The rays of the morning sun were non-existent in the holy land and five stone cups lay broken on the floor as I focused on practising my [Stone Grab]. Enough of my mana had regenerated and I was confident in going outside for another day of exploration. The spoils of war from the previous day were currently in the hands of Roxy and Amanda, the two girls staring intently at the branch as it switched from attunened to unattuned.

"I can't believe you let me yap on and on about ancient history when you had something like this in your inventory!” Roxxy smacked her cushion lightly against my side. “This is a genuine treasure. The kind of stuff you only hear about in stories.”

“It's also giving me a headache.” Amanda said.

She handed the branch over to Roxxy and massaged her temples. Then she paused as a floating stone hand offered her a cup of tea. She took the cup and jolted in surprise the hand disappeared the moment she did so.

"It doesn't do that when you fight me." She said.

“The spell reacts differently to different goals. I think.” I said. "As far as I can tell it thinks that it's goal is to defeat an enemy when we’re in battle, and so it stays active until the fight is over and then sticks around to make sure you're not going to attack again.”

"Also, I’ve usually destroyed them before it gets to that point.” Amanda said.

"That too.” I conceded.

Amanda turned her attention back to the branch and I followed her gaze. Now that I had more time to focus on the impossibility that was the piece of the magic tree we’d fought I could see it for what I truly was.

A big chest full of money and opportunity.

"I think the auction is a good idea." Amanda said. "I’m happy to wait for William’s list.”

“Screw the list, I see we ditch the holy land right now and put it up for auction.” Roxxy said.

She was buzzing with excitement, her hair whipping around her as she moved her attention from the branch to us. Both she and Amanda had gone back to their suites to prepare for the day and come back, and we were only waiting for William to arrive.

Gold and Agni were having the time of their lives exploring outside, only returning once to grab food from me before flying off again.

“Well, I'm hoping we find a few more things in here before leaving.” I said. “I'd be lying if I said the first day didn't get my hopes up for more riches.”

"Careful, get too greedy and you might find yourself with nothing.” Amanda said. “We don't know how long that stability will hold.”

I hadn't gotten the chance to tell her that I’d used Time to stabilize it, but a quick check of the branch let me know I still had a few hours left until I had to refresh the magic. The only reason I wasn't telling her right now was because it would raise questions with Roxxy.

To my surprise neither of the girls couldn’t sense the Time magic at work, and after a quick scan through my memories I realised that William couldn't either. He knew it was present, but he could only see the attunement.

“By the way, this isn’t natural.” Roxxy said.

My head perked up at her words and she held the branch out to me. She poked one of the blue veins with her finger and frowned.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, but something with the ability to switch between attunements should explode like the tree did.” She said. “I should be holding a pile of ash.”

“Magic.” I said. “I guess we just have to accept the impossible has been made possible.”

It wasn't possible normally and I knew that. The explosion was being held together by Time, but I was certain that the initial cause of the strange phenomena was the tree absorbing my mana. Technically, this one branch held the power of two Marked ones.

That was enough to make anything possible.

I gently pried the branch from Roxxy’s unwilling hands and put it back into my inventory. It had only occurred to me later that my inventory shouldn't have been able to handle the magic of the branch, technically I was putting an attuned magician inside of it, but the inventory hadn't exploded or spit the branch out.

It probably had something to do with the fact that the branch was also unattuned at the same time.

"We should head out now.” I said. "I'm sure William will meet us at the entrance.”

“Roger that, captain.” Roxxy beamed.

I may have taught her a couple of Earth expressions. Luckily, a lot of them intersected with common sayings on this world.

We made our way through the corridors and soon stepped out of the hotel. My skin soaked in the heat as my eyes were bathed in the light of the ever burning forest.

"Hey.” A voice called out to me.

I turned around expecting to see William, but to my surprise another familiar figure was approaching me. It was one of the people that I'd been fighting yesterday.

Oalice Batri. The bloodline inheritor that had brought the tree into the holy land and stolen my magic to attune it.

My expression hardened, and the boy hesitated as he saw my stony gaze. Then he took a deep breath and powered on, stepping up to me and holding out his hand. I shook it, more out of politeness than anything else.

“Andross, right?” Oalice shot me a grin. "Thanks for yesterday. We were in a real bind, and not everyone would go out of their way to help the competition.”

He shifted uncomfortably and I saw that he had more to say.

“Also, thanks for saving my friends.” He said. “I know they would have been seriously hurt if you hadn't intervened.”

My emotions softened at his words. There was a sincerity in his gaze that I couldn't deny, and it wasn't his fault that his tree had gotten out of control. Well, it was partially his fault, but only because he’d activated the spell.

Either way I was glad to hear that both of his friends were okay. They’d been taken away by my stone hands during the fight and the teachers hadn't told me anything about them even when I'd asked.

"At least it won't happen again.” I said. "We've been given a lesson that magic trees and the holy land don't mix.”

"Oh, no, my family was thrilled with the results. we didn't know what would happen, but they didn't suspect something as spectacular as that.” Oalice said. “Don't tell the others, but I’ve got six more prepared. One for each day!”

I stared at him with wide eyes, but he wasn't joking.

“Don’t worry, I'll be careful this time.” He said. "If you want to find me, my group will be trying out the southwest today.”

He ran off before I could stop him, and I made a mental note to avoid that area entirely. I'd already risked life and limb trying to get one branch and I'd been lucky the tree hadn't exploded instantly. Fighting a whole new tree without knowing what would happen was not a good idea.

For all I knew it would grow limbs and start beating me to death immediately.

“That household is going to gain a lot if his plan succeeds.” Amanda said. “Having six attuned plans is no joke. That's a dynasty of households right there.”

She was right. Without me there to mess up the results, Oalice’s family would have a chance of reaping six attuned plants in their holy land harvest.

It was a reward that would make any noble household salivate at the mouth. Even a single attuned plant could change a family’s destiny for the better.

“I don't like that.” A voice said.

A head popped up beside me and I stepped to the side to let William through. He was wearing an immaculate golden tunic and at his side I could see a cobalt blue sword by his side. It didn't have a sheath, and he wasn't wearing a belt, but it stuck to his clothes like glue.

All of us had ditched our uniforms in favour of our preferred battle clothes. I changed into the white robes that Gerial had given me, the silver threaded eye in the middle staring out at the world as I moved.

“I spent all morning preparing this and let me tell you it wasn’t an easy task because my dad kept asking me what we’d found.” William said.

He stuck his arms out and I saw that there were two scrolls, one in each hand. I took one and Amanda took the other.

It was grouped into three sections. Stuff that I would need. Stuff that Amanda would need. And stuff that could be purchased or treated for if we split the amount we earned from the prize or traded for two or more items. To my surprise her list was bigger than mine. I'd thought that with my inscribing and attunements that I'd have the bigger one.

Amanda raised an eyebrow as she read through her list, and she looked up at William with a questioning gaze.

"I included things that your family can use to climb up the political and business ladder.” William said. “You’re the heir to the Mitra family, so it was only logical.”

"Thanks." She said.

“Thanks." I said.

I put the scroll away. There would be time to go through it while we were moving through the holy land.

“Speaking of household politics, the Batri family has a lot of businesses that compete with mine.” William said. “So I think I'll take a stroll through the southwest section today. If that's okay with you, Roxxy?”

“You couldn't keep me away from an opportunity like this if you tried." She replied. "I want one of these magical tree branches as well. Maybe even the entire tree if I can get it.”

She bounced from one foot to the other, looking out across the forest in anticipation. I didn't have the heart to tell her that an event like yesterday wasn't likely to happen.

At least she would get a chance at stealing an attuned plant. Or maybe not, judging from how William was looking. He didn't make his move often, but when he did it never went well for the person he was working against.

“Maybe we'll try the opposite way then.” Amanda said.

"Sounds good to me.” I said. “I can see our last two members.”

Everybody looked up at my words and I smiled as two shadows swooped down from the sky. Gold and Agni chirped happily as they lowered into the group. The puffer plopped down onto my arm, and the Phoenix landed gently onto Amanda’s head.

“I see you two had a great time.” I said. “Did you find anything good?"

Gold chirped happily and dropped something from his talon onto my hand.

It was a rock with symbols carved into it.

“Another regent already?” I said. “You really are a genius.”

The puffer preened at my praise and puffed his large chest out cockily. Then he happily accepted the multiple treats I handed him. Now that the group was back together, we could begin our exploration for the day.

Roxxy clapped her hands together and we turned to face her.

"Huddle up!”

She cast her connection spell, and I felt a familiar tug at my chest that pointed me toward the person I was thinking of. It was eerie how similar it was to the sensation I got when Gerial was nearby.

Thoughts crossed my mind as Roxxy weaved the last section of the spell.

Did the Crijik cast a connection spell on my body? Or was it just the impact of having two Marked ones existing at the same time?

"Done.” Roxxy said.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and turned them toward my magic as I brought stone out of my inventory and formed a platform for travelling. Roxxy did the same, creating two giant fishes made of water that swam in the air waiting for her command.

It was hilarious seeing William forcing himself to mount it.

Within minutes Amanda, Agni, Gold, and I were travelling through the holy land. The two birds flew freely through the air with joy as Amanda and I focused on the ground. It was easy to miss the signs of magic materials and I squinted to look past the red flames that danced on the trees.

“Where did you want to go today?" I asked.

Amanda glanced over the side of the platform and laughed as Gold flew up from below, his wings brushing against the windswept strands of her hair.

"As long as it's not tree related, I'm happy to explore wherever.” She said. “Let's go check out a sanctuary.”

“Sounds like a plan to me." I said.

It wasn't hard to find the nearest sanctuary city even though we were in a different part of the holy land than yesterday. They littered the rift dimension like moles. I made my way toward the first sanctuary I saw. Once again humongous buildings appeared in my vision, each one looked like they had been carved from a single rock and stood as tall and proud as mountains.

Once they had housed the remnants of humanity, but now they were a tourist spot for those lucky enough to get inside.

The gigantic wall surrounding the city wasn't hard to bypass, my platform floating over it gently like it was a surfboard going over a wave. There were over a dozen mountainous buildings, and countless small ones, but I landed my stone platform as close to the entrance as possible, just missing it and touching down on a nearby street. It let me get the lay of the land and also experience the city how it was meant to be.

That was when I noticed a peculiarity in the surroundings.

There was somebody already here.

A man stood in the middle of the empty street and looked up at me in surprise. Then he gave me an enthusiastic wave.

“Wahyu?”