Alta was starting to feel weariness in her muscles, but she ignored that and kept puling the dagger. When handle was finally out of her inventory, the resistance have increased insead of getting weaker, it felt like the blade was suddenly stuck in a block of wood. She didn’t start pulling any harder, because in best case scenario it would not help, and in the worst one she could even break the item. Instead, she tried give a gentle push from the inside of the inventory itself. It didn’t help much, but the dagger was almost out anyway.

The moment she stopped to feel resistance, she gripped the handle more firmly and slashed her target, slicing it in half.

“Good job Alta,” she heard Ult’s voice from behind her.

“Thank you?”

“May I ask how did that tree offend you, so I can avoid its mistake?”

She looked at the ground where leafs and parts of branches were lying in line resembling the path she was walking back and forth for the last two hours.

“I was practicing with my Inventory. I think I managed to cut down the time I need to pull out the blade by few seconds.”

“No offense but it would be simpler to keep it at your belt.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like risking losing it. Our client was very specific, he wouldn’t like that.”

That was true, but she also might have been having a bit too much fun with her new toy.

“I guess you are right. It’s probably also good ability to have for a thief.”

Well, that felt kinda uncomfortable to hear. Sure most of their jobs was revolving around obtaining people’s possessions, but it was usually about things with some unclear ownership, or non-material stuff, like information. Right now it was hard to make a living trying to take only those kinds of jobs, as it was hard enough without limitations like that. Most guild members had to keep more ordinary jobs, even if they were not picky with that kind of stuff. Ult was a good example, being a hunter for most of the time, and helping Gis with some of their jobs. They didn’t work together very often, but he was also staying in touch with other guild members, they were just the ones with the longest partnership with him. Of his twenty-five years he had spent twelve in the forests surrounding the old capital of The Empire. That with addition of his other talents made him almost irreplaceable, working outside the city walls.

“You done with your scout?” She asked him.

“Nothing unusual out there,” he answered. “There isn’t anything worth harvesting right now, and they don’t even do it by themselves most of the time. They can afford to pay guys like me to do that.”

And from what she understood, they didn’t actually do justice to the prices they promised. When they asked him to join them, Ult seemed to be more than happy to get his money back. Making the convent lose, one of its most precious artifacts, was probably even more important to him, than the money he was going to get.

“Anyway…” He started. “Is it hard to learn that inventory spell?”

“No, not really. You don’t even need to be good with mana to use it.”

“Than how so nobody uses it? Once I’ve seen one guy pay with a coin purse he took from midair and everyone freaked out. And that was in the upper district of the city.”

“Same reason why you don’t see people casually cast other spells on the streets. Sure most people in Callaw have basic grasp on mana manipulation and could use a Inventory with enough practice, but that is what you need. Practice. Then if you have time to practice, it is usually more practical to focus on your mana channels. Just like you said it is a good ability to have for a thief.”

Now. She said it. She was a thief. There is no need for fancy words, when she was supposed to be trying to be more self-aware. She was a thief, but at least she was going to be a very rich thief, if everything goes as planned.

“Wait. What do you mean focus on mana channels? This is a spell you improve your spells by developing your mana channels. Don’t try to tell me otherwise, I may not be very good at this, but I know that much.”

“No need to be offended. I know better than to make jokes of you. The thing is: you cast a spell only to create your inventory. Or pay someone to do it for you. Actually using it requires close to no mana, if you do it correctly, so you can be an Arcmage and still have Inventory the size of an apple.”

“That is… not the way I imagined it. You make it look unwieldy, when you say it like that.”

“It is. It does not develop itself with time or from external factors, like mana channels do, and carrying more than its current capacity will make you tired for the rest of the day. Make sure you have few days of free time when you decide to give it a try.”

She was exaggerating of course. Most of the guild members could use Inventory, and half of them could carry more than one knife. Its biggest advantage was its safety, only a skilled mage could access someone else's Inventory, and even then it takes some time. Not only good for thieves, Alta thought to herself, but also good against thieves. She didn’t say any of this, afraid he would ask her to teach him. She was sure he wanted to, but she almost gone mad while teaching Lena, who was an angel. She definitly didn't have the patience for that kind of things.

“How much time did you needed to get where you are now? And where it is, actually? Do you hold there your tools or just that knife?”

Eh. Normally she would just say it was rude to ask, but taking into account their upcoming task, it might be a valid question. And about the time she needed to reach that level of ability, she could bend the truth a little.

“One healing potion, a set of lockpicks, those sticks from Kaihil, and a second set of lockpicks, in case something happens to the first one. The potion is something new, but it just took the space of money I usually hold there, and the dagger took the place of my own knife. It is a bit bigger thou, so it puts some strain on me. I had to carry it on me for a week before I could feel comfortable with it. And it took me five years to stretch it that much.”

“Yeah, that is a bit closer to what I imagined.”

“Nothing comes easy in life,” she said, trying not to be too smug about destroying his dreams. Maybe she could give him some directions after the job is over, but right now she was just too…

“So do you know that spell? The one to make an inventory?”

Fuck.

***

Lena was avoiding eye contact with Alta ever since Nix and Gis finally arrived with Kaihil. She dammed well knew how Alta felt about teaching, and could all too well see that Ult was a particularly annoying student, and yet she just hidden herself to keep reading that stupid book for two hours before revealing herself. Alta had a hard time finding an excuse for herself, and despite her being a deliberately bad teacher, Ult just persisted with questioning her. When they finally finished, she wasn’t only tired and annoyed, she was feeling bad with herself, after seeing him actually manage to use his Inventory, and not even very clumsily, by beginner’s standards.

Lena gave her a brief apologetic look and turned to Kaihil, with an excuse to discuss her visions. Sure. Like there was anything to discuss anymore. Kaihil already made sure to analyze thoroughly, all the details that Lena did manage to foresee. She wasn’t really talented concerning her future forecasting ability, and the usefulness of her predictions was quite questionable. She was doing her absolute best to help in any way she could, but under normal circumstances she would never be working with anyone from the guild. Nix and Alta were taking care of her even back when her aunt was still alive, and Gis was the reason why Lena got her apprenticeship at the tailor workshop. They didn’t pay her much, but that was still more that they should, in relation to her contribution. To be honest Lena would probably help them for free, if they just asked her to. After two years she even managed to improve her skill, with Gisthan’s help, giving her the ability to see vague shape of upcoming events.

The first somewhat useful vision happened three days ego, and only told them that some of the monks were likely to detect their attempt. Still, that was more informative than they usually get, so they felt mostly satisfied with that. Except Kaihil was not. Lena was trying to get some more details, but all the results seemed very similar. All it really told them was that, there was virtually no way to get the artifact without being detected. That almost made them quit the job. Kaihil made sure to explain them just how fanatic those monks really were, so he could only blame himself for doing a too good job. Alta still wasn’t sure whether they would even go to that temple, when she left the city this morning, but she quickly changed her mind, when she has seen Gisthan in his new fancy storm-cloak. Kaihil seemed to finally give up and decided to equip them in more Collection’s resources. First he agreed to give Gis a stardust storm-cloak, and when he learned Gis wasn’t proficient enough in aeromancy to make use of it, he added a staff of wind to the deal. On verge of his patience, Kaihil did also sell him some lesser amulet, but that was it, he said. According to him The Collector would not allow anything more flashy, and the risk of exposing his connection to them, was already growing too much.

Everyone agreed that was some bullshit. Sure, storm-cloaks were expensive and hard to get by, but Gis’s lack of experience would make him look like a normal mage with a wind-cloak or even a breeze-cloak. Nothing was as risky as the spell-breaker, that he already give them.

At last, they were finally under the Centaurus Peak, waiting for the sun to go down a little bit more. During the short interval of time between sunset and lighting of the lanterns, Nix’s shadow magic should be enough to hide them even if some monks would be still there. Or that was the plan.

“You know how to use that thing?” She asked Gis.

“I would prefer more time to practice, but this is fine too. If you leave me the rope, I can get to the entrance in a minute or two. My record in vertical flight is only three meters, so make me some loops for me to grab on.”

“Can’t you wait on the rope, like Ult? Two minutes can cost us our lives.” She still had her doubts about the plan, barely silenced by her newly acquired greed.

“Would you rather trust your life, to a man who was hanging on a rope for two hours. Also, how do you expect me to climb holding the staff?”

And flying was too loud, so he had to wait on the ground until she or Nix gave him the signal. She knew that. But having him few meters closer would do a lot for her confidence.

"Shouldn't you have already discussed that?" Kaihil asked, earning himself two angry looks. Yeah, they kind of liked him, but at the same time they wondered if twenty thousand was enough to work with him. He usually behaved like he was paying them at least twice as much.

"If you don't trust our methods, you can always Come with us," she answered him calmly.

That line was normally enough to shut him up, but this time he finally showed some irritation on his face. Ha, good. She was worried he was some daemon pretending to be a human. No one expected him to hire them again, so they haven't been easy on him.

"I will think about this."

Fortunately sun was finally low enough so she could go.

“Looks like Ult did his job properly,” Nix noticed when she joined him.

He was right, the hooks were hidden quite well. She had no idea how he managed to put so many of them, without anyone noticing, but if their quantity on the bottom of the rock was any indicator of the rest, she was going to give him some actual lessons later.

“Good for us,” she answered feeling guilty again.

***

Top of the temple was so densely warded that only the smallest birds could stand there. To notice the two climbing people, one would have to look closely from the very edge, and without any sight enhancements they were still very hard to spot. Even The Collection’s representative barely spotted them, despite knowing where to look. His Shade was gently waving on the wind, making him feel light as a feather. If he had two of those, maybe he could give one to Gis, so the wanna be mage, could reach the top, as fast as he did, but he already has been too generous. If - or rather when - those bloody monks will capture Gis and his people, someone could start asking questions. Kaihil would prefer to keep his connections to the local Guild, but it was too late for that, and he already invested too much in this operation to back down now.

The fact that Gis turned out to be not so much of a bad guy, was another inconvenience. Sacrificing some random asshole (as Kaihil has seen him before) would be so much more comfortable. The operation will cost him some Mayran vine to ease his conscience.

Still, worth it. This year's batch was relatively cheap.

He cut the handle of one of the windows, and slipped in soundlessly.