Supreme Monarch

After taking a few hours to rest so they could fully recover from the mental fatigue they felt, as well as their mana and stamina. The Hunter party and the pair of mysterious merchants continued the rest of their journey to the Fabelt's Pass.

To avoid a repeat of what happened with the frost salamanders, the group had decided to be extra careful throughout the rest of the trip. That meant they would have to extend their journey by taking longer routes through the dangerous zones on their way.

Their alertness level went through the roof which ended up making everyone a little tense as they traveled in awkward and uncomfortable silence. Even the ever cheerful Dohel had toned down his jokes and advances towards Nadine, which was actually a bit of a bore for Tyler as he had unknowingly found him quite entertaining.

Just when Tyler thought his first experience traveling through the wonderous demon continent was going down the drain thanks to his needless interference. Someone surprising spoke to him from the side.

"Um, Mr. Lix, do you have a moment."

Turning his head around to take a look, Tyler saw the gazes of both Aine and Anne fixated on him in a somewhat excited and curious gaze. It was almost as though they were sparkling. Although he was unable to tell their voices apart, so he had no idea who exactly had spoken to him.

Thinking about who to respond to, Tyler found himself in a weird dilemma. He didn't want to hurt or offend them by addressing the wrong twin. Back on earth, he remembered that his younger sister's best friends at the time were twins and they always got mad at him when he got their names mixed up.

Tyler agonize over this issue for a brief moment before he finally realized that he had no reason to care about that as he has only just met them and should not be expected to immediately tell them apart by voice alone.

Still, he wouldn't just be rude to the people that had just offered him a lifeline. Something to save him from the crushing boredom that was already threatening to grip his heart.

He decided to use a tried and tested sure-fire method that wouldn't fail in his response. Since he wasn't sure who to address with his reply, he would simply speak to both of them.

"Of course, is there a problem?"

"Huh, no... I uh... I just wanted to ask you something about magic."

Seeing that it was Anne who spoke, Tyler smiled and finally addressed her directly.

"Is that so... Hmm... Well, I am also interested in asking you both something as well so why not."

Anne's eyes seems to grow bigger upon hearing Tyler's interest in them and they both smiled faintly. Tyler wasn't sure if that was the first smile he had seen on them, but he thought they both looked quite adorable right now as he saw their tails twitching from excitement.

Tyler then swiftly leaped off the carriage without asking for it to come to a stop and walked to the right. His movements were so fluid that even the ranger Larut — who had turned around out of curiosity to see what was happening — didn't think he could mimic it.

As Tyler approached the twins, they both shifted to the side and allowed him to walk in between them.

"How bout I go first, I have a few things to ask you about magic."

After seeing the girls nod their heads, Tyler began with his questions. Kylyra seemed interested in their conversation and shifted her positioning from the back of the carriage slightly to the right so she could take a look.

"People who have been corrupted by negative energy, perhaps due to exposure to undead creatures or maybe a curse, would inevitably turn into the undead right? Is there a way to save them or even a way to completely resist negative corruption?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about negative spells so I can't say anything about this." 

"I also don't know much about it myself, I've only been able to learn one curse that uses negative energy thus far."

They both looked quite saddened by the fact that they could not answer his question which made Tyler sigh inwardly.

He turned, and his head faced Kylyra who was a little startled by his sudden gaze but quickly composed herself.

"Me neither. I don't know much about negative corruption but I know there is resistance to such Spells and also items that protect the wearer by absorbing negative energy but those can only be found in the magic research institute and only their members would be allowed to purchase it."

There was also the issue of price, being as such items would be insanely expensive but she had chosen not to mention it as it would be impossible even for someone like him to join the magic institute without a recommendation.

"…I see."

Tyler was slightly disappointed when he did not get the answer he was looking for. Although he was still glad that there was still a chance he could find something somewhere inside the magic institute.

Since that was the case, he would have to worry about how to deal with the corruption on his left hand later. 

He had used the Touch of Despair spell on Carn back at the abandoned warehouse Zelda had taken him to but had only gotten insignificant information out of him before he passed out.

Since he was the only survivor left, he felt like it would be a waste to expend him to no effect. He had no idea how much the man could take before he either died or turned undead, and since Tyler had no other means of interrogating, he had felt the best thing was to take him back to the castle for Albert and Z to handle.

As Tyler thought distractedly about that, Anne continued speaking:

"That said, we only know little about magic, to begin with. Perhaps higher ranking Hunters at the guild could also help you with that if you make a request. There is the strongest mage in the guild Berot Dimzo — while there are also people like Kline, a dark wizard, and Bell a spirit mage — that could also be of assistance. Then there are places like the seven behemoths regions that held a lot of wild sorcerers and wizards, it might also be easier to trade for items there as everything depends on one's strength, and I don't think there are that many people that could defeat you in combat Mr. Lix."

"You flatter me, but thanks, that was quite insightful."

According to the information obtained from Z, the seven independent regions at the edge of the demon continent that was ruled by the seven greatest Behemoths known to this world were each like a nation of demi-humans, ruled by a single demi-human.

According to Rain, they chose their leaders by way of a tournament of power, so the strongest would always rule. Z also mentioned that amongst the original seven behemoths that had challenged the great five, only three were still alive as the rest had died in the tournament, giving rise to a new ruler.

The seven regions were also not a great place for the common folks to live in. It was located in the harshest of conditions and the strong would constantly prey on the weak as even slavery was still fully allowed there. It was also one of the reasons why the. incept of freemen still exist and so do the freemen settlements.

While the seven regions were no longer in opposition with the great five, they also didn't get along well with them. They were strong enough to feel like they could rule the continent themselves while not even being purebloods, most of them were not even demons, to begin with.

Tyler was interested in the regions, but he had not found his feet in this world yet and did not have the excess energy to spread his tentacles anywhere outside the Darknar region at the moment. Just keeping his current schemes running required a considerable amount of energy, resources, and manpower, most of which he had yet to even obtain.

"Then, may I ask about something else?"

Tyler continued questioning the twins as they walked until he was satisfied.

He asked Aine, Anne, and Kylyra so many things that the guys looked at him with a strange gaze as they felt left out of their conversation.

Tyler's question also didn't focus on any one topic as he would ask about anything he had been curious about since awakening here. Although Nadine was present, he still felt a little bit more relax amongst these hunters than he did with the ogres in the castle who probably still thought he was someone else.

He asked questions that included magic, skills, the Hunter guild, the politics of the region, secret Techniques among other things.

Although he had to ask his questions with extreme care, the answers were still a little helpful. Tyler was certain that this had greatly increased his knowledge about this continent.

However, he still felt like he was still lacking some crucial information about various things. While he had gotten a lot of information from Z about this continent. It had been from the perspective of someone at the top, and having learned about the continent from the perspective of a relatively low-ranked Hunter, he realized that there was a vast disparity on both sides.

Thinking about the difference though, Tyler could understand why there were such disparities. He made a mental note to investigate more personally when he returns to the city. It would also serve him well not to take any outsourced information at face value from now on.

"Um... Mr. Lix, can I ask you something?"

Tyler's thoughts were interrupted by Aine but he did not get irritated, rather he felt like he had been sinking in too deep into something he couldn't solve anytime soon so he appreciated her timely words.

"Sure, go on ahead."

"Uh, right... Th-the fire arrow spell you used earlier, that was a tier 2 spell right."

That is correct."

"Then how were you able to summon that many arrows."

"Hmm... Are you... Are you not aware of metamagic?"

"Huh? Yes, I know of it."

Tyler tilted his head slightly as if to say he was confused on why she was asking such a question even though she already knew the answer which made her fluster a bit as she tried to explain herself more clearly. But before she could gather herself to form the words, Tyler doubled down on the wrong answer.

"I simply use an Overtier metamagic."

"Huh... Yeah, but..."

Seeing as Aine and Anne were too flustered to hold a proper conversation. Kylyra decided to step in and lend a hand.

"That still shouldn't be enough for so many flaming arrows to appear. An Overtier metamagic should only increase the spell by one tier but that felt more like a fifth tier spell."

Tyler turned his head around to look at Kylyra. His gaze lingered on her for a while which made her suddenly feel uncomfortable and almost as flustered as the twins. She quickly waved her hands in the air as she realized she may have been too direct and tried to take a step back.

"I Ummm.... err... I'm not saying you're lying or anything... I errr... That's not what I wanted to say... Hm—"

"Ummm, don't worry about it, you're quite correct... Huh, I guess I can, yeah, I'll tell you something interesting so listen closely."

Dohel and even Larut at the font of the carriage perked up their ears as they suddenly felt interested after secretly listening in on their conversation.

The twins had bright eyes and even Nadine seem oddly interested in this so Tyler cleared his throat and spoke clearly.

"In other to make that many arrows I simply had to... Use more mana, simple right?"

The look of excitement in the girls' eyes visibly died in a wave of disappointment as Dohel almost face palmed himself as he heard Tyler chuckle after that in satisfaction.

'What the hell was that, a joke?'