155 Hiding (2/2)

I lowered my hands, ”Nothing that you said matters. I already finished my previous quest. That little restriction doesn't matter.”

He grimaced, ”Really now? Can you prove it?”

I pointed at the quest log, ”Surely there's a passive system set up that prevents someone from taking all the contracts, right? I accepted this new contract already. It's not on the quest log, is it? That proves I finished the other contract already.”

Iasis glanced back between the quest board and me. He pursed his lips, ”I suppose.”

I tapped the side of my head, ”Looks like you need to invest a few points into intelligence.”

I walked past him, patting his shoulder, ”Hope my advice helps. Take care.”

I paced out of the guild,shaking my head at that guy. His tried pestering me. He walked away with a nasty burn. That's what happens when you play with fire though.

I walked towards Torix and my meeting spot. I was already reading the next quest.

Worshippers of Emagrotha(lvl 3,200 requirement, lvl 3,800 Recommended| Recommended Party Size: 4 | Tier: B-) - Rumors have spread of a cult that worships Emagrotha, a gialgathen that committed war crimes in the past. Find and eliminate the influence of this branch of the sect.

Reward: 8 Red Dungeon cores. Goodwill with Giess increased.

The quest seemed pretty straightforward. Find some cult, get rid of them, then move on. With my food on a stick in hand, I reached Torix and my meeting spot. It was a solid mile outside of town, giving us some breathing room.

As I walked up, Kessiah, Althea, and Torix sat on logs around a green campfire. A thick, purple smoke waved up from the fire. I walked up and sat down on beside Althea. She smiled when I put a hand on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

Kessiah dragged her hands across her face, ”Bones over here just told us that you've been discovered by two people already. You were even spied on.”

I pressed my right shoulder pad, my helmet sliding off, ”It's not like I'm a spy or something.”

Kessiah sighed, ”Yeah, ok.”

Althea leaned onto my shoulder, ”Looks like you already finished a quest though?”

I lifted the six-legged squid thing, biting into it,

”Yeah...It wasn't hard. My skills suited it.”

As I chewed, several seasonings ran wild in my mouth. It tasted like the smell of cedar and cologne. The texture wasn't squishy. It was chewy, like soft jerky. At the center of it was a savory gravy of sorts. From what I saw in the stall, the chef injected it with some sauce.

It was really, really good.

I chomped away while Torix sighed, ”My lack of diligence led to one of those discoveries. To think there's someone with resources like Caprika in Icosah. I won't make the same mistake twice, I can assure you.”

I shrugged, ”It isn't like we designated you as our identity protection. Relax some. The guildsmen are underestimating us big time based on how they're trying to blackmail us.”

Kessiah grimaced, ”Which one tried blackmailing you?”

I rolled my eyes, ”Some guy called Iasis. I shut him down pretty hard.”

Torix frowned, ”While winning a verbal joust can be satisfying, be mindful of the long-term consequences.”

I scratched the side of my face, finishing my first skewer, ”If I let him walk all over me, that has consequences too, doesn't it?”

Torix pursed his lips, ”Fair point. I suppose we can't always live in fear.”

Althea grabbed one of my skewers. She bit into it. After chewing a bit, she looked up at me, ”Sorry. you made it look good.”

I grinned, ”It is. There's some sauce in the center though, so be ready for that. It can catch you off guard.”

Kessiah grumbled, ”Looks pretty good.”

I bit into my last skewer, ”Oh it is.”

We chatted away before I finished my skewer. With that done, I stood up, ”On to the next quest.”

Kessiah raised an eyebrow, ”Another one...Already?”

I rolled my shoulders, ”I'm bored if I'm not doing something. I think it comes with high Willpower maybe?”

Torix raised an eyebrow, ”What's the contract detail?”

I opened it, turning the quest log to Kessiah and Torix. They read it. Kessiah grabbed her legs and leaned back,

”I might know what the quest is talking about, actually.”

I crossed my arms, ”Really now?”

A slight grin traced up her lips, ”Yeah, but it's going to cost you.”

Althea giggled, ”She need more spending money.”

Kessiah shot Althea dirty look before glancing back up at me, ”How about 50,000 credits?”

I shook my hand, ”20, tops.”

She waved a hand at me, ”Cya then.”

I turned around, walking off. Kessiah stood up and grabbed my shoulder, ”Wait, I'll take 20k. By Baldowah you are hard to worm credits out of.”

I shrugged, ”You're pretty easy to read. You always overshoot your deals by a large margin. Simple as that.”

She scowled, ”Ok, good to see you have faith in me. Anyways, I was talking with someone selling a few illegal poisons and firearms. He mentioned how a few locals walked in and bought a few trapping supplies.”

I frowned, ”Anything else? Calling that a lead is a stretch.”

She nodded, ”It would be, but I saw the same guys rummaging around through a few of the dumpsters behind several shops. It's weird because they were these old looking espens. They wore the furs that most of the locals here wear. They were collecting tons of disgusting garbage.”

I raised my eyebrows, ”Why would they be collecting garbage?”

Kessiah opened a hand, ”I've already got you covered. I guess that they are the people spreading silvers. Why? They're collecting silvers with the traps and keeping them alive with the garbage.”

She shrugged, ”The two things fit together in my head at least.”

I sent Kessiah the credits, turning around and waving goodbye, ”Thanks. Send me images of them if you have them.”

She looked at her inbox, grinning at the influx of money. She gave me a salute, ”Aye aye, captain.”

I jogged back towards Icosah, making sure my face was covered. By the time I reached the city, Kessiah had sent me a few images of the espens. They wore brown rags, blocking most of them besides their faces. Considering how different every espen looked, finding them shouldn't be difficult.

With that in mind, I walked around town, keeping to alleyways. I kept my senses sharp, looking for figures digging through garbage. While I did that, I opened my grimoire and focused on rewriting my cipher. Considering my need for perception, I decided on creating a rune for it.

As with all cipher inscriptions, the first step was understanding the concept. Unfortunately, I didn't understand perception as well as endurance. I dwelled on what understanding meant to me, but I couldn't get any meaningful answers.

All my ideas were pretty shallow. Thoughts like, 'Perception is knowing whats around you,' or, 'It's when you're not unaware.' These ideas weren't concrete. I didn't have any resolve behind the concepts. After two hours of thinking about it though, I came up with something decent.

Perception is comprehending all of something. It was the difference between seeing the picture of a mountain and being at one. The image gave you sight, but being there gave you all your other senses. The brushing of leaves, the cold wind, even the taste of dirt, that encompassed what a mountain was.

I'll admit, it wasn't a perfect translation of my ideas, but it was serviceable for now. For the next few hours, I carved the dimensional cipher into my grimoire. As I finished the text, a rustling occurred behind a machine shop nearby.

It was the perfect timing. I laid my palm onto the cipher, pouring mana into a black page while following the hooded figure. After another half hour of hounding the espen, he walked off into a nearby hut in the old part of town. After walking into his house, I felt like a stalker.

I scratched the back of my head, feeling like I wasted my credits on Kessiah's lead. Before I ended my search, I pulled my last ditch effort. I stomped the ground, giving me a trace of surroundings. Underneath the home of the espen, an underground trail led outside the town.

I stared at it, ”There we go.”

After a couple more stomps, I reached several miles out of the town. Surrounded by the forest, I arrived at a trench in the middle of the woods. It was crack in the earth, stretching for miles. At the bottom of it, a pool of water swelled.

I leaped into the abyss, grating my hands against sides of the cavern. I took a deep breath before plunging into the water. With no light around me, I sensed the different currents and heat fluctuations. Using these sensations with Hunter of Many, I got a vague idea where everything was.

I found a chain leading downwards. I grabbed it, letting myself sink deeper into this pit of water. the liquid thickened over time, turning into thick mud. After descending through a layer of clay, I reached a thinner pool of sludge. I existed in my suit engulfed by a thousand feet of gunk.

I held onto the chain the entire time. Whatever metal it was made of, it resisted rusting. It guided me downwards, making sure I never lost myself during my descent. That easy to do in this poison. It was the same sludge that the yana cluster sunk itself into.

I held back a gag, thanking Torix for my gray suit. It kept this harsh, toxic mush away from me. Thirty minutes of sinking passed, letting me complete the runic carvings of my cipher. I kept it dry with a bubble of antigravity, carrying it in an air bubble.

After implanting them on the palms of my hands, I landed on stone. I let go of the chain and stomped the ground, radiating a pulse through the liquid. Sound rushed into my suit, the tiny fluctuations giving me another image. I held that image in my memory, closing my eyes and observing it. I gasped at the sight.

Underneath all this poison was the ruins of a city.

Now I was curious. I walked around, stamping my footprint into the rock beneath me. With the images, I charted the forgotten city. After thirty minutes, I reached an enormous chapel of some sort.

Mana stones encrusted its stone walls, keeping the building stable. I tapped the wall, and a hollow sound resonated back. There was air in this building.

After exploring the outer part of the building, I discovered the entrance. A trapdoor led down a tube twice my height. I dropped myself into it, swimming through the tunnel. After that, I swam up another pipeline of mush. At the end of it was a pocket of air.

I lifted myself out of the tube of muck, letting myself out into the pocket of air. I slung the sludge off my suit, letting me see my surroundings. Not much was exposed. Only the gentle light of mana ebbed throughout the chamber, revealing little of the massive expanse.

I took a deep breath. The thick smell of iron filled my nose, along with something acrid. I glanced around, noticing steel reinforcing the windows. The inside of the chapel was utterly different from the outside.All around me, lights were cut off. A few still hummed from their recent exposure.

I listened close. Something buzzed like a light bulb flickering on and off. I opened my dimensional storage, pulling out some glow sticks. I snapped them. A few tosses later, and green light melded with the subtle glow of the mana stones.

This light exposed what was hidden in the shadows. A silver's face locked with mine. It had two hollow eyes. Plates of metal covered it, thought its joints remained uncovered. With long, spindly arms and fingers, it looked like a steel witch.

It hunched over an espen corpse. In its hand, a mana torch was unlit. It etched brands into the back of the espen. It looked back and forth like I wasn't supposed to be here. Its hands and knees shook, its shoulders hunched over. I walked up to it and frowned,

”So who are you supposed to be?”