The beast was finished, and I could only thank my new [Mana Sight] skill for allowing me to pinpoint the exact location of its mana core.

---

I quickly examined the lifeless husk of the golem. Without the mana supporting the guardian, it had degenerated into a large humanoid-shaped crystal. I was curious whether or not Jackson could make any use of it, it had been hard as hell after all.

That thought was quickly tossed aside as the symphony of gunshots crackling throughout the forest brought me to the present. Rick's men, I suddenly, and anxiously thought. We just left them to fight a golem without any protection.

Turns out my worry was unfounded. I looked up solely to catch sight of the last Crystal golem being pummeled into the ground. It had already lost one of its legs, and the rest of its body wasn’t in good shape either. The barrage of gunshots had torn the behemoth asunder and with one last pummeling, the crystal entity shattered into a mist of sparkling debris.

“Well, looks like overwhelming firepower is one way to take care of it," I said to no one in particular.

This was my first time receiving a Ruler Quest, and its rewards reflected that. As of right now I still had no idea what Prestige Points were supposed to be used for, besides being required to advance to the next tier. The Leyline was another matter entirely.

One thing I knew for sure was that the Leyline had been weakened--likely a result of the Lich's interference. I could only imagine how difficult the task of claiming the Leyline would have been had it had more time to grow and mature. Picturing dozens of the Tier 2 Golems was frankly terrifying.

As everyone in our group collected themselves, Alex used his healing spell on both himself and Kevin. In a matter of seconds, their bleeding cuts, and scrapes mended themselves until the blood had stopped flowing out and they were well on their way to recovering. Considering the outcome, everything had turned out quite well.

I only hoped weren't any other obstacles in the way of us claiming the leyline. I didn’t have any more buffing spells left in my arsenal; now that everything was on cool down.

I turned around and glanced at everyone, “Well then?” I asked expectantly.

Almost instantly I felt a piercing glare directed towards me. “What the hell was that!?” Priscilla yelled, stepping right up into my face.

“Woah, what’s going on?” I said as I stepped back will my hands raised.

“You had a spell like that and you waited until Kevin and Alex were almost pulverized into the ground!?” She exclaimed, obviously a tad bit irate over the slowness of my response during the battle.

I looked at Kevin and Alex, then I looked back at Priscilla. “I see your point. But what’s the purpose in fighting as a group and trying to level everybody up if I went ahead and wiped out every single monster before all of you had a chance to gain some experience fighting?” I asked with my brow raised.

Priscilla huffed, “don’t be so damn slow next time.”

In my defense, I never boasted about being some sort of phenomenal leader--the type capable of perfectly resolving everything thrown at him. It also wasn't like I had outright gone and declared my authority either. It's just... Before I knew it, everyone was looking to me for the answers. It just so happened that I possessed most of them at the time; plus my class had clearly been a leadership type. Maybe my charisma stat had somehow influenced the decision. That sudden realization was a bit unnerving with its connotations.

In this case, I couldn’t help but concede to Priscilla. I had hesitated. Not intentionally mind you; I just hadn’t thought of trying to wipe the golems out before they approached.

I sighed and looked over to Alex and Kevin again, “are you guys alright?”

They both awkwardly laughed, “we’re fine, it wasn’t that bad. Just a bit nerve-wracking,” Alex said.

“Granted,” Kevin began, “she is right Thomas. You do tend to let us get pummeled a bit before jumping in.”

An image of Kevin nearly being trounced by a [Treant] flashed through my mind. Immediately following, another image of Kevin and Alex taking strikes from the [Mordremic Floweroid] also emerged. Damn... Maybe I do tend to let them get pummeled.

I frowned, the accuracy of his words hitting home, “launching spells like that don’t exactly come quickly, but I’ll keep it in mind,” I retorted.

Well, that was a great start.

“If it’s any consolation,” Noah piped up, “I feel ya! I can’t even imagine slinging out a spell like that. Probably not in a million years!”

“Thanks, Noah,” I said before I directed my attention back towards Priscilla, who was currently facing away from us.

“Priscilla. I’m sorry.” I said in an attempt to resolve the situation.

“I’m not the one you ought to apologize to,” she snapped.

A pause.

Then, she let out a breath before turning around. “Look, I know we need to get stronger, and combat experience is part of all that. But a Tier 2 monster? C’mon, that was close. If Kevin’s shield didn’t hold what would you have done?”

She breathed in again, “just think about it. I don’t want to see something like that again, I've had enough of watching people die in my life,” Priscilla finished.

My eyes widened. Obviously, there was some history there. Priscilla was still a hardass, but she was also a considerate one. I had made a mistake, but the very least I could do is promise to be a bit more reasonable.

She had been right on another point too. How could I have known Kevin’s shield would have held. I had seen the strength of that thing—taking more bullets than anything reasonably ought to be able to—and still let it get close to both Alex and Kevin.

It was pure luck that we had come out of that as uninjured as we were, considering my folly.

“Let’s get going guys,” I announced, a bit unnerved.

They followed right behind me in awkward silence, questions having ceased.

Rick’s men were currently examining the remnants of the golem that they had blown apart. Even though the body was now crystal dust, scattered in the wind, the mana core was perfectly intact.

I had wiped out the core of our golem with my all-in attack. Which made me realize it was a give and take sort of situation. Even though the mana core was a weak spot; targeting it meant destroying it. You couldn't harvest a fragmented mana core.

The size of the mana core held within the Tier 2 golem was massive compared to other mana stones we had seen. Instead of being the size of a pebble, it was as big as my fist. My [Mana Sight] showed that it still possessed a swirling pool of mana circling within.

The sight brought back an earlier idea of mine though. It was the reason why we had been collecting mana stone’s in the first place—they were a critical component in magical items. Mana stones from Tier 1 monsters were largely used for mundane objects. I remembered a few such items within Holy Arc Online; a heating stone to warm a home, a water stone that produced a minuscule amount of liquid—enough to slowly fill a water pouch. Maybe we could make a self-heating frying pan? I thought with some seriousness.

The only downside was finding out how to make the items in the first place. I had only dabbled with the concept within Holy Arc Online. The basic premise being you had to have mana stones integrated into an item. Which was easier said than done. Then there were specific runic structured pathways required to make an item function.

Frankly, I had no idea what those structures or pathways were. I just couldn’t remember. I knew they had been on the forums—which we could no longer access. Part of Holy Arc Online's realism had been incorporated into its robust magic item system. The likelihood of it being transmissible to reality was pretty high.

We hadn’t had time to explore magical items yet, but it would most certainly come in handy. With my [Mana Sight] skill, I could probably discern the mana type of many of the lesser stones. But, I suspected most of the ones we had gained were frost-attuned, considering the type of mana zone we were in.

I took a cursory glance at the Golem's mana core with [Mana Sight], and as it turned out, it was actually earth attuned. Which made some sense. Crystals were a derivative of earth after all.

I pushed the thoughts aside as I noticed Rick approaching us, “Well?” he asked.

I shrugged, “it wasn’t too difficult,” I said, with slight hesitancy as I glanced towards Alex, Kevin, and Priscilla.

They showed no visible reaction.

Rick interrupted any further contemplation over that response; “God-damn. I’ve never seen anything like that. The five of you… That’s all from the ‘system’?” he asked.

I nodded, “seriously Rick, you need your guys to start focusing on leveling. Using modern weaponry like that without the system will only get you so far. Even I grow excited at the prospect of an entire army of soldiers armed with the powers of the system. Can't you imagine soldiers strong enough to run and fight with nearly two-hundred pounds and feel nothing?”

“I can in fact imagine that. I did just witness the mere ludicrously of it all happening in front of me,” Rick replied.

I could feel the pride at his words in the others behinds me, denoting that my earlier altercation with Priscilla was already being left in the past.

After a short pause, consideration evident on Rick's face, he continued, “You know what? I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure the Camp has been dying to figure out just how the system might benefit the men. In fact, between you and me, I’m pretty sure they’ve already done just that,” Rick finished with a smirk.

I put a smile on my face, “It’s only here to help us, Rick,” then I quickly changed the topic, “now, should we get looking at this leyline?” I brought up.

Rick turned to look at the spire only fifteen or so feet away. “Leyline, huh,” he said while eyeing its crystal structure. “Can’t believe that thing is the source of all of the commotion in the area. The amount of power that thing is giving off must be enormous."

Power? It was a word that brought an interesting idea. Could we tap into the leyline as a literal power source? Obviously, the answer was a likely yes, but first I would have to figure out what exactly "claiming the Leyline" meant.

As we drew closer, I quickly swept through the numerous notifications I had received; [Appraisal] had leveled to 6, [Leadership] to 6, [Condensed Conjuration] and [Mana Sight] to level 2. and [Paragon's Influence] had finally leveled up to level 6.

In fact, after that fight, I was only twenty experience points away from reaching level 21. My mood improved.

However, it was a bitter sort of reward. Priscilla's tirade had left an impression on me. It was nuts because... Up until now, I had been wholly confident, albeit a bit nervous about the prospect of leading the community. In fact, I had embraced the role.

But after Priscilla, I suddenly felt as though I was inadequate. If Kevin or Alex had actually died... What the hell would I have done?

I pushed the thoughts to the side... Something I had been rather good at doing recently—which I wasn't exactly proud of.

As we drew closer to the Leyline the cascading waves of magical energy began to emanate like a pulse into the air around it. For someone with deepening sensitivity to mana such as myself, it was practically deafening to my senses. If we could learn to tap this... The possibilities were enormous. I did not know what purpose the Leyline was meant to serve within the system, but I was sure as hell going to find out.

The biggest thing to me was whether or not the Leyline would help protect us against the inevitable demonic scourge.

Both Rick and I stopped just a foot in front of the Crystal Spire.

"Well?" Rick turned to me expectantly.

I continued to stare at the Spire. Clearly, I was meant to claim it... But how?

I raised my hand to touch it, and the moment my palm made contact with its crystalline structure, the world caved in.

In a swirl of colors like a spinning abstract painting, I felt as though my soul was ripped from my body, only to be transported to a blank expanse—a blue screen was all that decorated the empty landscape.

This again...