Sovereign of Illusions

Adam sighed when looking at the battlefield and remembering the gore scene that happened minutes ago.

”Sigh. What have I turned into? ”

”Agh, cough cough ”

Adams eyes started hurting, and he was already at his limit. Controlling the woman from before, manipulating Robert, and trying to control Slan, his Dream Essence was almost depleted.

In fact, if he didn cloud Slans reasoning for one second, his plan would have failed entirely, since to block Robert, Slan didn have to change his incantation, only change its path, and since his new aim would be much closer, the casting time would be reduced more than 70%.

”Drop your weapons 3 meters away from you and kneel! ” Adam shouted as he rushed to Robert. He knew that in five seconds, his control would disappear.

As if he was a loyal dog, Robert Bitelly complied with his orders and threw his weapon in Adams direction, kneeling in the process.

Adam fastly rushed there, grabbing the sword and piercing it. Adams control was laughable, he hadn used a sword in his life, and for the first time, he grabbed it in one move and pierced it in the center of someone elses chest.

With his fast movement and the already profoundly damaged leather armor, Adams strike was a success, only that his aiming for the heart was slightly diverted, instead piercing Roberts lungs.

Out of his control, Robert shouted while coughing lots of blood. ”Why! I didn want to kill my brother-in-law, who was my friend. Why me? ” He wasn questioning why Adam killed everyone, nor how he killed everyone. Being captured as a slave was enough reason for his actions. His only questions were about why he was chosen to be controlled.

Even though he was in Adams complete control during the battle, his senses, thoughts, and, mainly, vision were not affected. He could see his actions but could not help nor shout to warn the others. With a small tear slowly dropping from his eyes, Roberts life completely disappeared from the world.

As Roberts life force completely dissipated, a horrendous green-looking thing shot toward Adam, penetrating his wrist.

”Bleaghh ”

Adam violently vomited blood.

Involuntarily, he grabbed the sword and, in a slashing manner that he never felt possible, aimed for his wrists. If it landed, he would surely die out of blood loss.

Luckily for him, the sword got cramped in Roberts armor and flesh, making it impossible for him to unleash it.

Ten seconds passed as Adam dropped to his knees.

”What happened? Were my actions being controlled by someone else? Is this the feeling that I made Robert feel? It surely is horrifying! ”

Adam didn know what happened but looking for his right wrist, there was a horrendous face resembling Roberts. The only problem was that it was composed of tens of shades of green, inducing despair and disgust in anyone who saw it.

”This face… It is Marys! ”

He knew about Mary after watching Roberts memories. She was only 15 and was already a rank 5 Adept. So young and so powerful, with her Familys resources, her future would be limitless in this northern continent.

I must leave this place. It is only possible for true magicians to notice this fight. There will probably be some young adepts rushing here to complete their elders requests.

Adam was correct, and in less than one hour, two ranks 5 Adepts using magical beasts as their moving vehicle found this place. Such a battle was not worth the attention of elders, but they would indeed send someone to investigate.

”Tch, such weaklings actually died in the hands of slaves. Hahahaha. ”

The two Adepts couldn help but burst out laughing, only to find the one-winged Dragon crest in the leather armor of the guards.

”Shut it! If someone sees us laughing about this, we will be punished by our sect. ”

They completely shut their mouths; they were here to recruit people to their Ghost Finger sect, and one of their backers was actually the Bitelly family.

”I will search toward the east. You go west. The surviving slaves will either flee to the forest or try entering the city. ”

”If you find them and can capture them, kill them immediately! ”

Nodding, the other adept mounted his magical beast and rushed back to the city.

Neither of the Adepts dared to slack off. The one who ordered started inspecting the bodies, finding nothing valuable; he also rushed, searching for the escaping slaves that dared to mess with the Bitelly family.

. . . . .

Sure to be followed, Adam didn expect his pursuers to be this fast. After looting all the bodies and carriage, he found a black robe that didn have any crest on it. He changed his clothes but didn throw his older ones away. Being scared silly by the strange face on his wrist made him remember many curses and similar things from the library.

He was afraid of being chased that way, so not only he tried cleaning and even placing some bodies in the place he vomited blood, mixing the bodies, and changing the battlefield, he was still scared nonetheless.

Besides the black robe, he found a necklace made of bronze. Adam would simply ignore it if not for some tiny runes on it.

It should be a magical artifact. Luckily, I didn allow that Adept to use it, killing Slan immediately. ”

A proud look appeared on Adams face as he remembered the battle. Still looking for his fight spoils, a medium-sized sack he put inside his stolen robes had approximately 200 mana stones and some gold coins. In fact, all the slaves, besides any adept or high-ranking knight slave, could be bought thousands of times with this wealth.

Why would they enter the slave commerce if they are already this wealthy? this question bugged Adams mind as he successfully entered the city.

The two ranks 5 Adepts were looking for a group of slaves. Since they didn notice any other type of magic besides that of plant that was clearly used by the Bitelly family adept, they didn think a lone kid would be able to mess this Family by himself.

After 12 hours of searching, they knew it would probably be useless to keep probing yet, to show their hard work and not be discarded by their sect or the Bitelly family. Being treated as worthless, they spent 5 days in their hopeless pursuit of an obscure bunch of slaves.

. . . . .

Adam sat quietly in a small rundown tavern, looking toward his glass of water. His right hand firmly holding the glass with long sleeves completely covering his arms, he rested his left hand on the hilt of a small dagger. This dagger had cost him 70 Mana Stones, the lowest grade Adept rank artifact. If anywhere else, this type of artifact would be sold for at least 120 Mana Stones, but since nobody knew its origins or which clan was murdered for them to obtain it, selling for 70 Mana stones was already quite the profit.

”Did you hear the news? Bitelly familys seventh young master was murdered by slaves! They have yet to find the culprits. ”

”Shhh, don talk this out loud. The Bitelly family and Ghost Finger Sect demand explanations for the other sect, yet no one besides the daring Misty Mountain Tower talks. They even said that if the people who killed Bitellys seventh young master came to their sect, they would become a core disciple! Im really jealous. ”

Humph, who would be so stupid to fall for such petty tricks. Thought Adam was in the same pose as before. Being in this rundown tavern was a form to gather intelligence, and after learning this news and things for the past five days, Adam decided on which sect he would enter.

I don know if the Misty Mountain Tower has any grudges against The Bitelly family or the Ghost Finger Sect, but I wouldn be stupid to go there claiming to be the killer. What if it is a trap, and they hand me off to the Family? Even being a slave would have turned better in that case!

. . . . .

”Im here to have my talents tested, and I want to become a disciple of The Academy of Fallen Tears. ” When Adam finished speaking, a surprised look appeared on the face of the rank 4 Adept that Adam was talking to. He clearly felt the weak energies of an initial stage rank 1 Adept coming from the wholly covered guy in front of him, If you are already able to cultivate, doesn it mean that you already have a technique or a sect? Why would this guy want to enter ours then?

He didn know that 60 years ago, after the end of the second great war, many inheritances of the dark path were disseminated to the world. In fact, not even Adam knew about it, but such a lie would be accepted by any sect since they would gather more disciples who were talented enough to cultivate alone.

Injecting his energy into a small orb hidden by the counter, the receptionist faked a smile. ”Sure, just wait for a while as our Magician gets ready to test your aptitude. The test will cost you 5 Mana Stones. ” Grinned the guy as if robbing a newcomer.

Adam quietly placed his hand in his inner pocket and grabbed 5 Mana stones. Handing them to the guy at the counter.

Adams grip on the dagger got stronger while leaning on the wall while waiting for the so-called Magician. He couldn even feel the energy from the guy in front of him, but the guy could clearly see his.

Minutes passed as the tense situation kept increasing. The guy on the counter kept staring at Adams purple eye, and Adams Gaze kept aiming at the other mans eye. Both of them were ready for any possible battle to break out.

”Beep ” A sound came out of the counter. Breaking eye contact, the receptionist looked at the orb and said: ”You can go. Our Elder is ready to test your aptitude. ”

After seeing Adam leave, the receptionist looked at his hands in a daze. Did I sweat only by looking at that guy? and what was that feeling of doom every time I thought about backing out. Wait, why did I even think about evading that guys gaze?

As if enraged that he felt some traces of fear, the receptionist punched the table with utmost strength, not damaging it in the slightest.