Things were going well for Michael. In that he wasn’t dead or severely disabled. Which was a fairly good sign that the mysterious faction hadn’t found out about his deal with Regitris. Which, as a matter of fact, also went well, though a little tense.

The head elf was completely flabbergasted that Michael had managed to uncover the identity of a high mage in the most elusive faction in Gnosis. He didn’t believe him at first and rightly so. Michael refused to unveil more than he needed to, so the old elf was forced to use a more powerful version of a Truth Bell. And even that didn’t convince Regitris that Michael was right, only that Michael thought he was right.

Still, Michael was an Ascentionalist and had no reason to lie. Well, other than the fat paycheck. Still, he was in good standing with his own faction and the academy at large. That and the fact that even a hint at unveiling their faction was worth quite a lot convinced Regitris to part with the desired sum.

Besides… Michael didn’t forget the intelligent gleam in his faction’s head eyes. Given time, Regitris would probably figure it out on his own just where did Michael obtain this piece of information, as well as who Melissa actually was. But that was in the future and this was the present.

And that is how Michael walked out of Regitris’s office five thousand gold coins richer. Four to pay off Melissa’s debt and one for him.

What? He didn’t work for free.

Other than that, his studies were progressing. Not from the normal courses, mind you. Just from his personal tutors. He still hadn’t managed to learn the |Paralytic Touch| or the |Dart| Spells and Sinestra was adamant that she wouldn’t teach him anything else until he got those two down, but she was at least helping him with them. That was what he had just spent his Saturday morning on. Well, that and trying to learn a new kind of mana, but that endeavor still proved… troublesome.

For all that the gorgon was advancing in her own Classes and rediscovering the magic of her ancestors, she still couldn’t quite make Michael learn it. For this latest tutoring session, she brought a minor magical recovery artifact she… persuaded Hector to loan it to her. How she did that, Michael didn’t care to imagine. But it allowed Michael’s own mana reservoir to stop making him violently ill when in the process of interacting with Sinestra’s Serpentine Mana. Did he manage to pick it up? No. But did he have to use his newly acquired |Clean| Spell to vanish his own puke? Also no. Ergo, progress.

At least my other tutor is giving me something I can actually use.

Kelunad had been approving that Michael had managed to pick up |Fire Slash| as fast as he did and had even smiled when he heard that he also managed to learn |Rot Slash| as well. Even though Michael had no idea how. His next assignment had been to make Michael learn the fire versions of the |Shield| and |Barrier| Spells. His teaching method was… practically the inverse of Sinestra’s. Going back to the basics, like say a simple |Slash| Spell was fine and dandy, if you wanted to become a generalist mage, one that developed a solid foundation and that built upon that to develop all kind of Spell variants. It might even gain Michael a Skill that allowed him to more easily pick of Spell modifiers.

But that was not the way of a warrior.

The orc was of the opinion that one should not cast away a probable elemental affinity, like Michael’s fire based on, for a theoretical gain. Learn enough Spells until you have a decent repertoire, practice them until you are comfortable using them in a fight and then go back and chisel away at your foundations until they resemble something you desire. Michael thought that was decent enough reasoning and since the orc was fine with giving him pointers for learning these Spells, he didn’t gainsay him.

And the orc mentioned once more fact. Michael was close to Level 10. That was the level a bigger than most Skill was granted or a host of smaller ones. It was his choice whether he wanted to use that pivot to guide his Class to more generalist or martial based Class.

And as much as Michael wanted to learn all the magic that was available, he also wanted to survive.

Got in enough fights at Gnosis to tell me what the future had in stole.

But, once again, that was for the future. The present had something else he needed to devote his attention to. His friends. More exactly, their conspiracy. Not that his friends didn’t also mean that he needed to learn more Spells, he had yet to learn |Earth Fist| and |Spectral Claws| from them, but still.

Come to think of it… I should probably also use Erea as a tutor.

But that would cut time from… other activities.

Maybe Alex?

Food for thought.

Michael released himself from these thoughts as he walked in to the meeting chamber. Inside, Micah and Bob were already waiting for them. And Melissa. The girl didn’t loom frightened, but Michael could tell she was wary. She trusted him. Not the other two. And still he came and waited, in a room with a lycan and a gaindel, which had been warded to the ceiling and back against any kind of listeners or interruptions.

“Hi Melissa. I trust I haven’t kept you waiting for too long.”

“Oh, no.” the girl smiled. “Micah made the time go by, by telling jokes.”

A look at his shit-eating grin told Michael just how ‘funny’ those jokes were. Still, Michael couldn’t blame his friend. They didn’t trust her. And they wouldn’t, until after tonight.

“Glad to hear it. Melissa, I wanted you to know that I’ve secured the funds required to pay off your debt. And that brought me to inviting you here to this meeting. This” he said, materializing a bound-up scroll in is hand “is a Blood Contract. It’s something you may or may not choose to sign.”

“And this is a Secrecy Contract”. Bob said, producing a similar artifact.

The girl looked between the two, somewhat distraught. Which she had every reason too, since one was fine, but two was normally overkill, even for the highest of secrets. Normally.

“The Secrecy Contract you will sign before hearing our offer. It has the terms already stated inside and you are free to read them. In essence, the contract will make you unable to discuss the terms of our offer with anyone but us. It is not as string, nor as… punitive as the Blood Contract. But we will know if you break it. If you want to hear our offer, you will have to sign it.”

“And I’m guessing I have to take the actual offer if I want my debt to be paid? Which involves the Blood Contract?” she asked, after a few seconds.

“That’s correct. I’m… actually sorry, Melissa. But I can’t trust you completely. And the terms of what we are about to discuss are important.”

“About to discuss.” She repeated, smiling. “You sound like you already know I’ll sign.”

“Am I wrong?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she took the Secrecy Contract and unfurled it, first scanning its contents, before reading them in detail. She spent a few minutes doing that, even though the terms were simple and short.

Wariness, Michael’s instincts told him.

But she signed them all the same.

“Done. So, is this where I sign over my soul?” she laughed, but there was a glint of fear in her eyes.

“No. Melissa, before I tell you the offer, I need to tell you the context. When I came to Gnosis, I was made an offer. Multiple offers. It wasn’t only the Ascentionalists that wanted me as one of theirs, but the Martials and the Naturalists as well. And I suspect, your own faction had their wishes towards me.”

“…probably, yeah.”

“Well, I chose the Acentionalists, in the end. At least, publicly. But I was never satisfied with being part of just one faction. Micah and Bob agreed with me. Why tie yourself to a single group? Learn magic from a single perspective? You can gain the admiration of other factions, like I did with the Martials, but sentiments are fickle.”

“I don’t know about that, the fight-crazies seem to look at you as a misguided sibling.”

“Perhaps. But you must understand, in order to be sure, I needed to be part of multiple factions. Information is power, don’t you agree?”

“Y-yes.”

He needed to dial it down a notch. Michael thought he was giving off too many Darth Vader vibes.

“Well, that is how we came to this solution. We three are part of three different factions. And we swore oaths, though not magical, that we would keep their secrets from others. But we also swore oaths to each other. And these ones were bound by magic. We swore to always be true with each other. To always place the connections with ourselves higher than the ones with our factions. We are, in essence, a group of spies. A conspiracy, one with the goal of sharing information freely and surpassing the limits of a single faction. What one knows, we all do.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t get too scared.” Micah laughed. “We still have to climb the social ladder before we get any of the juicy secrets.”

“Michael had done better than us in that regard, I confess.” Bob said.

“Not that much better.” He grimaced. “I’ve been too caught up in too many plots lately. But our group stands all the same.”

The girl nodded. Michael could see she was interested. A conspiracy of infiltrators? Knowledge seekers? This was right up her alley. But she was apprehensive. Michael thought she might have been interested in this even without her debt. But would she have taken it up in that case? That was left to see.

“In any case, that’s our story. Still in its infancy, but with the possibility of becoming something great. And here is our offer.”

She straightened, at the same time as he cleared his voice.

“These are the terms. If you sign this contract, you swear on your life-blood to always place this group higher than your faction. To always place us higher than any other mage in Gnosis. To discuss anything of this group or its members without it being something we have all agreed it can be discussed. To share knowledge freely and always strive to help us as we will help you. To never lie, to be incapable of lying to us.”

The terms on her Blood-Contract were more restrictive than the ones that were on the contract they used between themselves. But they needed to be. They… he needed to know he could trust her. But to completely trust her… she had to trust him back. And if he only revealed the truth after it had been signed, Michael thought the girl make take it as trickery. She would still be unable to do anything about it, but… no. Trust went both ways.

He hesitated, but he decided to take a risk. So he spoke.

“Melissa, if you agree to these terms, you will treat us your true faction. You will share any information of anything you know, which includes your faction. Both your factions, understand?”

He saw the moment where it clicked for her. When her body froze and when she tried to keep her face still. Tried and failed, because he saw her thoughts running as if under a |Haste| Spell. She now knew that he knew. Of what she had truly attempted to do and for who. About who she really was.

Michael could only wait, as the girl flinched and backed up a step. He thought it a fail, but… she remained there. Trembling. But she tentatively took a step forward. Then a firmer one. Then a determined one. She reached in front of him and there was a crazed expression on her face, one that he thought sky-divers had when they first jumped out of a plane.

“Well… guess you were better at ferreting out secrets than I was. I sign this and I’m one of you all, right? Completely and to the end?”

“Yes.”

She laughed.

“Would that I had found you before the others found me.” She said, a little sadly, but yanked the contract out of his hand.

She signed it, in a hurry, almost like she was afraid it might disappear. When it was done, she closed her eyes and giggle escaped her lips.

“It’s weird, you know? I just signed this highly strict Blood Contract, but I feel freer than I ever felt here at Gnosis. Maybe ever.”

She opened her eyes and Michael saw the traces of tears in them.

Moment of truth.

“Welcome to the last faction you’ll ever need Melissa. Or should I still call you Second Specter?”

He had, after all, included the truth clause in the contract for a reason.

“Oh.” She said, looking amused. Guess you don’t know everything, then. I’m, uh, I’m not the Second Specter. …sorry?”

Michael took a look at her magically enforced truthful expression and felt his world crack.

Ah, fuck me!