It has been almost a week since Trevor and I have saved the formation master. He had disappeared after the third day of us saving him. I would say that is a good thing, since I have no more use of the man and I have gotten everything that I could have wanted from the man only.

Anyway, finally Trevor has been involving me in the planning for this heist of his. If you can call single sided conversations as conversations. Well, the very first thing that I had understood is why the hell the base of the blood heart gang is so easy to breach.

The damn place does not even have a quarter of the forces of the blood heart gang and none of the three captains are staying there. The base is essentially like one big scarecrow protecting something for the blood heart gang. Anybody would find nothing of value at the base of the blood heart gang, other than a few prisoners.

Even Trevor and the organisation do not seem to know what it is that they are protecting. All they know it is something that is very important to the bastards and they have been quite careful in that things protection.

All they know is that it is some kind of a statue, covered in odd etchings that are definitely not formation markings. It was acquired from some kind of an old elven ruin. That is all we know about it. If rumours are to be believed it is the statue of an elven god, with traces of divinity on it. Naturally these are rumours, otherwise the clergy of most gods would destroy this fort for such a blasphemy.

Anyways, regardless of what it is They have a constant force of soldiers protecting it, and atleast two of the captains are always near it. That is why it took them so much time to react to the prison break. Even now, a majority of those prisoners have disappeared into the city. Looking for the prisoners have completely freed the organisation from the blood heart gang. It is almost as if they have been given wings the way that they have been smuggling people out of the city.

Leaving all of that to the side, whatever treasure that they are protecting is not the goal of our missions. Instead our goal is in the room right next to the treasury, where they would be guarding such a precious thing.

The guard house of the mayfire castle is a simple structure considered over all. It is built up of the same kind of rock as the walls of this fort. That makes it quite indestructible and quite resistant to assaults.

Other than that, the entire thing is a box. The treasury and the accounting room is near northern side of the building. Our Target is right in the accounting room. It is the accounting books of the guards containing all of the business deals made by the guards of this fort.

Such information will be quite useful to the organisation as they can do quite the bit with this knowledge. For example, if they were to find out which blacksmith (there are many) manages the creation, maintenance and repair of their weapons. Killing that blacksmith would cause them to stumble for a bit. This would prove quite useful if say they would going on large scale search operation.

That is why no blacksmith would go about boasting about this fact. They can also predict the actions of the guards based on the orders given to said blacksmith. For example, a increase in weapons ordered would mean that the guards are about to become more active.

All of that is just from the blacksmiths. The record books would contain even more. Masons, architects, apothecary and so much more. I would not be surprised if the organisation would be able to predict every single move of the enemy, atleast for a while.

And all of this is considering the fact that the guards would be angels, without a hint of corruption. The organisation would be able to control quite a significant chunk of the guards simply by threatening the more corrupted folk.

I can see why the organisation has been so persistent in finding these books. It would certainly give them quite the edge in this city. It would be enough to make them solidly grounded in this fort, I tell you.

Well, wanting it and getting it are two different things. The place is pretty heavily guarded, and that is even before considering all the extra people that would be standing guard in that area. Firstly, sneaking up to the building is itself going to be a significant problem. Surrounding the guard house are moats, which while won't be doing much against an enemy charge is certainly going to make sneaking into the place very hard. If we were to be detected en route, we would be converted into pincushions with the number of arrows they will shoot at us.

Stolen story; please report.

Even if we got into the building, there is the issue of patrols. The treasury is right next to the accounting room and the place is quite consistently patrolled by the captains of the blood heart gang.

While I can certainly hold them off, that would mean that the third hurdle in this matter we will not be able to manage and that would be the formations guarding the books. It won't be anything heavyweight like the grimoire, but it is still going to be a challenge, especially since I have to do it so quietly.

As for how we are going to manage this thing, I have no idea. All of the planning I have left to trevor and the man is even less forthcoming about his plans than I am. Let's just say, I will discover what is about to occur at the same time as you.

Anyway, on to a more personal matter. I can feel the second foundation block achieving completion. I have not done a lot of cultivation, but the thing had been near completion for a while and ever since I have linked with the bloody fang I can feel the speed of my cultivation increase by a crazy amount. If before it was like I was trying to weave using rope, now it is like the rope has suddenly become a thread.

Firstly it is due to the constant amount of mana that is flowing into my body from the sword. It is trickle compared to the mana that I can actively gather, but the trickle is always there. It is actually quite risky too. If I do not keep using that mana in my foundation building the blood mana from the thing will lead to more permanant and unsavoury changes to my body. I wouldn't be surprised if I became a grunt permanently.

Still, it removes one of the major hurdles in the process of foundation building, which is converting external mana into vital mana. That is a process that takes half of my focus, with the remaining half actually on the process of weaving the foundation. It is a pretty inefficient way to do it, but that is the process of cultivation.

Secondly, my control of mana in the mana core has grown by a ridiculous degree. This is very paradoxical because since I am actually introducing a new type of external mana into me. If anything controlling it Should be much harder. I can feel the mana flow so smoothly that it feels like my mana up till now was like honey. I seriously have to wonder why my master kept this from me until now. The man teaches me the randomest of stuff, granted they have proved somewhat useful. While other disciples are commanded to cultivate as quickly as possible, the man actually asks me to slow down and most weirdly, there are his challenges. A few I can understand but some I don't know the purpose for. (For example he once made stand upside down on my head for a day. I still havent found any use for it other than knowing that doing such a thing is stupid. I ended up unconscious that day.)

Well, I won't be figuring that out any time soon. Still, it leaves me with another headache. The process of linking a complete foundation block is a painful process, the pain of which is something that I have talked about before. I assume that I have a month, maybe half of that before I will be able to complete the foundation block.

I need to complete the work of linking before that period is over. The process of linking is much easier before the foundation is set. It will still be painful but at the very least I will not feel like hitting my head is being extracted from my skull.

Getting into more positive matters, I can feel traces of the changes done by the sword. I can feel the mana of the sword humming in my body, making it stronger and my senses sharper. It is almost negligible, mind you. If I could lift ten kilos at Max before, now I can lift ten kilos hundred grams at max. Still, a change is a change and such a thing will accumulate with time.

The most profound affect of the linking is still on the thirst. If before I would have used the sword, I would still feel the thirst for the next week or so. It is nothing deadly and can be handled easily by drinking a bit more water. I am not like the grunts who need to drink blood every month or so, before their thirst overcomes them.

To them it is a burning thing, as if their throat has been drained of all moisture. For me water suffices to keep the thirst a bay but for grunts normally water will do nothing. They actually don't even need to eat you know. Blood is enough for them. Blood is their food, their water and even their drug.

This thirst is due to the very blood mana that fuels their transformation into a vampire. The thirst is a side affect of being exposed to the blood mana abruptly and suddenly. A more steady way of exposure like mine would have made this process a bit more painless. Even If I were to suddenly gain vampiric form due to the blood mana, I will be closer to the higher vampires.

They have to barely deal with the thirst, making them that much harder to catch (really hard to catch). They also gain methods of exciting blood mana in the body of others, giving them almost absolute control over the lower vampires, especially the grunts. Some say that just standing in the presence of the higher vampires can cause the thirst of the grunts to lose control. They become like beasts that cannot think if their master wills it so.

Well, all of that is matters for the future anyways. It is not like I will be meeting any of the higher vampires this close to the black mountain. They would be killed by the guard corps or the legion long before they can even reach close to us.

The most they can do is possession and while fighting grunts is certainly hard work, I have to admit that now, without the thirst to deal with fighting them will be harder. That is assuming that it will be a one on one fight.

Somehow I don't find that will be the case. Once we have breached the inner keep, the first priority will have to look for the mayfires. Even another person supporting me will certainly make this fight fairer.

Well, let's just focus on the tomorrow. Breaching the inner keep is a matter better left for later. We have to breach the guard house before.