The safe house they entered was not like any other hideout they had been. This one looked more like the mansion of a respected noble than the hideout of some street gang.
A man seated in some kind of throne stared at the new arrivals with a calm gaze. His dark eyes seemed to show that everything was under his control and anything that wasn't would end up destroyed by him. His face was oval and had thin eyebrows, while his hair was light brown and short. On one of the locks of his short hair, he had a small white feather attached on it with a golden thread. His build was normal, not too muscular and not too skinny. But there was hidden power in the man that made Aleran very apprehensive from the moment he entered the room. He just kept walking together with Kindrav, trying to keep his mind cool.
He started to look around, noticing Ibrak standing respectfully next to the chair. Making him guess the identity of the seated man. He also started to look at the decorations in the room. Behind the throne-like chair, was a detailed map of the city with the surrounding villages nearby included. The room in itself was well illuminated with light crystals, that now Aleran knew were another type of spirit stone. Only that these had to be charged with other spirit stones or source qi to give light for a short period of time. For a while, Aleran had thought that those crystals were a good replacement to electric light, only to realize afterward that they were not. They had to be charged every day with lots of spirit stones, source qi or inner qi. People normally used the last option to not spend an astronomical amount of spirit stones on this.
But what grabbed Aleran's attention were not the crystals, but the complex decorations these crystals were embedded into. Some were cravings on the wall and others were sculptures, but all of them were made after animals and were extremely lifelike. There was a snake carved on the wall, with a few of its scales being crystals that formed a pattern. There was also a huge bear statue near the middle of the room. And the most spectacular was a bird engraved on the ceiling. It covered all the ceiling, its orange and black color stood out thanks to the crystals shining on the bird's eyes and on the tip of its red crown. It was the same bird he had seen fighting the giant snake at the forest of eternal nightmares. And whoever had made this craving, captured the arrogance of the bird in all its glory.
" A majestic creature, isn't it? The one who made that craving was someone lucky enough to get near the Heavenly Crowned Bird and survive. I've never seen it myself, but they say it was recently spotted fighting the Heavenly Mountain Snake at the border of the Empire. That must have been a good spectacle." The man in the throne, noticing Aleran's look, spoke again in a casual way with a deep but calm voice. "Although it would be hard to survive such a show."
Aleran nodded with a serious face, he knew better than most how powerful it was. And he almost didn't live to tell the tale.
"So, you two are the famous twin ghosts, our rising stars." Said the man more to himself than to them.
"We are just hard working and a little bit lucky, Sir," Answered Kindrav in a fake show of modesty, but tactful as always.
"Luck is always needed, but without talent, it is wasted and you two have shown talent. But enough of praises, let's not lose focus here and get straight to business." The man said cutting his own monologue. "I'm Grujil, and I'm in charge of all the Crimson Claw members inside the city of Hilua. I've heard a lot about your skills and that's why I called you here today."
Aleran and Kindrav clasped their hands and bowed, greeting almost in a synchronized manner. " Respects to the Bigg Boss." They couldn't be careless before the man in charge, he was literally the king of this city's underground world.
Although he was obviously not the highest rank in the organization. He was someone with the highest standing in this city. Not to mention that the man was really powerful, something almost impossible to achieve unless you belonged to an organization. Linking this with all the majestuous carvings and statuses and the whole elegant air of this safe house, made Aleran question who was behind the Crimson Claw. This safe house was located in the wealthier district and it had fancy decorations. You don't get that kind of money just by stealing and pickpocketing. Well, Aleran knew that back on earth, every drug lord had so much money that they could buy almost anything. But this was different, this guy was just in charge of this city. So, this was just like a branch office. Aleran couldn't help but ask himself. 'What would their headquarters be like?'
Grujil nodded. "I summoned you here because, as you have surely heard, there will be a major heist at the end of this cycle. And, if you decide to participate in this, we will give you your IDs as payment. By now, you must have surely realized that forging IDs is extremely costly. And if you keep going like this it will take you at least another five cycles to make enough money for us. Even with your extraordinary skills. After all, pickpocketing and thieving is the less stable position, there can be good days and there can be bad ones. Plus, it is hard to know when an opportunity to rob some major shop will come."
Aleran and Kindrav exchanged looks. It was obvious that the first estimate they were given was a total lie. And until now, nobody had bothered to tell them anything. But now, it was in plain sight that they could be useful, so these people started to be honest. The biggest problem was that every time they asked how much money was needed to forge the IDs, they would always get an ambiguous answer. The closest they got to a real answer was a few days ago when someone told them " You would have to convert spirit stones in gold coins to get the real amount." That answer made them both despair. Luckily, that same day, they had gotten the news that some big heist was coming so they waited to see. And now, it seemed that the wait had paid off.
Aleran was the first to speak of the two. " What do we have to do, Sir?"
The man on the throne continued. " For obvious reasons, I won't tell you the details until the same day. But, know that it will be very dangerous, if something goes wrong you will be on your own. But if you do well you may even get rewarded. You got until the end of this cycle to give your answer to Ibrak."
"We will-" When Kindrav was about to answer Aleran interrupted him.
"There's no need to think it through, we accept, and we thank you for this opportunity. But we need to see the IDs before the mission starts, together with proof that they won't be easily discovered. After we complete our job, we will receive the IDs and go on our way." They needed to have some proof. Otherwise, these people could just send them to their deaths in this "dangerous" mission or even killed them after they did they part. If they went through all the trouble of making the forged IDs, it was less likely that they would kill them after the mission. And it seemed that they needed their skills for this heist, so it was unlikely that the Crimson Claw would kill them before that. He also knew that if he had to negotiate with someone it was better if this was the boss, his word carried more weight than the word of Ibrak.
Grujil frowned for a second, the mere shift in his expression changing the mood of the whole room. Suddenly, the aesthetically beautiful carvings and statuses seemed more alive and more threatening than ever. The gigantic bird seemed to be measuring its prey, ready to pounce on them.
He exchanged a look with Ibrak and then his face turned indifferent again taking away the pressure together with his frown. "Very well then. We have an alchemist in the city. He is part of the team that creates the papers of those born here and the surroundings. We will need a few drops of blood with your inner qi. Cultivators need to create a new ID when they start cultivating, this would be usually free since you only have to exchange your already existing ID for the modified one. But with you, it will have to be done from zero. Either way, this makes it is easier for us to put you into the system. Just give your blood and qi to Ibrak after this and in ten days or so you will get to see your IDs."
Hearing the answer, Aleran released an inward breath of relief. For a moment he had regretted his attempt at making a deal with this monster. ' What level of cultivation does this guy have, anyway?' To Aleran, it had truly felt like every creature represented in this room became alive and were about to rip him to shreds. He looked at Kindrav who was covered in sweat and his hands were tightened into fists. Aleran knew he was struggling to not touch his earrings as he always did when in fear.
Aleran immediately bowed and clasped his hands again, Kindrav followed suit. "Thank you, Big Boss, for your kindness and understanding."
"Then wait outside. In a moment, Ibrak will reach you with the necessary items the alchemist needs to forge your IDs. Remember, come back here in twenty days, and we will tell you the details of your mission." With those words and a wave of his hand, Grujil dismissed the two of them.
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Seeing the two kids out Grujil turned his indifferent gaze towards Ibrak who looked like he had something on his minds. " What is it Ibrak? Speak, you know I hate to waste time and I need to meet more people."
Ibrak let out a sigh and said. " Is it really necessary to give these two the IDs and let them go just like that? They know a lot about our inner workings, and they will know more if we let them take part in the heist. We can just fool them with some second-hand IDs and let some 'random' search of the guards find them later. they can just kill them for 'resisting' to the arrest ."
"That won't be necessary, it would be a shame to let such talents go. If I wanted them dead, we could just force them to still what we need and then kill them. But their abilities may be of use in the future. Besides, every document is signed by the alchemist that made it. As long as we have the word of the alchemist that made the document it will be easy for us to make him say he was forced to forge their IDs. That way, we will have leverage over those two and keep using them."
Ibrak wasn't completely convinced. At first, he was disgusted by Kindrav, the barbarian. But as time passed he started to realize that the true threat was the other one. There was something on the look of that boy Aleran that always made him uncomfortable. It was like he was always studying them, searching for a weakness, for something he could use against them. It was like having a poisonous snake lurking inside your hose, not knowing when it was going to strike.
That made Ibrak extremely uncomfortable. He couldn't explain that feeling, it was like some sort of intuition. And every time that happened, it made him feel like squeezing the life out of the boy's neck. "Then I will get the spirit crystal and the bottles" But the decision was not his to make. So, he hurriedly bowed and went out.
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Ibrak appeared before them soon after they got out carrying two spirit stones and two small crystal bottles. He took a few drops of their blood in each bottle and then asked them to pour some of it on the spirit stones. Since they could not channel raw qi outside their bodies they had to use this method to charge the spirit stone. Aleran had learned that, when they were empty, spirit stones were called spirit crystals. They seemed to have endless uses, and it gave Aleran a lot of ideas of how they could be used.
This process also reminded Aleran that the inner qi was unique of every person. And that if your parents were cultivators, someone could use their inner qi to trace you and vice-versa. It also made him thankful that his spirit veins were different from the original Aleran making his inner qi different from that of the parents of his new body.
Following that, Aleran was surprised that Ibrak also took their fingerprints with some special ink and paper. He guessed that, maybe, it wasn't that hard to realize that fingerprints were something unique to every individual. Apparently the IDs, besides using some alchemical method, it also used this more mundane method.
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Once outside, they were finally able to relax. " That was scary. Next time you decide to bargain with someone that can kill us in seconds, give me some heads up, will you Al?" After walking some blocks on the labyrinthic city, Kindrav was finally back to his usual lazy attitude.
"I know it was dangerous, but it was needed, Ibrak would keep delaying it otherwise." But Aleran was not relaxed at all, he was still serious when he continued speaking. " Kin, we need to find the alchemist, I don't believe for a second they will let us go just like that. There's too much we don't know about how the IDs are made. That's why we have to find him and at least know his movements. Grujil said he was in this city. He must be an official alchemist of the Empire working in the House of Myriad Transformations. I won't feel comfortable unless I know exactly what they are doing, and find a way to get a hand on the IDs by ourselves." Although Aleran had been very busy with the Crimson Claw, almost to the point where he had no free time, he had been making inquiries about the alchemists and things related to ID forging.
He found out that every city had a house of Myriad Transformations, where all the works related to alchemy were done. Besides making alchemical substances like new metals, elixirs, and even weapons, they also served as a school for aspiring alchemists. Sadly, it was a very exclusive profession. Not only required one to have a lot of money, but the whole organization was also controlled by a few ancient families and one had to have contact with them to get in. This made the information about alchemy extremely restricted and hard to find.
"Ha, you can't tolerate not being in control, can you? You really are a control freak." even though Kindrav joked he agreed with Aleran. " If we can't find him, we will need another way to escape their grasp. Which brings me to another theme, we need to get stronger. More and more I'm getting the feeling that our strength is-
"Big brothers, may I ask you to follow me? Someone wants to meet with you two." A high pitched voice suddenly interrupted, making Kindrav look in annoyance at the new, tiny interlocutor.
Kindrav looked at the kid that was right before them, he was probably 9 or 10 dressed in ragged clothes, a classic little rat of the streets. Like many kids on the street, he was probably an orphan of a poor family. These little street rats took any odd job they could find, like guiding visitors into the labyrinth that was this city or giving information about certain places. They could be almost anywhere, unlike the bigger rats, the guards sometimes took pity on them and didn't chase them out of the wealthier districts. But if they were caught robbing they would be punished like adults.
With a sarcastic voice, Kindrav spoke to the child. " It seems today is the day of 'let's interrupt Kindrav while he speaks'." He said as he shot a glance at Aleran. Clearly remembering how he had been literally sent to sit in the bench in the negotiation with Grujil. Not that he would have had the guts to negotiate with that guy.
"Tch tch tch" Aleran shook his head while clicking his tongue. " Poor, foolish Kin, the sooner you realize that you are destined to be stepped on by others the happier you will live," Aleran answered in a joking manner suddenly realizing that, in one way or another, Kindrav always managed to lighten the mood of the situation.
Kindrav just rolled his eyes and look at the kid. "Okay, I'm interested in this mysterious person that wants to meet us. Can you tell us who he is."
The kid shook his head. " I don't know her name, but she was a beautiful lady, she was walking with other men, like guards. And told me to take you somewhere." The kid said while flushing a little.
"Oh! My charm is acting out again. It truly makes women do the most unthinkable things." Kindrav spread his arms and look at the sky, almost looking like a martyr.
"Don't you have that girl Senna? The chief's daughter? I've never seen her but you talk of as if she was an angel. So, this one is mine. Besides, I'm the one with the charming blue eyes." The sad truth was that he only knew he had blue eyes from the blurry reflex of windows in the city and his reflex in water. This world had mirrors, but it was something for rich people. He could barely steal enough to buy good clothes and the rest he had to give it away to the Crimson Claw or use it for food. He didn't want to take the risk to keep stealing when he was off duty. So he had never actually seen the aspect of his new body.
"It's all about personality Al, You are practically an ogre. And being around you makes me look like a charming prince. Why do you think I hang out with you?" Kindrav shrugged and continued to talk to the kid that was looking at them like one would at two idiots. " Why does this beautiful lady wants to meet us?"
"She said that she may have the solution to all your problems with your... employer." The boy said with a clear effort to remember what the woman had said.
Aleran elbowed Kindrav. "Dude, this is obviously some kind of trap. And a very poor one at that. It would be really embarrassing to die falling in this kind of shitty ploy." Although normally they were innocent, these kids were sometimes paid by other bigger rats to lure their prey with lies or by guiding tourists into less crowded areas.
"Relax, as you said, is too sloppy to be a trap. Besides, aren't you interested in what the solution may be? And, how much does this other person knows more about us? At least, there must be a hot woman on the other side, the flush on the kid's face was real. If you want, you can go a few steps behind me in case anything happens." From time to time they had to tail people the streets so they were used to following from a prudent distance.
"Lead the way, boy, let's meet her." At his cue, the boy started to trot by the streets of Hilua with familiarity.
Hi again, sorry for the long wait. I only have one midterm exam left but I will still post during this next week.
Thank you for all your comments and your patience.
Next week will still be a little chaotic for me, I will do all I can to post two chapters. And I will probably post them after Wednesday.
As always, thanks for reading!
Surprisingly for both of them, the kid didn't take them to the slums or the poorer districts. Instead, they ended up in front of one of the biggest buildings in the city. It was located a few streets away from the city lord's mansion, the monolith and even the House of Myriad Transformations. One could say it was in a centric place, near all the important places of the city.
The building in question was almost 20 meters high, its front doors looked like the doors of a palace. They were three meters tall and were completely made of metal. And on top of the opened doors, there was a sign with the words "Heaven's Vault" engraved in golden color.
On the inside, the place was filled with stands and counters showing all kind of weapons, bottles with strange liquids, and pills. The weapons ranged from common swords to spears, with even the strange chains the people of the Empire were so fond of. As for the liquids and pills, some were made with healing proposes, while others were made to enhance strength. There was even a liquid to improve performance on the bed that seemed to be quite popular judging by the people buying it without shame. These people were all nobles, meaning that they had at least one relative that was a cultivator and had good standing in the empire. They could be only a branch family of the cultivator, but still, they gained good social standing.
Aleran was impressed, he didn't have the time to visit places like this. Not that he had the money to spend on weapons and pills either. But it was a good experience to visit this kind of places even if it was just to browse around. More so to someone who knew so little about this world like him.
While Aleran was taking the scene, the boy went to a bald man standing by the door. And after exchanging some words, the man threw him a few coins. Before departing, the kid wave at them while the man on the door approached them. He was wearing plain white clothes, but he wasn't doing anything to hide his strength. Making it easy to notice that he was a powerful cultivator.
"Well, this doesn't look like a trap but, where is the hot lady?" Kindrav whispered to Aleran who just ignored him.
"Greetings, my boss wishes to meet the two of you. Follow me." The man only said that and never spoke again. It was like he didn't care if they actually followed. He guided them inside and into a circular stairway. They went up two floors and stoped on the third one, that was similar to the first but smaller and with only one counter that didn't have anything on display.
Unlike the first floor, the third was deserted. There was no one else besides two people standing behind a counter. One was clearly a man, but he was facing the other way. The only thing Aleran could see was that he was wearing a cyan robe and had golden hair. Besides that, he seemed to be cleaning some sort of antique with a small brush.
The other person was a woman, and Aleran immediately understood why the kid flushed when he mentioned her. She was a true beauty, probably the most beautiful woman he had seen since he got to this world. Maybe, on earth, she would be a little average, certainly not the most beautiful. But here, at least comparing to what he had seen til now, she was above average for Aleran. What struck him the most, was a lock of white hair that made a starking contrast with the rest of the black on her head. While the black contrasted with the pale of her skin that it was not a sick pale but the kind of paleness that made her look like a doll. That was without taking into account her body that made her look like a model.
" Thank you, Inya. You can go back now." A sweet, mellow voice came from the woman, reinforcing the image of beauty she gave. The bald man didn't even hesitate as he just bowed and turn around without even talking to Aleran or Kindrav.
"You will have to excuse him, he takes his job too seriously and sees everything as a threat." The woman smiled and introduced herself. " I'm Adra, sorry for making you travel all the way here." Even as the woman introduced herself, Aleran noticed that the man kept looking the other way.
"Well, I must admit I'm quite intrigued as to why someone with such high standing as miss Adra would want to meet with us, two lowly commoners." Kindrav was the first to speak.
Adra showed a charming smile. "That's because I know you two are not just commoners."
"Oh? Then what are we for you?" Kindav said that with an easy tone but he stopped his approach to the counter, just like Aleran. They stopped halfway between the stairways and the counter. They knew it was probably useless to be careful inside the other party's lair, but it was better than nothing.
"Oh, don't worry boys. I know you are thieves and I know you have been working for the Crimson Claws for a few cycles at least. But I don't mean any harm to you two, in fact, this may be the opportunity you were looking for." She answered with a wink at the end.
"For how long have you been keeping tabs on us and how much do you know? Why us?" Aleran was the one who continued the conversation. He wasn't in the mood to enjoy her pretty face anymore. They knew she had to know about the Crimson Claws. But she also knew what they did inside the Crimson Claws. And even though she hadn't said anything directly, judging by her words and the words from the kid it was obvious she knew their situation. Or at least she had a rough idea.
The woman shot a short glance at the man beside her, but he was still engaged in cleaning an old medallion. "Would you believe me if I say that I chance upon you two by coincidence and I got the gist of your situations from just watching for a short moment. Of course, after that, I watched over your… activities. Just to confirm my guesses."
"That sounds fishy no matter how you look at it." Said Kindrav squinting his eyes.
"Just sit here, and let's talk. Believe me, this is a good opportunity for the two of you." Adra pointed to a few wooden chairs in front of the counter. " Please, excuse the state of this place, it is too deteriorated and miles apart to our headquarters in the capital."
Both of them sat up slowly and carefully, still not fully trusting the woman. The chairs, despite being made of wood did not feel too hard, in fact, they felt comfortable.
"You still didn't answer why us and what do you want." Aleran kept pressing for answers.
"Well, it is like this, the Crimson Claws are stealing some of our business and we want that to stop. We were going to negotiate to make them back off, but my mas… but I spotted you and we came with an idea." She briefly glanced at the man cleaning the medallion again and continued. " You two are obviously using the crimson claws to obtain something you want and are not loyal to them. In fact, I noticed you despised them. Maybe we can collaborate and help each other. You have surely seen that it is not that easy to just use the Crimson Claws and that you won't be able to get out without help. Maybe if you help us, we can help you."
"What can we do that you can't pay someone to do?" Aleran asked almost incredulous at the whole situation. This seemed too good to be true.
"Well to tell you the truth, we need to gather information. As infamous the Crimson Claw is, we hadn't pay much attention to them since nobody is so stupid as to anger the Heavens Vault. It was recently, that they had affected the sales of a certain drug we sell. They started selling a drug they call "the feeling" and it is a more potent, addictive and harmful version of a drug we sell. Our drug can help people to heighten their senses and makes it easier to connect with the source qi. While they sell their drug under the pretext that it does the same and better, for a cheaper price. Of course, that is a lie, it is the same drug but without the refining process, making it really harmful and transforms into addict at whoever tries it."
After a short pause, she continued. "Now, we could pay someone to recommend some other agent that we also hired into the Crimson Claws. Then, make him slowly infiltrate into the Crimson Claws. And, we will probably do it in the future. But we still need more information on their inner workings and their infrastructure. Anything that could help us infiltrate or that can be harmful to them will be useful. From their chain of command and who to befriend, who is too loyal or who can be bought. That's why we need people that are not loyal to the Crimson Claws. And that's when you come in. With your information, we could slowly infiltrate them and then, find a way to eliminate them. Thus releasing you two from their grasp. "
Adra was inwardly sighing, this was a half-lie she had come up with. The truth was that even she didn't know why her master had picked these two. But she couldn't tell them that, and much less, that this whole thing was probably a test for her.
But there was something else that her master told her recently that made her become more serious. Apparently, there was a real chance to earn something big if this went well. She knew that even though her master sometimes did things just for pure entertainment, he always managed to make a profit off everything. After all, her master was the most ambitious man in the world.
Aleran was without words. Everything was great but, why them? Just because she came across them by chance? there were probably many people working as external members of the Crimson Claws. This woman managed to answer his question without really answering it. ' Damn, and here I thought people from this world could learn something from politicians of earth.' Aleran thought with exasperation. This woman has mastered the art of answering a question while not really addressing the main topic of the question.'
Seeing that she was not going to say anything more Aleran looked at Kindrav and whispered. " What do you think?"
Kindrav just whispered back. " I don't know, but we may be able to get something from this. Remember we still need the spirit stones to take the exam."
Actually, they could take the normal test and get into the academy without any need of spirit stones. But that was only the normal test to be trained as a foot soldier. They would teach you one martial stance. And they would not give you anything more unless you accomplished something or after serving for at least two years.
But if they could pay the fee of 50 spirit stones each, they could take the elite test and would have more options and more resources. They will also receive a cultivation technique right from the beginning. Besides that, there were other perks, like access to the academy library and special training grounds.
After hesitating for a moment both Aleran and Kindrav nodded to Adra. " What kind of information are you looking for?"
Adra smiled, this time her whole face lit up. " You have made the right choice. Believe me, even we that know little about them are aware that most external members either end up as internal members or end up in bad situations. You must have noticed this too, right?" Seeing the boys agreeing, she continued. "As I told you, we need anything that can help us infiltrate or sneak out on them. All the inside information would do. Why don't we start with the reason why you joined the gang and what you have done till now. "
Since these people knew they were thieves it was no big deal to tell them more. Skipping the ugliest parts and with a quick recount, Aleran and Kindrav explained their objective ad story. They also told her how they choose to rob to avoid the other, more ugly jobs, and how they got to their current situation.
"Oh, we can't help you to forge an identity. They must have some connections with some alchemists. That is worthy information on its own." The woman's eyes glowed, making some sort of connection in her mind. "But we can help you with other things." Said Adra after hearing their story
Aleran thought for a moment before speaking. "Don't worry about the IDs, if they want us to participate in the heist, they will make them and show them to us. As for the information, I could tell you about the big heist that is about to happen. But they say they won't tell us anything before the actual day in twenty days." Then as if suddenly coming up with an idea, he said. " What if I give you a detailed map of their underground network of tunnels in the next fifteen days? Would that work for you?"
Adra looked at Aleran with a strange gaze, while the man cleaning the medallion suddenly stopped swiping it. Even Kindrav was surprised by his last statement. Everybody knew of the underground tunnels and their many doors all around the city. People called them the gates to the underworld. But nobody knew exactly where all the doors were and much less the true extension of the tunnels. Even the inner members had restricted access to some areas. And Aleran wanted to map out the whole underground system in two weeks, that was insane.
The woman took a while to react, but she finally managed to say something. "That…that would be extremely helpful. It could even move or plans forward from a span of a year to a cycle or less."
Aleran nodded. He needed this to be settled as soon as possible. Aleran was not willing to wait another year to get into the academy, he needed strength as soon as possible. He needed to feel in control of his life and learn more about this world, and the academy had all he needed for now. "Great, then we want to be paid in spirit stones, I don't know how much this information is worth, but I suspect it is a lot."
"How about…" Suddenly, the man cleaning the medallion turned around and spoke. He was a handsome blonde man, who had a smile on his face that gave confidence and made one unconsciously trust him.
For some reason, the moment Aleran saw this man, he thought about Zarasen. There was nothing remotely similar between the two, but for some reason, his mind made an illogical connection for an instant.
After the small pause he made while turning and storing the medallion inside his robe, the man continued. " Instead, we give you the method to break into the half step qi circulation realm. It is nothing fancy. But as you know, you can cultivate anything that, as long as it doesn't break your spirit veins, you can always pick a better cultivation technique and improve. You said that big heist was going to be dangerous, right? Then what is better than breaking through into the qi circulation realm, even if it's just half step into it. Think about it, that's the furthest you will get without officially joining an organization." The man seemed to be the woman boss judging by how she wasn't even reacting at his sudden intrusion in their chat. She just stood there letting the man do the talk now.
Aleran looked at Kindrav who nodded. "Mmmm. Throw two hundred spirit stones above it and we have a deal." Aleran didn't know the value of the technique, he may be doing the most stupid deal in the world. But both him and Kindrav needed strength, and the girl hadn't noticed that but this guy did. Aleran was waiting for the girl to give them a price, but the man throwing the technique alone as a payment force him to ask for money on top. Maybe, the technique wasn't even worth one spirit stone, but they couldn't be picky. He immediately regretted not being more vague about the number of spirit stones. ' Man I suck at this kind of negotiation.' Suddenly, they were in an extremely awkward position to bargain with the man. It was clear who had the most experience between the man and the woman.
The negotiation was quick, and somehow ended with Aleran and Kindrav in a disadvantage. The man ended up agreeing to pay 50 spirit stones on top of the technique. The main problem was that the man realized immediately that they had no clue how much a spirit stone was worth. They didn't know if 10 spirit stones was a lot or too little.
After the negotiation, the man entered a room an took 25 spirit stones with him. The rest would be given after they accomplish their side of the deal.
"Here you have it." he also took an old piece of paper and gave it to Kindrav. " This is the cultivation technique. I was going to give it to you once you hold your part of the deal, but I trust barbarians. You all suffer the burden of the deeds done by the Blood Peak tribe, I'm truly sorry for that, young man." The man looked at Kindrav with a tinge of nostalgia. Upon closer inspection, one would notice he was looking at his earring. But very quickly, before Kindrav could say anything, the man turned and went out through a side door. They hadn't even heard his name, and the woman only told them he was her master.
Confused, and taking comfort that maybe they will get the rest of the money with the next big job, Aleran and Kindrav went out of Heaven's Vault. After putting enough distance with the place, Kindrav spoke first. " How do you plan on keeping your promise, Al?" He knew Aleran and he would never make a promise like that without confidence.
" Do you know why I'm always the first to reach the places we are about to rob? And why I always know the general layout of the places by the time you appear?" Aleran answered with a question. Their normal M.O. was with Aleran opening the lock either by pick locking or using his magnetic Image. And then Kindrav would go inside and empty the place with the information given by Aleran on the distribution of the rooms. If Aleran had to use his magnetic image he would normally end up too tired to search the place.
"I always assumed you paid some of the little street rats to get inside before the shop closed. They wouldn't be suspicious if they enter asking for money or food to the owner. And you know them, they can get slippery and enter back rooms and storage rooms if they are motivated. The owners would just yell at them and make them run. Then, they would tell you how big the place was inside. But, now that you mention it, I always find it strange how accurate the information was." Kindrav said stroking his chin.
Aleran nodded. "I always get at the place one hour before you and I use a special way to get the general layout of the shops. It's a very risky method, actually, and I need to be really focused. If something goes wrong I could even die. But it is also very efficient. If we start today, I can assure you we can map the whole network of underground tunnels in ten days. I ask for more in case of something unexpected happening." Aleran said with a glint in his eyes.
"Any other super weird ability I need to know about?" Kindrav asked sarcastically. It was already surprising Alerans ability to knock out an earth level beast or to move metal with his mind. But every time that Kindrav thought he knew the extent of his abilities, the guy came up with a new way of showing off.
"Haha. It is not super weird. When I master it and if you are willing to take the risk, I will try and teach you. But I need to get better at it first to teach you right and not put you in danger." The truth was that he didn't know where to begin to teach someone. He had practically download the technique to his brain.
"Sure, as long as it doesn't kill me." After that, they started talking about how to proceed with the mapping of the tunnels and about the cultivation technique.
"We have to first test the cultivation method that guy gave us. But judging from his looks when he gave you the paper, it must be real. After that, we will start mapping the tunnels" Said Aleran with resolution. Finally, things were starting to go their way. Now, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, a chance to get the IDs and scape the Crimson Claw.
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GOT IT