The Fool's Freedom

Alan watched in amazement as the army of homunculi scattered across the tunnels only to return carrying a bunch of treasures, more books, vases, crystals, and gems unlike anything he had seen on Earth. There was also a variety of odd trinkets and tools with unknown purpose. They filled the circle between the rest of the hall and the dais with the constant stream of strange treasures.

There were even a few chests of gold, which stunned Alan the most. Gold chests were something seen in stories and fairytales, yet here they were. Granted, the chests were a bit old and dirty, and the gold itself didn’t give off that magical glint one could hear through their eyes. It was still chests of gold and he did his best to not try and jump into it.

As the arrangements seemed to come to an end and Ig-Thun was done giving orders to his army, the true ritual began.

“Do we need the demon? He can’t do much.” Alan asked. It was true enough, the demon had good sight and a single [Soundless] skill. Considering he was not sneaking or stealing, there was no point in having to listen to the Xil’s whining while risking his life.

“Demon is a good target. Yes, he will draw things. His prison is magical, very special. Dimension pests love magic.”

“Huh”

“I told you he will sacrifice me! The freak is fucking crazy! Kill him, now! I demand it!”

Ig-Thun’s face snapped to the cube and then slowly moved to Alan, “It speaks?”

“Uh, yes. It does.” Alan said.

“Demon refuses to speak to me. Why?”

“Because I can’t you fucking freak! Tell him his mind is like sewage and my skill simply can’t make it through all the shit! I managed the first few times, but then it got more and more difficult. It’s like he mutated to resist me.”

“Xil, the demon is saying that you have… some sort of mind protection, I guess? It’s hard to understand all the technical terms,” Alan explained, tuning out the still-raging Xil from his mind.

“Oh.” Ig-Thun simply said and turned away, done with the topic. “It’s time. Be prepared pinkskin Alan. If we live, we gain a lot. I won’t forget your help. Whatever is left after my ask, is yours to trade or keep.”

Alan’s heart skipped a beat looking at all the gold, but he shook his head. He was still not clear what exactly was going to happen, but it sounded entertaining at the very least. And Ig-Thun seemed to be speaking much better.

The ritual itself consisted of a lot of chanting, some candles, more chanting, and strange smooth blue crystals that Alan felt a strange pull towards. Overall, it was boring.

His adrenaline fully settled down and he sat and waited as Ig-Thun spent another hour drawing complicated symbols over the ones etched in the bronze dais, consulting his strange book, and saying strange words in a rhythm that led to parts of the circle glowing. He could practically feel the mana in the air.

If this was ritual magic, Alan was not interested in learning at all. It was way too much work. He noticed the man was holding one of the blue crystals at all times, and as soon as its glow disappeared one of the homunculi would bring him another one.

As he started feeling sleepy, Alan finally sensed a change. And what a change it was.

The hall suddenly looked as if it was underwater, and it felt the same way. Things floated up and sideways, then fell to the floor as an invisible pressure descended that made Alan’s ears pop. It was getting harder to breathe and he gasped, fighting for oxygen. The terror of suffocation took hold of his mind, but as soon as he started despairing everything stopped.

The pressure disappeared just as it had come as the empty space directly above the center of the ritual dais cracked. It was a single crack at first, then it grew like a spiderweb until all was sucked into nothing, leaving a white stain upon the world. Alan hungrily sucked in air, barely having enough attention to spare to the strange phenomena.

There was a different kind of pressure spreading, this time Alan felt the danger in his bones and fear the likes of which he had never known was the only reason he didn’t try to run away as his legs had become stiff and his body refused to move.

He caressed the two new potions Ig-Thun had given him; the monocle had called them Arzuan Field Healing Stimulant, and supposedly they wouldn’t make him sleep for twenty hours but would still deal with most wounds and even provide a good energy boost and some mana regeneration. Alan felt weirdly excited at the prospect of drinking one.

The new type of pressure remained but became more tolerable as Ig-Thun’s chant became more chaotic. All the way through few of the homunculi changed the smooth blue crystals around the circle that had gone dim.

“Here they come. Don’t leave me to die!” the demon that had been oddly silent until now spoke in Alan’s mind. The cube was sat a few steps away, as that was Ig-Thun’s instruction. What he expected was going to go for it, he didn’t know.

Unfortunately, it became clear quite fast, as a bunch of small very, very familiarly shaped beings suddenly started dropping from the crack in space. They took a second to decide what to do, and then as one rushed towards Ig-Thun, Alan and the demon, with most prioritizing the demon.

“What the fuck?!” it was rats again. Or something rat-shaped. The distinction didn’t matter as Alan had flashes of his last fight with the vermin. Incredible rage overcame him and with a wide swing of his spear, he took at least three of the things and watched as they dissipated into specks of mana. He felt no resistance or impact.

You have slain: Lesser Dimensional Mana Leech (13)

You have slain: Lesser Dimensional Mana Leech (14)

You have slain: Lesser Dimensional Mana Leech (13)

They kept coming, and he kept killing. It was free levels as the creatures ignored him and went for the demon, who was none too happy about the fact.

“Bastards, you want a piece of me? HUH? YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME? Do something you fucking moron!”

Alan didn’t mind at all. The demon seemed fine and if it meant he wouldn’t lose another set of clothes or get his legs filled with holes again, it was a good thing. In front of him, a bunch of homunculi were catching the rats as they kept dropping out of the crack, making them disappear with a single chomp.

Still, there were many that made it to Alan and he wasn’t complaining.

Level up!

You have reached level 18!

+ 3 Attribute Points

The level up came fast and he grinned. The rat-like bastards had no end, but they came in small waves through the small cracks. He still couldn’t quite comprehend what they were or why they were pouring out, but it didn’t matter.

He was trying to conserve [Mind Jab] for something more dangerous and relied only on his spear. The wave finally thinned and ended but not before he leveled up again.

Level up!

You have reached level 19!

+ 3 Attribute Points

“That wasn’t so bad,” Alan said. He was a bit sweaty and out of breath, nothing a few minutes of rest couldn’t fix. He had around 10 free attribute points now and considered allocating them to give himself a small boost. Magic seemed like the best option, as it would provide him more mana for more [Mind Jab] casts.

“It wasn’t so bad because you are a fucking leech. Talk to me again when soul-sucking monsters try to eat YOU. Fucking pricks. Letting me do all the work. Just you wait…”

Alan ignored the pissed-off demon. He didn’t wait to see the new enemy as he put all 10 points into Magic, giving himself a total of twenty. He felt something deep inside of him grow larger, but it also felt half-empty.

Fuck.

Apparently rising his mana reservoir didn’t come with mana itself, and it had to replenish itself naturally. His regeneration did pick up, though, and the mana-rich environment only made it better.

The crack in space grew a bit larger and Alan saw some of the homunculi circle around Ig-Thun, ready to protect the man, who was busy holding the big book he had consulted every step of the way, still chanting and occasionally tracing the air with a finger that left glowing marks which disappeared in a flash as soon as they formed the sufficient symbol.

All of this seemed like too much work for a powerful thing such as the System, but Alan was no expert. If it worked, it worked.

Something bigger crawled out of the crack and a few others followed it. Its shape changed and morphed, never staying the same for more than a few seconds. The creature lunged at Ig-Thun but a bunch of homunculi intercepted it, throwing themselves all over the thing and biting down with their glowing teeth. Since when did their teeth glow? Still, Alan was glad he had not suffered a similar fate, it looked painful. There was no blood though, as their teeth simply tore off chunks of mana that disappeared in their maws.

The other two, thankfully a bit smaller if that mattered at all, went for the cube instead. The blobs of indeterminate shape grew legs similar to a crab and skittered forward. Alan hoped they would go for the demon too, but he had no such luck as one of them went straight for him.

The rest of the homunculi, and there was enough to cover the whole hall, simply stood around waiting to protect Ig-Thun, uncaring about Alan and the demon. Not that he could blame them.

“Alright weirdo, come at me,” It was not much of a battle cry but it would have to do.

The thing approached without changing pace, slowly but with enough confidence that Alan started feeling uncomfortable just waiting. He brandished his spear as Davis had shown him and swung when the creature was close enough.

The spear went clean through the thing and exited the other side, throwing Alan off-balance. A deep gap remained where the spear had passed, but it was gone in an instant and the creature attacked.

“Fuck!” Alan cursed and stabbed, dodging a slow-moving leg. The spear once again went in with no resistance. The creature didn’t react. This was bad.

Alan dropped pulled his spear and stepped backwards in a clumsy dodge. He kept backing up thinking of solutions. He cast [Mind Jab] and the result astonished him as a circular hole suddenly appeared in the creature as if it had been shot. It flailed its legs before they dissipated, and the whole body fell on the ground before morphing into a wolf and soundlessly snarling at Alan. The quiet was disorienting.

He cast [Mind Jab] twice in a row, carefully trying to stay aware of how much mana he had left. The ordeal with the dusk wolves was still fresh in his mind and as much as Ig-Thun had helped him, Alan highly doubted the man would ruin his long-awaited ritual to save his ass if he fainted due to mana exhaustion.

Two more holes appeared in the creature, which again lost its shape. Finally, having lost its patience it morphed into a wiggling mass of mana, and a tentacle shot out and coiled around one of Alan’s legs and pulled. He felt the world turn as he fell on his back.

The monster stood still, content at having made contact with him. Alan got up with a few curses and tried to pull the tentacle away, but it simply reformed where his hands tore at it. It was doing something. He could feel it now, his mana reserves getting lower and lower.

His head started thumping with the telltale sign of a new headache.

Oh no.

The demon’s voice screamed in his mind, “The dagger! Use the cat dagger!”

So that’s what it does.

Alan poured a big chunk of mana into the dagger, feeling worse for it. The feline skull’s eyes started shining and he stabbed. There was a soundless shriek as the dagger cut through the creature’s mass, making it melt away from the blade. Alan stared at the dagger, then at the creature that seemed to be trying to morph again, but this time the cut was not closing. He knew it was screaming even if he couldn’t physically hear it.

“Come here, fucker.” He took a few steps towards it and made a horizontal cut with the dagger. Then another, and another.

The creature screamed louder and Alan clutched at his chest. Thankfully, it dissipated into nothing and the sound disappeared.

You have slain: Lesser Dimensional Mana Leech (21)

No level up.

“HURRY UP, FUCK.”

“I am coming, shut up.”

He ran towards the other creature. It was simply sitting on top of the cube content to feed on it. Alan’s dagger cut from one end to the other and the creature gave him the same painful sensation in his chest, before dissipating.

This is easy.

You have slain: Lesser Dimensional Mana Leech (22)

Level up!

You have reached level 20!

+ 3 Attribute Points

Alan turned, hoping to get into the action with the biggest Mana Leech, but it seemed to have been dealt with, not without victims. Multiple homunculi lay shriveled up and dry, almost as if they were about to fall apart into ash. Was this what happened when someone lost all of their mana? Or was it a homunculi thing?

He felt sorry for the little monsters. They had died protecting their family and their only sin was that they were ugly, for which he had judged them. It would probably take him some time to adjust himself to not judge every alien thing as evil and hostile due to their looks.

Does this count as racism?

“Hey Xil-“

“SHUT UP! Slow ass motherfucker, do you know how much it hurts?! Fuck you-!” What the fuck was up with that guy?

Another message in the back of his head drew his attention and Alan grinned as if he had won the lottery.

You can advance one of your skills.

This was it. His ticket out of being a weak asshole and straight to a regular asshole. Hopefully.

He looked towards the crack hanging in the air, ever so slowly growing larger. It was widening fast, but there seemed to be time before the next attack came if there was a next attack. He didn’t really know what the goal was. Ig-Thun was looking like he was struggling. There was a whole pile of blue stones that had lost their luster at his feet and a chain of homunculi brought him more and more with each passing minute.

Alan considered his options. He had to think fast. [Efficient Basic Movement] was almost useless to him in this situation, while [Mind Jab] was his only means of magical attack. He didn’t know if advancing the first skill would do him any good, but moving better was one of his biggest issues, especially considering his lack of stamina and constant pain.

Still, [Mind Jab] was proper magic. He had managed to derive [Mind Shield] from it, and making it better could open more doors and give more information.

Fuck, what do I do?!

The crack in space suddenly vibrated and all color drained from the hall. Ig-Thun looked to be screaming as he was pushed back by some invisible force, his iron base leaving marks upon the carefully inscribed bronze platform. Alan couldn’t hear him. A foot made its way through the hole. Then another. The torso followed at a strange angle and last came the arms. The thing slowly rose, a loose humanoid shape with proportions that were all wrong. It was made out of swirling mana but some parts of it almost looked solid.

The group of homunculi rushed at the creature and shriveled up upon contact.

Alan was frozen. The demon screamed something in his mind, but he paid no attention.

With one last clear thought, he upgraded his skill.