Athelei was lying at the bottom of the flooded streets. Directly above him was a chaotic pile of beasts that had been attracted by the fireballs used by the two Rank 2 Artists.
In his hands was an unsheathed single-edged sword that gleamed a clear silver despite the muddy waters. A subtle but deadly power hummed from within its metals and energy welled up from a gem at its pommel.
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Mystical Single-Edged Sword
[ "Mind-Splitter" ]
Lethality: 16
Durability: 239/240
- [Passive Effect: Mana Disconnection] Isolates a target's mana.
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'I was close to actually dying there, and I nearly failed to recognize the threat,' Athelei wryly chuckled as he read through the information supplied by Inspect.
'Mana Disconnection... It really can deal with Nightwalkers. I wonder who created such a simple yet scary blade?'
To answer such a question, Athelei would have to wait for about eighteen hours before Inspect could be used on the Mind-Splitter again. As such, he was going to do a bit of stalking for now. Those Banishers were interesting people, after all.
After hiding the sword in the murky waters and under a pile of debris, Athelei dispersed into a thin fog. He then locked onto his targets.
In this difficult-to-detect state, he lingered around the six Banishers as they fled into the shadows. Athelei watched as the two Artists drew Mystic Pattern sequences for the whole time. Their footsteps became silent, their scents thinned, and their speeds increased.
'They're fast!' Athelei watched them move at a hasty pace, running with the winds.
The Banishers turned corners and leapt across buildings with cat-like nimbleness. They travelled through the city, and whenever their buffs ran out, the Artists were there to reapply them.
Athelei had to turn to the skies and use his wings to keep up. Although he didn't need to go full speed given the lack of obstacles in his path, he still had to add a Hunter pattern to himself to keep up.
As he flew through the cold air, he noticed the lack of clouds in the sky. If those Banishers looked up because of their instincts, seeing an angel in the sky might make them wary... Perhaps being wary would be an understatement. They would be baffled and suspicious at the very least.
Thus an idea struck Athelei when he thought about natural sky-based creatures, 'I wonder if I can—'
Fwoosh!
Athelei's humanoid body took on a more aquiline shape. His feathery grey wings stayed the same, but now his body was that of a bird of prey. He was an eagle with the wings of a bird from a different taxonomic family.
'Now I look just like a normal bird from afar,' Athelei looked at this development fondly before he sensed that his abilities had grown.
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=} Mental Attributes {=
Mana: 14/14
Intelligence: 28
Will: 21
Psychic: 18 -> 19 (Unique)
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'This...' Athelei glanced at that specific part of his status screen, 'This should be the peak of a rank, right? Once my [Psychic] attribute breaks the barrier of twenty, there should be some sort of hidden change beneath the simple transition between numbers.'
Athelei had observed that the [Psychic] attribute mainly corresponded to the control his mind could exert. There were a few subtleties to this, but he had yet to figure out what it was exactly.
There was also some relationship it had with the other [Mental Attributes], and he could mostly feel it when he was 'inside' his mental library.
His [Will] could affect the focusing of his [Psychic]-based mental exertions. Things were clearer the more his [Will] grew. His [Intelligence] affected his capacity to determine what he could and could not do with his [Psychic] influencing. It also seemed to be the attribute that influenced the limits of [Mana], and thus it was somewhat of the leading mental attribute.
Going back to the stalking, Athelei had now followed the Banishers from the southern area all the way to the eastern area of Avina. He tailed them from the sky until he saw them climb a hill from an unpaved pathway. They had strayed from the usual roads and dove into a thicket.
When Athelei dove down, he spotted the pathway's entrance, hidden within a thick array of trees.
'This should be the territory of the Thiroe Household,' Athelei landed on a tree by the entrance of the hidden pathway before transforming back into an invisible fog. 'They are probably reporting back to that noble they mentioned...'
Curiously, Athelei decided to have a look around. He had overheard the short conversation that the Banishers had about some Sir Thiroe venting out his grievances on him just because he had the Thiroe young lady's weapon. Out of habit, he wanted to know what kind of human would do that and what kind of place they lived in.
The Thiroes had a small castle sitting in their spacious territory. It sat around the trough of a pair of peaks on the hill, with walls that had vertigo-inducing views. The castle itself had grey cobblestone walls, reddish-brown roofs, and rectangular windows. There were three towers placed in a triangle, and the entire place looked like it had been built more for functionality.
It was unlike the Arthime Household's miniature village and grand mansion. They did not have as many art pieces delicately decorating the entire area. They had a pair of grotesque monster statues at their gates, and that was it. Athelei saw nothing else.
As for the interior, while he followed the Banishers, Athelei saw reds, browns, and warm golds adorning the walls, floor, and ceiling. The floor was carpeted, and a few paintings lined the hollow stone hallways. Suits of armour were occasionally seen here and there, looking like doorway guards while lamps filled with mystic lights lined the walls at regular intervals.
Athelei had been sifting through the different rooms to see if there was anything interesting as he went. He was a grey fog, after all. To stay nigh-invisible, he had to spread himself thin, and the hallways were not wide enough to accommodate him. Who knew that he would find a room whose door was hidden behind a painting?
And that was when he found a familiar face.
'Aha,' Athelei laughed when he recognized the sleeping person before him, 'This guy should be one of the Exiled who fought at the God's Altar. To think I would see him here of all places... Haha,'
During the battle at the God's Altar, everyone took the liberty to have a scan of the Exiled who were fighting the sea serpent Ulthasiair. After Lady Karire's yell requesting that they stop that small squad, dozens of Cosmic Interfaces appeared and bombarded the Exiled squad with shivers.
Athelei had been a part of those who did so, but unlike the others whose Appraisal skills lacked vital prior knowledge, whose Examine skills could not properly [Tamper] with their targets to extract information, and whose Judgement skills could find no relevant information on the Information Network, he was able to nab a few goodies.
Athelei found out their names while the others could not.
And now, as this Exiled here was fast asleep, Athelei did not mind executing Inspect again.
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Lucien Ophlain
Health: 19/20
Mana: 3/3
Energy: 21/34
- Evolver, Rank 2
- Exiled for the assassination of a high official.
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'Curious, curious...' Athelei was wondering what would happen if the Banishers learned about this. Inside his mind, he was already smiling.
Athelei drifted outside the room and found that the Banishers were now meeting with a groggy, fatigued noble inside a well-lit room. He saw them going through a few formalities, but instead of the noble acting aloof, it was the Banishers who were in a position of superiority.
Seeing as the little meeting might take a few minutes, Athelei went around a bit more, ignoring all notions of privacy that humans strove to have.
He invaded rooms and peeked into different storages. He saw a few sleeping servants, an armoury, a rotten potato inside a dusty drawer, jewellery, pouches of coins, and other everyday objects.
When Athelei found another hidden door, this time hiding beneath the carpet, he was not disappointed when he saw who was inside.
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Amerie of Aren
Health: 17/17
Mana: 24/29
Energy: 27/28
- Evolver, Peak Rank 1
- Dictator, Advanced Rank 1
- Exiled for the assassination of a high priestess.
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Athelei took a quill, some ink, and a piece of paper. To the best of his Artist abilities, Athelei wrote a simple message,
=o=o=o=o=
You've been betrayed.
=o=o=o=o=
He then left that message in Amerie's room, positioning it like it had been slipped through her room's door.
'This should be enough. It's really simple, but at least there aren't that many variables to be wary of...' Athelei nodded to himself.
After that, he simply waited. He eavesdropped on the meeting between the fatigued noble and the Banishers. From it, he learned that the tired-looking noble was called Ivan Thiroe, who was also the current head of the Thiroe family.
'Why would Ivan Thiroe house a pair of the Exiled in his home? What is he trying to achieve?' Athelei gave the question some thought, but he could only come up with a few imaginative reasons such as some kind of revolution, sabotage, or assassination.
When the Banishers were finished with what they wanted to do and say, Athelei watched as Ivan Thiroe escorted them out personally. The Banishers did not refuse the noble's hospitality, and they all walked as one group.
'It's time...' Athelei's nonexistent eyes glistened in excitement as his simple plan played in his head.