CelestialShadow
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Chapter 45 - Spying
🕑 Added 2023-12-07 11:54:48 +0000 UTCSo the organization is called ‘Heavenly Light’? Never heard of it. But I guess they’re not exactly advertising their presence.
“So now for your first job,” Frent said to the newly recruited youths as Hettim left the old chapel, “You will be collecting information. How you do so is up to you. We want to see your potential and creativity. In one week's time, you will return here to let me know what you have found. We seek mainly any information concerning the Tyllen family, but anything of interest that you might stumble upon is to be reported.”
“Excuse me, sir,” The girl called Frida, who had been the first to volunteer for the interview, raised her hand, “Isn’t that family located in Dorbarta? Should we be going there?”
“No,” Frent shook his head, “There is no need for the moment. This is simply a job to get you used to the workings of our organization. It’s not like we are expecting you to bring value immediately. I will be your direct superior for the time being. You can address me as Silver Frent. Any questions?”
Frida raised her hand once again, “Silver Frent, if we spend our time gathering information, how will we grow stronger?”
Frent smiled kindly and answered, “If everyone in our organization were to hunt beasts in the Outskirts, we would be doing things no differently from the disorganized way things are done now. Everyone serves a part in us moving toward the ultimate goal, destroying the beasts once and for all. But don’t worry; the stronger you are, the better for the Heavenly Light. We will make sure that you get the proper training; don’t worry.
“And if you do your assigned jobs well, you can gain merit, and once you have accumulated enough merit, you will be rewarded. Even Focus and Tempering Pills are not something uncommon to receive if you put in the effort.”
Adion saw the greed in the eyes of the people beside him. He had learned from Dellia about those pills. They were both extremely precious. The Focus Pill gives you a temporary state of high focus, often used in meditation to manipulate mana into your core, making for much faster advancement. The Tempering Pill is literally a tough pill to swallow. It is even dangerous if you take one of a higher grade than you can handle. But if you are careful and focused, it will work wonders to temper your Will.
From what I’ve been told, those pills are extremely hard to get outside of Noble families. I’m sure you’ll have to do spying for a century before accumulating enough merit to be rewarded one of those.
After a few more questions, Frent bade goodnight to the group and left the youths to talk with each other. Now that they were all part of the same organization, everyone seemed to want to make friends or at least acquaintances with the rest.
Adion wasn’t interested, though, so he headed back to the Silver Circle.
I could probably find out something useful at Little Jiggot. But surely Heavenly Light already knows about that place. Hell, they might even be behind it. But I guess it doesn’t matter if they already know the information I bring as long as I can do my job well.
Not like I’m particularly excited about making it far in this organization, but if I want to learn more about them and see if they have anything to do with those people in white masks, I have to stick around and at least make myself somewhat useful.
When Hettim’s superior comes back, I’ll get to meet the man with seemingly the most authority in the area. If there is something for me to find out, it’ll be when I meet him.
But until then, I should pretend to do my job.
I also need to practice hiding my strength, even though I’m constantly doing so, and keep improving. It’s not sure to be enough. I should do everything I can until the meeting to have the best chance at hiding my strength.
Adion got back to the inn and entered his room without checking in with his teammates. He knew what he was going to do, and there was nothing for him to do but practice.
I will have to put my other training on hold for the moment and focus on my aura control. During the day, I always hide my high Bronze strength to only show low Bronze. But I don’t push it to the limit. That would exhaust my Will and leave my aura exposed. But if I want to improve quickly, I’ll have to push myself.
Adion always visualized hiding his aura as if he was grabbing hold of the part he wanted to hide with his Will and then pulling it toward his body. If Adion only wanted to hide his aura down to low Bronze, he could manage to pull it down to only 2 inches off his body without straining his Will much. But that would make for too slow progress at the moment, so Adion used all of his Will to pull it as close to his body as he could. He managed to make it stay at a little less than an inch of his body, but he couldn’t hold it for long. Only ten seconds and Adion had to revert back to the previous 2 inches.
It has gotten harder and harder for every inch I’ve gained. It might take me years to shave off that last inch. Fortunately, I know this is a suitable method of training both my aura control and Will. I’m not wasting my time with this training. But I should find a good distance that is at the level where I can just barely hold on for an entire day. I’ll do that every day until I am called to meet that superior.
But for tonight, I should just go as hard as I can before going to bed.
Adion continued to practice, but he didn’t last even half an hour before falling asleep, exhausted.
Adion spent the next day sitting on his bed, training his aura. He could keep it at about one and a half inches off his body if he gave it his full attention. It was extremely tough work doing so for hours on end. He had met the others for breakfast and filled them in on what he’d learned and his plans for the coming days. As it was only morning, he could hide his aura and socialize at the same time. But he had to skip lunch because, after hours of straining his Will, he had no focus to spare on anything else.
As night approached, Adion finally relented in his training and reverted back to the previous state of hiding his strength two inches off his body.
I can’t forget my mission. I’m sure I'll get punished in some way if I can’t bring any kind of information. Thankfully, I have an idea that might give me more information in a night than the others will be able to gather in a week.
Adion got up from his bed and stretched his body. He then headed down to the part of the inn that functions as a tavern and ordered some dinner.
After recharging his batteries a little, he headed to Rufus’s room and knocked on his door.
“Adion, you finally ready to take a break?” Rufus asked as he opened the door.
“In a way,” Adion nodded, “I have to take care of that mission that I told you about, but it might be suspicious if I’m just sitting around by myself. Do you want to join me? I’ll pay for the drinks.”
“Haha!” Rufus laughed happily, “Finally, we will have a night of drinks and ladies together! We should take this opportunity while Lomin is away, after all.”
“Er,” Adion hesitated, “We’re not going to talk to ladies or anything like that. Just pretending to have a conversation while I try to glean some information.”
“Oh,” Rufus face fell, “Fine, I guess. But you owe me one night where I plan the activities.”
That’s a dangerous promise to make. Adion thought to himself.
“What’s with that doubtful look!?” Rufus yelled in despair, “I am not going to do anything weird, you bastard. We will just have a night where we focus on hooking up with girls.”
“Hmm,” Adion thought about it. It was hard to take these things seriously when he was in the middle of infiltrating an organization and preparing to meet a Diamond mage. “Fine. But I have a right to refuse. I have a lot to do at the moment, so it will take a while.”
“Haah,” Rufus sighed, “Whatever, let’s go then.”
“Good,” Adion nodded.
The two then headed for Little Jiggot, where Adion was planning on gaining a lot of expensive information for free.
“So this is the place you and Benji visited?” Rufus asked as they were walking.
“Yeah, it’s the only place I know that would have any useful information without sneaking into the manors of family clans in the city,” Adion answered.
“But are you just going to pay for the information? That seems like an odd way of doing it. Or are you just going to listen in on rumors circulating in the bar?” Rufus asked.
“Neither,” Adion answered with a small smile.
“What are you planning then?” Rufus asked, confused.
“You know I can teleport, right?” Adion asked.
“It’s a hard thing to forget,” Rufus muttered.
“Well, I had this idea that I tried out earlier. Instead of taking control of space and teleporting over. I kind of ‘half’ teleport. It’s a bit tricky, but essentially, I grab hold of an area of space using my Authority and infuse so much of my Will into the space mana there that it almost feels like I’m at two spaces at once. But instead of switching the two spaces, I hold that position and use it to observe everything around that space without actually moving.”
“What in Ganta are you talking about?” Rufus asked without expression.
“Like I said, it’s a bit tricky,” Adion answered, “Basically, I can hear and see most of everything in 300 feet radius without anyone noticing, if I focus.”
“What!?” Rufus exclaimed, “That’s incredible, no?”
“It is,” Adion nodded with a smile. He had thought of the idea when thinking about a way to use his special powers for spying. Immediately, he thought of his sphere of space mana, but only feeling where people are weren’t good enough. he needed to hear what was being said. He then remembered the feeling he always had before managing to teleport. Like he was at two places at once. If he could balance on that fine line, he would be able to sit drinking with Rufus while hearing everything being said in the information room.
“Is space like…the best element by far? Or am I just not creative enough with my earth core?” Rufus said with a sigh.
“Probably a bit of both,” Adion answered.
The two reached Little Jiggot about 30 minutes later and headed inside. Adion recognized the old bartender but didn’t approach him for information like before. He pulled Rufus over to a table that was close to the information room. After ordering two beers from a waitress, Adion closed his eyes to focus.
Adion felt the space around him clearly, the space mana he had released from his core giving him a picture of everything there. He noticed that the information room he and Benji had been in a few days earlier had two people in it. He used his Authority and grabbed control of a portion of space in the corner of the room. He then infused as much of his Will as he could into the space mana there. After only a few seconds, he started getting the feeling that he was actually there.
He could hear the voices and see the room in a blurry kind of way. But he couldn’t make out the voices. He was too disturbed by all the noises his actual ears were picking up. Adion tried to plug his ears discreetly. The voices and images became a lot clearer immediately.
This feels so weird! But it’s amazing. I’m somehow even more impressed by this than actually teleporting. I have to focus, though. It would be bad if I teleported by accident in front of so many people.
“So that’s it? But why would she lie about something like that?” Adion heard a man’s voice.
“That, I don’t know. But you can trust the information I’ve provided.” Another voice answered.
“Haah,” The first man’s voice sighed. Adion guessed it was the client. “Thank you, Kevin. I will have a talk with my wife.”
So he’s Kevin, after all. I recognize his aura.
“That’s probably a good idea.” Kevin said, “Probably the wise thing to do the next time you suspect her of cheating. But hey, I won’t complain over the business.”
Wait. What?
Adion opened his eyes to Rufus, staring at him in curiosity.
Just someone paying for information about what his wife is up to? I guess getting good information will be a little harder than I thought.
“So?” Rufus asked, “Find out anything?”
“Nothing useful,” Adion shook his head, “But my ability seems to work like expected, at least.”
“That’s good,” Rufus nodded, “I guess we’ll just wait for someone new to show up.”
“Yeah, surely there will be someone asking for a little more exciting information,” Adion said.
Unfortunately, the night passed without any information that Adion was interested in being revealed. Adion and Rufus had to give up and headed back to the inn in the early morning hours.
Even though I didn’t get anything that interested me, it might help me show some value to Heavenly Light. A few tidbits about the family clans in the city might not be useful for them, but it should at least show I have some abilities.
I think that will do for now. It shouldn’t earn me any praise, but at least I won’t get scolded or punished. Now I can stop wasting my time on this and focus on my aura.
