Chapter 50 Price of Beauty (Patreon)

“That was foolish.” Faline said after they had departed the square and were walking down a deserted street. “You spoke of an uncle in the Academy. What if they asked after the uncle? How would you have responded?”

Nathan pursed his lips. “I probably would have used the name of one of the mages I killed in the battle. Maybe one of the war mages protecting one of the other archmages?” He thought about that a bit more and winced. “You’re right, that was a mistake.”

She nodded and started lecturing him in a fast and intent voice. “Lying well is a matter of giving few openings. If you give your foes a detail, they may pull on it and force more from you. You never know what may reveal you. A master of deceit will seem to give much information, but it will dissipate like mist when grasped. Instead of speaking of an uncle in the academy, speak of a victory in the wilderness, or a favor owed by a high-placed figure who cannot be reached. Cala dho Drex would be one.”

{Low-tier Disguise 7 achieved!}

Dang, low-tier skills level up fast in hostile territory when you have a master mentoring you.

“Wouldn’t they know she’s dead?” Nathan asked.

Faline rolled her eyes and snorted. “She’s pretended her death before. Some have claimed to own her demise, only to be slain in turn. She is known as tricky by reputation and deed. It will take some time for people to believe that she is truly dead.”

She paused for a moment, eyeing Nathan suspiciously. “Verified truth, she is dead?”

He chuckled, remembering the confusing combat that had ended with the feeling of ribs crunching underneath his knees. “She’s dead. She had some kind of healing artifact that tried to save her from the mortal wound, but I ate it and got the notification from Davrar. It’s what pushed me over level 81 in my [Assassin] class.”

He was struck by a sudden thought. “How did she convince people she was dead before? Did she fake a notification from Davrar?”

“Mind magic.” Faline said patiently. “Mages are not allowed to use mind magic against each other, and it is reason for an immediate duel. But the Nails have bare respect for those mandates.”

She looked around calmly, surveying the street while seeming to take in the densely packed slave housing. “The Nails patrol the streets after night during a lockdown. Be aware for them and any eavesdropping or sensor magic, and kill any you see.”

Nathan had been keeping an eye out for any spells that came near them, but there hadn’t been much. Now he looked around, alert for any hazy patches, either on ground level or in the sky. There was nothing.

I’m not going to get caught by that trick again.

They rounded a corner and emerged into a larger thoroughfare, where litters were being carried back and forth by well-muscled slaves. Faline gripped Nathan’s arm again, seeming to be entranced by one litter that seemed to gush gleaming lace from all corners.

Nathan was trying to keep track of the layout of the city. The Ascendent Academy was a landmark in the center, and it seemed like large roads branched out from it like spokes on a wheel, each terminating in one of the major gates. Other roads circled the city at various intervals, with squares at the intersections between the two. It wasn’t perfect, and there were definitely areas where the simple design was broken up by large estates that forced the road to divert around.

Still, the design was easy to grasp. The problem was that Nathan didn’t know the names for everything. There weren't any street signs or maps, and he had no clue where to find the Silver Square.

But Faline did. She guided him through the city, pointing out various landmarks as they went. She didn’t even try to hide the actions, simply acting like a native showing off her hometown to a friend or partner.

I’d be a bit screwed without her. She has the skills and experience to infiltrate Giantsrest and the knowledge necessary to make plans. Without Faline I’d be a big dumb oaf trying to punch down a mountain. She’s guiding me to find the best place to dig a mine and plant a bomb.

Faline stepped close and hissed instructions to Nathan under her breath as they approached their destination. “We are not here to free slaves. After Halsmet, all know that the Mage-breaker can free slaves with a touch. They must think that mages of Giantsrest are the hands behind this attack.” She shot him a warning look. “We may spare them, but do not let a slave see obvious antimagic, or else they must die.”

Nathan frowned, looking at the paving stones underneath him. They were laced with a delicate tracery of bright silvery metal that reflected the light of the golden haze overhead. He drew Faline closer and whispered in her ear, aware of the presence of people around him. “I agree about freeing slaves. We can’t keep them safe afterwards. But is it worth a life to keep my presence secret?”

Faline studied him, but didn’t seem annoyed. She seemed to be carefully considering his question, and leaned against him to whisper her response. “Yes. Many slaves will die if Giantsrest is to fall, and this secret is worth a dragon’s hoard. With the lockdown, they will believe this attack came from within. We must be invisible until suspicion has added its weight to greed and mage fights mage.”

“People might die, but that’s not permission to kill for convenience.” Nathan responded stubbornly. “Does the entire plan hinge on that detail? Is it worth killing an innocent to keep the secret? We can knock somebody out before they see too much, right?”

Faline sighed airily, though there were traces of aggravation in her voice. “Hear me, this argument will be a prophecy of death. We can attempt to subdue any inconvenient witnesses, but I will not stay my daggers when necessary.”

Then she giggled, jarring Nathan out of the argument. The sound was both adorable and disconcerting because of who it came from, and the assassin grabbed his hand and prancing towards a small compound that took up half of one side of the square. Over the closed gate hung a large crimson dart, and inside stood at least three separate buildings barely visible through abundant foliage.

They approached the gate and Faline made a show of knocking while not actually striking the wood. She spoke out of the side of her mouth. “Break the enchantment, but don’t throw the gate open.”

Nathan probed the enchantment on the gate, finding a robust and functional piece of magic. It would resist tampering, stop a battering ram and sound an alarm in either case. He resisted the urge to just absorb the entire enchantment. Instead he took a few seconds to understand how the whole thing worked. There was a bar that would unlock when the gate was fed the proper authentication.

Probably better to make it look like this got hacked by a skilled mage, instead of somebody with the ability to absorb magic and leave no trace behind.

He couldn't spoof the authentication part of the spell, and that meant the alarm would activate if the gate was opened. So Nathan destabilized the targeting portion of the [Message] alarm with a tiny application of antimagic and drained the mana reservoir that would sound an audible alarm. Then he used the attractive properties of his aura to manipulate the portion of the enchantment that actuated to unlock the gate, but not the part that would cause it to swing wide.

{Mid-tier Aura Manipulation 5 achieved}

The whole process took him about ten seconds, including understanding the enchantment and disabling it in a minimal and non-obvious way. He gave the gate a small push and it opened slightly, allowing both of them to slip inside before pushing it back closed. Nathan prodded the enchantment again, locking the barrier behind them as the bar slid back into place.

Inside was a sculpted garden, decorated with trees, decorative flowerbeds and a small pond. The path meandered around to the left and towards the building there, which looked inviting and hospitable. There was a well-muscled shirtless slave tending the garden, but he had his back turned to them as he pruned a bush.

Faline jerked her head and led the way off the path, moving towards the third building. It was hidden from view of the path by the garden, and they dove into the brush to approach. Nathan activated [Airwalk], stepping a few inches above the ground to avoid snapping any sticks and skimming low over a bush without rustling any branches. It cost a bit of Stamina, about the same amount he’d gotten from messing with the gate.

They emerged from the garden to find a large home in the Giantsrest style, complete with a beautiful patio set against the pond that lay in the center of the compound. The area looked purpose-built to host parties, with groupings of comfortable weather-proof chairs and low tables situated to hold food and drinks. Various small animals in the pond chirped to provide a pleasant background noise.

There was a guard on the front door, standing stiffly against the wall. Nathan reached out and tapped Faline on the arm, motioning to the side of the house and pointing to a second-floor balcony.

She nodded, and they moved out of the guard’s line of sight, skirting around the edge of the garden.

Before they turned the corner, Nathan studied the last of the three buildings in the compound. It was tucked away in the back and was the least aesthetically pleasing of the structures, with a large storage area and what looked like a forge attached to the side.

His companion saw him looking. She pointed to the first building and whispered an explanation. “Stable, sales and demonstrations.” Then she pointed to the one in the back. “Workshop.” Then her finger moved to the balcony above their heads. “Home. Up?”

“Up.” Nathan scooped Faline up once more. She’d left her dimensional pouch on her hip, not removing anything Nathan needed to be worried about. He bounded into the air, setting her down on the balcony after just a few steps, then stepped down himself and moved to the door. It had an alarmed magical lock, but the construction wasn’t fancy. Nathan bypassed it in seconds and they stepped into the bedroom beyond.

The centerpiece was a perfectly made bed big enough to sleep eight. An open door led to a tiled bathroom, while another opened into a huge closet. Magical auras abounded, from the plush carpet under their feet to the hairbrush on the vanity. Nathan had to pull his aura in tight to avoid disabling things, but he still paused to take a measure of the space.

This looks a lot like a luxury bedroom on Earth. Luxury is the same across worlds. Though they’ve probably got one of the zero-gravity baths here, and the enchantments do better than even the most expensive materials.

He heard a soft sigh from the third door, which stood open a tiny crack. He crept over, keeping his ears perked and taking in the field of view. He saw a woman’s head draped back against a sumptuous couch, her eyes closed and a sated expression on her face.

A male voice spoke from out of view, deep and “... those twins turned out well. Should we keep them?”

The woman let her mouth fall open and exhaled slowly, sounding entirely spent. After a moment she mustered up the energy to reply, eyes still closed. “No. They’re worth adamant. We should dangle them before the Founder, try to earn favor from the highest tower.”

Faline had drawn a long dagger and jabbed it towards the woman demonstratively. Then she pointed at Nathan and farther into the room, towards where the other voice had come from.

Nathan nodded, then held up three fingers. He put one down, then the next. After the last finger dropped he pushed the door open smoothly and quickly, striding into the room as Faline whispered through behind him.

There were only two people in the room, and they were both naked. The woman lay back on the couch while the man sat on an ottoman in front of her, massaging her outstretched feet.

The man noticed their entry and his face twisted in confusion. “What in the Giant’s…”

He didn’t get any farther. Nathan took too long strides and punched him in the side of the neck, crushing cartilage and bone and throwing him to the carpet.

The woman’s eyes were still closed, and she didn’t react as Faline came around the back of the couch and planted a dagger into her eye.

Nathan cast an eye over both of their victims. The woman spasmed slightly, but the dagger in her brain would kill her in seconds absent a very powerful heal. The man would take a little bit longer to expire, but wasn’t going to do anything except choke on blood until then. Nathan listened for any other breathing, indications there were other witnesses. He heard nothing, so he turned to Faline. “How do we make this look like other mages?”

She extracted her knife and wiped it off on a handkerchief from her bag. “We light the house aflame. I’ve got some potions of fire.” She started stripping their targets of jewelry, going after enchanted rings, amulets and earrings and dropping the loot in her bags.

“That will kill any slaves who live here, won’t it?”

The [Assassin] rolled her eyes at him, “they will flee the flames if their masters do not command otherwise.”

Yeah, I think that’s getting too far into hypotheticals. Going to extremes to ensure we don’t cause any collateral damage would endanger us beyond reason. This has been a shockingly clean attack so far. If we attempt to do something silly like clear the building or carry the bodies elsewhere it’ll almost certainly backfire.

“Do it.” Nathan said.

Faline popped up with a smile, grinning at him with unadulterated joy. Her teeth had sharpened again, and the feral grin was creepy and in the unremarkable face. “Your flame burns bright. This has been an easy target, let us depart before our fire is smothered.”

On the floor, the man rattled his last breath, his frantic eyes finally sliding closed.

{Magekiller has leveled to 125! You have slain Artisan mage Lang dho Stedst in perfect stealth inside a secured area!}

Faline dug a glass orb full of red liquid that exuded fire mana out of her bag. She ushered Nathan back into the bedroom before tossing the orb at the two corpses and closing the door. There came the muffled sound of shattering glass, followed by the fwoom of a rapidly growing fire.

Nathan didn’t need any more prompting. He pushed the balcony door open and stepped outside, leaving it open behind him. He reached for Faline and she leapt into his arms, reaching behind his neck to tug up the hood that hung off the back of his robes. Hers was already up, blocking the view of her face.

“Take us a few buildings over.” She said, resting her hand against his chest. “Away from the square. Look like you’re flying, not running.”

He obliged as best as he was able, leaping upwards and running a few inches above the roof, headed towards the back of the compound.  Right before he reached the back wall he crouched on thin air and jumped explosively, using Stamina to assist the motion and giving another few subtle kicks to further increase their speed.

{Airwalking 4 achieved!}

Faline grunted as Nathan’s arms dug into her, but they soared clean over the next street and reached the roof on the other side where Nathan could resume his run without fear of being seen. The roofs were tile and he didn’t want to leave any evidence of their passage, so Nathan kept walking on thin air. He accelerated further, quickly moving a few blocks and being careful to cleanly jump over every gap so it looked like he was soaring without effort.

Faline wasn’t using her stealth skills, seemingly wanting them to be seen fleeing the compound by air. She giggled against his chest with the speed of their movement, then called out. “This is far enough. Down into that alley.” At her words the powerful look-away skills reactivated, and they dropped to street level unseen.

Faline was still giggling as Nathan dumped her unceremoniously on her feet. She almost collapsed, leaning against a nearby building. “What a blasphemously clean departure. Come, let us gawk at the spectacle.” Her face smoothed out in an instant, and she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the nearby street.

They came out of the alley into a street that had a straight line back to the compound, and joined a sparse crowd of a dozen mages gawking at the sudden blaze that had ripped its way out of the second story of the home.

Nathan took his cue from the crowd, dropping the hood of his robe and watching the blaze with a shocked expression.

“... I saw two mages flying away.” Said a man in the pink robe of an entertainment mage, looking around with a frown on his face and tracking the direction they’d come. His gaze landed on Nathan and Faline, but he dismissed them a moment later and looked back with a frown.

“That mana won’t flow clean!” Faline exclaimed in a disgusted voice. “By the Giant, this isn’t a time for mages to turn on each other.”

There were mutters of assent from the group, and the man shook his head. “A founder returns for a time of ascension. But some want to bury the giant, and cast down our greatness.”

“Indeed.” Faline said, before tightening her grip on Nathan’s hand and guiding him out of the crowd.

{Void of Magic has leveled to 299! You and your companion have killed two mages of Giantsrest and destroyed their home!}

She spared him barely a glance as they departed the scene, instead navigating them carefully through the city. Nathan felt eyes sliding off of them with his [Noticeability] as she engaged her stealth skills once more. Once they were walking along a deserted street she spoke again. “We’re going to the safehouse. It’s close.”

They were in the inner third of the city, but the neighborhood wasn’t especially fancy. There was almost zero traffic, and after seeing a few people peeking out of the windows, Nathan understood why. This was a slavemaster neighborhood, where the slender middle class of Giantsrest lived. It didn’t seem like they had permission to leave their homes during the lockdown.

Faline took a sudden turn, approaching an unremarkable door and pulling a magical token from her bag before holding it to the lock. The door clicked open and she gestured him through and up a long staircase. It led to an apartment that took up the top floor of a narrow building, with three rooms in total. The space was drafty and felt a bit desolate, like it didn’t see much habitation and never saw guests.

Nonetheless the space was clean and looked like a place for them to rest and plan their next move.

“Welcome.” Faline said, coming up to stand beside him. She was back in her taller elegant shape, having dropped the more homely artisan mage persona. “This is my safety among the terrors of Giantsrest. None living know of it. Do not reveal it to any. No freed slaves, nobody. Do not return here if you are being followed. We will make our next plans here.”

Nathan eyed his partially depleted Stamina, then the golden sky outside. The sun had set a little while ago, but the glowing haze emanating from the Ascendent Academy put out plenty of light, blocking off any view of the world overhead.

“Dinner first?” he asked.

“I thought that might be the light in your eyes,” his host said, moving into the kitchen.

{Overall Status:

{Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 9

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 4

Class: Void of Magic level 299

Deepened Stamina: 7527/9270

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Magekiller level 125

Regenerative Focus: 976/1350

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Antimagic Stealth

Spell Redirection

Lethal Index

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 10

Inspiration 1

Acceleration 2

Wizard Senses 3

Alertness 4

Wizard’s Intuition 3

Effortless Dodge 1

Mental Fortress 6

Tutoring 2

High-tier Tumbling 10

High-tier Noticeability 3

Low-tier Disguise 7

Mid-tier Battle Cry 7

Mid-tier Aura Manipulation 5}