CHAPTER 70 - Exchange I
I approach the cage with caution, inspecting it for traps or any defense mechanism, but it all comes up as a plain metal cage filled with mana, no more and no less. Finding no traps, I pull the big sheet that’s covering it, revealing what’s beneath.
The cage is different from what I could see with my scans. It is not a whole box made out of metal, instead is a cage built to trap people or monsters, with bars resembling those of a prison.
I have no idea what is keeping up the mana in the cage, but a powerful inscription is cycling the mana through the whole frame of the cage, reinforcing the cage as a whole.
Then there is the prisoner, an undead. A similar skeleton to the ones I faced in the forest a while before is imprisoned inside. The connection with its master must have been cut by the cage and it is completely still, trying to save on mana.
‘It probably tried to escape at first, but stopped once the cage held just fine.’ These bone aberrations are by no means dumb, they are not intelligent either, but whoever is behind the creation of all of them really is a mastermind.
Seeing the skeleton remain completely still, I give up on getting anything from it. Instead, I turn to face the sub-leader of the gang. He has been defeated by Bruma who is resting on the side on top of one of the cages laying around. His rapier is far from him and he has wounds and burns all over his body from Bruma’s lighting.
‘It’s decided, I will question this guy who seems to be in better condition than the leader and then plan ahead with the information that I get.’ I prepare to question the guy as the leader is too far gone to ask him anything for a while.
I reach for the neck of the man as I hold him in the air. At first he stays unmoving, still in a bad shape from fighting Bruma, but once he starts running out of air and I give him a bit of qi to wake him up he starts gasping for air and I throw him against the wall with a small push.
I then create a link to talk with him, but avoid using anything else apart from some short range scans around us to stay in the clear. We have made some noise, and even if I am not that hurt, I am running a little bit low in qi and my head and arm still hurt from the overuse of qi.
So I chose to quickly get as much information as I can just in case while I regain my strength.
‘Answer my questions and I may let you live.’
“Really? How do I know- if you are going to keep your word?” He talks while panting, clearly suspicious that I will let them alive. That’s understandable though, they have already seen that I am a human and witnessed my powers. None of them are getting out of here alive.
‘Each question you answer me, I will leave one of your crew alive.’
The guy winces at that, but he nods either way. It’s not like he’s got a choice.
“Fine, ask what you want.”
‘To start with, tell me what big organizations are in the area. I saw that there were groups of mercenaries roaming the streets, are they one of the big fishes around here?’ He gets taken aback, probably by the simplicity of the question, but he answers nonetheless, aiming to save his life.
“The biggest groups in this city are the branches of the mercenary and merchants guilds. There exists a small group that follows the mayor of the city and has some authority, but most of the time they are forced to stay out of importants matters, pressured by the other two guilds.” I let that information sink in, pondering my next question, but the guy seeing me thinking of something keeps talking.
“They are not that strong either way, this is a small city, at most they will have a couple of middle to upper Skilled Warriors, maybe a low level Veteran if they get lucky.” He says so as he looks at me, looking for a reaction.
I keep my calm under my mask, but I can’t help but feel like I need a LOT more info on that.
‘These Skilled and Veterans Warriors. Are they titles or ranks in one of those two guilds? How strong are they?’ I can discern the worry in the face of the sub-leader as I say that. He is probably starting to notice that I have to be in some really unusual circumstances to not know that information and is now fearing for his life.
“I will tell you anything that you want, I won't tell anyone anything about what happened here and will even follow you around if you want my help or give you a way to contact me, but I need you to promise that you will let me live.”
‘Yeah, though so.’ He is not going to get out alive, but I must as well wait a bit to show him that I am considering it and then give him some hope, I wouldn’t want to be fed with wrong information, that would be even more detrimental than not knowing anything at all.
I stay quiet for a couple of minutes as if in deep thought, finally answering him.
‘Forget about your gang surviving this, but you are right, I do need someone to gather information for me. If you fill me in on everything that I ask you about and anything that you think I need to know, I might choose to spare you and instead let you work for me.’
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Fanning the flames of betrayal and hope in his heart I just end it with the finishing touches, stopping him one last time before he opens his mouth.
‘I will ask the same questions to your leader once we wake up, if your answers differ in any way to his ones once he wakes up, I will kill you both.’ Just like that, I think that should be enough to get some truthful answers.
“I understand. I will tell you then about the warriors from before.”
“They are ranked in an easy way to discern their level by the mercenary guild for clients to pay for what they want. The ranks are as follows: C-Rank or Armed Civilian, W-Rank or Warrior, SW-Rank or Skilled Warrior, V-Rank or Veteran Rank and I-Rank or the so-called Inhuman Rank.”
“Those are just the mercenary ranks, but you could say that those can be used everywhere inside this Continent.”
‘Oh. “This continent”... huh. So there really are more then, that’s something to take note of too.’ Let’s hear the rest.
‘Go on.’ Even though I could keep the link for a longer time, there is just way too much risk of his mind getting damaged, so I stick to short answers and use the link to understand the meaning of the words that come out of his mouth, just as I do with Bruma. I wouldn’t be able to understand his language otherwise, so I pray for his mind to withstand the link as long as possible.
“The ranks are easy to divide based on strength, experience and equipment.”
“For C-Ranks or Armed Civilians it is quite easy. It’s the only rank that isn’t divided into the subcategories of low, middle and upper as all of them are basically civilians that join the guild with nothing supporting them, which makes them all pretty much be the same useless bunch that will only be able to take easy request with low pay and high risks.”
“Warrior Rank is the one that follows, or W-Rank if you go by the plaque’s that the mercenary guild awards you with at each category. From this rank and onwards, every single rank is divided into three subcategories that help assign a more concrete evaluation of your strength.”
“Everyone in the Warrior Rank is fairly decent if you are seeking help for day-to-day dangers, they are people who either have undergone a little bit of training in the basics of fighting or have got enough experience on it on their own. Coupled with some gear, they are strong enough to take on some quest in groups, all of our group members that you took down are in this rank apart from me and the captain.”
‘So that’s how it is?’ That means that this is just a small city where there aren’t any really strong enemies for now, which is good. It means I will be able to take my time to improve and level up my game while I am here.
“Once a Warrior gets more fighting experience and gear, they can slowly climb up to the next rank,Skilled Warrior, where most of the people stay for their whole lives, unable to get any stronger. Either that, or awaken a special ability that has some use in fights, allowing them to climb up easier but not making that much of a difference in the long run.”
“I barely meet the standards to be considered a Skilled Warrior thanks to my reflexes and the ability of my weapon to use long range attacks.” He says as he shows me a small collar that's hanging on his neck with the engravings SW.
“Our captain just promoted to the middle rank while I am the lowest of the bunch. He could probably get to the upper level though, he just needs some good equipment to get there, but those are pricey, and he probably wouldn’t be stealing with us if he had that kind of money.”
*Cough* *Cough*
‘That's enough for those three ranks, just tell me a bit more of the other two and then I will ask the same question to your boss.’ He is already feeling the strain of the link in his mind, better to get the last part and then let him rest a bit before talking to him again. I can swap with the leader and him to make sure they tell the truth while the other rests.
“When it comes to V-Ranks… Well, Veteran Warriors Ranks are just a whole different level. They already walk on the edge of being human, having qualities that easily set them apart from us common folk.”
“There are a few that manage to join their ranks with the help of amazing techniques or equipment after years of improving and honing their skills, but the vast majority of them are either magicians or able to wield some kind of ability that clearly defines them and their way of fighting.”
“Like?” I am now kind of curious as to what kind of abilities are considered strong and useful here.
“They vary a lot, the simplest are things like clear paths of magic, like the elemental one: fire, ice, earth, light, lighting like the one your pet wields. But there are a lot more that are hard to identify, with mages being the more versatile as they are able to wield magic in itself instead of relaying in one specific branch of it in which they excel.”
“Veteran Warriors are already scarce, but they are in some way, still human. You can still kill them if you really put your mind to it. They have weaknesses, and you can surprise them with ambushes or well carried plans, supported by capable people and good preparation. They bleed, and die the same way we do, you just need to get some good hits in, be it low, medium or upper level, they are all still the same flesh and bone as us mortals.”
“Those in the Inhuman rank though- *cough* *cough* I can’t tell you anymore.”
“They are forces of nature. Unstoppable and too strong to be faced by humans, the weakest of them is easily able to destroy whole cities if they really wanted to. The only thing that I can tell you about them is that each kingdom has a few of them, but not many. Here in our country of Alabastria we have three of them at the moment, but that’s all I know.”
*cough* *cough* *cough*
His mind reaches its breaking point and I am forced to break the link, only telling him to rest before asking the same questions to the leader of the group. I search around while waiting for the leader to awaken, and use a few ropes I found to bind the other members of the gang in the middle of the room.
So to sum it up, Armed Civilians are weak, really weak, and Warriors have some experience and equipment but are still a lot weaker than me. They would probably be at the same level to the military of Earth, if you took their guns from them, that’s it.
Then it comes the Skilled Warriors who are fairly decent and nearing strong when it comes to the mid to upper subcategories.
I have yet to see just how strong those in the Veteran Ranks are, but if that guy is telling the truth, my strength will probably be around mid or high Skilled Warrior, and that goes to show that there are really strong people in this world. The leader of the gang had just reached mid rank of an SW so I should stay again from anything higher than that for the time being.
Once all the bandits are under my control and grouped up in the center of the room, I tell Bruma to keep an eye on them as I proceed to wake up the leader and confirm the information.
Ready to devise a plan moving forward in relation to what I can get out of these guys.