When Mars returned to his office Tex was already waiting for him with a folder in his hands. Mars took the folder without slowing his step and entered his office, Tex trailing behind him.
“All the information we have on the Cultivator is in there.” Tex supplied helpfully, but Mars had spent hours reading those reports and he knew even before he sat down and opened the folder that he needed a new approach.
“Do we have any eye witnesses I could talk to, people who talked to him, fought him?”
“There are very few who had this privilege, the only group I can think of is Merlin’s group that is leading the manhunt. They are still busy leading shifts of teams to block the second floor if I am not mistaken.” Mars nodded as his eyes flew over the file and its familiar content. The most interesting part were the tactics employed by the Cultivator, hinting on military training in a previous life. But the man’s brutality made it clear he wasn’t just your average soldier. Also the willingness to work with someone leading a criminal enterprise hinted at a possibility of a criminal past. None of what the reports said did really match up and he was not sure if this Merlin, who was basically a bottom feeder from Ambition could be of any help clarifying things. His eyes stopped on a name in the folder. Melissa.
“There have been people who survived a fight with the man, yes Tex?”
“Yes, a young mage and an equally young Vessel of the Cultivator’s generation.”
“Both young, female and pretty I assume?”
“I have no direct information about that, sir.” Tex said, flipping through his notepad he carried around at all times.
“Still... one might be coincidence, two might be a pattern.” Mars paused and studied the short excerpt of the women’s testimonies.
“What happened to them after they were rescued?”
“As far as I know they formed a new party together fairly recently with a bunch of misfits and have been doing some very rudimentary missions on the first floor.”
Mars nodded. Independent teams were an important source of information, goods and more. Tex always kept up with any new teams forming or splintering. It was good business to know as much as possible about the independent teams, as a singular group could be worth hundreds of mid grade manastones if they kept doing the right missions. Especially gathering missions into the fourth floor. A sudden impulse almost made Mars stand up and go question the two women right now, but he held himself back and read through the whole dossier on the Cultivator first. Then he made Tex look up when Merlin would be next in Town and only then did he ask about the whereabouts of the two women.
Tex went to inquire about it and sent word to their informants to keep their eyes open. Mars knew it would take up to an hour until they were found and him storming out and looking for them himself would cost far more time than just letting his information network do its thing. Which meant all he had to do was sit in his comfortable office and wait. But waiting was honestly the last thing he wanted to do right now. He sighed and forced himself to concentrate and use the time well. He needed to make plans and preparations for a fair amount of scenarios.
If he assumed the Cultivator was worth the risk, his skills and abilities useful to him and his progress fast enough, then he would need to hold his word and help the man. Which probably meant getting rid of the manhunt and giving him shelter, or some breathing room at least. Maybe even a fake identity he could climb with. One of their district climbing groups would probably have no problems climbing with someone like the Cultivator. Mars had thought about how to end the manhunt for a while now. There were no easy solutions, especially if the Cultivator was not found.
He could fake the Cultivator’s death, which would be a neat solution, but it would not hold up under scrutiny. More than 20 mages had fought the Cultivator and they would be able to identify his magical signature. Preparing a body wasn’t exactly problematic, but the magical signature was a problem. To fake that would cost favors from people in Ambition and they would have to transport a body down. In short it was not a feasible solution. It would have also meant that the Cultivator could not be seen and unless he was good with a disguise he would probably think it a bad solution. Much easier, but also much more expensive was to just call the manhunt off.
This would rely on Aurix and what the man wanted entirely. Mars knew sending a few young women would not do it this time. Ever since Aurix had encountered the Cultivator he had kept up his shield spell day and night. A feat that honestly scared Mars a bit. That was not a normal shield spell and when he had last seen the man it had not looked weak to his identify skill. Quite the opposite. So Aurix was paranoid and terrified. He also barely left the town hall and its offices, although the man had built himself a luxurious mansion close to the river.
Mars was sure there was a way to satisfy the fat coward, but he suspected he would have to pay quite a price for it. Maybe enchanting his mansion so it would be a fortress would be enough to appease the man? Still he would have to gather some voices of discontent with the manhunt from the other elders. Which was not difficult, it had always been a deeply unpopular move. But so far Aurix had not shown even a hint that the political pressure was getting to him.
But even if he was able to stop the manhunt and get all of the independent groups collect crystal dust it would only barely be enough to satisfy the demands coming from Ambition. If the Cultivator was willing to be used by him as the tool of his vengeance, then he needed him to reach Ambition as soon as possible. Mars did not really know how Cultivators progressed, but apparently it was slow and hard. It would not be difficult to shower the man with whatever he desired, especially as payments for services rendered. Mars had already plans and trials he wanted to send the Cultivator on to test his mettle. To find out how much the man could do. A pocket Cultivator he could play when he finally returned to Ambition was nothing short of a dream come true to him. But all of that was just that for now. A dream.
Mars did not know or trust this Cultivator and it was entirely possible the man was unsuited for his tasks or had a temperament that made him difficult to control. Well Mars preferred the latter for his subordinates, but the man needed to be capable of following orders at the very least. He also needed to have the ability to take out targets without too many issues. Mars caught himself tapping the table in a nervous drum and stopped himself. His old habits broke through whenever he was excited or about to fight. His nervous energy coming from his high class was sometimes difficult to contain, but for the most part he had himself under control. Still on days like this, when the world started to move at ten times the speed, when it had crawled just yesterday at a snails pace, on days like this Mars wanted to move, wanted to fight. He knew many Vessels took on some of their class specific traits and quirks with higher levels. Defensive classes becoming calmer, rogues and fighters more twitchy and aggressive and so on. For him it had always been nervous energy.
Finally Tex returned and gave Mars a curt bow.
“You found them?”
“The Mage Melissa is currently training in shooting range D on the Army base and the Ranger Lisa, is undergoing training at obstacle course E under supervision.”
“Excellent. Well lets see if I can’t find out something interesting.” Mars said and almost bounced out of the room. Only pausing to take another Information dossier about the mage.
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Melissa concentrated all her willpower into a single point forcing her mana to respond, coalescing it around the long sharp icicle she had summoned out of thin air. Slowly the icicle grew in width, but its point stayed sharp and dangerous. After mind blowing concentration and two separate times she consulted her old spellbook she finally managed to conjure a serviceable ice spear.
In truth it was far away from a real ice spear. Instantly cast and a single magical signature that ice formed around. This was more what happened if you cast a longform of hailburst and layered it. It was no less destructive as she threw the sharp spike of ice into a target way down range, cutting it in two. In the end the projectile even burst into ice shrapnel taking out two more training dummies. Much to Melissa’s chagrin. She had basically given up on a true crowd control spell for now. It was impossible to create from scratch, simply impossible. Her basic control over ice and fire had increased many fold over her arduous training sessions, but in the end they translated to no increase in power or control over her spells at all. It was infuriating.
She had been so sure it had been the right path, but nothing she had done seemed to bear any fruits. She felt like she was running in place. Her new group was the only source of hope, of progress. They had bonded during their little training exercises and had even done some simple hunting and gathering missions on the first floor together with many other groups doing the same. It was very safe, since there was a vast bulk of people doing the same thing and they could and would support each other. It wasn’t a real test of their prowess yet, but more of a rehearsal and dress training before the real deal. She had to admit she had underestimated Gloria and Jacob and their unorthodox skills. The first time they both had worked together to speed up the entire group and slow down their enemies it had felt like everyone had grown wings.
Lisa had basically shot arrows like a machine gun and Marvin had not been far behind. Mercucio had turned out to be even faster than anyone had expected and he had actually scored the majority of the kills during their little training mission. Their front line was solid, Vera more than capable of holding her own and Melissa had been able to just stand back, give some orders and cast spells. The speed up effect was noticeable even to her and her spell casting and it gave her hope. She still wasn’t where she knew she needed to be to beat the fifth level reliably, but if she increased her damage potential, then maybe she would be fine.
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The door to the training range opened and Melissa turned around sharply. Icicles circling above her hands.
“This range is occupied.” she called out with a frown and blinked as an old man stepped into the light, wearing expensive looking snow white clothes. He had salt and pepper hair, but he moved with the grace of a Predator. There was no respect in the man’s eyes, only cold calculation as he stopped a few dozen feet away from her. Who was this? An instructor she had never heard about? No, his clothes were much too refined and as she narrowed her eyes she spotted the guild insignia of the Alchemist guild on the man’s chest. A golden pin glittering in the sun.
Immediately she let the magic she had held evaporate and gave the man a short bow.
“Apologies Elder, how may I help you?” she asked putting as much courtesy into her voice as she could. Guild Elders were in the same league as Aurix and she could really not afford to piss of another such entity. A random Elder appearing out of nowhere was a bad sign, a really bad sign. She could feel sweat pour down her back like a cold river.
“You are quite astute for the little time you have spent in the Tower. Learned some hard lessons huh?” the elder said with a pleasant chuckle and Melissa looked back up to him. Gone was the calculating look, replaced by the gentle smile of a grandfather visiting his favorite granddaughter. If possible that scared her even more and she gave the man another bow.
“The Tower teaches us all hard lessons, Elder.”
“True. So, tell me Melissa, why do you climb the Tower, after all you have lost?” the Elder asked in the same affable tone and yet Melissa felt like she had been slapped. She had asked herself this question so many times after losing Thorgen and the others. It felt like the man had read her heart and it made the whole situation only more uncomfortable. Like this old man had her in the palm of his hand, like his words were there to trap and bind her like a fly. To start with how did this man know her name or what she had lost? Was this common knowledge in guild circles? She was not remotely important enough to garner any attention, mage or not. She was also confused what the man wanted from her, but whatever it was it must be important for him to come personally, even though she could not wrap her head around why. She opened and closed her mouth and then answered truthfully after taking a deep breath.
“Because I have to get stronger.”
“For what?”
Melissa paused and then looked the man in the eyes.
“Revenge.”
The elder smiled at that and then chuckled, a deep amused chuckle that made her slightly uncomfortable, but the man’s posture had changed and he studied her with what felt like genuine affection now.
“Well, Revenge is quite a goal. Most would call it foolish. But not me. I understand the desire all too well.”
“Ah but where are my manners, my apologies I have not introduced myself. My name is Mars Ventros and I am the Alchemist guilds supply elder.” Mars said with a short bow and then he continued in the same conversational tone.
“So who do you want to kill?”
Melissa paused. She had heard of this Elder actually, Rumors had it he was involved with the red-light district. Even more reason to not give him any reason to be angry. The whole situation was weird and the casual question of who she wanted to kill felt natural even though it was totally out of place. Melissa’s throat tightened and she answered after a slight hesitation.
“The Cultivator.”
“Ah, for killing your team I would assume, yes?”
Melissa nodded in return and Mars chuckled again and shook his head.
“As you are you will never kill that man, not with training like this, not with scrolls like that.” Mars dismissed her spell scrolls and personal Grimoire with a dismissive gesture.
“Are you sure you have thought this through?”
Melissa’s temper flared and she balled her fists.
“Its not a matter of logic. Its a matter of perseverance. No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it will be. I will have my vengeance.”
“Because what else have you left, huh?” Mars ended her outburst and Melissa stared at him in shock.
“Tell me, Melissa. Why did he let you live?” Mars asked and his gentle tone was gone, replaced with a hardness that commanded her to answer. But Melissa barely saw it anymore. She was blinded by the memory of the man she hated more than anything else in her life looming over her. Putting a dagger to her throat and then she could see the pity in his eyes. She could still taste the health potion that had saved her life being forced down her throat. The terror was so fresh, her own gratefulness, her own weakness overshadowed with the knowledge that he had killed everyone else before taking pity on her. That he butchered and stripped them of their clothes and valuables like livestock. But he had spared her. The knowledge of it was like fire in her chest fueling her hatred. Hatred of her own weakness, of her own gratitude and the deeper the flame of her hatred simmered the more it turned into just hatred of him. Melissa blinked into the light and the eyes of the Elder questioning her. She took a deep breath and shook her head.
“I don’t know.” she said with a slightly trembling voice.
Mars sighed at her answer and looked up towards the sky for a long moment before he studied her once more.
“You see I am an old man and I have lived a long life working with some of the vilest people you can ever imagine. I have climbed higher than most ever will and I have earned some skills that give me a good advantage in gauging my opponents. Its not an exact science, but something tells me that was not the whole truth. But I get it. Why should you spill your guts to some random geezer, even if he is a guild Elder with significant influence. So I am going to make you an offer.” Mars looked her straight in the eyes.
“A Grimoire with a spell of your choosing, but from what little I have seen you are in dire need of a Crowd Control spell, Ice Grasp or Land of Winter would probably compliment your build the best. I can get you full learning instructions on either of those spells, notes and detailed spell forms of true masters that leave no vagueness in their writing. That is the price I offer you for a story. A true story about what really happened with the Cultivator. Not a bad deal no?”
Melissa stared at Mars with shock. He had just casually offered her something worth more than 2000 mid grade manastones if anyone would ever sell something like that to begin with. Detailed instructions on spell forms were not just rare, they were among the most sought after texts in the whole Tower. She did not doubt for a moment, someone like him with his influence power and wealth could get something like this, but why was he willing to give it to her so easily? Why did he want to know what had happened so badly?
“If...if I may, Elder Mars… I have a question myself.”
“Oh? Please, go ahead.”
“Why would you offer me something like that, why be so generous? What would you ever gain from hearing that story?”
“The truth. As simple as that. The Cultivator has become a problem even to the guilds and we are looking into him now. An accurate account of the man might be worth far more than a simple Grimoire in the end.”
Melissa searched for any hint of falseness in the man’s words, but she found none. It just felt honest and that made it even more unbelievable. With one stroke her future would look bright. If she learned a Crowd Control Spell she could move past the 5th floor and climb up to Ambition. There she would be able to join one of the magical colleges and get a proper magical education. This could change her life forever. So Melissa steeled herself and nodded. So what if others knew of her shame? If she could gain power then in the end it would all be worth it to her. Melissa took a deep breath and then closed her eyes.
“We were just coming back from a mission when we were called for security to the Symbols to guide and protect the new arrivals. There were 5 of us. Sophie, our [Ranger], who was always quiet unless you got her to drink and loosen up a bit. Adrian was a sword master, well he tried to become one. They both came with me to the tower. Same generation and we became really good friends. Adrian always boasted a lot, but he trained hard to back up his boast. He was a kind Soul and always looked after us. Then there were the Tower born who joined my group. Korlat who was a [Defender] and loved to cook. He wanted to climb, but he would have become a cook instead if he had not gotten the chance. He loved to humm when he prepared our meals. And finally...Thorgen. He was the real leader of our party. Born in Ambition proud of it. He wanted to return home so badly, but he chose me as his Leader. He taught me everything I know about the Tower...he…”
Melissa felt the tears fall from her eyes, felt the sob in her throat, but once she had begun the story. She could not stop it again. She had to tell it, had to release it.
“Thorgen said we could make a quick buck defending the newbies. But then everything went wrong. The Cultivator kidnapped someone and we were all on high alert. They told us he had taken a young woman and we followed the Call-to-arms. It was strange to hunt someone, but I honestly did not think we would find him. But we did.” Melissa released a deep breath and saw the fight happen before her very eyes as she spoke.
“He left Lisa, the woman he had kidnapped as bait and ambushed us. He was so fast. He killed Sophie before we all even noticed. He came after me and I just tried to hit him, but he got to me, he moves through the air like a shadow. And he was so strong. He tackled me and then….then he cut my throat.” Melissa said and her fingers cradled the spot on her throat, now long healed and gone. But she could still feel the pain.
“I knew I was dying, but I...I summoned my magic to stem the bleeding. It was all I could do. Freeze the blood to keep myself from bleeding out. I...I did not really notice the fight. I was too busy keeping myself alive. But...I must have felt something. I tried to get away, to crawl into safety. But he caught up to me.” Melissa closed her eyes in pain.
“He put a dagger right here underneath my chin. I felt the metal and I panicked...I….I begged him to spare me.” Melissa whispered breathlessly. “I looked him in the eyes and he had pity with me. He...spared me. He made me drink a healing potion. He….he saved my life, after almost killing me and in that moment...In that moment I was so grateful. I was so relieved he had not killed me.” Melissa shook slightly and then pushed out a shuddering breath.
“But when I woke up, Lisa was there and….and everyone else was dead. He had butchered them. Murdered my friends and I...I had been grateful he had let me live. I….” Melissa cried and shook as she relived her Trauma once more. But it felt good to talk about it, it felt like her confession had released a burden from her shoulders and she caught herself relatively quickly.
“We were found not long after.” she finished the story and looked back up to the Elder that had listened quietly.
“There, that is the truth. He spared me and he spared Lisa. Out of pity.” Melissa spat out the word pity like it was poisonous.
“I will never forgive him and I will never forgive myself for only thinking of myself, when my friends...and the man I loved died right next to me.”
Mars studied her for a long Moment and nodded then satisfied. He stepped closer to her and handed her a handkerchief she took gratefully. She wiped her tears away and then straightened.
“Are you satisfied?” she asked with a slight bite in her voice that she could not hide.
“I am. That was the truth and you will get your reward. But we both know that the Reward far exceeds the value of what you have given me. So I will consider this a favor to you. One day in the future I will ask you to return the favor and you will not ask any questions. Do we have an agreement?”
Melissa felt actually relieved when Mars said that. It meant he was planning on keeping his word. He wanted something more from her than this story. But that was good. She still shook a bit from crying and from reliving that terrible moment and so Mars continued with a smile, taking her silence for hesitation.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything you do not want to do. That I can swear. So?”
“We have an agreement.” Melissa said and held out her hand. Mars smirked and shook her hand firmly.
“Excellent. You can expect the Grimoire to be delivered to your doorstep tonight. It was a pleasure doing business with you. But before I leave you to your training I want to give you some advice.”
Melissa raised her eyebrows and Mars continued after a slight dramatic pause.
“First, you should head to Ambition as soon as possible. Don’t waste your potential down here hunting for a ghost. At least not until you can kill him. Trust me when I say Ambition is the best place in the Tower for a young mage to rise in Power.” Mars winked at her and then he hesitated before he continued.
“I would also go to a doctor if I was you. My skill is more art than science, but if I am not mistaken and I usually am not. Then you are pregnant, young lady.” Mars smirked at Melissa’s shocked look, turned around and slowly walked out of the training range.
Melissa stared after the man, feeling tired and confused and… No. It could not be. She had not been with anyone since Thorgen’s death. That had been what? 3-4 months ago? She could not be pregnant. It was impossible. She...she was feeling sick often in the morning. But Melissa had thought that was just her nightmares. No. What did he know? But what if? Melissa’s heart was beating in her chest like a drum and she hurried out of the training range. She had to know. Had to. If she was pregnant then it was his child. Thorgen’s and her child. With hurried steps she walked out of the army base and towards the next doctor that sold pregnancy tests.