It’s been a year since Klaman took over. The Governors weren’t happy, and many used his takeover to revolt; they weren’t loyal anyway, but it was a convenient excuse. The young Emperor had let them do whatever they wanted – as long as they paid taxes – and they loved it, garnering a lot of power for themselves. However, following his takeover they quickly learned what true power really is.

As an assassin, Klaman is not widely known, so Advisor Kron Yuron is acting as steward, being the face of the changes. Klaman killed the rebellious Governors and had them replaced with loyal and uncorrupted people.

“I’m sorry it has come to this,” Klaman says to the statue of his old friend, the first Emperor. “I’m a patient man, but there’s only so much I can take.”

Klaman stands in the memorial hall where statues of all the previous Emperors are placed, their golden forms forever preserved, watching with eyes crafted of gems. The first Emperor stands as the greatest of them all but, looking back, his sons and grandson were not all that bad either, not compared to the rot that sits on the throne today.

Klaman glances at the statues of the failures, burned black in a mark of shame, a recent addition. For several generations, the line of Emperors has stagnated, and his friend’s descendants have lost their ambition.

“We wanted to unite all the lands, and we damn near did so.”

The Empire fell one district at a time. Some due to war, but mostly land was sold off to fund failing policies. The Empire is bankrupt, even now; they can barely afford a standing army and, if it weren’t for Bastion City providing an impenetrable defense, they would have lost even more land. The people have lost faith in the Empire, and crime runs rampant.

“What would you have done, old friend?” Klaman mutters and sits down in front of the statue, looking at the nameplate. “The Empire is on the verge of collapse, your bloodline has rotted, and the only one who remembers the good times of your rule is not suited to bring those times back.”

Klaman is no politician, no leader; he is an assassin. He can only work in the dark, not the light.

“I am looking for a suitable woman who can maybe revitalize your bloodline, but I fear I may have made the criteria too harsh. Not many can say they are directly descended from the true Lunaleyan heritage, and those few we do find are ill-suited to be Empress.”

Those with blue hair can call themselves a descendent of the true Lunaleyan heritage, but few know that the specific shade of blue is the real determination of that; unfortunately, in the attempt to keep the bloodline ‘pure’ they inbred to the point that they became infertile, dooming the true Lunaleyan heritage. Only the young Emperor has that trait now.

Klaman will settle with those with blue hair other than the most ‘correct’ shade if he must, but even they are rare, and finding the few women who are of marriageable age, with the right personality to counter the rotted personality of the Emperor, and powerful enough to prove the strength and freshness of their blood, is almost impossible.

“Perhaps my error is in trying to find the perfect candidate immediately, when I should be focusing on the multigenerational option. Instead of trying to fix your bloodline in one generation, I should mold it over a few generations,” Klaman muses.

Unless he can find another who is like his old friend, then the only way to fix his bloodline is to reverse the rot in it, a slow process.

Klaman sighs in resignation. It took many generations to get this bad, and it will take just as many to fix it; if only he had acted sooner, he could have prevented all of this… if only he knew then what he knows now.

Klaman stands up and turns to leave, walking past the good Emperors and then the failed ones. Klaman glances back at his friend’s statue one last time, then stops short when suddenly he feels the faintest presence of a sensing skill and hears several ‘Tings’ ring off as his [Investigate Senses] levels up.

Klaman has only encountered low perceptive pressure once, when fighting a scrying specialist Leviathan, but this is far lower than he thought possible; if he hadn’t gotten the breakthrough before, he would have never known he is being watched.

Klaman focuses closer on the perception, trying to grasp it and trace it back to its origin. Each thread he finds snaps easily, too fragile for his forceful handling; he will need to be more delicate. He starts over, only barely feeling the perceptive pressure, and slowly starts tracing its direction.

Northeast. Klaman realizes. Normally he would be able to find the exact location, but this is a delicate situation; it won’t be that easy to locate this master scryer.

However, Klaman doesn’t get a chance, as the perception passes quickly.

“And I just learned how to properly investigate you,” Klaman mutters to himself. “At least I can thank you for the levels; that breakthrough has been neglected for too long.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I look around the previously unsearched areas of the Lunaley Island, while my primary mind continues recording my mana research in my book.

Chapter twenty-three: The process of spells starts in the mana core in the soul, where the reserves are kept... The reserves are transformed into mana that makes up a spell, which then moves outward, passing through the magic frameworks of, Race, Class and any applicable skills – which intensifies them should they receive a bonus from any of those sources – then it moves beyond, where it is then intensified even more by relevant items, and finally it surfaces in the body where it is then expelled... Mana can instead be sent through a link before manifestation to be cast at the other end of the link.

Siege weapons stand atop the walls, massive constructs that resemble gunpowder cannons. A quick inspection reveals that they use a combination of fire and wind spell crystals. Spell crystals are volatile if broken, which seems to be a substitute for gunpowder. The cannons are clad in steel that is easily as thick as my pinky is long and fire cannonballs fifty centimeters in diameter, making these cannons true behemoths –their long barrels indicate that they are likely reasonably accurate, as well.

I don’t see any actual guns among soldiers, probably because spells and skills are as good, if not better; plus, if you shoot somebody, their endurance and vitality in addition to armor may just make bullets useless. There’s a reason why their cannons are so huge. Still, it’s rather impressive that they have the ingenuity to make guns, even if they don’t use them outside of ridiculously-sized cannons.

I witness several crimes in the small amount of time I observe this city, from simple theft to extortion from the guards and deals made between shady people; it is clear that crime is rampant here.

Other than crime, it is clear that there is a large divide between the rich and the poor, with seemingly few middle-class people. Slaves are sold at auctions, and gangs are fighting for territory. The more I look at the city, the more I am sickened by it; from the unkempt infrastructure to the man being mugged… I don’t want to see it anymore; there is nothing I can do for them as I am now.

Tyranny is the rule, not the exception. Safyr’s words echo in my mind. It’s not just in the form of governments oppressing their people. I am very lucky – or perhaps literally blessed – to have been born among the Runalymo, a peaceful place where community ties are strong.

I move on, with the hope that this city is just an outlier in this kingdom.

Chapter twenty-four: Hyper-dense mana is liquid mana – despite the conventional truth of gas turning to liquid and then solid, mana operates differently; the densest being liquid instead of solid and the gaseous state being effectively immaterial... in essence, liquid mana is a mass of particles, and therefore it actually has incredibly strong MM forces even if it seemingly defies those forces in some fundamental ways...

The next city I look at is also settled on a land bridge that leads to another island; it is much like the other city, with its walls taller facing the bridge and sea, but the similarities end there. There is still slavery, but crime is nowhere near as prevalent, and the reason why is immediately apparent; gallows are set up everywhere with the still-hanging bodies of the executed to serve as an example of what happens to lawbreakers. I don’t know just how strict they are but seeing the people avert their eyes and hide away from the guard patrols is very telling.

There’s no way the two cities share the same ruler; perhaps they are part of the independent city-states? But the city-states don’t treat their citizens this badly. I move on to see what the next city is like.

Chapter twenty-five: Vitality is a type of non-elemental mana, like reserved mana in some ways. Studies of vitality show that it is not aligned in the same ‘direction’ as the elements; rather, its ‘direction’ is exactly ninety degrees from the elemental ‘circle’... Vitality keeps us animated and alive; it is what keeps our soul in our body. Without it, we die...

The next city is north of the second, a port city with many merchant boats that look to be from other kingdoms. The city has not been well-maintained, its roads are cracked and broken with missing bricks, houses are in disrepair and some are nearly falling apart, and its southern gatehouse is collapsed, as half of it has sunk into the ground from poor soil foundation.

The city shares the same strict law enforcement, with gallows set up; however, what I see here are several groups of people talking, meeting together in basements and warehouses, in sewers and alleys. If I had to make a guess, I’d say these people are ready to fight against their oppressors.

Chapter twenty-six: Magic items and people often leave a trace of their mana signature, which can be tracked. One does not need to blindly look for someone if they know what to look for; at the same time, it can also be used to track people who are using means to hide themselves, if they do not hide their mana trail... magic and enchanted items will transform a trace amount of mana and leave it behind, this can be used to track them... This can also be used to investigate the usage of spells, which can linger for a couple of hours, even days outside of the Nexus. Spell mana still retains its intensity and other qualities, letting a skilled tracker know what kind of, and how powerful of, a spell was used, which can lead to important information.

Chapter twenty-nine: The mana particle is made of smaller components which determine its MM force and element... Mana itself is nothing but a collection of its parts kept within a shell of the MM force; its particles are self-imprisoning. In other words, mana is what we call the collection of elemental particles and MM particles, but there is more to it; the essences have no physical representation that I know of, instead being simply an ‘identity’ given to mana. This identity might be in the form of divinity, or it could be something else entirely that I simply cannot yet perceive. How mana keeps its identity is a mystery as well...

The next city I look at is south of the third and the second, a massive city with a large palace in the middle. It is the only place – so far – that is kept in decent condition, but signs of recent neglect are evident. At least the guards don’t immediately look corrupt, citizens aren’t cowering away from them, and there seems to be an active effort to fix the neglected areas. Slavery, however, seems to be a massive business here, with the many slave auctions and wagons full of men and women in cages and chains.

Sickened, I move my sights to the palace, where I hope to see less of the unpleasantness. The huge complex is lavished in wealth; life-sized paintings hang on the walls, mosaic windows let light in. Expensive-looking pottery and statues decorate the halls, with fluffy rugs lining the floor. It is... ugly, all of it: nothing fits. It’s as if they just bought whatever was most expensive, with no mind as to how it all fits together.

Something catches my attention; a man sitting in a room of golden statues, muttering to himself. He is well-dressed in mana silke clothes, which compliment a well-trained body that clearly shows his battle experience. He has short hair, but I can’t see what color it really is. The most alarming thing about him is the amount of void mana he produces. His Bond is obviously void essence, and judging by his mana reserves, he is the strongest being I’ve seen on the island so far, including the Heroic-tier Topaz Tree in the Vocana Republic.

Suddenly, my vision is disrupted around him, like something broke my perception for a split second, then I feel a tugging sensation and a tickling feeling like a spider crawling up my perception.

Panic sets in as I realize this guy has some weird retaliation ability, and I quickly move my perception away from him.

I let out a breath of relief once I no longer feel his strange skill.

Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 800!

40th Breakthrough: You’ve noticed that you were being traced; this will help you avoid being found by those who feel your gaze upon them.

Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 668-694!

That guy is dangerous! I do not dare to [Analyze] him as that effectively shouts “I’m here!” since it requires normal levels of perceptive pressure to use. If he has such a skill, and is good enough to track even me, then he must have the skill at a very high level, probably with a high Class bonus as well. I have no doubt this guy is at least Heroic-tier, which makes him the first person – other than Kayafe – I’ve seen who is above Grand-tier.

I shudder as the memory of something crawling up my perceptive field is still fresh in my mind. My hair is standing on end, which makes my tails look extra poofy.

I am safe now; he can’t track me if I am not using my active perception. However, even if I know I am safe, I won’t be poking around that palace any time soon; I do not want to meet that guy in any way!