“So how does this whole thing work? I mean, with the problem of gods meddling and letting people identify those like us at a glance and all that,” asked Esperanza to the human matron the next morning after said matron came to pick them up from the temple to meet the volunteers she had called out of her clansmen. Since there was some distance to walk – the clan’s abode was not in the main cavern but in one of the side caverns instead – she decided to ask a bit about the more technical side of the spying business.
“I believe the Exalted One is familiar with manipulation of one’s aura, yes?” asked the old matron back, to which Esperanza answered with a nod. “Some of our ancestors wondered whether that would be a viable method to hide our presence from those who worship the usurpers. At first, their efforts bore nothing but disgrace and failure.”
“Since you’re actively spying on the Human Kingdom these days, I assume that those efforts bore fruit later on, then,” noted Esperanza with a nod. She was familiar with how old people often liked to wax nostalgic over things like these, so she just let it be. Besides, listening to the matron’s story would help pass the time while they walked to their destination.
“That is indeed the case, Exalted One,” admitted the Matron. “After many generations of disheartening failure, one ancestor thought about going to the extreme. He suppressed his aura to such an extent that we feared for his life at first, as he had pushed himself to the brink of death in the process. Rather than suppressing his aura, he had sealed it, if temporarily.”
“And that was enough to fool whatever detection method the new gods gave to their followers?” questioned Esperanza rather skeptically. It sounded a bit too simple to be true. If it was true, then that meant the security system the new gods had set up after taking over had loopholes that could be abused, which was something to think about.
“More like, under such suppression he barely identified as anything, Exalted One,” explained the old woman. “You are no doubt familiar with how our priests are capable of identifying those who were fellow worshipers of the Deities of Yore. Not even our priests noticed his presence under such a state. To all eyes and identification, the ancestor just looked like a low tier human suffering from serious ails.”
“Huh, so if you go that far… it wouldn’t be noticed by anyone? Not even the priests of the new gods?” queried Ani with some surprise evident in her voice. Likely some people had once floated similar ideas in Agur-Bas, but they either failed or were shot down before they could fail and potentially give away their location.
“From our old texts, it is noted that regular worshipers of the new gods would not be able to detect our allegiance at all. Most priests would only be able to notice if they come into touching distance, although there had been some high priests who were able to spot us even from afar as well, but those were rare,” elaborated the old matron. “Of course, that was with the early version of the skill. We have developed it over generations to further improve it.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” replied Esperanza. Of course they would develop the skill further over time rather than just stick with the first one they found. “And how does the current skill fare against priests like those?”
“In its base form, about the same as the original. After one evolution, most regular priests couldn’t detect them even when touching, and the rare priests who could see through us had to do so from a closer distance. After a second evolution, we have not managed to gather enough information to be certain, but we believe that even the rare priest will need to be very close to be able to detect us.”
“No opportunity to actually test it, I assume?” questioned Ani, who by now looked very interested in this skill that the matron’s family had developed over generations.
“I’m afraid so. Powerful priests are rarely seen in the remote regions we usually operate in, and if we know they are around, we would mostly avoid them rather than risk ourselves just to test the limitations of our skill,” replied the Matron openly. “Fortunately most of our senior members are present, as we usually left the spying outside to the youngsters to hone their skill further.”
“Are there any specific criteria one would need to be able to learn this skill, matron?” asked Ani once again. She was likely interested in the possible implications of the skill, or its potential use in covert operations. Not unsurprising when one considered that she used to be the head of the guard contingent at Agus-Bas.
“”Well, we mostly get it as a class skill. I’m not sure if it’ll be learnable by others, other than actually getting the class for themselves,” replied the matron with some uncertainty in her voice. “That said, the very first version our ancestor created was an evolution of a general skill, so it should be possible to replicate that feat of his, at the very least.”
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“Also, in order to infiltrate, you would naturally need to not look out of place. In this case it meant either some sort of disguise skills, or just use people who wouldn't look out of place for their target destination,” continued the matron as they walked towards the passage that led to a side cavern. “It is one reason our tribe chose to remain as human as we could, though we do take brides and grooms from the other tribes from time to time.”
“Makes sense. You wouldn’t need a disguise to infiltrate the Human Kingdom if you’re already human to begin with,” nodded Esperanza in agreement. “Resitia and Iryl here can likely do that as well, assuming they managed to learn the skill. I might be able to do it as well with one more skill evolution since I don’t need to worry about the detection to begin with.”
“That sounds good. I know my people would welcome your presence, as our focus on the skill meant that we are poor at fighting,” replied the matron with a pleased voice. “Every time some of my people go out there to look for information, they risk their lives as most wild beasts or outlaws could kill them easily despite their high levels.”
“We’ll take that into consideration, yeah. The Exalted One and Honored Ones generally take good care of those in our group, though, so you have no need to worry, Matron,” interjected Ani from behind. “We left Agur-Bas as twenty, and despite multiple raids in the demon territories, still number twenty. Not a single one of us has been lost in the journey or the battles we fought.”
“That does put my old heart somewhat at ease,” admitted the matron. The woman led the group through the winding passageway to a different, smaller cavern. Compared to the main cavern, the side cavern had brighter lighting, and didn’t seem to be as heavily inhabited, with large swathes of the ground being occupied by farmed land where the locals grow what crops managed to grow in the dark underground.
Even as they entered the cavern, Esperanza noticed from a quick glance that the vast majority of the cavern’s inhabitants were humans, or at least close enough to pass as one. Clearly the matron was taking the tribe’s legacy seriously, though her tribe was also clever enough to avoid excessive inbreeding in the process.
Some of the people present had obvious non-human features, but they were human hybrids, and Esperanza assumed it just meant that they and their children wouldn’t take part in the espionage missions until their descendants were close enough to a human to be able to pass as one unnoticed. It sounded like a simplistic approach to a complicated problem, but it clearly worked for these people.
As the matron led them towards a large building set by the far end of the cavern, the locals bowed in respect at their passing. Though only a day had passed, everyone in the settlement already knew that Esperanza and the [Progenies of Yore] were paying them a visit, and showed their deference as a result of it.
The matron called out once they neared the large building, and from inside came five humans, male and female, from ones who were barely out of their teenage years to middle-ages ones. The five varied greatly and looked nothing like one another, though they bowed in unison upon noticing the matron and her guests behind her.
Out of curiosity, Esperanza tried to use [Soul Sight] to look at them, and to her surprise, found that the purple threads that would normally intertwine around their souls were hidden inside it instead. When she attempted to identify them using [Gaze Unto the Abyss], the classes she got in return were along the lines of [Master Infiltrator], [Spymaster Patriarch], and [One Who Swims in the Dark].
“These five are amongst our best and have volunteered for the great cause, Exalted One,” said the matron as she introduced the five one after another. She first pointed to the oldest of the five, a middle-aged man with a bushy beard and thick mustache. “This is Murad, he is one of the few fourth tiers amongst us, and his skill is also at its second evolution.”
“Mora here is only in her third tier, and her skill is also only in its first evolution, but she is the most experienced of our operatives,” said the matron as she introduced a middle-aged, slightly chubby woman who gives a strong motherly vibe. “She is also Murad’s wife, and they usually work together, usually disguised as small-time traders.”
“Kurt and Leo here are brothers, they’re both in the early third tier also with the first evolution of their skills. They’re the most familiar ones with the area surrounding the mountain range as they were usually active there, claiming to be traveling hunters as their disguise,” she continued as she pointed to the pair of young ones barely twenty years or so in age as far as Esperanza could tell.
“Tiara here is my granddaughter. She’s also the youngest amongst us who has gotten their skill to its second evolution, and the only one in our generation to have it while still being in her third tier class,” explained the matron as she pointed to the youngest girl who was likely still a teenager. “She is not as experienced as the rest, but her skills should be satisfactory for any required purpose.”
“Everyone, this is the Exalted one and the Honored Ones, the ones you volunteered to help in their divinely mandated endeavor. Be sure to do your best and not to bring shame to our tribe now, and make sure to carry your weight, understood?” said the matron as she addressed the five volunteers, to which all five of them firmly nodded in response.
“Thank you for the help, matron,” said Esperanza in turn. “We really appreciate it. This will help us a great deal while we’re in the human lands.”
“Of course, Exalted One. We are honored to be able to serve,” replied the matron.
“That said, can we try having some of the people in my group learn to… suppress themselves to the point of being undetectable? We would need some of us to be able to similarly keep ourselves if we want to follow them into the human towns and villages to keep them safe,” questioned Esperanza. The method was probably just as important as the skilled and experienced infiltrators that had volunteered.
“Certainly, if the Exalted One and Honored Ones would please follow me?” replied the matron as she led everyone – including the volunteers from her tribe – to a secluded room built deep in the large building. There were multiple chambers in the room that were mostly open at the moment, and in each chamber was a fist-sized crystal ball placed securely on top of a small desk.
Every single one of the crystal balls lit with a blindingly bright light the moment the group entered the room.