Combat scouting… two simple words that were more exhausting than anyone could imagine. It was one thing to go on a mission without a reward. Every awakened who had mended an item or reached their level cap had gone, experienced that. This was different. The whole point was to gain information in the subtlest of ways in order to use it later. In many aspects it was closer to training, not to mention it was gruellingly difficult. In two hours, the group had engaged in seventy-one attacks. Having the location of the guardian turned out to be quite useful. They didn’t have to go about searching for it, heading directly for the spot in question. After the tenth time, the group knew the place by heart. After the twentieth, the guardian didn’t bother hiding, but emerged the moment they got near.

Each attack was short, sometimes ten minutes’ true time, sometimes less. At first, the goal was to see how they could approach the creature as seamlessly as possible. When Vend decided that was enough, there were an array of attempts to see whether they could go through its mesh of air currents. The latter resulted in a number of awakened deaths, some less impressive than others. Ultimately, two things were established: everything awakened that came into contact with the air armor would instantly die, and the only two things that could effectively cut through it were Hannah’s sword and Dallion’s harpsisword.

Funnily enough, getting him by a boulder head on only dealt seventy-five percent damage, which meant they could easily get a rock hit if needed during their attack.

On the positive side, it turned out that Vend was right about the guardian’s health. Being a simple level one, it didn’t have that much health, meaning they could easily defeat it during their first assault with a series of ranged attacks. The issue was the noble. They weren’t allowed to kill it in one blow. All they had been paid to do was get the guardian to a state in which a single attack would finish the job. Because of the full shield, that made things extremely difficult.

After the first fifty attempts, Vend had the group test up by treating them to an awakened feast. Unlike the previous ones, everyone ate in silence, reflecting on everything they had learned. Dallion could see their determination, as well as their doubts. Gloria was concerned she wasn’t quick enough to take advantage of the weaknesses in the guardian’s mesh—she hadn’t learned splitting yet, which meant she had to air at the spots Vend and Dallion shot at.

Veil, on his part, was annoyed that he couldn’t deal more damage with the sword he was loaned. The weapon seemed to like him to the point that it had changed its angle slightly during the fight, although even that hadn’t proved to be enough.

After the group had had their fill, the scouting continued. New strategies were attempted combining the strengths of all participants, first in pairs, then in groups of three, and finally all four together. When all combos were exhausted and everything considered valuable learned, Vend decided to end the scouting.

Dallion expected they’d have another awakened feast, but instead Dallion had them go to one of the city’s lakes. All that was well—a serene environment that had more than rocks was a welcome change. The only issue was that the lake in question was dangerously close to Eury’s workshop.

“This is really stupid,” Veil complained. “We have to prove we can level it up, right? Can’t we just defeat the guardian then have the noble defeat it again? It’ll be a piece of cake for him.”

“I wish.” Vend let out a dry laugh.

“Well, why not? I know how strong one must be to become a noble. Killing a level one guardian will be as easy as—”

“It’s not about skill,” Vend interrupted. “You haven’t been around many nobles, have you? Well, technically I suppose you can call your village chiefs nobles of a sort, but they can’t compare to the real thing.” For a single second resentment vibrated through him before disappearing in the pool of other emotions. “It’s not that nobles can’t do it, it’s that they don’t want to, and they definitely don’t want to spend more time with us than they have to.”

Talk about snobbishness… That was probably the reason why even the general Dallion was forced to deal with, only had limited access to the lower nobility, if that. The way the man had made his fortune—other than inheriting it from his family—was by buying and reselling artifacts. In the eyes of the nobles, people like him were such that at least could be tolerated. In all the time since Dallion had joined the Icepicker guild, not once had he seen a noble visit to get an item improved. He knew that a lot hadn’t, but in all cases they would tell one of their servants to drop off and pick up the item for them.

“Later this evening, we go pick up the noble, bring the guardian to a vulnerable state, then leave the awakened realm. That’s it.”

That didn’t sound fun at all.

“Any chance the noble might be impressed with our performance and give us a bonus or some sort?” Veil persisted.

“Unlikely. Chances are that the noble will be polite, maybe nice even, but other than the occasional flattery, that’s all you’ll get. Just do your job well and fast, mostly fast.”

“Vend, why can’t we share markers?” Dallion asked. “That would help a lot.”

“Ah. Okay, here we go with some more practical basics.” The elite leaned back. “The most obvious reason is that we’re all in different gates. Sure, the blond pair have no problem and are actually doing it quite well, but given that their skills mostly match it’s really not an advantage in this case. You can only share with awakened of your range or higher, which is useless for me since your markers are too slow. As for me…”

Show off, Dallion thought.

Show off or not, he’s right, dear boy, Nil said. He’s a bit more skilled than people give him credit for. One bit of practical advice from me—always hide your level. While no one takes you seriously until you become a double digit, anything beyond that is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it’s wise to let others think you’re a weakling.

“What if they pass through their gate exam?” Dallion asked. “It’ll take less than an hour. I have enough stashed away.”

Fear sprang up in both Veil and Gloria.

“Forget it.” Vend waved a hand dismissively. “They can do that after the job’s done.”

“But if they do it now, I can help them see—”

“It’s never a good idea to pass a gate so early before a task. Awakening trials are serious business. If they weren't, people wouldn’t bother with them.” Vend gave Dallion a warning glance. “The idea’s good, but not the timing. Besides, we already have our strategy.”

Dallion nodded slowly. During the last assault, Vend had allowed Dallion to engage in a serious attack—the only one during the entire scouting process. The whole point was to see if Dallion could target the guardian’s weak spot—the tendrils. Given that they were out of air, bolts, daggers, and other projectiles were useless. However, equipped with his harpsisword and using his music skills, Dallion was able to slice the air current that kept the Guardian’s finger rocks linked to its hand. As a critical wound, the guardian’s health was reduced by ten percent. That wasn’t the goal of the experiment, though. Through it, the group had seen that cutting an air tendon created a gap in the guardian’s air mesh.

“Also, there is one thing that I can teach these two before it’s time,” Vend said with a smile. “Nothing that glamorous, but it will double their chances.”

There was a long pause. Everyone looked at Vend expectantly.

“Splitting,” he said with a sigh. “Do you even listen to the things I tell you? And people wonder why I don’t like doing this crap.”

It’s the incompetent teacher that blames his students, Nil grumbled.

That was amusing considering how much the echo had complained about Dallion’s bad habits, lack of progress, easygoing nature and everything else beneath the sun. On the other hand, he had helped a lot and shown genuine pride at all of Dallion’s successes. Of course, it wasn’t until Dallion got to master his music vision that he realized that.

“You’re going to teach them splitting in a few hours?” Dallion narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll try. Maybe they’ll get to do one instance, maybe not, but in every event it will be worth the effort. After passing the second gate this is the next best thing.”

Somehow Dallion was doubtful, but didn’t argue nonetheless. It was then decided that he would return to explain the situation to Hannah, while Vend went on with the Luors training. As usual, Dallion felt like he had pulled the short straw. Bringing bad news to Hannah was worse than any training he could imagine.

There already were a few people in front of the Gremlin’s Timepiece by the time Dallion got there. All of them were regulars enjoying a drink outside. The inside was surprisingly empty.

“If you’re going to make such a big fuss about it, maybe I should get a better cook!” a loud yell came from the kitchen.

That explained the lack of people. While occasionally amusing, Hannah’s shouting matches with Aspan remained an acquired taste.

The kitchen door slammed open, then shut again, as a very annoyed innkeeper walked into the main room. Even without his skills, Dallion could see she was a powder keg ready to explode.

“What?” the innkeeper snapped at him the moment they made eye contact.

“Problems?” Dallion decided to take the roundabout route.

“Sometimes I’m really fed up with Aspan’s nonsense. He complains all the time and the moment I make a simple request he… anyway that’s not for this conversation. What do you need this time?”

“What makes you think I need anything?”

“You have that guilty look on your face. Either you messed up, or you want a favor of sorts.” Hannah made a few steps forward. “And I know you didn’t mess up again, right?”

“Nope, didn’t mess up.” On second thought, maybe agreeing to bring her the bad news could be considered messing up. “It’s just that we got a special request.”

Hannah arched a brow.

“I mean the guild. Seems we did such a good job mending an area that a city noble wants us to improve it by the end of the day.”

If there was a time when Dallion felt tempted to use his music skills on someone, this was it. However, he was too smart to attempt to. This wasn’t a stall seller he could sweet talk. When it came to the innkeeper, playing with fire was a certain way to end up without a room.

To his surprise, the anger ringing throughout her quickly dissipated.

“You got a city leveling job?” she asked, impressed.

“I think so?” Dallion smiled. “To be honest, I’m not sure about the whole thing. Vend said it’s a big deal and something that is unlikely the guild will ever get again, so I’ve been volunteered to participate in it.”

“I see.” The innkeeper nodded. “And I expect Gloria and Veil have been volunteered as well?”

“I’m afraid so…”

“Well, there’s nothing that can be done.” Hannah shrugged. To Dallion’s astonishment, not only wasn’t she mad, but she was rather glad by the fact. “At least it’ll give Aspan fewer reasons to complain. Hear that?” she shouted in the direction of the kitchen door. “No feasts tonight! Only drinks!”

A shout back indicated that the cook was also pleased with the development in his own way.

“And get some food for Dal!” Hannah shouted. “He’ll be seeing some bigwigs, so he needs to be at his best.”