Chapter 116: A Bet Against Myself
“How far can adventurers push their authority?” Nara said.
“Why do you ask?” Encio asked.
“What if we could…convince a miner to take a few days off? And have Eufemia replace him and blend in?”
“It’s dangerous,” rejected Sen immediately, “We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
Nara held her hands up, “It’s just an idea. I don’t think we have to go through with it. But we might have a two-day time limit before the next disappearance.”
“We have more time than that,” John said, removing yet another stack of papers from his inventory. The papers seem unending, although Nara supposed that’s what happened to a former Data Analyst without internet access. Everything was physical.
“How much research can you get done in a single day?” Nara said disbelievingly, “I know inventories are large, but this is ridiculous. Why are you holding on to so many papers? Are you keeping an entire filing cabinet in there.”
“Says the person with an entire library,” Eufemia scoffed.
“He surpasses me in this,” said Aliyah, wonder in his voice. “I don’t know how he can look at so many lines of almost exactly the same thing and spot a difference.”
Aliyah was also extremely detail oriented, but her ability to concentrate was more or less limited to topics of magic and science, which had the advantage of precision to begin with. The records of towns had to be developed along with the town, which caused formats to change like the cycle of seasons.
“My racial abilities are helpful too,” John said with a pout. He was used to Nara’s outshining his in spectacle for quite some time. He felt a little vindicated in the usefulness of Case Files and Magic Photographer in their ability to organize large amounts of information. John cleared his throat awkwardly, “According to these records, the disappearances pause while Adventurer-investigators are in town, and Adventurer group has stayed longer than a week.”
“So, at most, another week?”
“Or more, if we stay longer. It’s a possibility.”
“But the rate of disappearances have been increasing.”
John sighed, “I’d rather not immediately jump to risking Eufemia.”
“I’d appreciate some more confidence in my acting abilities. I wouldn’t be risking myself.” Eufemia scoffed, “Besides you’ve risked my life before, and I wasn’t even iron rank at the time.”
“I hadn’t quite grasped the extent of danger in this world,“ John said remorsefully, “I am sorry for that.”
“…Well it’s fine. It turned out well.”
John nodded.
It must have been some case in Nekroz the two had bonded over, Nara thought.
Her thoughts were incorrect; the incident in question occurred during their stay in Sanshi. When he knew someone’s life was at risk, John had pushed their luck and had Eufemia sneak into a building searching for a kidnapped thief and acquaintance; one of the moonlighters, Alea Len. She had been working for Erin Nisei—what had happened to their agreement? John decided he would pay her a visit once he returned to Sanshi.
They had been caught in their rescue of her by an iron ranker. Thanks to Eufemia’s transformation into Alea, they managed to confuse the intruder long enough for John to fatally shoot the man with Solar Judgement.
With a supply of essences in his own inventory, John wanted to sort the prickly thief out. She was working to provide not only for herself but also for her family—her little brother had entered the prep academy, and she was supporting his dreams.
John’s reminiscence was drawn back to the current conversation by Sen’s steady, significant eye contact with Eufemia.
“Are you willing?”
“Yes.”
“We have to figure out the best way to replace a miner,” Sen said. “Alerting the miner in question may be suspicious if the group is tight knit. Are they?”
“It depends. Some of them are pretty loyal to the new sentiment, especially the younger ones. The boss is actually against the group on this. He knows something’s up.”
“He’d be receptive?”
“Maybe, but he’s not the best target to replace,” said Eufemia. “Too important of a position, and his abilities are distinctive. But he may know someone else who could take a short ‘vacation’.”
“Hmm,” Sen mused thoughtfully, “Talk to him again. As investigators, that isn’t anything particularly suspicious. Make sure to use a privacy screen, and scan for spies…I have this feeling.”
“Just a feeling?” Aliyah clarified.
“For now.”
“I’ll do that,” Eufemia nodded.
“Nara will go with Aliyah to set up the arrays.”
“You don’t want me in the mines?”
“No. Now that people know we’re here, we may get some reactions. I want you to keep an eye on things above.”
“Sure thing.”
“Encio, I want you to check out the Adventurer outpost. Figure out who’s a regular on the trader caravans, and the opposite.”
“I’ll do that.”
“They are likely only a provisional adventurer, if at all,” explained Sen. “The training here is insufficient to pass the certification, but they’ll let those partial essence users accept specific contracts. The caravans are better partially protected than not at all.”
The traders disappeared on route. Either their protection betrayed them, or they didn’t show up to protect them at all.
“I’ll enquire about the schedule of the miners,” Eufemia said. “See who’s conveniently missing.”
*****
The next day, the group split like a dogwalker releasing their bundle of leashes. John headed back into the archives to further investigate Aira Hong and Tousa Di, Thanatos accompanying him. According to John, he was a ‘very good boy—assistant. A very good assistant’. Sen would return to the mayor, to inquire about the steps the previous adventurers had taken, the tensions between the miners and the traders, and the families of Aira Hong and Tousa Di. Eufemia and Encio would meet up again with Kisang Zho, the boss of the miners, to ask some further questions and organize a tour of the mines the next day.
Nara stuck with Aliyah, watching over her as she conducted her rituals. She had over thirty to complete, but thanks to her runic gifts and her mastery of ritual magic, they were streamlined.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
-------
Racial Ability: [Mana Beacon]
Active, Stabilize ambient magic.
-------
After every ritual, the ambient mana needed to be restabilized either with a mana stabilizing ritual which wouldn’t disturb the ambient magic, or with an ability. Chaotic ambient mana made ritual casting extremely difficult and unreliable, although an absurdly skilled ritualist could pull it off. With chaotic conditions, the ritual needed to be adjusted for the changed conditions, which required intimate knowledge of ritual magic. It was easier to start at a blank slate of stabilized ambient magic and memorize the base ritual than attempt to customize every ritual for every nonstandard condition.
Aliyah might challenge herself with chaotic ambient conditions as practice or for fun, but this wasn’t the time for that.
Their journey led them to a slightly less affluent part of town. Business had been rockin’, which led to many nicer homes within the village. The gap in affluence was not high, but it was there. The good business was partly responsible for its indeterminate classification between town and city.
“I think most of the miners live in this area,” Nara observed.
“I agree.”
After a few more rituals, Aliyah got a hit.
“So, not skilled enough to cast concealment magic that blocks rituals,” Aliyah said. “That’s a good sign.”
“How so?”
“The concealment spell isn’t high rank. That’d completely block my ritual. They’re also an amateur at ritual magic, likely granted by a skill book, or something similar. The failure to block earth detection demonstrates a lack of mastery that would otherwise enable them to modify a concealment ritual to account for more varied forms of detection, rather than just visual detection. This is why you need to practice the fundamentals,” she chided. “Knowledge is worthless without comprehension.”
Aliyah gave Nara an accusing side-glance.
“I’m working on it!”
“Just astral magic,” Aliyah said disappointedly.
“You’re the magic expert, not me! Rope Eufemia in, she seems to know some magic.”
Aliyah gestured to the building, a tool and materials warehouse. Miscellaneous and spare tools of the miners were stored here, as well as some components for excavation rituals.
“Rituals for wall reinforcement are important to miners for cave-in prevention,” explained Aliyah, “They’ll have at least one basic ritualist on hand.”
“You think it’d be the culprit?”
“Perhaps. If that’s the case, it would explain shorter or choice shifts. The ritualist would get paid more.”
“But It’d be too obvious, if anyone else discovered the concealment magic, they’d be a prime suspect.”
“I agree. Do you think you can sneak a Sage body down there to keep an eye on things?”
“Sage?” Nara prompted.
“I will endeavor to fulfill your expectations, benefactor.”
“Just, uh, do your best.”
“Always, benefactor.”
Sage floated away, a grey robe against grey stone. After a few minutes, she responded telepathically.
“The passage appears frequently traversed. There are footprints of many individuals.”
“It’s an open secret.”
“Between the miners, that is likely, benefactor. The magic here is indeed basic; Miss Sahar is correct. The ritualist is an amateur. Shall I proceed further in?”
“What do you think, Aliyah?”
“As far as you can while remaining undetected, Sage. That would be wonderful,” Aliyah said respectfully.
“I shall do as directed.”
Nara and Aliyah took a break in the shaded courtyard of the disguised nebula house. Nara sat in the weedwood thicket dressed in casual meditative clothing.
Her aura ability, Astral Blessing, was at the verge of ranking up to bronze rank. She could feel the ability push outwards like a caterpillar struggling to break out of its cocoon to expand into a new form. Since her aura was based on injury and allies, it had received an extreme workout during the Celestial Book trials and the Stone Forest Expedition. It was further strained during her abduction, although not for its intended use, and now she had been utilizing aura to survey the town.
Her aura was one of the first abilities she had awoken, unusual for more essence users. Her prolonged state as a mostly spiritual form had increased her sensitivity and manipulation of her aura which, was a reflection of the soul upon physical reality, according to Erras’ theories. Nonetheless, auras and perception abilities were the most frequently used abilities of any essence users and those that ranked up the fastest.
Her both was in physical reality, but her meditation took her mentally within her soul as she literally looked within. Simultaneously, her senses expanded outwards past the nebula house. She could feel a sliver of the intricacies of its construction normally undetected to her. It was no doubt the product of a master craftsman, painstakingly crafted and reinforcing the formless and adaptive properties of magic that were normally difficult to wrangle.
-------
-Harmonic Essence Ability, [Astral Blessing], has reached Bronze 0. Increase all Harmonic Essence Abilities to Bronze 0 to increase the [Power] attribute to Bronze 0.
- Increase all Essence Ability to Bronze 0 to rank up to Bronze rank. Progress to Bronze rank, 05%.
Ability: [Astral Blessing]
Aura (holy, boon)
Cost: None
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Allies within aura gain an instance of [Integrity] when expending or losing a low threshold of health, mana, or stamina. Instance threshold is determined by the [Recovery] attribute. Greater or continuous expenditures result in gaining additional instances.
* [Integrity] (boon, heal-over-time, mana-over-time, stamina-over-time, holy, stacking): Periodically recover a small amount of health, stamina, and mana. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.
Effect (Bronze): Allies within aura gain an instance of [Tranquility] when gaining a holy or magic boon. Instance threshold is determined by the [Spirit] attribute. This effect does not trigger upon gaining an instance of [Tranquility].
* [Tranquility] (boon, holy, stacking): Increased resistance to boon and effect dispel. Additional instances have a cumulative effect. This boon has increased dispel priority over other boons.
-------
Her new aura strength was almost disorienting. It wasn’t just aura strength—it was the quality of her aura. If her previous aura had been made of wood, now it was made of stone. It was denser and more powerful, more sensitive and more accurate.
The most important ability for any essence user to awaken was the aura ability. Without it, they lacked the ability to control their own auras. Such a case almost never happened unless extreme and careless ability stone manipulation was at work—using a legendary stone without an already awakened aura was a risky proposition, since legendary stones had narrower ability pools. Without an aura ability, high rank essence users could accidentally kill normal folks with their aura, like an emotional surge shocking a poor old lady into a heart attack. They had to wear specialty aura suppressive bracelets for the rest of their lives, and weren’t allowed to transition into gold rank, where they posed an even greater threat to people.
She sucked in a deep, meditative breath, pulling herself back into meditation and away from ancillary anecdotes. Thankfully, the material of the nebula house contained her aura somewhat, the adaptable material adjusting itself according to her needs. She carefully explored the inns and outs of her aura, feeling for its new strengths and capabilities. She pushed out and pulled it back in, feeling its new strength like surging tides with the power of the full moon. She felt its new flexibility and maneuverability, freeform putty in her control.
Many had told her that her aura was strange; formless and shapeless, hard to mold and control. For her, it wasn’t. It was her aura. However, it was a quality born of her experiences, a defensive mechanism to slip away from eternal, painful imprisonment. From this, a new idea blossomed in her mind.
She wanted to leverage that intrinsic quality. To suffuse her aura into the surroundings so much that it was a part of nature itself, undetected and unseen like water diffused into the air. Normally, when expanding aura for detection, others could sense it. What if the aura was so thin, so soft, it could not be? She had been relying on her superior aura strength for stealth until now, despite her lack of abilities for a true stealth specialist. No doubt, they had abilities to conceal their auras or increase their long distance detection capabilities.
After a few hours warbling from intense concentration to melting relaxation like an opera singer’s vibrato, she temporarily set down her pursuit. She was in the middle of an investigation, and now wasn’t the time nor place to expand niche use techniques. Last time she made a niche technique, she landed herself on a kidnapping list, although it was impossible that this was a new technique. She knew little of Laius’ full capabilities, and he had no doubt discovered and mastered something like this before her.
In the same way that she didn’t bother learning the full breadth of external magic, most did not learn the full breadth of aura manipulation. It wasn’t necessary for ranking up. It was a honed external skill, much like fighting skill. Neither had she even mastered the full capabilities The Way of the Traveler had to offer her. This was a long-term project, as many other aspects of training were.
As Laius says, Training never ends.
“It’s not much of a trump card,” Nara muttered, reading over the new aura effect (although auras rarely were.)
Tranquility wasn’t a particularly useful boon either; Sen did maintain his own suite of boons with Karmic Warrior, and Aliyah now did with Vessel of Magic, but they weren’t critical to their fighting style, not like it was for Nara, who could scrap boons for power with Boon Conversion (and Nirvana, which did more base damage for each boon on her up to a pretty low limit, although it hadn’t mattered much for iron rank.) For others, it only let them hold onto their boons against hostile dispel effects, which were uncommon. Resisting a dispel wouldn’t win a battle either, in Nara’s inexperienced opinion.
“Maybe one day I’ll prove myself wrong and resisting a dispel will win me a battle. What do I bet on then? Myself…or against myself? Better bet on myself. I don’t want to fight a battle so tight that a dispel resistance clinches the victory.”
Nara held a single diamond rank spirit coin in her hand, “If I lose, what do I blow this on?”
But Nara’s brain capacity was gone, reduced to atoms, her creativity too small to figure what a coin literally too valuable to be spent could be used on. She already had all she could ever want—a house, clothing, equipment, funds for her hobbies, and food.
She frowned at the coin and threatened it. “Next time. I’ll think of something.”