He placed it on the small table in front of them and Tom immediately started fiddling with it to try to find the description of what he had just earned. “Out of interest, how did you figure out the nature of the threat so quickly when I pulled your ear?”

Before Dimitri could answer, the description appeared on the screen. Tom guessed he shouldn’t have been surprised, because he was pretty sure he had gotten this skill, and this process was only confirming it.

Skill: Advanced Danger Sense – Tier 2 – Level 9

Reveal imminent threats.

Threshold Bonus 8: Includes threats to party members as well as to self.

Dimitri, who had stood to see the screen, nodded approvingly. “That’s a solid, broad upgrade of the standard skill. The advanced level takes it from physical threats to more conceptual ones, like enemies focused on data-gathering.”

Tom stared at it. The fact it was level nine was already impressive, but then he guessed he had been training it for weeks against rank-hundred stealth and information specialists. It getting ramped up so much shouldn’t be such a surprise, given that context. Even so, the levels he had were remarkable. In tier-zero equivalent, that was rank thirty-six, and, in the tutorial, it had taken him half a decade to get his first spell to that level, which probably highlighted the peril he had been in more than anything else.

“It’s a good skill. As for your question,” he pointed at the screen. “That kind of answers you. I knew about your training with the bats, your precognition level, and oaths that assassins usually take. I figured if you had developed an ability, then you would be much more likely to sense them even though my skills are at the tier-six level.”

“Tier-six. With fifty percent boost with each tier. Your skill is five times more potent.”

“That calculation excludes affinities, and, with yours at ninety-five and…” he frowned. “At level nine, yours is probably as strong or slightly stronger than mine. Anyway, I figured that we had somehow missed an assassin, so I reacted accordingly.”

“But then why delay for so long?” The angry question burst out before he could help himself. “It was a full five minutes before you yelled out code red.”.

“Don’t get distracted,” Dimitri reprimanded mildly. “Keep trying to find out the title that lets you see through illusions.”

With a flush of heat in his cheeks, Tom returned his attention to the ritual screen and guessed at another title name. The screen failed to respond.

“I waited because they came for you. If I had called code red immediately, they would have been able to guess you were the cause. So, I delayed. I spoke to every five- and six-year-old, and four-year-olds for good measure, too, and only then acted. They’re not dumb. They must have known or suspected someone passed the message, but they couldn’t see who.”

Tom shut his eyes. “Sorry, that should have been obvious.”

“I hated waiting, but it was for the best. They only got Arnali after that screw-up, but it could have been worse, and, to be honest, he might have been uncovered in advance of the green banners. There may have been nothing we could have ever done to save him.”

Tom didn’t believe that for a moment, and he doubted Dimitri did either, but he was glad the other man had said it.

“Then, when I brought you in here and couldn’t talk to you like you were a reincarnator, I knew the truth. I can’t believe,” he glanced up to the left corner. “That one had snuck in here to compromise communications.”

That wording was deliberate and sounded suspicious. “What do you mean by that?”

“They were intercepting all the messages to Eden and others.”

“Why wouldn’t you just use the auction house?”

Dimitri shook his head. “No, the GODs shut that down. I won’t call it a loophole, because it was there deliberately but, once we began linking the settlements, they stripped the ability to do targeted communication through the auction house. Now everything is done by message spell or courier. I sent multiple ones, and they were intercepting every attempt. The moment I realised one was in here I guessed what had happened to my messages, and went personally.”

Tom was horrified at the implication. The body count was far more than he had realised. Multiple couriers had been sent and apparently intercepted. “How many died?” he asked flatly.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not on you.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Dimitri, I’m not a child. How many?”

“In total, I sent almost thirty people.”

“Thirty? What the hell. I thought they weren’t allowed to touch anyone but reincarnators.”

“They didn’t all die. They were skirting a fine line. Technically, it was an operation to hunt reincarnators, which they’re kind of allowed to do. They tried to capture rather than kill, but at least three died, and another four are missing.”

Tom winced at that.

“It’s a personal tragedy, but not a humanity-level one. They were all unnerved.”

He had said the last bit like it was a slur.

“What do you mean, unnerved?”

“What can I say... The unnerved are ones that have given up, those who had settled for mediocrity.”

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“It is, and it isn’t.” Dimitri said quietly. “Mostly I pity them, but considering the risks I’ve taken and continue to do so, it’s also galling to see others lose heart like that. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t understand where they’re coming from. It’s difficult to maintain the rage for decades. I’ve had issues with motivation, but never for more than a week. To watch such potential being squandered… It’s hard, and it’s not like they didn’t try. Most sacrificed a lot before they became unnerved. They deserve respect. and them dying is sad, but do you know how many good friends I’ve lost?”

“So have I.”

“Yes, at some point we all become slightly desensitised to loss. It doesn’t help that in some ways them dying like this was better for humanity than them surviving. I imagine the penalties DEUS will extract for those deaths, and for the twenty plus people being incapacitated for a month by a directed out-of-competition force, will be significant.”

“Damn. That’s why everything took so long. They killed the communication line.”

“Don’t get the wrong impression, Tom. We’re not just dependent on Eden. There were dozens of humans who could help, and four were close enough to contact. The Ladorin blocked me from contacting the other three as well. The moment I managed to get any of those four to come, their operation was over. They knew that, and did everything they could to prevent it. This was very well-planned. They even pre-planned distractions to draw people away.”

“They drew people away?”

Dimitri nodded grimly. “Some Bugs,” he said bugs like they were a curse to make it clear he was referring to the competitor species. “Managed to establish a colony nearby. Given how fast that cursed species expands, we had to act to eliminate them immediately.”

“But aren’t they years of travel away? I thought it was impossible that we’d ever engage them head-on.”

“Yes. They snuck down. They arrived about a decade ago and had been suppressing their growth so we wouldn’t notice them early. The operation was very well-planned.”

Tom shut his eyes. It was extraordinary, almost unbelievable, that so much effort was being put into killing him. It had to be personal. But how? For a moment, he recalled his recent brush with an echo of a memory. There was an encounter with a figure, a figure filled with power… a

A terror started to seize his muscles, white static descended and ever so briefly enveloped him. The soothing love of that energy pushed away the other, and, with a jerk, he forced himself to not think any more in that direction.

The why didn’t matter as much as the facts. He was a target. “They’re going to attack again, aren’t they?”

“Yes, that’s what we think.” Dimitri agreed. “It’ll be years before they can gather sufficiently skilled assassins. I don’t know what form the next raid will take, but my guess is they’ll go the carpet-bombing approach.”

“Shit,” Tom cursed bitterly. “More people are going to die.”

Dimitri shook his head. “No, it’s the opposite. We’re too far away. Any operations they launch would have happened anyway. This way, we force the timing, and we know they’ll hit this town instead of the others.” He smiled with bloodlust. “Yes. Your being here as a lure is good for us.”

Tom frowned internally at that attitude. Then again, he understood the cold calculations at the heart of it. They were all here to die to save humanity’s future. Knowing where a threat was coming from meant they could make the enemy bleed. Any of them dying was worthwhile if it hurt the enemy more. Tom could empathize with the reasoning of using his presence here as a lure – it was an advantage that would let them set the terms of the engagement. Humanity could fortify one town instead of three.

Dimitri tapped the machine, reminding him of where his focus was supposed to be.

Mentally, he concentrated on an alternative concept to the image that he had been pursuing: a title that let him see assassins or threats rather than a general illusion piercing ability. Possibly one linked to Danger Sense.

Nothing happened.

For what must have been the fortieth time, he repeated the same concept, but with a slightly different focus between the components.

To his shock, the screen in front of him updated.

Title: Reveal Hidden Threats:

* Reward: You can pierce sapient-based illusions and privacy compulsion shielding a person you have identified as wishing you harm up to the tier 7 level instantly. Higher-tier defences take progressively longer to break, but once a specific spell or skill is pierced once, then on future exposure it will be broken instantly.

* Awarded for: Successfully breaking a layered skill and spell defence consisting of ten different defences with tiers ranging between 7 and 11.

* Legendary Title. Competition Rank: 4th, 75 Ranking points.

He read the details hungrily. Next time creatures stalked him like that, he would be able to see them. Not only would illusions under tier-eight fail to stop his vision - it was clear the title was a stacking one. Theoretically, it would let him break anything once his Danger Sense had identified it as a threat.

Beside him, Dimitri whistled appreciatively. “I know this is building on an existing ability, but that’s still impressive. There’s a tier-eight skill I’ve been eyeing that does similar.”

“What would that cost, five million?” Tom guessed. A number that would take Dimitri a year to gather, even if all of his earned experience was directed at a single skill. Tom, once he started earning experience, didn’t expect to get more than a million a year for at least half a decade.

“Yep,” Dimitri agreed quietly. “There’s a reason I don’t have it yet. And you, you fucker got it for free!”