“I think you should go.” Grenil sat on the bed in his room while Duran stood in the corner, menacingly.

  Alex had just finished explaining the situation to both of them, and the response surprised him.

  “Really? Why?” he asked.

  “Well, you obviously want to,” Grenil started. “And this is a great opportunity to earn money. While I do have some concerns over the morality of going to participate in a foreign war, that is my problem. I say go for it—though you should at least find out what they’re actually fighting over first. I’d feel much happier with you fighting for the ‘good’ side.”

  “As much as there is a good side in war,” Alex finished with a nod. “That was the plan. I’ll go back to ask about that; in the meantime I’ve got some flyers here that I want you to look through. Pick out the ones that seem most worth it, regardless of which country issued them. Look for ones requesting silver or gold individuals.”

  The others nodded, and Alex left the room.

  After a quick trip through the city, he arrived back at the guild, where he learned that the cause of war was… a grudge. Just two gods hating each other for some reason known only to them, and dragging entire countries into their grudge with them.

  ‘Of course.’ Alex sighed. ‘Despite being immortal and older than most civilisations on earth, it seems the people in power continue to make life worse for the common man even in this world.’

  Once more back inside the inn, Alex found the recruitment notices separated into two neat piles, one noticeably larger than the other.

  “We did it.” Duran made a rare contribution to the conversation. “The small one is the good one.”

  “Great!” Alex sat down and pulled the pile closer, talking while he sifted through it. “I found out that they’re fighting because their gods don’t like each other, so there isn’t really a correct side to pick here. I’ll just go with whoever has the most tempting offer.”

  Reading through the pile, Alex was impressed with the duo’s work. Each of these assignments promised great pay for an appropriate level of strength, and he was having hard time deciding which to pick until he came upon one that he was certain was it.

  Alex’s eyes widened. Everything about this was practically tailor made for him. An underground environment ensured that he wouldn’t have to worry about the sun, and absence of light hadn’t been an issue for him since he’d come to this world. On top of that, the lack of direct supervision would give him much more room to ‘experiment’.

  “Good job guys,” he said approvingly. “This is the one.”

  He looked it over a little bit longer, then turned to his companions. “Now, the question: are you coming with me, and if yes, who is?”

  The two of them looked at each other before Grenil spoke. “You obviously need to take Duran since you’ll be gone for a while, or he’ll very quickly starve. I, on the other hand, don’t think I should go. I’m already old, tired, and I’d be worse than useless in a warzone. It’s better for me to just stay here and do my own thing; live out the rest of my days in peace.”

  “Stop talking like that.” Alex slapped a grinning Grenil on the shoulder. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were gonna keel over tomorrow.”

  “Bah, let an old man be melancholic for once.” The old man waved him away.

  “But fine,” Alex got up to leave. “If you think you should stay here, you can. I’ll leave most of our money here, so you won’t have to worry about that. I’ll try to send more back when I collect my first paycheck, but you should look into earning some yourself.”

  Grenil nodded. “Where are you going?”

  “To accept this mission and ask about the details of doing all this. After that, I’ll probably come pick Duran up and head over. There’s no point in delaying too much, and it’s not like we have anything to pack or prepare.” Alex shrugged.

  With that, he left for the guild for the third time today.

  “Are you sure you want to pick this one?” Polly gave Alex a puzzled look. “While it certainly allows for the most freedom of movement, the pay really isn’t that great compared to some others. Also, from what I know, assignments like this can sometimes mean you may not see the sun for literal months at a time. Are you prepared to do that?”

  The group of adventurers crowding around the new postings had decreased significantly since Alex first got here, and the guild had more or less returned to normalcy. He watched two people arm wrestle, the woman immediately sending the man slamming into the table amidst the cheers of the spectators.

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  He turned to look at the receptionist, then spoke in the most monotonous voice he could muster. “Oh no, I won’t be able to see the sun, how terrible. I’m going to miss the feeling of burning alive so much.”

  “What…” Polly was momentarily confused, then suddenly blushed. “Oh, right. I forgot. You have that condition.”

  Alex simply nodded.

  “Very well,” the receptionist sighed and took out a form. “Due to your bronze rank, you wouldn’t usually be allowed to take on a mission meant for golds like this one. However, because war summons don’t work quite the same as regular guild missions, the guild cannot stop you. I am meant to give you a firm warning, but I don’t think that’ll do anything in this case.”

  “You would be correct,” Alex agreed.

  She snorted despite herself and handed over the form. “In that case, you should take this to the portal room along with the payment, and they’ll send you to your destination.”

  “Great,” he took the paper. “Can I take a companion with me? They’re not an adventurer, but I kind of need them with me.”

  Polly hesitated before eventually nodding her head. “Once again, since the guild is merely acting as a mercenary service in this situation, we can’t stop you from bringing other people with you; as long as you pay the fee, it should be fine.”

  “Thanks.” Alex nodded and walked out, leaving the noisy guildhall for an even noisier city square. Deftly weaving his way through the late afternoon crowd, he quickly returned to Sophie’s.

  When he got there, Duran was already waiting for him inside the common room with Grenil. Unlike Alex, he had no armour, only fabric and leather meant to protect against cold, dirt, and abrasion. One sleeve was folded and pinned where his missing arm should have been. His skin was pale, unchanged by exertion, and a dark bandana was wrapped securely around his head, concealing the hoof-shaped mark that had killed him.

  Now, simply by looking at him, no one would be able to guess that he was a walking corpse. Just an injured veteran.

  Satisfied, Alex nodded and said his goodbyes to Grenil, handing over a gold coin and keeping the rest for the teleportation fee and anything else they might encounter. Grenil handed him his helmet in exchange.

  “Be careful out there.” Grenil pocketed the coin and gripped Alex’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes. “I know by now that you’re not easy to put down, but even the mighty fall. Don’t let your confidence be your undoing.” He turned to Duran. “You too. Look after him.”

  “Of course.” Duran nodded.

  Alex simply rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be careful. I’m not stupid.”

  Ignoring Grenil’s uncertain look, the duo turned around and finally left.

  The guild was still busy when they arrived. Alex headed straight for the closest counter and leaned an elbow against it, Duran trailing behind him.

  “Hey, I’m looking for the teleporter room. Could you please let me know where it is?” he asked.

  The clerk pointed down one of the corridors that Alex had never been through. “End of the hall, turn right, then left.”

  With a nod of thanks, the duo set off down the corridor.

  Walking through the gradually quieting halls, Alex finally started considering what they were about to do. ‘Am I really going to fight and kill people in another land just for some extra power and money?’ He asked himself.

  To his surprise the answer was a resounding yes.

  He didn’t know when, but at some point in the time since coming to this world, he had changed. Things that would have horrified him a mere few months ago were now nothing to him. If asked to conduct human experiments back then, he would have never agreed to it, yet now he was doing it of his own free will.

  ‘I guess morals are a luxury only available to those living in peace.’ He shook his head—though he suspected that the changes to his state of mind weren’t entirely natural. Alex’s gut told him that his powers weren’t only affecting his body—after all, the mind was merely the manifestation of a bodily function.

  Before he could get into the philosophy of his own mind, they arrived.

  The teleportation room was smaller than Alex had expected. Roughly square, stone-walled, and utilitarian, it held little more than a single circular platform set into the floor and a reinforced desk against one wall. Except that every inch of the rooms floor, walls and ceiling was absolutely covered in enchantments, many times denser and more complex than the lie detector room.

  The platform itself was equally as impressive, even more densely covered in runes. It held a large ring of some sort of metal that Alex could have sworn was glowing, and a faint hum emanated from the structure.

  There were only a few people present. Two adventurers stood near the far wall, quietly talking in low voices, while another sat on a bench with his arms crossed, eyes closed. A guild attendant occupied the desk, staring at some glowing crystal inlaid in the desk, which Alex now realised was also covered in enchantments. The subdued atmosphere was a sharp contrast to the noise and chaos of the main hall.

  Alex approached the desk and slid the paperwork across, followed by the payment. The attendant glanced over it, then nodded.

  “Alswalt, in Ecrait” he said. “You’ll need to wait.”

  “How long?” Alex asked.

  “About half an hour,” he replied. “There’s a backlog for that destination. We have to time the jumps carefully to avoid… accidents. I’m sure you understand.”

  Alex grimaced at the imagery that invoked, but before he could ask, the crystal on the attendants desk lit up, prompting him to wave Alex away and stand up. “Next departure. Everyone, please step away from the platform.”

  The room shifted immediately. The adventurers pressed themselves against the wall, giving the center a wide berth. The man scheduled to go next shuffled closer to the desk, staring nervously at the air inside the ring.

  The runes flared.

  Alex felt it even from where he stood—a sharp, prickling sensation across his skin, like static crawling beneath the surface. Shifting uncomfortably, he scratched his arm. Then the space above the platform fractured.

  Not metaphorically.

  Reality split apart with a soundless crack, as if glass had broken where air should have been. The space within the circle peeled open, revealing another room on the other side—stone, runes, lanternlight—almost identical, yet unmistakably elsewhere.

  Alex froze.

  That looked disturbingly similar to a dungeon spatial tear.

  The man hesitated, but at the attendant’s insistent urging, he quickly stepped through. The moment he cleared the threshold, the fracture collapsed in on itself, space sealing smoothly as if it had never been broken at all. The runes dimmed.

  Alex turned back to the attendant and hesitantly asked. “What… How do these teleporters work?”

  “I’m glad you asked!” At his question, the other man leaned forward slightly and launched into an in depth explanation of the mechanics of teleporters.

  Basically, teleportation arrays were based on spatial tears, just as Alex suspected. They formed when high-density mana encounters an area of significantly lower density—like at the boundary of a dungeon. The imbalance caused space to rupture under the metaphysical strain.

  Some amazing mage a very long time ago figured out how to make that rupture directional, so instead of space tearing randomly, it could now open exactly where and how they wanted it to. All the teleporters had to do to activate was rapidly fill one part of the space with mana while leaving the other barren. Nature did the rest.

  “Oh,” Alex politely nodded along, gaining a new respect for the technology of this world. Channelling a natural worldly phenomenon into a useful outcome sounded a lot like science—except in this world, those phenomena involved magic as well as physics.

  Before he could ask anything else, the crystal in the enchanted desk lit up again. “Alright. You’re next.”

  The others cleared the platform once more. The tingling sensation returned immediately, stronger this time. Now that he knew what it was, Alex recognised the feeling of high density mana crawling across his skin. Then space shattered again.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  Taking a deep breath—completely unnecessary for either of them, of course—they stepped through.