Chapter 64 - Asking for an Explanation

Rynold was unimpressed.

Leo was breathing down his neck at this very moment but Rynold didn't care about the guy who was obviously just acting out to show who's boss. It was impressive, to say the least. Too bad, though, Rynold was not one to mess with.

He took in a deep breath and tried to control the anger that was burning inside him. Rynold shouldn't act upon this small thing because he knew that it would only lead to one thing. One thing that he won't bother dealing with in the long run.

"Look," Rynold inadvertently sighed and grabbed Leo's hand that was tugging on his collar, "I'm not trying or even asking for you guys to stay here. I'm just offering you the option."

Rynold paused once more and grabbed Leo's arm tightly and used a bit of force. Despite the man's larger and bulkier build, Rynold's hands were in a constant state of being empowered by his Mana Gauntlets. A simple grab and squeeze were all it took for Leo to retract his hand.

"This isn't some ultimatum and I won't force you to do something you don't want to do," Rynold continued, "There's no way for me to stop all of you from leaving anyway."

There was silence for a few moments.

These people didn't know what else to say as they had their own answers for a simple yet weighted question. It took a while before Chris suddenly spoke.

"What's in it for us if we stay here?" he asked with a polite tone.

Rynold considered what to offer to them for a while now. He had to admit, though, there were a variety of things to offer them but he couldn't make any promises. Even if he were the Lord, Rynold might not have the jurisdiction to offer incentives to them.

So, he did what he thought was right.

"Margareth, you're up."

Completely caught off-guard, Margareth stared daggers at Rynold, to which he simply blanky stared back. It was the only way for him to be sure that he was offering the right things without stepping on Margareth's toes. Well, he was stepping on them now anyway.

The Elf Librarian sighed and shook her head. Dealing with the new "Lord" turned out to be a more arduous task than she had initially thought but she was actually kind of glad deep down. Despite the race difference, she could tell that Rynold was different than most humans.

"I'm only going to say this once to you humans so you better listen up," she spoke with her usual tone. "You would be given access to food and lodging, naturally. And some resources shall be allocated to you as well. In exchange, you are to go on missions assigned by either the Lord or myself. In which case, merits and rewards shall be given based on your accomplishments."

Rynold along with some of the others were all thinking the same thing.

It was the most basic description of a faction!

With that said, Rynold sent the faction invitations to everyone in the room, excluding Margareth since she was high and above them in terms of power and position. Both Jack and Oliver quickly accepted them while the others still remained reluctant in making a decision.

Looking like they won't budge, Rynold decided to hold off their answer and told them to take off for now. They were practically burning daylight if they leisurely took their time waiting for them to respond. Besides, Rynold, Jack, and Oliver had already accepted to be a part of the faction.

"Alright, now that they're gone...," Rynold looked back at the closed doors once more before continuing, "we have to decide what we're going to do from here on out."

"I agree," Oliver nodded, "but what were you thinking, man? You're inviting them right away before even considering whether we can trust them or not?"

It was obvious that Oliver was still grieving over the last time he had trusted someone. The whole situation had scarred him deeply.

"I know, I know," Rynold reluctantly said, "I'm careful around them too but I don't think we can get very far just by relying on ourselves."

"If it helps," Jack interrupted, "I actually think they're nice people."

Oliver sighed in defeat. He didn't want to admit it but Rynold has a point. They won't be able to take on the entire world by themselves especially considering the skill sets that they have. It was a given that they were severely lacking in resources and strength and their weaknesses were too many to cover.

"Fine," Oliver murmured before speaking once more, "What did you mean by making us stronger?"

He pointed the question to Margareth to which both Jack and Rynold were curious as well. Aside from leveling up and throwing themselves into danger, there was no clear-cut way to gaining power.

The Elf smiled cheekily as she was happy to lecture, no, explain what she had meant.

"You see, uneducated peons," her eyes shone with brilliance, "the three of you have yet to understand the meaning of Mana. You are so weak that I could actually kill all three of you right now if I wanted to."

Rynold was annoyed. "Get to the point, will you?"

"Tsk," Margareth clicked her tongue at Rynold who ruined her fun.

"The one with the most understanding is the Lord, himself, but it's still negligible at best," she continued. "The Thunder God's Candidate showed great prowess, however, it perhaps might be due to the Sigil he had. You, my Lord, have the same Sigil and have used it wisely so far."

She swiftly grabbed Rynold's right arm and sensed the Mana that was within the sigil. Even though she couldn't directly see it, she could feel the slight sense of godly Mana it was giving out.

"You," the Elf moved on to Oliver and examined him. "I have no idea why but... you have the power of a devil sleeping inside you. It's interesting since devils normally consume the human they possess as soon as they can and yet... your Mana Core seems to be completely intact."

Margareth curiously examined Oliver for a few moments before easing a step back after a while. She then proceeded to look at Jack but it took a second before her expression completely turned to disappointment and disgust.

"It is easy for me to distinguish the properties of your Mana at first glance," she said while sitting back down on her chair. "My Lord is quite obviously an Augmenter. It is a simple state of Mana but it can prove to be powerful when used wisely.

The one with the devil has proficiency in being an Equipper. Your abilities have yet to be awakened but it seems you are quite confident in your battle prowess already. Truly an interesting occurrence..."

Rynold looked at Oliver with a certain curious expression as to why he didn't tell him what happened. As much as he wanted to ask him, now wasn't really the time for a confrontation.

"What about me?!" Jack asked in disdain because he was left out.

Margareth looked at Jack in complete disgust. She really didn't want to deal with someone who was weaker than an elf child. But, seeing as how Rynold was watching over her right now, she just gave in and answered Jack's questions.

With a deep reluctance to even speak, she stared down at Jack who was waiting for his appraisal. "As much as it disgusts me," the Librarian spoke in a forced tone, "you have a similar property to mine. You, indistinguishable human, are an Enchanter."

Jack was actually quite satisfied with the answer even though he had no clue whatsoever of what it meant. An Enchanter does sound nice and powerful after all.

"Hold on," Rynold carried on the conversation, "you keep saying all these things. Equipper, Augmenter, and Enchanter. You can't honestly expect us to know what all of those mean, can you? Although I have at least understood or developed something in the Augmenter path, I still have no idea what 'Augment' actually means."

The Elf haughtily laughed at Rynold's question. She considered the possibility that the Lord didn't really know anything about Mana properties but not knowing anything was absurd. Perhaps it was due to pure luck and coincidence that he had developed the skills necessary to pass the trial.

She looked around the room and grabbed a book that was deep inside a hill of other books and documents. It was noticeably old and relatively thin as if the book itself was unimportant or just plain discarded.

Placing it on the table, dust clouds formed. The title was in Elvish so Rynold couldn't understand a lick of it. Well, at least Margareth was there to explain the contents of it.

"This book," she explained, "is one of the most common books in the entire civilization that uses Mana. In fact, this book is actually given to children to develop their Mana Cores and abilities. I, of course, have no use for it now or a few millennia ago."