Just as I am about to shake my hand and summon the dagger, I suddenly find myself unable to move. My body feels as though it weighs a ton and it takes all my strength just to stay standing. If I only weighed as much as a human it wouldn't be a problem, but I am much heavier.

Mage says "At ten times gravity you can still stand?! That's impressive!"

"Oh, a mage too? Wasn't expecting that!"

Mage says "You were expecting to be attacked?"

"Of course! So tell me, which are you after, the stone or the egg?"

Mage says "The stone! But I will happily take all the other treasures you are carrying! It's too bad that your coins are all in the auction house!"

"I am curious, aren't you worried about the city guards?"

Mage says "This area's surveillance is currently offline! There will be no one coming to save you!"

"You mean that no matter what I do, it won't be seen?"

Mage says "You are about to die, why do you care that you can't be seen?!"

"Because I don't want the entire Magic Kingdom hunting me after I kill you!"

Mage says "You can't even move! How do you plan to kill us?"

"Like this!"

The warriors have all been standing still, waiting for the mage to order them to attack. The entire time I was keeping the mage talking I have been gathering my mana and shaping it secretly. When I say the last word I release my attack at all of them at the same time.

Dozens of bright blue arrows made from pure mana shoot out of my body. The ones fired at the warriors all hit them in the throat where there is a gap in their armor. As for the mage, I targeted him with ten arrows, but his robes stopped four of them.

10 Level 8 Warriors defeated! 8,000 Exp gained!

1 Level 12 Mage defeated! 1,200 Exp gained!

As soon as the mage dies the weight holding me in place vanishes and I can move again. It is a good thing the mage was chatty, being attacked while trapped would have been bad. Just as I am starting to relax I hear clapping coming from a shadowy corner.

Auctioneer says "That wasn't silent casting! That was pure mana manipulation! No way are you a mage! You are not even human, are you?"

"Ah, miss auctioneer! I'm sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about!"

Auctioneer says "Oh, is that so? Then I guess you will have to answer to an inquisition squad!"

"Um, I would rather not!"

Auctioneer says "Then you only have two other choices. Either talk to me, or kill me."

"It would be a shame to kill such a beautiful woman, miss auctioneer!"

Auctioneer says "Enough with the miss auctioneer, my name is Lin Abble. You can just call me Lin. Now, since you don't want to kill me, that means the only option left is to talk to me!"

"I guess so, Lin. However, this is not a good place to talk."

Lin says "True. Shall we go to the merchant group's manor, or will you come to my mansion?"

"Assuming there are no extra ears at your mansion it is probably the better option."

Lin says "Great! Follow me!"

Before following Lin, I quickly loot everything from the mage and the ten warriors. Surprisingly, Lin uses the back streets and alleys when she is leading me to her mansion. Then again, she has probably had to learn to move this way to avoid her fans.

When we reach Lin's mansion it is surprisingly nice looking and heavily enchanted. There are no guards, at least not living ones, the gates are guarded by golems. In fact, when she leads me into the mansion I do not see any living beings at all.

It is a little rude, but I still send out my mana to scan the entire mansion. Lin and I really are the only living beings in the entire mansion, which is odd. Lin notices my scan but she just smiles and keeps leading the way until we reach a reception room.

As soon as we sit down at a table a servant golem serves tea and cakes. I can tell from the signature of the mana in the golem that Lin made it herself. It is the same for all the other golems in the mansion, the enchantments are also made by her.

Lin says "Now that you have had a good look, what do you think about my home?"

"It is very nice. Although, I am surprised that you did all the enchanting and made all the golems yourself."

Lin says "I had no choice. When I tried buying golems or having others do the enchantments, they all had holes. Those holes were specifically set to allow spying. Even mages I thought I could trust, did the same kinds of things."

"Ah, that explains it. Being the most beautiful woman in the Magic Kingdom has its downsides I guess."

Lin says "You have no idea! It is an absolute curse! It doesn't matter if they are mages, nobles, or commoners, men are pigs!"

"If I am being honest, I can't really argue that."

Lin says "Oh, an honest man? Then you admit that you are a pig?"

"Absolutely, I am. I just try to keep it under control."

Lin says "That puts you several levels above most men! Or is that just because you are not human? Do you even find human women attractive?"

"I will not go into detail, but I will say that I was born as a human. As to your other question, yes I find human women attractive. Although, if I am being honest I have to say I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you before."

Lin says "Really? You could have fooled me, you have been meeting my eyes this entire time! You are definitely not like other men!"

"Thank you for the compliment, but I have cheated. After all, I've had the past two days to stare all I wanted."

Lin says "That was from quite a distance, how can that count?"

"I think you are underestimating just how good my vision is."

Lin blushes and says "Cough! We got way off topic! You have said you started as a human, but you haven't told me what you are now! Or how you manipulate mana the way you do!"

"I am a beast. I use mana to shapeshift. You are right in calling it mana manipulation. I simply shape raw mana into what I want it to be. Of course, if you can't keep this a secret I am going to have to kill you."

Lin says "A beast who can shapeshift?! Can I see what you really look like?"

At Lin's request I get up, move away from the table, and drop shapeshift. At first she just stares at me in shock, then after a minute she lets out a squeal and pounces on me. She then proceeds to rub her entire body against my furry body, which feels quite nice.

Lin blushes and says "Ahem! Sorry, I got kind of carried away! You are just so fuzzy!"