"The legendary Mage Wells," Manager Jacob Nelson said as Damion walked into the Adventurer Association branch manager's office.

Mage Nelson was a B Rank Earth mage who appeared to be getting on in years. Damion thought it likely that Manager Nelson had long since given up on growing stronger and was assigned to this far-flung branch to serve out the remainder of his contract with the Association. That, or the older mage had come here to live in the place where he grew up and rose to his position after years of protecting this small town. Whichever was the case, Damion did not care, he was just here to get the information about the Realm Breach.

"I wouldn't call myself legendary. I've only just become a B Rank mage."

Manger Nelson snorted but decided to turn his attention to why Damion was here, instead of commenting on the young man's fame.

"I assume that you and your monster are here because of the B Rank Unstable Breach."

"Yes. I received the alert from the Mage Association. I was nearby measuring another Unstable Breach I recently located. It is only C Rank though."

"The one in the Red Zone? I must thank you for discovering it, but I feel I should warn you that even as a B Rank, you should not be venturing into Red Zones. Leave such places for the Crimson Order and A Rankers from the Mage Association."

"The Breach was not that far inside the Red Zone, I wanted to take a chance on identifying it. You never know what a Breach might be, and I did not want to risk something profitable slipping through my grasp. Besides, now the Adventurer Association is aware of it and its Rank. It will make dealing with the Breach that much easier."

"I'm inclined to tell you the location of the B Rank Unstable Breach, just so you and your pet will leave my town, but I find myself in a bit of a conundrum."

"How so?"

"After the Mage Association sent out the alert about the Breach. The higher ups in the Adventurer Association sent me a message that under no circumstances was I to give you the information on it."

"I see."

"Do you? On the one hand I have an order from the Mage Association, to award the clear to the first people who come, and you are the first one here that qualifies. The highest Rank of our town guards are only D Rank, and we have too few adventurers that want to head our way since our only dungeon is D Rank. On the other hand, I have an order from the Adventurer Association not to share the information with you."

"Yes. Quite the problem you have been given. And there is one other complication."

"What is that?" Manager Nelson asked.

"My 'monster' outside your gates and your people calling for you to take action against it. Phil will not harm anyone unless they attack him first, but eventually someone is going do something stupid. And the longer I remain here, the more likely that is to happen."

"And you are going to remain here until you get the information about the Breach."

"Yes, or until someone else arrives and you give it to them, and I can follow them, but as you have said, this area does not have even C Rankers coming to it. How long will it take for another B Rank to answer the call?"

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"I see your point. Here is the information," Manager Nelson said, sending the information from his terminal to Damion's tablet. "The team that Ranked it did not go in, they were only a C Rank patrol and did not want to risk the hazards of a B Rank Breach alone, so I have no idea what is inside."

"That shouldn't be too much trouble. Breaches usually take the form of the area they are found in."

"True. But not always. I do hope you take care of the Breach quickly."

"It will all depend on the strength of the guardian. If it is a peak B Rank, Phil and I might not be able to handle it on our own."

"Don't worry. I understand. Since I cannot leave the city to head to the Breach, ordinarily, the first one to respond to the request would be the team leader, however, given my instructions, I can't designate you to that position. I will of course send anyone else who shows up along after you, just know, it might be a while before anyone comes to aid you."

"I'm not too worried. I've been in B Rank Breaches before. I should be able to hold my own at the very least. Thank you for your time."

"Did you find the core yet?" Damion asked Phil, once he was back outside of Phuson.

'No. Beast too big,' Phil responded. The Blizzard King appeared to be taking a break as it was not digging through the carcass anymore.

"Are finally full my gluttonous friend?" Damion asked Phil playfully.

Phil could sense the humor in the question through the bond with Damion, but the Demonic Beast did not understand it. After cocking its head to the side for a moment, appearing to be pondering its companion's remarks, Phil let out a belch and then addressed Damion.

'Save for later.'

"Alright," Damion said with a chuckle and pulled the remains of the Simurgh back into his Magic System Inventory. "Let's go to the Breach, the flight should let you work off some of your meal."

After flying for close to half an hour, Damion and Phil reached the B Rank Unstable Realm Breach. True Sight confirmed the strength of the Breach. Unfortunately, that was all it told him. It would have been nice to be able to determine the strength of the guardian, low B Rank, mid or peak, but Damion figured that would have been asking too much.

"Are you ready to go in?" Damion asked Phil as they landed in front of the Breach.

There were no signs of Demonic Beasts around the entrance to the Breach, but that was not surprising. Unstable Breaches allowed Demonic Beasts to leave the Breach at will, but considering the ambient mana inside a B Rank Breach was greater than the ambient mana on Nerotath, unless a creature just happened to or was chasing something, it would not want to leave the Unstable Breach.

Of course, that did not apply to when the Unstable Breach collapsed. If the Breach was not cleared in time it would collapse and spew all its Demonic Beasts into the area around where the entrance had been. The sudden influx of creatures in the area would most likely cause a beast wave, which was why the Adventurer Association, Mage Association and Crimson Order worked so hard to clear Unstable Breaches.

'Ready,' Phil told Damion.

The pair walked together and entered the Unstable Breach to find what awaited them. To Damion's surprise, he found that they were underground. True Sight let him see clearly, but Phil was not so lucky. The Blizzard King walked forward a few paces and smacked into a wall. The impact shook the cave they were in, and Damion had the distinct feeling that it also woke up every Demonic Beast in the area.

"Don't move around too much," Damion told Phil as he took out his tablet and the illuminated the area.

'Smells,' Phil commented through their bond.

"Yes. I'm not sure what that smell is," Damion replied. The smell was familiar, but it was not something he had smelled in a longtime and he could not quite identify it. It was not as though the smell was one of stale air or noxious fumes that would deprive him of oxygen, but still, Damion decided to wear his protective mask that would help filter the air and protect his face from the elements.

Since he was wearing his auto-mapper, Damion pulled up the map on his tablet and hit the projection option. Above his tablet appeared a map showing where they were and that the cave they were in was just one of many. The paths twisted and turned, but with just a topographical display, it was hard to tell if any of the paths led to the surface, or if there even was a surface.

Adjusting the projection, the display changed from a topographical image to a sphere. In the center was Damion and Phil, represented by two small dots. There was only one path leading out of the chamber they were in, and it was a narrow one. Zooming in on the passageway Damion was able to confirm, there was no way Phil was going to be able to fit down it, let alone be able to fight in such close confines.

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