Chapter 758 The Bonum Hybrids
The reveal of Amir being the leader of the Bonum Society hadn’t come as a surprise to most traveling. After all, the Bonum Society was even less known than Alter. Alter had its place in the factions, acting as mercenaries for hire with various jobs, but the same couldn’t be said for the Bonum Society, which had remained completely hidden.
Yet, there were two people who were completely surprised by this, and they stopped moving.
“You never told me this,” Dame said. “So all those people at the base, they’re all under you? You’re the one in charge? You’re the one that did everything to me?”
“Look, if I had told you everything from the beginning, you would have held a grudge against me. But now that we have managed to save your friends and succeed, I’m sure you have little to no hatred, right?” Amir asked, a slight quiver in his voice. He remembered how angry Dame had gotten after being pulled out of the portal and how much angrier he was after going through his training as a Hybrid.
When Amir looked at the others, he noticed another was surprised as well. “Not what you expected?” Amir asked.
“Not at all,” Anna replied. “If you are the leader of the Bonum Society, then Alter never had anything to worry about.”
“And yet they did worry about us, right?” Amir replied with a smirk and continued walking onward while explaining the Bonum Society a bit more.
“The Bonum Society has existed for a long time now, nearly as long as the factions themselves. So the strength of the group has come and gone. However, the important part of any organization or faction when fighting is to hide your strength from the enemy.
“By showing our members attacking here and there, disrupting some of their plans, Alter never had a true idea of the strength of our society. We might just be as big as them or even bigger. So it goes without saying not to mention this, and if you do, you guys will be the first guess as to who leaked such information.”
Eventually, Dame started to recognize the path they were on. Up on the mountaintop, the academy and the path to it could be seen, where a long drawn-out bridge would lead to the academy itself.
However, that wasn’t where they were heading. Another path through the surrounding land would allow one to enter through a tunnel. As they continued onward, they entered a thick, dark mist.
“It would be best if everyone held onto the person in front of them, at least for a while. If you get separated, you may never find your way back,” Amir said. “And besides, we have been through a lot together, so holding onto each other should be fine, right?”
“Why does he have to say it like that?” Froma whispered to Reno.
“So this group of yours,” Alba asked, “is everyone in it a Hybrid? Is that the aim of your group, to make everyone a Hybrid?”
“Haha!” Amir burst out laughing. “What a crazy goal that would be. Let me tell you, not everyone is successful in becoming a Hybrid. It doesn’t always work out, and there are only certain portals with certain beasts that can even attach to the mind in the first place. That would be a near-impossible thing to do.”
“Yet, you have done it. You even turned Mantis into one as well,” Alba continued pressing.
“You are right. You see, some Hybrids still have a strong connection to the dimension they came from, and if strong enough, they can open the portal back to the dimension where they came from. Some can do this with their own power; others need a bit more help. After all, on the other side, when a portal breaks, it’s the same thing. It’s the beasts that cause the portal break, just sometimes with help from the other side.”
“Is that how Murkel managed to escape as well?” Reno asked.
“That is my leading guess, which is even more worrying. So far, it seems he has focused on his own strength, but remember what I said. The dimensions where one can become a Hybrid are special. If Murkel can open them, with no help at all, he could soon turn many into Hybrid beasts if he chooses so. Maybe even raising his own army. But it’s hard to say if he could do that or how easy it is for him to open and close portals.”
“At the Bonum Society, we also have access to these portals, and at times we use them to turn members who are willing to help our cause into Hybrids. But I need to make this clear, we do not become Hybrids because we want to. We become Hybrids because we have to.”
“What you said before is true. Our strength is weak against Alter. So, to level the playing field, becoming Hybrids is the only thing we can do. It allows us options. Alter has a large number of artifacts, while we have Hybrids, and each Hybrid is quite special. Even this mist that surrounds and hides our base, that is all because of a particular Hybrid.”
While Amir was talking, his foot landed on something hollow, the sound of one walking on metal. He moved his feet a few times, and a trap door was revealed underneath. Bending down, he lifted the top up.
“It looks like we are here. We’ll try and be as welcoming as we can to you all,” Amir said.
“Wait,” Alba asked before following in. “About what you said before, you explained about Hybrids and going against Alter, but if your goal isn’t to turn everyone into Hybrids, then what is the goal of the Bonum Society? What are you trying to do?”
This was the question on everyone’s mind. It was clear it was no small operation, especially for a group to go on for so long.
“I will explain to you all when Raze wakes up because I believe he will need to hear this as well, and I feel like the answer will be important to him too.”
Chapter 759: Invaders Everywhere
Trapped, with four walls rising in front of him blocking his view of the sunlight outside, Murkel was in complete darkness. But rather than feeling despair for the situation, he was pleased.
‘My chance, my chance has finally come!’ Murkel quickly broke off a crystal from his back, sliced part of his forearm drawing blood, then placed the crystal on his blood and started to draw a circle in the air.
The red crystal lit up, and red lingering energy was seen. Once the glowing energies connected, a circle had opened up, and Murkel stepped through the portal.
‘I wish I could see the look on your faces when you all realized the mistake you made giving me the chance to escape, but it doesn’t matter because I will be back.’
Murkel stepped through the portal, and on the other side, he had entered another dimension. It wasn’t a new dimension but one that was familiar to him. Right now he found himself in the middle of a jungle.
For a moment he turned back and saw the portal closing, and when he looked forward again, he could feel his energy draining from him. He had only taken a few steps until he finally fell to his knees.
‘That fight took so much energy from me. I never imagined that there would be someone with that type of artifact to summon a Divine being on me, and that couldn’t have been any normal Divine being. I know my strength. That damned child named Raze, he lucked out!’ Murkel had weakly grabbed a fist and went to hit the ground.
Usually, his fist would at least break the flooring or dirt, but it was as weak as a human’s hit currently.
Lifting his hand from the ground, Murkel started to touch the side of his head.
‘During the fight… at one point or another, I also heard another voice. I haven’t heard a voice in so long. I thought that our minds had already merged, so why did I hear someone during that fight?’
While Murkel was on the ground, weak and thinking of this, there was movement up in the large trees above. Quick movement from one area to the next. Loud, heavy footsteps could be heard in the distance, and large giant leaves were moving up and down.
This was a dimension full of beasts, beasts that Murkel had been fighting for an incredibly long time, and now he had returned again, after so many years.
‘In this state… I don’t think I could beat any of them,’ Murkel said, taking a deep breath. ‘The voice that I heard, it’s you, the beast inside me, right? Well, you should do something if you want us both to live.’
Despite trying to talk to whatever had reached out to him back then, there was no voice this time, and Murkel’s vision went blurry as he eventually fell to the ground, completely passing
out.
There was a final thought that ran through Murkel’s mind, that when his eyes closed he wouldn’t be able to open them again, but not in ways one would think. When his eyes opened, and he looked around, he could see he was back in the cave entrance again.
At the front of the entrance, where the light shined in, there was a large number of beasts that were staring at him. There was also a large leaf with a number of fruits and insects, as well as beast crystals of all things.
Murkel went to pick up the beast crystal and started to absorb it.
“You guys stopped fighting, right? These crystals that I’m absorbing, they’re from the dead, not those that you killed.”
Sounds resounded in the cave itself as well outside.
“All right, then I will take this tribute,” Murkel said, absorbing the crystals.
He didn’t know how long he had been out for, how long he had been asleep, but he could tell that his body had been treated in odd ways using the special traits of the beast bodies that were here.
He didn’t have a large amount of thirst, so they had to have fed him water during this time as well. The beasts in the dimension had all helped out Murkel.
“I’m sorry,” Murkel said. “I failed to help you all. I know we all don’t have a lot of time. This dimension is dying… and I need to find a new place for all of you. I promise that I will get stronger and help all of you.”
Murkel never thought he was going to be killed by the beasts in the current dimension, because to him, all of them were like him, and they were part of what he would call his new family.
This wasn’t the first time Murkel had returned to the dimension. When he had gone back to Pagna, there were many times when he felt more lonely than ever, and having figured out a way to get back to the dimension, he had done so.
It was odd for him, how unhostile the beasts were to him, and how each time he came back, the dimension felt more like home to him. But it wasn’t the dimension or the style of the dimension itself, it was the beasts inside it.
When he had returned back with all the injuries from the fighting, the reason he believed he might not wake up had nothing to do with the beasts around him. He feared that he was more injured than he thought during the fight.
The other thing was that he might have woken up in the back of his mind, having the beast taken over again.
Over the next few weeks, Murkel had stayed in the dimension and focused on his recovery. The injuriez this time would take a lot longer to heal. He continually used the crystals that the beasts would give him and spent as much time as he could with all the beasts as well. Traveling through the dense jungle, Murkel was riding on what appeared to be a strange large giant hippo with four eyes. Two large eyes on the front and two smaller ones at the side.
It was around five times bigger than that of a regular hippo. As they went through the jungle, Murkel would pick some of the giant fruits and then throw them down to monkey-like beasts that would collect them and take them away.
Everything worked like clockwork, as if they had been doing it for years, and had all done it without communication.
‘My body is back at around 70 percent of what it was before. From the fight, I can tell that I’m able to get stronger than before. I wonder if at 100 percent, I will be able to rank up to the Divine realm. If that’s the case, then I will be able to stay here and use all my powers, but I won’t be able to go back to Pagna.
‘I’m also curious. I still was unable to hear the voice of the beast. There is a chance that our merging hasn’t a hundred percent occurred. When it does, that might even boost my power as well. There are still a large number of possibilities, and if I want my revenge, it might be best to increase my beast powers rather than my Qi powers.
‘Getting to the Divine Rank will get in my way, and besides, I need to look after all of these,’ Murkel said as he rubbed the grey skin of the giant hippo.
He then looked up at the sky and could see there were no clouds. Instead, the world was twirling. It appeared as a giant vortex in the air, and everything was being pulled up to one
point.
Murkel, with a piece of fruit in his hand, chucked it up in the air forcefully. It went through extremely fast, nearly reaching the clouds, and then, when it was meant to fall back down, it didn’t. It stayed in the air, slowly moving upward, moving toward the vortex in the air.
‘I have no clue how much time I have, but all I know is there is only one person that has gotten in my way. If I get rid of him, then everything will be fine!’ Murkel thought.
‘I underestimated him, a no-name student who had suddenly come to the school using these strange powers. So many things didn’t make sense, including the skills of Bofan that he
knew.’
‘If I can, it will be best if I don’t kill him straight away. I would like to know what his relationship with Bofan would be. Still, I don’t want to change my stance or position. It looks like I will have to say goodbye to the academy and the Dark Faction for a while.’ Murkel thought, continuing to look up at the sky, and that’s when he could see something strange
occurring.
In the sky above, several portals had suddenly opened up. Not just one, but around fifteen of
them, and moments later, several people came out from the portals. Most of them wearing strange robes, white in color, with others wearing blazers that reminded him of what the
student was wearing.
“People… it’s never good news when people find the dimension, but they don’t look like Pagna warriors, and are they floating?”
It wasn’t Murkel’s imagination. These people were floating down, and fairly large in number
as well. The other thing that stood out about them all was the golden “I” on top of their
hoods or on their clothing.
“I don’t like visitors. I’ll get rid of them all,” Murkel said.
Chapter 760: I Hate Mages!
The mages slowly descended onto the dimension’s new land in groups, each one being led by a squad leader who was a higher star mage and also wore a blazer rather than a robe like the rest of them.
The appearance of them floating down as if they had control of flight was caused by one in the group who had advanced wind powers, allowing them to land on the ground softly.
As standard with each procedure, each group was separated from each other within a kilometer. This was so they could explore the area easily and quickly, and if there was any trouble such as a powerful beast, the teams could come over and help each other quicker with support.
The mages had made a formation, surrounding themselves in a circle as they moved through the dense jungle. The squad leader was placed in the middle.
“Check out the area first, you know that’s the first thing you need to do,” the squad leader ordered.
One of the mages wearing a hood with the clear display of the golden ‘I’ on the peak knelt down and pressed both of his hands on the ground. A pulse came out, and the flow of dirt was seen moving outward.
“10 o’clock, large beast has been located, 1.2 tons!” the mage shouted.
Immediately, three of the mages made their move. One of them threw out a special circular device right into the heavy greenery. A slight noise was made, followed by a bestial scream.
“NAGRUU!” Charging out from the leaves was a beast on all fours with large horns that bent sideways and across the edge of its body, the outside of them appearing razor-sharp.
“Attack!” the squad leader shouted.
A number of mages used their spells, shouting out mainly fire-like attacks. The fireballs were shot out seemingly at random but all started to head toward the beast. That’s when the fireballs could be seen curling toward the beast and landing right on its neck.
All of the attacks were landing in the same place, hitting the beast constantly, and it was right where the circular device the first mage had thrown had landed.
Eventually, the beast’s wound on its neck was too large, and it fell on the floor before it could even fight back, no longer moving.
The mage quickly jumped over to the beast’s position and pulled the circular device out from its neck.
“These new magical items for hunting are great. Get one of these stuck on someone, and all the spells will be directed to its location,” the mage said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen it in action.”
“Yes,” the squad leader said, coming forward. “It’s handy in a place like this where we mainly have mages that use the fire element. Otherwise, stray attacks could burn this whole forest down.”
After saying those words, the mage placed two fingers toward the side of his head to deliver a report to the commander who was leading the charge, who was on the ground in a safe area with two other mages.
“Commander Jefferson, you have a smile on your face. I assume you have good news?” one of the mages asked.
Jefferson also had his fingers pressed against the side of his head, as he was receiving all of the news coming in from the squad leaders.
“For some reason, there is a large number of beasts in this dimension. We seem to have hit quite the jackpot this time,” Jefferson claimed.
However, his smile had quickly disappeared.
“What’s wrong, sir?”
“I can’t get in contact with unit six. For some reason, I can’t connect to him. It’s been broken off,” Jefferson said. “There are only two reasons it could be broken off: either he broke the link off himself.”
“Or he’s dead,” the other mage answered, to which Jefferson nodded.
“Unit three and unit four, you are the closest to unit six’s location. Can you check on their location and report back?” Jefferson asked.
They both replied and were on it immediately. Calmly, Jefferson waited. With how many beasts were in the dimension, there was also a good chance that there was a strong beast that could defeat the mages as well. Losses were expected with tasks like this at times.
After around fifteen minutes had passed, Jefferson had expected some type of update but had no contact. So he tried to connect with them, and once again, there was no connection. Immediately, Jefferson stood up.
“Get all units to head to where squad six was based,” Jefferson ordered. “And we will head there ourselves as well.”
The mage to Jefferson’s right lifted his hands up, and all three of them started to float as they headed to the area. They rose above the jungle and could see the other squads moving to the location as well.
“Let’s not head right into the center. If it’s a large beast, then we could get hit straight away,” Jefferson ordered. So they lowered themselves and started to travel through the jungle. Up ahead, they could hear a stream of water running.
By a small stream that went off a mountain, that was where Unit 6 had gone to. Landing on the ground, Jefferson was on the move, and he had even started to form a strange shield on the palm of his hands with his magic, condensing on the outside. They surrounded his hands as he walked forward.
“Argh!” A man was heard shouting, but there were no large footsteps. Hearing the sound of one of the mages hurt and in distress, the three ran forward, out of the jungle and by the bed of the stream of water on the ground with small rocks.
Instantly, Jefferson stopped as he looked at the sight in front of him. The ground was surrounded with the dead mages of each group that had come forward. Blood on the ground, and right in front of them, there was a man being held up, with a red crystal through the bottom of his chin right to the top of his head.
Attached to the red crystal was a man, his ragged clothes covered in blood. The man turned his head to look at the three that had just arrived.
“All of you, you use the same powers as that student. That really grinds me the wrong way,” Murkel said. “I guess I have some questions to ask, but in my anger at seeing these men kill these beasts, I got rid of far too many.”
“I have learned one thing from these people: you’re called Mages. I’m guessing he was one as well. So are you going to answer my questions, Mage?”
Chapter 761: Two Enemies Meet
Commander Jefferson was a four-star mage, while the squad leaders were three-star mages. Three-star was already quite the accomplishment in Alterian, putting one above most of the mages in the world.
Past that, the higher numbers were just a rarity, but when your world had a large population, even a low percentage meant a high number of talented mages.
Still, there was something that set the group apart from the rest. The regular mages that were on the expedition were only two-star, but with the help of the enchanted weapons created by Idore, one of the Grand Magus and the greatest enchanter in the whole of Alterian, it boosted the strength of the mages considerably.
That was how they were able to hunt in a dimension such as the one they were in.
Now though, Jefferson could see several of the squads having been killed. Not just the regular mages but the squad leaders as well.
He stared ahead at the person that was responsible for it all.
‘We were warned about this, that there might be others in the dimensions, but it was a rarity that it would occur,’ Jefferson thought. ‘All of my men, they were wearing enchanted robes as well, how were they unable to take him out?’
Seeing how his men were dealt with, Jefferson decided to act from afar. He placed his hand to the side of his head and orders were sent out.
The two mages that were with him placed their hands on the ground and trails of ice started to appear heading right for Murkel’s legs.
It froze the bottom of his feet, but looking down, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“What is this?” Murkel said, lifting his feet and walking forward with ease. When he looked up, he could feel a great heat on the surface of his skin.
A giant fireball had come out, crashing into his entire body.
Jefferson, seeing this, had a smile on his face until he could see a figure walk right through.
“Your attacks are not on the same level as his. Was he someone special among all of you?” Murkel asked.
Kicking off his feet, a large amount of Qi exploded. A mage still with their hands on the ground had created a giant ice wall.
Right through the center, a red crystal broke through the ice wall, reaching the other side and going right through the mage’s head.
The red crystal returned and the ice wall broke into energy after the mage’s death.
Two strange purple objects were flying from Jefferson’s hands. They were balls of energy that were curving, but before they reached Murkel’s body, the red crystal would grow on his side, and hitting him, it appeared as if it did nothing.
Kicking off his feet again, Murkel then grabbed the other mage by the back of his head and with his hand, slowly placed it up to his face.
“You mages all have strange different powers, but nothing compared to what he used. His hurt a lot more than this. Why was he different from you?” Murkel asked as he placed his hand closer to the mage’s mouth.
A small red crystal was starting to grow until it snapped forward and went through the mage’s head, ending his life.
Breaking through whatever barrier had been made from the robes they wore, it was as if they had no barrier at all.
Murkel then turned his head to look at Jefferson.
“Your power is different from theirs, some type of purple barrier,” Murkel said.
As he walked forward, Jefferson was firing off beam after beam of energy toward him.
Purple balls were bouncing off him as they hit his body, seemingly doing nothing.
“I don’t think I even had to use my beast form, but you see I’m trying to improve myself, and one of those improvements I need is to get better at fighting against those like him,” Murkel said. “So tell me.”
Murkel kicked off his feet, and the mage lifted both of his hands creating a large barrier, but with a slash of his hand filled with Qi, the barrier broke, shattering.
Murkel then grabbed onto his hair and pulled his head back.
“The power that hurt me, it was dark in color, but I’m sure of it, he could do the same things as you. He was a mage as well. Why aren’t any of you using that Dark power?” Murkel asked.
“Dark power,” Jefferson repeated with his head pulled back. He felt like his life was already over; he knew it.
“That must be Dark Magic, but that’s impossible. Dark Magic is outlawed in Alterian. No one knows it, at least not at a high level!” Jefferson answered.
“Outlawed? Do you idiots think people would care about that in the pursuit of gaining strength?”
“Why are you people coming to Pagna? Why is he there? Why are you here right now?” Murkel asked.
“To… to…” Jefferson lifted his hand and placed it at the side of his head. “To get what’s left of this place before it’s gone,” the commander answered.
Right then, Murkel could feel the man’s life fade from his eyes.
‘Did he kill himself?’ Murkel thought as he dropped the body to the ground. Then he noticed something high above.
A few mages were floating up to the sky and had opened up a portal. As they went through, the portal closed behind them.
“I didn’t get the answers that I was looking for,” Murkel said, disappointed, and continued to look through those he had killed.
He was hoping that one of them was left alive. Not everyone would be confident enough to take their own life.
Even the most loyal, it was hard to do such a task.
‘Some of them escaped, but if they can open portals freely, it means they might be back.’
Murkel was right with his thoughts.
In Jefferson’s last moments, he had lifted his hand to send a message for the mages to head back to Alterian and report what had happened, and to ask for more help.
Murkel was going to have a lot more than just Pagna to worry about.
Chapter 762: They Finally Move
In the world of Alterian, Idore and his Noble Guild had many bases around the cities in various countries around the world.
There was even a building for the Grand Magus where all five would meet up.
It was a building to be used as they wished, built with funds donated by various countries.
It was also a place where leaders would gather with the Grand Magus as mediators in the whole thing.
A city named Ion City was the city where the main base of the Noble Guild was located, and there were a number of buildings owned by the guild located in the city.
There was a crafting shop, where items would be brought in and new enchantments tested again and again until a product was made that could be sold to the general public.
Then there was the guild base itself, more like a miniature academy taking up a vast amount of land in the city.
High walls stationed on the outside, a magic barrier seemingly always on, and a place where the mages of the guild could continue to do their research into their spells and more, gaining more strength day by day.
Even with this, there were two more large buildings in the city that were well known for being owned by the Noble Guild.
In the center was a grand skyscraper with a golden “I” on the outside of the building.
With all of the Grand Magus and their guilds, they had become more ingrained into society and had become more of a business.
TV appearances, TV shows, movies, merchandise, and more were all sold under the Grand Magus branding.
There were multiple teams for these top guilds like that of the Noble Guild, and on each floor of the skyscraper, a team existed for multiple avenues, and it was where it was stated Idore himself would spend most of his time.
Then finally, there was the last building. It wasn’t directly in the city itself; it was built on the outskirts of the city, not really close to anything else.
It used to be an old airport that was decommissioned and Idore had bought it. Changes had been made to the inside, making it more hollow and getting rid of all the glass.
When people drove past, they could see nothing, and it was the same for anything flying above.
Which was why people could only guess what was there, and their best guess was a warehouse used to store the items they were making.
Currently, at the abandoned warehouse, there was a large number of guild members inside. Members of the Noble Guild, nearly all wearing special uniforms that were only given to certain members. Specially enchanted robes with the golden letter “I” on top of their heads. Large groups were in areas writing a number of circles down. Large displays with different magical formations were seen on the screen, some of them in red, others in green.
This was Idore’s special facility, for trying to find dimensions to hunt in. All for the sake of searching for crystals as well as special artifacts.
Teams were working day and night, using magic to try and open portals to other dimensions. In the facility, some dimensions had already been discovered. Teams were sent out to deal with beasts and bring back items.
Other dimensions had no beasts at all, but there was a high chance to find artifacts to bring back.
At times, some artifacts’ powers could even be replicated, so they were sent to another team to try and create a similar enchantment to their items with them.
The current facility was the core of the Noble Guild and Idore’s strength, and the only people that were able to step into the facility were the most trusted in the guild.
They were to never speak of what happened in the portals to the rest of the members, and the mages were practically off the grid and weren’t exactly part of the guild.
However, all of them were compensated for their work very generously.
In one area of the facility, down an airport aisle where several numbers would be used for
gates where the airplanes would appear, at gate 77, a portal had opened up.
The mages turned as it was unexpected.
“Didn’t they just head in a while ago? It’s too early for them to come back.”
“Right.”
The two mages said.
Out from the portal, two mages came diving in and slid across the ground. They quickly turned their heads to look at the portal, and when they saw it closing up, there was relief on their faces.
“Why have only two of you returned? Where are the rest? Where is Commander Jefferson?” the mage asked.
“Commander Jefferson, Commander Jefferson, that’s right! I need to report something fast!” the mage said as he grabbed onto the other’s robe.
The urgent news was delivered extremely quickly as it was an uncommon thing to happen.
The news continued until it reached the place known as Golden Tower, where Idore was currently at.
At the very top floor, he was sitting on his sofa, glass panes staring out at the view of the city.
“That’s two times now, where the mages have discovered others in the dimensions. At times we have found strays that they have managed to deal with, but for someone to take out an
entire team…”
“Is it the same as last time, the same group of people they met last time? It’s quite possible.” Idore was twiddling his fingers, playing with a golden coin in his hand.
“This situation, it would be good to put a pin in it while we can. I can’t have several commanders losing their lives.”
Idore then pulled out a small circular device from his pocket and placed it on the table.
It started to vibrate, and eventually, a hologram appeared in front of him. A handsome, middle-aged man, with next to no imperfections on his face.
It was one of the most well-known Grand Magus, the poster boy of the mages, Enaxx.
“Something has come up, and I have an important job for you, something that only us, the Grand Magus, can deal with.”
