Gholob stood over the creatures he corrupted, mostly goblins and small forest creatures. Each leaked vile black essence. The effort to infect them was minuscule. Only in his host did he suppress the corruption, appearing as if a normal goblin.

This host body wouldn't contain him for more than five days. He had information on a stronger host body, something called a hobgoblin. So he chose to marshall his forces to attack the tribe of hobgoblins. He didn't need them to infect one, he wanted to infect the strongest one.

His forces rushed through the forest, pushed beyond their bodily limits by his corruption. Angry howls sounded from the clearing as the hobgoblins heard and spotted his force. The hobgoblins lived up to their name, being stronger than even his corrupted goblins.

That fact didn't matter, As soon as a corrupted individual bit into the hobgoblins they would join his forces. It took a short time for the host's mind to be purged but it would happen regardless.

A green bolt tore through the air and slammed into one of the goblins, coming from a staff-wielding hobgoblin. Gholob smiled, he found his new host. He sprinted through the defenders, heedless of injuries piling up on his host. He lunged at the surprised hobgoblin, his essence pouring from his old host's mouth and into the new host.

There was a millisecond of resistance from the pathetic mind before Gholob took over fully. He watched in satisfaction as the rest of the tribe was chased down and infected as well, their own kind turning against them.

***

Chuck found Bargo in the lounge, relaxing with a drink in his hand. Chuck waved to the man, "Where are others?"

"They went off to get provisions for when we leave. You should rest, you practice too much."

"Thank for concern, I enjoy the feel of grow."

"Pfff, that's obvious. I guess I can't harp on you too much, the stronger you get the safer we will be. Just try to rest a few hours before we leave, it's a long journey on foot."

Chuck nodded to the man, "Erwin, Mellas, buy provision for me?"

"Yeah, but if you want anything tastier than trail rations you may want to buy it yourself."

Chuck thanked the man again before he headed out to find someplace that sold jerky. It was nice to stroll around the town. There were stalls and storefronts all over the place. Chuck stopped at one that smelled terrific, purchasing one of the grilled meat dishes. It was wrapped in some sort of leaf. It was heavily spiced and the cheeky merchant offered to sell him a drink for another three copper. Instead of suffering from the heat, he purchased the drink. The merchant gave him a knowing smile as he handed it over. Chuck grumbled but paid the man.

He wandered around for a bit more before finding a man that sold traveling rations. Chuck purchased two pounds of jerky. The man mentioned what kind of beast it came from but Chuck didn't know the word, he only cared that it tasted good.

Returning to the Guild was uneventful, the others were still out and about. Chuck shrugged and went back to training.

The day went by quickly as Chuck trained. He managed to get flame thrower to level one and elemental shield to level five, unlocking the one hundred percent elemental resistance. He may have trained well into the night. The gains were worth it though.

He could now cast minor heal fifteen times without feeling the strain. When the training room cleared out he tested the increase with ice arrow. He stopped after casting forty and not feeling his mana bottom out. He would have kept going but he was tired. As he was heading to bed he decided to use the last day in town as a study day for learning to read. Maybe even studying that journal he found.

***

After that idiot Jal failed to make contact, Gaspian reached out to one of his other contacts in Lionoss. The man got back to him after a few hours, letting him know Jal's body was found in an alley.

The fool might have gotten himself killed but at least he managed to point him in the right direction. His men secured a few horses and they rode hard for the city. His contact agreed to have some men watch the exits for a gold. It was pricy but worth it.

Gaspian and his crew rode into town at daybreak. The guards eyed them but upon seeing his robes, they minded their own business.

"Gaspian, good to see you...you got my coin?"

Gaspian flicked the man a gold, "What news do you have for me?"

The man deftly caught the coin, pocketing it before replying, "Yes, yes, the golden-eyed boy. He was spotted in town yesterday. Seems he is staying at the Guild. He was also spotted buying provisions for a long journey so you may want to deal with the issue today."

"Good, can you have one of your pickpockets stash this on the boy?"

The man took the ring in his open hand but didn't pull it back. Gaspian growled and set another gold in the waiting palm.

"Excellent, I will have one of my men plant the item on the boy. As always, enjoy your stay in our fine city," the man said with a smile as he walked off.

He set some people to watch the Guild, giving them some communication stones. These were expensive items but significantly cheaper than the portal mirror that Jal had with him. It wasn't found on the man's body and it wouldn't be of any use to anyone else without the paired mirror. Since Gaspian didn't trust his men he always placed a tracking spell on magical items he lent out.

He followed the magical trail, finding the item wrapped and tucked into a hidden cubby. 'At least the man had the sense to leave the item behind before he got himself killed.' Gaspian tucked the expensive device into a pocket within his robe. Then he went to find a place to indulge himself until one of the stones alerted him of the boy's movement. He may be a mage but he wasn't about to start a fight within the Guild.

***

In the morning Chuck headed down to the dining room. Erwin and the others were sitting at a table, enjoying the music being played by a man off in the corner, while they ate. Smoke wafted from some sort of hooka like contraption. The smell coming from the smoke was interesting but Chuck wasn't interested in imbibing it himself.

The three nodded to him as he sat down, book in hand. Erwin quirked an eyebrow at the children's book. "That's a good book, I always liked the story about the rogue who stole the princess."

As much as chuck wanted to read the storybook he had to start with letters first. Luckily the letter book came with pictures. When he got stuck one of the guys would help out. It was nice just to sit back and relax while reading.

By the time Chuck worked his way through the first book, wind barrier finished level three. Flame thrower had finished its second level shortly after he woke. Now with an elementary grasp on the written language, Chuck started in on the storybook.

"Sorry to disrupt storytime Chuck but our supplies should be ready to be picked up, then we are heading straight out of town," Erwin said, finishing off the last of his drink with a loud burp.

"That fine, I can read when we stop for camp."

"Great, and I see your grasp on common has improved quite well."

"Yes, I walked around Lionoss yesterday...listening to conversations."

He struggled a bit at the end, having to pick his mind for the unfamiliar words.

"Did you enjoy the city? Maybe find yourself some company?" Erwin said with a mischievous smile.

"My heart belongs to Vella at the Broken Knee," Chuck stated sarcastically.

The others broke into laughter.

Chuck followed the laughing men out of the room. He wasn't paying attention and bumped into another man.

"Sorry," he replied absentmindedly.

"Think nothing of it, pal, it was my mistake."

The man rubbed a stone between his fingers as the group left.

Chuck knew enough of the language now to join in some ribald joking. He even plagiarized some jokes he remembered from Earth. Some of them were a hit, others... not so much, but it didn't matter. The group was having a great time as they retrieved their supplies.

When they exited the building Chuck heard someone yell, "thief."

He didn't think anything of it, looking around to make sure someone wasn't running at him. He spotted the yelling man, an older man, possibly in his thirties wearing a robe. That didn't concern him, what did was the man pointing in his direction.

Confused Chuck looked around. He looked towards Erwin who looked like a dear caught in headlights. Chuck turned back around to see some guards coming towards him. He took a step back in confusion.

One of the guards put his hand on his sword, "Don't try to run son, we only need to verify the accusation. If you run we will have to cut you down."

Chuck froze, the men grabbing him by the arms and dragging him towards the robed man.

A third guard pointed, "This the boy in question?"

"Yes," the man replied, "He stole a family ring from my hand as I was distracted."

"Search the kid for a ring," the third guard said.

A quick check through Chuck's pockets produced a ring that he had never seen before. Chuck was about to deny stealing the ring when he spotted Erwin shake his head.

"Looks like we found your stolen ring, what do you wish to happen to the boy?"

"I demand a duel to restore my pride."

The guard gave the kid a hard look, "Terms?"

"To the death."

The guard nodded grimly to the guards holding Chuck. They dragged him behind the other guard and the robed man to an open area surrounded by strange pillars. No other people were present in the circular area.

The man walked to the far side of the area and turned, a smile on his face.

The guard walked up to Chuck and quietly said, "Sorry kid," the man looked down at Chuck's blades before adding, "If I were you I would cut my own throat to spare myself the pain."

After that rousing speech, he was shoved inside the circle. The guard slammed his hand down on a pedestal, activating some sort of barrier. Chuck tried to pound on the wall or exit the arena but it was futile.

"Pathetic," the robed man spoke, "running away seems to be all you and your friends are good for. I will make sure to give them a bloody good show."

Chuck didn't like the way the man emphasized bloody.

"Why are you doing this?"

The man laughed, "Because I can, and because you and your friends cost me. Consider this a little bit of payback before I deal with the rest of them."

It clicked for Chuck who this man was. It must be the mage from those bandits that tried to attack them. 'Shit!'

He threw up an elemental shield. The man's response was to laugh.

Gaspian laughed at the stupid boy, the audacity to think he had even a chance of winning this fight.

Gaspian may no longer be part of the Tower, but he was still twice this kid's age, with ten years of magical theory under his belt. When those fools kicked him from the tower for lack of growth he challenged two of them to duels. He proved the victor in both bouts, mages being easily roused to protect their pride. Unfortunately, for them, Gaspian had spent more time learning combat magics.

After he stopped laughing he responded to the kid's spell, "Very well, let's see if you have the spell fully leveled."

A bolt of blue-white light shot from Gaspian's hand, striking the kid.

Chuck flinched as the lightning bolt speared out towards him. That was enough time for the spell to slam into his shield. The shield held but he felt something that wasn't covered in the spell's description. It took mana to disperse the spell. That wasn't good, that meant he couldn't sit here and just keep recasting the shield, hoping the man would run out of mana before he did.

Chuck decided to change his stance, moving from defense to offense. He didn't want to get close to the dangerous man so he flung out three ice arrows as quickly as he could call out the names.

Gaspian frowned as the kid was uninjured from his spell. So the kid did have the spell maxed out. The kid spit out some strange words that Gaspian had never heard before. The effect was familiar though as ice arrows sped his way.

Gaspian flicked his hand, a mage shield springing into existence before the spells arrived. All three shattered against the barrier. He could have simply dodged the spells but that would be an embarrassment to any decent mage. He decided to play with the boy for a bit, throwing his spell back at him. Two ice arrows sped towards the boy who tried to dodge them wildly.

Chuck ran as he saw the spell's form, hoping to throw off the man's aim. His eyes went wide as the spells followed him. He hastily threw out an ice arrow to counter, using mana manipulation to form it into a disk. The spells slammed into his improvised shield, all three shattering.

He decided that staying at a distance was not going to help him win this fight. So he started running toward the man.

A frown formed on Gaspian's face, 'what kind of spell was that?' The kid hadn't called out the name so he couldn't be sure but it felt similar to ice arrow. Gaspian may be cruel but he wasn't a fool, unknown magic was dangerous. No more playing. He hit the kid with another lightning bolt, followed by an empowered fire blade. The kid was forced to fend off his attacks as he readied a deadlier spell.

Chuck couldn't dodge the lightning bolt, it was simply too fast. His shield absorbed the hit. He saw the blade of fire heading his way but saw the man was reading another spell. He decided to take the hit as well, firing off four more ice arrows. They all slammed into the mage's shield, the last one causing it to shatter into blue light.

Chuck didn't have time to close in, he poured a significant amount of mana into an untested spell, pointing his hand at the unshielded mage.

Gaspian had to quickly cancel his spell and raise an elemental shield of his own, the kid readying another offensive spell.

"Flame Thrower!" Chuck yelled. His mana drained rapidly as a gout of liquid flame shot forth from his palm. The enhanced spell covered three times the normal distance, reaching the mage.

Gaspian felt smug when he saw the flame lance, enhanced even, heading his way. The shield would handle it.

He realized too late that something was odd about the spell. His eyes going wide as the burning substance went right through his elemental shield. The fire was stopped but the liquid was super hot.

Chuck stared in horror as the man started screaming and clawing at his clothing and face. The stench of roasting skin made him lose his lunch. He couldn't let the man suffer though, that was wrong, even if the man wanted him dead. He fired four more ice arrows at the screaming man. The first two took down his shield and the last two tore through his chest.

Chuck heaved for air, wiping the vomit from his mouth. He only stood up when he heard cheering from a large number of people. When he looked up he saw the ring had been surrounded by onlookers.

The guard walked up to Chuck now that the barrier was down, "Well... that's a first. By the laws of the kingdom, all of his items are now yours."

Chuck didn't feel like digging through the man's mutilated corpse for items or money. Luckily for him Erwin and the others walked up, giving him a friendly pat on the back.

"Well done kid, we will make a mage out of you one of these days."

"If it means acting like that man, ill pass," Chuck replied.

"Can one of you search his corpse, I- I can't."

"Yeah, kid, we got you, don't worry. The first one is always the worst," Mellas said, walking over to the body.

Chuck dry heaved a few more times, finally managing to get his stomach under control. The audience had dispersed, the guards shooing them off. A man with a rickety cart entered the ring after Mellas stripped anything of value from the corpse. The guards unceremoniously tossed the dead man into the wagon, handing the man a few coppers to dispose of the body wherever that might be.

The smell of cooked flesh wafted over again and Chuck had to try real hard not to heave once more. He did gag a few times though, deciding to hurry from the area. Erwin guided him until they exited the town. The fresh air helped, but Chuck couldn't help reliving the scene over and over again.

Rationally he knew there was only one outcome in that duel. That didn't make him feel any better for having killed the man. He could have let the man kill him, his blessing was active again. Then perhaps he could have simply avoided the man or snuck out of town.

He couldn't do that though, relying on coming back to life was not something he wished to entertain. The pain just wasn't worth it. He also knew that killing humans in the pursuit of this entity was a possibility. Unfortunately, he pictured that possibility far into the future. Chuck was silent as he followed his friends.