Turns out, being kidnapped is a very boring experience. I have been stuck on the other man's back for the last couple of hours now. At the moment I don't think that I am even feeling the panic that I was feeling when I had just got up, about a couple of hours ago.

  The reason for that could be the fact that I am feeling exhausted right now. It feels like I have been spending the last couple of hours running with a gravity spell put over me.

  This is very ironic because I haven't been able to move an inch in the last couple of hours. I have not been paralyzed, at least in the traditional sense. I am sure that I can move my body if I could just put enough force on it. It would be better to say that I have been covered in a thin film of a mithril alloy which has set now. Even struggling with all of my strength I have not been able to break whatever this man has done to me. All I have done is exhaust myself.

  There is little to distract me right now except my nausea. At the moment I am feeling nauseous enough that I would have hurled if I was not bound right now. At the moment I am worrying that I still might end up doing it. (I am hoping that I can do it. It will at least leave the other party uncomfortable.) The reason for this nausea is my mana sense. Right now the mana around us moving with such a violent force that it feels like I am standing in a whirlpool of mana.

  The mana here is moving with such a violent force that It is affecting the real world. The wind here feels like a sharp knife on my skin, though oddly the sensation is not accompanied by any pain. I have to assume the man carrying me has something to do with that. Maybe it is the reason that I can't move right now. Even the window blowing on my face is contributing to my nausea.

  The reason that I have started recording now is more to distract myself. No, I am not recording my death log. While I have still not understood the man's angle in all of this, I have to admit that he has yet to harm me. If anything, he just might be the reason that I am alive now.

  I guess that I should speak about my surroundings. After all, very few people of the hexmountain will be able to ever make it here. For quite a while we have been angling upwards. The higher up we go, the more chaotic the flow of mana is and the more destructive its effects are.

  The mana was not this unstable when we started. Steadily the flow of mana is becoming wilder and wilder. At the moment, this place seems closer to a white void than anything that could exist in reality. That is another reason for nausea. I know that there is supposed to be movement of mana in this void, but it is just so hard to tell with a single type of mana.

  Right now, I am reminded of the feeling of standing on a ship on the sea, feeling the world around me shake and turn. It was such an uncomfortable sensation that I never really got on a ship again. Whatever the man has done to protect me is the only thing keeping me safe.

  (After an indefinite amount of time.)

  Finally, after what seems to be an age, I can feel the man slow down. The reason for that is the tower that has popped up in my vision suddenly. For a few seconds, I am not even sure that it is there. It seems like a wonder that any other color could exist in this white void. Especially such a deep black. It resembles the darkest of nights. I cannot tell you much about the tower other than It is made of some kind of black rock.

  Even as I am recording this, I have entered into the tower. The difference is clear to me. If a second before it felt like I was being put under a waterfall suddenly I felt like a feather floating in the wind. Sadly none of my limbs still seemed to show any signs of moving. I would be happy to twitch even a bit right now.

  Now that the terror of being dropped in this white void I can find myself taking a breath of relief. I don't even want to imagine what could have happened. Still, half-formed images of me as a statue of ice plague my head.

  These half-formed images are immediately replaced by an image of me in chains. The only reason that one of the tribes would leave me alive is to enslave me. For a second I am completely sure that this is the reason that I am left alive. That I am going to be placed in the chains and that I am going to end up as one of their slaves. We formation mages would make for very good slaves after all.

  Well, I force myself to calm down. The snow tribe is not one of the slaving tribes. There is no need to work myself into a panic for something that they are so unlikely to pull off. There are more things to worry about before something like that.

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  "I would suggest not moving your body yet, little wolf.", the wolf man spoke, putting me down in what I assume to be some kind of a bed. "My magic won't lose its potency before a day is over. Forcing yourself to move before that will have disastrous consequences."

  Saying that the man simply disappears. I strain my mana sense for a bit to look for the man. I can't feel the man at all. I settle on the bed even as I strain my mana sense. It feels more like it is a statue carved from a rock rather than a bed that somebody would use. Even with all of this discomfort, I can feel my body slip into the comfort of sleep.

  (After almost a day.)

  I have to admit that, while my body feels like I have been sleeping on a rock I can finally move my body. I would have given up all the pleasures in the world for the simple ability to move my head as I wish. That is what I am doing at the moment though my body is cramped in places where I would have assumed it to be impossible.

  Right now we are completely in the northern wastelands. There is no doubt about it. I am right now in the snow tribe's territory.

  I wonder what my master has promised to this man that would have even let them consider giving shelter to a soldier of the legion. How the hell does my master even have influence here? The scholars have been trying to get their claws into the tribes. I would have thought they would not be willing to leave my master alone for something this vital to them.

  Well, that is a mystery that I will have to leave for my master. The room that I am standing in is a simple room, with everything constructed of some kind of black rock. Everything in the room seemed to be carved of this rock. It is a work of art, everything in the room. All of this seems to be the work of an expert.

  "This rock is the only thing that can survive in the true lands, my young friend. Nothing, except the frigid rock can survive in the ice mana that flows through this land. I would suggest therefore that you do not attempt to escape from this place.", the wolf man spoke from behind me, explaining to me. "the frigid rock almost managed to create an empire in our lands kid. Just this tower took me an arm and a leg to get made."

  As I am preparing to ask the man to ask about that the man continues.

  "You can call me Cloak, little wolf. I will have to be clear with you. The only reason that I am guarding you is because you are the disciple of the grand wolf.", the man speaks, his voice painfully neutral. The man is taking care not to show his true emotion. "The Grand Wolf is our most important trading partner. We can't have his disciple dying on our watch. That would certainly mess things up for us. Has your master spoken about us ever or what he does for us?"

  "No, my lord.", I reply, wondering for a second if I should have just bluffed about knowing it. (I know very little about my master's work and I know enough to not be too curious about it as well.) "My master does not speak of much beyond my studies."

  "Well, then I shall not speak of your master's business. The man is awfully protective of you anyway.", he replies. "Right now there are two main problems with you."

  "The people of the true lands have a problem with you due to two main reasons. Firstly, they do not trust sages. We have a lot of history with the sages. I won't speak on the nature of our cooperation, just that it has soured recently.", cloak speaks. "The spear tribe will be after your head for that fact."

  "But I am not a sage.", I reply.

  "Well, the council recognizes the sages as a race.", he speaks. "You just need to hold their bloodline to be considered a sage here. You have to thank your lucky stars for that. While your identity as a sage is messy to use, it gives us a chance to ensure your safety. Your identity as a legioner will be infinitely worse. They won't mind offending the great wolf if it means killing you. Just what is your position in the legion."

  "I suppose that I am technically banished from the legion.", I reply. I remember how much of a scandal that had caused. Even I as a kid remembered it. "There is no way that the legion would have allowed a nonlegioner to take charge of my education. The only compromise that they could do was to banish me."

  "Well, I will be able to work with that.", he replies. "Still it is not going to be easy. Just your identity as a sage is going to push the spear tribe away from you."

  "What is the spear tribe?", I ask, feeling kind of stupid.

  "Oh right, you outsiders seem to think that we are a monolith.", the man speaks, a mocking glint in his eyes. "The snow tribes consist of a council of many tribes working together. Of them, only five tribes have the strength to decide your fate. One of them is the Spear tribe and they are going to vote against you."

  "So I am supposed to convince the other four tribes of my innocence.", I ask

  "Something like that. Be thankful that your master is such an important man. For most legioners, they would not have bothered to even call on a half council.", he speaks. "Oh right, a half council is meeting that only three tribes need to attend. With how important your master is they will need to assemble the full council. That gives you a chance at the very least. A very small chance. You will need to speak precisely and convince the council that killing you will prove too costly. There is no way that it is going to be easy but even in the worst-case scenario we can at least delay things until your master comes here."

  "Master is coming here?", I ask, feeling my heart fall.

  "Yeah, he will be making it soon here.", is the reply.