students were not invited to this conversation. Marcus had no complaints about that, though he was a little concerned when the unknown mage remarked they are allowed to explore the palace on their own in the meantime. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of them wandering about this place without him. No doubt Darayush's agents would be monitoring their movements, but every place had competing power groups and someone might get funny ideas.

Still, he also didn't think it would be reasonable of him to demand that they spend all their time locked up in this one room, so he reluctantly gave them his blessing. However, he made a big show of conjuring a large ectoplasmic blue serpent and ordering it to trail after them at all times. He phrased it as a way for him to monitor them so they wouldn't do anything stupid, but it was really more of a warning to anyone in the palace not to hurt his students.

The serpent was not an actual summon, but more like an extension of him, and was able to defend them as well as watch.

It was perhaps an excessively aggressive gesture. Certainly the unknown mage didn't seem too pleased about it. However, Marcus wanted to make his position clear.

After doing this, he went off to join Darayush in his private meeting chamber.

Darayush didn't waste his time with pleasantries. He immediately got down to business.

"Can you check if you are still able to connect to your world without actually opening a rift between worlds?" Darayush asked.

"I can," Marcus confirmed.

"Please do so," Darayush politely asked, motioning with his hand towards the center of the room.

"Here?" Marcus asked, baffled.

"Now?"

"There is no room in the city more heavily warded than this, except perhaps my treasury," Darayush said.

"It's fine."

Marcus performed the first part of the rift opening spell, doing little more than trying to home in on his beacon back home on Tasloa. Well, one of the beacons.

He had to admit, when Darayush told him to try and connect back with his world, he got a strong feeling of dread. He thought perhaps that he had overlooked something, and that his way home would be barred for some reason. However, as he performed the spell, his mind immediately relaxed. He could lock onto his beacon just fine.

There shouldn't be any problems getting them back home, when he decided to do so.

"I see nothing wrong?" Marcus told Darayush, mystified.

"What was I supposed to look out for?"

"So you can connect to your world without nay issues?" Darayush pressed.

"Yes," Marcus nodded.

"I don't want to open the actual rift yet, but I'm certain I could. I guess it's possible for something to try and collapse the actual rift when I start creating it, but I already know how to deal with that."

He already managed to power through the influence of the dead giant and get them out of the strange caves beneath his tower. If he had to, he could do it again.

Darayush turned the stone cylinder Marcus gave him earlier in his hand, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Amazing. Is this because you are using these stone beacons? Or because you are not native to this world?" he mumbled.

"Well, someone from your world certainly managed to connect to mine," Marcus pointed out.

"I sent people to check out the site you describe. I have yet to hear from them, but I believe your story," Darayush said, nodding.

"Strange, though. We have tried to form connections to other worlds many times in the past, however, and it never worked."

"Why?" Marcus asked.

"Can you show me the spell you were using? Maybe I can point out the flaws."

On one hand, this would involve Marcus providing a bunch of magical expertise for free. On the other hand, dimensional magic like this was extremely rare and precious, and examining even a defective one could give him important insights.

"There shouldn't be any flaws. The records say our ancestors used spells such as these to connect to other worlds all the time. It may sound strange, but this place used to be an important crossroads where many different worlds would meet and deal with each other," Darayush explained.

"Hundreds, even thousands, of minor, peripheral worlds would converge here on Sixth Manifold to see fame and fortune, to trade, and sometimes to carve a place for themselves."

"Then what happened?" Marcus asked.

"The records are sketchy," Darayush said, still rubbing his chin and staring at the stone cylinder in his hand.

"But I do know we were caught in the crossfire of two powerful interplanetary empires. There was a massive battle in the orbit of the planet, involving thousands upon thousands of void ships. The debris rained down upon our cities for weeks, sowing destruction everywhere. The remains of this battle are still orbiting our planet, destroying any vessel we try to send up."

Darayush suddenly looked up from the cylinder, noticing that Marcus was very quiet and giving him a strange look.

"My apologies," Darayush said.

"I've noticed that you seem to come from a far more… primitive place than our own. How much of that made sense to you?"

"I think I mostly understand," said Marcus, annoyed at his attitude.

"I will admit you are much more advanced than I realized."

"We have lost a lot of our technological and magical might in the aftermath of the battle. Not only were the old cities destroyed, but all links to other planets shut down and we have never been able to re-establish them. It was only recently that we have restored some of our prosperity, but even then, the rifts remained stubbornly closed," Darayush said.

Marcus was somewhat amused by the fact this planet's elite wanted to have rifts opening on their planet. He could easily understand their logic, since even on Tasloa the powerful factions sometimes tried to profit from rifts leading to less hostile places, and Marcus had intended to do something similar here, but it was still a strange situation in his eyes.

"So you think the void ship battle has something to do with it?"

"It cannot be a coincidence that all contact was cut in the aftermath," Darayush said.

"But to tell you the truth, most people think it's only indirectly connected to the battle itself. The real reason is probably the fact our planet is sapient."

Marcus gave Darayush a baffled look.

"Come," said Darayush, putting the stone cylinder in his pocket and motioning towards the door.

"Let me show you the observatory."