Chapter One Hundred Twenty Six

Ilyelanralo grew increasingly unsettled. The guard reported very little and the eccentric's movements, while strange, were nothing more than what they'd always been. The kids in his tent every night, normally an excellent sign that would soon allow Ilyelanralo to break the man all the faster, twisted through his thoughts in worry. And the regular time he spent with his own, taking him into the dungeon that one time, just like his time spent with all the other kids, usually boded well for Ilyelanralo's future attempts at breaking men and women. Despite that, the oddity of it all drove an itch deep between his shoulder blades. The man is planning something… he is. But no matter his thoughts, Ilyelanralo could not find any meaning to the erratic tactics of the eccentric. In some ways, the man was still doing what he always had. In others, there was something about it that just twisted at his instincts; something he couldn't understand or pinpoint that just made it different enough to make him paranoid and reevaluate all of the eccentric's efforts.

Ilyelanralo spent the next several days deeply unsettled until a cry came from the courtyard and he came to his balcony with the dignity required of and due him. That dignity quickly shattered when he saw who had come to visit and Ilyelanralo quickly dropped his efforts in respect of the woman who'd come. He scuttled down the stairs and rushed from his home to come before the woman.

As always, she was humble and held herself in a way that could only be accounted as proper, her gaze over his small fief one of curiosity and no disdain; simply observation. She stood elegantly in an airy blue dress of bright clarity that really drew everyone's attention. There was a clarity to her, somehow drawing all attention while also making her presence brilliantly obvious; a polish to her form and image that made her somehow more real and the image of her just there. She wasn't overtly more beautiful or magically enhanced, but all could see her and naturally had their eyes drawn towards her. Somehow, there was a clarity that almost seemed brilliant in being able to see her. And all could, easily, without any haze or fog hiding her visage. She was regal, with dark hair and a slightly aloof air but without any disdain. She looked on as he came running, polite and patient as he rushed as quickly as he could. He came to a halt in front of her before bowing deeply, dropping to the ground on his knees and pressing his forehead to the ground near her feet.

"Great One! It is an honor to have you here!"

"You called. I owe one favor. It is as it should be. Karma would bind me otherwise."

"I am grateful still, Great One."

She nodded, then turned to look out over the field, "Which one is it?"

* * *

His days had remained remarkably unchanged; simply a series of monotonous identical events. He would wake to torture only to then practice or rarely escape into the surrounding forests, then wake a second time to attend the mustering, then ignored the rest of the day's requirements while wandering the grounds in insanity before being joined later by the posse of disenfranchised slaves that threw their lot in with him to finally head back to bed to watch the kids before returning them to everyone's tents only to sleep and rise to do it all again.

Today started as any other, but late in the afternoon, just before his posse came to join him out in the fields, someone rather odd showed up. She was bathed in green wind, somehow, overwhelming an dress or style she currently bore for that was all Joe could really understand looking at her. He just felt wind, somehow. Swirls of green twisted around her, visible scythes of green flare like her own personal aurora borealis purely of green. It wasn't simply illusory, either, as the green brushed along her airy dress and slid through her hair, lifting both up with soft caresses of blown wind. The wind almost seemed to have a mind of its own, speeding along around her quickly until it came closer to her, then slowed to as dead a stop as possible when it brushed up against her, seeming to caress her and desiring to be as close to her as possible. The brushes through her hair and across her clothing were all the slow ones while the green orbiting further from her moved with purpose and speed.

Joe didn't even really notice or care about the commotion of those surrounding him. There was a certain awe that drew him to look at the wind as he slowly stood on his thigh stumps to get a better look. His mind opened and his thoughts drew towards the embodiment of flow. His focus drew inward, zooming in on a singular swirl of green and the epiphany he was happening faded with rapid despair. NO! No… no no no!... that… Joe blinked and his focus broke and the totality of the moment returned. The singular swirl once again lost in the midst of all other swirls that surrounded the woman. The wind returned. Something drew his thoughts away, and he fought the urge to turn his focus away, knowing he'd lost the moment rapidly when he'd done so before.

Falling back on instinct, he pulled his view out instead of zooming in, and it suddenly all began to make sense. That swirl… this line… that curve…. It…. WIND!... Joe frowned. But… incomplete… flow… movement… Joe's mind faded before the epiphany as he saw transcendent beauty, absolute reality, completeness. Flawed… but so… clo… Joe's thoughts faded before comprehension.

* * *

She looked down at the obeisant slave trainer, hiding her frown of annoyance. Why did I make such a promise… but karma demands and it should be simple enough.

"Which one is it?"

The slave master slithered in the dirt, turning himself around until he was facing towards a group of slaves littered with young kids. … and… a Halfling? Strange… A hand rose and pointed towards the group, pointing out a rather tall individual in the middle.

"The tallest one there… if he had legs, Great One. He plays at insanity."

"You wish to test my Presence upon him."

"Yes, Great One, if you are willing."

"Isolate him," she declared, commanding and without concern for how others took her demand but her control with her Presence at her greatest efforts was dangerous and she had no desire to incur further karma.

The men listening in quickly scrambled to their work even before she finished speaking, uncaring of the slave master's slow reiteration of the command. Still, she felt some irritation as every being in the entire glade paid obeisance towards her except the slave in question. Quiet tall… if he still had his legs. She hummed as she considered him, attempting to keep her frustration in control. The man had done nothing technically wrong and her karmic debt to the slave master would not be readily resolved if she outright killed the slave.

The guards that stood to complete her command scattered through the area surrounding the slave in question as they barked orders for the bowing slaves to escape what was soon to come. The slaves did exactly that, scattering to the sides to watch on while some went into the tents set off to the side as well as all the children but one doing the same. The halfing… playing at being a child? She glanced at the slave master with some curiosity before turning back to watch on. The halfing needed encouragement from a guard who booted and cuffed the man multiple times to drive him away. She waited patiently, as one her status should. The activity of ants should have no bearing upon their betters.

Soon, the guards had stepped away from the man as well, although not quite far enough and she waved them to the sides, allowing some impatience to show as her casual gesture wafted Wind to press aside the closest guards with some polite consideration. She glanced back at the man and frowned, seeing his gaze turning to follow her Winds; Winds of which only she knew their whereabouts. Winds which none could see. Winds of the Dao impossible to see. Confusion marred the perfection of her face. Surely… no? It is impossible! None can see the Dao!

* * *

The wind was beautiful. And it drew his mind into the depths of it. A wave from the woman was observed but immediately dismissed as inconsequential until wind flowed from her arms and fingers, starting from her upper arms to twist around her elbows then slip exactly and only as wind could down her forearms, across hand and through fingers in wind perfection. His eyes followed it, noticing it, and enthralled by the perfect beauty of it. This, at least in this manifestation, was almost close to the perfection that he'd seen in the water and fire. The wind slipped from her fingers and drifted across the sky in lazy swirls but somehow exactly bound to their purpose to wrap around the men that were closest to him and lift them before lazily sliding them another half a dozen paces from him. Most slipped back to their own feet almost as if they'd never left the ground. A few fought and stumbled despite the graceful attempt of the wind.

Joe saw and comprehended, in awe. It's… thought manifest… concept made physically present. This… a… personification of that which is the perfect ideal only conceived. It's… Joe's thoughts grew ever more erratic at that, lost into something that most would find a path rapidly devolving into the insane. Yet, for Joe, it held an epiphany of truth so profound that it had meaning married to function within the real world. And idea, somehow born into physicality.

* * *

She stepped forward, irritation now replaced with curiosity and no little bit of alarm as the man followed the path of her Wind with ease, but also with no little amount of growing excitement tinged with greed. Who is he? Her thoughts now piqued, she took the task as an expression of her great luck. She stepped forward and brought her Presence down upon him. Time to subdue my lucky charm. This should be more than… Her thoughts trailed off as the man remained unmoved and unbowed, her Presence offering no pressure.

She'd started quite light, the prisoners of this cradle incredibly weakened such that even the slightest Presence wafted through them like a breeze through straw. Her control, adequate for such small measures of Presence, relaxed and allowed her Presence to flow out across the several guards closest to the man. They swayed, the closest even collapsing under the force of it, and her frown grew as she turned to look at the man.

She tightened her grip upon her Presence, releasing the others and narrowing it down upon the man as she slowly increased her Presence. The man was a rock, or more appropriately, a fish in a stream; the actual stream of Presence somehow unable to touch the man. The grass around his feet swayed vigorously within the flow of nearby Presence while the tree behind the man swayed like it was in a growing stiff breeze. The slow swell of her Presence quickly was replaced by an impatient massive increase. The grass around his feet immediately flattened, pressed against the ground as if an immense weight pressed down upon them even as the tree behind the man bent like a tree before a gale. Awful creaking and crackling came from within the depths of the tree, shocking those around. The man remained unaffected. In fact, it seemed he did not even notice the Presence, his gaze locked upon something around her.

Her curiosity quickly changed to concern. No prisoner could withstand this. He must be… an immortal, of some kind, yes? She sent out a soft lick of her mana points in the general direction of the man, seeking a taste of the mana he exuded. His eyes flicked from whatever caught his gaze around her and glanced down at something that was coming towards him and she frowned, wondering. Then eyes opened as fear, for the first time, slithered slightly into her heart, twisting any firm foundation. No. He can't? My mana points? None can see… nor the Dao… yet he… knows? That's…

His gaze lingered, reinforcing her fear before the frown disappeared and he glanced back at her. She clenched her teeth and steadied her resolve, stepping forward to come closer to him, withdrawing her mana points in case such a thing was offensive to the man. The man had not responded to her Presence, so she increased that instead, hoping to establish the hierarchy of their two statuses. A proper relationship could not be formed until the two knew how they stood in relation to one another.

The strength of her Presence was modified into a more gentle inquiry of status but grew in power, desiring to establish her dominance by showcasing the strongest presence she was capable of. That necessitated the loss of control as the Presence she brought down upon the man grew even more and went wildly out of control, spilling into the surroundings. It was much weaker than that which was around the slave, but the guards slammed to the ground as the weak mortals they were, grunting in pain against the overwhelming Presence. The man sighed.

A small grin came to her face, hopeful that she was close to reaching his limits after seeing his sigh and she took another step forward. Curiosity grew but then was subdued by a tension as her Presence quickly approached the maximum she was capable of and the man stood beneath it as if immune. Presence did nothing to the man. In fact, he seemed completely unaffected and ignorant of it. Grimacing, she pressed beyond her capabilities, eking out the barest sliver more in her attempt to bring about any kind of reaction from the man, and her Presence flared. Grass for a good half a dozen paces around them flattened to the ground like a stone pressed against them, the blades closest to the man's feet tore from the ground and blew away even as the ground cracked, shattering under her efforts. The tree behind the eccentric splintered, then exploded as it slammed into the ground before being blown away into the sky. The guards that had first found themselves under the presence grunted in pain as the Presence swelled, one's grunts quickly turning to wails of pain before his entire body smashed flat, exploding into gore and viscera that blew into the sky with the tree and detritus around the man. The whole camp watched on in horror. The man made no move.

She froze, her effort not enough to event dent the man and instantly revealing him as her superior. She swallowed with some concern and quickly bowed.

"If I have offended, I apologize. Please respond with Presence sooner, senior. I have no desire to offend or harm yours."

The man did nothing, then frowned. She froze with some fear as she glanced up through her bangs, then shook with agitation as he took a step forward; an odd, funny thing on his thigh stumps.

* * *

Joe stared at the swirls of wind surrounding her and knew. Excitement grew as he learned more and more, excited by what he was seeing. She stepped forward, then passed some of her mana points towards him, and he glanced at them for a time, awed by the incredible amount of them but then dismissed them as a distraction as what he truly desired was to comprehend wind. There was something incomplete about it, despite the beauty and wonder of it, and he wanted to comprehend. A commotion began to happen around him, but he noticed nothing, lost in the depths of wind. She took another step forward, and he relaxed, a soft sigh of gratefulness coming from his lips as the wind came closer and clarity grew.

Comprehension grew, and pieces of the puzzle slipped into place. Understanding of how wind interacted and played across surfaces became so much more obvious beneath the way the wind played around the arms, legs, and through the woman's hair.

Joe heard some shouts, even what might have been pain, but found himself uncaring, locked into understanding wind. He was certain of an epiphany. A moment that made sense and clarified. But then the commotion died and she stopped moving forward, bowing over. Wait… I can't see… don't do that?!

Joe took a step forward, then frowned as that small jiggle of movement almost interrupted his moment of epiphany. I need to be closer! He was certain, now, if he was close enough, it would all make sense, but moving forward posed the risk of losing it all. He groaned in annoyance, then stepped forward slowly, cautiously. He didn't know how long it took, controlling his movements so completely that his head, and thus his field of view, made no change on any perpendicular axis to what he was looking at. And he stepped forward. Until finally, he understood. He grinned, the epiphany obvious. That's… that's what was missing!

He breathed a bare whisper, a soft sigh that could hardly have been called a sound, "WIND."

* * *

She watched with growing concern, anxiety twisting upwards with each step the man took while she carefully maintained her cautious bow, watching from upward stretched eyes. She remained in place, respectful, because she knew that he was her absolute superior.

"I apologize sincerely, elder, if I have…" her response ended with a small gasp when she caught his scent.

A strange funny thing, nothing like she'd tasted before. His scent was foreign, another cradle's mana wafting from him. She been to several cradles, many more than most and knew the taste of a variety of cradles. She'd quickly acclimated to most cradles, her mana replaced by and taking on the scent of the cradle so this man was a new eccentric. And his mana was really quite strange. She pulled in a deep wafting of the man's mana, tasting it to know and remember, still finding it odd. Her thoughts bent towards struggling to understand it but then stuttered as he took another step forward. No time…

"Eccentric. I apologize. I had no intention of offending. It was a friendly establishment of position, as always. How could I not…"

Her worry ratcheted up as he walked forward and she quickly realized that she was babbling and shut her mouth, not wishing to expose her fear. But… if he's one of those bitter old men…

Her thought's cut off as he stepped forward one last time and came to a stop in front of her. His gaze didn't event include her, eyes floating around her but never quite focused upon her. She shivered, fearful. Insane? Dao crazed? Or… His wandering gaze suddenly stopped with a sigh, seemingly understanding something. The epiphany profound and easily visible as it washed across his face. Then his sigh shifted, and a soft breath echoed across the space between them and rocked her Dao.

"Heu Oo end."

Her thoughts shattered as her Dao went riot around her. Wind stilled, unmoving stiffened and unresponsive to her will, before suddenly twisting in wild abandon, resuming and somehow twisting; becoming different and maybe even more. She shivered in horrified terror before flight became her immediate response.

* * *

The beautiful wind flew away, tearing across the sky and quickly growing distant, then lost from sight. Joe sighed, a moment of nostalgic bitterness swelling up as he felt both a greater connection and understanding to the wind and sad to have lost its manifestation. That… was pretty cool!

"Wind," Joe breathed again, even as he gazed up into the sky where the wind had disappeared.

Out of his sight, a small swirl of green burst to life, playing across his right shoulder before quickly dying out.

* * *

She fled in utter horror for a time, not even glancing backwards. She could only hope that she would be able to distract, hide, or flee long enough that the power behind her would grow bored and let her go. Her ears and senses bent backwards to feel for any attack even as her eyes desperately searched forward for somewhere to hide. Her wind bent to her will so easily, even stronger than ever, and she moved faster than she'd ever had before.

A scent beckoned to her off to the side, a place of possible safety and her Dao reached for the Wind, the scent slipping in through the wild winds of her rushed travel with an ease that startled her. She then became acutely aware of what her Dao of Wind was returning to her, and startlement turned to awe. I've never reached… so far… this… Her wild escape slowed to a leisurely stroll that still was faster than what she was normally able to achieve even in her wildest efforts.

She glanced around in awe, shock growing as she realized that she'd moved so far in only moments, even less than a breath. Yet, somehow, the crystalized moment represented so much more, so many applications of her Dao acted in the blink of an eye. Her flight arrested, and she floated in the air, the Wind holding her aloft with such ease she felt no strain of any kind, the wild winds around her now a columnar stream that held her aloft with incredible ease even as a small application kept her dress flowing leisurely around her in modest perfection. She turned slowly in the air and looked back down at the slave encampment.

Wind leapt to her will, and pulled in the light to her eyes; an application that still remained difficult except for the ease with which her wind now responded to her, making it somehow easier, despite the reluctance of the light to obey. A differing Dao, but… She found the eccentric still staring directly up at her, a soft smile on his face. She shivered, fear and awe sweeping through her before she quickly bowed.

She'd seen the collar. She knew it, but the man had not reacted as one collared. There was no begging or weeping for freedom. There was only hard certainty of his place; his power. Almost she turned back to take the man for herself. Someone so versed in the Dao to so easily see hers and offer such a change and growth. She should take him and squeeze him for all he was worth, for hers and her own; and her children, maybe her husbands, although only enough to be slightly stronger; never stronger than her, and any of her slaves.

But then she would focus back upon him and see him still smiling up at her softly, the remembered strength of his will and complete dismissal of her Presence breaking through her greed and reminding her of her place. All she was certain of was that the man was certain of his plans. She crushed her greed, and bowed once again, the decision made. I do not wish to meddle with the plans of eccentric old monsters!

"My thanks to you, Great Eccentric. I will not forget this gift! Please accept my apologies for interrupting your efforts."

She did not cast her words on the wind. To do so would be both rude and a folly. If the eccentric wished to hear her words, he could easily do so. If not, she had no intention of interrupting him again. She did cast a small terse phrase on the wind, however, back to the slave master.

* * *

Ilyelanralo watched the clash between the eccentric and the Great One with horrified fascination. Then grew even more terrified when the Great One bowed to the eccentric. Words were exchanged, but were lost on Ilyelanralo as the certainty of bending the eccentric to his will evaporated before the strength he displayed. When the Great One fled, his fear solidified, freezing his heart. Only a single whispered comment on the wind returned from the Great One.

"Do not irritate this Great One. I know not what the eccentric plays at but do not disrupt his play."

* * *

Joe slowly drifted back to reality, his moment of epiphany, rapturous as it was, faded and he came back with a sigh only to gaze around in odd curiosity to find himself the center of attention, everyone staring at him with horrified wonder. His eyes wandered around then came to the slave master, locking on to his eyes. Joe struggled to maintain his calm, bitter rage twisting through his heart and barely constrained from his face. Joe turned away.

* * *

Ilyelanralo stared in wonder, then horror, then wonder again as he saw the bitter rage flickering through the eccentric's façade. Then greed burned bright again. That rage cannot be faked! He is… he's collared… He's collared! And can be mine! He truly is caught! That greed quickly wilted before the knowledge that the Great One had fled before this man. Certainly… she could have seen he was collared. None have defeated the collar, so why… The wilting greed quickly shifted to cold horror and Ilyelanralo found himself paralyzed before the certainty of the collar and the reaction of the Great One. It didn't take long for caution to win out, but under it all, a greed held place, buoyed by the memory of the eccentric's bitter rage.

* * *

The next few days proved remarkably peaceful for Joe, his evenings now uninterrupted of his daily torture. He still woke in the night, the long nights not allowing him to sleep through the whole night. It gave him much more time to practice his various tasks including both increased mana practice and his martial arts. Through it all, he doubled down on his continued stamina and HP growth although the stamina growth was the same as it always was as he simply lived without his system stamina. Much easier, now, with an automatic on off system. And while he wasn't certain, he was hopeful he would gain the same title and ability for his mana soon as well, hopefully. Using his personal mana, however, was still a struggle, especially with how gaining access to said mana was such a wrestling match for control. Actually using it in a spell while grunting for control was an effort that still could often shatter his spell control.

Still, he wasn't certain why he was given peaceful times but he knew it was related to the event with the strange green woman. He took it with gratefulness and figured he would ask after he was comfortable turning on his ability to speak again. Taking the chance now would open him up to control again, and that fear left him too terrified to do so. Doing it when no one knew he that he was doing so was already a struggle. Revealing that he could comprehend others worried him greatly.

All this he did while continuing to sew together his many water pouches with their new wooden lids and stoppers, creating pouch after pouch every night and emptying and refilling the smoking cabin as needed. His inventory swelled with smoked meat and stack after stack of empty water pouches. Often he was so busy at night that he sacrificed studying his katas, whispering worried and regretful apologies to his various masters as day after day went by without his normal daily practice followed by promises that the practice would return after he fixed this.

The relief from his tortures, however, was overshadowed by the growing tension and worry over the soon to come mass slaughter of the children. The days quickly counted down until the day before his own personal D-day arrived.

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That night was easy enough if a bit long. It only required him sneaking out to his smoking cabins and shutting them down, collecting the last of the meat, then sneaking to the stream and filling up every single water pouch he had. That took a remarkably long time, and he wasn't able to get any practice done that night, magical or mundane. But the next day, it was time. It was D-day. The kids would die the following day, if he'd kept track of time right, and there was no more time left. During a moment of quiet when the normal group of others gathered around him, he once again initiated his language ability and spoke quietly to the slave he'd made contact with before.

"Dulan," Joe spoke the name quietly.

Dulan leapt up in shock, standing to his feet and Joe froze just like everyone around as all turned to look up at Dulan with curiosty. Joe quickly noticed that everyone was staring up the man with strange looks so joined them for a moment, his mind running in overdrive. He allowed himself to stare up at the man in curiosity like the others before he found a response that could distract and he began mumbling to himself and turned back to his wood carving with mad speech, taking extra caution to use English and not to accidentally fall into Common. The long thin needle like piece of wood he was carving was as smooth and perfect as he could make it, yet Joe obsessively continued to sand it down as best he could to silky smoothness for its entire half a forearm length. At any other time, I'd be impressed with my work. Joe thought and kept his entire persona that of a man obsessed with his creation and ignored what was happening around him, holding up the long needle thin sharp piece of wood.

Dulan was quick enough and quickly took attention away from Joe, slapping at his rear and turning to look behind him, although his turn gave him a chance to glance at Joe with some fear. Joe noticed the fear and struggled to keep the wounded curiosity from showing. Dulan focused on turning the others' attention away from Joe.

"Blasted boondi bit me right on the ass. Hurt's like Loki's cursed sa… toes!" Dulan shifted the last comment after a quick glance at all the children around.

The others calmed after a moment then began laughing as others that had been sitting nearby shifted away and rapidly stood, looking down at their seated area. Joe almost stood as well, but then realized he was supposed to be insane and not capable of understanding, so only glanced at them with irritation before returning to his worthless efforts.

"You sure it was a boondi, Dulan? I don't see anything," replied one obviously worried individual that had been sitting beside Dulan.

The man on the other side of Dulan also spoke up, but with more irritation than worry, "I see nothing. Are you playing the fool, Dulan?"

Dulan growled at the second man, "Do you think I would leap so as a fool?"

The second man's irritation turned to the first hints of anger, "Only play the fool?"

Dulan scowled, angered at the claim then struggled to hide his humor behind his anger and the man's scowl grew before he finally sighed and chuffed out a laugh, "Humor. At a time like this?"

Dulan's smile softened and he grimaced, "What more time than this?"

The first man who'd been worried instead quickly turned to anger at the revelation of Dulan's attempt at humor, "A joke? A joke? A joke of boondi! You take such things too lightly, Dulan!"

Dulan's humor softened to concern, "Sorry. Maybe it was too far."

The angry man scowled and walked away, while the second who'd taken the joke in good humor sat back down and slapped Dulan on the shoulder, "Not so easy to take such humor."

"No. My apologies," Dulan offered back.

Things calmed down after that and Joe waited patiently, listening to the easy camaraderie of everyone there. It took a bit but then things finally calmed and Dulan was able to reply, turning his focus to Joe.

"Yes, Great One and Honored Eccentric. How may this one be of service to your Greatness."

Joe found himself taken aback, unwilling to accept the deference but then paused as he didn't like wasting time on this either. There was really only one thing he needed right now and dealing with anything else could be for later. He focused.

"Have the kids sent as normal tonight, but tell them to stay and obey me. Do not command them to return."

Dulan remained silent at that, cautious and thoughtful before finally replying, "There will be consequences."

"Yes. Warn the others to choose wisely. But the children might live."

Dulan grimaced at that, Joe could actually feel it even from here and remained silent, allowing the man to take his time. Time stretched and Joe grew concerned with the time and simply decided to end it and not await a response. He changed his magical language assistance again and then stood, walking away with pretend insanity, muttering to himself and moving to his now preferred and normal spot: the one closest to where new slaves were collared.

Dulan reacted with some surprise but normally wouldn't have since all were now used to Joe's actions. The others simply stood and followed after Joe, and Dulan quickly regained his equilibrium and followed after. Joe noticed Dulan trying to speak to him later, but he said nothing and the day ended relatively the same as every other day.

Tension swelled, however, as the kids crowded into his tent. Now… it begins. Pretty sure I know how I screwed up before…

One moment of despair came in the fact that there were several kids missing; a few obviously too fearful to go against the slave master's will. Joe, however, hardened his resolve and began his plans. Gotta hope that I can get free enough to free the kids though… still hasn't learned to use the inventory… so… Joe grit his teeth at that but refused to fail to that. The kids had a better chance alone in the forest than with what was coming tomorrow.

Joe swapped to his stealth setup way too early then, with effort, found himself struggling to remain patient for the night to fall and sleep to come to everyone. When quiet settled around him from the other tents, he had the kids quiet although it took some wrangling to do so. Soon, the soft sound of snoring and susurrus of sleep echoed everywhere. Despite the calm in the world around him, tension roiled through Joe as he rose and began his efforts. Just… one kid at a time… all I gotta do! But first…

It took a good chunk of time, but he soon had his legs back, stretching them happily as they adroitly followed his desires. Rolling to his feet after, Joe pulled almost all his cloaks but two into his inventory since they would need it. He then grabbed one of the kids on the outside of the puppy puddle that had seemed to form centered on his kid's bed. The kid reacted poorly, panicking and freezing as Joe woke and pulled him free from the pile. Joe ignored it as he turned and prepared things around the tent before looking back at the boy. He beckoned the boy forward, and he stepped to him with trepidation until the boy stopped in front of him. Joe remained still for a bit before nodding and waiting for the boy. He didn't nod back, simply staring at Joe. Joe frowned but tried to be reassuring again as he picked the kid up and then wrapped himself in shadows.

The first hiccup to hit his plan was the fact that his stealthing capabilities seemed to only affect him. He was able to easily see the difference between his own faded blurry outline and the kid's obvious blunt existence. In fact, his faded shadowy backdrop seemed to highlight the existence of the child and Joe found himself in a quandary for a bit.

A little practice had him realize that his clothing was affected by his affects and wearing a ridiculous oversized cloak allowed him to hide the child inside his cloak. It wasn't the best of options, but holding the kid to his chest and covering him with his cloak turned out to be for the best and soon Joe was slithering from shadow to shadow before disappearing into the woods. A quick glance from deep inside the tree line showed nothing happening in the camp, most of the guards asleep and those on duty huddled around small fires and heated braziers on the other side of the camp. Joe snorted at the ridiculous security but then realized that with the collar, needing security would likely seem just as ridiculous to them as not having it did to him. No one else was able to leave the camp like he was, despite seeing his capability to do so. He wasn't sure which was stronger in keeping the others bound at this camp, cultural expectations of slavery or the collar's work.

He quickly sped up, slithering through the dark of the woods before moving to a full on sprint. Almost instinctively, he tried to enact his personal stats. Mana swelled, flowing from deep within his chest to flare out across his body, down into his legs where it spiked like a root system down into the earth. The mana that slithered up into his mind sharpened his senses and perceptions, allowing him to process what was happening. And the mana in his torso webbed out across his torso. But his distracted thoughts focused on fleeing suddenly hiccupped as he realized what he was doing and he turned focus upon the mana tearing through his body before he suddenly winced and desperately struggled to block the mana going to his brain even as the mana in his body spiked wildly out of control. He slid to a halt, turning to fall on his back to protect the kid, but groaned more from the pain of the wild mana ripping up his insides. His HP engaged as his anxiety and heart rate spiked. His HP took a massive hit, draining by quite a lot then losing another massive chunk, almost zeroing him out, when the mana headed to his brain hammered home.

He barely held onto his consciousness as the remnants of mana he failed to stop wreaked havoc in his mind until it finally ended and was able to stand, panting in remembrance of the heavy pain. He shook his head as he stood, grunting before looking down at the kid staring wide eyed up at him. Well… that sucked. Man! Head… His HP wasn't quite empty, but he certainly wasn't happy with how close he'd come, and grit his teeth at realizing how badly he'd been hurt. How does anyone learn this thing, man? Without HP… but… I guess that's one of the reasons it exists… but… unless you had tens of thousands of HP like me… Joe grimaced then glanced at the kid, taking in his fearful look.

"Hey. I'm alright, kid. Don't worry," Joe nodded with confidence, brushing a hand through the kid's hair.

He then turned back to the forest before returning to a quick jog. He ran quickly through the forest until he reached the wood pile he'd chosen. This was one of the larger piles of logs: a four tall pyramid of ten logs. He put the kid down and then glanced around the wooded area until he found a tree with a lower branch he could reach with a soft jump. He leapt up and dropped the kid on it, then mimed that the kid should stay. The kid grew still at that, terror seeming to slam down upon the boy as his face blanked. Joe attempted to reassure him as best he could but didn't let the child's fear distract him. As much as he hated the child being scared, it was better than the kid being dead and that was the dichotomy he was forced to work within at this moment.

With the kid situated, he ran over and picked up the top log in the pyramid. Its weight was immense, and Joe struggled with the unwieldy mass of it although the weight seemed surprisingly within his capabilities. Man… should I spend time to drop into infused stats? Or… Even... should I try buffing the brain, too? I might… Joe glanced up at the sky, trying to guess the time, then grimaced. I'm going to need all the time I can get… After Joe wrestled with the idea for a bit, frustrated he hadn't considered this first, he grit his teeth and made the decision, doing exactly that.

He'd made a lot of progress over the few months developing this skill as his own, and even had added in, very cautiously, buffing his brain as well. Those first few times had been a painful reminder of the danger, but now he'd been able to offer a cautious and minor buff that only made his head ache a small amount. He still had to be cautious to watch his HP, as adding in the buff to his brain had his HP take a much greater hit as he ramped up the power, but he was now able to return to a very limited version of infusing his stats.

For today, things seemed to be working quite a bit better than expected. Over the next twelve or so minutes, he formed his mental construct as best he could, then worked on developing the mana construct as well. The quiet of the night and the soft hum of nightlife gave a background that Joe found soothing, and despite his low level buzz of anxiety over the next coming days, he found himself falling into the necessary mental state rather easily. Another two or so minutes, and Joe felt like he'd completed it in a pretty good record time. Maybe fifteen… not bad… thought it would be longer with this stress… not as good as my ten minute record, but… Mana swelled through him, much better than he'd ever done before and it was with a small burst of pride and surprise as it swelled and settled across his whole being. At its lowest mana cost, Joe was pleasantly surprised to see it barely taking any MP. It took almost thirty seconds to see his MP drop from the cost. But it still dropped, which made Joe frown as that meant he still wasn't able to lower the power enough that he could recover his mana.

His HP, however, was now able to recover at the lowest levels, ticking down a few HP over ten seconds but his HP would recover almost instantly after each loss. He nodded with satisfaction and stood, turning back to his task and the massive log he'd dropped back upon the pile. Right… much easier, now… he climbed back up on the pile and reached around the log before pulling up the log. His already impressive strength slowly swelled in power as he began pumping in mana into his body, leaving anything above his neck alone. Don't need to worry too much about perception… just slow and steady with the log… unless I trip… which would suck! Right… guess I'll keep the brain buff ready! I'll want that ASAP if things go south!

He lifted the log after he'd empowered his stats just enough to make lifting the log easy, then he started carefully struggling down the pile of logs before he paused, frowning. Wait… couldn't I… He considered with a disbelieving grin and then put a hand on the long firmly and willed it into his inventory. Nothing happened, and the excitement Joe had been feeling faded to irritation as he found magical space had limitations of some kind. That made Joe a bit bitter and he added that to a list of tests future him would have to struggle through. He even took the time to pull out his notebook and a pencil to write it down along with a note referencing the failure to do so.

With that option blocked, Joe turned to doing this the hard way when another idea came to him. I got another option, don't I? The magical door in space? Seemed … way too short to get the full log in there, but… He glanced over at the kid huddling on the tree leaning against the tree trunk holding on with a tight hug. Not sure I want him to see this… He went a couple hundred paces away before glancing back and finding the way back shrouded in shadow and the kid nowhere in sight. He then popped open the magic space, as it was called. Not that big… but should be useful enough for this, right?.

The door to his magic space opened and he cautiously shoved the end of the log in and began walking in, stepping forward slowly since he didn't want to ram into the wall on the other side. He took another step and slowed as he came to the point where he thought he would hit the wall on the other side but nothing happened. He kept inching forward cautiously before he was finally inside and allowed the log to roll off and slam into the ground, rolling until it hit the side of the wall. The wall proved as impervious to the log as it had been to him, and it crunched to a halt. Nice… just big enough… thought it had been smaller, but… guess it does grow in size with the levels… is it the job level or only the skill level? What about… Joe cut himself off. Too much to do! Focus! He pulled himself from his distractions when he realized he needed to continue on, and slipped back out of the door before closing it behind himself. Well… this helps a LOT. Gives me a bit more time… although hadn't planned to use the space anyway. But… this makes it easier.

Returning to the log pile, he grabbed another and put it into the space, pulling a total of four logs off and turning the pile of ten into a three high pile of six. He also took one of the stakes used to hold the pile in place. Returning to grab the kid, he sprinted off to another pile and grabbed another four logs and a stake from several more piles of ten until he had a pile of twelve logs, two of which were not needed but he didn't want to leave lying around to draw attention to them from any guards which may find the piles.

He then sped away in the opposite direction from which he'd cut down the trees and created his log piles by circling the entire camp and coming to the opposite side before he placed the kid in another tree. He walked off away from the camp as far as he could before the collar started growing upset before finding another place to safely stash the kid near the perfect spot he'd chosen. He then moved off a short distance outside the line of sight of the kid to the perfect spot: a line of three trees. He'd been sure he would only find two spaced perfectly but found a surprising line of three trees even if one was still a quite young immature sapling. Still, it lined up well enough such that he was able to start his pile of trees.

He put the first down and pressed it firmly up against the line of trees he'd chosen. Another three logs laid down right next to the first and he firmly pushed them up against one another then used a single stake to keep them together for now. Then he began fiddling with spacing and quickly realized that his initial idea was not going to now that he was seeing all the pieces laid out. Gritting his teeth, he wrestled with options while glancing back and forth at his current setup. After a bit, he came to a quick conclusion on what he had to do and immediately turned to it.

Pulling out another log and laying it against the pile he'd already set up, he pulled out his axe as well and prepared to shorten a couple logs to add more room for the kids but then paused. This… is gonna make a lot of noise. I don't wanna do that. But I need to shorten… Joe blinked as he turned to look at his door to his personal space and wondered, eyebrows flickering down even as his lips began to smile. Wait… would that work?

Joe turned back to his doorway with a bemused expression on his face while leaving the logs he'd pulled out behind. He walked in and pulled a log out about an eighth of the way out of the doorway before stepping out himself. He then took a deep breath. Hope this works… He willed his doorway closed and the doorway snapped shut. Joe grunted then winced before a soft wail was pulled from his lips and Joe fell to the ground, pulling into a fetal curl. He didn't know how long he lay there, pain curling through his entire being until he was able to finally sit up and breathe. Lucky I could hold onto my infused state… but man… that hurt! The pain echoed for a bit then faded and Joe stood, feeling perfectly fine. Am I all good? Maybe? Or… Joe turned to look at his experiment and then grinned to find the log sliced just as he'd planned. Joe's smile erupted and he chuckled silently to himself. Heh… OK. That works.

Joe popped open his personal space again but nothing happened and he frowned. Why… Panic quickly settled in and worry hit him as he opened his status with worry. His status popped open and his eyes wandered through things but found nothing wrong. It took several glances for him to finally catch that his mana was pretty much empty and barely recovering. Shocked realization hit him and understanding slid in shortly after. That… makes sense… abusing the system. Well… sorry… gonna do it another three times.

Joe quickly pulled out the same log to the other end as well as tossing the shortened cut off end to the side. After waiting for his mana to recover, he prepared himself. With gritted teeth and tense worry, he took a deep breath then calmed himself. Right… one more time. He initiated the shutting of his doorway to his space and prepared. With preparation, the pain was somehow less. The mana gifted him by the system rapidly evaporated from his system pool and when it started reaching zero, he flinched with worry then quickly reacted to relax, knowing what was coming next. There was a slight pinch, then mana fled from him and exhaustion hammered into him. The pain was less, but when he staggered to his feet, somehow his mental capabilities were deeply affected, and he stumbled around the area in a daze. He didn't know how long he was affected, nor what happened in that time. It was some form of sleepiness that left him mentally exhausted despite the energy racing through his body.

He came aware later, finding himself listlessly leaning against the tree. His mind sputtered to work, and he glanced around in a stupor of semi concern and more lost curiosity as he struggled to understand where he was and what he'd been doing. There was a pile of logs to his right that seemed to spike his memory as well as a couple very short logs off to the side. The sort logs sputtered some kind of thought and he felt an urgency form but he wasn't sure what it all meant. He blinked, lost, stood, stumbled and found the entire world leaning sideways as he walked with incredibly poor grace towards another tree that just luckily seemed to be in the path of his fall. He hit the tree then slid down it, leaning his head back to stare up into the sky. There was no feeling. No pain or really any exhaustion, but somehow his mind just didn't function. Something vital had been drained from him that somehow removed his ability to think. Despite that, urgency grew, twisting through his thoughts and became the binding agent that returned lost or nonfunctional portions of his mind.

He didn't know how long he'd been laying there as he struggled to bring his mind back into some semblance of function. As he drifted, he heard a soft cry and blinked. What… His mind drifted again, then heard another more worried call. Who? His mind struggled against the drift this time, the clouds that seemed stuffed between each thought process like jelly, resisted, but then seemed to begin shredding under his will. Another more urgent cry laced with fear pierced through his efforts fighting the clouds. Wait… that's… The clouds suddenly began to evaporate before an iron will, forced back and disparate thoughts melded together to finally bring about something resembling more directed thought. With it came a shivering fear that wormed its way through his entire being as he'd realized what had happened to him. That... I was helpless! I…

Eyes darted around the area and situational awareness suddenly leapt to the forefront of his thoughts as terrified panic ping ponged his eyeballs in their sockets. When he found nothing, he calmed and took a more careful look around before noticing the two logs he'd cut with unconventional methods. Memory flashed into his awareness and worry quickly followed as he'd realized that time had passed and he wasted a significant amount of time. The glance up at the gas giant proved that and he clenched his teeth in worry. That… crap!

His steps turned to the logs then froze as another cry came out from the kid he'd left in the tree and he flipped around and sprinted to the kid's side, appearing beside him quickly enough that the kid cried out in shock then immediately silenced himself. Joe nodded, putting a hand on the small boy's frail shoulder before smiling. Despite his efforts to show a happy and calm façade to the boy, internally, Joe screamed in frustration as he realized he'd lost his infused state. That was… really dumb… gonna just lose even more time! Joe kept his upset hidden as he focused on the kid.

"It's alright kid. Not going to do that again… well… not for a long, long while, but we're all good. Wait."

Joe made sure to catch the kid's eyes before nodding and racing off back to the pile of logs. He came upon the two he'd cut then frowned with frustration. Only two… need five more… and… Joe glanced up to check out the gas giant before continuing his thoughts. … lost a lot of time there! This…

Joe grit his teeth, wasting another minute or two before finally deciding that it still was worth another fifteen minutes. If I can get it done fast… like before… that extra bit of speed and strength's going to be worth it! He returned until the kid was just in his line of sight before settling and attempting his mediation again, trying to return to his infused state again.

This time, his efforts proved poor as worry and self-recrimination sabotaged his attempts to return to his infused state. His frustration swelled when he hit twenty minutes and he almost quit, but then either through wise planning or poor; careful consideration of time saved or falling for the sunken cost fallacy, he doubled down and pushed on. After another ten minutes, he was able to complete the process and felt mana swell through him, returning his supernatural strength and capabilities.

This effort proved poor, however, and when he was done, the headache proved a dull pain that throbbed even when he wasn't pushing his infused state, his MP dropped quite a bit more, and his HP refused to recover. He would be lucky to get three or four hours out of this state, but Joe hoped it would be enough and he stood, accepting what he had for now.

Turning to his next task, he frowned, struggling over what to do next. He didn't want to use an axe in the dead of night where he would be easily heard and it would be obvious. But… Don't have anywhere else to… His thoughts trailed off as he glanced back at where the door to his space had appeared before, watching as it opened again. Unless…

Teeth clenching, spasming under a fear of what might happened, Joe walked to the gate. Did I damage it? Still safe to enter? But… no real time to waste… either… Joe pulled his axe out of his inventory then stepped into the space. He had to sidle off to the side, the massive log he'd already cut blocking much of the doorway before he then picked it up and tossed it to the side out of the way. The log was now useless, the two ends already cut off. Got enough… only need seven ends and I have four logs I can use. He glanced around the room, taking in all the logs carefully before nodding. They look OK? And… He paused to consider his health and condition before nodding. Yeah. I'm OK! Right… we can do this!

He pulled out another log from his pile and settled it on the floor of his space. He prepped it for lopping off one end, then paused, glancing back at the door now with a bit more fear. Fear swelled in equal measure with determination before he finally closed his eyes and willed the door to shut. It shut. Joe flinched as sound died. Complete dead silence remained, stifling in its absolute presence. Joe shifted and breathed, then frowned as he tried to understand what he was feeling or experiencing. Sound rose from the clothing on his body where it brushed against him and the breath moved the air, offering a soft rustling susurrus, then all died out again. Absolute dead nothingness plugged his ears and Joe found his eyebrows fluctuating wildly. Man… no sound… this… Joe glanced around the dead blackness that surrounded him despite being in a perfectly lighted location. No shadows existed under the logs nor did any shadow form under his feet and Joe found his eyebrows knitting as he considered that. His gaze then shifted to look around then back down at the objects that existed here. It was such a strange experience and Joe turned his thoughts to understanding what he was perceiving. A new dangerous thought coming to him.

Maybe… here? Joe looked at the place. It was lighted and it was very large. It wouldn't take much to turn this into a rather hospitable place. Then I could… Joe pulled one of the pieces of jerky he'd prepared from his magic inventory and lifted it up to his mouth to eat before frowning after he found his hand empty. Oh… yeah… Joe grimaced as his thoughts turned to bitterness with realization. Water would be fine, but the meat would go bad… pretty fast. Don't think I really smoked it too … right. And the air… wait… is there air? Do I have to worry about suffocation?

And if they do catch me, they'll have the kids immediately. I won't be able to fight back at all… I can't fight back leading them to the kids either… but I'll have that little bit more time… a good half hour… more… to hopefully think of something… Joe looked around, then grimaced knowing that his plan was cruel but much safer. So far, he hadn't broken only because they hadn't asked for anything specific from him nor could they really do so. But this would be too obvious for him, and his mind would rebel back against his own thoughts and when that happened, the collar would have him. It would only take a moment, then, for the space to open and any efforts to resist would be meaningless after.

He didn't think he could keep his thoughts clear enough to not realize what the slave master would be demanding from him in any moments of weakness; not fast enough to block his efforts to open his space. This was the cruel reality he'd learned from the last kid he'd tried to save. If the slave master had simply looked at him and spoken in such a way as to ask a question, Joe wasn't certain he could have ignored the implied command. The slave master simply hadn't pushed to ask him where the kid… where Johnnie was, at least not in a way that Joe could interpret and then be forced to reveal by the collar. With distance, he'd have time to figure out a reponse.

It also gave him the chance to be technically honest but actually unhelpful. He couldn't really understand why, exactly, except that his intuition screamed at the back of his mind it was dangerous. He just knew it would be so. Mabye… can't really dissemble as much if I hide the kids in my personal space. His mind wrestled with the thought but couldn't pull away any concrete answer except for his intuitive warning of danger.

Something made him relatively certain that the collar would just force him to open the door to his space simply because he couldn't think of a way to technically state the truth without revealing it to the slave master. He'd been thinking carefully for the past couple weeks, even months, about how he could resist the slave master in his hidden log plan, but several of his planned misdirection statements and actions were already compromised if he used his personal space. So, despite taking the time to evaluate this option, Joe quickly discarded it simply because he didn't have the time to plan for the change and old plans would be compromised if he did it.

Despite that, the horror of what was about to come almost undid him and he castigated himself, angry he hadn't considered this space. Granted, the meat would likely go bad and he had no way to check if air would go bad now, but if he'd had some time to plan, it might have been possible for Joe to resolve this very easily using this space. And food could have easily been resolved by simply taking in a new batch every night. Air was the only stickler. He would have to find a way to test it and likely open the door possibly hourly, even multiple times an hour, and that made him deeply concerned.

Couldn't do that in the camp anywhere… Or… just leave the door opened… out here somewhere? Same thing, but they all just hide out in here and then… Realization struck and he cursed. The moment the door's opened… He knew exactly what the young slaves would do if the door was opened. In fact, if he did do this and opened the door to allow air in, the kids inside would be driven out to return. I'd have to do the same to keep them in here… And he now knew he had no choice. If he used this space, he couldn't open it until it was all said in done. I got the food… and water… although the food will likely go bad without a personal bag and that won't open up in here. Hope there's an upgrade? But… too late now. Joe found himself back to reconsidering, the only thing that seemed to be conflicting with his choice now the worry over air.

A quick glance over his jobs offered him a quick way to test, so he did exactly that, swapping one of his jobs out for a fire mage job before taking the cut log and tossing it into another corner and lighting it on fire with an enthusiastic use of fire spells and kindling made from the log itself. Once the log was lit, he also kept spending his own mana on spewing out a flame thrower size flame whenever he got enough mana to cast the spell. With a little effort, he had the flame blasting out up and away from his back which was an interesting utilization that had Joe curious about future possibilities although he quickly dismissed his curiosity as fear reared up and worry over what little time he had left drove him on. Still a lot of kids… and a lot of work left…

So… yeah. No time… Joe took a deep calming breath and raised the axe, slamming it down hard on the log, starting to lop one end of the log off. The axe hit and then Joe paused in wonder and curiosity. The sound of the axe hitting the log rang out, loud, clear, and crisp. Then it died and was immediately gone. Joe found a strange smirk on his face. So weird… Joe thought, finding the oddity of how sound was playing out around him, or wasn't, a truly strange experience.

He ripped the axe from the log and began again. He soon was in a steady pace of work although the first five or six strikes still had him pausing to get a feel of what his ears were reporting, the strange perceptions alien and ticking a lot of warnings and curiosity at the strange and new experience. But he soon had the end of the log chopped off and started on the other end. Only a few moments later had that end off as well and he quickly picked up the now used and useless log and tossed it to the side with the other shortened log. Picking up another, he prepared it and quickly worked to slice the end off. It, too, came free rather quickly, Joe's immense infused strength allowing him to shred through the logs rather quickly until he had all the ends he needed. That said, Joe glanced at his MP and grimaced, unhappy to see it so low, over a quarter gone already. Although… maybe its enough… just enough to be able to get all the rest of the kids at speed?

By the time he was half way through the work he needed, he did notice that he was panting rather hard for breath and the heat didn't help. Towards the end, he grew dizzy and stood, wobbling a bit woozily then took a deep breath. He began to feel a bit panicked, drawing in a deep gulp of breath. He felt kind of sweaty, then turned to stare around the room. His eyes locked onto the fire in the corner and found the very low wavering flames mesmerizing. He stared at it a while before a small pinch of panic began to hammer incessantly at the back of his mind until realization finally hit and the small pinch of panic turned to full blown horror. Oxygen!

He turned towards where his door would open and fled to it, stumbling in some daze even as the doorway opened up. He was too far to really benefit from it but moments later, his mind cleared as the oxygen outside quickly flowed in. A deep breath immediately after cleared his mind in moments before a deep woosh had him turning with confusion to look behind him. Flames burned brilliantly, bright and tall on the log in the corner and he took a couple steps back in shock as he realized what had happened, his mind growing clearer with each step back towards the fresh air streaming into the space.

He then stepped outside and took several deep breaths before looking back into the space with some trepidation. Well… that answers that. No environment in there except what I get through this door. So… He looked at the cut logs he needed then at the enclosed space with some worry before taking a couple more deep breaths and then marching in, pulling up all the logs he'd already cut and tossing them out the door. After another few moments of deep breathing outside again, Joe marched back in and finished off the last piece he needed before he turned and returned back outside. He looked back into the space, frowning at the still burning log in the corner before considering the other side where three shorter logs still sat but was relatively certain the logs would be fine. He considered trying to stop the fire, but a quick glance around the space showed no damage or anything catching fire but the log. He considered then finally closed the door.

Besides… not enough time and too much to do. The log can wait. Focus on the kids.

* * *

Tsnalla rests in her space, eyes piercing the vast distances that bound this small realm and watched on in strange curiosity as the creature beat at a tree with a weapon while burning flames leapt from his back. She had no thought on such actions, only true curiosity at his strange behavior. And it was truly strange. Why would any build a fire in their space… the environment is perfect. There is no need for warmth here. She watched on, but did little else.