Chapter 13: Blue, yellow and green

Xylos regained consciousness and found himself in the middle of a battlefield; craters and wreckage can be seen nearby. All around him the sounds of battle resounded in the air and ground; everyone was fighting their own battle.

"Carly, can you move?" An authoritative voice shouted.

Three transparent screens appeared in Xylos' vision. A series of boot messages appeared on the left-most screen before the other two screens loaded.

On the far left screen, he saw his vital information which included his effective health, mana, stamina and the state of each part of his body. It also showed his body attributes; the highest one was speed followed by endurance and then strength.

The central screen was transparent but every time something appears within the screen a colored tag would appear near it with a brief description of what it is.

On the far right screen, he could see transparent buttons labeled "Magic", "Artes", "Skills", "Attacks", and "Limit Burst." He unconsciously tried to press one of those buttons but his hands simply passed through the screen, and almost poked his teammate in the face.

His teammate looked at Xylos, who currently possessed the body of Carly, with a weird expression.

Below the buttons were a list of buffs, one of which was called Unpresence. It was a passive ability that prevents others from sensing him.

"I'm alright, how far are we from the destination?" Xylos said and noticed that his voice was softer than usual. He had a stray thought but decided to put it at the corner of his mind for the time being.

"We are about 15 km away, but there are about 5 duels happing along the shortest path there." His teammate responded.

"Point me in the direction and cover me," Xylos said, "I'll try to get there as fast as I can."

"Are you sure?" His teammate said.

"I believe in my speed. We don't have any time to waste. Reinforcements are coming as we speak." Xylos responded and immediately dashed in the direction his teammate pointed.

Havard watched as his teammate rushed ahead leaving him behind. He felt it was a bit odd. Normally, Carly would be much more cautious. As long as he remained out of sight, there was no way anyone would be able to locate him.

"There that person has the book!" A voice shouted from above, and several firebolts flew at Carly hoping to cut him off. Carly's body vanished and then reappeared barely beyond the point of impact which sent out a wave caused Carly to move even faster. In a few seconds, his teammate was a dot in the distance. Harvard stared without blinking; he knew that his teammate was fast but not THAT fast. He didn't even have a chance to provide cover. "Did he rank up during the mission?" Havard though as he chased after his team.

Xylos dashed forward with ever-increasing speed. He wanted to slow down, but that wasn't possible in his current state. His body was glowing and particles of mana were being forced out of his body; his mana pool was increasing exponentially. With spells and battles of a legendary level happening all around him, the density of mana in the area was much higher than he expected; being mana deprived for such a long time his Core System was eager to draw in as much mana as possible; it would have been beneficial to his real body but there was a hard limit for the body he currently possessed.

He didn't have an opportunity to make adjustments, and could only keep casting random low-level spells and abilities that would increase his speed to keep the mana at a maintainable level. The vitals were already showing some signs of mana erosion. Luckily, the body had a good constitution so the damage was limited to the skin.

Xylos flashed across the battlefield. When anyone tried to block him, he would "Blink" past the obstacle. With the Unpresence passive, none of the attackers can lock onto his position. Even if they managed to lock on, Xylos would be far beyond their range of attack a moment later.

Xylos entered a state of flow after running for about 15 minutes; everything around him seemed to moved slower, and he was able to use magic and abilities with almost perfect timing.

"Your fast, almost as fast me..." A male voice said from right beside him

"Someone caught up..." Xylos exclaimed inwardly as a red attack indicator appeared on his right side. He "blinked" forward to avoid the attack but before he can continue moving forward another attack indicator appeared from his left. An instant later, a bubble of air burst with immense power knocking them far apart. Xylos only had a moment to breathe before an attack indicator appeared from above. "Who the heck is this person? How does he lock-on to me so fast?" Xylos cursed inwardly as he drew the enchanted blade and thrust upward.

Levin Syrue nimbly dodged the clumsy thrust, but it bought his opponent enough time to blink forward. Kevin was intrigued, there were very few people that were faster than him or avoid his attacks; every action he made was a blur; there was no way a simple non-legendary would be able to predict and dodge his attacks. Alas after failing to hit his opponent three times in a row, he knew that his opponent shouldn't be underestimated.

Vivi Syrue approached a moment later. "You let him go?" She asked his brother.

"No. But I think waiting for him at the destination would better way" Levin said, "His aura feels different from before and he avoided 3 of my attacks in a row. The book must have done something."

"I guess you are out of practice" Vivi joked, but Levin simply looked at her, "Fine, they are heading toward a teleportation array."

"Prepare the talisman, we'll intercept them there," Levin said as he disappeared in the horizon.

"You were much more easygoing before this point I wonder whats change." Vivi thought as she took out a stake and started writing some runes on it.

"Did I lose them?" Xylos said as he willed the left-most screen to display the map. His destination was nearby. He knew that the teleportation array would take him to Carly's headquarters but he was not sure if it was a good idea. The book was very valuable; the calculation features of PS000, the hibernating features of the residential area, and the former Grand

mage all resided in the book. They were indispensable if he wanted to learn about his world and improve himself. But right now, he wasn't strong enough to make full use of it.

"Kaftan," Xylos said, "Is there anything you can do about the teleportation array?"

"Hmm," Kaftan said, "It leads to the City of LaPlace. I can use the book to slightly distort the location an make you appear far away from their headquarters, but that is all I can do, the rest is up to you."

Xylos nodded and dashed toward the destination. When he was about 100 meters away, he saw a legion of soldiers dressed in the same attire as Carly up ahead. They quickly made a path toward the teleportation array while shooting out some spells at the people that were still chasing.

Xylos stepped into the array and it started to glow with blue light. Suddenly, something dropped down from the sky sending a wave that blasted all nearby soldiers away. Soon after, a stake with glowing runes embedded itself in the center of the circle and circle turned yellow and the Syrue twins landed in the center. Before the twin can react, a blue glow emanated from the book turning the circle green. Everyone in the circle froze with a stupified expression before they all vanished into the air.

"Fuck!" Kaftan cursed from inside the book...