Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world-Chapter 381: Familiar
"Now what?" Alex muttered aloud, though no one responded. All eyes remained locked on the forest where the beasts had fled.
After a moment, Freya shook her head. "We’ll deal with this later. For now, have the soldiers retreat and rest. Send a team to recover the corpses of the beasts," she said, turning to Baron Drisidd. "And dispatch another team to finish fortifying the trench. It must be completed before nightfall!"
Following the assault from yesterday’s beast tide, Freya had ordered the large crater left by Alex’s explosion to be transformed into a defensive trench. However, no one had expected a second attack so soon, and the pace of construction had been slow. Now, with the threat more imminent than ever, her orders were met without resistance—everyone understood the city could be under siege again at any moment.
Meanwhile, Alex sat atop the wall, quietly recovering the mana he had expended during the battle. At the same time, he kept watch, waiting to see if the retreating beasts would return—but a little more than a hour passed, and nothing happened.
In the meantime, Freya continued issuing commands, organizing teams to collect, clean, and properly process the corpses of the fallen beasts.
By the time the auction was set to begin, Alex and Freya left the wall together with Maya. Upon arriving at the auction house, they parted ways with the young heiress, who had her own responsibilities to attend to.
The auction began, and just like the day before, extraordinary treasures were presented and sold at exorbitant prices. However, nothing caught Alex’s interest this time. So, while waiting for the night auction—where he was certain a truly incredible treasure would appear—he and Freya spent the entire session exchanging thoughts and playful teasing.
As the day auction drew to a close, the final item was sold, and the guests in the main hall gradually left the venue. Around thirty minutes later, the lights dimmed and then focused on the stage, where a beautifully dressed Maya stood poised with elegance, signaling the start of the night auction.
The moment Maya introduced the star treasure of the second day, Alex instantly knew his instincts had been correct. Not only was the item truly extraordinary—it was also exactly what he needed at the moment.
The treasure in question was a mask. But not just any mask—it was an artifact capable of altering the wearer’s appearance at will. It didn’t only change facial features, but allowed a full-body transformation, including height and weight.
And that wasn’t even the most remarkable part. What truly set the mask apart was its ability to conceal the wearer’s presence, aura, and power level. Beyond mere concealment, the mask also enabled the wearer to project a false presence and even imitate a specific level of power.
Of course, Alex already had his smoke cloak technique to hide his presence. But unlike the mask, it had several limitations. If any part of his body was left uncovered by smoke, the technique would fail, exposing both his location and true level. In contrast, with the mask, not only could he fully conceal his aura, but he could also project a false level—an ability that opened many new possibilities for him.
As Maya carefully explained though, the mask did come with some restrictions.
Take, for instance, the projection of a false power level: the wearer could only project a level equal to or lower than their own. That meant Alex could present himself as someone of level 1, 2, or 3—but he couldn’t pretend to be a level 5.
The mask simply couldn’t create the illusion of a power greater than what the wearer actually possessed.
Still, Alex wanted the mask. Fortunately, it appeared that most of the attendees didn’t view it as a must-have item. A few placed initial bids, but as the price steadily climbed, many dropped out. In the end, Alex secured the mask for seventy million gold coins.
The price was indeed exorbitant—but he wasn’t thinking about that. All that mattered was that he had obtained what he wanted. With the mask in hand, he no longer had to worry so much about hiding his identity or true power.
After the transaction was completed and all formalities settled, Alex left the auction hall with Freya and Maya by his side.
Before heading back to Freya’s mansion, however, they made a small detou because Alex wanted to check on his Amelia and see how she was doing.
It hadn’t been long since they had separated, but Alex was already beginning to miss his sister.
When the trio entered Maya’s "mind library," they froze in place, stunned expressions etched across their faces as if struck by lightning.
"Am I dreaming, or am I really seeing empty shelves?" Maya asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"You’re not dreaming, dear. There are five empty shelves..." Freya replied, her own voice trailing off in disbelief, as though she couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of her mouth.
Even with her mother’s confirmation, Maya instinctively rubbed her eyes, hoping the image would disappear. But no matter how many times she blinked, the sight remained unchanged. It had been just over a year since she awakened her ability, and in all that time, she had only managed to clear three shelves. She knew better than anyone how astounding this feat was.
Each shelf stretched for several meters and was densely packed with "books." The sheer volume of knowledge stored on a single shelf was overwhelming—just looking at it for too long could make someone feel lightheaded.
Maya’s ability granted her a perfect memory but even that didn’t mean that she could instantly absorb the information contained in the books. In any case, in term of speed, there was simply no comparison between her own pace and the lightning speed at which Amelia was progressing.
’I wonder what would happen if I were to take the Tear of Knowledge,’ Maya mused silently, watching Amelia, who sat cross-legged nearby in deep meditation.
What Freya and Maya hadn’t realized was that Alex wasn’t shocked because of the empty shelves. What had caused him to freeze the moment he stepped inside the library was something else entirely—the overwhelming concentration of mana surrounding Amelia like a torrential vortex.
The density of mana around her was so intense that Alex could practically see it with his own eyes.
’What the hell is going on now?’ he wondered, eyes narrowing.
He considered approaching her, but after taking a single step forward, he paused and shook his head. ’Better leave her alone for now.’
They waited for several minutes, but seeing that Amelia remained immobile with no sign of finishing anytime soon, the trio ultimately decided to leave. The effects of the Tear of Knowledge would end the next day anyway, and Amelia had promised to explain everything to Alex at that time. There was no reason to intrude.
Since there was nothing else to do, they returned to the mansion and Alex separated from the mother and daughter duo to return to his room.
The first thing he did once there was to take out the mask he bought and try it out.
Unlike the other treasures he bought yesterday, this one came with a small note on which there were instructions on how to use the mask. The instructions weren’t too detailed though, it just said to place the mask on the face, imbue it with mana and think about the appearance you wanted to take, it was as straightforward as it could be.
Following the instructions, Alex did as it was written.
At first he was worried about the size as the mask seemed a little big for his face, but as he imbued it with some of his mana, a link seemed to be created between him and the mask and then it retracted in size until it was perfectly fitted to his head, then as if by magic the mask literally melted on his face, but there was no pain, it just sort of disappeared. Touching his face, he could still feel his skin, but at the same time, the link with the mask was still there.
When he looked himself in the mirror, he could still see his dashing face as if he wasn’t wearing any kind of mask, and when he thought that he wanted to remove the mask, it reappeared on his face and he could remove it as he wished.
"That’s quite the good attribute," he smiled as he placed the mask once again and this time, he wished for his appearance to change.
Before his very eyes, Alex’s face began to change until the one staring back at him had nothing familiar with his usual appearance, but the face in question wasn’t anything but familiar to him.
After all, this was the appearance he used to have when he was on Earth, that of Captain Jack Green.
