Dwelling of the Mad Mage (1)

'Every second you waste hiding, somebody else is using to get stronger!'

But Leon didn't have time to care about the changing opinions of the group. He was too focused on his own performance.

And if Leon had to be honest, he was a bit disappointed in his performance so far.

Sure, Leon had been able to dominate the recent monster waves easily, scoring over 80% in the contribution ratings, but this wasn't enough.

At best, Leon's stats would get him placed within the top 5% of results from the tutorial and if he were to include those ridiculous monsters like the Guild lords and heroes, then he would still probably be swatted like a fly.

He wasn't good enough, at least not yet.

He had to explore more! He had to discover more!

If he wanted to become truly strong, he had to find and claim any fortuitous encounter he could find, even if that meant he had to create one for himself!

The only problem Leon had was that he was truly stuck at this moment.

As he said before, he had no knowledge that he would be sent back into the past, so he had not gone out of his way to research any special events or missions in the temple stages of the tutorial.

Most of the famous missions and encounters he could remember could only be obtained after the tutorial, or at least in the latter stages of it.

When it came to the stage of the tutorial that he was in now, the temple stage, Leon was truly stumped.

And to make matters worse, today was the fourth day.

In total, the temple stage only lasted for five days.

Tomorrow would be the day of the final boss battle and the last day that would take place in the temple stage.

If Leon wanted to make a move and gain something that could set him apart from the rest of the crowd for the next stage, then he had to do it today!

Leon had no clue about any special locations and mindlessly trying to explore during the night was out of the question.

You see, each night during the temple stage of the tutorial the surrounding area would be covered by a large fog.

Whenever someone enters the fog trying to enter the forest they would find that they had come up into a completely different location to make matters worse the locations would change every night as a new layer of fog settled, The locations would change.

It was because of this very reason that Leon refused to explore at night.

It was as these thoughts were raging inside Leon's head that he seemed to remember something.

During his time in the last legion, he had heard the story of one of his fellow members in the last legion.

On the day of the fall, he was fortunate enough to be transported along with his son.

On the fourth day that he came to Haven, he had lessened his watch over his son and as children do, the boy couldn't restrain his curiosity and ended up wandering into the fog.

As the boy's father, The Man had quickly rushed after him

It's just by the time he managed to grab his son he was already inside of Strange hallway and that's when he received the strange Notification

[Ding! New Instance detected!]

Instance - Dwelling of the Mad Mage

Instance type: ???

Difficulty: ???

Number of participants: 2/30

Objective: ???

Time limit: N/A

The man wasn't a fool.

Seeing as he could make it to the last legion his instincts for survival had to be top tier. And it was these very instincts that kicked in as soon as he saw that notification.

Without hesitation, he quickly grabbed his son and fled wasting no more time in that strange location.

Even though he managed to escape the whole experience had left a strong impact on his mind even causing him to remember it many years later when he met Leon.

After a short internal debate, Leon decided he would go for the Instance.

It was completely unknown with even the objective and difficulty of the instance. But it was this unknown and mystery that caused Leon to take interest.

The unknown presented not only Danger but also opportunity. So for Leon, this was something worth the risk.

Whilst he may not be the strongest, his experience was beyond anything people in the tutorial stage could hope to achieve.

Leon had faith in his abilities and didn't believe that anything set by the system would impossible.

So if there was a chance to complete his odds should be amongst the highest

With his mind set on action, all Leon had to do was wait for night to fall….

….

Soon night descended causing a heavy layer of fog to fall making anything more than a few metres away from the temple completely unidentifiable.

After quickly checking his equipment was all in order Leon tried to get the exact direction he was supposed to follow.

You see, in every direction you entered the fog would take you to a completely different place, even if you entered on the same day. If your direction was off by just a few inches you couldn't afford to mess this up so he spent some time making sure he was lined up perfectly.

'If I can remember correctly, he said that he left directly southeast of the temple…'

It was just as Leon was calculating the correct angle of approach that two figures suddenly appeared in front of him.

Lucas and Lucy.

'What an opportunistic little girl' thought Leon.

Leon knew straight away why the two of them were here.

<Keen Intuition>

Just as Leon was about to leave Lucy's innate trait must have activated. So after sensing an opportunity she must have quickly brought her brother and hurried over here.

Despite her rather shy and timid appearance, Lucy was still the quite crafty little girl on the inside.

"Sigh! You guys can come along."

Leon didn't even let them ask before he gave them both the answer they were hoping for.

As soon as Leon gave his response‌, both children let off a light smile.

The decision to bring them was quite an easy one for Leon to make. Lucy had already proved her worth with her healing skill, and Leon still wanted to keep a closer watch on Lucas.

He still had to find the reason for that overwhelming abyssal aura he had previously felt from him.

It was as Leon was thinking these things that he heard a faintly familiar voice.

"Seeing as those two are fine to tag along, I'm guessing it won't be a problem for us to join you as well."

Looking back, Leon turned to see both Jessica and Martin approach him.

In response to the question, Leon simply nodded but quickly followed it by adding some words,

"You guys know the rules. If you're going to follow me, then you have to follow my instructions. I won't back down on this."

"Of course!" Responded Jessica.

"I thought this was already a given,"

"Good." Nodded Leon.

"Seeing that we're all in agreement, let's set out."

But before Leon could start leading the way, a voice suddenly spoke up.

"Actually, the reason I came is not to join you, but for something else."

As Martin spoke he took a deep breath and looked Leon in the eyes.

"Leon, I would like to withdraw from the group."

"What!" Asked Jessica in disbelief.

But it wasn't just Jessica who was surprised. Even the stone faced Lucas had a change in expression when he heard those words. After all, the benefits of Joining Leon's team were clear to see.

In the last few days, the group had completely dominated the contribution rankings gaining lucrative rewards and potions that only stretched the gap between them and the others even further, but now Martin was actually planning to give that up!

Jessica couldn't understand Martin's reasoning and quickly spoke up.

"Martin you have to think about this carefully, you should know how important strength is-"

"I thought about it carefully!" Snapped Martin.

"Jessica, do you really think that I wouldn't consider everything before I made this decision?"

Seeing Martins stalwart attitude Jessica was left stunned

"Well, since you know the consequences why would you say something so stupid. Why back out now after everything." Asked Jessica.

"Because I want to live." Explained Martin.

As Martin said these words a tired sigh escaped his lips, making his middle-aged face seem all the more haggard.

"These last few days we've been constantly fighting and putting our lives on the line in order to gain strength. But what is the purpose for us doing all this in the first place?"

Before anyone could respond to Martin's question, he answered it himself.

"It's to live."

"We fought hard for the strength to survive but now that we have it, why continue to risk our lives? The last time we went out countless people died so why risk our lives again and again? I'm sorry if that makes me a coward but I don't want to be one of those corpses left abandoned to die."

As soon as Jessica heard those words, her body shook.

She more than anyone probably understood the fear and helplessness that Martin was feeling right now. After all, she was also there to hear those dying words.

'When your use runs out, you'll end up just like me!'

She finally realised that It wasn't just the possibility of death that Martin feared. No, what truly scared him was fighting hard only to be left for dead when he became a burden.

Realising this a cold sensation crept up into Jessica's heart as she turned towards Leon with desperation in her eyes.

"Leon is not that kind of person. Jeff and the others died because they were just unfortunate. Look at Lucas. He was on the verge of death, but wasn't he still saved in the end? I'm sure he would also save us if it came down too it right? right…. "

Looking at Jessica, Leon just shook his head as he sighed.

"Lucas was a special case. His situation was different and can't apply to everyone else. If there is truly a situation like that again, I'm sorry, but I can't promise to save anyone's life."

As soon as Jessica heard these words, it was as if they had plunged her into a bucket of cold water.

"I said it before and I'll say it again when we leave this place to explore. We're truly risking our lives. If you haven't accepted that death could be a possibility, then maybe you shouldn't come along in the first place."

Leon didn't seem to take into consideration Jessica's unsettled state and continued to further clarify his stance.

In Leon's mind, this was only the natural thing to do. He had nothing to hide.

His original purpose in grabbing people was to find a group that could help him deal with the first boss and explore whilst he was still weak and he had already achieved this.

Right now, other than Lucy and possibly Lucas, the benefits of bringing anyone else were limited, and it definitely wasn't to the point where he would waste a superior healing potion on them.

If that was the case, what was the point in lying and pretending to be someone who would save them no matter the cost? Leon thought it was much more humane to draw the line here than leave it to when they can only despair at death's door.

Hearing Leon's words, Martin simply nodded.

"It's as I expected. This only confirms my suspicions. Leon, thank you for the help so far, but I'm truly going to have to part ways from here on out."

Hearing this Leon just nodded as he watched Martin slowly turn around and retreat back towards the worn-down temple.

Whilst Martin's decision may have shocked the others, in his opinion, it was only a matter of time. Ever since they handled the first dungeon, Leon had sensed Martin's fear and unease growing.