Ray
The deals continued well into midday as people of various walks of life frolicked to the market. The sale on potions was its own attraction, who could resist a lot of potions? After all, there was a reason Alchemists were so vaunted. The reason certainly wasn't their good looks. The deals led to the collection of stupendous amounts of information, as the people worked full time to spread rumors and verify their own.
The Xnarthan had been meeting with every force in town, with the noted exception of the College Dean. Aunty Ariana had gotten a full force visit. The Emperor's disciple along with a hundred of his loyal guards had arrived at the gates. And been blocked from entry. The nobles had a rather myopic view of the matter, they thought the Marchioness arrogant.
Ray was sure the disciple had asked for too much. But another thing stood out, the Xnarthan hadn’t wandered the city yet. In fact, they'd been avoiding the city like the plague. The Order were the ones frolicking around all day.
A surprising number of people had complained about the Order barging in on more than one occasion, usually in the Commoner's district, but occasionally in the Merchant's too. The Order sometimes took the odd souvenir, giving cursory payment in return.
And then there were the missing persons. A few dozen from the Commoner's district, more from the Merchant's district, but far fewer among the nobles. The Order was up to something. But what exactly? Now that was unknown.
"Hello sir, would you like to have a The hilarity method ? The potion will help you have a great sense of humor tonight." one of Ray's people, an understudent in the College, said to a man. The reason for his offer wasn't hard to guess, the man was dressed in black and looked like he had just come from his mother's funeral on one of the moist, boisterous streets in Afrieal right now.
"Just die, peasant." the man replied, shooting a bolt of fire at the understudent as he walked away. Ray reacted quickly, conjuring a wall of rock to shield the understudent as he shot yellow glitter at the man.
"Do you really want to die, peasant? I have no problems fulfilling your wish if that's what you want." the man said, turning to Ray as he looked at him in distaste. As if looking at something that disgusted him to no end. Ray held his fire and the man moved on, tssking at him as he did so.
Well, that escalated fast. Ray signaled to Marcus to keep watch as he followed the man. A place where they wanted to kill 'peasants' was sure to be interesting. Not to mention, Ray had a hunch that the man would have valuable information to give.
Ray observed him as he walked, noting his gait. The man walked as if he owned the streets, tssking at anyone that came too close or inconvenienced him in any way. And that happened often, given that he also insisted on walking in the middle of the footpath.
An arrogant man, from head to toe. Ray would bet a billion mana coins on the fact The two of them approached a quiet alleyway, the man entering and turning around. Ray activated his vest as he turned around.
"So, you did follow me, huh? What a fool. I don't know why the Emperor even thinks your lot is a threat when you die so easily." the man said, waving his hand as a few shadowy constructs shot at Ray.
The constructs were lazy, the lack of care put into making them apparent. Ray conjured yellow glitter, trying to burn them as he dodged. Fire burst into the constructs as Ray avoided them, turning to deal with the Xnarthan agent.
But the constructs weren't done, the fire had failed to do any damage to the constructs at all, and they were now turning back towards Ray. The man just smiled lazily as he let out a few more constructs, his arrogance apparent.
"As I said, you're going to die today. I don't know what made you think that you could succeed. A noble is inherently better. The Empire has already confirmed that the quality of elements is based on one's pedigree, and as you can see-" the man waved his hand towards the shadow constructs- "elements are what matter."
Ray was too busy thinking of a solution to pay much attention to the Xnarthan agent's goading. As arrogant as he was, he was right when he said his constructs were hard to match. But Ray wasn't entirely without options. The mana from the constructs was the same as the one the Shadow Princess used. A shadow-type attack.
And there was such a thing as black glitter. Ray conjured it, targeting the constructs. The constructs ballooned, increasing in size as the black glitter turned to shadow. But it also slowed them. The man's face changed as he seemed to realize something, quickly conjuring dozens of constructs as he targeted Ray in a mad rush.
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Ray conjured a wall of shadow around him, protecting himself. The constructs clashed, dissipating parts of the wall as they exploded. But that wasn't all. The vest began vibrating as silver mana targeted the constructs. Ninety percent of constructs ceased before even reaching the wall.
But all of this cost mana, and Ray had no intention of getting into a battle of attrition with a Xnarthan agent. Yellow glitter emerged from his wand, surrounding the Xnartahn agent as he conjured shadow constructs in panic.
The Fire burned through his shield, blasting a hole in the man's heart as he hurriedly reached for some sort of square-shaped device. The man didn't make it, but the device activated nonetheless.
Tier 10 Human killed: 3900 mana
Ray blinked, thinking fast as his surroundings clear. The teleportation was slower than the Dean's, but he had seconds before he emerged in what might be a room full of enemies. The class, it had mentioned an invisibility element. Ray had no idea what invisibility glitter looked like, so he went with the first option he could think of: invisible glitter. And it worked. Ray couldn't see the glitter, but he could see the pale white, gassy mana surrounding him. The teleportation completed, Ray emerging out in the open. The pale white mana lost cohesion for a second, but reformed. But there was no one to see it happen, Ray had landed in an empty corridor.
But it didn't remain empty for long. A girl came in holding some kind of rectangular device. The girl looked up and down at the device a few times and then shouted at the top of her voice, "Revelia! The device is malfunctioning again! Do something about your bloody illusions, or I swear, I will tear that throat off your body."
"I would like to see you try." came the shouted reply. Ray recognized that voice. Professor Revelia, the professor who had initially scouted him out. What was she doing here? What was this place?
Ray had assumed the man to come from the Xnarthan, but this seemed to be a completely different place. Walking quietly, Ray followed the girl through a winding group of corridors, remembering the path. The corridors led to a lab of some sort, with a bunch of people walking around, holding everything from vials of strange liquids to more rectangular items.
"What did you find?" Professor Revelia's voice called out, shifting Ray's attention. The lab coat wearing form of his previous professor came into view as she emerged from what looked like a private cubicle. The same woman who had scouted him into the Academy program worked here.
"The hallway was empty, mana levels were normal, no signs of teleportation taking place." the girl replied, flippantly. "A malfunction thanks to your 'security measures'"
"The measures are necessary. The facility needs to remain secure from rebel interference. " Professor Revelia said. An anti-rebel base? Ray couldn't say he was surprised it existed, but Professor Revelia leading it was a surprise. The Professor was good at recruiting talents, but little more. Ray wouldn't peg her as the sort to lead such an important base.
"The signal was from Anthran's token. An emergency signal." the girl said, now thoughtful. Anthran must be the man Ray killed.
"Hmm, Anthran was on the surface, supposedly having dinner. I suspect he went to the market commotion." Professor Revelia said. "Is there any indication that someone with anti-shadow powers is there?" Ray could think of two, him and the Shadow Princess. Wait, didn't Trevor have a light based power too? Was that power effective against the shadow thing Anthran had?
"Yes, two, the Marchioness' disciple and an unknown from the rebellion. I suspect the unknown to be the Tier 10 genius, Shadow Princess. But neither have moved since Anthran left the base." the girl said. "The only person of interest that has moved in the last hour is Ray Rosenmund. A Tier 8 that shows no indication of having powers that could hold against Anthran."
"Ray is good with sneak attacks. Not to mention a suspected Fae, the tests came back negative, but still… Did he and Anthran have an encounter?" Professor Revelia asked as Ray conjured more invisible mana around him.
"Yes, an unknown man matching Anthran's description was seen entering and leaving the premises by our men. Ray Rosenmund followed him. I still put the chances of Anthran losing at less than five percent.
The idiot was cocky, but there was a reason he was on the fast track to becoming the Emperor's disciple. The shadow attacks are not something easily defended against." the girl said. Ray liked that, the attacks weren't easy to defend against anyway, so she was right.
"I am putting the base on high alert. Tell the Xnarthan and the Order of Mage Warriors's to find Anthran. I will go brief the doctor on the subject." Professor Revelia said as she turned around, entering something into her rectangular device.
The large arc-shaped twin door slid open as she did so, revealing a long corridor on the other side. But that wasn't what caught Ray's attention, neither did the rows upon rows of Elves, Satyrs and many other non-Humans held in cages on either side. Not at that moment at least.
What held his attention was the round table that sat in the middle of this corridor, where a large, burly looking man was about to chop Norman with a broadsword.