Infinite Body Prince

"Back then." Lys said, "Mages started appearing the same way as the new path mages are today. What does that tell you?"

Hadrian, who was aware of his limited knowledge, didn't wish to pass on the opportunity.

"There were others like me." The rodent muttered.

Having thought about it for a while, he already had an answer.

Like him with the new paths of magic related to him, the remaining six paths of magic should have been divided in a similar manner.

"Indeed," lys said. "Before that, the only magic in the world was sorcery."

"We'd always been a scholarly type." She added. "Naturally, we helped with research and growth in this new field of magic."

"The others like me…. Are they the princeps?" Rodent Hadrian asked, tumbling over his words.

Lys laughed.

"Of course not." She said.

"Then who, and where are they?" Hadrian asked with great interest.

Lys smiled.

"Give me the box." She said, indicating an exchange.

Seeing the rodent remain silent, she chuckled.

"You don't look like you're holding up too well."

…

The death sickle missed Baruch by inches.

If it wasn't for the disorientation of grasping Haldon's essence, it wouldn't have been that close with him channeling the rank two force path essence through Baruch.

The force path seemed to be a good counter to the space path.

With the missed swing, Haldon twisted his body for another one aimed for Baruch's face.

With his neck stretching backwards unnaturally, Baruch dodged, and with a bend of his knees, he leaped back a few metres, his neck stretching back to the normal straight.

If the blade struck him, he imagined the wound would keep widening until it ate off his struck limb.

Of course, he'd caught a sniff of the fog, making his nose sting and eyes watery.

Haldon chuckled, striking the sickle's blade against the concrete wall, making it vibrate with a high pitch.

Intense fear clutched Hadrian's throat.

Haldon took on a pose to attack once more, but he then suddenly dodged to his left as a rock spear shot past him.

Alia walked from the direction the rock spear had shot from, the concrete floor and ceiling closing behind her and Baruch in a wall of stone.

He'd never been too worried about killing Haldon, after all, he currently had two rank two paths.

Time, though, is what he needed to turn him into a vessel.

Cornered, Haldon didn't look defeated.

He'd actually not needed to dodge the rock spear, it would have missed him either way.

And even though Baruch surprisingly had abilities of the force path, his movements seemed sloppy.

It's affecting them too.

He came to the conclusion.

He simply needed to land a few cuts on them with the death sickle.

He was slightly shocked, however, that he failed to detect the girl.

…

"You don't look like you're holding up too well."

Hearing Lys' words, Hadrian was silent for a moment.

"You tipped me with Alia's mother, and you grew close with Baruch solely to lead me here, is the box all you wished for?"

"That's not true." Lys said. "I think Baruch is a pleasant guy, and he's good in bed too."

"But you're right. The box isn't all I want. I want you too." She added.

Hadrian remained silent, waiting for her to explain.

"I asked you what you thought this battle was about."

She leaned back into the wall, the shadows dancing on her face deepening.

"Back then, mages were simply weak rank one mages. With the Sorcerers research and help, they found pandemonium realms which allowed them to grow in power."

She thought for a moment.

"Something happened though. The more mages rose through pandemonium realms, the fewer and fewer they became.

It wasn't the only thing that changed, sorcerers' magic was also being affected with the increase of mages."

"The language of the world." Hadrian said, speaking more to himself than to her.

Lys fell silent watching the rodent make the connection.

"There's only so much of magic in the world." Rodent Hadrian said.

Lys smiled.

"We went from being able to manipulate the language of the world easily to having to rely on mystical artifacts formed from mages cores. Naturally, we had to start killing some."

That's not natural.

Hadrian thought, but remained silent.

"We still had our knowledge, though, and when the Princeps came with a proposition for collaboration, an opportunity arose for us."

"Another method for ascension?" Hadrian asked curiously.

"Yes," lys said. "Rituals."

Her smile had died.

"Of course, they had always had an idea, but without proper methods, they could only rely on barbaric methods of "consuming" more cores than needed."

Hadrian recalled Bagdona telling him that to rise from rank one to two one would need five rank two cores.

So, it's unfair because it's not the best method.

Hadrian's mind raced, connecting what he was being told and what was happening outside.

"Is the battle part of the ritual?" He asked.

Lys smiled.

"Jasmine's," The rodent said when Lys went silent.

"When he rises to rank six, I don't think you'll be able to hide much longer, and I can't keep you from them." Lys said.

"Is that why you want me? To help me?"

"Its hard to believe, I can imagine ." Lys said. "But It isn't such a bad thing. We could even show you how to raise your level like we did with those authority wielders back then."

Air escaped his rodent nostrils.

Naturally, he did not trust the witch.

However, the best liar, as he had been when he was a street urchin, sprinkled some truth.

So, for some of what she said, he didn't see a reason for her to lie. Going with her, though, couldn't be that simple.

"What's the ritual?" He asked, ignoring her offer.

Lys smiled. "They had to pay a lot for that, would I simply tell you?"

Hadrian was buying his time.

In any case, he could solve the matter of the box another time.

Now, though, after turning Baruch into a vessel, he planned to come for her.