My consciousness went back to my body, and my eyes became full of darkness and power... so intense that the dark-robed man flinched, and I saw a small bit of fear.

  "It seems you passed, but there is something deeply primal about you... there is something different. Did you sell your soul, or what happened? Because I feel a lot of darkness within you."

  "No one will ever own it; I am just finally able to show what I truly am. It also seems like you lied earlier about the part of joining mages as someone who helps in conjuring. There is something I feel was unsaid..."

  He smiles. "That's true. Do you think they will ever conjure demons? Do you think they will ever be allowed to? No, they usually conjure beasts and use people as bait while they capture them or something else... Unless you ran into the ones that don't care and do it in hiding, but they wouldn't let other participants who were not from their hidden mage group survive. Probably they would kill the person just to conjure demons in the first place."

  "It doesn't matter. Now I have the power, so I wouldn't be the one that is a bait for anyone." I look at him. "I would be the one that hunts..."

  The rest of the day, we walk somewhere together, talking about the old ages.

  Next day, as we wake up after sleeping in the wild, I start thinking about what he wants to show me. He feels my question and starts talking. "What have you heard about the beasts of these forests?"

  "It matters. Sometimes it's a bear, sometimes it's a chimera or a gargoyle and some more, but this is what the people that killed them and traveled with them home have shown. Not everyone was able to come home... even if they were able to beat two chimeras easily with their numbers..."

  He just smiles. "So as you say, not much is known about these wilds. This is simply because there is..."

  As he says that, a horned monster that was like a combination of a rhinoceros and a saber-tooth tiger jumps out of nowhere. But before I was able to pull my power towards him, he already lay dead at my feet. I look at him, and he continues.

  "Because there are simply no powerful mages that will go there. This, even though it was strong, is not much of an actually powerful monster."

  "What are we looking for? It's not like these ones pose any threat or are useful enough for us."

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  "We are not looking for a monster. They are simply blocking our way from reaching our goal..."

  As we traveled through the woods, killing monsters and occasionally ripping their random parts off—like the crystal spikes from one of the monsters—and making a break to rest and cook food, we were slowly approaching an area that seemed... different.

  "This place feels... old... It might be worth the trip in the end and also more dangerous, so I can, let's say, taste the blood of someone worthy..."

  "Oh, that is true. It is one of the old temples from ages ago, whenever anyone was learning how to be dangerous. Because of it, the ones that were actually powerful for their times have built hidden fortresses that hide a lot of wealth, knowledge, and power, but also danger. It was my initial goal before meeting you. You turned out to be strong enough to be of help here. Usually, you would need to train years before you reach this level of power, but it seems you already did this before you were even able to use magic."

  "Had a rough start, nothing more you need to know. We are approaching the temple."

  As we approach its walls, we saw a few statues. Probably its guardians. As I start to think about it, I look closer at them, trying to memorize every detail. One of the beasts was a combination of a mantis and a wyvern, the second one was like a T-Rex, and the third one was basically a spider with tentacles out of his back—I guess that’s more useful when you don't have time to set a web. There were not only statues of deadly monsters; there were also a few humanoid figures representing orcs armored to the teeth, and some figures of elves that looked different than the ones I saw, but also, it's been a long time since this place was abandoned, so it is possible they changed.

  As we predicted, as we went through the gate, it closed behind us and the statues came back to life. I focused on the minions while he focused on the monsters. Easier job, I think. As they start approaching me, I just throw lightning through my fingers and send it at them. Now, as they fall, I will help him with the monsters. I turn towards the T-Rex and prepare to hit it from the back with a burst of fireballs that were also imbued with darkness...

  But it turns out my first opponents were tougher than I expected, as I barely dodged an axe blow that would have made me unable to use my legs for a lifetime. I probably sped up my reflexes with magic because I normally wouldn't be able to do much about the blow I faced. Maybe I could have blocked it, but they are probably stronger than humans, which I unfortunately am (at least my being is not).

  As I got out of the way, I calculated the situation with the speed only a mind imbued with power could manage. I look at the battlefield again... it seems that no one from the warriors I zapped had endured much damage. They actually looked more like actual living beings than mindless statues or beings made into mindless minions and changed to statues.

  "Probably they wear enchanted armor." I smirked. I actually like it very much; probably I was not the one that got the "easier job."

  I bring my hand up to face them and pull out my blade. "Let’s have a little bit of fun, shall we, girls?"