Two men were guarding the gate to the tier 7 city of Greatwood. The first guard is gesticulating while speaking " I'm telling you, ask em' if they can make it clap and you won't regret it". The second guard looks at him skeptically "If I go to a brothel my wife will castrate me, forget about it".

Guard #1 sneers at him "Be a man, stand your ground, and tell her you are sorry, what you can't apologize properly? You sound like a kid. Buy her a present. Believe me, you won't regret it, make sure you tell the ladies to take off their pants and make it clap. Who knows, if you like it, you might even ask your wife to do it."

*clop clop clop*

They turn towards the road, they can barely see in the dark but eventually see a small dot of light slowly getting closer. They eventually see a carriage approaching the gate. The first guard looks at his co-worker "It's your turn this time, people at night are either weirdos or mages, either one isn't good for my health. I checked the last one."

The second guard looks at him with disdain "Your job is to stand and you barely do that properly, shut up and go check"

As the first guard grumbles and gets ready, both guards hear someone clearing their throat right behind them, they both attack at the same time, the first one with a back kick and the second with a backhand while jumping away and turning back. They spot no one until they hear someone speaking behind them "Good looks like the resources spent on the guards isn't wasted."

They look back and see a blond lady wearing a black dull armor with a silver insignia on the chest, a three-eyed owl, the third eye being vertical. 

Startled they both bow with their right fist on their chest " Milady, how may we assist you?"

The armored lady waves them away "At ease, I'm waiting for the carriage, you may go back to your posts." then turns away from them, looking at the approaching carriage. Both guards respond and return to their post, standing in silence.

Back to MC

While sleeping, Adam feels the owl pecking at him. He wakes up as he waves at the owl, indicating he woke up. He spots a city in front of him. 

'Finally, two weeks on a carriage doing nothing was excruciating. Thank god I can use Zero to watch a few things at the very least. While having no medium to use is a hassle, watching mentally is better than being stuck in my thoughts. haaah....' He focuses back on what's in front of him. He looks at the city walls. They don't seem too tall, about 10 meters tall, but that's not what caught his attention. It's how the walls were made, some type of metallic alloy. No seams were visible, from top to bottom. There were platforms at regular intervals at the top. 'Their metallurgy looks quite advanced if they're able to create such a wall. They still use carriages but have this kind of city wall. It looks like they don't rely on Earth's kind of technology for their day-to-day life. It is well known that transportation is the lynchpin of any thriving civilization. They probably have something more efficient unavailable to the common masses. It probably has something to do with the weird energy I've been sensing in the air and from the owl.' While he was thinking to himself, the carriage finally reaches the gates and stops. 

He sees three people, two guards wearing bright armor, with runes on them, and a blond lady with a black armor. He spots the crest on her chest and looks back at the owl who seems to be communicating with the lady, through telepathy if he had to guess. A few seconds later he sees the lady wave him over. He goes down the carriage, still holding his bag, and approaches the lady. The carriage drives in the city while he follows the lady to a side door in the city wall. He can see that the wall seems to be about as thick as it was tall. Once past the door, they walk along the inside of the wall until they reach another guarded room. She waves at the guards, who respond with a fist to their chest, and enters the room. ' Is she a noble? a commander? She probably works for the owner of the owl or the guards do.' Once inside the room, he spots a big runic circle encompassing the entire room except for the corners. In one of those corners is another guard, this one seems to be of a higher rank, his armor having three stars carved in each of his pauldrons. 'Zero, copy the runes and place them in the previous folder.' 'Yes sir.'

 As they step into the circle, the guard asks her something, the lady takes out a carved medallion, with the same owl that's on her chest. The guard nods and steps back into the corner while the lady simply waits. A few minutes later, the circle begins shining and they disappear.

They appear beneath a giant tower with nothing surrounding it. As Adam is still thinking about what he just experienced, the lady yells at him from a distance away. Startled, he walks towards her and arrives at the entrance. The whole tower was smooth, with no protrusions of any kind except for the entrance. The entrance itself was simply a doorway with nothing to block anyone from going in but as they pass it, he feels something brush past his skin. 'Did it scan me? I assume I have permission to go in, but if someone without permission walked in what would have happened?' As he keeps contemplating the fate of potential burglars, they walk from the entrance to the center. He notices that the ground floor is empty except for what seems to be an elevator in the center. He looks up but can't see anything, as if there were no floors or rooms whatsoever, only darkness. As they step in the elevator, it gets covered in a forcefield and shoots up at high speed to the top. 

'Zero make a backup of my memory and store it in yourself. If my brain activity shows any kind of unpermitted activity, erase everything inside and wait until I am alone to download them. Also, give me small shocks every 3 seconds, enough to jolt me but not enough to impede my cerebral process.'

'Yes sir, starting now'

Adam flinches from the first shock, drawing a curious look from the lady accompanying him. He waves at her, showing her that everything is fine. While stopping himself from constantly flinching, he looks up. They were approaching the first and only floor he saw. There was an opening where he assumed the elevator (just a platform really) was meant to slot in. Once on the floor, his eyes widened slightly. While he's not sure how big the tower's circumference is, he's sure it was not as big as what he's currently seeing. With the elevator in the middle, there were four hallways stretching as far as he can see. The human eye, with light, can see a couple of miles in the distance yet he can't see the end of those hallways. As he was about to step away from the platform, the lady stops him then steps off herself. Once she got off, the elevator started going up again, only to stop a while later. Now he was in what looked like a drawing room. A few couches here and there with tables in between. The style of the room was a mix of different cultures. Some seem similar to what he's seen back on Earth while others were unfamiliar to him. What got his attention though was the white-haired lady, sitting on a meditation mat in front of a small table with a variety of drinks on it looking at him with a hint of a smile. Near her on a perch was the black owl, currently sleeping.

As he approaches the sitting lady, he hears her speaking. He points at his scarred throat and shrugs. The lady rolls her eyes then looks at him. Adam suddenly feels a pressure encompassing his brain, he unsheathes the knife at his back and throws it at her. The lady still smiling looks at the knife in interest, that changes when it nears her then the knife suddenly stops, floating in mid-air about 2 meters in front of her. She reaches out for the knife and examines it with interest while not paying attention to Adam, who unsheathes a second one and gets in a rudimentary stance. Holding the knife horizontally he circles the lady while she's still inspecting the one in her hand. He approaches one of the couches and crouches behind it. Suddenly seeing a shadow covering him, he tried to shoot a low kick when he feel his body stop as if he's floating and constricted all at once. Unable to turn around, he floats all the way to a sitting mat in front of the small table with the lady still there smiling at him while his knife lays there. Once in front, he's released. He does nothing but look at her nose until she pushes a parchment towards him. He looks at it and confirms from the drawing style that she was the one controlling the owl. Two stick men, with zigzagging lines connecting their heads, in the middle of the lines, unknown language is written down. He looks at her for a second, exhales slightly, and nods. 'Zero, standby and wait, if I say now, proceed with the previous plan', 'Yes sir.'.

He already knows she can feel him communicate with his assistant, but he can't do anything about it. The pressure on his brain appears again when he suddenly feels knowledge of the language filling him slowly. Once the pressure disappears, he's still standing and in a slight daze until he hears the lady speak again, this time though, he can understand her.

"Greetings invader, you may sit, I have a few questions I would like answered."

Adam confirms from the term invader that she saw him come from the portal and that he's powerless to stop her from doing anything to him. "I apologize for throwing the knife, there's a saying where I come from. Better be safe than sorry, while it was rash of me, playing with my brain did not permit me to calmly think of a better alternative"

She hums" I believe that saying isn't exclusive to your world invader. Doesn't your world have practitioners of the mind? And for what reason have you come to this world, by yourself at that. Very dangerous, had you landed in someone else's domain, you would've experienced a very different welcoming. Maybe not too bad, given I can feel the aura of our world on you. Were you running away from your previous one?"

"No, I was not. You can consider me a refugee. To answer your first question, my world seeks power through technology. While some have gained superhuman strength through it, it is not to the level of myths or what your world would consider strong. Our universe was dying, granted it would have taken millions of years, but it remains that the age of Gods, mysticism, and the occult has ended for millennia. I was seeking a world thriving in magic, to learn and hopefully empower myself, to learn even more."

She looks at him thoughtfully "I see, well fate has brought us together, while I can tell you aren't lying, you have to understand that I can't simply allow you to freely roam our world until I can confirm you aren't a danger to it. I hope you understand. You can rest assured that I will help you acclimate and integrate yourself into our society. I shall assign someone to watch you and help you with any of your needs, as long as they are reasonable."

Adam looks at her for a while then answers back "What do you want? I understand your caution, but if I were you, I would not be so cordial. I am weaker, to what degree I am unaware, but there's no need to accommodate a weaker party to this degree, especially for free. From the looks of the tower and the guards' reaction to your attendant, you are probably the person in charge of this city or are in a high position. Someone of your standing has no need for all these falsities, while I am weaker, I am by no means stupid. So tell me, what do you want?"

She gives him a smile "I told you, fate has brought us together. To you, it may seem like just an expression, but I am what you could call a seer, if barely. Fate is nudging my actions, telling me that I can benefit from you. How? I am unsure as I just started on my path, but it would be illogical for me to antagonize someone from whom I can gain something, no matter how weak. Until we can figure out our future relationship, what we can gain from each other, you shall stay under my watch. It may sound unpleasant when said like this, but you should know that millions of people would like to form any kind of connection with someone in my position. Take advantage of that while you can. It will surely benefit you. If you wish to become a mage, like I am, I can even tutor you. I will not take you as a disciple, but teaching you the basics will be enough. While I don't follow the mainstream path, the basics are mostly the same. And hopefully making you stronger will benefit me as much as it does you."

Adam internally sighs in relief "I agree and do not worry, staying under your watch is very helpful, thank you. As for what you mentioned about fate and mages, I am ignorant of these matters but I will take your word for it. I appreciate the offer. I haven't introduced myself, I am Adam. I hope our future cooperation goes well if we have any."

Still smiling she answers back "I go by the title of Grand Magus Fay, you may simply call me Fay when in private. I do require the full title in public, I hope you understand."

Adam nods "Of course, a position of power requires such formalities. I understand. I apologize for cutting our conversation short, but I currently feel quite tired. Where would I lodge myself? in this tower?"

She nods back "Do not worry and yes, as a matter of fact, I shall have you stay on the same floor as I do. Everything you will need will be in the room, if you need anything simply ask my familiar, the owl who brought you here. Now that you speak the language, there should be no issues communicating. Please do not step out of the room unnecessarily. I will call you tomorrow to further continue our discussion, I hope you do not mind but I will want to delve into your past world and life to get a direction from where we can benefit each other."

Adam tilts his head "Understandable, then I will see you tomorrow."

The owl wakes up and lands on his shoulder as he gets up. He goes for his knife on the table but Fay stops him "I wish to keep it if you do not mind, it is an interesting piece of forgery". Adam cocks an eyebrow at the term used but agrees nonetheless "Of course, consider it a gift for imposing. Good Night Lady Fay" With a slight nod, he follows the owl's directions to his room under the watchful eye of the magus behind him.

Author note: Yooo, chapter 3. Late due to teenage babysitting (12 y.o brother). The annoyance is not conducive to any kind of inspiration. Unfortunately, I have another session of babysitting coming up in a week so I don't know how it's gonna be later. Hopefully, he calms the F down and gives me peace of mind. Don't think so but one can only hope...

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