As I pulled myself out of the water, looking at the cliff, I couldn't help but call the System and go over the was the first break I had since I started my travel to my Somatom.
By swimming for three days without a break.
Originally, it would have taken more than ten days, but I made a point of investing fifty points to Speed, and twenty points to Strength. Combined, they had increased my movement capabilities considerably.
Though, even while traveling, I had received some rewards. A part of it was the occasional Lord Beasts that decided to chase me in the water. Some of them were fast enough that, even with my new speed, I wasn't able to leave them behind, forcing me to deal with them.
That part hadn't been too difficult. As an added benefit, I had also collected a nice set of Ability stones that could be used for trade, bribery, or other miscellaneous expenses. I was tempted to kill more, as the Experience they granted wasn't negligible even for me, but I was afraid that killing too many would somehow reveal my passage.
I saw no need to take unnecessary risks … particularly when I was less concerned about them targeting me and more about them targeting the others once they realized I was away. Zolast and rest could probably handle any threat, but why add to their troubles?
Of course, while Ability stones were useful, the real benefit of the period was the Experience points I had collected.
The younglings had turned strong enough to deal with the special dungeon floor as long as they didn't visit it alone, allowing them to collect Experience in my stead. More importantly, Mahruss and Takis both had awakened Charisma, and they were able to use my trick to take some of the Experience from the soldiers defending the city.
Combined, their hard work allowed me to level up faster than I would have been able to alone.
I had gained three levels over three days, replenishing some of the Stat points I had spent.
[Class: Hero
Level: 86
[Health (2,328/2,400)
Mana (1,492/1,500)]
[Authority: 47,114]
[STATS
Strength: 100
Agility: 100
Speed: 100
Vitality: 80
Attunement: 50
Perception: 80
Concealment: 50
Charisma: 100
Resilience: 50
Memory: 25
Intelligence: 25
LOCKED…]
[Stat Points: 95]
[SKILLS: —]
[ABILITIES: Elevated Life - Complete - Human
Heroic Party (7) ]
[Alignment: Unaligned]
"Ahh, freedom," I said as I moved around Somaton Kingdom with ease. The lack of defenses along the shore wasn't particularly shocking considering the challenges of sea trade. Any ship that could move around the seas had to be magically reinforced to a point that hiding it from magical sensors would have been impossible.
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Those defensive measures might as well not exist for someone with my capabilities.
I started to move toward my destination, the border; particularly, the border they shared with Yoentia family. It was a good target, because not only would it heat up the relationship between the two kingdoms that was targeting our fief, but it would also create some trouble for the Yoentia Dukedom and could force them to stop exerting their influence toward the region.
Altogether, a nice target to start poking around to get Marquis Somaton away from the breach, giving Zolast an easy route to conquer the dungeon.
It was a move that could also help Jertann. Technically, to find the mysterious organization Bertnam was a part of, I had two options. Either I could create a regional crisis, hoping that one of their agents would decide to check … or I could start shadowing their targets, hoping to identify them.
Normally, I would have preferred the latter, but considering the heroes were the only target we knew, it wasn't viable. I didn't know the capabilities of the other heroes, who were likely receiving not only the assistance of the kingdoms but also their divine patrons. Worse, I didn't know how many eyes were on the heroes, tracking and chasing them.
No. Poking around for a known objective was the better option.
With my Speed, it barely took another half a day for me to reach my target. The trip gave me a chance to examine the inner regions of the kingdoms. I hadn't been expecting much … yet, somehow, I was still disappointed. The place was almost an exact copy of the border region. Oh, the villages were better defended, the Towns were larger and fancier, but that was the extent of the difference.
It was the same feudal, restricted economy where most people were forced to farm and hunt for a living, mana stones and higher ranking skills might as well not exist for the majority of the population. Even their general levels weren't as high as I had expected. Just like the border, clearing the second promotion was considered a significant achievement.
"They are lucky I don't have time," I muttered as I moved forward. I was not a revolutionary, but seeing the situation, I was tempted to hire a few hundred people, put them through the same training I had subjected the younglings to for a year, give them abilities…
And, let them loose.
Pity that I lacked that kind of time.
Instead, I arrived at the Somaton-Ralum border, which was an interesting region. I expected to find another wall, maybe even two, like the one they had built at the border, but that seemed not to be the case.
Instead, both sides of the border had one main fortress, surrounded by several smaller castles, each with patrols in between. At the same time, both sides had three flying castles at the border, floating behind their stationary equivalents.
Intimidating.
I could have tried to sneak in directly, but as I observed the area, I was met with a better option. Probably due to the existence of dense magic drawing their presence, there were a lot of beasts around. Which meant, there were a lot of hunters moving around the no-man's-land between the two kingdoms, searching for prey.
I disguised myself as a hunter as I slipped in. After a little search, I was able to find a discarded bow that still looked usable to complete the ensemble. Finding a large hunter group that was just coming to the region was easy, convincing them to allow me to join was even easier.
All I needed was to show my competence as a hunter while spinning a story about ungrateful sons forcing their father out of retirement. Add in some Charisma-based emotional manipulation, and the achievement was almost trivial.
Just like that, I had a temporary identity. For the next two hours, I chatted with them before one of them invited me to their outpost, an invitation I 'reluctantly' accepted.
"I wonder what's for dinner?" one of them asked as we passed under a stone gate, both sides guarded by archers that were more concerned with beasts than people.
"Probably another meat stew," I commented, which earned a lot of chuckles from the group, who were already warmed to my presence, while I used my Charisma on the other people near us, trying to make them warm up to me as well.
Ironically, being visible would help me get away with occasional incursions easily. Naturally, I could have tried to use Concealment and perch around, but doing so would mean that I couldn't gossip.
And, gossip was vital for what was about to come. I wanted to create problems at the border, but just sneaking in and killing a few people wouldn't have been enough. That would just tell everyone what I was trying to do, and Marquis Somaton wasn't stupid enough to fall for that.
I needed a real problem to trigger the response I wished, and for that, I needed information. Not military information, as that was easy to gather with Perception, but more detailed, personal information. Which commander had a grudge toward Ralum, which knight stole another's fiancee, which sergeant had a reputation for being a hothead … every little bit of gossip counted.
Only by knowing that much information, would I be able to create a believable scenario.
Luckily, a bunch of hunters traveling alone, cooped up in a hunting outpost during the night didn't need my help to start gossiping. As they talked, I could already gather a lot of information without moving from my place thanks to Perception.
A little drink here, a Charisma blast there, and the information started flowing, especially once I lost a few hands in cards, and convinced the winner to buy drinks for everyone.
As midnight arrived, I had the beginnings of a plan…