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.
Bahari was passing by one of the many training grounds his organization had. This place consisted of a simple, circular arena that was only a place cleared of trees. With the power of these people, they couldn't be bothered in making a real stage. It would simply break all the time and would cost too much. The floor filled with scars and craters was a good example. The place was deserted, with only two people about to fight right now in the circular arena.
It was the middle of the night, so they were either friends helping each other in getting better or enemies settling some private dispute. He had been away for too long, therefore it was normal that he didn't know the faces of these two. With a little time to spare, he decided to watch the show for a moment.
The fighters were just about to begin, so when Bahari came closer they just looked at him and resumed their fight of stares. They were far from the living quarters but not too far to be afraid of beats or intruders.
Both contenders were very young, clearly two new geniuses of the organization. Bahari also noticed that both were at the qi circulation mid phase, an impressive feat given their age. He was way older and only at the advance phase, but he had much experience these two unmistakably lacked.
One of them held a sword, he had short brown hair and a savage look that seemed to say "stay away or get killed." He held his sword with one hand and above his head while his legs were half flexed. He was wearing the plain black robes the organization gave to its members.
The other one held a black spear in one of his hands, the tip was pointing to the floor and the shaft ran behind him. He looked unprotected with that stance, but his face and bearings were enough to tell he was not. He looked cold and detached, almost the complete opposite of the other fiery guy. He had dark hair and eyes with a faint goatee on his chin.
Bahari wanted to laugh at them, these young cultivators were all very easy to read. He could almost guess the images each of them held just by looking at their faces. With old cultivators, it was impossible to tell. But young ones tend to choose their first images heavily influenced by their personalities. Not that he thought it was a mistake, he was one of those that believed that if you picked an image that suits your personality it will be easier to understand it. He just found it nostalgic, when one gets older it becomes easier to hide your personality.
While he was thinking that, the swordsman moved with surprising quickness. He slashed his sword at almost 10 feet from the spearman. The spearman dogged what it seemed to be a blade made of wind with minimum effort.
"Whooshh. Baam!"The wind blade left a 6-foot long scar on the floor. But, what surprised Bahari was that soon after the scar was made flames ignited from it. Bringing more light to the night. It was clearly some kind of retarded effect. Bahari knew of a few ways to do that, none were simple to do for someone at that level.
After dodging, the spearman spun in a circle and slashed with his spear forcing the swordsman to retreat. Judging by the style, the swordsman had clearly learned the wind martial stance, coupled with some other movement skill.
But the spearman was not over, as he immediately controlled his weapon to thrust at his opponent. This time, the swordsman parried the spear deflecting it to his right. But following that, the butt of the spear came from the left, thanks to a quick change in grip from the spearman.
The swordsman ducked while moving sideways and cutting again at the spearman legs. Now, the spearman had to jump and, with another change in his grip, he thrust with his spear from above towards his crouching opponent. Rolling on the floor, the swordsman barely dodged the attack
"Boom!" Another crater was birthed on the ground, this one was 5 feet deep and three feet long. Bahari could see ice forming on the crater. Obviously, the spearman used an ice image.
The swordsman jumped towards the spearman that was still on the air. And again, he slashed another wind blade, this one was already catching fire midway.
With quick judgment, the spearman flexed his arms and pull himself closer to the spear, that was still embedded on the floor with a 45-degree angle. Stepping on it, the spear bent under his weight and using that, he bounced off the spear, pulling it out in the process.
After a short glaring contest, they both resume the fight again. But now they fought with renewed vigor. The spearman was in a defensive position, making accurate counterattacks with steady but graceful movements. While the swordsman seemed to attack with constantly increasing ferocity, always finding new ways and angles to approach.
Soon, both of them started to use their images more and more, the spearman threw some spikes of ice and between them, he thrust his spear. The ground around the spearman was starting to freeze making it very slippery for his opponent. Meanwhile, the swordsman started to create a tornado around him that was soon catching on fire, trying to counteract the freezing in the ground and the spikes.
But still, the spearman created a path of ice that ended in a curve above the fire tornado and started to slide through it. He ended up over the eye of the tornado and dropped down with his spear thrusting towards the swordsman from above. This forced the sword-wielding boy to stop concentrating in the tornado and to sidestep. In turn, this made the tornado to dissipate and the cold to start building.
After that, the spearman started going into the offensive, creating paths of ice and sliding through them. Thus, gaining some of the mobility that he lacked before and making it harder for the swordsman to cope with him. He was practically skating while he spun with his spear and attacked at his opponent. But the swordsman, although he was not suited for defending he was handling the pressure and keeping up, although by a small margin.
'This will take too long, and the spear kid will obviously win, anyway. Although is the sword boy who is younger and has more talent.' Bahari shook his head and started walking towards the mountain cave. No matter the result, they won't kill each other, the killer would be severely punished if that happened. That was why they were not using their images at the beginning, they were measuring each other to see if they could survive when they unleashed their images. ' They are just measuring their dicks to see who has it bigger. No matter what, they are good seeds for our forces. In a way, they are our future.'
He kept walking and passed through the rest of the training grounds reaching the living quarters. More than living quarters, it was like a small village constructed in the woods. Many houses sat on the treetops while others were between the trees on the ground. The only constant was that they were camouflaged, blending perfectly with the rest of the environment.
But, this was not his destination. He was meeting with the patriarch who was currently on a cave in the mountain. Bahari had to ask earlier that afternoon where the cave was. The patriarch and his forces move every few years and he had been out of more than four. He had to report the results of his mission and findings. He believed the results would please the patriarch.
As he passed by, he often heard the laugh from some of the members or even the nigh activities of couples trying to keep it as quiet as possible. Their organization may be labeled as a den of monsters and cruel assassins, but they were just like every other human. They had loved ones, aspirations and dreams. Many of those who joined had seen one or all of those three destroyed by others, leaving them full of hatred. But that didn't mean that they couldn't rebuild something, or have some semblance of normalcy inside the organization.
He kept walking until he reached the base of a mountain where the cave was. Its entrance was almost fifty feet tall, and besides the deep darkness, he couldn't make anything of it. From the outside, he could see some stalactites and stalagmites. This made it look like the mouth o some terrible beast.
The inside was damp, but it had a nice smell of incense that was coming from further inside. The patriarch wasn't ostentatious, but he always kept his surroundings smelling nice and clean. As he got deeper into the cave he had to put a hand on the wall as a guide to not trip and to not get lost. The darkness was such that every step he gave felt like he was about to fall to an endless abyss.
The lack of light made more obvious the immense pressure that was becoming stronger as he got inside the cave. This was what kept powerful monsters at bay, the fear towards their patriarch. Once the pressure became unbearable, Bahari knelt on the ground, he could literally not stand anymore. He knew the patriarch wasn't doing this on propose, it was needed so that the beasts in the wilderness could feel his power and back off.
Bahari could feel a slight breeze coming from above. This was also something his patriarch always did. Every time he found a cave, he would stab randomly at the walls. Without any effort he could make a hole that connected the inside of the cave with the outside, creating an air duct. It seemed that these wholes were not aligned to any of the moons since he could see nothing inside the cave.
" Patriarch, I have returned from my mission." He raised his head at the deep darkness to report. This darkness too wasn't something he did on purpose. It was just that, for the patriarch, it was as clear as day inside the cave, he didn't need any light. Or at least it was enough for him with the tiny lights of the stars to see Bahari's face. But even without that, Bahari knew that every movement he made inside this sphere of pressure his patriarch emitted, would not be unnoticed.
"It has been years...You aren't hurt, that's good." A calm but strong voice echoed from the darkness. It was impossible to tell where exactly it came from. It could be right from Bahari's side or from the other side of the cave. " And you seem to have found something interesting."
" Yes." Bahari nodded and took three pills from an inside pocket on his robe. " I founded in while doing my secondary mission. Inside the place where they were keeping our secondary target, they were doing some questionable research. Although I believe the information I got there was too shallow, this pill made the effort worth it."
"Mm. Tell me what you find out." The strong voice appeared to be interested.
" It is called 'rainbow pill' and when the subject consumes it, he or she becomes extremely susceptible to external suggestions. They were using it as an alternative of torture, to keep the mind of prisoners intact as compared to other, more extreme, methods. Besides making the prisoners more honest, it can also be used to make them obey orders. In reality, as I said before, it only makes them more vulnerable to suggestions, they won't follow direct orders. I retrieved two intact ones and one was vomited by one of the prisoners as I… got carried away when interrogating him. I thought that he was giving information too easily and that it was all a lie." He raised the three pills with his hand, like making an offering.
"Woosh!" The pills flew from Bahari's hand and into the darkness.
Taking the silence as a signal to keep going he continued. " I must say that they let this pills away too easily. Either they don't think much of them or they were using them as a bait to distract."
"Maybe both." Said the all-encompassing voice. " But that is only because they don't know what I can do with these pills. You did really well this time, Bahari. I'm very pleased with this result."
Bahari nodded. He knew the abilities the patriarch had, and if they were used correctly these pills were like giving wings to a tiger. This was truly like the saying the garbage of a man is the treasure of another.
" Then, what about your side mission? The results of your main mission I already know them." The patriarch asked.
" Athias Hul is dead. I managed to track him down after he escaped. But due to the chaos, I couldn't get any more information than we had. I especially tracked him down and saw his body floating in the river. After our fight back then, when he refused to sell us the information as it was usual, he ended up with crippled spirit veins and with mental damages. He must have drowned while hallucinating or something, taking his secret with him to the afterlife." He paused for a moment and then he said. "I also found that the Silver Moon kingdom had Rasid Erket, a personal servant of the Sidrin Empress, as a prisoner. But I couldn't find him once everyone escaped. I think this information would be useful. If the Sidrin finds out about this...
"Haha" A very soft laugh, almost imperceptible, echoed inside the cave. " The mystery of a generation, the real identity of the Sidrin emperor won't be disclosed by a mere servant. No matter how close he was to the Empress. I doubt even the Empress knows that man's real identity. This information could be useful, but there is a possibility that the same Sidrin Empress used Rasid as a distraction, just like you think the Silver Moon used the pills to distract spies. As for Athias Hul, as long as you have confirmed he hadn't been able to give any information and that he is dead now, it's okay. It seems they hadn't realized that he was previously dealing with us."
"Understood, patriarch." Bahari nodded, and was about to rise when the patriarch's voice sounded again.
" I'm very pleased with the way you handle this mission. And these pills… these pills are a great bonus, they will help me a lot. Starting tomorrow you will be one fo my in name disciples, this means that once every ten days you will train under my direct supervision. I know you don't have the best talent, and you are already reaching your forties and you are still in the qi circulation. But as long as you have functional spirit veins there's hope. Maybe you won't be able to reach the pinnacle, but you will be able to live longer if you breakthrough to the next realm. And as you live longer, there are more opportunities and lucky encounters. I can't count the number of young geniuses I have seen crumble before the older, less talented, cultivators. And there are many of those less talented who reached my level despite all the odds being against them."
Bahari felt a warmth in his chest, he saw the patriarch as a fatherly figure from the moment he picked him up. To the rest of the world, just like how they saw their organization, this man could be the worst monster in history. If they knew all the things he has done, all the things he is doing and intends to do, that opinion would only get worse. But to Bahari, he was the only family he had, even if the patriarch didn't see it that way.
His village was massacred by the forces under the patriarch. But Bahari didn't resent the patriarch for that. When he was a child, his father had been caught stealing from the chief and had been executed. Soon after his father's death, his mother followed, leaving him at the age of 12 alone in the world. As the son of a thief in a small village, he was hated by everyone despite not having anything to do with his father's sins. He only survived because he learned how to hunt small lizards in the shrubs.
And then, at the age of 14, when he was starting to think about robbing these mean villagers who treated him like garbage, the patriarch and his forces appeared. Apparently, one of the villagers had seen something he shouldn't have, some sort of ruin, told him the patriarch much later. And just to be safe, he ordered them to kill all the villagers. Nobody was spared, even babies were killed like cattle. The young Bahari survived hiding in a pile of corpses, and thanks to his unkempt looks he passed easily as one of the members of the pile.
His village that was at the foot of a mountain was also close to a cave. One of the places the patriarch liked to stay in. In one of his walks, the patriarch noticed him even though he was far and in the middle of the pile of corpses. During those five days, he had drunk the blood of the corpse on top of him, he still remembered soulless eyes of the woman on top as he drank her blood.
The patriarch, impressed by his stubbornness and his will to live said to him 'You probably don't have anything to live for anymore, yet you still cling to life. For five days you have survived doing unspeakable things, I like that.' He ordered his men to take him and in a short time, Bahari was training in a place not too different from the one those two youngsters were using before.
"Thank you, patriarch. I will not disappoint you." With tears threatening to come out, Bahari bowed. Then, he stood up and left the place while struggling with the force coming from the patriarch.
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The man watched as Bahari departed from the cave. He was still a child, even if he thought he was a grown man, in the eyes of this man he was a kid.
He then cast his gaze upon the three pills. Two were perfectly spherical and the other was smaller and had rough edges. That last one was partially digested, if he couldn't figure out the ingredients from the other two, he would have to use this one.
For a while, he kept looking at the three colorful pills, spinning, chasing each other a few inches above his palm. 'The Seer thinks he can manipulate me, but while he was busy looking for that invisible destiny that appeared all of a sudden, I made enough preparations. He gave up looking too soon, though. I will need more time, but with these pills, I will be able to speed up other plans. It is truly a gift from heaven.'
The man kept the three pills inside a bottle and sat still on his chair made of stone with. With his eyes closed, he started to process some of the information Bahari had brought. 'The Divine Alchemist, I'm not sure if I should be sad or happy that I didn't get the information.' Having that information was important, perhaps the most important. Though he would never say it out loud before his subordinates.
But having that kind of information was like sitting on top of a land mine. The moment some of those old monsters knew he had that information, they would attack him like a swarm of starved locusts. He was confident in his strength, but taking even two of those monsters together would be an impossible task. After all, they were all roughly at the same level of strength. And with the recent news he received about the Protector of the Free Central States, he didn't want to risk it, not yet. If the news were true, then that man was now a monster among monsters.
The information about the Divine alchemist was something every single one of them wanted. Not for his abilities in alchemy, they had long caught up with those ancient methods, even surpassed them. With the exception of some incredible recipes that the Alchemist took with him to the grave, the rest were all useless. But, what everyone wanted was something else… something that was in his possession before he died.
For those who don't remember:
Bahari is the man that took the uniform of one of the guards killed by Fedrin in the asylum.
The rainbow pill was named for the first time in the chapter " Silver creek asylum incident report " together with Rasid and Athias.
One last thing, the spearman and the swordsman took some time because they will appear later.
Thanks for reading! ( next week I can only promise that I will post one chapter for sure.)