Augmented Aspects: Chapter 61 Setting Up the Long Con (Patreon)

Chapter 61

Setting Up the Long Con

For all intents and purposes, I was now the Leader of the Crossroad branch of the Mage’s Guild. Well, to be perfectly transparent,  I was not the actual Mage Guild Leader, that privilege belonged to one Herbert T. Quencher, unfortunately he was no longer with us. No, unlike what so many of my kind might do or think, I did not kill him. Quite the contrary, I made it so he completed his final social burdens and was able to move on with this world.

Logically I know this was just one of the variable responses I was given with my newfound repeatable quest revolving around awakening a Mage’s Destiny.

Hidden Quest Found (Repeatable): Awakening One’s Magical Destiny: You have come into contact with a mage that you can improve the magical potential of by increasing their magical ratings by a maximum of two Tiers. Rewards: Experience, variable. Do you wish to do so?

As part of my new racial flaws I have been burdened with being seen as the possible heretic of all mages, as I can single handedly usher in a new age of mages. In particular I can make it so anyone can have increased access to any form of magic by up to two tiers. This is a game changer and one that cannot be overlooked as to how much annoyance it will cost me in the future. But the first person I tried using this new power on, just as a test case as none other than my Mage Guild boss, who was so happy about the increase in power as he was able to complete a lifelong dream of casting Tier IX spells that he had only been dreaming about for years apparently. Even in death, this one goal was keeping him back from properly moving on as a spirit, so this let him go on with a clear conscience.

This of course led me to the next variable quest reward that came from granting the wish of the Mage Guild Master himself.

Hidden Quest Complete: Truly Becoming A Master Magician: Mage Guild Master Herbert Tobias Quencher had one dream in life. To truly be deserving of the title of Master Magician. You have managed to make this dream a reality by finding a way to increase his Maximum Tier Rating to IX, allowing him to fulfill his life’s work. Reward: Experience, New Doppelganger form, variable.

Now the appropriate thing for me to do in this case would be to take the knowledge that we no longer had a Guild Master, report it to the receptionist, and hope that the next Guild Master that came was amenable to me and my antics. Or, yeah, hopefully you see where this is going, or now that I can now assume the exact form of the former Mage Guild Master, I should be able to pass off as him for the foreseeable future. I mean, what is the only thing better than being your own boss? That’s right, signing your own paychecks, but only after a well deserved raise is applied, of course.

If I did this right, not only could I basically have free reign to do what I wanted, when I wanted, but I would be rewarded by the Mage’s Guild for doing so. Then when my year of servitude was up, not only would I get my Guild recommendation for being an exceptional healer, which would be universally accepted at any Mage Guild branch around the world. But I would also end up with a glowing letter of recommendation from my current boss, me.

This was the perfect con, or at least it had the makings of being the perfect con, so long as I learned to pull it off. I did have my recently acquired Mimicry skill, the skill that I first got by imitating Glenn at the Swap’em Holdem tournament. Now all I had to do was improve this same skill so that when I impersonated the Guild Master I would act more like him than he did. I know, it is technically not possible, but just go with it. Anyways, my first true plan of getting this to work would be to impersonate the guild master, going down to the very clothes that he wore.

Fortunately, being so far out of the way, he was not big on pomp and circumstance, and very rarely wore his Guild Master robes. In fact, going through my Total Recall, I can’t remember a time when he actually wore the robes. This was good, as it meant that so long as I didn’t go out anywhere, I would likely avoid being caught in this lie. Why is this might you ask? Well simple, the Guild Master also has their own Soul Bound artifacts that are similar to but far superior to the SWAG that I have available to me as a lowly Healer and member of the Spirit branches of the Mage’s Guild. This means that I will have to go without any of my typical soul bound items while posing as Guild Master Quencher, but I have long since grown beyond the need for the bonuses applied by my typical gear.

Realizing that in order to sell this, I will first need to seemingly leave the Healer’s office as the guild master. There is of course one problem, I currently hold the body of a young, but ever growing female, and the guild master was a tall, slender, and elderly male, why is this important? Well quite simply my clothes won’t fit when I change. Then even if they did fit, the odds of the guild master showing around as a sudden cross dresser would be a dead giveaway that something was going on. Let alone him suddenly crossdressing in the clothes of a minor. So, not wanting to cause any problems, I lock my office door. Head to the back, and make sure to tell Zero my loyal companion, “if anyone asks, let them know I am out to lunch for the foreseeable future, and by lunch I mean a really well deserved nap.”

“Okay, boss.” Zero says, as I head to the back room where I typically take naps when there is a lull in the number of patients I see.

With my alibi out of the way, I go back to the back room, lock the door, pull the privacy screen and then realizing it would likely be better to appear as a naked version of the Guild Master, I transform into him, before Teleporting into his office. The process of shifting, while painful is surprisingly easy to cope with now. And the amount of time is far less than I remember it taking to change into Sabrina or Olivia’s forms.

I still feel strange posing as a guy, again dangly bits and old man skin are not something I would recommend anyone have to feel. Out of curiosity I feel my elbows, and am instantly disgusted by the way the old man skin just kind of dangles there. Bleh.

Still, these are things that I tell myself I need to get used to, if I am going to be able to pull off this long con. If I can’t deal with a bit of dangly man flesh, then I should try to give up on this long con all together. Finally, after a few minutes, and pulling out my old doctor’s uniform that I still had in storage, I let out a breath, and then begin my first true step towards trying to cover up the disappearance of the Mage Guild Master. With a deep calming breath, I focus and then Teleport into the Guild Master’s office.

Poof.

Just as I expected, there are wards, runes, biometric scanners, and everything that grab me and try to alert on my presence, before ultimately giving up on me and letting me go. It seems that my body is enough of a perfect match for the true guild master that I can pass these basic security measures. It is also at this point that I am glad I forced myself to change first.

That said, when I looked through the wardrobe of the Guild Master, I realized something.

Basically, I was screwed.

Everything the Guild Master had for regular work wear, was expensive, not just expensive, but excessively so. Just one garment would be enough to put me over my maximum allowance for items and cash on hand. In fact it was so bad, that unless I stole the items, I would not be able to take them without fear of reprisals.

Worse, there was just so much stuff in here that I felt my fingers just tingling at the thought of taking all of the items. I mean, they were mine after all, but I knew the moment I truly claimed them, that was when the world would begin to react in violent ways, due to my Broke flaw. This was yet another limitation of my current situation, I had access to so much money, but I couldn’t do anything with it, at least not for nine more months.

Still, there was potential here. The first thing I needed to do was see if there was a way I could make it so I, the Guild Master, could allow myself, Upstanding Employee Cass, to access these things without problems.

The first thing I did was look at the books. The biggest and brightest glowing tome was right there on a pedestal before me. At first, I almost wanted to dismiss the book entirely, figuring that it was more of his convoluted spell diagrams that were overly complex and a waste of mana and efficiency. That was, until I read the title of said giant glowing book.

Crossroad’s Guild Master’s Tome of Daily Tasks and Operations.

Seeing that text, caused my heart to flutter slightly, as I realized I hit the motherload.

Going to it, I went and saw the different quests that had been assigned to me, and was shocked to see, not only was I in here, but I was purposefully getting underpaid.

A quick glance of all actions showed that everyone was getting experience for everything they were doing. I mean even Christa, the receptionist, she was getting 100 experience an hour just for sitting. Yes, sitting. Whereas others who had repeatable quest lines were getting far more than I was, and that was for using standard spells that others had.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Hilda): Perform Magely Duties: You must do something around here, so do that and keep out of my affairs. Rewards: Experience (1,000 per day that you do not require direct oversight or being cleaned up after).

Yes, that’s right, a thousand for not messing up. Whereas  I only got 100 per person I cured the Blight from.

Hidden Quest Repeatable (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Curing The Blighted: You have found a way to remove the blight from individuals infected with the curse of corruption. Cleanse everyone you can of the Blight and be rewarded: Rewards: Experience (100), variable.

I would have to cure ten people in a day to make what Hilda gets for not breaking things. I tried to alter my reward but was met with a message.

Unable to perform function: Maximum rate achieved for daily repeatable tasks due to low level. Cap met until level 50.

So there it was, I was capped in at 100 experience points per repeatable quest until level 50. Seeing this, I was not discouraged, but rather, felt I could somehow use this limitation to my benefit.

Realizing that 100 experience was in fact the maximum for me for a repeatable quest, I then began wondering just how far I could push this newfound authority granted to me.

Picking up the glowing pen that lay next to the book, I realized the two were a matching set. With that, I studied the flowing script of the former Mage Guild leader, and then I began practicing writing a few lines that exactly matched the Guild Master’s flowing script. Of course, I did not use the book to write in, that would be stupid, but I did use the pen to write out on scratch paper.

Instantly I realized the pen was either out of ink, or only wrote in the Guild Master’s Tome, either way, I did not create any true words on the page. This of course didn’t matter, as I could easily make out the indentations in the page from where the tip of the pin was pressed into the parchment. Realizing that this was as good as I was going to get for a while, I practiced, until I finally got my Mimicry skill to a passable form for the terrible hand writing of the former Guild Master. While his writing wasn’t completely illegible, it was easily a step down from what I was used to when keeping my own logs. Then I remembered how he had the gall to chastise me for that handwriting regardless.

Shaking my head, I dismiss the former encounter and focus on what is important. Namely, seeing if I could assign myself daily repeatable quests, while posing as the Guild Master.

Once I was fairly certain of my proficiency in writing as the Guild Master, I tried to transfer my success to the Guild Master’s Tome, to my Tome now.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Quest for Knowledge: You are rather young for your intended position and the recent prestige you have garnered for yourself. To help make up for your perceived shortcomings, you must read at least ten books from the Mage’s Guild Library’s Restricted section each day. Rewards: Experience (100), Skills.

There was a bit of a battle that came up, when I tried to assign myself the 100 experience points for this quest.

Note: As with all assignments over 10% of the maximum, you will have to put in an official missive to the Mage’s Guild Tower office to approve the total.

So, there it was, in order to get mor than 10 experience per repeatable quest, I would have to send a charter to the Guild Tower offices to approve of the transaction. Even then, it would require other people to approve the transaction. With that, I decided to amend my initial quest, and what was possible. With a bit of manipulation, my first quest was complete and I couldn’t help but feel accomplished by the act.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Quest for Knowledge: You are rather young for your intended position and the recent prestige you have garnered for yourself. To help make up for your perceived shortcomings, you must read at least one book from the Mage’s Guild Library’s Restricted section each day. Rewards: Experience (10), Skills.

*Quest Accepted. Note this quest will become active when you tell the recipient of the quest, or they do it automatically.

There it was, either I could tell myself about the quest, or I could just do it and unlock it, likely as a hidden quest. I had to admit, I found this rather interesting, and oh so much fun.

But I couldn’t show a bias. So instead of just me, I began offering minor quests to everyone.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Hilda): Adding to the Collective Knowledge: The Mage’s Guild Library needs your vast expertise. Write down any knowledge you wish to share with future trusted generations and place said books within the Crossroad’s Mage’s Guild Library. Rewards: Experience (1,000).

Yes, one thousand was the base that Hilda could be given without needing an exemption pushed through the Mage’s Guild as a whole. Still this quest also helped me out, as it meant I would have at least one more book to read, if she completed it.

From there, I began giving everyone minor quests. A few cleaning quests for Zero, a few gardening quests for Lowiski the nature mage. There were quests for Christa that related to making my life easier.

I also set new office hours for myself, but the way I phrased my next daily repeatable quest.

Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Hourly Contribution: Continue to maintain and run the Mage’s Guild Healer’s office, as the Head Mage’s Guild Leader to any standards you see fit. Due to your erratic hours and needs, you may work as much or little as you see fit, in order to get the job done. Rewards: Experience (10 per hour).

Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Storing The Guild Master’s Clothes: Due to a recent problem, the Guild Master finds himself in need of some much needed closet space. For everyday that you provide that space to store, clean, and carry said garments, you will be rewarded. Rewards: Experience (10 per set).

Now, I know what you are thinking, if I wear the clothes of the Guild Master, doesn’t that mean that this last quest will be reset. Well yes it would, which is why I intend to store at least two sets of his clothes in my office in a hidden compartment. With that, I will be able to gain the daily bonus, while also being able to change outfits rapidly without drawing too much attention to myself.

With that, I felt like it was perfect, the words store, clean, and carry to the quest line also meant that my holding them for the Guild Master would not count towards my work, but rather towards my daily bonus experience.

Then thinking about it, I realized that I was easily going to make my next level here shortly. With so many repeatable quests that offered ten points per completion, and my only needing 20 experience points to level, I decided to treat myself to a fun hidden option that was available only to Guild Masters.

Hidden Quest Assigned (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Leveling for Classes and Power: You have been assigned a secret one time hidden quest to immediately level. Doing so will unlock the chance to unlock a special quest. Rewards: Increased Class capability dependent on how quickly you achieve your goal. Maximum time: 30 minutes.

Click.

I felt something intangible click within my mind, and instantly I knew that my foolish plan to give myself this ridiculous quest was not only accepted, but also already enacted. Worse, due to my low level and how close I was to already leveling, the most I was able to put my timer was at 30 minutes while still receiving the maximum, reward.

Still it had worked, quickly grabbing a handful of Mage Guild Leader Quencher’s clothes, I focus on my objective and Teleport back to my office room, still dressed as the Guild Leader, despite only wearing an old Doctor’s uniform onesie.

Jumping in, I knew time was of the issue, so I focused on immediately changing, but realized that I would lose valuable time trying to change and then complete one of the new hidden tasks. I didn’t have a patient here for me, so I could only focus on doing one of my new repeatable tasks.

“Zero.” I call out from the door, having just managed to change my vocal cords back to my normal voice range.

“Yes boss?”

“I need you to go to the Mage’s Guild Library, to the restricted section and read two books from the Nature section.” I say.

“Any book in particular?”

“No, just go and start leafing through the books two at a time. I will tell you when to stop.”

“Okay…” Zero said, sounding utterly confused but still going with my plan exactly. That’s what I loved about Zero, he would do everything I asked, despite how crazy it sounded. And trust me, by this point crazy was apparently the name of the game.

Then just as I expected Zero went to the Nature section, chose two books at random and began leafing through them quickly. Now why did I choose the Nature section? Simple it was the closest section to us, and it was one of the sections of the library that I had not already gone through.

Zero moved through the books, leafing through the pages at a pace that was clearly too quick for him to actually read, especially as he wasn’t even glancing at said pages. If anyone saw him, they might assume he was just wasting time as he was going too quickly. Fortunately, nothing was too quick for my Blind Eidetic Speed Reading skill, especially as it was at 125 before the 15% class skill perk kicked in.

All things considered, I was looking at well over 140 points in the skill, which was more than enough to keep up with the fairly sedate pace that Zero was now leafing through the books. The minute the first book ended, I was greeted with a pleasant, though not wholly unexpected surprise.

Hidden Daily Repeatable Quest Complete: Quest for Knowledge: You are rather young for your intended position and the recent prestige you have garnered for yourself. To help make up for your perceived shortcomings, you must read at least one book from the Mage’s Guild Library’s Restricted section each day. Rewards: Experience, Skills.

Experience Gained: 10.

Then with his other clawed hand, he delicately shifted through the next book and then I was once again greeted with the same system message, all except this one came with a much wanted bonus.

Daily Repeatable Quest Complete: Quest for Knowledge: You are rather young for your intended position and the recent prestige you have garnered for yourself. To help make up for your perceived shortcomings, you must read at least one book from the Mage’s Guild Library’s Restricted section each day. Rewards: Experience, Skills.

Experience Gained: 10.

Ding.

Level up.

Your level has increased to level 27.

Then just as I had hoped, I was greeted with yet another system message.

Hidden Quest Completed: Leveling for Classes and Power: You have been assigned a secret one time hidden quest to immediately level. Doing so will unlock the chance to unlock a special quest. Rewards: Increased Class capability dependent on how quickly you achieve your goal. You were given a maximum time of 30 minutes, and completed the quest with 29 minutes and 7 seconds remaining. Bonus reward applied due to not being told to increase your level and for finding a hidden quest to complete this quest.

Rewards: New Unique Class Lines available.

At that, I let out a sigh of relief, as I realized this was going to be the best year of me being part of the work force ever.