...
Two Hours Later, Sewers, Wolfsteeth
'Where is it?! How can anyone find anything in this fucking place?!'
Ocilia was walking through small and wide pathways, over bridges and other more or less sensible constructions to look for what her Father had told her about. Whenever he drank a little too much, he would start recounting exciting stories from his time working here, making himself look like he was the Lord of the underworld.
After experiencing it for the first time and seeing the reality, she was of another opinion, 'Exciting my ass! This place is nothing more than a shit-filled maze!'
Fortunately, after hours, something caught her eye, and her mood immediately improved, so she quickened her pace towards it, 'At last!'
She found symbols painted on the wall that were barely visible, describing what and how she would find the spaces nearby. This was the only way to navigate through the underworld, as nobody had a fully sketched-out map since different groups with conflicting interests existed down here. Even though they were somewhat self-controlling regarding the legitimate economy, this didn't mean the same internally. They fought with each other heavily. Assassins tried to get a larger share by killing their competitors, and merchants sabotaged their rivals' wares to increase their prices by decreasing supply. It was a very dangerous world.
Thus, the moment Ocilia's Mother got the job as a servant in the Leonandra estate, her Father immediately left the underworld and paid a heavy price. Yet, he was never more happy, despite losing his voice.
So, for Ocilia, making her first step as she arrived at the wall and becoming complicit as part of the underworld was quite nerve-wracking. She tried to ignore all the implications of her behavior, which only now invaded her mind, which made her concentrate on the symbols on the wall even more, trying to distract her from all those moralistic and ethical thoughts.
However, even though she decided to be part of the underworld for the greater good, it wasn't easy. The codes depicted on the wall had some big problems, beginning with what they represented.
Brokers were shown with a circle, while what was inside symbolized their references or specializations. A cross was for mercenaries; if one needed an assassin, they would need to trial and error every specific mercenary broker to find one as it was apparent that they wouldn't promote themselves this openly. Merchants used lines parallel to each other with dots under them. There could be up to five lines, and the more they had, the more expensive the goods were. The dots represented the danger level of the stolen goods. The more dots, the more hot the goods were.
It was obviously murky since many clowns would put up three lines even though their goods would be crap, worth half a line. The other way around was the same: Nobody wanted to advertise their goods as overly costly, and dots were practically non-existent for apparent reasons.
Also, the circle didn't mean that there was an actual broker. Sometimes, there would be only some merchants who would buy stolen goods and resell them. Strictly speaking, it was not a broker, but it was not like the underworld was enthusiastic to hold onto the system. This was best seen as she inspected the wall more closely. Only circles with three lines were drawn with some mercenaries sprinkled in between, 'Why does the damn system exist if everybody does how they see fit?!'
Furthermore, various graffiti symbolized more prominent guilds, auction houses, and services only provided by the underworld. Yet, this was all small fish stuff, which was more or less legitimate. The genuine rotten elements would never announce themselves like this and could only be found through invitations.
After some searching, she found a circle with three lines. It had a tiny symbol beside it of a witch hat, 'I will feel so stupid if they sell useless crap.'
The lines were not vertical but pointed to where she would need to go, with another horizontal one under them to avoid confusion in finding the merchant or broker. However, before she walked in that direction, she suddenly got an idea, 'They wouldn't, right?'
She extended her [Mana Sense] and saw how another circle was drawn with mana, which had the same hat symbol, pointing in the opposite direction, 'Urgh, it would be so much easier to just buy the stuff in an official shop or auction house.'
With a quick turn, she walked in the opposite direction, towards the broker. All she wanted to do was go back to Wolfsteeth and legitimately buy the stuff. Yet, many universities and artificers forbid it through mana contracts. The only way to sell things like manuals, magic languages, receipts, etc., was through brokers by using the loopholes in the contracts and doing it discreetly so nobody would find out.
Even if they allowed it, the prices would shoot up to sums even her Master wasn't ready to pay. By buying them, they would also insist on not disclosing the information further through mana contracts, which, going by her Master, he would rather burn down the seller than not openly display the bought information immediately.
However, in the following days, she wanted to get a first taste by looking for smaller magic-related brokers herself. Later, she would go to an auction house or an open black market. Before coming here, she was ready to go there immediately, but now she wanted to acclimate as she wasn't sure how to act.
She started walking faster. After some time, the stank turned her spell from green to grey again for the third time. It was unthinkable for her how anyone could be here for hours without getting poisoned or sick, and she couldn't imagine how her Father had worked here for years.
On the way, she came out of her thoughts when a shadowy dark figure flew toward her from the front. Whoever it was, was followed by two rough-looking tiger-kin, "Get this bitch!"
Ocilia made way to let her run past her. However, as the shadowy figure passed her, she turned around and threw a throwing knife at her, filled with little energy. She caught it quickly with the threads which were around her at all times, 'Please let it be a mistake and that the bastard aimed at the cats...'
It was the opposite of what she had hoped for. The tiger-kins immediately pulled out their cheap club and sword, screaming at her, "Give me your gold!"
She frowned under the mask and signaled them in sign language,
However, all they did was laugh, and one of the tiger-kin immediately charged at her while screaming, "Haha! She is loaded!"
Ocilia didn't know why they thought this, but her stress got the better of her because she was running around for hours, trying to find some shady merchant. She raised her hands slightly, moved her threads with her mana, and energy filled them. In less than a second, she caught the tiger-kins without any problems while stopping another attack from behind her, 'Weak?'
The tiger-kins stopped and immediately enveloped themselves and their weapons sloppily with too much energy. The one with the sword could cut through the threads and, when he was freed, used some weird [Mystic Skills] and charged at her full speed. Yet, as he came close, he suddenly fell.
Ocilia looked coldly at him,
"What the fuck?!" However, as he wanted to stand up again, he couldn't, and only after a moment did he notice that his feet were cut off, "Argh! Get her quickly! She is dangerous!"
The tiger-kin behind him already readied whatever skill he had, but she didn't give him the time. An almost invisible thread wrapped around his neck, suddenly igniting. He immediately pulled his energy toward it to defend against it.
'Morons...'
It was a distraction, and another thread immediately wrapped around his arm. Other energies stopped her [Essence] specific perk of her threads appearing where her mana or energy was. Now that there was no energy, she could let it appear there, and with him also having no defense anymore, the arm flew right off.
She was using her fingers to coordinate her threads, holding both tiger-kin down while securing her rear, which became more challenging since, through her [Essence], the threads she conjured needed to tighten to become effective, and her only anchor point was the energy or mana she used from where they appeared. Also, as she moved them, she could designate another anchor point, which would either transport the other end of the thread back to her hand or fix it in place. The denser it was, the more she could tighten them without ripping the point from which they materialized, or fixed, apart.
Even though the control appeared seamless, there was some disconnection because they basically teleported through space. She felt her head slowly heat up. The calculations she was doing parallelly to get the proper angles and force were slowly getting to her.
Ocilia suddenly felt the air move behind her. Without even thinking, she used her new [Mystic Skill] and ducked. While down, she looked slightly behind and saw how the third person stabbed her neck with two daggers brimming with energy.
However, what looked like her was only a slim layer she created through [I, Puppet]. It allowed her to duplicate parts of herself out of her threads. It was a true lifesaver, and the rarity of this [Mystic Skill] was legendary, which made her incredibly proud. Still, this weak skill usage also immediately cost half her stamina, making her feel dizzy.
The moment the daggers went through her creation, she instantly controlled the threads loosening up from her puppet. They wiggled around the masked person, then suddenly straightened and slammed her to the wall while creating new anchor points, which almost depleted the rest of her stamina, making her wobbly, but the assassin-like figure was fully restrained.
Ocilia immediately conjured more threads to hold them in place. After all three were disabled, she quickly took out a high-end stamina and mana potion, gulping them down in one shot. She felt like puking as she could feel the combination was somewhat reactive to each other, but she held back.
Ocilia straightened up and turned towards the one pinned to the wall, now speaking normally while holding everyone in place, "So, there are multiple possibilities for what is going on. Either you are waiting here for newbies to go through, or you saw me somewhere and followed me, or you got a tip. What is it?"
A tiger-kin suddenly yelled at her, "Fuck off, you stup..."
Before he could end the sentence, she cut his head off with the threads she already had around his neck. Ocilia looked calm and stern on the outside, but inwardly, she was about to puke, 'I hate this...'
While it was pleasing to burn the ones who bullied the hatchling, it was only a tiny fire and wouldn't kill them while helping someone. Here, though, she already knew what she had to do and didn't like it at all.
She tilted her head, "I ask again, what is it?"
The assassin-like person said while growling through her teeth, "Argh! Fine, just let me live!"
Ocilia nodded, and she immediately confessed, "The bartender gave us the tip. The barte..."
Before she could say anything more, Ocilia clenched her hands together and straightened every thread she had left, pushing her mana into them till she experienced a headache. The remaining tiger-kin, lying on the floor, had his head fly off. The woman who was pinned to the wall started to convulse heavily. She tried to resist by using all her energy, "Argh! I swear..."
Ocilia interrupted her by using more energy in combination with her mana, tightening her threads around her even more, "Just shut up. Dirt like you need no life."
After some struggle, the energy slowly dimmed, and the threads cut into her. After another moment, the woman's energy was entirely gone. The threads squeezed her like smoked pork and cut through her till Ocilia felt the bones.
After killing the last one, Ocilia became angry, and slight killing intent seeped out of her, 'This little fucker...' She quickly calmed down, though, remembering what she had to do in the first place, '...later.'
She took another stamina and mana potion out, gulping them down, this time one after another. After doing so, she threw the empty flasks into the sewage water and looked at the corpses and mess she had created, 'I wish I had enough mana and knew that dissolution spell.'
Cold stoicism and apathy overtook her, an emotional state she forced herself into. Otherwise, she would feel angry and frightened. While killing became easier, it still felt unnatural, like her being was besmirched as the thugs forced her to spill blood. She wished she could entirely remove the corpses from the world, forgetting that they even existed, so she could return to the point where she would only learn the whole day without a worry in the world besides avoiding her Master's juvenile mischief like putting ice cubes into her nose.
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With a hand swirl, she took the corpses with her threads and threw them into the sewage water. She sighed, trying to bring her mind into a space where she felt more comfortable. Looking at the bodies and how they floated away, she distracted herself willingly about her progress, 'I really got strong, huh.'
What surprised her after she went with Sarah to her old place was how strong she became. She trained her body through the fitness center while regularly joining her Master when he trained with Sarah or Lorient. Looking at the wolf-kin girls, she was weak, but she was on another level compared to others in her age range who weren't battle maniacs and descendants of knights.
There was also something else that she did subconsciously and only now noticed after her head cooled down. When she conjured her threads through [Essence], all the skills, she learned and thought of as purely academic, like [Physics] or [Mathematics], helped immensely in the fight. Force, pressure, angles, everything was needed, making her whole fighting style much more potent, 'Damn it... Master was right.'
Her Master told her that scholastic subjects would always help in fights, even if they were only there to sharpen one's mind beforehand. He was right, as they helped her kill some thugs, and now she would need to study them much more.
She actually hoped to stop studying them after going through her first skill test in some of those subjects, which she had already done partly, but now it seemed they were necessary, and she couldn't only keep studying magic. Now, she would need to ask him for specific homework, which could help her get even more powerful, 'He will probably be ecstatic and say that I told you so, urgh.' While she respected him highly, she also knew that he was a giant pain in the ass when he was right.
She clicked her tongue and walked forward again, noting down a couple of things for later to revisit. She continued her walk for another half an hour while looking for directions with her [Mana Sense]. Through many left and right turns, she at last saw the symbol from before turned upwards. This meant that it was the entrance.
She looked for how to get in but couldn't find anything. She frowned when she saw the sewage water, 'Damn it.' Through stories from her Father, she knew what and where to look for and didn't like it at all.
She got her hand inside, hoping to find some lever on the downside of the jetty, but couldn't find anything even after minutes of looking and trying to feel it out.
A sudden chuckle came from the side, "Hehe, looking how to get inside Greenhorn?"
She took her hand out and looked at a masked and cloaked individual, who smirked at her. She panicked a little as she couldn't feel any presence at all. He, though, just shrugged, pushed the bricks over and under the oval symbol, and moved the wall to the side. Before entering, he smiled condescendingly at her.
Ocilia was irritated, but at least the person wasn't aggressive and even helped her indirectly, 'Well, not like I don't deserve the mockery.' She quickly used the cleaning spell and entered inside without much thought.
She had no information on how this merchant acted and would only know when she saw them. From stories, it could be a peaceful and well-protected place or a trap for newbies, but with the symbols drawn in something one could only see with mana, it seemed legitimate. Nobody would be dumb enough to try their luck with mages.
As she walked for another two minutes through a long and narrow tunnel, she came to a small plaza with only a little hut in the middle. Some people, also cloaked like her, were talking outside the house in sign language, which looked relatively peaceful, except for how they insulted each other.
Ocilia only listened to them for a bit but quickly stopped, as it was bad manners to observe others, especially in the underworld. Instead, she renewed her anti-gas spell in front of the others, who only glanced at her but quickly returned to their haggling. Doing magic seemed normal here since they also had the same spell around their mouth and nose.
She looked around a little more and couldn't see the other masked person who opened the entrance till she suddenly remembered her Father's first job. He was a guard for a broker and waited hidden on the outside for newbies who would try to enter. He observed them and decided if they were trustworthy enough to let them enter, 'I don't know why I come over as some greenhorn...'
She went to the hut and asked the guard at the door,
The guard smirked at her, nodded, and pointed inside with his thumb, so she went inside, always on guard and her threads around her swirling, trying to catch anything in her blind spot. Even though it looked peaceful, she was still on edge after the attack.
Inside looked like a simple shop, and a clerk reading the same damn novel as everyone else in the estate, 'Is it really that good?'
She ignored it and knocked on the counter to get the shopkeeper's attention, who looked up lazily and gestured to her what she wanted.
The rat-kin smiled at her,
The rat-kin raised an eyebrow,
Ocilia smiled under the mask and revealed a plaque she had stolen from her Father. It was a smooth piece of metal without any engravings, oval in form, and enriched with a specific kind of energy that gave out a dark and ominous feeling.
The rat-kin saw it, immediately took out a parchment, and started writing down what she needed. Ocilia put the plaque back in and thanked inwardly her Father. This was an official plaque of a specific guild in the underworld, which vouched for their members and was highly reputable inside the continent. It was called Peerless Night, and if they ever found her with the symbol, she would get into many problems. However, she only wanted to use it initially until she found some trusted brokers and merchants. There was no way she would run with it around, showing it off the whole time.
After some minutes, the rat-kin showed a list and the prices. For Ocilia, this was chump change. She first thought that she needed to pay much more. However, after some more thought, it was pretty expensive, as her whole view was skewed by how much wealth she had. Yet, she wouldn't haggle as after killing the thugs, she had no mind for it, even though the most expensive item, a recipe to create an advanced health potion, would cost 400 small gold coins.
The rat-kin smiled at her and brought out some books, pamphlets, etc. After a minute, the whole counter was filled to the brim with things that would make her Master salivate, 'The plaque is really a blessing.'
Typically, the seller wouldn't bring out more than one piece, and going through everything would be an arduous ordeal. The plaque immediately made her trustworthy as the Peerless Night had an excellent reputation while holding its members accountable should they do something against their own rules, which were liked by the underworld as they conducted themselves professionally. How they would find out if someone broke the rules, she didn't know, though.
Ocilia pointed and asked if she could read it; the rat-kin nodded. Again, the plaque was like a charming spell, making her immediately more trustworthy. Usually, the merchant would only show partly the receipts or manuals and, other times, not even that. They would then tell the customer to buy it or not, 'I guess this little pendant is really worth a lot.'
She looked through everything and was positively surprised. Everything was pleasing, as much as she could tell. Artisans wrote some of the manuals, so it was a little chaotic but made sense to her. Other things were clearly the work of amateurs who just copied their Master, far away from how she or her Master wrote things down, but enough to work with it.
So she took out her spatial bag and put out ten percent more than the written down price,
The rat-kin counted the gold coins full of glee and said happily, "I love the Peerless Night guild. They are always very precious to me, so don't worry, little girl!..." The rat-kin suddenly smirked at her, "...call me Fear-Breath and listen, I don't want to come over rude, but does your Mom or Dad know what you are doing?"
Ocilia suddenly twitched and panicked,
Fear-Breath chuckled, "Hehe, it's obvious that you are from good standing and that you borrowed the plaque..." The rat-kin suddenly felt killing intent and put her hands up in peace, becoming less playful, "...listen, I will not say anything. I want only to make some gold here, and with such a great customer gone, all that would happen would be me losing coin, hehe. However, if you want to be taken seriously, you should..." Fire-Breath looked at her more intensely and smiled slightly, "...you know."
Ocilia retracted her killing intent and looked confused at her,
Fear-Breath laughed out loud and pointed at her attire, "Haha! Are you serious? Your clothes are made out of legacy wings! Even your mask is made out of the finest silk. It is a wonder that you didn't get robbed!"
'I think she is right...'
Her cloak was made out of legacy wings from butterfly-kin. While going through the legacy, they would lose their wings, which usually had a more juvenile pattern, and new ones would grow with a new, more adult pattern, which represented their [Divinity Line].
However, legacy wings were very expensive but an extraordinary material. It was also used for the Lady's leather armor and was more robust than steel and flexible like silk. Ocilia bought them for safety reasons and used the mana ink her Master made to color them. Now, her cloak was highly mana-infused and could defend even better against energy or spells. Her mask was only partly made out of them, and another part was demonic bones. They could absorb poisonous gases really well, a safety measure, should she forget to use the anti-gas spell.
Ocilia blushed as she thought her whole attire was probably worth a pretty coin. She nodded toward her and quickly left. But she heard how the rat-kin was laughing her ass off on the way out, "Haha! Hey, you are welcome again! I will have more stuff in a week or so!"
After stepping out, she decided first to go back and buy cheaper clothes and put them over her attire. Even though it would be a little warm, she wanted to hold onto them as they were an excellent protection. However, even though embarrassed, she tried to calm down and remember the way to the merchant as she looked for an exit through the symbols, 'No time to feel stupid.'
On the way out, she tried to find more symbols that pointed to other black markets, brokers, and sellers. While she could ask Fear-Breath, it was improbable that the rat-kin would tell her for obvious reasons.
Regardless, after the next visit, she would tell Fear-Breath to meet up somewhere else as running through the damn sewers was getting annoying, 'I really hope she will agree. I will even pay more as long as I don't need to return.'
It was also apparent that the merchant was small and only started out. So Ocilia didn't fear that she would rat her out to the Peerless Night guild. Even then, she decided to hide the plaque somewhere and never use it again. The moment Fear-Breath pointed out that it wasn't hers, she panicked. While it was unlikely that someone would kill her as she was the disciple of a noble, there would be at least some warning, and in the end, her parents would find out, 'This was an idiotic idea.'
The biggest guilds existed and flourished for a reason, as they strictly followed their code not to piss off nobles who became, because of this arrangement, amiable toward them. This was also why Ocilia didn't fear any severe retaliation.
The bigger ones, like the Peerless Night, were a general guild dealing primarily with information and stolen goods. At the same time, there were also many others like Shadow Stalkers, an assassin guild, or Nihilum, a somewhat legit guild for protection that also lent their people as mercenaries. All of them were highly self-controlling, as reputation was everything down here.
There were far more trusted and reputable guilds sprinkled here and there, which were small but overly specialized, and she even knew one: The Little Carps. They specialized in everything underwater, and her Father hated them for some reason. She had little idea what they did, but they were apparently quite the catch, 'Hehe...'
After telling herself a stupid joke, she looked at her pocket watch and frowned, 'This will be a long night.' She hastened her pace as she felt like she was inside a labyrinth, and finding an exit would be quite the task.
...
Hours later, Before Sunrise, Toxic Fox
Ocilia wasn't in the best of moods. Only after hours did she find her way out, emerging somewhere on the east side. At least she now knew of another entrance. She was tired and wanted nothing more than sleep. She would also need to take a break for more than a day since she would need new clothes that looked cheap and wouldn't make it obvious that she wore a treasure around her shoulders, which made her happy as she wouldn't need to go back to this Outer Circlish place immediately on the next day.
She walked into the bar where she entered first and immediately went to the counter where the barkeeper was. She saw him close up, 'Here you are, you little bastard.'
Anger went through her as she remembered how he was the reason for the deaths of the three vermins, but worse, he forced her to kill them. Without much thought, her fingers moved, and her threads took the alcohol bottles behind him, destroying them and pouring them over him.
"What the fuck?!"
He looked around angrily while being soaked in cheap and high percentage-beverages. When they made eye contact, he suddenly panicked, and his pupils shook.
Her fingers moved quickly, knitting a beautiful pattern over her threads. They ignited around him.
Boom!
He went up in flames, and the bottles exploded around him. Though some glass splinters flew at her, they didn't even scratch her cloak. Without thinking much, she immediately left the bar while it burned down, and screams full of panic emerged from those sleeping on the upper floors.
As she walked out of the plaza, where the bar was located, she cleaned herself up quickly and put the cloak and mask back into her spatial pouch, leaving the place as fast as possible. However, a guard spotted her in the alleyway, stopping her, "Hey, wait there, little girl!"
Without thinking much, she pulled out her Leonandra Plaque, showing it to the guard, "Fuck off."
The guard immediately recognized it and nodded toward her, "My apology!"
Ocilia, though, didn't like to make enemies with the guards and threw a large gold coin toward the cow-kin, which she caught, making her eyes go wide, "You never saw me, understood?"
The guard immediately nodded, "Of course!" and then ran to the burning bar in the background.
After the guard was further away, Ocilia continued to walk to the district's central plaza to catch a carriage and drive back to the hotel. While inside the carriage, she suddenly smiled as she got a system ring indicating her kill.
...
Little later, at Wintersleep Hotel, Ocilia's room
"Heuk..."
She was lying in bed, crying. Even though she acted tough, the moment she was alone and could relax, it felt terrible what she did. Her hate and anger towards others did not make it better, and even though she said thousands of times that it was self-defense, it wasn't the case with the bartender.
It was revenge. Cold-blooded revenge and she didn't know why she did it, as there were other possibilities to fuck him up without murder. However, while she first thought it was an emotional and faulty response on her end, there was something else now that she had the time to think it more through after calming down.
Killing the one who slighted her felt good. Really good, 'Am I trash?'
She never wanted to return where she came from and hated everyone she needed to talk to. When she spoke with them, she was pulled away from her peaceful life with people who would respect her talents and intelligence back to the terrible world of crimes and backstabbing.
Emotions flooded her, making everything worse: Relief, self-doubt, self-hate, disgust, pride, etc. Every feeling conflicted with the other, making no sense to her.
She curled up in her bed and tried to ignore everything. Like this, she fell asleep, trying to forget everything she did, and, in the end, found an acceptable solution for herself, which she also held onto as she traversed the underworld in the night, 'I do this for Master... right... for Master... I am different than that trash... for the greater good. This is how I can get honor.'