The dialogue between the two persisted through the night and into dawn, at which point Lew noted it was time to depart. Bones expressed his gratitude for Lew's patience and the extensive information about his mission. Lew provided guidelines on how to behave and respond if anyone inquired about Bones' background and other related matters. Though they spent the night talking, Lew remained mysterious to the end, his figure cloaked in shadow even to Bones' heightened senses. He maintained a composed demeanor, exuding knowledge and confidence befitting a vampire noble, a topic they had discussed. It was only after they exited the cottage by leaping out the window that Bones could finally discern the features of the half-vampire's face.
Lew appeared youthful, seemingly in his thirties, with ashen hair neatly tied back in a ponytail and striking yellow eyes. His presence as a third-tier was completely concealed, showcasing his absolute control over mana.
"Follow me," Lew instructed, and with a light step, he vanished from sight, reappearing dozens of meters away and signaling for Bones to keep up. Bones strained his body to match Lew's pace until they stopped three kilometers away.
"We're here," Lew announced as Bones arrived. Before them lay a valley encircled by hills, with the city of Valencia nestled within, surrounded by high walls. Outside the walls, hundreds of abandoned and ruined structures emitted growling and snarling sounds from all directions. Bones took a moment to absorb the sight of an imposing cathedral towering over everything in the distance, then asked, "Ghouls?"
"And vampire spawn. The outskirts are teeming with them."
"And the entrance is...?"
"Right there," Lew pointed to one of the abandoned houses in the distance.
"Of course it is," Bones sighed, already contemplating how to reach it without alerting the guards patrolling the city walls.
"What are you pondering?" Lew asked, noticing Bones' silence and deep thought.
"I was considering a way to get down there without causing a commotion."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Lew assured him with a grin.
"What do youuuu-" Bones began, but Lew firmly grabbed him by the back and leaped off, leaving Bones' words hanging in the air. Lew landed with a slight crouch, covering a distance of over thirty meters in a single bound, then immediately took off; his blurred form moved silently between houses, leaving beheaded corpses of any ghouls or vampire spawn in his path.
Within seconds, Lew reached their destination, closing the door behind him before releasing his grip on Bones. Disoriented, Bones wobbled over and leaned against the wall to regain his balance.
"You should've— you should've warned me you were going to do that," Bones remarked. Lew apologized, saying it was the quickest and easiest way to reach their destination, but couldn't hide the mischievous smile; he had enjoyed teasing Bones.
"This is where we part ways," he said, then pried open a wooden hatch on the floor, revealing an underground entrance.
Before Bones descended through the hatch, Lew reminded him to report to Frank when he wished to conclude the mission. Frank would then inform Lew, who would arrange a meeting back at the cottage. Lew hadn't disclosed how they communicated over long distances. Bones nodded, saying, "I'm going," before disappearing into the tunnel. With a wave of his hand, Lew closed the hatch, then vanished without a trace.
The tunnel was pitch black without torches, and Bones relied on his mana sense to navigate the mostly straight path, with a turn every fifty meters or so. After about ten minutes, he reached the tunnel's end, which connected to a well. Bones approached the exit and peered down at the water level a meter below him. He then glanced upwards at the well's exit six meters above. A worn rope hung to his right. He tested its durability by pulling on it a few times, then began climbing. Peeking out of the circular stone wall, he noted he was in a house's backyard. Bones hoisted himself over the wall and quietly approached the house.
Lew had been the last occupant, and the house was empty in his absence, but Bones involuntarily sneaked around as if planning to break in. He even transformed his finger into a key, inserted it into the keyhole, and shaped it until it fit perfectly. With a slight turn, the door opened with a creak, indicating it hadn't been locked.
Bones stepped inside and shut the door softly behind him. He scanned the room before venturing further, making sure he was truly alone despite not detecting any presence. Outside, the street teemed with life. Bones peered through the window, watching for several minutes as crowds trudged toward work with slumped shoulders and dragging feet. For his first day, he decided to keep a low profile and acquaint himself with the area. He discovered clothes in the closet that Lew had left for him and changed into them. He spent the remaining few hours until evening jotting down notes, making plans, and studying the city map. The house was located near the city wall, while the closest warehouse—the target of his mission—was a thirty-minute walk away.
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"This will do for now." Bones put away the map and his notes. There was only so much he could learn while staying inside. As night fell, it was time to explore the city.
Bones was accustomed to streetlights brightening the roads, people mingling in open bars, and shops still operating, but Valencia was eerily silent, cold, and dark. Torches were spaced every hundred meters, and occasionally, a hurried passerby would cross his path. The city had a curfew enforced by patrolling soldiers, so Bones took to the side streets, sneaking around and sticking close to walls and corners until the warehouse came into view. Two guards stood at the front, and two more patrolled around it. Bones considered approaching from above but noticed a significant challenge: no buildings in the vicinity were taller than the warehouse.
"Should I ambush the patrolling guards, knock them out, and slip inside?" Bones considered his chances of getting caught and swiftly abandoned the idea. "No, stick to the plan..." Taking care not to draw attention, Bones retraced his steps to the house and waited until daylight. Early in the morning, same as the day before, a crowd of people passed the house and this time, Bones joined them. Slowly the crowd started to disperse, people heading toward their workplace.
Bones merged with the crowd heading toward the warehouse, seizing the chance to use Soul Magic on each individual to gauge their emotions. The flood of feelings was overwhelming, but one emotion stood out sharply: misery. It was carved into their expressions and pale faces. It wasn't just the group he trailed; others too appeared drained, as if their will to live had been sapped. When the crowd arrived at the warehouse, Bones veered off and observed from a distance as workers muttered something to the guard at the entrance before entering.
Leaning against the wall at the corner of the side street with a clear view of the warehouse, Bones waited for twelve hours until the workers began to exit.
"Finally!" Bones exclaimed aloud, his patience wearing thin. He wasn't suited for this kind of surveillance work, and the thought of repeating it the next day pushed him to proceed with his initial plan. He watched the workers passing by and identified his target, a figure he had previously sensed was the weakest and most vulnerable. Bones maneuvered through the crowd until he was near his target. He then used Soul Gaze to destabilize the target, causing him to nearly fall. Bones appeared just in time to offer a helping hand, assisting the man to regain his balance while steering him into a secluded alley, out of sight.
Bones wasted no words of comfort before placing his hand on the man's forehead and using Haunting Touch. The man's body convulsed, his eyes rolling back to show only the whites, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. It was the first time Bones had used this skill on an ordinary person, and the effect was too much for the man to endure. Blood began to flow from his orifices, and his body went limp within twenty seconds. Bones extracted enough information to impersonate the man but was still stunned that the skill had killed him outright.
He removed the man's uniform, stored the body in his inventory, and then used Camouflage to transform his appearance to that of his victim: a man in his fifties with short brown hair, sunken gray-blue eyes, and a gray mustache.
Bones now had everything he needed to infiltrate the warehouse. Early the next morning, he joined other workers and provided the guard with the name Dalton Waller and his unique worker ID, 2179, before entering the warehouse. Inside, rows of high shelves were filled with boxes of varying sizes.
"Hurry up, or we’ll be late!" barked one of the workers who had come in after Bones. He glanced at the man, nodded, and kept moving, navigating a short passageway linking the first hall to the second. There, a man in a differently colored uniform approached and directed him to the assembly line in the second hall. Bones noticed another passage at the far end of the second hall, likely leading to yet another area, but his immediate priority was to work the line!
He was assigned to a line with an automated track through which industrial materials were transported from the third hall to the second. His job was to separate materials according to instructions and send them via another automated track to the assembly line a bit further away, where, Bones surmised, assembled materials were then sent to the first hall and stored in boxes on the shelves.
The job was monotonous, and every three hours, workers would switch lines. After separating materials, Bones worked on an assembly line and was then transferred to the third hall, where he saw two railroads separated by a platform and a transport carriage on one track awaiting cargo. For the rest of the shift, Bones loaded cargo transported via trolleys from the first hall onto the carriage. At the end of the day, the transport carriage left the warehouse; its destination unknown, and Bones felt asking would raise suspicion.
After leaving the warehouse, workers dispersed, most heading toward the nearest pub, while Bones had other plans. He circled the streets and found a remote spot away from the warehouse where he hopped over the fence and followed the tracks. There were no stops, and the tracks led directly to another warehouse he had marked on the city map, an hour's walk away. Like the first warehouse, the second one had security patrolling and guards stationed at the front entrance.
After noting where the tracks led, Bones made himself scarce, hopping over the protective fence and taking a different route home as the curfew was hours away. Once inside, he jotted down his findings and planned his next course of action. There was no point in spending another day working in the warehouse, to his relief. The tracks led to another warehouse, and if his assumption was correct, there would be more tracks leading from the second to the third warehouse.
The following day, Dalton Waller didn't show up for work. Instead, Bones headed to the third warehouse and introduced himself as a temporary transfer. The attending supervisor asked for transfer papers, which Bones, apologizing, explained he had left at his previous workplace. He promised to bring them first thing the next morning. The supervisor showed him to his workstation but remained vigilant, keeping a close eye on Bones.
It didn’t take long for the supervisor to notice Bones’ inexperience and grow suspicious. Grumbling, he walked over to the guard, the two exchanged words, and then the guard left. Bones knew it was only a matter of time before the guard returned and his deception was uncovered. After changing lines for the third time, Bones was placed in the third hall, where his suspicions were validated. He encountered another series of railways and transport carriages awaiting cargo. This time, Bones didn't stay until the end of the shift. While the others were occupied with their tasks and the supervisor's attention was diverted, Bones, or rather Dalton Waller, vanished without a trace.