Arriving at the entrance to the training room of the commander of this army post, Vicente silently used his skills to take out the guards on the outside of the room.

After killing three more, this time level 5 Acolytes, he arrived at the entrance to the room where Christopher was meditating alone.

Christopher had ingested a portion of the 3rd-stage herb. He had since been absorbing the nutrients, mana, and elements compatible with him from that resource through his meditation.

From what Vice sensed when he entered that place, the local commander was half a step away from making a breakthrough and becoming a Mid-level Mage!

Fortunately for Vicente, Christopher would still need about 30 minutes to finish his meditation, more than enough time for this young man to act!

'You bastard! You stole something that was supposed to benefit my family!' Vicente clenched his fists, but he didn't blame Rory and Bart.

Considering the difficult circumstances the family must have faced, giving up was their only alternative.

Yet, Vicente regretted the loss of this important resource that could help his family so much in the near future.

He then grabbed a few daggers with him and prepared to attack Commander Hogan brutally.

Christopher had a special aura of the Earth element surrounding his body now, similar to the aura of flames that Kohen had displayed during his visit to the Mazzanti family.

That was a defense that would work well against opposing forces of a lower offensive level than the user's combat skills. However, young Fuller was the strongest between Vicente and Christopher at the moment!

When he activated his powers and revealed his yellow pentagram, he immediately gave speed to the daggers floating in the air, causing them to cut through the space between him and the target with great speed.

The red pentagram glowed beneath Vicente's feet as he thrust one of his hands forward, using more than half of his strength to push the metal components in Commander Hogan's body.

Christopher's surroundings changed when Vice made these almost simultaneous movements, with earth barriers appearing above him as this man sensed something was wrong.

Being interrupted in the middle of a meditation was terrible in many ways. Christopher couldn't just open his eyes and "pause" what he was doing. He was in the middle of absorbing a resource very rich in mana and elements. If he stopped what he was doing, he would not only miss a great opportunity, but he would also risk getting badly hurt!

He could destabilize his entire magical foundation if he "accidentally" absorbed elements that weren't part of his powers!

The extent to which he could be harmed could vary greatly depending on different conditions. But it was a certainty that anyone in his place would, at the very least, become weaker after such a situation and their chances for future progress would be diminished!

After his meditation was interrupted by an unexpected enemy, Christopher had to find a way to defend himself from the enemy and protect himself from the herb in his body.

The slightest carelessness could corrupt his magical foundation, making him permanently weaker and even causing his death!

Then, a terrible expression appeared on his face as he felt blades approaching him while his outermost defenses were attacked by something.

'Who dares?' He asked himself as he felt elements that didn't belong to his magical foundation entering his body.

Feeling this, he turned pale and tried to remove these elements or even stop what was happening. But as he tried to move in that direction, he suddenly felt an abnormal difficulty in moving his muscles and mana.

'What is it?' He felt Vicente's first skill working on his body as his defenses collapsed against the daggers thrown by Vice.

Commander Hogan was even more defenseless against Vicente in this disadvantageous situation than the young man's last three enemies at The Vile Altar.

After only 30 seconds of action, Vicente saw the earthen barriers protecting Christopher completely collapse while his opponent's exhausted and pale body became visible to him.

Very disturbed by the infiltration of incompatible elements into his body, Christopher completely lost his concentration and the rational capacity necessary to overcome the two challenges Vicente had forced him to face.

Losing control of his defenses and having his magical foundation corrupted by the herb in his stomach, he didn't last long. Soon, the first of the blades cut into his body, making him completely lose control of himself.

'Stop hitting him, master!' Torne shouted as he felt something inside Christopher's body. 'His magical base is deviating. That is a magic deviation! He'll die even if the master doesn't move anymore!'

'Oh?

The magic deviation was nothing more than the name given to the process that occurred when a magician lost control of their meditation, and their foundation was corrupted by elements opposite to their own.

When this happens, one could suffer minor injuries to one's soul, be temporarily weakened, permanently lose some or all of one's powers, and even die. It all depended on the type of meditation, the location, the magician's personal characteristics, and so on.

In Christopher's case, he was meditating while absorbing the medicinal power of a 3rd-stage herb that could previously be considered stronger than himself!

By losing control of the absorption of a portion of such an herb, he had suffered far more than a person who failed to meditate without the use of external resources!

With Vicente's little help in preventing Christopher from properly protecting himself, this soldier was much more affected, and more elements alien to his being entered his soul!

'Master, hold back. There will be suspicions about the way he died because of the men you killed on your way here, but it won't be so easy to identify his killer from that.' Torne said to Vicente.

Because Christopher's situation seemed irreversible, Vicente stopped his daggers from flying around the man. Keeping his weapons with him, he left the place, leaving the army headquarters faster than he had entered.

As he made his way through the central streets of Millfall, Vicente decided not to follow Viscount Symons. No matter how much the man had taken from him, something Vicente had heard on his way to army headquarters, the Viscount was much more complicated to deal with than Commander Hogan.

He decided to return to his group, find out what had happened in his absence, and begin to rebuild things on the ground.

Vicente went to the headquarters of the Scarlet Syndicate, where he had heard that the men of the Mazzanti family had gone into hiding after today's confrontation.