Arriving home Azrael washed the alpha’s mana stone, admiring the smoky black mana that swirled around inside the crystal, as he washed it. The mana stone was at least ten times larger than any other one that he had seen so far and was unique for more than just its size.

[Mana Sense] let him feel that it was somehow different from ordinary mana stones, but was unable to tell how, or whether this had any relation to the black smoke swirling inside. Sure, the swirling black mana in the crystal had a strong resemblance to the creature’s own coat when it passed through shadows, but Azrael felt that there was more to it than purely the aesthetic.

Placing the crystal down on the table he went and showered himself, to get wash off the chill and the blood. The hot water stung against his wounds, and he quickly turned it off.

[Meditation] had helped heal them partially, so they weren’t life threateningly deep, but the lances of pain that flashed through his body as he moved were bad enough to convince him that strenuous movement was ill advised.

Carefully drying off he bandaged his torso to the best of his abilities, before finding a new shirt and letting it lightly drop over his chest. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a spare winter jacket, so he braved the cold walk to the village. He wanted to show Alena the mana stone. Through the bond, he could feel Alena in the village. Hopefully, they would also have something to lend him.

His reception, or rather lack thereof, when he arrived was surprising. For the first time since the villagers had settled, Cairn did not come to greet him. Instead, all of the villagers were clustered facing the opposite direction. Curious he slipped closer, not even bothering with [Stealth].

Beyond the clustered group was a stranger. He placed the girl at around twenty years of age and seemingly lost, if not for her determined gaze and the two daggers strapped to her hip. She stood at the edge of the village, silently facing the assembled group.

The strangest thing about her though was the two snowy white fox ears peeking out from above her long silver hair. Behind her, a single fox tail swung lazily back and forth. A kitsune? A Fox kin! As surprised and curious as Azrael was, he was still wary. Cautiously moving in closer he reached out with [Soul Sense].

Azrael’s face tensed and he stepped next to Cairn.

Cain turned to him in surprise. “My…”

Azrael cut him off. “Son” he said, while stepping on Cairn’s toes “I’m his son. How can we help you today?”

Instead of replying immediately the girl just looked at him and the next moment Azrael felt something wash over him. It was barely there, but unmistakably divine. Cairn felt the hair at the back of his neck rise. He’d been right. This person was a player.

Luckily, he had completely shielded his divine spark with soul mist. He could see no other reason to blast divine energy into the surrounds, other than to detect another player with divine energy. The method itself was interesting though. Detection through an omni-directional wave of energy, as well as a possible interaction or resonance between divine energies. He filed those thoughts away for later experimentation.

The girl finally spoke. “My apologies for my late introduction. My name is Sophie.”

[Lord’s Insight] confirmed it.

Name: Sophie

Class: Wind Mage (Lv. 5), Rogue (Lv. 4), Prioress of Purity (Lv. 4)

Azrael glared at the woman. It seemed like another God was getting involved.

***

Sophie arrived at the edge of the village, following the scent of smoke through the forest. Originally, she had been cautious when entering the forest expecting great danger, because Nords, the leader of the village she had visited, had warned her of a powerful humanoid field boss with a fire and darkness affinity. On top of magic, they’d included ranker level combat skills to the boss’s repertoire. According to the man the one encounter they allegedly had with him resulted in all the players dying and all the villagers disappearing.

When their messenger had first arrived nobody had believed him, but the mention of a dragon drew some interest. Since all the others from the main team of Holy Empire were busy dealing with other problems, she had been dispatched as a preliminary scout by their guild leader Melissa. Expecting to be attacked by a humanoid demon of fire and shadows, Sophie had not expected to find a peaceful village hidden so deep in the forest.

It was a humble village, with barely a dozen buildings, but Sophie spied iron tools here and there, hinting at a connection to the outside world. Although, when she spied two dwarves she was not so sure. From what she had heard of dwarven skills a few iron weapons would be nothing.

Upon arriving at the village she had expected hostility, but was instead met with a mix of wariness and curiosity. It was only when the golden-eyed, black-haired male stepped in front of the village leader that she encountered any hostility.

His eyes held a silent sort of anger, but no sort of hesitation. She knew that if she made a wrong move he would attack her with no fear for his life. This attitude caused her to send out a little bit of holy energy granted to her by the Goddess Purity. Players tended to have less hesitation at throwing themselves into dangerous situations than NPC’s. She’d found that divine energy was an effective strategy of telling other players, or Gods’ Chosen, apart from the natives of the game. To her surprise she got no reaction, although his eyes briefly flashed with unbridled anger for a moment.

She realised that she had been impolite and introduced herself “My apologies for my late introduction. My name is Sophie.”

***

Azrael realised he was glaring and supressed the raging emotion he was feeling. Instead, he held out a hand to the player. “Sam” he said, shamelessly stealing his best friend’s nickname. If talking with someone was the fastest way of getting rid of them, then it was a small sacrifice. “Forgive us for our unfriendly reception, but we recently had an… unpleasant encounter with other Chosen.”

Azrael avoided lying, since he wasn’t sure if holy classes had [Truth Detection] skills, similar to how Bartlos had his [Merchant] class skill [Theft Detection]. Sophie shook his hand and smiled.

“I understand.” she said with seeming understanding “The wilderness is not one of the friendliest places to live.” Azrael had to give it to her, she either truly sympathised, or was one of the best actors he had met.

He decided to get straight to the point. “What brings a fox kin so close to the end of the world?” he asked. The girl stood coyly, seemingly undecided as to whether to answer him, but eventually she relented.

“I’m here for a guide to the dragon.”

The entire village stared at her as if she was crazy.