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Al was shaken by the sudden intrusion into his mind. This was partly because he could not trace back to the origin of the transmission - it was perfectly cloaked! To be able to accomplish this, the source must have strength far exceeding his own. Al wanted to revert with a question to identify this expert, however, due to the lack of a "footprint", he was unable to do so.

Thus, Al's only remaining option was to wait. Having lived for so long, Al was thoroughly inducted into the way of the world - the sheer brutality of it. He had learned, through bitter experience, that mages in higher realms were strange creatures that rarely operated following common logic or sense. That being said, Al himself was unaware of his own idiosyncrasies that had warped his personality. Anyways, certain actions that one might assume to be positive in a regular setting may end up offending peak experts - survival was akin to a perilous tightrope walk. With this in mind, Al made it a point to never, EVER, interact with anyone stronger than himself.

Now, a peak expert was lingering somewhere nearby or maybe even in this village - one that was in the Tesseract Transformation realm. Al held his breath and froze every single muscle in his body, and waited. He didn't want to end up offending this mysterious expert, so Al even completely retracted his mana senses. With his gaze, Al shot a warning toward Guy and his students, only to receive a blank response of nonchalance.

'Shit!' He cursed internally. 'I should have warned them immediately. They wouldn't know how to gauge the strength of this expert. They are doomed!'

Al wanted to unfreeze himself and offer some curt words of caution, but his body wouldn't respond to his brain's urging. This was the result of deep-rooted fear in Al's heart. After all, he valued his own life more than anyone else's. This wasn't selfishness, it was the instinctual and raw animalistic response when facing a palpable threat.

After an excruciatingly long ten minutes, Al heard a periodic tapping noise resonating from the direction of the stairs to the village. With each tap, the sound gained volume as though it were approaching them. Through hasty deduction, Al affiliated this sound to correspond to the expert. After that, every tap felt like the pounding of a hammer against his soul. They ran in syncopation with his own heartbeat, at least that's how he perceived them to be. It was unsettling and claustrophobia-inducing.

The taps gained clarity after an even longer five minutes. At this point, Al realised that the sound was of wood striking the ground, followed by an awkward shuffle of feet.

'A mage with a limp?' That made no sense! Becoming a mage was a surefire pathway to achieving the pinnacle of the human form. Although mages had the opportunity to mould their flesh body to their liking upon achieving the Core Formation realm, he had never heard of a mage who had willingly opted for a flawed - handicapped - form. This occurrence once again solidified the fact in Al's mind, that whoever the approaching expert was, that person had an eccentric personality. Al's soul quivered in agitation and fear upon arriving at that conclusion.

'The more eccentric and bizarre the mage's personality, the lower the chance of us exiting this interaction with our lives intact!'

Al wished nothing more than not existing in this place at this moment in time.

The life-draining taps and soul-grinding shuffle came to a halt right outside Al's tent. What followed were a series of unhurried knocks, and then a calm call for permission.

"Can I come in?" The voice sounded familiar. Al had heard it before, outside the home of the pregnant woman!

"Y-Yes," Al stuttered apprehensively with a wavering tone.

The door pivoted open, revealing the figure of an elderly man, leaning on a walking stick about his height and sporting a washed-out cloak.

Al's eyes were glued on the individual as they entered. Guy rose from his seat and apologised, "Unfortunately, there isn't a chair here. Are you fine sitting on the ground?"

"GUY!" Al interjected immediately. He coughed to draw in the old man's attention and said, "I-I have a chair in my storage disk, please give me a second. I apologise profusely for this sleight."

"It's fine," the man said while waving his hand. With an audible groan, the man used his stick as support and descended into the padded ground. During this, Al caught a glimpse of a horribly desiccated leg peeking out from under the man's cloak. Al had never seen anything so grisly in his entire life. It was as though the flesh and muscle had been thoroughly consumed from within by a ravenous parasite, leaving just the bone in place. There were also awkward dips and holes on the flesh, as though rot had taken hold.

"Are you interested in knowing the cause?" The man's voice dragged Al out of his stupor. Al realised that he had been staring at the disabled leg for an uncomfortably long time.

"Ah!" Al exclaimed. "I-I apologise! I wasn't expecting-"

Al was about to prostrate completely, when suddenly a force grabbed him by his shoulders and stopped him in place, "Don't fret. It is a common reaction. It's jarring to see a mage sporting a limp voluntarily."

Al wiped the cold sweat gushing out of his forehead in relief and gulped audibly. "I... Would... Hmm..."

The man understood the purpose of Al's repeated attempts to formulate a question and said, "My name is Krish Nara. As you have rightfully determined, I am in the Tesseract Transformation realm. But don't worry, I haven't killed another human being in over seventy years. Wait, that's not right."

Krish turned to Guy and asked, "Does it count as killing if I condemned an entire sect to extinction which may have resulted in the deaths of the Sect Leader, Elders and a large portion of the Sect's members?"

Guy nodded with widened eyes.

"In that case, I haven't killed another human being in the last fifty years. And I don't intend to kill anyone for the time being either. Generally, such actions tend to incur a lot of negative social credits in the mage community, and in those situations, the sins of the Master reflect on the Disciple," Krish continued.

"Stop intimidating him," Guy sighed. "Look at how shaken he is!"

"You should count your lucky stars, Guy!" Krish warned jokingly. "I'm only keeping you alive because of your value with my dearest Disciple."

Guy sneered back with mock laughter. "Marie has rubbed off on you poorly, Mage Nara. Your wit was never this acerbic before."

"What do you know? We've only been acquainted for a little more than a year," Krish retorted. "Unsurprisingly, my Disciple and I have a lot in common. Which is rather unfortunate since it is a monumental task to get anything past her contrarian mental barriers."

"It's ironic that in such cases, the instructor finds greater success in bending personally than forcing the pupil to compromise," Guy chimed back with a knowing nod.

"That is true," Krish affirmed. "I never thought that in my thousand years, I would have to metaphorically bow in front of a girl a hundredth my age. But hey! It works!"

"Anyways, let's get back to the topic at hand. I believe I can be of some assistance with your Sect problem," Krish offered.

"In what way?"

"Well, Teacher Jeeves here-"

"Please just call me Al," Al quickly corrected.

Krish clicked his tongue in annoyance and growled back, "Don't interrupt me!"

Al retreated with a whimper.

"Damn it, now I've lost my train of thought..."

"I-I believe you were talking about the sect-" Al said with a low voice.

"Didn't I say not to interrupt me?" Krish shot back with anger in his voice.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Guy sighed.

Krish burst into uproarious laughter, "That's my revenge for staring at my leg. But on a more serious note, you don't have to be so formal here. I don't have the patience to process extra words of nonsensical drivel. Keep it direct!"

While Al nodded hurriedly in affirmation, Krish resumed, "I can help you in your plan to create your Sect. I have a few connections that can expedite the process and possibly offer you some advantages. On top of that, as Teacher Jeeves pointed out, I can also act as your insurance. Once they know that a Tesseract Transformation realm mage is affiliated with your Sect, they will think twice before pulling something untoward."

Guy hummed in contemplation.

"Why?" He then asked. "Why would you do this for me?"

"Consider it a favour," Krish responded. "For all the assistance you've offered in my journey to raise a Disciple."

Guy furrowed his brows and said, "I'm not wholly convinced. From what I've heard from Marie, you're quite detached from the goings-on in the world. Why would you go out of your way to assist me?"

"There are reasons..." Krish expressed, wearing a strained expression. "Does it matter?"

"If it were before, I wouldn't have asked," Guy responded. "But now, I'm not sure if I like the feeling of being used. So I'd really appreciate it if we put all of our cards on the table."

Krish smiled ominously and said, "That's the right attitude."

"That's true. I always wondered whether you were being mature or excessively naive in taking things in stride without questioning the motives of people around you," Al chimed in with an affirmative nod. "Not that I think that Mage Nara has any malicious ulterior motives-"

"Just give it a break, man," Krish blurted out exasperatedly. "Alright. My reason for sponsoring you here is twofold."