The Black Wolves integrated themselves with the palace servants. Every day a few members of the Black Wolves would enter the palace as servants. They sweep the floor, built something, and fixed roofs. Most of them became a cottar, the lowest servant that did the odd jobs. Those who were skilled could become a cook, falconer, or shoemakers.

There were many jobs available within the palace and the Black Wolves filled them all.

Nesterin was surprised by this development, not because of what his men did, but what the cultivators didn't do. Infiltrating a rival gang was never easy. Each member was checked multiple times and was even tested with all kinds of techniques. The cultivators did not do that. They didn't even care that the palace had an influx of servants.

They only took slight notice of how fast and efficient things became. The building got fixed a lot faster now that there were so much more builders available. A wide variety of clothes, shoes, and accessories could be made. There were hundreds of carters that could bring stone and wood to the construction site, making building a new structure a lot faster.

Everything became so fast, but the damn cultivators only give small attention to the change.

With ears in every corner, Nesterin received so much information that he even knew where the cultivators hid their mistress. In fact, with the information he had, it was possible to create huge unrest amongst the cultivators by spreading rumors as long as it was blanketed with a little bit of truth.

He couldn't help but recalled what Hax said. Even if we are ants, we still can defeat them as long as we have enough information.

That sentence clicked with this moment perfectly.

But he still didn't know anything about the Dark Reckoning. It surprised him that a pair of cultivators in a bar would talk about something important, yet the soldiers in the palace didn't seem to know anything.

"Maybe we look at the wrong place," Jharteel said. "The palace is divided in three levels. The outer, the inner, and the core. We only stay at the outer area. And there is only stage-1 cultivators here. I don't think they are important enough to know something."

That made Nesterin think. He was planning to kidnap a cultivator in the outer area, but since Jharteel mentioned that, he might have to kidnap a stage-2 cultivator.

"It's not possible to kidnap them inside the inner level. There are too many guards," Jharteel said.

"Then we should wait until they go outside the palace. We still have a lot of members in the forest," Nesterin said.

Jharteel shook his head. "The men have learned of their schedule. There is no way that these stage-2 cultivators are going out unless they have to escort someone. These escorted could consist of twenty-five or even fifty stage-2. And if the guess is important, they might have a stage-3 protecting them."

"We have to lure them out somehow."

"How can we lure stage-2 royal guards? They have money, status, and strength. There is no way we can lure them out with something."

Nesterin scoffed. "I think we can. Those cultivators always asked for more when the food tastes good. If we lure them with something that can increase their strength, I am sure they will rush out of the palace like a dog."

"We don't have anything that is valuable to them."

"Yes, but our enemies do. Remember all the cultivators we killed? Where do you think their stuff goes to?"

"Since norms can't use them, then I'm guessing to the dumpster."

"No, it's in my storage. The Man Hunter didn't want them anyway."

"Why would you do that? Most of those weapons are super heavy even though they looked lightweight."

"Let's just say I like shiny stuff and decided to keep them."

"You plan on luring them with this shiny stuff?"

"Yes,"

"What's going on?" Thalanil walked up to them and asked. They were currently in a kitchen. Now that the palace had so many servants, their absence didn't really affect anyone.

"Perfect timing," Nesterin said. "Thalanil, I want you to contact our forces outside and tell them to bury some magic weapons in the forest."

Jharteel raised his eyebrows. "You brought the magic weapons? I thought you said you put them in storage."

"The wagon can act as a storage, right?"

"Who cares! Who put magic weapons into a wagon and bring them to espionage operation?" Jharteel said.

"Me," Nesterin said. "Now where are we? Right, bury some magic weapons in the forest.

Thalanil hesitated. "Uhh… What is the intention of burying them, sir? I'm pretty sure we can sell those weapons for good money."

"Good money will not do us any good. Just listen to me and tell our forces to bury them. Don't make it obvious, but make sure it can be found."

Thalanil nodded. "Right away, sir."

Nesterin watched him sprint out of the kitchen.

"Well, now what?" Jharteel asked.

"We wait," Nesterin said. "I know young people like you feel like you need to be active, but in this operation, you need to have a different mindset. Waiting will be what you do most of the time. Thinking is the second priority. And too much thinking will not do you any good."

Jharteel sighed. "I hate waiting."

Nesterin hit his shoulder. "For now, spread some rumors that there are magic weapons in the forest. Make sure you talk loud enough for the cultivators to hear."

Jharteel nodded and left the kitchen. Nesterin leaned on the table. His shoulder hit a hanging pot. The cooks were busy chopping meat and vegetables, while the server came in and out of the kitchen with trays. The furnace was lit with blazing fire. The chefs put in a stack of firewood and it burned even more. A wave of heat struck his face as the soup inside the giant pot boiled. A water bubble popped on the soup.

Another chef stirred the pot with a giant wooden spoon. He seemed to have a hard time stirring as time went by.

A chef put a plate of meat on the counter table. As the server was about to pick the place, Nesterin grabbed it and ate the steak with his hand. Smoke came out of his mouth and his hands felt slightly burned.

"That tastes so good. You never cook back in the barrack," Nesterin said.

"Sir, we already have a cook back in the barrack."

"That's true. You're so good at cooking. What makes you join the army instead?"

The chef grabbed another piece of meat and chopped them skillfully. "The same as everyone else, sir. I don't want cultivators to step on our head anymore."

"Do you hate cultivators?"

"I do."

That was quick, Nesterin thought. Then he recalled that one of his soldiers copied a question from Hax. "Let's say your wife is pregnant, and she birthed a cultivator child. You don't want to ki—"

"I will throw him away."

Nesterin was quite surprised by the answer. "Why?"

"Because that's what my mother did to me."

"Your parents are cultivators?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sorry to hear that."

"It's nothing, sir."

Nesterin turned silent. He watched as the chef chopped up some vegetable and brought it into the furnace.

From what the chef said, Nesterin guessed that the man wanted to rid of all cultivators in the world. No matter who they were, as long as they had the power of cultivators, then they deserved to be killed. That must be the mindset this man had.

But was that really the correct way? Would he kill his own son because he was a cultivator? What if Jharteel was a cultivator, would he kill him?

The two guards that protected Bodin were also cultivators. Should he kill them?

No, he shouldn't. It didn't matter who they were, what mattered was what they did. Evil cultivators that stomped on people deserved to be killed, just like how there were bad norms and good norms.

This was his own thought. He was aware that many people might think differently.

Nesterin shook his head. Thinking about this stuff stressed him out. "I should focus on the operation."

The Black Wolves spread the rumor in every corner of the outer palace. They talked to their own and sometimes to the other servants in the Royal Palace. If they saw cultivators nearby, they would higher their voices. So far, the plan seemed to work. The Black Wolves in the forest reported that they saw some cultivators walking around at night.

Nesterin saw his chance when he read that report. He told one of his men to take one magic weapon and report it to one of the royal guards.

The plan worked perfectly.

After his men reported that he found a magic weapon in the forest, all hell broke loose as hundreds of cultivators entered the forest.

Nesterin smiled. His plan had just begun. What he buried on the ground were merely the level-1 magic weapon. He still had a few level-2 magic weapons and some of them looked very valuable. It was probably a rare weapon that the cultivator found in their travel.

But he needed to wait to use them.

As days passed and the rumors heated up, more cultivators joined in on the fun. The captain of these men didn't seem to bother about what they were doing. Because of this, the hunt for the magic weapon got even more boisterous.

That was when one of them found a rare level-1 magic weapon. This weapon was inscribed with unknown glyphs that let the wielder shoot a sharp wind with the sword. The news shocked the royal guards, and the captain started to notice.

Nesterin didn't know the sword had that ability. He just thought the sword look cool so maybe the cultivators would like it.

A week later, the Black Wolves reported that they saw the cultivators bringing their tracking hound to the forest. These chubby, bulking, four-legged creatures sniffed the ground left and right before digging the soil with their claws.

Some of them even found a treasure that the Black Wolves never put. The effectiveness of the tracking hound wasn't limited there. A dozen of Black Wolves members were tracked by these hounds, but the cultivators ignored them and continued their search for treasure.

They even slapped their dogs when they found a lowly norm instead of a treasure.

That made the Black Wolves breathe in relief. They also moved their supply wagons much farther to avoid being tracked.

The treasure hunt continued for another week until they saw that no one got any treasure anymore. They left the forest dejectedly with their hounds.

But someone still persevered. Even when his dog was tired and out of energy, this man still searched for the treasure. He even tried to use his own nose to sniff one. He failed miserably in the last part. But after a few days, something shocking happened.

Under a conic shape tree that had dark-green needle-like leaves, the man dug out the ground and found a weapon. And it wasn't just any weapon. It was a level-2 magic weapon.

After he returned and bragged about his findings, the Royal Guards were shocked.

Another flood of cultivators entered the forest, bringing with them more dogs than they possibly could. Seeing this, the stage-2 cultivator finally seemed to be interested. A few of them joined the treasure hunt and entered deeper into the forest.

They cut through shrubs and thickets as they looked for the treasure.

But there was no more treasure to be found. Nesterin had run out of magic weapons to bury. He only had a few more but he must keep them for later use. But that wasn't a problem. Now that he successfully lured the stage-2 cultivators, he guessed that they would stay for the long term until they found something.

His presumption came true. The stage-1 cultivators gave up after a few days while the stage-2 cultivators kept on going inside the forest. To prevent them from giving up, Nesterin told his men to bury a few level-2 magic weapons for them to find.

"Nesterin, our men asked what we should do next."

Nesterin looked upward towards the sky where the hexagonal-shaped moon shone ever brightly.

"Make them disappear," Nesterin said.