Entering the mansion, once more Nia, Ben, and Luna's eyes went wide in shock. The first sight they saw was a gleaming crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. With a frame made from pure silver, the candleholders attached were made of ivory. There were no candles embedded in it though, instead, an orange glow from a flame floated above, suspended in place.

They had all witnessed Roland's magic by now but knew that Roland was a powerful mage, that was why he could cast a spell of flame. This magic flame though sat upon a chandelier. One used magic to fight for their life and took years of study, while the other simply used it for a decorative light. The three didn't know what to think. Lowen however, after inspecting the chandelier, could see it's simplicity. Lowen could see 5 small inscriptions carved into the bottom of the chandelier, each one connected like a chain. After studying his Divine Blacksmith for over 9 months, Lowen could now recognize several thousand inscriptions and the ones carved into the chandelier, Lowen had seen many times before.

(Absorb, continuous activation, fire, shape sphere, float/suspend. These inscriptions are easy for me now.)

Lowen had not been slacking when it came to inscriptions and would usually carve a few every day. With his continuous practice as well as his incredible control, Lowen could make a simple magic tool. Previously his success rate was only around 2 to 2.5%, now, however, his success rate had risen to about 8-9%. Lowen felt it wasn't enough but many young inscription craftsmen would spit blood if they knew of this. For them to make a magic tool successfully after less than a year of practice, to just make one would be a miracle. Lowen though could sit down and carve 10 or 11 and out of those, 1 of them was basically guaranteed to be a functional magic tool. With thoughts drifting off, the voice of an old man brought everyone to their senses.

"Ah, master Tolm welcome home. That was quite quick of a trip, did everything go well?"

The one who had just arrived and spoken had a black servants uniform and wore a glass monocle over his left eye. With neatly trimmed short gray hair and a small pencil mustache, this man seemed very disciplined.

The person he had just referred to was clearly the old commander.

Tolm spoke in a robust manner.

"Hehe, of course it did, if not, would I have brought so many guests."

The servant eyed commander Tolm's so-called guest before his gaze landed upon the ghoul.

"These are your guests? All of them?"

Although he spoke neutrally, commander Tolm knew what he was getting at and added a bit of harshness to his tone.

"Yes, all of them."

The servant could feel anger in his master's tone but didn't take it to heart. Instead, the servant put on a smile and gave a slight bow.

"Master Tolm's guests, I welcome you."

Nia, Luna, and Ben had no clue what to do, no one had ever bowed at them before but they felt it might be rude to not respond, so the three fumbled their way and awkwardly gave a similar bow back. Lowen and Benjamin, however, were indifferent and only gave a nod.

"Paul here is my butler, he's in charge of taking care of my house as well as the grounds that surround it. Paul, take these 4 on a tour and when that's finished have some snacks and tea prepared for them in the gardens. Later on they will join us for dinner as well, that is all you may go. Lowen, could you and your servant come with me. There was still the matter I wanted to discuss with you and I'd much rather have it before dinner. Waiting isn't my strong suit."

Lowen glanced at the others and could see some worry but with a knowing nod they seemed to calm down and followed after the butler. Lowen glanced back at commander Tolm.

"Sure, I have a few things I'd like to discuss as well."

Lowen and the ghoul followed behind commander Tolm and his subordinate battlemage as they made their way down a long hallway. As Lowen and the ghoul passed by many maids and laborers, once they saw the ghoul, many of them would give a high pitched shriek before commander Tolm would give them a glare and they would go quiet before racing off to do whatever they were supposed to. Lowen with his highly sensitive hearing could pick up most of the conversations in the mansion and they were already full of gossip about the commander allowing a monster into his house. Lowen shook his head and ignored it. After several minutes of walking this mansions hall's, the small group had arrived at a large wooden door. Walking in, Lowen could tell right away it was an office. With a large desk in the room covered in papers as well as piles of books strewn here and there, Lowen knew Tolm wasn't the type to be tidy. Even the few chairs that were there were covered in documents and books.

Commander Tolm cleared his throat.

*Ahem*

With this knowing signal, his subordinate went into action, quickly clearing the chairs and straightening up the mess on and around the desk. Not even a minute later, the place almost seemed to be sparkling. It seemed this subordinate had done this many a time.

"Good job Glen, now make yourself useful and fill out this report for me."

"But sir that's yours. If the higher-ups keep seeing my handwriting on your reports then they'll get suspicious and probably demote you again."

Tolm slammed his fist angrily on the desk causing the papers that were just straightened up to go flying, once more making his desk a mess. Glen again went into action and tidied everything up in a practiced motion.

"Bah, who the hell cares! They already booted me from the capital, they can't sink me any lower than this."

Glen decided to keep his mouth shut but inside his mind, he could only think about how far his commander had fallen from grace, causing him to release a quiet sigh.

commander Tolm looked at Lowen and the ghoul who both seemed surprised before he glanced down at his fist. Pulling his hand behind his back, he quelled his anger and offered the two a seat.

"Sorry, forget about all that, please have a seat."

Lowen sat down but the ghoul hesitated for a moment. Looking at Lowen and the other two, it carefully sat down as to not disturb anyone.

"Good, it really does listen. Lowen, I'll get straight to the point. I want you to slay a monster for me."

The ghoul hearing this immediately gulped and almost sprang out of its chair defensively but seeing no movements from the battlemage it remained still. While looking at the window behind the commander, it wondered if it could escape from here if it needed to. Staring at the battlemage however, it knew its chances were zero. Cold sweat began to pour from its withered face thinking about what its fate would be if this commander truly did want its life. Lowen could feel the agitation in this ghoul and passed it a little bit of ki. Feeling a warm sensation spread throughout its body, the ghoul stared at Lowen in surprise before Lowen whispered a few words.

"Calm yourself, if the commander wanted you dead he wouldn't bring you all the way here and besides I am protecting you. So long as you obey me, no harm will befall you, got it?"

The ghoul finally relaxed and gave a nod.

Tolm saw this and could care less for this ghoul's antsy behavior, he only cared about Lowen's reply.

"So Lowen."

Before the commander could finish his words, Lowen interrupted him.

"Commander Tolm was it? Before I answer, the least you could do is give me the details right?"

Tolm stared at Lowen blankly for a moment before bursting out with laughter.

"Hahaha, so blunt, I like it. Those that have talked to me like that haven't lived long but you can because you're strong, hahaha. Oh yeah, don't call me commander, for you, Tolm is just fine. Oh right right, details...I should probably give you those, hahaha."

Tolm wasn't angry in the slightest. To hear someone so blunt reminded him of himself in his younger days. Plus the fact that Lowen had actual strength and could stand on his own, to him it just made Lowen more likable.

(This kid's great, unlike those snobby cowardly bastards in the capital.)

Sitting down, Tolm's excited expression started to turn sullen as he thought about the current situation.

*Sigh*

"It's like this. Something was released or maybe even unleashed we still don't know if this was done purposely or not."

Tolm snapped his fingers and Glen walked over to a large bookshelf stuffed with books and papers. pulling a large rolled up piece of paper from the shelf, he then placed it on the table and rolled it out flat, it was a map. It covered the entirety of Rhylo kingdom as well as a few of its neighboring territories. Tolm pointed at a certain spot.

"This here is Jizhen and this over here is Dizhen. Its 60 miles away with nothing but forest surrounding it. This Dizhen is an ancient ruin and a few days ago, a third of the ruins collapsed into a large underground chamber. I had men scout this newly discovered underground chamber and what they found shocked them."

Tolm paused for a moment and with a serious expression he spoke.

"They found fresh Mantha skin from one that had recently molted."

Lowen recalled for a moment. Roland had taught him about Manthas. They were a large monster breed of snake. With a head that looked like a hooded figure and a body of around 30 to 40 feet. These snakes were excessively large and their strength usually equaled their weight. An average one could easily weigh 4,000 or even 5,000 pounds, so its strength, in theory, would be equivalent to that. Lowen's strength at the moment was right around there. So hearing about it Lowen was confident. Especially since Manthas charging speed was slow compared to Lowen. Really the only thing to be concerned with would be the Manthas camouflaged scales and its body which was harder than metal. If this thing hid and then made a surprise attack, Lowen knew it would be difficult to handle. However, with Lowen capable of sensing life forms auras, there would be no way of sneaking up on Lowen within a hundred feet at least.

Lowen gave a confident smile if this was all then he could handle it. With commander Tolm's next words though, it was as if cold water was poured atop his head.

"That's not all though. This freshly shed skin was 60 feet in length."

Lowen jumped from his chair and shouted.

"What, how can that be possible."

Lowen's thoughts began to race.

(Roland told me an average one could grow to 30-40 feet and an above average one could hit 50 feet max but for one to actually reach above 60 feet, just how monstrous of a creature can this thing be and how did this happen, unless.)

"Is there any way to know of this creature's age."

Tolm shook his head.

"No, I know your thoughts though. Manthas continue to grow with age and only reach their full length at adulthood which usually takes around 60 years or so. Since they grow about a half a foot a year this Mantha is at least a hundred years old if not older."

"How, why wasn't this creature slain long ago? Doesn't the army or adventurers usually deal with this? How could you all simply let this thing grow unimpeded?"

Tolm again shook his head.

"This creature, it hid itself too well and out here in the sticks where monsters are the weakest and are few and far between. It would cost too many resources for the kingdom to constantly sift through these outskirts. It seems however if this situation isn't handled and soon then the consequences will be damning."

Lowen sat there quietly in thought and the room filled with silence.

(Can I do this? At the very least not alone, not again. With my current strength, I'll need reinforcements, then I can slay this beast.)

A grin formed on Lowen's face and greed started to well up within him.

"Tolm, I believe I can do it but my compensation will be high."