30 - Chapter 29 - Day 1814

With that Adya and Dexter left Gauri’s office. The man Adya had wanted to be isolated had been kept in one of the smaller guest rooms, with a guard on his door.

As Adya and Dexter entered, he bowed. He had not been told why he had been moved to this room, nor did he have any idea what had happened to him after he had been knocked out. He had no reason to check his system status, so had not done so and had therefore completely missed the change that had been reflected.

“You may sit. What is your name?” asked Adya.

“I am Jarel, my lady.” he replied. “Why am I in this room? No one would give me any information.”

“I take it that you have not checked your system status.” mused Adya. “I suggest you do so, then our conversation will progress more smoothly.”

Jarel, rattled by the demeanour of the little girl in front of him still felt a compulsion to follow her command. It readily became apparent why that was. There was only one change, a new entry had appeared.

Soul Mark - Adya Gurg

Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed. Jarel - Retainer of house Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Jarel may not take any actions or inactions that can be construed as betrayal by Adya Gurg. Jarel will suffer soul pain, if he does not follow all instructions faithfully. Jarel will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).

He could not even fathom how this was possible. He had been told when he had accepted the surgery to place his formation that it would be impossible to detect. Further, if it somehow came to light due to an injury, even then no one below the level of a god would be able to remove it without killing him. There should have been no power that should have allowed him to be subjugated in this manner. Just who was this child, and he knew it had to be her, as it was her name that the system mentioned. He entertained the idea that somehow he was being fooled, but discarded the option immediately as impossible. The system could not be fooled, and then there had been that strange compulsion. Most people would have ignored it, but he was not most people. It felt more subtle than the compulsions that his formation had elicited, yet the flavour of it was the same.

Adya watched as a series of expressions flickered across the man’s face. Shock, bewilderment, incredulity and what might have been relief. The expression were gone so fast, that most people would not have even noticed them, yet Adya had been watching him intently. Once his face had returned to its placid expression, she spoke.

“What is done, cannot be undone,” said Adya. ”Had I known what you were, I would have killed you, rather than enslave you. In my defense I considered you an ordinary bandit. Now that both of us know, there is no reason to pretend, not that you can lie to me in any case.”

“No, my lady,” replied Jarel with a sombre tone. “How much do you know?”

“Enough. I know that had I removed your formation,” she replied, “It would have left you paralysed, with no hope of recovery. You need not worry, the formation is still in place and fully functional, albeit now under my control.”

This simple statement shook Jarel to his core. How was she able to take control of the formation without cutting him open? How could she override the control of the people he worked for.

“So I know the what.” continued Adya. “What I need from you is the who and the why.”

Even though he knew he could not refuse her, he hesitated for a moment. That moment was enough to bring a sharp pain in the very core of his being. The pain vanished, as if a figment of his imagination the moment he started to answer.

“I belong to the intelligence organisation belonging directly to the council of sects.” said Jarel, wincing from the now phantom pain.

Even the momentary jolt had left Jarel shaken. He had not believed that whatever process she had used on him had the ability to cause soul pain, but feeling was believing. He would have to accept that he was now under this girl’s full control.

“Does your organisation have a name?” asked Adya. “Furthermore, what were your orders?” She had noticed his wince of pain, and had summarised accurately that he had suffered soul pain caused by his delay in answering her questions.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“No my lady.” replied Jarel. “The council sends our agents across the non-cultivator world to ensure monitoring. These human kingdoms are the weakest, and thus fertile grounds for non-orthodox sects, and demonic sects to grow.”

“That is an answer,” replied Adya smiling, “But not the answer. Interesting how you can get around the system requirements by telling almost the whole truth. I do wonder if the system can learn from its mistakes. ”

As she finished speaking, a much stronger spike of pain lanced through him. “I would not suggest trying that little tactic again.” continued Adya calmly, clearly unaffected by his situation.”Now do you want to try that again?”

The pain vanished as he started to speak again, this time ensuring he did not obfuscate in any way. “I was sent by one of the elders of the council to try and locate someone,” said Jarel. “I have not given many details, but they were born around five years ago. They were said to be shielded by the system. I would find them by the incongruities around them. They would be more mature and powerful for their age.”

“And what were your orders, should you locate this person?” asked Adya in the same placid tone. “I was to give them a sealed letter that only they would be able to open. Then lead them back to the elder who had sent me out.”

“Were there any other instructions that you were given?” asked Adya.

“That I was to tell no one about my assignment.” answered Jarel. “If I found the child in question, then to keep them safe, and hidden, from all other sects, and especially the other council of sect elders.”

“Where is this letter now?” asked Adya. “And how would you be able to protect this person when you were captured so easily?”

“The letter is secured in a hidden location.” replied Jarel. “As to how I was captured. I joined the bandit group as a way to keep an ear out for anything out of the ordinary. The unorthodox sects and demonic sects are known for leveraging the seedy underworld for their nefarious purposes. When we came across you, and Jason surrendered, I went along to learn more about you and your house. I wanted to know why the shadowed hand had targeted a 5 year old girl.”

“Then I felt your killing intent, and I knew that you were not ordinary.” he continued. “I came along to see what would happen. When you kept your promise, I was surprised and stayed instead of escaping. When you offered to enslave us in return for letting us live, I thought you were going to place a formation. I saw almost everyone else submit.”

“At first I thought that your formation would not be able to overpower my existing formation.” said Jarel, “But something stopped me from accepting your offer. When I was searched, I knew that you were looking for it, but I thought you would not find it. When you came to my cell to have me searched again, I did not feel that you had come to kill me, just search me again. As I felt no threat, I did not act. I realise now, that I should have escaped when you wanted to have me searched personally.”

“And just how strong are you?” asked Adya. “I take it you are a cultivator, and that your formation also acts to hide your core?”

The more this girl spoke, the more wary Jarel became. She was too observant, too mature, too calm, too dangerous. His senses were screaming that she was far more dangerous than he realised.

“Do you know anything about cultivation? Or Cultivation levels?” responded Jarel. “Yes, my formation hides my cultivation. It is the only way to get close to the rouge cultivators.”

“Ah, that explains the formation and its spread.” exclaimed Adya as answers clicked into place, she was speaking out loud but lost in her own discovery, making connections as she put the jigsaw puzzle together. “It is not enough to hide your core as the Mana flowing through the meridians would be a dead give away. But there is no way for the formation to be added after your meridians were constructed? So how? That would mean the only way was that the formation was placed before you formed your core, then the formation grew? Or was it grown along with meridian creation? Must have been excruciatingly painful. Ah that explains your reaction to the soul pain. It must also mean that you were trained from birth, or a very early age for the role you hold? ”

Adya: Can we get our revelations to Sai even though she is offline? It may reduce the amount of time it takes to understand the knowledge we gathered.

Mai: I can see up to what point she had processed the files, I can then place a file in the sequence for her to pick up. I will monitor to ensure Sai has seen it.

As Adya was lost in her own mind, the reaction from Jarel was sheer incomprehension. How, just how could she know any of what she had just said? Not only had she found and taken over his formation, she had also found the extension that covered his meridians. Had she taken control over all of it? He could not believe that was the case, it should be impossible for anyone else to do that. However, the bar for what was impossible had been demolished several times in the course of this conversation already. Had she done another impossible thing, then Jarel may not be able to use his own cultivation if she willed it.

Adya spent some more time going through her conclusions. She was sure she was the girl that Jarel had been sent out in the world to locate. He believed he was telling the trust, but that provided no assurances as to this elder behind the request. It was easily possible that the elder had lied to his own agents. The fact that Jarel had mentioned system protection also meant that this elder knew a lot about her. And he knew that from the time she was born, or close enough as not to make any difference.

This elder obviously knew a lot more than he had passed on. To be fair to this mysterious person, giving away details beyond what was required to potentially a large number of agents, even secured by formations, was just asking for the knowledge to leak. Yet she could not deny the attraction of seeking this person out to see if they could give her any answers. That would have to wait for now. Until she could adequately assess the risks of such a venture. For now she would use the resource in front of her.

It was time for her to get answers about how cultivation worked in this world.