One hour later, inside the same cave, a group of mages advanced cautiously through the tunnels.

“Captain, I see a clearing ahead.” informed a soldier in a low voice.

“Proceed.”

Hearing the command, the soldier walked forward until the entire underground room came in to view and said, “Sir, there is a giant magic circle inside the room, I dont know what it is… maybe..”, the soldier lowered his body to inspect better the runes, to see if he could have an idea what the magic circle was about, but the moment the soldier was about to touch the runes to see if the circuit was used recently, he heard the captain say “Do not…”

But it was too late, a explosion engulfed the entire cave and shook the small hill above it, collapsing the entire structure.

“Fucking asshole!” 

“What an Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” screamed the captain outside the cave. He could not believe he had such moron as a squad leader.

Another squad lead came by his side and said, “Captain, should we dig the tunnels?”

The captain looked at his squad leader and said, “What for? If was a teleport circuit, its coordinates are already destroyed. There is noting to gain there. We would just be losing time.”

The soldier made an ugly face, as if just had swallowed an essence bullet, but took the courage and said, “Sir, maybe someone from that squad survived the explosion. We can try to rescue them.”

The captain looked at the squad lead in a surprised face, and said, “Right, Right, I almost forgot. There must be survivors” the captain took a pause and looked at the cave entrance fully collapsed, and continued, “You will be leading the rescue, take your squad and try to find survivors, you are only allowed to leave this planet once you find one.”

The mix of feelings inside the squad leader could be fully seen as those words echoed in his mind, he was about to voice his objection, and question ‘What if I don’t find anyone?’ But quickly understood the underlying meaning of those words.

“Am I clear, soldier?”

“Sir, Yes, Sir” said the squad leader aloud, almost lowering his head in desperation, but the formalities had to be kept so he straighten his back and gave a formal salute, by hitting his staff at the side of his boots.

The captain looked in the squad leader’s eyes and turned his back, ‘Another stupid moron’.

……………..

In another planet, far from the trial planet, Mack looked at Lorin back leaving the room. He could not avoid but lowering his gaze as she ‘walked’ away, but his eyes were not set on her legs, but in a more ‘pleasant to look at’ part of her body.

[Stop staring at the girl’s ass. Don’t tell me you choose her because of her ass]

Seeing Lorin leaving the room and closing the door, Mack said, “It was because she can dual cast. The other mages at the trial didn’t look very interesting, it was her or some random mage.”

“Indeed, dual casting is very rare, I think she will fit well in the next part of the plan”

Mack gaze went back to Harlack, he could barely believe the old man was using words coming from his mouth now, but didnt show any emotion, and quickly put a finger in both of his own eyes, and with a bit of uneasiness, removed two contact lens from his eyes, and said, “These things are annoying as hell”, and threw them to the side.

Mack then took a black booklet from the insides of his clothes and gave to Harlack, “Here, the one they gave me. What we do with it?”

“Lets burn it, it’s better not leave any clues behind,” Said Harlack, taking the black booklet in his hands and at the same time the black booklet turned into ashes. 

“How do we test if it worked?” asked Mack

Harlack threw the ashes to the side, and looking at Mack said, “Tell me some information about any of the person you killed there, it can be a skill, clothes or appearance, anything. If you are bound by it, then you will not be able to say anything”

Mack pondered for a second and remembering the fight at the trial, he remembered the guy that could launch thunder strikes, and said, “There was this guy, he had small horns over his head, and he could throw thunder strikes, but he had a very weak body, one of the most weak at the trial”

Seeing that he could say the information aloud, without that person permission, because he was dead, Mack knew he was not bound by the first oath they did. 

“Its seems it worked. Did you fake your thoughts all the way? The overseer’s speciality spell is one of the most rare around,” Said Harlack.

“Well, I’m used to have someone reading my thoughts for almost four years now. If I cant even do that, then I would be the stupid person in this dimension, I even thought about my way of battle and other random things to appear natural and I also disclosed the few secrets we talked about, he seems convinced that I’m a warlock, and that we have some kind of ‘plan’, he will probably contact you.”

Looking at Mack’s right ear and seeing the small dark jewel was still there, Harlack gave a small approving nod and said, “Good, we could not predict how he would react, but at least you didn’t have to use the teleporting earing. That thing is hard to make and costed me a fortune. Keep it with you all times, and only use it as a last resort.” 

Mack gave a small nod and asked, “About the swords. Have you made the deal with that blacksmith you talked about?”

“Yes, we will meet with him tomorrow. He is an old friend and owns me a few favors. You can rest assured that the deal will go smoothly, just don’t…..” said Harlack, half dropping the subject.

“Dont what?” asked Mack curious

Harlack for a moment seemed very distressed but in the end said, “Just don’t look at his bald head, he is very sentimental about it”

“Hahahahahah” Laughead Mack, releasing together all the pent-up stress from the day.

“You…. HAHAHA… You guys… does power come with baldness? Is that the secret to become so strong? HAHAHAHA”

A big hand came flying in Mack’s field of view, and that was the last thing Mack would remember from this day, because darkness buried his vision, and he fell to the floor unconscious.