Bishop was angry. He was already behind schedule as the last town had some women that he had taken a liking to. They were his age, prime figures, and his favorite thing, powerless. Having his way with the women was something that was expected to happen; he just didn’t expect it to be so intoxicating. He had spent a few hours instead of the allotted one with these women. When it was time to leave finally, he realized they were behind, which meant they had to rush more than his comfort.

  For an hour or two, the trek had gone smoothly, with no issues. That was until he noticed the caravan of slaves had stopped. He had no idea, but he was not happy. The client he was shipping over the slaves was not known for patience or forgiveness, which made him all the more irritated. Inspecting what the holdup was, Bishop was surprised to see a group of such handsome and beautiful young people.

  Perhaps his day was turning around. That was until they attacked Bishop, then he got pissed once more. The fight was fine, they were adequate but to Bishop, a rank above them, most of their attacks were not strong enough to do any damage. That was until the weird lightning creatures showed up and paralyzed his body. He was unable to move as the stupid avian kept attacking him.

  “ENOUGH!” Bishop screamed. He pulled out a wand, and his face contorted into one of pure malice. A conjured robe and cloak manifested over his body. It was pristine white with golden trim and lighter golden designs on it. The wand was made of an ivory wood. Golden light erupted out of the wand, sending Tycen flying backwards.

  While Team Wisp was doing their job and causing mayhem, Levi had spent the time attacking the other guards. He was doing a good enough job; most of the guards were his rank or lower, making for easy combat. His drones and Dameion did most of the work. Even Serenity stepped in to blow some fire on the guards. Piper, Izzy, and Bradley were all doing the same thing. Levi looked over to see that Tycen had gained the upper hand on Biship. He smirked until he felt a power that was definitely familiar: order.

  He turned and saw that Tycen was shot with a large blast of golden energy. It sent him flying into the air and off into the distance; Tycen was effectively out of the fight. Levi looked where Bishop was looking. It was at the other three adventurers. He chanted a spell so quickly that Levi had no time to react, in an instant the entire ground underneath Piper, Izzy, and Bradley erupted in golden light.

  Their screams were drowned out in the rush of the golden blast. After the lights disappeared, all of them had sustained significant injuries. Levi rushed to them, and each of them was knocked out completely unconscious, with serious wounds covering their bodies. Their skin was burnt, and some areas were third-degree burns covering their entire bodies.

  Levi’s eyes flashed. Tears started to form in his eyes. The rest of his team was out of commission. It was all up to Levi now.

  “What are you going to do now?” Bishop mocked. “All your friends are gone and it looked like you didn’t do anything to save them… pathetic.”

  “Shut up,” Levi said. Team Wisp stopped the lightning attacks and switched to the storm. Dark clouds formed around each of the wisps as red bolts flashed between Crystal, Willow, and Carbon. Serenity grew to her full dragon size, and a vapor clone appeared and formed into a flying disk for Levi to fly around the battlefield on.

  Dameion manifested and began attacking, and he sent orbs of varying colors to attack Bishop; golden orbs shot out of the Bishop’s wand, intercepting each of the void orbs. A small explosion happened when the two orbs collided. Levi hadn’t waited for that moment; however, he had started conjuring a void storm and released a lot more drones. Anza led a pack of twenty to deal with Bishop.

  The mimics worked in perfect unison, firing tentacles, biting at the orbs being fired, defending each other, and more. Blood started all over Bishop from bites, slashes, and the storm wisps. Bishop channeled more energy and fired several golden bolts directly at Levi; he dodged them as he had plenty of time to see before they attacked. Levi noticed the order magic bolts were killing several of the drones.

  He knew he would have to produce more after this battle, but he felt certain he was going to win. Suddenly, he felt a kick in his back, as Bishop had teleported right behind him and kicked him. Levi was sent flying off his flying disk. He was about to land hard on the ground when Serenity caught him. He felt his ribs and knew that they were broken. He grimaced in pain. The kick came so quick and so sudden.

  “You think your stupid summons are enough to beat me?” Bishop cried from the sky. He held out a potion and downed it. Levi assumed it was a healing potion. “ME?” he cackled like a villain about to lose the fight. “You’ll never reach my levels.”

  “This dude talks way too much,” Levi mainly said to his familiars.

  “Levi,” Anna’s hoarse voice croaked. “I can help.” Levi nodded as he heard her chant some words. Dark storm clouds formed behind Bishop, who turned to see the clouds. He smirked then held up his wand. A beam of golden light shot through and opened up the storm clouds. Not all of them, however. Hail the size of softballs fell from the sky and started pelting Levi.

  “Dope,” Levi said. “Good work Anna, hold on as long as you can.”

  “Hurry,” Anna said. Levi nodded and began conjuring his void storm attack.

  Several black orbs formed around Bishop; however, the storm hid their location. Preventing Bishop from seeing the massive move take place. Bishop was too preoccupied with all the other modes of attacks he couldn’t spare the aura senses for the powerful magical spell being cast.

  The black holes created a rip in reality. Beams of colors reminiscent of the Northern Lights pierced Bishop, each beam dealing significant damage. Bishop's body was recovering quickly and looked less like Swiss cheese and more like getting into a bad bar fight. Blood poured out of many wounds, leaving openings for Team Wisp. This time, they turned to fire and began attacking the many wounds over Bishop's body.

  When the storm cleared and the wisps returned, Bishop’s body lay on the ground, unrecognizable to the vile confident man.

  “My league will seek his revenge on you…” Bishop croaked. “I was one of the highest ranking officials in this area… and you killed, the League of Order is coming after you, Chaotic Paragon, even worse than you being a summoner…” Bishop spat at Levi’s feet. His face scrunched up.

  “That was very uncalled for,” Levi said. Bishop tried to spit again, but Anza shoved a tentacle down his throat, through his body, and out his rectum. Killing the League of Order official once and for all. “PIPER!” Levi remembered. He rushed over to see his girlfriend and his other friends barely breathing. He tried to give them all a potion, but their mouths were significantly burnt.

  There was also the matter of the five carts full of would-be slaves. With his team all dealing with their injuries, Levi knew he had a lot of work to do.

  “Dameion, go find Tycen,” he instructed. Dameion appeared and sent out several orbs of the void to search for Tycen. Levi stood up and drew a ritual circle with his wand under each of them. A dull red light shone out of the ground, and they began slowly healing their wounds. This ritual wouldn’t last more than five minutes, but some healing would be done.

  Levi summoned three cherubim-type entities. They specialized in healing magic. Each spent time assessing the injured and tending to the wounds. The process was long, but it had begun. Knowing that his partner was going to survive had dropped a huge weight off his chest. Levi hadn’t even known that he cared that much.

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  The thought of gaining something so great and losing it rocked Levi to the core. He didn’t handle his dad’s death well. He was sure that would handle it at least a little better. He knew one thing had to be changed: he had to learn how to control his anger. He let it cloud his judgement in and against an opponent that takes him seriously, that could have been his life.

  He thought all of this as he approached the barred carts. The people scurried to the opposite end of the cart, afraid of Levi. They looked at him with fear and trepidation.

  “Can you understand me?” Levi asked. No one responded; they all looked at him with fear. He nodded to himself and walked to the next cart, asking the same question. He checked four of the five carts and found the same results. Trying his best not to let his annoyance take over, Levi made his way to the final cart.

  “Can anyone understand me?” He asked.

  “I can,” a motherly voice said. She stood up from the back of the cart. She was wearing what amounted to a burlap sack to cover her frail body. She looked like she hadn’t eaten in years.

  “Who are you?” Levi asked.

  “I am Serenia,” she said. “We are from the Devour Village. These men came and took all of women and children as slaves, then killed the men.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Levi said, frowning. “How long ago?”

  “3 years, the first two carts at least, the last three were within a few days,” Serenia said. “Are you here to hurt us too?”

  “No,” Levi said. “I am here to help.” A few drones manifested next to Levi. “Go find enough meat to feed all five carts and some veggies as well. We’ll make a stew to get these people fed.” The drones nodded and then took off.

  “Will you let us out?” Serenia asked.

  “Eventually,” Levi said. “I don’t want mass panic, so everyone will stay in their carts until food is ready.”

  “I do not like it,” Serenia said. “Not one bit. However you’re the adventurer so I will follow your orders.”

  “Thank you,” Levi said. “In the meantime,” Levi pulled out several bottles of stamina potions. “These are all relatively low tier potions, but it should help you all recover before eating.” She took the bottles and offered more thanks. Levi did the same at every cart. Anna had turned to meditation to recover from the battle. Tycen was still nowhere to be found. Piper, Bradley, and Izzy were at least starting to look normal again; some of their skin was scabbing over and falling away.

  He walked next to the group being healed and took a seat. Sitting cross-legged, he knew that he had to check the system messages.

  Status: Progress Made - Levi Winters

  Attributes Total: 1837

  Enemy Defeated: League of Order Guardian (x10)

  Enemy Defeated: League of Order Bishop - Bishop Pura

  Hidden Quest Completed - Striking Above Your Weight

  Levi withdrew the star token in his hands. The large medallions brought him a bit of nostalgia. It had been some time since he first used a star token and officially began his progress as a proper magic user in his new world. He held the token turning it over in his hand seeing the three stars forming a perfect triangle. He absently rubbed his finger over the raised star.

  He knew he had a long journey until 4-star, and any advantage he could get he needed to get. So far, their brief journey had seen Levi progress a lot. The constant battles were great for his Wisdom and Vitality… not so great for strength and speed. He knew he had to use the tokens on those attributes, but a small piece of him wanted more power. Wisdom gave him more power, power enough to continue to beat enemies like the bishop.

  Levi decided to be sensible and put the tokens where he needed them. He placed the coin in his mouth and felt the power rush into him.

  Star Token - Rank 3 has been consumed.

  Levi gave the mental command: two for strength, two for speed, and one for wisdom. What? He still needed to get stronger.

  Status: Progress Made - Levi Winters

  Attributes Total: 2087

  

  “Excuse me, sir,” a female voice interrupted his thoughts. Levi stood up, turning to see the woman who had once been a slave call from the caged carts. He made his way over to the cart where the woman was now standing at the bars.

  “Yes,” Levi said. “I’m Levi… Levi Winters.”

  “Thank you Levi,” she said. “Might I ask you what the hesitation is for our release?”

  “Sure,” Levi said. “It’s to reduce mass panic. If you all are freed without direction there could be a lot of running around causing a lot of noise that could attract a monster.” He looked around, Anna had recovered, she looked at Levi making her way over to him. “We have already lost four of our members, and we’re mostly 3-star adventurers. My last teammate here, Anna, is not in any condition to fight again.”

  Serenia looked at him with defiant eyes, “so we can handle a monster!”

  “How many of you are magic users?” Levi asked. No one raised a hand, and Serenia looked down awkwardly.

  “Well the thing is…” Serenia started.

  “Nope,” Levi interrupted. “All of y’all would be slaughtered in seconds if a monster came here.”

  “Levi is correct,” Anna said. “Too much commotion, too many uncontrolled auras, is purchasing trouble when we have ample.”

  Serenia was clearly not happy with the decisions being made; however, she said nothing. Even if these two people were good, which she wasn’t sure they were, the fact that they were resistant to letting them free immediately gave her enough doubt. She would keep an eye on him and the others. She hoped she could understand more about the man.

  “You don’t believe us?” Levi said, shaking Serenia from her thoughts.

  “No,” Serenia said with a flat look.

  “Good,” Levi said with a smile. “Sometimes good ole skepticism is great!”

  “You are not filling me with any confidence to trust you, stranger,” Serenia said coldly.

  “That’s cause I’m not tryin to,” Levi said plainly. “I’m trying to assess the situation as best as I can with more than half of my team missing. I’m not gonna pretend like I know what you’re going through or what you’re experiencing but we were just attacked and almost wiped out… taking time to not have that happen again is gonna take some time.”

  “You seem more concerned with your life and the life of your team than ours,” Serenia said.

  “I’m sorry I made it seem that way,” Levi said. His face devoid of any remorse. “I don’t want there to be any confusion. I want it to be abundantly clear. I am more concerned with my life and my team’s life than yours.” Serenia’s face twisted in rage as she looked at the dark man before her. She folded her arms and turned her back on Levi. Levi shook his head and then walked away from the cart.

  “So?” Anna asked.

  “No questions why I’m antagonizing her?”

  “Maybe a year ago, or even 6 months, but I know something is brewing in that chaotic brain of yours,” Anna responded.

  “I do,” Levi chuckled. “Thank you. I say we leave them in the cages and take them back to the village.”

  “Interesting,” Anna mused. “Tell me more.”

  “It’ll be way too slow to have 60 normal rankers travelling all together. As far as I can sense there is some aura repression on the cages. That is our best bet to moving some many people.”

  Anna looked at Levi with an assessing look, then nodded. “I am surprised you want to do this. I thought that you would want to release them and be done with it.”

  “Maybe if we didn’t almost lose Piper and Tycen. We’re in an unknown forest without any knowledge of the type of monsters that spawn here or how strong. You’re in no shape to fight, the risks are too high.”

  “I understand,” Anna nodded. “How far are we from the closest town?”

  “10 kilometers,” Levi responded.

  “Maybe we can help get the slaves settled in that town, provide some money, resources, even build some buildings?” As she said that, three baby angel-like creatures approached Levi. They flittered all around him and said something in a language that Anna could not understand. She waited for them to finish. Once they did, Levi pulled out some coins and a few potions and handed them to the creatures. They accepted the gift and then disappeared back to their realm.

  “No matter where we go, we’re gonna have to stay; the Cherubim just finished their assessment on Piper, Izzy, and Bradley. They aren’t going to be in any shape to travel for a couple of weeks, maybe longer.”