Chapter 446: Purpose (1/2)

Ilea came out to find the suns already rising. Damn, spent quite a long time down there.

“Hey! You there!” the man in the small bunker like structure called out.

“How much is it to enter?” she asked, already knowing what this was about.

“Fifty copper,” he said. “Did you sneak past!? You shouldn’t go in there alone, woman! It’s dangerous.”

Ilea rolled her eyes and summoned a single gold coin, finding that she didn’t have any silver coins on her. “This should suffice for the next couple of weeks,” she said and put the coin into the slit like window.

“Wh… that’s gold! Why a-”

Ilea vanished, blinking several times until she was out of sight of anybody that would be near the dungeon, spreading her wings before she charged them and shot off.

She aimed nearly straight up and towards the mountains.

Should have left earlier to relax for a little while, she thought, not about to be late to her first resistance training session in the arena. It would make a very bad impression, even if she was a Shadow, let alone if people knew she was Lilith.

Some might even leave or not come back, the potential loss of resistance points would be devastating.

So much productivity and potential free time with my little need for sleep. She grabbed a couple street food dishes as she walked to the arena complex.

Does it still count as breakfast if I didn’t sleep?

Or does the fact that this isn’t breakfast food change the answer to that question?

Ilea finally reached the arena after many thoughts on food.

A dozen adventurers were already waiting, their levels ranging from eighty to one fifty. Doesn’t look too promising, oh well.

“Welcome everyone. You’re here for the magic training?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am. The notice said five silver coins per hour, was that correct?” He obviously couldn’t quite believe the offer.

Both Claire and Ilea had thought it beneficial to provide a rather good reward. There was even a bounty out for a whole gold coin, in case someone gave her a new resistance. Maybe I should up that to twenty or fifty gold. Then some Shadows might be interested as well.

“Why are you following me?” she asked, turning to look at the attendant that had registered her entering the arena.

He nearly jumped, taking a step back as he collected his thoughts. “Ehm… the administrator has instructed me to manage the gold aspect. People will register with me and I will check the time they actually spend attacking. Don’t worry, I have several perception skills.”

“Also, you won’t have to spend your own gold on this. The payments will be handled separately.”

Claire really is a saint, she thought with a smile. “Perfect. Hear that? You register with this guy, what’s your name?”

“Jerry, ma’am,” he said.

“With Jerry. Also I decided you get paid for the time you are here, not your active mana use only. I expect powerful spells and understand that you can’t keep those up all the time. I won’t hesitate to boot you out if you are wasting my time, understood?”

All of them nodded, either respecting her more than she had expected or simply not ready to fuck up such a well paid and easy job.

“Perfect, then let’s start,” she said and formed ashen clothing, deactivating her armor as she focused on copying the look of her casual clothes. She left her stomach, arms and most of her legs exposed to provide a better target.

“She’s for real… I told you, I heard that someone did this before. Been a while though,” one of the adventurers whispered to his friend.

The other man shook his head in disbelief. “I was sure it was a scam. You win,” he said and gave him a couple pieces of silver.

“You’re going to get that back in less than an hour,” the first one said again and laughed.

“Just attack me. I’ll dodge or block attacks I deem too powerful. Be vicious. Think of it as a way to advance your own skills,” Ilea said.

So I guess tomorrow might be different in terms of participation.

Ilea hoped as much at least. Otherwise she might just choose the Golems to train with instead. The magic here was much more diverse however and would likely help more against both people and creatures, fire and ice simply more common than the gem magic mainly used by the Golems.

She let the spells rain into her, all twelve people attacking at the same time with her defenses down. Ilea found them even less effective than the creatures she had fought earlier.

If you think that these people are even considered a somewhat high level among humans. I could shred through them as if they were made of paper.

She didn’t voice the thought of course, simply a little worried about the city and humans in general, knowing what was out there.

They had survived for a long time already and would likely do so continuously but whenever a powerful creature or sapient decided to attack humans, hundreds if not thousands would die.

The elves were a good example, young ones even, inexperienced and weak. And still, several cities had fallen to them.

Travel time is a major issue, otherwise the hand could have taken care of it. The corruption however, just doesn’t seem possible that even the Shadows could have dealt with all that. The Elders themselves, maybe. Normal members at two hundred or a little higher?

With time, range, preparation and traps, maybe. Now however, she knew how powerful the Ascended was. How much damage it could cause.

Good thing I can be contacted now, and I can be here in a couple minutes if my third tier Blink is ready.

She frowned at the thought. As if she was the sole protector of Ravenhall and its people, or even humanity itself. It hadn’t been the goal and neither was it now. And yet she couldn’t deny the power she had accumulated.

Even now, she was watching these powerful human adventurers look on in disbelief as the wounds they inflicted healed in mere moments.

It was one thing to call yourself a protector, a guardian or sentinel, to dedicate your life to a cause. It was another to watch by as thousands died when you alone could have defeated the army or horde that caused all that destruction.

So that’s what I am now? Involuntary knight? She chuckled at the thought, smiling as some of the adventurers took a step back. Fear perhaps or confusion.

Maybe the Fae was right all along. I could just become a hivemind too, living with myselves somewhere in the north. Problem is that I’m not a cook. And I definitely care about people, even though I like to pretend that I don’t.

Just have to get the Sentinels going, help them level up, put them into random teams and the world will be a better place. For some at least. Humanity as a whole perhaps. And I jump in when there are bigger problems at hand. Like demon invasions caused by humans.

“Come on people, show me what you got,” she said and clapped her hands.

The spells did pick up for a couple minutes but all of them had to pause to regenerate mana by then.

Sentinel Core really is ridiculous, as is the third tier of Meditation. I bet I could just keep going against a thousand mages of this caliber. If they don’t combine their efforts like the Sun Sprites did, or use combined spells to inhibit my healing and movement.

Even then… I can’t really see a group of adventurers killing me. Not at this level. How did the Ascended feel I wonder? When he ripped me apart. Was he happy, to have finally found something that didn’t instantly die to its whims? Was it angry for the same reason? Or did it feel nothing at all?

I’ve been thinking about that one a lot lately. Makes sense. I should talk to someone about this. Trian maybe.

She continued the training, getting a little bored of the process. There was no danger involved, no pain and struggle. Even with the sense turned on, all it really did was to make her focus more on the moving spells, the unbelieving faces of the mages, thinking their attacks should have more of an effect on her.