Outside the defensive stone-wood walls of Breezy Meadow Town, a man waited, looking out towards the [Mahjinaki Forest] with eyes of dangerous intent.
He stood at full alert for hours upon hours, during which he examined multiple hundreds of leaving and entering adventurers for the one he was searching for.
When a figure finally emerged from the distant forest which matched the discernable physical traits of his target, he payed close attention until they had come near enough to confirm their identity as Einer from Guild Post #14.
"I can't afford to be driven out of this town, sorry kid but you'll have to take the fall for me."
The man removed a small needle-like throwing weapon from one of his hidden pockets, and cast his Geode Rank skill:
[Apply Fatal Poison]
The weapon now gently glowed a deep bluish-purple that just oozed an aura of dread.
The poison would dissipate off the weapon without a trace after a target became inflicted, all of it being sucked into the body of the victim upon injury, as the skill only required short contact with any internal tissue to do its work.
The skill had proven to be able to kill even the average Geode Ranker in under a single day, and the man knew that Einer was merely a Stone Rank magic user, whose Vitality was guaranteed to be low due to these facts.
Therefore, the likelihood that he could seek out treatment in time was extremely low.
Unknown to him however, Einer's Vitality was even lower than what he predicted.
It was rock bottom.
The man looked up from his work as he put on the persona of an adventurer heading towards the forest, the afflicted needle resting between his back and the waistband of his pants, Einer now only a kilometer or so away from the town as the man headed his way.
After a few minutes, the man drew close to Einer, and was on course to walk straight past him when he tripped and allowed some of his belongings to scatter.
Einer stopped and made to walk over, but hesitated and looked at the unfamiliar figure with suspicion.
However, even considering the circumstances he was in, it was unlikely this guy was after him, and why wouldn't the guy just outright attack him if he was?
'I guess the guards are still perfectly in view though... but doesn't that mean I'm basically in the clear for now either way? I shouldn't be rude, let's just help him.'
"Hey... uh, dude are you okay?"
The man propped himself up on one elbow to reveal a bleeding nose and pain distorted face.
"Ouch. Damnit that fucking hurt why did there have to be a rock in the grass right there? Sorry to ask this but can you grab that pouch, the reddish one, its got my first aid stuff."
"Oh... yeah sure let me get it."
Einer walked over to the item and scooped it up, bringing it over to where the man lay.
He kneeled down and handed it to the man.
"Thanks kid, that's all I needed, I appreciate the help."
"ah- you're welcome... I guess I'm going to go then, keep safe haha..."
Einer rubbed the back of his head at the seemingly genuine thanks, rising to head back into town.
When he stood and turned towards the walls, he felt a sharp prick like a bug bite on his calf, and looked down to see absolutely nothing where he felt the sensation.
The man wasn't even looking towards him and was still going through the contents of the pouch, nothing else out of the ordinary caught his eye, so Einer forgot about it and headed off towards the nearby gate he had entered from the day before.
The man eventually stopped the act and stood up a few minutes later and looked back to confirm that the kid had already entered the town, and proceeded to continue into the forest as if he was indeed going hunting.
He had kept watch out of the guard's line of sight for the entire time he had lain in wait, only entering their view to 'head towards the forest' and trip next to Einer.
After Einer died of the poison, not only would they likely be unable to identify him as a possible culprit, even if they remembered and suspected the man who tripped next to him, it would be impossible to figure out who it had been.
It wasn't all that strange to leave out of one gate and go towards a location outside of another, therefore anyone who might have witnessed it would probably forget quickly enough.
After all, there was nothing interesting about the scene besides noticing that some guy fell over.
…
Back at the gate, Einer had felt a headache coming on, and as he made it back to the post he felt his body weakening and his vision blurring as he realized that something was up.
The damage was being done quickly though, and as he moved inside as rapidly as possible, his muscles screeched in pain at the minor exertion.
Inside the wide homey space, Einer shattered the atmosphere of casual conversation and various group deliberations when he stumbled in while shouting in a desperate and ragged voice.
"Does anyone know... HaAaa... where Jina- *cough* or Brad is..."
His eyelids drooped as he kneeled to the floor, his eye sockets and lips now discolored with a blue tint.
He had been poisoned only ten minutes ago at this point.
The headache had already transformed into a massive migraine, and an overpowering weakness pervaded his body.
Einer collapsed onto his side breathing quick and shallow breathes, a figure he recognized after some effort as Jina appearing over him before he could even realize that someone was approaching.
A large group had already begun formed around him, and various people struggled to make their way towards Einer to see what had happened.
"Hey MOVE IT! Einer, Jina! What's going on!?"
Brad broke through the surrounding adventurers and immediately lowered himself next to the flustered clerk to examine Einer's condition.
Further back, Annali and Philip who were currently looking at requests while Aisha was out on personal business were almost at his side. And even Kimi, the girl Einer had saved during the emergency quest, was vigorously pushing past the gathering crowd.
"hAaaAa- bBrad. Iuh I... sumthins wrong."
Einer's body heaved, and Jina's professional facade which had been replaced shock was broken yet again by the severity of the situation.
To her side, Brad had deduced what was going on, and called on her knowledge of the post's members.
"Jina! Find a healer... actually get as many as we have, he's been poisoned! Einer doesn't have long GO GO GO."
She stood up and immediately began calling out for those who she knew had the appropriate skills, Annali, Philip, and Kimi finally arriving to see what was happening.
They heard what Brad had shouted and now stood over a quivering Einer curled up in the fetal position, Annali wordlessly sat down and placed Einer's upper body on her lap as quickly as possible and started emptying all of her energy into as many heals as possible.
Kimi and Philip stood watching, feeling lost and concerned as they witnessed his condition worsen continuously.
Minutes later Annali had broken into tears as she finally ran out of mana, her efforts having shown little results as Einer slowly grew more and more still.
Kimi was shaking by their side, and Brad's eyes darted to and from Einer, thinking desperately without knowing what to do other than to continue shouting for anyone who could heal.
Jina had since vanished with her own plan, and Philip merely looked on in abject horror as Einer's body ceased shaking, his skin deathly pale.
Einer weakly reached up to tap Brad's arm, signaling that he had something to say.
Brad lowered his ear to Einer's mouth, his fingers drumming his own legs in great nervousness as he waited for someone to come and help before it was too late.
And since it was looking like that might not happen, he wanted to hear Einer's last words as he held back whatever emotions were threatening to take over.
After a few seconds of gathering his strength, Einer asked in the smallest of voices.
"what's an upgrade catalyst...?"