The Ashen Wastes did not disguise their title. It was an ashen, suffocating place where the colors of the horizon and the earth merged to create the impression of a single, dismal tone. There were ancient, dead-looking trees, their branches covered in a fine film of soot—so fine that the absence of wind did not cease to disturb it. It was here where the air did not have the sweet smell of life; instead, it was dry, metal-shaded air filled with the enclosure of 'Burnt Mana'—whatever mythical event had scorched the mana lines.
Aleric Thorne strode through the ash, knee-deep on the desert floor, his coat a stark, obsidian reminder that, in a monochromic world, colors still had place. To the Guild, he was the Auditor, a $D$-ranked mercenary of "decent" ability, hired to handle a pack of marauding Cinder Hides.
He halted, his boots sinking slightly into the powder. He did not draw his sword. Rather, his eyes dilated, and the brown gave way to a cold, predatory red, full of repressed energy.
Crimson Sight.
The mists did not lift—they could not lift, as they were just a product of his own mind—but in his mind's theater, they did lift to reveal a dark grid of energy. Behind a cluster of jagged obsidian rocks, he could sense the signature of the creatures. Seven of them, low-level Cinder Hides exactly as the guild briefing had indicated. They were dim, slow-scavenging creatures. Aleric stalked through his prey with the clinical precision of a butcher. Nor did he ever draw a sword—he just looked. Unseen blades slashed from his eyes through the air. Within a few minutes, the pack of D-Level monsters was a collection of silent corpses cooling to the ground.
The Drake let out a roar, spewing white-hot mana fire in its wake. Aleric did not retreat. In mid-air, he teleported to just above the Drake's head.
"One slash," he whispered.
The air screamed as a beam of invisible force slammed into the Drake's spine, killing it instantly. But the static in the air did not clear. Through the red haze of his vision, more shadows emerged. One. Five. Ten. An entire pack of these high-tier monsters emerged, every single one of them at least as strong as the one he had just slain.
The combat that followed was no longer an audit; the encounter had become a war of attrition that tested Aleric to his absolute limits. He found himself engaged in a high-speed dance of survival, teleporting across the ashen wasteland to evade the overlapping curtains of flames. Each dragon had to meet a precise and high-output slash to a particular weak point. Aleric could feel the breath of the drakes singeing the fur on his back. His vision started to blur with the effort. The "magic that commoner like me can't access before this" had started to take a heavy toll on the frame. Every invisible sword that he launched at the enemy felt like a needle inserted into his brain.
As the final drake collapsed to the ground, Aleric knelt down as well. His breathing sounded harsh and ragged. It appeared that Aleric's veins of mana felt as though there were shards of glass inside them. Aleric felt empty of all life and energy within. He was tapped out. He had nothing left inside.
He forced himself to stay on his feet. He went to each massive body, rubbed his hands over the cold, scaly hides, and left a temporary invisible mark upon them. When he had marked them all, he breathed, then clicked his fingers. The whole lot of monsters disappeared into nothingness with a soft hiss.
Hours later, Aleric entered the Adventurer's Guild in the Capital. He looked pale and stiff as he made his way to the counter and touched his middle finger and thumb together before saying, "Summoning."
THUD.
The floor groaned as seven Cinder-Hides and nearly a dozen massive Cinder-Drakes tumbled out of the darkness. The tavern fell into a deafening silence.
Master Auditor.? the clerk stammered. Why hast thou brought the entire ecosystem back with thee??
Aleric shifted his position somewhat against the counter. "The mission was to exterminate the threat. I have brought the remains to settle the account."
The clerk wiped her brow. "Thou. thou didst not need to bring everything. The contract only assigned the killing verification. Thou couldst have simply gone to the deepest place in the wasteland, then brought the remains of monsters to prove that thou killed."
Aleric stopped. Inefficiency in his calculation. "I was not aware of this protocol. Nevertheless, I have already succeeded in bringing them personally. There was no need for that."
The clerk nodded frantically. "I shall recalculate thy reward immediately."
Aleric quit the Guild and found an isolated room in the quiet inn. Secluding himself from the world, Aleric locked the door and sat cross-legged on the floor as he entered an in-depth meditative trance. Focusing on replenishing his exhausted Mana Core with raw Mana to expand its capacity exponentially from its prior limitations began the uncomfortable but necessary task of not being caught with an exhausted reserve again.