Julius might have underestimated how easy it would be to follow the mark. For one, the mark was already quite a long way away, and getting out of the city had taken a lot longer than anticipated. From what he was able to detect, the old man hadn’t been impeded at all, which made Julius think he had some other way of getting out.
The other issue was that he couldn’t just follow behind the mark in a straight line. That might have been his problem last time. He had just followed at a distance, not bothering to change paths or directions. With the mark, he didn’t have to worry about losing line of sight, and hence he could choose a different route.
This time around, he decided to do a wide sweep. It took more time, but he helped matters by sprinting as fast as he could. He was tempted to fly, but he was worried about getting spotted in the air. There were plenty of flying swords and other flying vehicles in the sky, but it was much easier to hide in the woods and the surrounding area.
About two hours into it, he felt the mark finally cease moving. He was already quite far away from the city, and it was away from any populated roads and paths. It was becoming more obvious that either he was being led into a trap or something related.
After two hours of constant running, he was a little tired. He decided to cheat a bit and use some life mana to heal his fatigue. Thankfully, his mana pool hadn’t been quite as affected. With his advancement to Tier 4, his already considerable mana pool had been increased even further. Not only that, but his life technique was surprisingly efficient.
He was also able to switch between his body enhancement skills. While he was holding off on evolving [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin], he could still use it. The skill was quite efficient, too, as long as he emphasized the aura and kinetic aspects of it. The only real cost was the fatigue with handling the skill to such a degree, but [Phoenix Incarnate] was more than enough to handle it. What was a headache and sore muscles compared to getting his entire head smashed in?
He carefully made his way over to the area where the mark was now sitting still. He was extra cautious and double-checked the area. It took him close to an hour to make sure there were no ambushes placed around the location of the mark. Even then, he was a hundred percent. He’d already been shown that his spatial skills weren’t perfect. That there were still gaps to exploit.
To be fair, his own mind was the main constraint. He wasn’t able to perceive everything; he filtered out certain things, and sometimes he didn’t pick them up despite his skill at sensing them.
He made sure to erase every bit of his aura until nothing leaked through, and he snuck through the woods. When he finally arrived at the mark's location, he spotted the older man sitting in the middle of a clearing. However, Julius immediately felt that something was off. Partly because something smelled off and not just figuratively. The smell was coming from a large table with a full spread of food.
Julius was sneaking through the woods, and to his pride, he didn’t make any sounds. He was able to perfectly absorb his momentum so that he didn’t crunch any sticks or leaves. He felt like a true stealthy rogue.
However, that feeling didn’t last long. He felt his spine stiffen and froze in place when the old man glanced up to look in Julius’s general direction.
There’s no way he detected me, right? I’ve been super sneaky, he reassured himself.
“I can sense you,” the man said, immediately proving him wrong, and he waved his arm at Julius. “Come and sit, I’ve been waiting for a while, and the food is getting cold.”
Julius didn’t move. Maybe the old man was bluffing, maybe he could sense Julius’s presence but didn’t know his exact location.
“Look, my domain has already detected you when you were making your rounds around the area. We’re alone, so you don’t have to worry about anything,” the man said, this time he gazed hard in Julius’s exact direction. It felt like he was staring at Julius in the eyes despite there being several trees in between them.
Julius swore internally. The fact that the man mentioned a domain must have meant he wasn’t a Tier 4, like his senses told him. Rather, he must have been a Tier 5, which was a lot more alarming. And as if to prove his point, he felt the slight tingle of an aura that signified someone at Tier 5.
However, he hadn’t detected the man’s domain at all. How’d it extend so far? From what he’d seen, most domains were limited in size. He didn’t like how that sounded, but he also noted that the man didn’t seem to be hostile.
Furthermore, the fact that a buffet of food was sitting out for him spoke loudly. Julius found it hard to believe the man went to such lengths if he wanted to kill Julius. Feeling like he didn’t have much to lose, he sighed and walked out of the woods and into the clearing.
“How’d you sense me?” he immediately asked.
The old man used his fingers to smooth the wrinkles in his suit and looked over at Julius with a polite expression. “As I told you, I sensed you with my domain.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t feel it active,” Julius stated.
The man smiled softly. “I would hope not. I would be embarrassed if a child a tier below me was able to. Now, please sit. I’ve been waiting patiently for you to arrive, and I can answer your questions while we eat.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Julius narrowed his eyes suspiciously but slowly pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Thank you. Now I believe introductions are in order. My name is Erek, and might I know what your name is?”
Julius stayed silent.
“I’ll tell you this. If you answer some of my questions, I will answer some of yours. Is that acceptable?” Erek proposed.
He still remained quiet, but the man nodded as if he’d agreed.
“Now, admittedly, I was surprised when I felt your skill was used on me. Even more so when I felt it actually latch onto me. Most tracking skills would have flowed right off,” Erek explained and raised the back of his hand, a complex runic circle of red mana lit up on it.
“I tried to erase it, but shockingly enough, I was rebuffed. The thing stayed on despite my best efforts to destroy it. I was even tempted to cut off my hand, but then I saw you kill Jeffrey, and my curiosity was piqued.”
“You don’t care that I killed your man?” Julius finally asked, after taking a bite of food, and couldn’t help but grumble quietly at how good it was. Considering he’d come here for a fight, this wasn’t a bad outcome either.
“Care?” Erek asked with a light laugh. “The man was a hired mercenary; he was no more valuable to me than a sack of coins. But you? I have a feeling that you would become much more valuable than a hundred men like him.”
Julius laughed and took another bite. “So what is this? A recruitment pitch?”
The man nodded seriously, not finding any humor in his joke. “Yes.”
Julius’s laugh tapered off. “Oh.”
“So why all of this then?” he asked with a gesture at the table of food. “I feel like this is something you could have offered me before I chased you outside the city and into the woods.”
“Because I needed to see if you would be willing to take the risk to find me yourself,” the old man said matter-of-factly.
Julius just hummed and, distractedly, put more food into his mouth. It was indeed really good food, and there was nothing more shameful than wasting good food.
“Why were you following me?” Erek asked.
Julius decided to be truthful here. “I thought you looked important.”
“That’s all?”
He nodded. “Essentially, that and I was curious.”
“Are you working for a sect or a clan?” This time, Erek looked even more severe, as if the answer was important.
Julius still chose to be truthful since he had nothing to hide. “Nope.”
It would appear that Erek believed him, too. He relaxed so slightly that it was almost imperceptible.
“Then would you be willing to work for me?”
“Work for you?” Julius repeated.
“Yes, I will make sure you will be paid appropriately and will have more than enough resources to help advance your Seed of Authority. Taking into consideration your aura control, I suspect your foundation is already solid enough to handle many of the treasures my organization provides without experiencing any long-term side effects.”
“What is your organization? What is its name?”
“I can tell you that if you choose to join.”
“You expect me to join a shady organization before I even know its name or what it does.”
The man nodded. “I understand, but I can assure you our organization’s goal is simple.”
“Yeah? So what’s the goal?”
“To save humanity,” Erek said with complete sincerity.
Julius stared at the man, unsure whether or not he had heard correctly.
Save humanity? What was he talking about? If the organization Erek was working for was who he suspected, how was the Conclave working to save humanity?
Julius didn’t know whether to laugh or to scoff.
“You don’t believe me,” the man noted, seemingly unsurprised by Julius’s skepticism.
“Can you blame me?”
“No, but I promise you that’s our goal.”
“Save humanity from what? And don’t tell me some cliche about ourselves or some bullshit like that,” he said flatly.
“From the other species on this continent and beyond,” Erek said with a grim expression.
“What do you mean, other species?”
“You’re aware that there are other species on this continent other than humans, right? Like elves, beastkin, dwarves, giants, scalekin, merfolk, and even demons?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course I know that.” Though, to be honest, he hadn’t really heard much about the latter species. He knew of elves and beastkin. Pollux was a beastkin, and there had been a half-elf or two at Goldencrest. Yet, it made sense that there were other species out there, too.
He just thought they were in places like the Demon Continent or other faraway countries.
“Well, unlike humans, they aren’t as fractured. Their structure of power and authority is unified. It’s already hard enough when humans are at a natural disadvantage when it comes to talent and innate gifts, but we fight amongst ourselves and weaken humanity as a whole,” Erek stated fervently, his voice rising with each sentence.
However, Julius simply sighed. “So you are saying humanity’s greatest problem lies within itself.” It really was something as cliché as that. How disappointing.
“Yes! See? You understand it. You must see how the world will eventually wipe out humanity. We take too many resources and fight amongst each other needlessly. There comes a point when the other denizens of this continent and this world will come together to remove the infestation they consider humanity to be. Hence, it is our responsibility to prevent that.” There was a slightly crazed look on the man’s face.
“So you’re saying that the Conclave’s mission is to establish itself in a position of power by taking over countries like the Empire, Corvus, and the Alliance of the Morning Sun? All to avoid getting wiped out by the opposing species?” Julius said with a sagely nod.
“Yes! Our goal is to save humanity, and we need to unify it to do so. We are already so—”
The man froze suddenly and stared intensely at Julius. “What did you say a second ago?”
“Say what?”
“So you already know who we are, then?” The man’s entire posture shifted. It was like a predator taking off its mask. His aura was already ramping up, and Julius could feel the mana all around them converging.
Julius, on the other hand, smiled calmly. “Well, I didn’t know for certain, but thanks for confirming it.”
Thanks to the man’s passionate assertion of his beliefs, he confirmed Julius’s suspicions.
That was the good news. The bad news was that the man didn’t seem very pleased by this development.
Comments