Captive

When the morning sunlight shone through the curtains onto Josh's face, he slowly woke up.

He looked around in a daze, then quickly relaxed. It seemed he had returned to the Muya Continent. This was his room. Though he had no idea how long he had spent on the Valoran Continent, and even suspected it had all been a dream, the inherited magic in his mind told him it was all real.

"Looks like I succeeded. I sent myself back."

Josh let out a breath. Honestly, it had been far too dangerous. If his magic had been any slower, he probably would not even have been able to cast it before Garen split him in half. Then he really would have had nowhere to complain.

After getting up and stretching properly, Josh immediately noticed something strange. His bedsheets seemed exactly as they had been the night before. If he had been gone for a long time, a maid should have come in to tidy up, but they still looked untouched.

"Could it be that the time I spend away from here doesn't pass at all?" Josh wondered. If that was true, then he might be more terrifying than every genius in this world!

One moment, he might be utterly ordinary. Then, upon realizing he could not win, he could immediately travel to another world and stay there for years. Once he had enough strength, he could return and turn the tables. That alone would scare countless people to death.

"Forget it. What's the point of thinking about this? I can just ask someone later. Besides, if I ran into a Level Nine expert, I might need to spend centuries in another world before I could deal with them. Who knows whether I'd even live that long?"

Josh shook his head and stopped dwelling on such nonsense. Leaving aside whether he could even offend a Level Nine figure, whether he could escape after doing so was another question. No one would give him the chance to gather magic and open a portal. The instant they met, Josh would probably be killed in one move.

"That Garen idiot was still terrifying. Whether it was his mastery of technique or anything else, he was truly formidable. If he had already reached the late stage, I probably would not have had any chance at all."

"But I wonder what happened to him in the end. I hope I didn't kill him? Or did the Void Gate created by Void Summoning toss him straight into the endless void?"

Josh rubbed his chin. If that was what had happened, it would be absolutely wonderful! Josh would not look at him differently just because he was a hero from a game. On the contrary, anyone hostile toward him was an enemy in his eyes. And if they were enemies, the worse off they were, the happier Josh would be.

Of course, Josh had gained a great deal this time. His magic had originally been close to Level Three, but he had never found suitable Magic elements to use. This trip to Valoran had not only finally shown him what his magic power was like, but had also granted him some inheritances. Most importantly, the elements that had flooded into his body had forcibly expanded his magic spring into a magic river.

Josh believed that as long as he spent some time consolidating his foundation, he could completely advance to Level Three. He might even reach Level Four, or come close to it. After all, the magic power within him was immense. Though he could only control a small portion of it, with much of it still beyond his grasp, that merely required time.

Shaking his head, Josh stopped thinking about it. He planned to leave his room and get something to eat. Though he did not know how much time had passed here, Josh himself had truly gone a whole day without food. He also wanted to find out exactly how long he had been gone.

"This trip really paid off."

Josh smiled to himself, but he froze almost immediately—when he rounded the corner of his bed, he unexpectedly saw a greatsword lying on the floor. And he recognized that greatsword very well. Wasn't it the weapon that Garen, that idiot, had used to cut him down?

Josh's mouth twitched. He suddenly had a very bad feeling. Following the direction of the sword, Josh indeed saw someone collapsed on the other side of his bed. His bed was enormous. If someone was lying on the floor while another person was on the far side of the bed, they would be difficult to notice.

That was exactly what had happened to Josh. He truly had not noticed the person lying on the other side of his huge bed. He did not even need to look to know who it was! It was definitely Garen, the man he had fought so fiercely!

"Damn it! I thought I had come back alone. I thought this guy either stayed behind, got blown to death when his attack collided with my magic, or was banished into the endless void." Josh rubbed his brow in frustration. "I never expected him to come to the Muya Continent with me! What is this? Even if I wanted to send him back, I couldn't. That Void Gate was completely random."

"Should I just open another Void Gate and banish him?"

The idea suddenly occurred to Josh, and honestly, he was tempted. He did not know whether his Void Gate had something like a cooldown, and he had not had time to study it carefully, but that did not stop him from trying.

Quietly walking over to the still-unconscious Garen, Josh began slowly gathering his magic power. To be honest, he had not figured out why his magic power had recovered so quickly. His battle with Garen had left him utterly exhausted, yet when he woke up, he discovered that although his mental strength had not recovered, his magic power was nearly restored.

"Did I somehow pick up the Tear of the Goddess?" Josh thought to himself.

Naturally, he did not think he had truly encountered such a thing. He simply figured that he probably had a constitution that regenerated magic power rapidly. Still, looking at Garen's miserable state, Josh felt somewhat moved. At the final moment of their battle, when the Void Gate collided with Garen's greatsword, he had instinctively used the last of his magic power to cast a Void Shield around himself. Otherwise, Josh might not have been in any better condition than Garen.

"The names and stated effects of Void Warp and Void Summoning are completely different. I might as well call them Void Shield and Void Gate from now on. It's simple, convenient, and easy to tell what they do."

Josh grumbled inwardly, but the magic in his hand did not stop. When he gathered it to its peak, however, a message unexpectedly appeared in his mind—Void Gate was temporarily unable to connect to other worlds. If forcibly opened, it could only lead into the endless void.

Well, Josh had intended to send this guy into the endless void anyway, so that suited him just fine. But what did it mean by temporarily unable to connect to other worlds? Did this thing really have a cooldown? Josh silently wondered. Soon after, another message came to him: each connection to another world required sufficient void energy, or seven days of time.

"Alright, so that's how it works." Josh nodded. The inheritance in his mind was actually something like memories. Though he really could not tell whether it counted as a system, he did not care that much.

"Anyway, it doesn't issue quests, and it doesn't feel like it has intelligence or life. It's just a mass of memories. Whenever I think of something, whatever I need appears. Pretty useful."

A sphere of light quickly condensed in his hand. Josh drew a deep breath, ready to directly cover Garen with it. But something Josh never could have expected happened just then—Garen seemed to sense the danger. He suddenly woke up and grabbed Josh's right hand, which was about to cast the spell.

"..."

Josh was completely stunned. Just how strong was this guy's will to survive? But Josh could also clearly sense Garen's current condition. It could only be described as terrible. No, not terrible—absolutely dreadful.

His formerly resolute, rugged face was filled with exhaustion and pain. The breastplate of his armor had been completely blown apart, blood continuously seeping from within. Though the hand Garen used to grip Josh looked strong, Josh could clearly feel that this guy had almost no strength left. Or rather, he was nothing like Josh, who was practically unscathed.

"This is probably the difference between mages and warriors. Mages can always pull out a Zhonya's to defend against warriors, but warriors might not necessarily have Guardian Angel."

Put simply, Garen had never expected his heavy strike and Josh's Void Gate to create such a violent explosion when they collided. Thinking about it, that was only natural. Although Josh's Void Gate was meant for escape, anyone who forcibly broke it before it opened would likely suffer backlash.

Moreover, in Josh's memories, anything associated with the word void was basically never safe. Such an explosion was not something an unprepared warrior could withstand—even if he had been prepared, while he would not have been injured this badly, he likely would not have fared much better.

"Good thing I instinctively used the magic power I had just absorbed to cast Void Shield. Otherwise, I probably would have ended up even worse than this guy."

Josh could not help thinking so. Seeing Garen in such a miserable state, barely clinging to life, he withdrew his magic. Though they were enemies, Josh felt that he might return to the Valoran Continent one day. Rather than kill Garen, it would be better to gather some intelligence from him.

"Anyway, this guy is already half-dead, and he's come to my territory. I refuse to believe he can try to kill me over a disagreement here like he did on the Valoran Continent."

Having made up his mind, Josh shook off Garen's grasp. The silver orb in his hand dispersed into the air. After straightening his clothes, Josh immediately called for his maids. Then, amid a flurry of commotion, many Grand Knights arrived as well.

And so, Garen Crownguard, eldest son of the Crownguard family, became Josh's prisoner. Though priests watched over him, he was still thrown into the dungeon.