Ezra jumped up and scurried onto the ceiling in a spread-eagle position. Dumrivil dashed into one of the cabinets and closed it gently. A moment later, Villscha stepped into the room along with a cloaked man. Villscha took a seat at his desk. The man pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the desk.
Ezra’s eyes widened. Over the top of the man’s head…
There was nothing. No levels, no status, nothing.
“How’s your back?” the man said.
Villscha gave a languid smirk.
“Hellish, but you know that,” Villscha said. “Anyway, the operation is proceeding as planned. Our associates in Thornbrook and Rivermead are ready to move forward.”
The man in the cloak nodded. “Excellent. And how’s the guild here?”
Villscha paused for a split second. “Under control. No one suspects a thing.”
“Is that so?” the man said. “I’ve heard rumors of some kind of One-Eyed mercenary.”
Villscha chuckled.
“He’s of no importance. Nothing but exaggerations, I assure you,” he said.
“Really? Didn’t he take out that serpent you spent so much time working on?”
“A prototype.”
The cloaked man leaned back in his chair. Despite Villscha sitting higher, it felt as if the cloaked man was looming over him.
Ezra adjusted his position a bit. Thank god for [Cat’s Grace]. Even so, how long would they stand there for? With every second that passed, the probability increased that they’d look up and everything would go to hell.
“Hold on for just a minute,” Filamenta said. “I can fix this.”
She crawled away from Ezra’s shoulder and along the roof.
“F-Filamenta?” Ezra whispered. “Wait, where are you going?”
She scurried into a crack in the wall. What was she thinking? He might need her if this turned into a fight.
“Well,” Villscha said. “I’ve been working with you for a while. Have I finally earned the favor of you-know-who?”
“No.”
Villscha pursed his lips.
“I cannot continue to do this for much longer if you insist on treating me like a mere associate, rather than the ally I am.”
The cloaked man stood up. “You will do exactly what you’re called to do. No more, no less.”
Villscha tensed and seemed to reach for something in his drawer.
The man in the cloak leaped over the table and slammed Villscha against the painting. Villscha let out a strained cry and threw a punch into the cloaked man’s face. The man did nothing in response.
“How dare you!?” Villscha screeched. “I’m your ally, damn it!”
“Don’t you dare pull a weapon on me,” the cloaked man said. “I’ve dealt with kings and emperors. You’re nothing compared to them. If you try anything like this again, I’ll snap your neck—“
Ezra adjusted his position. A shard of wood crunched under his grip.
The cloaked man tensed.
Ezra’s heart rate shot up. He jumped forward, near the painting.
The cloaked man looked back where Ezra had been. He stared at the ceiling for a bit before shrugging and turning toward Villscha.
“Anyway,” the man said. “Let me make something clear. You work for us. You’re lucky that you’re even alive, let alone that we’ve supported you as much as we have. I’m half-tempted to cut support, just to see what’ll happen.”
“W-wait! We can talk about this like civilized men, surely!”
The cloaked man stepped back, letting Villscha fall to the ground with a thump. Villscha looked up and glared at the cloaked man before stumbling to his feet.
“I believe that I should get back to work,” Villscha said. “If you would be so kind…?”
The cloaked man stared at Villscha for a moment, then turned and circled the desk. He walked over to the door and then stopped.
“You know, you really should take care of your security,” the cloaked man said.
Villscha stiffened.
“What are you talking about?”
“Why, I’m talking about—“
The door burst open, Prise standing in front of it. Her eyes were wide and unsteady. She glanced up at Ezra, then back down. On her shoulder, Filamenta was sitting innocuously.
“Prise? What the hell are you doing in my office?” Villscha said.
“Sir, there’s an… umm… emergency! Something about a protocol change you made? A bunch of adventurers are at my desk, they want answers!”
Villscha crossed his arms. “You couldn’t have told them to screw off?”
“No, sir.”
Villscha sighed and stood up. He nodded at the man in the cloak.
“Apologies, I need to take care of this,” Villscha said.
“I should get going as well. My employer will wish to hear of… recent developments. Good day, Villscha.”
Villscha stepped out of the room. The man in the cloak trailed behind. He stopped right at the doorframe.
“Physically,” the man said. “Your abilities are quite impressive. However, you have yet to touch on the finer elements. Work on that, hm?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
He stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him. Ezra’s hands ungripped and he tumbled to the floor… at least, that’s what normally would’ve happened. Instead, his feet shot out automatically and he landed perfectly. Dumrivil stepped out of the closet, his face pale. He gripped his chest and looked at the ground.
“He knew we were there,” Dumrivil said. “I don’t know how, but he knew exactly where we were.”
Ezra grimaced. Dumrivil was right. The guy had been talking to Ezra directly with that last comment.
“But why did he not out us?” Ezra said.
Dumrivil stood straight and looked at the shut door.
“Their relationship doesn’t seem very strong, based on that conversation,” Dumrivil said. “Could it be that he’s looking to sabotage Villscha?”
“But why? They’re working together.”
Dumrivil sighed and turned his head toward the painting. “I don’t know, Ezra. But we’re running out of time. They’re planning something.”
“We have access to one of those facilities now. I think it’s about time we conduct ourselves a little raid.”
----------------------------------------
“Wait, you don’t have the [Hunt] skill?” Nobinar said.
After Dumrivil and Ezra left the office, they agreed to make the raid in a week, giving them time to work on any necessary skills. Filamenta took this opportunity to demand that Ezra learn the [Hunt] skill. She’d been waiting for him to get his rear end into gear and start picking skills up, but since he wasn’t, it was up to her.
Ezra knew that he owed her for bringing Prise in, so he decided to do what the little spider demanded. Besides, he probably did need [Hunt]. If he required rare materials from a monster for whatever reason, that skill would be essential.
Of all the people in the guild, the only one he even knew somewhat well besides Dumrivil was Nobinar, making him the inevitable choice.
Of course, that didn’t make it any less awkward when Ezra asked for help.
“I’ll owe you a favor, of course,” Ezra said. “I don’t intend to just get it for free.”
Nobinar held up a gauntleted hand. “No, One-Eye, I’m not going to ask for that, I’m just a bit confused. With your powers and abilities, I’m shocked you don’t already have the skill.”
Ezra pursed his lips and crossed his arms. “Look, it’s a long story, and one I don’t want to get into. Are you willing to help me or not?”
Nobinar shrugged and agreed to assist Ezra.
As it turned out, getting skills wasn’t normally done via the System. Most skills were obtained via teaching. For about an hour in the afternoon, Nobinar taught him how to quarter meat. Nobinar had been noticeably confused when Ezra’s first several kills ended up evaporating into ash. Apparently, that wasn’t normal behavior for monsters.
Ezra eventually figured out that Filamenta was the cause—not only that, but it didn’t kick in when working with non-monster meat. Not that he shared that with Nobinar, of course. The man was still hopelessly confused as to what was happening with Ezra.
Ezra’s working theory was that part of the reason for the enhanced growth that he’d been getting was due to this evaporation. Filamenta was essentially absorbing monster essence. Of course, there were several holes in his theory, such as the fact that he’d ‘absorbed’ that boss monster’s essence, but ended up with nothing as a result. Plus, why monsters? Why not creatures in general? When he’d killed those people, they didn’t evaporate into ash.
Nonetheless, Ezra made rapid progress in his attainment of [Hunt]. After four days, he had the skill sitting in his inventory.
[Hunt] - Lv. 1
With each level of [Hunt], the user’s innate sense of tracking, stalking, and defeating prey sharpens. The skill improves the quantity and quality of drops from defeated enemies, including rare materials, artifacts, and resources. Higher levels may also unlock unique bonuses such as higher chances for legendary or enchanted loot, as well as increased effectiveness when tracking elusive or powerful targets.
Ezra spends the next three days leveling up his other skills in addition to [Hunt]. By the time he was done, he was up to 5 on [Hunt], 40 in [Needle Mastery], 35 in [Ranged Needle Mastery], and 12 in [Bind]. For a moment or two, he tried to get [Cat’s Grace] to level up until he remembered that it was a MAX skill. Filamenta had actually been pleased with his progress, which was nice.
Also, Ezra finally took a shower. Prise had cornered him and said that he was making her sick. He ended up wandering over to a river and swimming with his clothing to clean it off. Monster blood floated back to the city, causing people to start a rumor about someone dying in the river, which was funny. He let his clothes dry out on a nearby tree and just soaked for an hour.
Eventually, he got a letter from Dumrivil in his bedroom, which was all sorts of disturbing but whatever. It gave him a time and location.
The two met up and Dumrivil didn’t waste any time. He pointed in the direction that they had to go to, and they set off on their journey.
Of course, it couldn’t last. Dumrivil had to start a conversation.
“So… how have you been?” Dumrivils said.
The two were jogging west, the sun hitting their backs. Ezra adjusted his jacket and pursed his lips.
“Fine,” he said.
“You took a bath,” Dumrivil said. “I was kind of surprised to see that, honestly.”
“Well, Prise wouldn’t shut up about it. Even Filamenta commented.”
“Filamenta?”
Filamenta waved a spider leg in the air toward Dumrivil. He jumped to the side, his eyes wide.
“One-Eye, there’s a spider on your shoulder!” Dumrivil said.
“I know. Rather unfortunate, isn’t it?”
“Oh, quiet,” Filamenta faced Dumrivil. “Dumrivil, I’m Filamenta. I’m E—One-Eye’s partner and ally.”
Dumrivil blinked. “Huh. Didn’t take you to be the familiar type, One-Eye. I thought you’d rather die than have to deal with something like that.”
Ezra grumbled and scrunched up his nose. “It wasn’t by choice.”
“That’s a story you’ll have to tell me sometime. Anyway, Filamenta, was it? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Finally, someone with manners,” Filamenta said. “Partner, you could learn a thing or two from this guy.”
Ezra rolled his eyes and focused on running.
As they continued their journey, the ground dried up and reddened. The air became warmer and hoarser, while the sun seemed to brighten. Eventually, they came across a massive canyon stretching onward for miles. Strips of color lined the walls that reached down and down and narrowed to a thin road at the bottom.
In the distance, a camp with various scattered tents lined the lowest part of the canyon. A roar echoed through, along with a shout from one of the figures.
“What are we looking for?” Ezra said.
“Evidence,” Dumrivil said. “Stuff that I can bring back to the guild so I can prove what he’s been doing.”
“So… papers? Diagrams? Things like that?” Ezra said.
“Yes,” Dumrivil said. “From there, I think I might be able to convince a few of the other B-rankers to come over here and check it out for themselves. At that point, we’re golden.”
Ezra nodded. “Let’s head in.”
They made their way down the canyon cliffside. Ezra jumped from rock to rock with ease, balancing perfectly on small sections of the cliff wall. Dumrivil climbed down the normal way. By the end, Ezra was at the bottom, fresh as a daisy, while uUmrivil was panting and had his hands on his knees.
“Gods above,” he said. “You did a backflip onto a two-inch outcropping. Twice!”
Ezra looked at him smugly. “Pure talent.”
“And a skill,” Filamenta said.
Dumrivil pushed himself up and raised an eyebrow in Ezra’s direction. Ezra crossed his arms.
“What?” Ezra said. “I earned that skill fair and square.”
“I just want to know what skill it is,” Dumrivil said. “And how you even got it.”
“I hit 50 in Dexterity and got an A-rank skill. It’s [Cat’s Grace],” Ezra said.
Dumrivil’s jaw opened wide and he breathed in quickly.
“Are you messing with me?” he said. “You got an A-rank skill? You’re screwing with me, right?”
Ezra blinked. “No...?”
Dumrivil groaned and put his face in his hands. “You lucky bastard! I would give an arm and a leg for an A-rank, and here you are, flaunting it like it’s nothing!”
Ezra decided he probably shouldn’t mention the SSS-ranked one. That might break his mind permanently.
“Is it really that rare?” Ezra said.
“Are you kidding me?” Dumrivil said. “I only know one guy with an A-rank, and he only got it after level 100. To get an A-rank so early is unprecedented. How do you not know this?”
Oh shit, he’s looking into Ezra’s past. Abort, abort!
“Ah, well, things slip by. We should get going,” Ezra said.
Dumrivil frowned. “Terrible attempt at deflection, but I guess it’s none of my business. For now, I’ll just choose to be grateful that you’re on my side and not the enemy’s.”
They ran closer and closer to the inside of the canyon where the sounds were coming from. The light of the torches and lanterns became brighter and brighter.
“They’re going to hear us. Stick to the boulders and stay low,” Ezra said.
Dumrivil nodded. Ezra padded his way over a boulder, his footsteps completely silent. Dumrivil followed behind him with louder footsteps. Ezra glared at Dumrivil before turning around.
“Did anyone hear anything?” a voice said from up ahead.
“One of the monsters must’ve escaped!” another voice called. “Go check it out!”
Footsteps treaded toward Ezra’s position.
“You grab him and pin him down,” Ezra whispered. “ Cover his mouth to suppress the scream. I’ll kill him. Got it?”
Dumrivil nodded. The two waited silently. The footsteps got closer.
Closer…
The footsteps stopped.