Then I have an even crazier idea and start experimenting to see if I can even do it. The idea is because of the egg, since I was able to enhance my mana sense I want to see if I can enhance my drain attack. Not only am I looking to make it stronger, but also to see if I can make it ranged.
If I can make it so I don't have to touch something to use it, then I can try it on the egg. Of course, I will need to make sure the goddesses aren't watching before doing that experiment. Neither of them would be happy to find me experimenting with the egg when I just finished healing my soul.
However, the fact that I did heal my soul is why I am willing to try playing around with the egg. After all, if I healed it once then I can heal it again, it will just take some effort. The goddesses aren't likely to accept that reasoning, so I plan to avoid the conversation.
For now, I put the ring on and then throw out my mana sense to test it out. The improvement is impressive, it even helps me find a secret I would have missed. I thought the big rocks the sailors moved were just fake, but it turns out they are real.
The trick is that each one has just enough of the floating rock metal inside to make it much lighter. That is how normal humans are able to move them, but to a normal scan they appear as regular rocks. If it wasn't for the boost the new ring gives me I would have missed them too.
After breaking open the rocks for the metal I store it in the ring, along with what I got earlier. Altogether, it is still less than a pound of the metal, but by my calculations that would float almost five hundred pounds. The problem is that the ship weighs at least ten tons, possibly more, so I need a lot more metal.
Since there is nothing else interesting, I take off and fly towards the city. It is the middle of the night so the city is quiet, but I am still careful when scanning the city. It is lucky that I am being careful, there are several wards on the city that I could have set off.
When I examine the wards I find that they are fairly old and are set to watch for hostile magic. Chances are that my scanning wouldn't have triggered them, but it is a good reminder that I am still inexperienced. The humans have had mage organizations for generations, I shouldn't underestimate them.
Now that I know where the wards are I start scanning the rest of the city. My scan finds almost a hundred elves, but what is odd is that they are all in one place. They are in the basement of the church that sits in the center of the city.
Of course, this makes me suspicious so I take a more careful look at the area. There are hundreds of soldiers hidden in the surrounding buildings. There are also a lot of magical traps on the church itself, it looks like they are expecting us.
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This is exactly why I scout ahead, the trap is for the elves, the humans don't know about me. The traps on the church are all on the doors and windows, there are none on the roof. So, I quietly land on the roof and then take out the communication amulet to call Stillwater.
Stillwater says "Ash, is something wrong?"
"Yes, change of plans. Don't stop at the cove, continue north, but avoid the city. Also, send someone to my cabin, I will be gating the elves out."
Stillwater says "Why? What happened?"
"The humans have set a trap with the elves as the bait. I am going to get them out myself."
Stillwater says "Alright! We will be ready!"
After giving Stillwater a heads up, I shapeshift into an elf and then enter the church through the roof. Thanks to my mana scan I know the layout of the church and where all the guards are. There are no guards on the third level where I enter, but there are on the second level.
There are eight total, four stationary and four patrolling, lucky for me the patrols are individual. Whoever is in charge on their side is an idiot, not only are the patrollers alone, they are walking a fixed pattern. As soon as I figure out the pattern it is easy for me to know where they are and where they will be.
With a shake of my hand the ring turns into a dagger and I start sneaking around. As I am sneaking up behind the first patrolling guard I have the thought that I should have made myself a cloak. However, I don't really need it, between my stats and the stealth skill I am pretty hard to detect.
After assassinating the first patrolling guard I move on to take out two of the stationary guards. They were positioned to watch over the approaches to the church through some windows. If I hadn't come in through the roof, there is no way I would have gotten in without being spotted.
My main concern now is to take out all of the guards without raising any alarms. Otherwise the hundreds of soldiers will flood into the church and things will get complicated. The rest of the guards on the second floor all die without making a sound.
8 Level 3 Humans defeated! 2,400 Exp gained!
However, there are more than thirty guards on the ground floor, they won't be as easy. Although, so far I am really impressed with this dagger, it really is perfect for assassination. Later, when I get some time, I should take a better look at it and see if I can improve it.
When I first got it I didn't really think it would be very useful, but I was wrong. In this situation it is an almost perfect weapon, when I hold it it even increases my stealth. This really helps when I move down to the first floor and have to take out groups silently.
Luckily, the groups on the first floor are guarding key points and don't move around very much. This reduces the chances of anyone discovering a body before I get to them. Thanks to my mana scan I know when groups move, so I can intercept them if they are heading for a group of bodies.
As long as I get behind a group I can quickly cut all of them down before they realize what is going on. It also helps that the humans stationed here as guards aren't very high level. Despite a few close calls, I manage to clear the floor without the alarm being sounded.
30 Level 4 Humans defeated! 12,000 Exp gained!
The fact that they are low levels helps me not get caught, but it also means they aren't very good exp. However, I am not here for exp, I am here to save the elves, all of them. If someone manages to sound the alarm it will be a lot harder to ensure that no elves die.