"I know that the Sky Splitter Sword is a Pinnacle Mystic artifact," he said, "and that the reward for retrieving it is two hundred gold coins."

Items and magical resources were divided into three levels of power: Mortal, Mystic, and Peerless. Each level had three sub-levels: Lesser, Greater, and Pinnacle.

A Pinnacle Mystic artifact was something extremely rare and valuable in Illyria, something that shouldn't even be there. Most people considered that commission's client insane for offering so little gold as a reward.

In theory, once a commission had been registered on the Imperial Mercenary Guild, only imperial mercenaries could complete it. If anyone else did it, even by accident, they were required to report to the guild and pay a fine.

In practice, no one cared about that rule if ignoring it was profitable enough or if they believed they could get away with it. As long as no one found out who broke the law, there would be no way for the guild to punish the perpetrator.

It was rare for either option to be worth it. Commissions to recover valuable artifacts came with rewards that made it more lucrative to return the item than fence it. The owners of such treasures were not stupid and knew that human greed would not respect any guild rule.

But now and then, a commission for a treasure like the Sky Splitter Sword would appear. The two hundred gold coins of reward were nowhere near the value of the sword in the black market, which was at least a hundred times that much.

So, everyone with some power and their mother were trying to get their hands on the sword. The waves it caused reminded Aaron of the gold rush on Earth.

"The commission is a trap," said Alys. "A double-layered trap."

"A trap?" It was the first time he heard that.

Alys nodded. "The first layer is the competition for the sword. Anyone with a streak of greed will try to steal the sword, and people are capable of many things when there is so much money involved, including killing each other. As you said, the sword is a Pinnacle Mystic artifact. It's too valuable."

"Right," said Aaron.

"But what fewer people know," Alys continued, "is that the one who commissioned the retrieval of the sword was the king."

"The king?" Aaron frowned. "Why didn't he send his own troops to take care of this?"

Alys looked around, bent her body forward, and lowered her voice. "That was the question that made me research the sword. I discovered that a Champion beast stole it!"

Aaron's surprise was evident on his face. In Illyria, a beast at the sixth level, Champion, was an absolute existence. Even counting the entire Thenor Empire, there were only a few hundred people capable of dealing with such a powerful being if what he had heard on the market was true.

"How in the seven hells do you hope to recover the sword, then?" he asked.

"You know I am a Shaper..."

"Wait!" Logan intervened. "I don't trust him."

The atmosphere at the table became strange, and Aaron smiled. "If you wanted to keep it a secret, it was better not to talk about the beast. I refuse to go up against a Champion unless I know how we're going to keep our lives."

Logan snorted. "You signed the guild contract, you have no choice."

Aaron laughed. "I would rather pay a fine or be expelled than die for your greed."

He wasn't pretending this time. Even if he leveled up again and reached the Three Star level, he was confident only to survive for a few seconds in a battle against a surprised Champion, if that. Battling it long enough for the Fire Wolves to steal the sword was simply impossible, even for him. If there was no hope ahead, he had no reason to waste his time or risk his life.

"Tell him," said Tia.

"But, Tia!" complained Logan.

"No 'buts'," she said firmly. "I didn't come all this way to give up now."

Infuriated, Logan got up, said he was going to the toilet, and left the inn. Lana looked at her brother doubtfully for a moment but stayed at the table.

"I can open spatial portals," said Alys. "Opening human-sized portals without the help of a magic circle stresses my soul so much that I cannot use the skill more than once every two or three weeks. But as long as we can see the sword, I can open a portal the size of my hand, take the sword through it, and still have enough energy to escape! Even if the beast sees us, it won't be able to do anything about it."

Such a simple solution actually surprised Aaron. In his home universe, that kind of spatial manipulation was only possible with an immense level of power, but those with such might wouldn't use such subterfuge.

Not that they thought themselves above it, but because if they wanted something from someone of similar power, the other party would have countermeasures against spatial manipulation. As for weaker people, why would they have something that could entice the strong? Cultivators learned early to get rid of powerful items or hide them even from themselves. It was common sense that holding on to something you couldn't protect was just a stupid way to commit suicide.

But here, where energy specializations existed, even weak people like Alys could open portals, and they had developed creative ways to use such power. And while it wasn't hard to inscribe a formation to prevent such theft, beasts rarely studied formation mastery.

"Your dumb face tells me you hadn't thought of that," said Tia, laughing.

"No, I hadn't," he admitted.

"So," continued Alys, "knowing how everyone wants a piece of the sword, it wasn't difficult to guess the baron's intention when he invited me to dinner. Someone powerful and rich who also wants the sword paid him to stall us."

Aaron nodded. That made sense, but it was still stupid to assume without checking. Even he had fallen for an enemy ploy in the past simply because he hadn't talked to his late wife. Only her willingness to die in his hands rather than protect herself when he attacked had made him stay his hand, which saved them both. To date, he still couldn't forgive himself.

He sighed; it was the prerogative of the young to act stupidly. Alys would learn in time.

They talked some more before going to their beds. Aaron spent the night awake, thinking of creative ways to abuse the energy specializations of that world and how to protect himself.

‎

‎

‎

‎

In the morning, the Red Baron sent word to Madam Selna. Alys Tyren had become a Four Star Sorceress, and her personality had changed to the worst. She had even destroyed the baron's property in a fit of rage.

That's what the madam had feared, and the reason she had chosen to probe the Shaper instead of sending word to her through the baron. Tyren had been seduced by Ironblood's knowledge and power already.

Not that the madam blamed the woman, but now she needed to die. She was old enough to have known better than to monopolize his knowledge for herself, rather than sharing with the Circle.

Just before lunch, Madam Selna's mood worsened further when she found a second place that had been energetically blessed by the heavens. That would be great news if this place wasn't so different from the previous one.

Hundreds of corpses of beasts of all types and sizes were scattered around the area, to the joy of the crows partaking in a feast. She concluded the beasts had tried to take the bud in the middle of the blessed area for themselves, resulting in a bloody battle. The winner wasn't around, neither was the bud. Without the latter, the abundant energy of the place was already dissipating.

The emergence of one place like that was already something miraculous, but two places so close to each other...

A chill ran through Madam Selna's body. Something beyond her understanding was happening. Even though she was a Four Star Entropomancer, someone at the top of Illyria, perhaps she should protect herself a little.

"Messengers," she called, "go to the battalion and guide ten percent of the most powerful troops to me. They are to rush and get attached to this group before I arrive in Red City."

"Yes, ma'am!" some messengers said in unison and immediately ran to obey the order.

It was a shame that she had to decrease the number of people protecting the bud, but while it was important, protecting her life was, literally, vital.

‎

‎

‎

‎

The Rise to the Heavens Cultivation Technique could only be used right before the sunrise in a forest. It required both the right time and place to harmonize the surrounding Laws properly.

Yet, that morning, Aaron didn't train at the nearby forest, to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. After lunch, the Fire Wolves left unhindered. They asked him to lead them once again, and nothing happened for the rest of the day.

He did train in the next morning, but no animal or beast came to observe. He could guess why: a strong death aura was permeating the entire region. However, there were too many inconsistencies that didn't fit the narrative of a powerful carnifex living in the area.

To begin with, the energy levels in the region were average, but beasts needed to absorb energy to evolve; a powerful beast wouldn't settle for such a pathetic place. Moreover, the urine delimiting the territory made almost a perfect circle in the area, but couldn't be found anywhere inside. Also telling was the lack of carcasses anywhere, though most beasts took food home. Finally, the source of the death aura was the small inscribed talismans he had found on the trees.

He had concluded it wasn't a powerful being that lived there, but a smart one. So, he had entered the territory without fear and camped there. As he expected, no beast came to disturb the unit.

After his training, Alys woke the others up, and they continued on the last stretch of their journey.

‎

‎

‎

‎

Conversations were sparse that day, as the entire group was tired. It looked like nothing noteworthy would happen again, but in the middle of the afternoon, just before they reached their destination, they reached a new obstacle.

Aaron detected ten men surrounding the Fire Wolves.

He changed directions slightly, going toward an area with more trees, where it would be easier for him to get out of sight. Once there, he stopped the group and dismounted.

"I need to go to the bathroom," he said and put his hand on his belly. "And it feels like it'll take me a while. Use the time to get off the ligurus and stretch your legs a little."

While he spoke, he quietly wrote two symbols on the ground using his feet.

"Danger 10"

Everyone immediately tensed and became alert, the weariness of the trip replaced by adrenaline and anxiety. Upon dismounting, the ligurus "coincidentally" stayed around them, serving as living shields in the event of an ambush.

Aaron disapproved of the tact and shook his head. Using an enemy's body as a shield was no problem for him, not even enslaving ligurus to serve as mounts, but using weaker and innocent living beings as a meat shield — worse still, living beings who meekly and obediently served them — was repulsive.

He erased the symbols with his feet and got away from the group, going into the middle of some trees he believed to be a blind spot of the ten men. Once there, he took two daggers from their scabbard and used a technique.

Myriad Absolute Arts — Espionage — Two Star Qi — Dark Disappearance!

He became part of the sunset shadows and started moving.

‎

‎

‎

‎

Tia was biting her nails, pacing anxiously from side to side. Aaron had been gone for fifteen minutes already! Had something happened to him?

She knew he was strong — he had forced a Four-Wings Blue Tiger to retreat by himself — but there were ten enemies this time!

She couldn't understand the Rogue; everything about him was just too confusing. One moment, he extorted her, the next, he helped Alys level up. Well, the two of them had said nothing about it, but Tia knew he was a Fifth Grade Rogue, which meant he had special means. It wasn't a hard guess to take.

But that wasn't important. The important thing was that Tia didn't think he would abandon them. Well, at least she thought that if he planned on doing so, he would try to charge a high price to stay with them beforehand.

But if he hadn't abandoned them, why was he taking so long to come back?!

Suddenly, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Put your weapons on the ground, raise your hands, and get away from the ligurus!" shouted a man in front of them.