Is Vega taking too many cues from me? Sure, I’ve noticed her copying a bit of my behavior, but this is… too much.

Maybe it's her demon part? Demons seem to be obsessed with strong hearts and beings. Maybe she sees these things in me and instinctively tries to emulate me. No matter what she went through or how she behaves at times, she is still just a kid, so it makes sense.

Well, whatever, another thing for future Nathaniel to deal with. He’s done nothing so far, well he couldn't really, so he can deal with this at least. Screw you, future Nathaniel, I bet you will be an even bigger weirdo.

With Vega in my arms and mana flowing under my skin, I head towards the Bastion.

Sneaky Mode is on once again, the same one I used against Nina and Darren. Yup, I'm once again just another normal guy with a totally normal mana.

 

---

 

POV Vega

As always, the master's heart beats strong and calmly. He is not scared at all, not even when so many humans look at him and scream at us to stop. His heart doesn't even react. It's just one calm, confident beat after another.

I look up to him and, as always, he wears the expression he puts on when we’re with others. It's colder, and his eyes look different. It's hard to notice, but I’ve learned how!

While he talks with some weak human, I continue to send my senses into our surroundings. I can't sense it, but I'm sure the master is trying to catch me hesitating.

I'm sure of it!

I will do the same. My master can get distracted when he finds an interesting item or gets an idea to improve his skills.

It's fun, and I'm thankful to the master. I’ve never gotten to play like this before. Even if I fail, I won't get hurt, and I won't go hungry. The master is just that kind.

One of the humans asks, “Someone attacked the Bastion just a few hours ago, do you know anything?”

Even though this human is so weak, he looks down on my master. I think the only reason he’s so brave is because he has so many people backing him up, but I want master to show him his place.

“Attack? We just got here. A few hours ago, we were still scouting to avoid all the monsters. Maybe one of them attacked?” he replies. His pretty eyes show not an ounce of hesitation.

“Sure you did,” the man snorts, “where are you from?”

“I came from the Sanctuary. Do you know Darren or Nina? They were both here in the Bastion, ten years ago. I have a few items to trade and I left some food back in camp for trading.”

“Their names sound familiar, but I can't remember everyone. Okay, you said your name is Nathaniel, right? We’ll send you to customs, you will pay for your stay in the Bastion and you will get a three-day pass. After that, you will either leave or go through customs again. According to your behavior or usefulness, we will decide what to do with you.”

“Thanks, sir, that sounds very reasonable.”

“I think so too,” the man answers and turns to one of his men.

When I look at my master, he’s still releasing mana in that weird way. It's hard for me to describe, but it feels very scary. It shows how amazingly good at controlling mana the master is. He did it before too, while talking with the human flesh-eaters, Nina and Darren, and now the master is doing it again.

I'm not sure why the master calls it Sneaky Mode when I can see how much it scares some of the humans, but there must be a deep meaning behind it.

Master is smart and powerful and I want to be like him. I'm already trying to learn Sneaky Mode but it's so difficult.

"Sneaky Mode successful," Master whispers as we pass through the gate, and I nod and smile.

It's so much fun being around master.

 

---

 

Well, that was easier than expected. Some of the guards with better mana senses seemed a bit scared, so maybe the attack from before made them a bit nervous. Not my problem anyway; their commander can deal with it.

As for entering the Bastion, I expected them to be more careful given that they don't know me at all. But maybe they have some other defenses for dealing with stronger people if they should try to start a fight. Maybe the defenses did drive off one of the Veil Guardians years ago. Better be careful while I'm here with Vega.

I also force myself not to examine the barrier. If it works even a bit like the Veil, it could detect my touch and cause me trouble.

But at least I completed the quest and can now get some food and water. Not like I need them, but I could sell them.

"Touch this stone; it will measure your physical stats and mana," the man accompanying me through the gate points at the stone. He says somewhat respectfully.

There are a few more men around us, and all of them are ready. The stone they are pointing at is embedded in the wall and perfectly flush. It looks like it's made from transparent white glass.

Let's be careful. I need to control my mana a bit. Okay, maybe a lot, not just a bit. It seems like people over level 200 are usually the ones who survived the war, and survivors rarely reach that level because of the Veil so I can try to act like someone born after the war.

When my hand touches the stone, I quickly grab a hold of my mana and cycle it, letting as little as possible pass into the stone.

"Strength is at around 100," one of the men says after checking some item in his hands.

"That's low for a traveler," another one answers.

"Dexterity is at a similar level," the first man reads again.

"Man, you are brave, leaving the safe zones with such low stats," the man writing it down giggles, "how are his other stats?"

"Constitution is around 250."

I continue to control my mana and, rather than fear being caught, I'm curious to find out if I can hide it from this item. And I can’t help but wonder how it works. Items like this always interest me. Its inscriptions are interesting and the way it examines my body is someth...

"Master failed; you stopped watching your surroundings," Vega whispers.

Huh? In shock, I realize that she is right and my concentration slips a little more.

"Your mana stat is…"

A rift appears in the air, and a man steps out. He is tall, well-dressed, and wears a light confident smile on his lips. His hair is brown and wavy, growing down to his shoulders, and has a well-kept mustache.

"Greetings, brave guards," he says with a friendly smile.

"The Butler!" the guards immediately ignore me and turn to the man, bowing their heads.

"It's fine, no need to be so formal," he takes a few steps towards the man with the item that showed the results of the test and grabs it from his hands.

He does something to it and then returns it, "You may continue with his registration, and after that, I will take care of our guest. Procedures are important," he smiles.

His clothes are neat and fitting. Suit-like and nice brown in color. Meanwhile, the guards are wearing something that I identified as mostly low-grade rare armor. Simple, but covering most of their bodies.

"Yes sir!" the man takes the tablet-like item and continues, "Mana stat is at around 170. The overall level is estimated to be 150, registering Nathaniel Gwyn as a level 3 threat. The pass will last exactly three days starting now. The price will be…"

"You can put the price of their entrance on my tab."

"The price will be paid by Sir Butler at a later date. Am I correct in thinking that Mister Gwyn will receive his entrance token from Sir Butler personally?" he asks carefully, and the Butler nods, "Now then if you allow me to measure your companion."

At that, I let them take Vega off my hands and look towards the Butler.

The man greets me with a nod while he patiently waits for our registration to finish. When it's done, Vega seems to be disappointed by being registered as a level 1 threat.

When we start walking deeper into the Bastion, the Butler walks by my side.

"Did I screw up?" I ask him.

"It's hard to trick an essence probe, Mister Gwyn," he smiles.

In front of us, the Bastion opens up.

The streets are tilted as are the buildings because of how the island has fallen. But they are clean, and there are people everywhere. Every single one of them looks well fed and groomed, even though we seem to be in the poorer parts of the Bastion. They go about their day, trading, joking, meeting, and working. I can hear a blacksmith nearby, I sense an enchanter. There are even training facilities, not unlike schools.

It's a city nestled within the remains of a previous civilization.

"Mister Gwyn, would you like to join me and Madame Housekeeper tonight? We won't be taking too much of your time," the man asks.

"Yes, we can do that." I agree, my curiosity piqued.

The man bows slightly and hands me entrance tokens for Vega and me, "Thank you, I will send someone to the place where you decide to stay. Have a nice rest of the day." He turns to Vega, "Miss Vega," he adds.

[Phase Ranger - lvl ??]

So at least 20 levels higher than me, but probably not much more.

Butler, Housekeeper, such strange titles. What's next? Gardener, Tutor, Maid, Valet?

"So how do you like everything so far, Vega?" I ask her.

The moment I do so, she tries really, really hard to hide her smile. I lost, and I can accept it. I just got so enthralled by the item measuring me that I stopped scouting my surroundings. Even though I’ve complained about Vega doing the same so often.

Well, it's just one day, and my dear minion will surely slip up after that, and I will have my revenge.

"He called me miss! No one ever calls me miss!"

"That's good, but don't trust him just because of that. He is probably very dangerous." You just can't trust anyone with such a majestic mustache. It should be criminal, rocking a mustache like that and still looking so good.

"I don't! I only trust master."

"Good."

I’m already drained by all the people walking through the streets, so I ask an older woman for a place to find lodging. Then I spend five minutes answering her questions. Stuff like, "We didn't get a mana courier or traveling merchants, is the wilderness getting dangerous? Oh, The Sanctuary, how is it nowadays? Who is this cute little girl? Are you married, young man, I have a daughter…"

Things like that.

In the end, she shows me a kind of symbol that people draw on their houses when they want to offer a room for the night, and so we walk through the streets, searching for one. I pass by a few because I don't like the location, but deeper in the city, I find a nice one. In one of the original towers.

The moment we enter it, I know it will probably be expensive, but I don't mind that much. The inside is big without being empty and it feels nice and cozy. There are mana stones all around for heating, inactive, and ready to be used when needed.

People here are generally better clothed than those outside, and even average levels are slightly higher. Most of them seem like they know how to fight.

We reach the bar where a woman glances at me, "Token," she says simply.

I take our entrance tokens and put them on the table.

She examines them, "Entrance token, three days. So you two are new to the Bastion. Are the roads as bad as they say?"

Huh? Not really. Just a few level-two-hundred monsters and mostly lower-level ones. But such an answer would probably get an annoying level of attention.

"Even worse than what you heard. Monsters are everywhere," I complain. "We barely made it here."

The woman nods solemnly, "Damned monsters. It's been years since the courier guild was able to get any rare spices to the Bastion, and people keep asking for them," she sighs. "Single room, two beds?"

"Yes, with a nice view if you have any."

"What can you pay?"

"Plenty, what do you prefer? It's my first time in the Bastion."

"Oh really, welcome. If anyone talks shit, forgive them; we are not too used to travelers. As for the payment, an uncommon item, a higher end mana stone, a piece of conductive crystal or rare metal ore, even some rare monster parts."

"Would this be ok?" I place one of the worst mana stones that I have in front of her, which I’ve inscribed to radiate heat.

"Oh, a heating stone, and it’s really well made. Probably from before the war, people nowadays are rarely capable of this," she glances at me. "This single stone is too much, but I can give you one of the rooms on the highest floor and add dinners and breakfast, and a few baths. Sounds good?"

"Sure," something tells me that she might be scamming me a little, but it's not like I mind.

It also seems to tell her something about me, being willing to part with such a valuable item, and her behavior seems a bit more respectful.

"Fabian, get your ass over here and take this good sir to room four, and make sure they get some food delivered to them."

Led by a young boy, we walk upstairs and receive a mana stone to unlock the door, and we enter the room.

There is a rug on the floor and two beds, a big one and a smaller one in the corner. The furniture is nice, if simple, and the room is a little worn but it’s well-kept and clean.

I let Vega examine a mirror on the wall and open the balcony. There is a flower pot with a smaller tree and two chairs next to a small table. The view doesn’t face the middle of the city, where the higher towers and buildings are. Rather it faces the outside. It overlooks the smaller buildings and all the people below.

I can see the small wall surrounding the city and the nature outside of it. When I look to the left, I can see most of one of the mountains that surround the city. At least I'm lucky enough to find places with a nice view.

After returning to the room, I jump into the bed.

"Minio… Vega, tell me why being around so many people drains me."

"Maybe it is Bambi's curse, master!"

"Maybe. But I don't want much. A place to become stronger, and level up my skills and stats. Some interesting items to play with and places to explore. Most of the time people are an inconvenience, especially when they decide to bother me."

"Even me?" She asks as she climbs onto the bed and lays next to me.

"Nah, you’re fine."

"I see!" she smiles happily. "But I couldn't notice it at all. Master is really good at talking with people."

"Silly disciple, there are two kinds of people. The ones that become stronger the more time they spend with other people. Then those that grow weaker when they have to socialize and then need to recharge their energy. I'm the latter."

"Maybe there are passive skills or traits for that."

I just poke my cheeky disciple and when she jumps from the bed to examine the room I go through the system shop.

Just in case.