First Step

Supper was uneventful. They both ate in silence, each in their own thoughts. Smiling Devil had devised a way to eat despite having only one functioning side of his face. He ate slowly, in small bits, till he was satiated, refusing any form of help from Zephyr. Not that Zephyr was particular about it in the first place. He had only asked once out of courtesy after their initial agreement.

Thinking back to how Smiling Devil had reneged on their agreement just a few days later left a sour taste in his mouth. That was the cause of their constant hiding.

Credit to Smiling Devil— he had actually explained quite a few things about what had happened and how they got here.

It boiled down to accessing origin. Of all universes, theirs was supreme, simply because they could harness the secrets of origin naturally. Every other universe was considered a step lower because of this fact. It may seem like a small detail, but this was what allowed natives of their universe to tread in other worlds freely without any repercussions. The same could not be said about residents of other universes. Their bodies would slowly erode under the influence of cosmic incongruity as the new universe rejected them.

There were methods to delay the erosion, but it simply added some time to the inevitable. Low energy universes were the worst of all. They had no universe a step down to explore, fated to live in theirs forever.

One could imagine how sought after the natives of the supreme universe were to these lower grade worlds, even those just a step below— like the Grand Abyssal World of High Demons. This was why inter-dimensional traveling was strictly regulated on their world. The various governments had tight hold on any and every movement between worlds in their domains. And above that were the Oathbound. Their history predated any of the current kingdoms, their power ever-present but unseen. People could only speculate at the depth of their power, but they had never had any reason to display anything more than necessary... at least in the current era.

Their organization authorized the exploration of new worlds, entrusting the task to their dedicated Inquisitors. The rigorous procedure involved meticulously ensuring each world's safety and grading its suitability prior to the noble houses' acquisition.

In essence, there was no room for any inhabitant of their universe to tread into any other without proper procedures... officially. Until now.

They were in a Grade 3 world in a high energy universe, and Zephyr, who was the only fully capable one, was just a Tier 1, albeit generally more powerful than any Tier 1 here could be.

Smiling Devil estimated the power cap here to be equivalent to a Tier 6 from their world at most. That was still plenty powerful. Enough to kill them both easily. But such people would be far and between. Probably old fogies at their death beds.

If that was the only thing to note, then it would've been simple. Stay low-key and you're good. But no. There was also appearance. The people here all looked different. Like some hybrid between a reptile and a human. The same went for every other creature, domestic and wild. They all had scales to varying degrees, with the general consensus being the lesser the scales, the more magical talent.

In their three months of being here, Zephyr had learned a few things. One - The people here were more religious than those in his world. Two - The subject of their worship— at least for some of the many religions he'd noted here— looked nothing like the locals. Instead, they looked like people from his world. Full humans. Without any scales.

It seemed there had been visitors from their world here at some point in history.

Appearance was the first point Smiling Devil reiterated. When on another world, keep to the shadows, note the appearance of the locals, the variations, benefits, pros and cons, then find a way to create or get a corresponding cloaking or illusion spell. If all else fails, simply disguise. He had told Zephyr.

This would have been the perfect point to then tell Zephyr about the differences in magical application and casting, but for some reason, he kept the information to himself.

Zephyr had been playing the role of a wearied traveler journeying with his severely ill uncle, both fully covered head to toe in black cloaks Zephyr had stolen. They had snuck into a moderately large town near their crash site and taken a day to adapt to the local customs and language— in particular, Zephyr. He picked up the nuances of the local language after walking about for a whole day, with the help of his enhanced acuity. Coupled with Aegis' help in noting patterns, he could speak the language relatively convincingly by the end of the day.

Smiling Devil took the speed at which he learned to speak their language in stride, neither commenting nor showing any reaction. They had joined a carriage heading to a bigger city. The journey was set to be a long one, with a team of personal mercenaries accompanying the convoy. Half a day into their journey, they met a band of very organized bandits. These bandits made use of smokescreens and guerrilla tactics, attempting to sow confusion and break the convoy's formation. They threatened to overwhelm their convoy, but the mercenaries employed seemed to be veterans in their trade. With disciplined precision, they calmly and efficiently dealt with them, systematically neutralizing the threat.

It seemed all was going well, but suddenly, the mercenaries began to slow, moving sluggishly. The smokescreen was laced with some sort of toxin that dulled the senses of everyone who inhaled it. Instinctively, Zephyr started up the Mana Barrier spell they were taught at the military camp, his mana node booting to life again. It geared up slowly, deciphering the spell model and intention. It took a short while, but the familiar glow of the spell pulsed softly around him, shielding him from the effects.

A sharp intake of breath from the side drew his attention. He had been aware of the man crouched on the ground in cover some distance away, but had not thought it important. He hadn't seen anyone cast a spell so far, but in his world, the Mana barrier spell was so basic and low effort that even he could cast it with relative ease. Hence the subconscious reaction.

He immediately knew something was wrong when he saw the man staring at him wide-eyed like he'd seen a ghost.

"Kill him!" Smiling Devil snarled in their own language. His voice laced with anxiety and urgency. Zephyr hesitated at first, conflicted. The man had done nothing wrong. Only seeing something it seemed he shouldn't have. Then within the split of a second, made a decision and moved into action. He was at the man's side in a few steps, aiming for a well placed blow to his scaly neck. Enough to ensure that he couldn't speak again.

The man, frightened to death, noticed Zephyr's split second hesitation and took the chance to let out a loud scream.

"Advanced Mage!! There's an Advanced Mage here—"

WHAM

Zephyr delivered the blow, nearly snapping the man's neck clean off, before dashing for Smiling Devil who was seated in a rickety wooden wheelchair. He slung him onto his shoulder and made a dash for the distant treeline just as shouts and cries of alarm rose behind him.

The fact that the simple call had elicited such a response, even with the ongoing chaos, shocked him. It seemed calls like that were not made lightly.

His conscience ate at him as he ran, angry at himself for even casting the spell in the first place, and at Smiling Devil for not clarifying specifically.

If the man had come after his life, he would've had no lingering guilt. But that was an unarmed, weak, and innocent man.

.

.

Back in the present, Zephyr shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. That had been the start of their days on the run. The man had turned out to be related to someone of note. The individual had put a bounty on their heads, along with carefully crafted and believable tales of magic to add some intrigue. Not too much to be taken as a joke, but enough to reel in curious mercenaries and bounty hunters.

They had moved around eight different counties within these three months, just to lose their pursuers.

Zephyr cast a glance at Smiling Devil's corner as he also laid down to rest for the night.

He had learned his lesson since then. Despite pestering Smiling Devil regularly for information, he had started to dig around by himself too. And so far, what he had found out was eye-opening.

Only a select few among the population in this world could cast magic, so spotting one wasn't an easy task. Though along their travels, they had come across a few. In fact, a prominent one was here in this city. That was why Zephyr had insisted they stay here longer than any city they previously had.

From what he had seen of mages here, their mana cores simply served as vessels for mana storage. It could not decipher spell models like his and Smiling Devil's could. Instead, they had to physically draw the model, with each step and process clearly defined. It was a whole field of its own. To Smiling Devil, it looked like gibberish. He'd explained that the locals were doing physically, and terribly, what their own mana nodes could do naturally.

Zephyr found it curious though. The whole process. And he'd acted on it.

He completed a job for the local apothecary once and requested for the cheapest mana scroll in the man's store as his payment. The old fellow hung up a whole lot of them as displays in his shop. Whether they were actually functional was yet to be seen, but since the man himself was a practicing mage... though low-tiered, most people thought they were.

Zephyr didn't care either way. He just wanted to understand the process behind it.

He'd learned a lot from Aegis now that he was free. Things that frankly shocked him. He had started to be more watchful of himself. More careful. It seemed his father's origins were more mysterious than he'd thought. And he was sitting on a metaphorical pot of gold.

His only problem now was how to implement some of it.

He'd wracked his head thinking of ways to go about it, but to no avail. Asking Smiling Devil was out of the question. This was far too precious to share with anyone, especially someone he was extremely wary of. He'd even kept the fact he was learning how the locals cast their magic a secret.

It was a step into seeing how those with a different, more hands-on system worked their magic, a system from which he hoped to glean valuable insights.

And so far, he'd noticed some unexpected similarities.