Smith and Jones had no skill stone, but they sent me to Fine Mounts, where I purchased Agility Riding. It was a very versatile skill, basically adapting existing skills for use when riding. It did this by somehow using Agility to compensate for the riding movement.

I realised I was being corrupted. Since when do I pay for skill stones when I don’t need to? I need to get my head back in the game. This academy has corrupted me.

What Smith and Jones did have was Rob's travelling saddle. It was in a bigger spatial pouch that fit on my belt and worked the same as the stealth saddle. It had padding for my butt! I stored the spare saddles in my Storage and thanked them for their great work. They were worth every copper that Alistern spent.

The next day, we went out to do some longer runs to get used to the new saddle, and I practised with the javelin holder. It was a very clever design.

That night, we made camp as usual, and I practised my stuff. Then I switched Rob to his Stealth saddle, and we snuck back to Slyhill. He was in his adaptive camouflage, and I was hidden by Spectral Cloak.

My Spectral Vision (Heat) was how I knew when Alistern was around. I didn’t let on about that. The difficulty was that he would have a lot of long-distance sight skills, and Heat was short-ranged. It was why I had scouted and then used the terrain and Pathfinder when I headed into town. We stuck to gullies, wooded areas, etc., to negate the longer-distance skills. It was my first real use of Pathfinder outside of the maze.

We were running out of time, and I wanted to level my Pilferer class and needed more information on the expedition. I could solve both problems simultaneously. I left Rob outside the wall to wait. I could have absorbed him into the tattoo, but I was used to him out and about now. He could be another pair of eyes for me, but he did nothing while in the tattoo.

I scaled the walls, avoiding the alarm traps. They were simple but did the job. Actually, no they didn’t do the job. I looked closer with mana sensitivity and mana sight and they were the decoy traps.

I slipped past the traps and over into the town. I suspect it is becoming a large town and might even become a small city in a few years.

I slipped into the old lady's disguise and meandered through the streets toward my destination. It was getting late for an old lady to be out. When I headed back, I would need the drunk nobleman.

I slipped into the academy grounds and into the staff offices. I found Professor Myantha’s office easily enough. I picked the lock and disrupted the alarm signal. I examined the room with all my sight skills and picked where the safe was most likely to be.

Sure enough, it was under the rug. It was a good model, but not great. I would need to pick the lock simultaneously as I disabled the ward. It was a ward, too, so I mapped it out with mana sight. It was basically an alarm ward with a bright flashing Light. I traced the connection to the Monster core source and disrupted the connection. I disrupted the connection to the monster core, and the alarm would not go off. That was easier than the other method I had used before when I didn’t understand wards. I was puzzling how to protect my wards against the method I had just used. That would take some thought. And that was one reason the door in the trial was so difficult.

The safe popped open, and I started going through the documents there. Sure enough, there was information on the expedition. People, Supplies… ah, there we are, a map. I laid it out on the desk and studied it. The first was a general map of the area with major features shown: a mountain range with passes through several known permanent trials, and then I found the Burning Lake and everything orientated. My map skill connected, and the features started being dots and labels on my Map. That was what I wanted. There were a lot of blank areas between the labelled features, but it would let me orientate when I am out there.

Then I found a second map, and this was older, and parts were warn away and faded. It was labelled Merryport Stronghold. Whole sections were missing, but the layout was familiar. This Stronghold had been built using the same template as the Windshire Stronghold in the Land of the Undying Lord. That was very useful knowledge. I had been over every part of the Windshire Stronghold. I noticed some minor differences. They changed the outer area to fit the terrain. The keep looked very similar.

There were other documents that Myantha didn't share with me. They were all written in Al’rashian. My speaking might be shit, but my reading is reasonable. The first was part of a log of the captain of a ship, the Tail Wind, which listed cargo for several ports, including Merryport. It turned out my Al’rashian vocab needed to be expanded. I understood some of the items but not others. I expanded my knowledge of their measuring system.

They fought some type of sea monster, but it escaped, and the crew grumbled about no loot or levels. If I am interpreting the text right, the creature was over level 100. The crew must be very high levelled if they were disappointed they didn’t kill it. I noted to avoid the ocean. The name Majestic Abyss already sounds ominous.

Beast levels and Trial levels are based on the Basic classes. With my three advanced classes, I am sure I was stronger than a level 40 base class, even with me now being level 10. Make that level 11, as I can level my Pilferer class now. I pumped the attributes into Agility and Dexterity. I needed to be faster, although the boost the Pilferer class gives to my movement skills at each level makes up for a lot.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

There is a trading company ledger of their goods going through Merryport. The goods are mostly related to forests, ores, and the oceans, which gives me a clue as to what sort of terrain is there. There are several shipments of wine. Maybe that is where Merryport got it’s name. It doesn’t give me a clue as to what sort of trial is there, though, unless one of those categories is the trial and not the area. An ocean trial would be very challenging. A wine trial would be interesting.

I have more information about Merryprot and where it is, but not about the target. If the Duke is sponsoring this, then it is probably a military objective. Why else would he send troops away at this time? Alistern will know more, but his information will be locked away in his storage.

I am an idiot. I sold Myantha Storage. Where do you think she has her key information now as well? What I have found is still useful, especially the map.

I put everything back and reset the ward. I made a note of the safe's makers. They had someone who could do basic wards. I could learn from them, but it looks like I could also sell my services. They were the Safety Sisters of Al’drossford.

I exited the building. Did this place have anything else I wanted while I was here? I have actually paid for a lot of stuff recently that is quite out of character for me. It doesn’t really. It is still only a mid-sized town. I exited, and Rob ran me back to our camp.

I circled the place in stealth. One of my wards had been triggered. Was it a person or animal? It is a shame I wasn’t here. I wanted to know how effective it was, as it was a Light Flash ward. Did I blind them? If so, for how long?

I searched with my Spectral Vision (Heat), and my Nightsight let me see fine. I followed some footprints for a short distance as whoever it was ran, and then I lost them. Alistern didn’t trigger it then. Rob had a better sense of smell than me, and we followed his tongue. We were both in full stealth, and I was walking to the side of Rob when he suddenly stopped and faded completely. His Adaptive Camouflage is not fast at adapting, so it usually takes the general background colouring. When he stops, though, he can fade almost completely.

I crept forward. I regret not getting the Muffle Sound Skill. I am pretty sure Myantha has it or something even better.

There were two of them. One gave off a dangerous feeling, the other, not so much. I wonder where Alistern was. I guess he can’t always hog my tail, and I gave him the slip last night. I used my Copy Image Skill so I could show him who was following me. I listened to their conversation so I could mimic their voices. They didn’t say a lot, though. If the skill was at a higher level, it could have interpolated new stuff better, but for now, it is quite limited to what I actually hear.

The question is, what should I do about it? They weren’t stopping long. They knew they triggered the ward but realised I was not there, but I would know. They are on their guard and this was a short rest.

If I take them on, I need to have the advantage. Fairfights are only for dead idiots. These two are assassins who specialise in underhanded tactics. I looked around. Yes, I could see a temporary trap set up, so there will be more. The area was sheltered, so there were no long-range archer shots available. At least one of these guys knew what they were doing.

Then the opportunity came, and the younger one went into the nearby bush to take a leak. I tow throwing spears and The young idiot came running out of the bush and yelled, “Titan!”

Titan turned his head to look, and I power-threw the first spear. The real young one came running out. I had been tracking him by his heat, I threw the second spear at him and Charged.

Titan was quick and partially dodged the spear, but the young one didn’t. My charge was met with a Parry that turned Shadowbane thrust to the side, but he was down an arm, and Lightreaver struck a Slash with Bloodletting. It was only partially blocked by his armour.

The young one was not dead either, but unless he had a strong heal, he would be.

Titan was an excellent swordsman and kept me at bay with just one hand. In fact, he was manoeuvring me to one of his traps. I saw the youngling scull a potion. I would be worried he could do something to intervene, except a tongue wrapped around his foot, and he was dragged into the bushes. He will need both acid and poison resistance to get out of that. I saw him stabbing the tongue. That was not on.

I was distracted, and liquid splashed into my eyes, and an earth spike slammed up to me. I was only saved by a quick Light Speed move and dodge, but the liquid was burning my eyes. Spectral Vision and Mana Sight don’t actually use my physical eyes, or I would be done. I was tracking the heat of Titan, and it was not as accurate, but the Perception attribute made up for it. I knew what was around me.

I didn’t recover and made sure I didn’t lose my focus again. I didn’t want him to have another chance at spiking me, so I threw Lightreaver at him and immediately stabbed him with the Burning Knife. Shadowbane tried to Parry a power strike, and my low level of skill was broken by his higher-powered one and his higher strength. I had not invested in Agility for nothing and dodged away, immediately Charging Back with a Holy Strike, as it was my highest-level Skill.

He still parried it. His Parry must be maxed out. I wrapped him in Nights Embrace as the earth trembled under me. My Steady footing would have broken if the Sure-grip enchantment in my boots didn’t support it.

This meant he was not ready for my Thrust from Shadowbane, and he was slowed slightly by Nights Embrace. It pierced his armour and tore into his stomach.

His punch with his sword hilt crashed into my nose. I Flashed his face and punched Burning Knife deep in his chest. I Shadow-phased an earth spike so I didn’t have to move away and kept stabbing.

His legs were swept out from under him by a Tail Smash from Rob, and I finally separated his head from his shoulders.

That was too close. If he had had his other arm, he would have won. I have no doubt about that.