No one had the guts to question Lev or Harun when they landed and entered Timberhold without a single pause. Both of them were used to the treatment, though one obviously more than the other.

Around them, there was a large empty plot of land for several hundred meters of traveling inwards before farms became visible on either side. Traffic on the main road leading to the actual city proper was still quite high, however.

Lev always stayed a step or two behind, both out of respect and to avoid people spreading some stupid rumors. He needed to show that his status in society was far lower than the Exalted's, who was referred to as 'my lord' by many. It made him question just how he had won Sherron over, and as a child, no less.

"I wasn't entirely serious back then," Harun spoke, his voice low but reaching Lev clearly. "You can deal with any business you have before entering my estate. Once there, you won't be allowed to leave for a few weeks."

What even is there for me to do? Lev wondered as they walked down the main road. Taking in the sights took a backseat as his mind wandered. There isn't any shopping that needs to be taken care of urgently, and Beatrice…

The thought of his friend resurfaced the memory of her full red lips hovering so close to his own, inching ever closer in their tantalizing beauty—

Lev slapped his cheeks with both hands and quickly breathed out, inhaling deep breaths to steady his rising heartbeat. He ignored the grinning and enlightened Exalted and focused back on the original line of thought.

She won't be free for some time, settling in and all that, Lev huffed and pulled his mind out of the gutter. Which leaves me with… absolutely nothing to do. Trading B-Hide can wait for however long I am going to stay in the mysterious pond.

"I'm free to enter right now," Lev said after a few minutes of silent contemplation. He glanced at the invisible bubble flying above them. "Where do we need to go?"

"Not far," came the reply. "Keep walking straight, I'll be back in a moment."

True to his words, the Exalted vanished from sight instantly after that. Shrugging to himself, Lev kept walking while taking in the sights. Now that he was no longer lost in thought, he took a good look around.

Behind him, towering walls obscured the view to the outside, hiding the distant outer wall from sight. Underneath, massive white gates saw a constant stream of people entering and leaving the city, tiny compared to the metal gates. The color made him curious, but not enough to remember the oddity for long.

Up ahead, the buildings were steadily becoming larger in his vision. There were only massive mansions and whole estates at the front, which told him enough about where he was supposed to go.

Nobody tried to initiate conversation with the lone Master walking down the road before Harun suddenly reappeared in front of him.

"Good, you didn't get lost," he nodded, approving of the grand feat. "Pick up the pace."

Barrier Armor transitioned into its active state. He ascended above the ground traffic and followed the flying Exalted, who led him to the very first large piece of land at the edge of the city proper.

The massive estate… was empty, except for a large open-air structure in the middle. They both landed at the gate, and Lev waited for the aura mage to explain what they were doing there.

A high wooden dome made of dark brown wood held up by four similar massive pillars covered a significant portion of the empty plot covered in grass, shrouding everything below in a similarly big shadow. Lev was starting to realize it wasn't standing over just nothing.

"Is this… an illusion?" he finally decided to question after no information came through.

"Correct," Harun answered simply.

Lev didn't get to ask anything else when they passed through an entirely undetectable threshold, altering his view of the surroundings. The empty patch of grass behind him was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a beach.

A jolt of fear went through his body when he noticed the endless ocean to his left. Knowing that it was an illusion didn't help— deep water bodies terrified him all the same. That fear had only escalated after being reborn on Monarch because of the ungodly monsters undoubtedly prowling the oceans, rivers, and lakes scattered around the planet.

He was going to stay at a comfortable distance, which was as far away as possible from all of them. The lake on Mount Tamara didn't count, for it was known to be safe and devoid of life. Quite eerie, now that he thought about it. That hadn't quite registered back then, because he was too busy working on his skills.

Harun didn't wait for him as he stood frozen at the entrance and walked ahead, though he could definitely read Lev's thoughts from his aura. Shaking himself out of that line of thought, Lev looked around. Many new illusions now stood out to his mana perception and Perception overall, though he couldn't tell anything beyond their intentionally revealed edges.

"These," Harun waved his hands to the sides, "are my ponds. All of the ones near the entrance are rented and of the lowest quality. Come on."

They passed yet another threshold, and the scenery changed once again. The beach was replaced by a vast, uniform grassland with mountains touching the sky in the distance. Despite the less picturesque view, it was tranquil all the same, especially because of the gentle breeze flowing through the area, leaving the short grass swaying joyfully in its wake.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Harun didn't stop there either, passing the twelve invisible ponds in the zone without sparing them a glance. Lev kept following him without question as well.

The next section was way more impressive than the previous ones. A lush green forest expanded for as far as one could see, and only four ponds, hidden behind illusions, were present in the zone. Harun waved him to the furthest one, likely because the other three were full.

Each was separated by over two dozen meters, outlining their length as something comparable to a small hall. Slightly wary, Lev tiptoed to the end of the section and waited. Harun entered before him, beckoning him inside.

Stepping into the invisible threshold revealed a waterfall, barely ten or so meters high. The pure water fell into a pond of small proportions, somehow not overflowing despite the volume rushing into it. In the middle was a small light green lily pad, gingerly floating a few meters in front of the waterfall, swaying lightly in the produced waves.

"Lev," Harun called out, jolting him out of his observations. It was the first time the Exalted had used his name. "You're a mess."

"… I know."

"And you're chasing goals that eventually stop holding meaning."

Lev refrained from arguing because both his lives and their experiences combined couldn't hold a candle to the Exalted's own life. Harun gazed into his eyes, none of his jovial and carefree attitude anywhere to be seen.

"How long did it take you to become a Master?"

Taking a deep breath, he replied. "Four years."

"Four years," the Exalted echoed. "The time people take to evolve to Adept. I want you to think about this question before answering. Do you know why you evolved so quickly? Things don't work out for people who aren't true to themselves, so it's obvious you desired to grow stronger as fast as you could. However, can you confidently say that you're aware of the reasons? That you are at peace with yourself after everything?"

Harun let out a short chuckle. "Orianna said you only needed time to control your aura. She couldn't have possibly missed your current state, which means something changed in this period."

He waited for Lev to say something, who had closed his eyes by now. Hiding things, beyond the knowledge of his past life, was going to do him no benefits. Still, he could keep the full extent of events to himself.

"I gained the last four levels before evolution in a single fight," the words came out tired. Slumped. "Only Sherron's presence saved my life after several suicidal moves."

"Luck, huh?" the Exalted voiced in a reminiscing tone. A pale, shimmering pathway of solidified mana formed in front of Lev, providing passage straight to the lilypad. He stepped on it and slowly trotted forward while the Exalted leisurely walked on water. "It's quite deceiving, the concept. There is no good or bad luck, it's all just luck. Or at least, I've found it to be that way. Many times, the fortune of one is built atop the misfortune of another. Both sides would claim it to be either good or bad, but the opinion is never the same.

"Point is, luck is something all of us Exalted have to deal with regularly. Take Hakim, for example," Harun's voice turned amused. "He had a shot, and boy did he shoot it. It was luck. Nothing ever comes for free, but we wouldn't have survived without that gamble either. Sherron, too, is similarly cursed by luck. If Orianna's retellings are any indication, you are her good luck. After many streaks of being attacked by obscenely strong monsters, fallout with nobles and hunters, and finding herself at the wrong place at the wrong time, she's happy to have you. Just as you are happy to have her."

Where are you going with this, Lev thought and stayed rooted just before the lilypad, not stepping on it. Harun's monologue was a buildup, and he didn't know if he wanted to hear the end result.

"You, however, are the luckiest of them all," the Exalted's voice turned grave. "Alec as a mentor, Orianna as a guardian, Sherron as a friend and a sibling, Hakim's approval, Drakys' inheritance, and several other things. All of that resting on one side of the coin, yet it doesn't topple over. It's balanced by something on the other side, things that we have no way of knowing about. I won't claim to help you with finding those answers, but you need to be prepared, much more than anyone else realizes. Step on the lilypad."

With a heavy heart and a mountain of words stuck in his throat, he followed the instructions and sat down with his back facing the waterfall. The lilpad abruptly started to descend, slowly enough that Lev wasn't worried.

"These waters will both keep you nourished and allow you to breathe underneath," Harun explained briefly. "When I settle into meditation, it may feel overwhelming. Do not panic and take deep breaths to achieve a calm state of mind. Your aura will stand out to you and show just what a jumble of emotions it is right now. Focus on it, and ask yourself why it is the way it is. Every answer will bring you closer to mastering it, and every truth will uncover a new aspect of yourself. No amount of power will ever be satisfactory if you don't even know what you want."

Just before his head dipped under the water's surface, Harum's eyes turned momentarily sad. "Despite all of what I said earlier, good luck, kid. I hope it exists for you."

Lev closed his eyes. I sincerely hope so as well.

****

Way to kick a man while he's down, Lev sighed and opened his eyes, freezing in fear. All around him, there was nothing but darkness, and even the water surface he had just entered through was nowhere to be seen.

His breathing picked up. In haste, he tried to swim up, only to find the now-invisible lily pad still underneath him. That gave him enough presence of mind not to jump out and control his heartbeat without moving away from the platform.

I can actually breathe here, he thought, blowing some bubbles from his mouth. The water refused to enter his nose or lips, somehow letting him inhale pure air without problem. Lev raised his right arm above his head, finding it parting the water's surface like normal.

Okay, he exhaled deeply. Not at the bottom of the ocean suddenly. Good. … Now what?

Since there was nothing to do, he focused on the water surrounding him. It was filled with mana, brimming with the miraculous force that permeated the universe. However, it wasn't like the infused water he had seen and used before.

Around him, mana was less just hovering in the fluid, and more… empowering it in some way, neither infused nor imbued. None of it made sense to him, though he still spent a lot of time just observing what it was doing to him.

Beyond the obvious ability to breathe, Lev also felt energized by being submerged. Similar to the Exalted's healing, he mused. The dots weren't that hard to connect. Everything was both relaxing and strangely peaceful despite the horrifying view, and time stopped having meaning not longer after that.

Lev's empty-minded meditation was disturbed when a familiar massive aura spread through all the ponds, empowering them all at once. Since he was already expecting it, the shock was similarly reduced, but it still left him breathless. Sherron had called Harun a non-combatant, and Lev struggled to believe that was the truth. Were his general skills that strong?

Such questions occupied his thoughts for a long few minutes before he dismissed them, having no answers. Harun had already told him what he needed to do, and Lev prepared himself for a long session of some soul-searching.

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