Wild Era 2, Ch 13: Interference

When Kelin arrived at the training hall, it was similar to the one where he’d done his guild assessment. 

It was a rectangular chamber with a spot for the combatant to stand and another where monsters would appear. 

A control node on the side of the room regulated the enchantment, which was capable of simulating any monster whose core had previously been fed into it. 

The wards on the walls were stronger than the ones on the crafting hall, capable of containing most damage up to the Third Evolution. A thread of spatial energy infused them, the same as in the guild’s exterior defenses.

It was an efficient way to prevent damage.

The best way to destroy it for someone under Level 400 would be with a spatial technique or an artifact powered by a spatial crystal, but it would still take someone over Level 300 some effort or an equivalent amount of mana to bring it down. 

He glanced around the room to identify weak points as he debated how he would do it, but then he caught himself and dismissed the thought. 

The room was more than strong enough for his practice.

Operating the enchantment took both mana crystals and monster cores. Hundreds of monster types were available for practice and more were added whenever someone tried out a new core.

Most of the power came from mana crystals, while a small amount of experience and the personality of the monsters came from the cores.

Several of his combat abilities needed to reach Elite, so the rest of his time would be spent here. 

Spell Disruption was at Basic, Reactive Sigil was at Advanced, and Soulfire Reinforcement and Blaze were at Expert.

As for his spells, Soul Paralysis was at Expert, and Soul Star was still at Basic.

With Blaze boosting Soul Arrow to a similar power level, it was faster to use it most of the time, since Soul Star took longer to create.

In the future, that might change.

His memories contained thousands of spells and there were others he could have used, but when it came to core combat abilities, he’d never seen much need for a hundred different ways to do the same thing.

The spells he’d practiced so far were ones he had found useful throughout his life, and for now, they were enough.

He walked over to the control node and set a Level 105 monster core and a mid-tier mana crystal into the top, where they dissolved into mist.

Then he moved to the starting area.

Using your own core was the most cost efficient route, since it required less mana to create the opponent.

A moment later, a skeletal mage appeared at the other end of the hall. Necrotic mist surrounded it, swirling into a dark storm.

It was a threatening figure with spells that could tear apart most adventurers, but Kelin just gave it a nod.

He was going to start with Spell Disruption, and this fellow would be the perfect opponent.

As the mage began to hurl spells at him, he focused on slicing them apart with a targeted blade of mana.

At this initial level of the ability, it was very similar to hurling a knife into the heart of the spell and trying to cut it apart. 

It required precision.

He wasn’t familiar with the ability yet, so sometimes he managed it and other times the spell threw him across the room or froze his skin in necrotic ice.

He had disabled his bracers and other defenses for this fight, so he was taking the blows directly. It hurt, but it was a good reminder.

When he took too much damage, he paralyzed the mage and kept it locked down while he healed himself.

Whenever something struck him, his Reactive Sigils lashed back in a streak of golden light and slammed against the mage’s mana shield. 

The soulfire bolts were weak compared to the First Evolution mage, so they didn’t accomplish much, but it was still useful practice.

As time passed, he had to replace the mana crystal that was powering the mage, but it was a fairly efficient enchantment.

He worked on comprehending the Spell Disruption ability and taking full control of it, and slowly it became a more refined tool.

When evening arrived, he paralyzed the mage and struck it with an empowered Soul Star.

The spell had five arcs of soul energy that stood out from the central core and when it sank into the mage’s soul, all of them exploded like a star going nova.

The mage’s necrotic energy ignited in a storm of blazing flames that tore it apart from the inside out and a moment later its body disintegrated into smoke.

These simulacrums didn’t have true bodies, but the core that formed them gave them a fake one, which made it realistic enough.

A small amount of experience chimed in his mind, but the level difference wasn’t much, so it would take a few hundred for him to level. 

He closed down the training hall and then walked through the guild, heading for the rooms upstairs. He was planning to catch up with the kids over a late dinner and see how their classes had been going.

He also wanted to give them the sandfire amulets.

As he was walking down the hall, an echoed conversation came from the intersection ahead.

It was followed by a pair of adventurers who came around the corner, arguing cheerfully about something in low voices. 

That wasn’t strange, since adventurers often traveled through the halls here, but these two had a marked difference between their actions and the state of their souls that stood out clearly in Kelin’s sight.

Their movements were casual and friendly, but their auras were sharp like they were ready to attack.

One was a man dressed in leather and chain mail, while the other was a woman in a tight dress. 

It would have been less strange if only one of them had a mismatched aura, which would have suggested they were planning to ambush the other one in some way, but for both of them to have it while pretending otherwise set off alarm bells in Kelin’s mind. 

They were heading his way, and as they caught sight of him, they slightly adjusted their paths so they would end up closer. If he hadn’t noticed their auras, it might have seemed innocent.

He didn’t analyze them, since that would have alerted them to his attention, but he could sense their general strength.

Both were just into the First Evolution, around Level 105. 

It was a fairly common level for the better guild adventurers in Highmist, but he’d never seen these two around the halls before.

“How are you two tonight?” Kelin asked as he gave them a casual wave. At the same time, a shimmer of protective mana flowed across his skin.

“We’re celebrating!” The woman on the left laughed in response as she swayed closer to Kelin.

“Celebrating what?” Kelin asked calmly. 

“The end of the festival and a big work payout!” the man said, rumbling with laughter. “You want to come drink with us? It’s on me!”

“Yes, come with us!” The woman gave Kelin a brilliant smile, swaying into an impromptu dance as she spun in place. “We’ll have some fun.”

Her dress left a fair amount of skin exposed and hugged tight around her waist, trying to draw his eyes.

“Fun like this!” she said as she swept closer to him. Her sleeves fluttered in the air, trailing like ribbons as they scattered a shimmering dust. 

It was a mix of illusion magic and a powder that she released from her sleeve, which mixed together into a sparkling curtain that would have been more appropriate on a stage than in the guild’s hallway. 

As she came within arm’s reach, her hands flicked out from her little dance, sending thin and almost invisible needles of metallic energy searing through the air.

Right behind her, the man closed the distance and his hand swept through the air toward Kelin’s shoulder from the other side, like he was going to give it a friendly pat. 

A short blade and the gathering of shadow energy in his palm were well hidden, but still clear in Kelin’s sight.

The mana shield Kelin had created sprang into place, intercepting the attacks in a flash of golden light. At the same time his spell deflection bracer flared with power, sending the needles shearing away from him and into the wall, where they tore deep pits into the stone.

“That’s disappointing,” he said as Blaze filled his meridians with denser energy. 

His hand rose and a wave of soul paralysis slammed into the two assassins like a tidal wave.

Their bodies froze as they locked into place, but they didn’t give up so easily. 

Matching abilities ignited in their souls, sending a wave of mana through their bodies that responded to the paralysis.

Their bodies shuddered, convulsing as they twisted in place. Their eyes were still glazed over, but their limbs lashed out, trying to break free from the paralysis.

An explosive wave of dark mana came from the man as a shadow covered him. It buried the hallway in a shroud of darkness that concealed all natural light.

From the woman, a web of metallic needles formed in the air and then shot away in every direction, including toward the man next to her. They buried themselves into the shadowy layer of energy around him and into the walls.

The ones that flew toward Kelin were deflected away by his bracer, so he didn’t pay much attention.

“Reflexive defenses,” he murmured as he studied them. It was an interesting thing to see, not too different from his own Reactive Sigil.

Artifacts flared as they activated next, one on each of the assassins. It was a bracelet for the woman and a plaque of metal that was attached to the man’s belt.

Defensive shields sprang up and a quick teleport tried to trigger, surrounding them in a flash of spatial energy, but Kelin didn’t try to stop it.

He just glanced at the walls and waited.

The guild wards hummed as they suppressed the teleports and a moment later the artifacts shattered to dust.

He shook his head as he waited to see if they had anything else, but despite their struggles, they weren’t able to overcome the soul paralysis.

Soul magic had the advantage of targeting the source of abilities, so under its influence, they weren’t able to activate their mana or any other escape attempts.

It might have been different if they’d had a resistance to it or strong enough souls to endure the shock, but they didn’t.

They kept trying, which was a sign of a deep level of reflexive training and somewhat impressive while their minds were dazed, but their muscles didn’t respond to their efforts with more than a twitch. 

He also watched the flare of abilities as they tried to ignite in their souls, but they were dull sparks that couldn’t fully form.

He took a moment to analyze both of them.

Jenis Merloc. Level 108. Blade Marauder-Shadow Warrior.

Hila Reston. Level 107. Metal Adept-Dancing Wind.

Their classes were decent, but not special.

Both of them were also registered as guild adventurers at the Low Steel rank, similar to his own, which explained how they had gotten in here.

He shook his head as he saw that.

The guild had truly fallen too far on this world. Their background screening should have detected this.

His staff hummed as it turned from a bracelet back to a full staff in his hand. An aura of soulfire reinforced it as he swung it at the man first, cracking him across the head, and then the woman.

The strikes sent them both slumping to the floor.

It was more for a sense of satisfaction than because it was really necessary. 

He hit them with another wave of paralysis and then he dropped his staff on top of the man. Its shape changed, twisting into a set of manacles on his wrists. 

Runes shimmered on the surface as the staff locked itself into place. 

The runes echoed its origin as they turned into a tree of flame that sent roots deep into the earth. Trying to move it would be like trying to uproot a massive soulflame spirit tree.

If the man tried to stand up, he’d have to overcome that first.

It was an effective way of keeping him in place, and if he did manage to escape, Kelin could still track the staff down through the soulbond.

A layer of stone from Gaius formed around the man next, binding him at the feet, knees, and shoulders. It was tempting to sink him halfway into the ground, but the guild had wards to prevent elementals from traveling through the stone.

The woman was next. One band of stone covered her hands and trapped them at her waist to block any more needles, while the others looped around her shoulders and feet.

When they were dealt with, Kelin glanced around the hall.

Only a few moments had passed since their attack. 

The guild wards had detected the fight and were resonating with an alarm, which meant someone would be on the way soon, but Kelin ignored them as he sent a few messages through his amulet.

One went to Jesra at the front desk, another to Sandren, and then one to the team to warn them what had happened and to be cautious. He also sent one to the kids to tell them to stay in their room until he got there.

He was slightly surprised about the assassins, but only because they had dared to attack him inside the guild. 

He’d been expecting them for a while.

Then he turned his attention to the true problem of the assassins’ appearance. They hadn’t been content just trying to kill him with needles and a dagger. 

The entire hallway was covered in a poisonous mist.

It had spread from the woman’s hand when she pretended to scatter that illusion. 

His mana shield had kept it from touching him, but the area was contaminated. The assassins didn’t seem to be bothered by it, but that only meant they’d taken an antidote first.

Their coordination and the boldness of targeting him in the guild meant they were professionals, and probably hired by Verasun, but he couldn’t confirm it yet.

He would leave that up to the guild.

A wind spread from his hand as he gathered the poison, and soulfire scoured the walls of the hallway to burn away the residue.

He wasn’t going to allow someone to walk through it and die when they’d done nothing wrong.

The wind concentrated into a spiral in his hand, slowly depositing the powder in a small pile. 

When everything was clean, he analyzed the powder.

Bloodbreaker Poison (Epic).

This poison is derived from the powder of the Bloodnight Lily. Once applied, it quickly erodes the veins and blood, killing a First Evolution target within minutes. The veins weaken and rupture, leading to systemic death, while the decaying blood gathers in the heart, where it prevents circulation. 

Inhalation is the quickest method to affect a target, but skin contact provides a secondary and slower option.

Even with his poison resistance at Elite, this powder was dangerous.

He took out a spare glass vial and deposited it inside. Then he tucked it away in his storage ring for study.

A moment later, when two guild guards raced into the hallway and saw the assassins on the ground, they skidded to a halt as they gave the area a strange look.

Fights in the guild didn’t usually look so one-sided, and with all the time Kelin had been spending in the guild, they recognized him instantly.

Both of them were corporals at Level 80.

“Grab these two assassins for me and let’s go talk to the captain,” Kelin said. “Be careful of any tricks. They’re not what they seem.”

He was keeping a close eye on them and planned to stun them again whenever it was necessary, and Gaius was also suppressing them, but it still paid to be cautious.

As the guards took in the situation and started to follow his directions, he released the lock on his runestaff manacles.

He continued sending messages to the kids and to the team as he walked, and before long he received replies that let him relax.

So far, they were safe and everything was normal.

That let him turn his full attention to the assassins.

Analyzing them gave him back standard information that could have fit any adventurer in Highmist at their level, which meant whoever had trained them, they were well hidden.

Their classes weren’t the specialized Assassin line, just regular adventurer classes that anyone could have had.

That suggested a type of black market assassin guild that hired mercenaries, probably with some specialized training, and gave them independent missions to complete.

Verasun was almost certainly behind it, but it would be hard to prove, so he didn’t plan to waste time on it. 

The guild’s information team could do that.

Instead, he was shaping the report that he planned to send up to the guild leaders, the ones who were still considering the trading plan.

Attacking him in the street would have been one thing, but these two had dared to enter the guild and to attack a guild member in its halls.

That wasn't something he would tolerate.