While the next couple of days were as normal as almost every other day Felix had spent in Azura, they felt different.
He went to work at Cumulo Tech, his keepers died often and he had dinner with Aela, Varex and Kether.
At the same time, he was tuned in and aware of everything happening with his Residents from the Wanderer’s Lab. They didn’t need him to do anything, in fact it was better if he didn’t for many reasons. Not only were they better than him at everything they were doing, infiltrating the factions, scouting the vaults, planning the heists and remaining unseen while doing so, but it was also better if Felix stayed far away from their targets.
So long as he remained visible and had a solid alibi, it would make it far less likely that anyone suspected him as one of the thieves. It was already suspect that he was relatively new in the city and relatively well known and successful as a Damned. Especially when the Water Branch vault seemed to be protected almost entirely by Soul wards and Concepts that teetered the right on the edge of becoming Curses.
The threat wasn’t that he would be arrested, the real issue was that if they suspected him, he would simply be hunted down and killed, even if there wasn’t any proof.
The families didn’t care about being fair or just, it mattered far more that there was a scorched earth policy in place so that, future thieves deemed it not worth it to try and steal from them.
It made it even more crucial that they pinned the blame on another family so that they didn’t even start looking for individuals. The Residents had a whole plan on how they were going to do that where it seemed like the Earth Branch was retaliating but they also planted clues that there was a larger plot at play by the Fire Branch which were being puppeteered by The Gera Family in the background.
More than likely, no one would ever track those clues and follow them all the way through but they were there in case someone did.
As for the heist itself, the Residents had planned it to coincide with a large gala that had been scheduled for years. It was one of the reasons they had chosen the Earth Branch in the first place. The Water Branch was a good target but by hitting the Earth Branch first, it became more likely to be a part of their feud and much less likely the actions of a third party.
On the night of the heist, Felix walked arm in arm with Rel, Kether and Aela just behind them, into the massive palace that housed the core of the Water Branch of the Ano family.
The palace itself was mostly made of marble and the entire thing looked like a large fountain, with various spouts, falls and flows covered the outside and forming a mosaic of constantly flowing water. On the inside, there were falls on some of the walls and water beneath glass panels in the floor.
The lobby of the palace was large enough that nearly a thousand people stood around and there were still large and clear open areas between them, making it feel anything but cramped.
Everyone wore what amounted to high fashion at the gala. In Azura, that meant rather simple clothing that accentuated Soul Projected accessories in every way imaginable. For most, that meant Anima jewelry and buttons for those with less Soul strength, Wings and Capes for those with more and for the true elites, entire wardrobes with various colors through Concepts.
At least, that was what Felix had been told.
He, Rel, Kether and Aela sported simple Anima accessories of necklaces and earrings for the women and simple bracers for the men.
They were unassuming and fit in perfectly with everyone else there, exactly as they had wanted to. Anything more or less would have been noticeable and for the heist to work, they needed Felix to walk into their vault which meant they needed him to be able to slip out unnoticed.
Inside, they split up slightly but both pairs still ended up in the same general area, off to the side of the main lobby as they waited for the elites to make an appearance.
“That robe really suits you…” Rel almost whispered.
Felix looked down at the sleeveless robe Aela had picked out for him that accentuated the Anima bracers adorning his forearms. It was red and white and he thought it made him looks like he was bleeding or like the robe was blood stained. He much preferred his own robes.
“Thanks. Your dress is quite flattering as well.” Felix returned the compliment to be polite and keep up appearances.
She blushed and swayed her hips a little in joy.
Felix looked away from her and picked up a small plate of some hors d’oeuvre that was being brought around and slowly ate it, completely ignoring the food itself and his surroundings in general. Instead, he was tapped into the senses of a few of his Residents, one of which was with Varex and in the process of stealthily setting things up around the building.
His brain was more than capable of paying attention to all of them and his own senses but he had no interest in the party so he mostly blocked his own senses out.
He didn’t have to wait long for the elites to finally show up though and when they did, his focus was immediately pulled back to the party.
There were no stairs for the elites to descend, instead they floated down from the upper floors in a pretentious and grandiose way. Where everyone else had jewelry or wings, Felix’s focus was immediately drawn to the Matriarch of the Ano Family who wore a dress adorned with interlocking golden plates making her entire outfit quite close to plate armor.
The dress appeared to be actual physical cloth but it was completely infused with Anima, in a completely different way from Felix’s robes. Felix’s robes were affinized to him, they allowed his Anima to flow through them more easily and they listened to his commands more readily.
Her’s felt more like they were not quite made of Anima, but nearly. The cloth itself-or rather the threads-were like physical threads and Anima twisted or braided together and made solid. It was an impressive piece of clothing that had Felix’s mind, along with a number of like minded Residents, whirring with curiosity.
The dress, while fascinating to Felix, wasn’t part of her Soul projection though, her Soul projection made up the plates that looked nearly real. They were barely translucent, almost like opaque glass and not quite solid as they shifted and moved slightly, as if made of a liquid. They were however, the closest to a real physical solid Felix had ever seen Anima get. Even more impressive than the plates existing though, was the detail work adorning them.
It wasn’t just the intricacy which wasn’t as hard as it seemed. Theoretically, with enough Anima and a strong enough will power and enough focus, anyone could shape Anima into anything they imagined. Having that much Anima, a strong enough will and enough focus wasn’t as rare in Azura as it was in the system-verse.
The impressive part, was that the intricate detail was crafted from various Concepts and Convictions. Each one was woven together to form a tapestry on each plate and even though Felix was likely the only one who had Anima transcoded into visual stimuli, the Concepts almost begged the viewer to see them as colors.
All in all, the outfit and presentation, with all the Concepts and Convictions she displayed, formed a picture of who she was, or rather, how she wanted everyone else to see her.
Following her, there were 4 men, each one the head of a different branch of the family, then a number of younger and less impressively adorned individuals. The direct descendants and family of the Branch heads.
There was no big speech as they descended, as if their arrival was more than enough.
As soon as they landed, they were approached by various people and groups in the crowd and Felix watched for just a bit longer, taking in each and every one of them but more importantly, what they were wearing and how they projected.
Aela and Kether are approaching now. Varex is in position.
Alright, guess it’s my turn then.
Turning away from the centers of attention at the gala, Felix turned towards the door and stopped.
“Is something wrong?” Rel nudged him in the side and stared in concern.
Felix was completely transfixed.
Walking straight from the front door towards the Matriarch of the Ano family, was a man with slightly pointed ears, messy black hair, an unshaven face and violet eyes. He wore a dark purple robe and looked to be completely average in proportions and build. He didn’t even have a projection of any kind.
That lack of Soul projection caused quite a few to immediately dismiss him but they took a second look when others, who apparently recognized him, began whispering, pointing and in some cases, greeting him.
It wasn’t who they were that fixated Felix though, it was something else entirely.
Despite having no Soul projection or Aura of any kind, Felix could still feel his Soul from across the room easily, as he could anyone else. What he found though, was nothing like anyone else in the room. His Soul, was completely void of Convictions at all. He didn’t even have Concepts like Rel did that formed her attunement to Fire and Explosions.
He had nothing Felix thought was necessary to progress his Soul and yet his Soul was by far the strongest in the room. It was like Felix’s own Soul. Not as insular and hard as Felix’s, but his felt just as dense and vastly more aligned, along with being quite a bit larger.
Even without any Convictions whatsoever, his entire Soul seemed to be one unified whole. All the Anima was aligned and purposeful in a way nothing else Felix had ever encountered was, except for literal Curses. Not only that, but it stood out amongst the Ambient Anima in a way no other Soul Felix had ever seen did. It was like his Soul had transcended reality and looking at it, it was no longer a bundle of Anima containing experiences and forming a Soul, it was something completely new. It was it’s own thing entirely.
“…Felix.” Rel jabbed him in the side.
Who is that? Felix asked Mark as he would know exactly who to direct the question to.
Your senses caught his name a few seconds ago. Kerix Ryko.
“Felix, we have to go now.” Rel insisted.
She is relatively correct. The plan has been adjusted but you will nee-
“Sorry. Let’s go.”
Mark, have Wanderer’s Lab or whoever else is in Azura find out as much as they can about Kerix Ryko.
Just as he was about to pull his gaze away from the man, he turned, made eye contact with Felix for a moment and tilted his head just slightly, as if acknowledging his presence with a nod then, he turned back to the Matriarch as if nothing had happened. Luckily, he was looking around and nodding to quite a few people so his looking over at Felix didn’t cause him to stand out.
Felix stared for just a second longer then finally left with Rel, heading towards the door to leave. Instead of leaving though, they exited the palace and turned off to the left. They didn’t turn too abruptly though and made it seem like they were just leaving in that direction where, the Residents had already planned a logical route they could use as an excuse if needed.
As they walked through the garden which, was nothing like a garden at all considering the lack of soil on the cloud they stood upon, Felix began coalescing and attuning the Mana he needed. It was a little earlier than necessary, but he was more than capable of just holding it as they made their way through the cloud maze and sculptures.
They stopped at a specific spot behind a cloud sculpture of a roaring beast where Felix opened an Aether Tunnel and stepped through, followed shortly afterwards by Rel.
On the other side, Felix floated down the opulent hall at the back of the palace as he charged another Aether Tunnel, opening it as soon as it was ready. Rel, who was right behind him, quickly looked through before he closed it, immediately hearing and feeling a massive explosion just a few rooms down from where they were.
Then, he turned off to the left suddenly and walked right at what appeared to be a blank wall, just to the right of some artwork and a small table that held a plant.
The wall felt physical but as Felix pushed on it, both physically and spiritually, it began to give until it felt almost like a liquid and he pushed himself through.
Man, I feel useless. Felix heard Kether in his mind.
I do feel a little… disregarded… not something I feel often and definitely not something I enjoy… Aela added.
How’s it going on your end Varex? Kether asked.
Shut up. Don’t distract us. Why are you useless?
We were supposed to distract some of the branch heads but even the guy I know is ignoring me so he can look pretty in front of this guy. Kether answered with an annoyed tone.
I’ve never met this man before but he does seem rather… captivating. Aela added.
That’s a good thing for us but not something we needed to know right now. Please only use Felix’s communication network in emergencies. Varex cut them off.
Fine. Kether mentally sighed to indicate his annoyance.
Yes, sir. Aela added in an uncomfortably sultry tone.
Felix ignored the chatter and continued on, into a room of mirrors. He ignored the pull from the various mirrors and shattered them all at once with his Tendrils before floating through one of the frames in particular. As he did so, Rel stayed behind, only entering the room after Felix had shattered the mirrors, and waited patiently there.
Continuing on into a long hall with various rooms on either side, Felix stretched out his Tendrils, that had recently grown longer through his consumption of vast fortunes of ros.
Each one punched through some kind of defense in the form of an Anima film, a Concept or a trap that tried to worm its way inside of him. He ignored all of them and brushed the end of the tendril against the contents of each cell, pulling them into his Soul Space.
There were almost half a thousand cells in total which meant it took Felix just a few minutes to soar down the hall and empty everything. Once he was done, he began charging up and attuning Mana as he rejoined Rel in the room with the mirrors.
He found Rel in the room, along with the shattered mirrors, that were now partially melted and scorched all over. Felix used his Soul tendrils to smash and shatter them even further then placed the device Wanderer’s Lab had created in the middle of the room and opened an Aether Tunnel for him and Rel to leave through.
With the device activated, he closed the Aether Tunnel then walked with Rel back towards the entrance to the palace where they were supposed to meet up with Kether and Aela.
They arrived there before Kether and Aela had left, even though they didn’t have anything to do and so they walked towards the manicured path that led up to the palace to wait. They stood off to the side of the path so they weren’t in the way as they watched the entrance of the palace and waited for their companions they had arrived with.
Before Kether or Aela arrived though, someone else exited the palace, Kerix Ryko.
Felix had been too transfixed before to do anything, and slightly worried he might alert someone but outside, he decided to risk an identification.
[Titan] Kerix Ryko
Wait… What?
Before Felix could even consider what that meant, Kerix turned and noticed him, made eye contact, then began walking towards him.
“You Felix?”
Felix was slightly taken aback by the overly casual tone but nodded nonetheless, “I am.”
He gestured off to his right, “Mist’s been talking about you a lot. Renson too.”
Looking over in the direction he gestured, Felix noticed Mist standing next to him for what felt like the first time that night.
Yes. She has been with him the entire time. Mark answered the question before Felix could even ask it.
Mist looked almost embarrassed as she smiled and bowed deeply towards Felix, a stark contrast to the typical shallow bows she offered him.
“You’re her father?”
He scoffed, “No.”
Mist looked even more embarrassed as she moved her mouth and jaw as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know what.
“I’m her…” He looked over at her for help but she didn’t even notice Kerix looking over at her, “Ancient ancestor?” He shrugged and turned back to Felix.
“Oh, apologies.” Felix bowed slightly.
“Kerix is the progenitor of the Ryko family…” Mist spoke softly, finally finding something to say.
Kerix, the evidently very old man, nodded, “Anyways. Nice to meet you. Good luck with your…” His eyes darted upwards in a very human expression of thought, “Adventures? Both tonight’s and in the future.” Making it very obvious he knew what Felix was doing at the gala that night.
Mist looked at him with a slightly confused glance but didn’t move anything more than her eyes, making it seem like this was both normal for him and she didn’t want to judge him given who he was.
Kerix raised his hand and lazily waved as he began walking away, “See you soon, challenger.”
Felix wanted to ask what that meant but didn’t stop the man.
After watching him walk down the path and away, Felix heard footsteps hurriedly walk over to them from the palace. He already knew who it was though so he turned to look at Rel who had been completely silent and she was as he expected, nearly catatonic.
“What did he say to you?” Kether asked.
“Who is he?” Aela added before he even had a chance to answer.
“He… said hello, I guess.” Felix shrugged.
Aela stared at him then poked Rel a moment later when he didn’t answer her question satisfactorily.
Rel didn’t seem to have returned to reality just yet but she managed to answer anyways, “Progenitor… Ryko…”
“He’s what?” Kether stepped forwards and loudly whispered.
“You can’t be serious.” Aela added.
She finally managed to shake herself free of her stupor and looked at them innocently, “It’s what he said.”
“Technically Mist said that.” Felix added.
“That’s the chick you play every dekad, right?” Kether asked.
“Yeah.” Felix nodded.
Move. Now. Varex cut in.
All of them returned to reality from their tangent and began walking down the path, away from the palace and back to their designated meeting spot in an abandoned building in Azura that Mortalbane had recently acquired.
They didn’t head back to Wanderer’s Lab in case they were followed and knew about the building through one of Felix’s Residents in Mortalbane. It was close by and nothing had been done with it yet, making it the perfect place to regroup.
The four of them arrived just slightly after Varex and the Residents with him did, according to Mark. Despite that, Varex immediately approached them seeming almost angry, “What happened? Why are you late?”
Aela sighed and looked at Kether who just shrugged. Varex, seemingly in disbelief he had to do so, looked at Rel who slightly jumped where she was standing, “Kerix said hi to us…”
“Who is Kerix?”
“Apparently,-” Kether shrugged, still in disbelief, “-he’s the Ryko progenitor.”
Varex frowned deeply and looked at Aela to see if he was serious. She just shrugged and nodded.
“Given the life spans of everyone in Azura, that can’t really be that surprising that he’s still around… right?” Felix looked around for an explanation.
“That he’s alive, no. Not at all.” Kether shook his head.
“That he’s still here on the other hand…” Aela added with a sigh.
“We thought all the progenitors had left…” Rel added, “I think… everyone thought that.”
“What’s the big deal if he hasn’t?”
“It’s not a big deal really it’s just…” Kether shrugged, “No one really knows anything about anyone from that long ago. It’s all so ancient that…”
“I thought they had all left, met the Acharaya long ago.” Aela sat down at one of the chairs that had been left behind by the building’s original owners.
“Why do you think he’s still here?” Rel asked.
“Who knows.” Kether shrugged, “Like I said, we know nothing about that time so…”
“You guys ever heard the term ‘Titan’ anywhere?” Felix asked.
Kether and Aela both shook their heads and shrugged.
“No, why?” Varex answered.
“No reason.” Felix shook his head, “Anyways, job went pretty much how we hoped.”
“Better.” Aela added, “We were never going to be much of a distraction but that Kerix guy…”
Kether chuckled, “Did you see Matriarch Rheka’s face when she heard the first distraction explosion?”
Aela smiled, “But she wasn’t willing to turn away from Kerix?” She nodded quickly, “Did you notice the way her eye started to twitch?”
“And her Spirit Armor stared to shiver?” Kether added excitedly.
“What about the planted evidence?” Felix asked one of the Residents in the room, a short woman wearing a tight black outfit with a hood covering most of her face, who had been with Varex.
She nodded, “All in place. No issues.”
They have just discovered their vault was emptied. Mark added.
Perfect. Reaction?
The Matriarch is trying to calm her children. They are fighting with each-other. Everything is as expected.
“Perfect.” Felix nodded, “I’ll split everything up through Wanderer’s Lab. Make sure you head there at some point in the next few dekads to see if there’s anything you want.”
“You sure about trying to compete with Rokrunor?” Aela seemed slightly nervous.
“If you want to withdraw and open an account elsewhere, you’re more than welcome to.” Felix answered, “For the time being, this is easier though.”
Kether shook his head, “Works for me. Less suspicious this way too than if we suddenly deposited massive amounts of ros.”
Aela sighed, “Yeah, I guess. How can I be sure it’ll be safe though? Rokrunor’s had eons to build a reputation…”
“Safe from what, thieves?” Kether teased.
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“First of all, your ros is stored in a sub space.” Felix answered, “It’s not even in this… universe. How many people in this realm do you think know how to access it?”
She opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out. Kether smirked and nudged her with his elbow, “Kid’s the entire reason we have this much ros anyways. What would you even do with it anyways?”
Aela shook her head and shrugged, “Nothing. It’s fine.”
Varex nodded, “Alright. Let’s get out of here.”
Felix nodded and opened an Aether Tunnel for him, Rel, Kether and Aela, and his Residents and himself.
Each one of them went somewhere different, Rel’s off into the back of Azura, Varex’s to the center, Kether and Aela’s back to The House of Promises and Felix and his Residents to Wanderer’s Lab.
Felix was the last to step through as he closed the Aether Tunnels behind everyone then left with his Residents to sort through and store the contents of their haul. Mark would keep track of how much each person had in their accounts which made them much closer to a real bank, from back on earth, with computerized systems to track everything.
They had other big plans in that department too but for the time being, they just stored and sorted through the items.
None of them were particularly interesting, though some did go to the Lab in Wanderer’s Lab to be dissected and researched, with everyone’s permission granted through the communication network first.
Once everything was stored away and sorted, which required Felix in case anything was trapped, he took his share of the ros and an empty room in the building. He didn’t take any more as every extra ros they collected, went into building up their bank and using it to compete with Rokrunor. Given all the plans his Residents had, they needed the ros now and it seemed like the best possible investment he could make.
Felix’s share of everything they had stolen went right into his Soul Avatar but the entire time he spent crafting and building it out, he was distracted. He looked inwards and compared his own Soul to Kerix and wondered about the gap between them.
A couple more rather normal days passed where the only slightly different thing that happened, was his new keeper pestering him about all the gossip surrounding the Ano Water Branch gala.
“Did you hear? The Earth Branch stole from the Water Branch and blew up half the place.”
“I don’t think it was half.” Felix responded.
“Well, close enough. I heard the Water Branch actually stole from the Earth Branch first. This was just retaliation.”
“Is that so?” Felix answered in the most uninterested tone he could muster.
“Yeah. Matriarch Rheka is just trying to keep them from starting an all out internal war.”
“Is she now?”
“Yup. Not only that, but the Fire and Air branches look like they’re going to get involved too.”
“Cool.”
“From what I’ve hear, the Air Branch is leaning towards siding with the Water Branch, which, I guess makes sense. Those Air Branch members are pretty against destruction and stuff so all those explosions the Earth Branch used probably made the decision for them…”
Felix only barely paid attention, and only for the sake of Mark and his Residents hearing what the current rumors were.
Luckily for him, that keeper lasted just as long as the rest and he was assigned someone completely new the very next day.
That keeper got to live, at least while they were with Felix, because the day after that, he had to head off to meet the Storm Sect in Vault Facility B5. His residents helped him locate exactly where that was on the large Storm Cloud that housed the Sect and Felix made sure to arrive early in the day, just in case they cared about that kind of thing.
The very same woman that had shadowed him as a keeper and invited him to the facility greeted him almost as soon as he arrived and led him into the building and towards a room with two chairs and a table. She sat across from him and gestured for him to take the other seat.
“Welcome to the Storm Sect Vault Facility B5. This is where we keep the first of the dangerous items that are indirectly and unintentionally potentially lethal.”
“Meaning not weapons. Items that are potentially lethal to the user, even when handled with care?”
“Correct. We have a number of Damned on staff but as you are likely aware, finding and managing Damned such that they last longer than a few epochs is an art. This is one of the reasons we are always seeking new Damned with potential.”
“I appreciate the interest.”
She nodded, “Today we will begin with some simple items with known dangers to determine your capabilities. Should you be deemed capable and trustworthy enough, you will be moved through the facilities all the way up to A1 should you prove yourself trustworthy.”
“So each Vault Facility is numbered and lettered then? A1 stores all the most dangerous and valuable things?”
She nodded, “Precisely. For the extent of your time here with us, I will act as your keeper.”
“Sounds good to me. Can we get started then or is there something else you need from me?”
“You will need to form a Soul Oath agreeing to protect our secrets. Do you agree to these terms?” Mac asked.
“Sure.” Felix shrugged, “How exactly do I do that?”
“Of course, challenger. I can act as the witness to the oath. You must declare a binding oath with your Soul and present that oath to me. Do you know how to do that?”
Before Felix could answer, Mark spoke directly to him, Some Residents have had to already. It is essentially a contract with yourself.
“I think so. Let me give it a try.”
She nodded and he looked inwards where he created a binding of Anima dedicated to keeping their secrets. Given the structure of his Soul though, he didn’t make it actually binding to himself and kept it outside of his Core Soular Space. He was hoping she would either be fooled or worst case, think he was just green and unaware.
Once it was done, he presented it to her by projecting that part of his Soul outwards and she immediately nodded very seriously, “We appreciate your dedication.”
Felix nodded.
What was that about?
The strength of the Oath. Yours is relative to your Soul Strength so it seemed like a very serious Oath to her.
Ah. Gotcha.
She immediately headed out of the room, wasting no time, and led Felix over to the first vault.
The vault itself was similar to the vaults in the Cumulo Tech building except that they seemed more durable. The doors that sealed each vault weren’t just thick and strong in material, but they were also warded much more thoroughly and intricately. The wards were even strong enough to completely block out Felix’s ability to feel anything through them, a noticeable improvement over the wards on the vaults in Cumulo Tech.
Stepping into the space between the two subsequent doors, Felix immediately noticed there was more than just the doors sealing the room, there was also a series of barriers created from a combination Mana and Anima Spell.
While the Mana parts were there, they weren’t particularly impressive, which was what Felix expected from the Realm. The Anima Spell that had been woven into it though was much more impressive. The way the two had been woven together was as good as Felix and his Residents could have accomplished, if they were limited to the same Mana Spell.
That made it so there was something there for him and his Residents to learn from, the Anima Spell, but it was being held back to the point where it was almost frustrating to see.
Stepping through the final physical door, Felix was a little disappointed by the first vault.
Inside was a simple long sword. He walked over and picked it up, already aware it was going to try and possess him as soon as he did. He swung it around a bit then placed it back on the small pedestal that had held it then turned back to his keeper who was still within the space between doors, behind the Anima-Mana barriers.
“It tries to possess the wielder.”
She nodded quickly, “How does it do this?”
Felix almost shrugged but stopped himself before doing so, “It tried to worm its way into my Soul?”
She nodded again, “How would you rate the strength with which it did so?”
Felix didn’t even know what unit of measure he was supposed to use to judge that on top of being so beyond the capabilities of its possession, that it was essentially impossible for him to judge it, “I’m sorry. I have no idea.”
She seemed a little disappointed but still nodded, once again, then led him to the next vault.
The next few vaults were equally as disappointing for Felix and seemingly Mac as well. They were either subtle or weak in how they tried to infect him and so, he didn’t have a great answer for her on how dangerous they were.
After those first few though, where Felix was seriously starting to wonder when she was going to kick him out, the power of the items began to rise. Within just a couple of those vaults, Mac stopped stepping into the vault at all and simply waited outside. He still wasn’t a great judge of their danger levels, but it was easier for him to make an assessment of them.
Then, they started to become more dangerous, exponentially. None were quite as bad as the Cursed mirror Mac had seen him assess at Cumulo Tech but they were noticeably stronger.
At the end of the day, Felix sat across from Mac in the same room he had first been led to and she smiled as she looked over the list of vaults they had visited, “I will submit these assessments tonight.”
Felix nodded.
She looked up at him, “I will see you tomorrow.”
“I passed then?”
She cocked her head, “This was not a test. It was an assessment. I did shadow you at Cumulo but I am still required to submit an assessment for the Vault Managers to form their own judgement. I was well aware you are largely incapable of assessing the strength of an item however, your ability to remain…”
“Living?” Felix offered.
“Yes, living is valuable in its own right. An initial assessment on strength, even an incredibly vague one is very valuable. It allows us to make a judgement as to which Damned to assign it to next. If we do not have to worry about your life or sanity, it saves us quite a bit of time.”
“Perfect. I was a bit worried after those first few vaults.”
She smiled, “What you did today was the standard assessment. It is a tree and depending on how you do in each one, the next vault is decided. The only way to properly fail, which is highly unlikely after having been scouted, is to consistently be incapable of surviving or assessing.”
“So people die then?”
“As I said, it is highly unlikely after being scouted. On top of that, the sword from the first vault is rather innocuous. It will cause you to laugh hysterically for about a day after which it wears off.”
“So you’re a recruiter then? A recruiter of Damned?”
“I am, and quite a good one at that, I believe.” She smirked slightly.
Felix smiled and nodded, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
She smiled and nodded then led Felix back to the lobby where he left the building and headed off to Wanderer’s Lab.
He spent the entirety of the night working with some of his specialized Residents in a lab dedicated to Spell research trying desperately to increase the damage of his Spells.
While he had the focus and Mana Pool to simply pump more Mana into his Spells, even using much more capable nodes and complex Spells he had found in the Dragon’s Library and throughout the system-verse, his Spells felt weak. They were strong enough that he would obliterate most of The Abyss when he returned, trivially surpassing both Romar and Zeraxes but he had seen Rel’s Spells and he knew about The Dragon.
They weren’t even close to either and therefore, they weren’t enough.
Even if he could just pump Mana into his Spells and possibly equal the overall destruction of Rel’s Spells, it wasn’t the same because hers had an aspect of penetrating defenses. The Concepts she used allowed her Spells to actually be effective in situation where Felix’s, even with multiple billions of points of Mana, wouldn’t.
Just a Concept alone weren’t enough either. It made his Spells stronger, but not quite in the same way even Tam’s Spells were. Her and Rel’s were integrated and woven together. He wasn’t even sure they knew what they were doing as both of them seemed to do so naturally. It was talent, not fundamental understanding, that led to their abilities.
Felix, right from the beginning, always focused on understanding and knowledge. So, he either had to figure it out or find someone to ask. The latter seemed impossible considering the level of knowledge around Mana and Spell work in the Realm, despite their significantly better Mana Control on average compared to the system-verse.
The next few days, Mac slowly introduced Felix to progressively stronger items in vaults and he continued to work with his Residents.
They managed to learn more about Spells and Mana forms each and every day as they dove into the intricate world of multidimensional Spells, living Spells and more, slowly discovering where each technique excelled and how best to combine them. They also began, partly out of frustration with what they were seeing, began to explore weaving Anima Spells, channels, nodes and patterns into traditional Mana Spells.
Just a few days later, he headed over to the Ryko residence he had been meeting Mist in every dekad for their regularly scheduled match. Except, it wasn’t just Mist waiting for him.
When he arrived at the residence, Renson Ryko greeted him at the door and led him in, as he always did. Instead of leading Felix to the same room though, he led him to more of a lounge room in the building with a table and two couches.
Sitting on the couch opposite the door, was Mist along with an older looking man with a very serious face and a permanently, wrinkle engraved frown.
[?] River Ryko (Lvl ?)
Felix took a seat on the couch opposite him and met his gaze, unsure if he was supposed to say something.
Mist, seemingly uncomfortable in the silence, addressed Felix, “Felix, this is my father, River.”
Felix bowed slightly from his seated position, “River. I am honored to meet you.”
He nodded slightly, “You have been playing my daughter for quite some time now. She often compares your play style to mine.”
The frown made it seem to Felix like he didn’t approve. His control over his Aura was also impressive meaning he wasn’t leaking anything, at least nothing Felix could detect.
Mist seemed almost embarrassed or guilty too but a moment later, River Ryko nodded once, “You will play me today.”
“I would be honored.” Felix answered.
River Ryko nodded then stood, leading Renson, Mist and Felix to a room Felix hadn’t seen before. It was almost identical to the one he and Mist had been using every dekad except that it was almost 4 times as wide in every direction. That made the arena in the center, truly massive.
Felix flew over to his side of the arena, opposite River, and stood there. River made no move to kneel or sit so Felix matched him and remained standing. He didn’t say anything and just stared Felix down but Felix immediately felt the Mana he pulled into the arena on his side.
Mirroring his input Mana in position and amount, Felix maintained the eye contact for as long as River would.
A moment passed before a blue light flashed from the ceiling, instead of the arena, and both of their Mana raced outwards from their starting locations.
The way Mist had spoken about her father’s abilities and playstyle, Felix had been excited to play him. Most of that came from the hopes that he would be a real challenge for Felix.
Luckily for him, Mist was right. Her father was far better than her and Felix was immediately thrown when he moved his Mana nearly as fast as Felix could.
The arena was rather simple, with pillars randomly placed throughout and River’s opening move was to split his Mana into four and weave each piece around the pillars as fast as he could towards Felix’s side.
Felix on the other hand, split his Mana into 16, trusting his will power would overcome River’s quantity.
They met right at the middle of the arena where River began splitting merging and smashing his Mana up against Felix’s in one of the most aggressive matches he had ever played. He didn’t try to sneak by or loop around or really form any complex strategy, he just smashed his Mana against Felix’s repeatedly.
Having split his Mana into 16, Felix created barriers with a quarter of his total Mana and used the rest to race towards River’s side where the goals were.
Once Felix was just a quarter of the arena away from winning, River immediately switched tactics and grouped all his Mana together then launched it forwards with more speed than he had shown so far. In fact, his Mana Control was faster than Felix’s at that speed.
Seeing where he was going, Felix wasn’t sure if he was trying to fake Felix out or something because he was heading straight for a pillar.
Mist’s father didn’t deviate from his path at all though and just kept pushing it until it smashed into the pillar and astonishingly to Felix, through it. On the other side Felix mounted a defense with a barrier and slowed it down but the Mana River was controlling wasn’t just Mana anymore, he had infused it with something between a Concept and a Conviction of pure power.
It kept accelerating, due to the Concept of Speed he had imbued into the back side of his Mana creation and Felix retaliated by grouping as much Mana as he could together and pushing plain, raw Anima into it. He didn’t have the control or practice to imbue a Concept or Conviction as quickly as he would need to so, he didn’t.
Felix didn’t just control his Mana, he braced the barrier against nearby pillars with Mana creating something that looked like a trampoline or a cloth held on with a spider web.
He continued staring into River’s eyes as his Mana creation raced towards Felix’s, the both of them desperate to see what would happen when they hit.
Right as they were about to though, the light above Felix’s side of the arena flashed green and River released his control on his Mana, letting it splash harmlessly against Felix’s barrier.
He clenched his jaw at the loss and bowed, “You are as capable as my daughter claims.”
Felix returned the bow, “Thank you. I was very much looking forward to this match. You did not disappoint.”
Despite looking like he was angry, he nodded quickly, “Again?”
Felix returned the nod and his Mana to his side as the arena reconfigured itself slightly though, it just relocated and replaced the pillars, it didn’t fundamentally change the layout.
This time, River doubled the amount of Mana he had in the arena and Felix matched it.
They played similarly to their first match except this time, when River’s Mana began smashing itself against Felix’s at the center of the arena, Felix felt a weird pull on his Mana right before a red light flashed above River’s side of the arena.
River immediately released his Mana, “Stupid arena-”, and turned on his daughter angrily, “When did you increase the sensitivity on this thing?”
She seemed unable to form words as she held up her hands innocently. Felix wasn’t entirely sure what was happening but Renson’s giggling from off to the side of the room drew his attention.
Renson noticed him looking, “River is a dirty cheater.”
River glared at the man.
Renson held his hands up in defense, “He’s very good at Mana War. He’s also a cheat that will try to get away with anything.”
River scoffed and turned back to the arena, “What’s the point. Why do we call it war if you aren’t willing to do anything to win.”
“I’m okay with turning off the cheat detection if you want.” Felix offered.
River’s eyes widened and he offered the first smile since Felix had met the man, though it was just a slight smile, “You continue to impress.”
Mist sighed and walked over to the side of the arena where she configured something then stood back up to watch.
What followed were hours of Felix and River trying desperately to out cheat each-other. River was far more experienced with cheating at Mana War though and he managed to win quite a few matches. The first was when he slipped a small piece of his own Soul into the Mana he started with. That Anima poured into Felix’s Mana and hindered his control over it.
Felix managed to win by pulling Mana into the arena from directly within one of River’s goals, the furthest one, which seemed to impress the man given the range.
They both seemed to have some kind of unspoken agreement though where they didn’t reuse the same method of cheating that either one of them had used so they had to continually come up with more creative methods every match.
Despite his initially sour expression and demeanor, by the end of the day River was yelling and screaming obscenities in every match, which Renson found hilarious and Mist embarrassing. It didn’t bother Felix in the slightest especially since none of it seemed to be directed at him and River kept insisting that they play again.
Finally though, hours beyond when Mist and Felix usually stopped playing, Renson had to cut them off, “Felix. We appreciate your time.”
Felix nodded and stepped away from the arena, “I appreciate the matches. I had a lot of fun.”
River grumbled before collecting himself and nodding to Felix, “We will have to play again soon.”
“I would like that.”
As Renson led him out of the building, Mist offered Felix a look that seemed to be apologetic and grateful at the same time.
There was little time left before he had to head back to the Storm Vault facility so Felix headed straight there and simply waited in the lobby. As he did, he began to practice replicating what River had done with Concepts of Speed and Power imbued into his Mana to move it faster. It wasn’t a completely novel concept to Felix but it wasn’t something he had practiced much as he had been more focused on weaving the Concept into the output of the Spell rather than the Spell itself.
With a Fireball, he tried to imbue the Concept of Fire into the bead that launched out of the Spell. What River was doing was more akin to imbuing the Concept into the channels, patterns and nodes.
Felix wasn’t sure it would have much practical use in Spell work but he practiced anyways, if only to play and beat River the next time.
Everyday he slowly progressed his reputation within the Storm Sect Vaults and worked with Wanderer’s Lab to experiment with his Spells as they worked to prepare the next heist. For the time being though, they were mostly letting things play out between the Earth Branch and Water Branch of the Ano family.
They also needed to be ready for the next heist.
No matter who they hit, even if they hit the Water or Earth Branches again, everyone would know there was a thief or group of thieves at play. That meant they needed to be completely ready to hit everyone they needed to hit, despite the new defenses they were going to be putting into place.
On top of that, if there wasn’t someone to blame or a thorough trail of clues to follow, they would be caught immediately since everyone would be looking for them.
That meant they were all lying low for the time being.
The next dekad came and went with Felix going from work to the Lab until he had another scheduled match with Mist.
Arriving at the residence, he was disappointed when Renson led him to the original room with Mist instead of the larger room, which mean River wasn’t there. He hid his disappointment well, he assumed, since Mist didn’t seem to notice or mention it and her Aura Control was rather unimpressive.
After a few matches in near silence, Mist finally started a conversation, “We did not have a chance to discuss the gala last dekad when my father was here.”
Felix looked up at her and nodded, “What about it?” Unsure what she meant.
“You encountering me with…” She seemed reluctant to use his name, “Kerix.”
He looked at her for a moment with confusion, unsure what she was trying to get at.
“It’s just… I am not normally… I do not often spend time with Kerix. Not even not often, that was the first time in fact I…”
Felix nodded, “Okay.”
She sighed, “He was simply curious about my interest in Mana War and…”
“I think I’m missing something.”
“You…” She looked at him curiously, “… are a challenger. I understand. Apologies. Please disregard what I was saying.”
She seemed almost relieved but now Felix was more curious than anything, “What were you trying to say.”
She looked up at him then sighed, “It’s just… Kerix’s presence here is not very well known at least, not as the progenitor but… those that know of him… he has a reputation as a… man of many women.”
“Ah.” Felix nodded, “Understood. He’s the progenitor of your family right? Doesn’t that just mean he keeps the family growing?”
She shook her head, “He hasn’t sired a child in eons, ever since he started the Ano family.”
Felix snorted mostly in surprise, “That’s why he was visiting the matriarch at the gala. Catching up?”
Mist shrugged, “I do not presume the progenitor’s intentions.”
He nodded.
“Largely because they are unpredictable and always nonsensical.” She added under her breath causing Felix to chuckle.
She smiled and they continued playing for the rest of the day as she probed him with small talk.
It took just over 3 dekads from the gala for the Residents to have everything for the next heist prepared. Over that time, the Water and Earth branches of the Ano family began publicly messing with each-other in the most petty ways possible because anything more serious would anger Matriarch Rheka.
So, they began essentially playing pranks on each-other. Spraying each-other with water in public, stealing small things from each-other, poisoning food, salting drinks and starting rumors.
At the same time, Felix’s Residents were setting up an elaborate plot throughout the city.
The next heist was against Mortalbane, the hunter’s company.
Their head quarters encompassed one of the smaller clouds in the city which, was still massive, it was just relatively smaller than the others. On it, there was a headquarter building along with a number of branch offices which, according to the Residents that had infiltrated them, were closer to lounges and guild halls than offices.
The complexity of the heist, was that they needed to hit multiple vaults at once. Each branch office had its own vault in addition to a central vault in the main office.
There was no chance they could hit them each one by one so, they had to hit them all at once.
In order to hit all the vaults at once, there was a fair bit of preparation to be done. Mainly, Felix needed to both open and maintain 74 simultaneous Aether Tunnels. As much as Felix had grown over the course of his time in the Realms, he had neither the focus nor the Mana to do that, or even the Mana Control to manipulate that much Mana at once.
What they could do however, was create a machine that would do it for him. Then, all he had to do, was Tunnel the machine into the correct location and reach through it with his Soul Tendrils.
On the day of the heist, Felix had already prepared himself by lengthening and multiplying his Tendrils until he had many more. The machine was finished by his Residents and everyone was where they needed to be.
In some ways, it was the most complicated heist so far with all the moving pieces and Residents behind the scenes. In other ways, it was the simplest. All Felix had to do was open an Aether Tunnel then stand perfectly still.
Stepping through to the other side, Felix’s Residents moved the machine through and set it up while Felix began preparing another Aether Tunnel of his own. They set the machine up in the middle of the Mortalbane district of the city to minimize the length of the Aether Tunnels which made them more stable.
Normally, that wasn’t a problem because Felix was the one opening it. This time though, it was a machine and the Mana they were using, was less than stable.
As he waited, Felix’s attention was drawn in a seemingly random direction. He couldn’t tell how far they were as they were well beyond the range of his senses but, Felix could feel Kerix’s attention on him.
What’s going on? You aren’t moving. Varex asked through the communication network facilitated by Mark.
It’s Kerix. He’s watching us.
What? What do you mean ‘he’s watching’? Kether asked.
I don’t know where he is but he’s paying attention to us right now.
Shit. Alright, how long to take the Machine apart? Varex asked without letting any of his anger leak into his question.
No. We can keep going. I don’t think he cares. He’s just… curious. Felix understood the oddity of what he was saying.
You sure? Kether asked.
Yeah. He knew about the gala too.
Wait- Kether started.
We don’t have time for this. Later. Varex cut him off.
The Residents managed to set everything up in a matter of minutes, which was faster than they had hoped. Then, Felix got into the machine which looked like a large sphere made of rings and opened the Aether Tunnel he had been preparing. The Tunnel opened up to a location on the farthest end of the realm and through it, Felix began pulling a massive stream of Mana.
It was where the Residents had finally managed to open a mostly stable hole into the Aether, similar to the one they had tried to use on The Dragon.
All Felix had to do, was stabilize the Mana and pump it into the machine which was something he had more than enough focus and control for.
It took a few minutes for the machine to charge up, which meant collecting enough Mana to open 74 Aether Tunnels at once. For stability reasons though, it didn’t open 74 at once, instead it staggered the openings slightly to reduce the transient load on the entire system.
So, Aether Tunnels began to open one by one around Felix and each time one did, he reached through with a tendril, smashed through whatever Spiritual defenses there were in the vaults, and sucked up everything he could find. Then he closed the tunnel manually as soon as he was finished.
The process made it so they weren’t actually hitting them all simultaneously but, it was still the safest option. Sending in 74 individual thieves was too complicated and error prone given all the potential points of failure and moving parts. Plus, Felix thought using a machine to Aether Tunnel into 74 vaults was far more interesting.
As much as it was safer though, it still had a lot of moving parts and so, it was likely something would fail.
Felix was just happy it wasn’t the machine they had created to maintain the Tunnels. Instead, it was something much easier to solve.
One by one, the various Tunnels closed. Once there was only one left, Felix manually detached the Spell from the machine and adopted it himself. Then, he opened an Aether Tunnel back to the empty building they had designated and his Residents began to dismantle and move the machine.
As they did so, he used his Devourer’s Rings to morph into Arthur then, he hopped through the last Tunnel, the one that had given him problems.
Just a few moments later, he closed both the remaining Tunnels as his Residents had fully moved the machine.
Then, he used his connection to Nova to target her and summon her from an Aether Tunnel. She was more than excited to help and even more excited, when he communicated to her that he needed her to get through the vault door.
Initially, the plan had been for the Aether Tunnel to simply open inside the vault. When it hadn’t done that, Felix fully intended on reopening it himself but before he did, he felt something else at play. The Aether Tunnel hadn’t missed, it was blocked.
The vault wasn’t the main branch vault but rather a vault in one of the various offices of Mortalbane.
Either an item inside it, or the vault itself, was somehow warded against them getting in. Since Felix and his Residents were nearly certain no one in Azura could do anything related to Spatial magic, he knew it had to be an item they had stored inside. There was no chance Felix was letting an item like that get away from him so, he and Nova began burrowing through the thick vault door.
Nova focused on the physical door while Felix overwhelmed and dismantled wards and protections one by one.
They spent minutes breaking through the door and given they had already hit every other vault, Felix knew Mortalbane was aware of him which was why, he was using his Persona as a disguise.
Just as they were left with less than an inch left, Felix felt a number of presences quickly approaching. He smashed through the last of the Spiritual defenses of the vault then turned around and rushed to meet them.
Flying down the stairs were 6 individuals, 2 men, 3 women and a beast of some kind.
While Felix was much stronger than he had been, he wasn’t even sure how he’d hold up in a fight against one citizen of Azura, let alone 6 at once.
So, he didn’t fight them.
The beast reached him first and Felix grabbed it with his Soul Tendrils and smacked it into the wall, which only worked because the beast was a Soul Projected Avatar.
Then, he dropped a quick Force Spell to push everyone away, including himself, and ran back towards the vault that Nova had finally gotten through.
Reaching in with his Soul Tendrils, Felix scooped up the contents that were left behind along with Nova, now that she had grabbed whatever had been blocking him before, and stuck everything in his Soul Space.
Turning back to the entrance to the room, Felix just waved at the guards as they charged him.
Before any of them could reach him, Felix vanished from the room, using one of the first Spatial Translocations he had used in a long time.
As soon as he reappeared, Felix pulled Nova back out of his Soul Space and had her spit up everything she had managed to grab, just in case.
For the most part, the items were what Felix had expected. There were less mundane items because more of it was from dungeon loot and the company was a hunting company. Overall though, the items weren’t much more interesting than those from the Water or Earth Branch Vaults except, for the item that had blocking Felix from Tunneling into the vault directly.
He immediately picked the ring out of the pile and inspected it.
[?] ?
[Ring]
???
Lovely.
While the ring had a similar identification as Grim had had, the ring felt different to Felix. It felt less like some alien object from another universe but rather, it felt more like the System couldn’t identify the ring. At least, that was his assumption based on what he could and couldn’t do with the ring.
Being the Damned he was, Felix dutifully placed the ring on his finger to see what it did.
As soon as it was on his finger, Felix almost panicked.
He could still hear, see, smell and feel the air around him. At the same time, it didn’t feel like he was still where he was a moment ago. The Aether and Ambient Anima all around him was completely different.
To get a better sense of it’s purpose, Felix stuck the ring on Nova’s paw, after having her shrink down a bit. As soon as it was on, he couldn’t feel her anymore. Their connection was still there and he could feel her through that but no longer could he feel her presence in front of him.
So the ring is… messing with the Ambient Anima and Aether to hide the wearer’s presence completely? Felix smirked, Peace is going to be shocked when I return and instead of having the loudest presence in the room, my presence no longer exists. Anyways, not the most useful thing but, better than nothing.
If it had blocked all Spatial effects, it would have far more useful but once he had a better idea of how it worked, Felix knew that instead, it was just messing with the Aether directly around it which made Aether Tunneling specifically impossible. Wearing the ring, he could still Spatially Translocate himself, just not Aether Tunnel.
What the ring did do however, was get Felix’s hopes up for what he was going to find in the other vaults.