Chapter 472 - Not a very reasonable person (Patreon)

Our fort is a nice place, not that far away from Hollowgate. Thanks to the big window-sized hole I made in one of the walls of my room, I have quite a nice view of it.

At night, with the purple nebula and countless stars above, I’d even say it’s quite pleasant, especially with the city lights below.

The place belonged to a group called… I forgot. Anyway, it's Angry Kittens, a small group with a few dozen members but suspiciously rich. After taking over, everyone who disliked it tried to kill us, and some left. Others stayed, and they are getting paid to do some stuff for us.

The salary they get comes in multiple forms: items I craft, food, water, a safe place to sleep as we killed any monsters miles away, and similar things. In exchange, they collect information for us, or in Lily's case, they bring her a few trees in exchange for bone spears they have no idea where came from.

Obviously, there are disadvantages to it in the form of having to deal with people, but Lily and the twins are usually the ones to do that. I can only say they are receiving my teachings, so it's obvious they would do things like these.

Unlike high-level extroverts like Tess or Gareth, they have some difficulties, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

I turn back to Beyond Community and read the last message.

Sset - We also located two and with you locating one, we are close. We started moving, and we can meet near where Soph is after you guys are done with your stuff.

Grumpy - I miss you all, guys!

Sset - I miss you too, Grumpy.

Tacita - (×_×)

Grumpy - I miss you too, Taci! (ﾉ´ з `)ノ

Tacita - 。。。ミヽ(。＞＜)ノ

Grumpy - You wont run away! ─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ

Sset - Just please don’t push it, Noname.

Noname - You know me.

Sset - That’s why I'm worried.

Noname - It will be fine.

Sset - I always get chills when you say that.

Tacita - /╲/\╭(ఠఠ益ఠఠ)╮/\╱\

Grumpy - ＼(〇_ｏ)／

Noname - Just don’t forget our schedule in case something screws up.

Sset - I would not forget. I got to go, see you later. Stay safe.

Noname - Stay safe.

Tacita - (ಠ o ಠ)¤=[]:::::>

Grumpy - (´• ω •`) ♡

After closing the Community, I use one of my Ley Lines and appear in the Common room where a few of the original owners sit. They jump to their feet, greeting me.

I just gesture in acknowledgment and check the pile of materials they often stack up here to see if there’s anything interesting. Disappointed at not finding anything, I want to teleport away when I get stopped.

“Boss!” one of the men calls.

“Yes?” I ask, turning to him. His face seems familiar, “Oh, you are… E… B-something.”

“You’ve already forgotten my name three times, so there’s no need to try anymore.”

“Oh.”

“It’s fine! I just want to say that I saw a few members of our neighboring group sneaking just outside of the defenses you set.”

“Are they strong?” I ask with interest.

“They are five times more than us,” he notes seriously, “and they have some experts on destroying defensive arrays. Before you… ehm, took over, we did have some trouble with them.”

Oh boy, I would love to see them try to do something to my [Ley Line] based defensive array.

“Just ignore them. If they attack, let Lily know, she will deal with them if needed.”

Teleporting away, I find myself in Hollowgate, the thread I set easily reaching that far and still unnoticed. Well, maybe someone noticed but couldn’t disrupt it.

Without my crown, I feel naked, and with Sneaky Mode deployed, my mana feels foreign, but it’s useful and little bother if it means not dealing with annoying people coming at me.

Relying on my memory, I weave through the crowds, breaking the arms of two pickpockets, and continue deeper into the nicer parts of the city.

Using Wraith Dance, I reach the roof of one of the nicer houses, send a ripple of my mana against the barrier, and pass through, jumping onto the massive yard where multiple people are already gathered.

All their levels are much higher than the random people outside, and I get a few curious looks. Pushing through them, one man tried to grab me, but a single burst of kinetic energy sends him rolling on the ground.

This time I don’t even have to repeat it multiple times, and I reach two guards, both of them bulky. One is a thylarin with four swords, and the other a feylith with a lazy smile.

“Boss is inside,” the feylith gestures, and the door unlocks, letting me pass in.

The inside of the house is dark hallways lit by a few yellow flames floating in the air by the side. Passing by them, I reach another door and enter the office dominated by a huge table and a massive window behind it. That window offers a view into the beautiful garden on the other side.

With a cough, the man behind the table grabs my attention. A thylarin in expensive clothes, especially made for someone with four arms like that race. The clothes are white with gold threads, making a nice contrast to his pale blue skin.

“I heard someone offed Ellan yesterday,” he says in his deep, slow voice.

“Who?”

“Thylarin mage, no. 10 of Hollowgate?”

“Oh, that guy.”

“Yes, a 200-year-old Champion Candidate. Someone who spent the last 50 years here in Astral Prison. A man they used to call Mage Bane.”

“Someone who was supposed to be out of the city for a few days?” Instead of grabbing one of the chairs, I make my reliable monobloc chair that still has the same design and sit down.

“Yes. Someone who, according to all information, should be far out of the city and very unexpectedly wasn’t.”

“Quite a bad piece of information,” I nod. “I can imagine such bad information costing the lives of… let’s say two brave ‘collectors’ who relied on that person being far away from the city.”

“Things like that happen sometimes.”

“Not when it comes to my people, Fynn.”

There is a long moment of silence and I notice a growing tension from the man.

“Nathaniel, I would very strongly recommend you be reasonable and consider what you are about to do right now.”

“I’m not a very reasonable person, Fynn. You know that.” As he stares at me, I add, sensing the movement of his arm under the table, “If you ring the alarm, I will blow your entire guild off the surface of this place together with that shitty array of yours.”

I sense him freeze in place, and he very carefully pulls back, all four hands placed on the table for me to see.

“There will be an expedition into the mines in a few days,” I start again.

“Yes, the one led by the Hoarders and with The Witch in it. One of the biggest ones in the past ten years.”

“Yup, that one. We already applied, so make sure we pass and they won’t do too much of a background check on us. If you do that I will consider that unreliable information forgotten.”

“That will require a lot of effort.”

“That sucks.”

“It really does, but okay. Consider it done. And I mean really done, no mistakes this time. I will personally make sure of that.”

“Sounds good!”

Jumping on my feet I take a step towards the shelf and take a mana stone made into the shape of a cube that is hollow inside with some weird inscription that gives off a nice light.

“Is it fine if I take it?” I ask the man, already putting it into my pocket.

“I… do you even… haa, yes. Please consider it a gift from me, Nathaniel.”

“Thanks, you truly are a nice guy. See you later.”

As I exit the door, one of the guards blocks my way. It’s the bulky thylarin with four swords. Like the other bodyguard, they both are very trusted, shown by that weird connection that allows them to listen to what’s happening in the room.

“Mais, please let him go,” Fynn calls from inside.

The guard doesn’t budge, channeling kinetic energy through his body using a trait I noticed long ago. I’ve wanted to fight this guy for a while—Mais, also known as the Spinecrusher, ranked No. 7 in Hollowgate.

I take a step toward him, releasing amount of kinetic energy that mirrors his own, feeling the weight of it building in the air. Mais responds, increasing his output even more as the tension sharpens. His hands hover closer to the swords at his sides, the flicker of violence in his eyes. The space between us tightens, energy crackling as though one wrong move will set everything off.

“Mais! Stop before we all fucking die here!” This shout is much louder and more desperate, catching the attention of the people around.

Only that makes the guy to calm down and he takes a step back.

Seeing he is lowering the pressure and pulling back, I make a last corny attempt, hoping to have some fun in a fight today, “Yeah, Mais, be a good boy.”

To my disappointment, he doesn’t bite. Sure, he seems to be more pissed off, but that’s all.

As he steps away, I pass by and wave at the second guard, who waves back at me with a smile, his eyes and hair now of happy red color and small wings flickering on his back.

Melo, also called The Nightmare, no. 5 in Hollowgate and someone who even Fynn rarely gives orders to.

Jumping on the roofs and teleporting later, I visit a few shops and return to the fort lorded over by Angry Kittens, this time directly jumping into the room. Here, in relative safety, I put more effort into the training that went on in the back of my mind the entire time.

Separating a small part of my mind, I form a simple evil cube and wonder over it. It’s an upgrade I made from the orb after becoming familiar with all three shaping exercises given to me by Lissandra.

Lissandra is someone who has amazing mastery over mana, and her flow is smooth, perfectly controlled, and sharp.

My way of control is more chaotic, and it’s something I’m mimicking with my shaping exercises, especially the 1st one, where I have to control multiple frequencies and ever-changing mana requirements to upkeep the thing.

Changing the shape to a cube allowed the mana inside that shape to bounce more chaotically and nearly impossible to predict. Even after a few months, I'm still not sure what I expect from it, but I still decide to continue. Lately, I even started changing the shape into a pyramid, which made it even more difficult, the mana inside the shape bouncing and swirling even more unpredictably.

Someone smarter could probably explain why, since I expected the cube to be more chaotic—but not me.

Waving my hand, the cube disappears, and I put my mind back into the previous training, leaving just a tiny bit to continue thinking as I jump onto the bed and stare at the ceiling.

“System, show me my level.”

Lvl 291

It’s pretty, and I’m quite sure even with as much effort as I directed to training at the expense of leveling, that I’m one of the highest levels in our round. Likely even the highest. And just nine more levels until my Primary Class upgrade. I'm really curious how the system will deal with it, as I currently have 10/10 active skills, and the Primary class always seems to bring some.

“System, order me pizza. I will pay 10,000 shards.”

Nothing changes, obviously. Looking at the terrifying number of shards I currently possess, I don’t even think I would miss those 10,000.

It’s really tough out here.

Lastly, before going to sleep for two hours, I decide to check on Biscuit.

(Food.) I send through the link the twins created. The one that works even with Biscuit being really far away currently.

(Food,) he sends back mysteriously.

(Food food?) I ask him.

(Food!) he answers right away.

(Asshole!) I send back.

(Gone. Food. Food.)

(Food,) I confirm, and with a few more exchanges where I tell him about our plans, we say goodbye, my attention back on the ceiling.

Damn, I miss that corgi. It’s already been months since he went on his secluded training like some hidden master, and not being able to boop that nose for so long, I'm close to my limit.

[Bone Knitting - lvl 18 > Bone Knitting - lvl 19]

Finally, my skill levels up, and I stop what I was doing. The bones, which had been itching until now, finally settle, and the mana threads dissolve, the energy returning to my pathways to continue cycling through my body.

Only then do I close my eyes and allow myself to fall asleep.

***

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