At the end of the hall, I hear someone walking in. I’m not high enough to be in one of their fully isolated cell complexes as I guess someone like the Elder or the stronger Archdruids went to.
Still, their goals are clear: information.
The information that the natives wanted and needed to survive.
Although I could talk to the other elves through the small opening in the doors, that is intentional. They had designed the cells well. It wasn’t a simple cubicle but incorporated a high level of security to stop us both from escaping. Nothing I try to escape would do more than increase their mana usage or at most require a light patch job. There were even runic arrangements stopping us from learning anything that we weren’t supposed to, though most of the time the ones for sound dampening were turned off.
That way, nobody had to worry about repercussions if they chose to cooperate. The constant reminder that they could isolate sections and avoid anyone learning the identity of any who talked to the humans builds a level of trust. Just this small piece wouldn’t be enough. Not when the price for leaking even basic information meant our families facing a public trial with mind readers, so it's worth it to be supremely careful when acting on any such thoughts.
I should know, having gone from a guard all the way to a warden in one of my past lives. Just one more of my failed attempts to reach a higher station.
I had never been the highest level, but my wide breadth of skills let me survive when others with higher levels and supposedly more “experience” died.
It was a sad state of reality, but go on enough early invasions and eventually, you would encounter a lucky native. With suppressed levels and skills, we can’t even properly defend ourselves.
These natives however took that to a completely different tier.
And if what I witnessed firsthand with the defeat of an elder at the hands of a single native that was actually splitting his attention to act elsewhere in the fight was even halfway correct… maybe I had been fighting for the wrong side all along.
Perhaps that elder isn’t the highest level, the strongest, nor even one of the rare few that could wield Aether or had another special skill that worked during an invasion, but he was a fully fledged Elder. Tens of thousands of years of experience maybe even past a hundred thousand.
These natives, …
I had skipped from job to job until I landed here, in my supposed last chance. BUT maybe… this…he is my actual last chance.
Our old commander said to not underestimate the enemy.
Even if they were talking in code, occasionally they used one of the simplest ones I had learned simply by hearing it often enough. Anyone with a working brain and curiosity couldn’t live as long as I had in so many places and not learn.
The great empire was great but it had limits and the system made sure to point those out and place even more on us. I will need to be very careful, but my only remaining option on the table, the only card left to play is now, so a plan starts to form in my mind. A plan to guarantee my safety and of my family whichever side won. After all, even if we did manage to drive them all back to a little corner of their planet, their Aether warrior was without equal for such a low level. He broke all the rules for the rule breakers and I saw in his eyes: nothing we threw at him would break him.
I knew people, I knew them like I knew myself.
He isn’t made of mithril, impossible to break and unyielding, no he is a much worse enemy. He is a fungus given power and every time anyone tries to cut him down, he will come back with a vengeance.
I had seen with my own eyes him being taken to the other plane, the caustic void and he not only survived, he thrived. It took him a few months, but he came back stronger than ever.
With someone like that at their back, humans are likely to achieve some type of balance, even if a precarious one. The signs are clear. It’s too early to tell the specifics, but we won’t eradicate them.
Beneath his berzerker methods, Nash seemed reasonable. I can strike a deal with him. Maybe I will finally get a chance to be more than a grunt and escape my level lock. An opportunity that only with the help of a broken system wielder, I could hope to achieve.
The person walking down the corridor is only a couple steps away, he will look inside and then move on as he has done to all the other prisoners.
I look at the small window with determination. Then the blanketing of vision fades and I can see his face. I see a higher level commander from the human side. That is the proper way to think about my new potential allies.
He wears what seems like cloth green military garb. One of the most common colors for such things on Earth if the reports were true. I can work with him, he also seems reasonable.
Stolen story; please report.
He gives a meaningful smile then he continues on his way without losing his step. After he finishes the corridor before they turn on the sound dampeners very smoothly. Something that if I hadn’t been looking for it I wouldn’t have noticed it.
Seconds later, he is back and without even taking ‘proper precaution’ he opens the door. Though with the physical and magical security in place along with four armed guards behind him, I would be lucky to land more than a scratch on him even if I was fully equipped.
“And here I thought I would need days to ply each and every single one of you until I found a weak link. But no, you are ready to change sides.”
“Yes, you could say that,” I speak in their own tongue or rather the tongue of this region. Always useful to learn the local language.
His eyes widen and his mind starts spinning.
“I like to learn and your language seems like a good use of my time. Now… that seems almost prophetic, but my polyglot needed one more level.”
“And you have something in mind. A deal?”
“Ohh you are good, without seeming to be good at interrogating someone. That’s rare. Yes, I have something in mind, but first, what I need from you before you agree to my terms.”
“What are your terms?”
I almost grin, but I hold it in not wanting to show that this is the exact direction I wanted the conversation to take.
“I don’t know who is going to win. I will give you absolutely everything I can on our side except what I chose to keep on my personal information. Now, I may not be high up in the ranks, but I’m very experienced in several fields and I had a lot of time to learn. In the short term what I need, is a safe place and confidentiality.”
“And why would you from the mighty elven Empire, one that spans throughout our galaxy chose to switch sides.”
“Bahh, we own a few hundred planets, the rest are outposts on partially settled worlds, there are a dozen other mini empires just ours even in this young galaxy.”
“You dangle information effectively.”
“Thank you, I never needed to use these particular skills, but it seemed like something that might come in handy.”
“On principle, we agree with your terms. No need to expose you, especially when with the right maneuvering you could probably help us extract even more information that you weren’t privy to from the others.”
I press my lips together in thought and after a second.
“Dangerous to overdo it, but if you need a few punctual things, I’m amenable to that. Something to keep in your back pocket.”
“Be frank, why did you came over to our side?”
“Because I don’t know who is going to win. As things stand with your unorthodox Aether wielder… I’m pretty sure that you will at the very least keep a few strongholds in a small portion of your planet. I hope to come out on top either way. As long as information doesn’t leak about my involvement, I will be fine.”
He thinks for a second, as I have admitted I’m not simply enamored of their little planet and will lie attempting to become a sycophant.
“That is more complicated, as I’m sure you realize, but if you deal with us fairly I think that we could come up with something we can both live with. Family back in the empire?”
“Less than a thousand and only half of that would choose to come if I end up staying permanently considering they would be branded criminals otherwise.”
“There is more to it.”
“There is always more to it. But… my paths of progression in the empire were… cut short. I’m over 10 thousand years old and I don’t have long before the system starts to reduce my resource regeneration. I’m stuck at level 300 and if I wait I won’t be able to climb out of the death spiral. I want to grow and getting access to an Aether wielder that plays outside of the system’s rules seems like the best possible option available to me.”
“And if we can’t solve your problem?”
“All I want is a good faith effort.”
“Ok then, let us discuss the specifics. My name is Russel and I’m an ally of Pando’s city.”
-----------------
Russel’s POV
A thousand thoughts revolve in my head and barely as I step outside of the cell a voice beams straight into my ears.
“And here I thought that it would take you at least a couple of days to get anything. You have the magic touch.”
“He was ready before I walked in that corridor. Anyone that didn’t bungle the job immensely would have gotten similar results.” I say to an opening portal showing his face.
“That’s fair, but I saw your work and it was masterful. He even thinks he got the upper hand.”
The portal extends and is surrounded by green light but I wait for another second until it grows to a proper size for me to pass into Nash’s study underneath his home with all kinds of rune instruments and other things that I don’t understand beyond the level of a user, if even that.
“I think he knows more and he is going to keep them dripping out as leverage. He wants his leveling problem solved.”
“Ohh, I don’t have a problem with him dangling that as an incentive for earnest work. HE already helped to fill out important gaps in our knowledge and he will teach our linguist even more elvish. As for his problem, I have an idea of the two main pain points halting him. First is the same as ours, just the sheer number of exp points to level, but that will only come into play later.”
“He did hint at an almost totalitarian level of control, especially for their troops, maybe he simply ‘can’t’ hunt for more exp.”
“Yeah, that is why I still leave that as a factor. But I think that the main limit is something to do with his soul. I thought that only mobs and other creatures faced this problem, but it seems that system users are also limited in what they can achieve..”
“So you agree to his terms?”
“If I understand them correctly, yes. Hell, for the chance to properly study a soul’s Elf without him trying to interfere, I would pay for that. If I learn how to fix him in the process, letting him get a few exp points… is trivial.”
After another portal and a small illusion to make it seem like Nash was by my side even though I know he can’t enter his own inner world. As we walk into the cell, our elf’s eyes change when he realizes who I brought.
“I heard you need my expertise. Explain the problem in detail.”
“Certainly Nash, Aether Wielder and Keeper of the Cursed Forest.”
“Keeper of Pando.”
“Pando, a good name, though it feels closer to a grove instead of something that spans the planet. They really hate the fact that it survived, how did you manage that? Even if it escaped somehow, it had a broken soul. That would have made it so weak that even expanding to a thousand trees would be beyond its ability.”
“Now those are secrets I don’t want to divulge to random people. Maybe if we become friends. But let's just say I arrived in time and after a little coaxing to get him out of his shell, Pando was the one helping me, not the other way around. Now, let m poke at your soul.”
The elf’s horrified expression is priceless.