Predictably Vles was not exactly pleased with the impromptu changes to our plan in regards to the Hand. But, after her rage had subsided and I informed her about her subordinate's betrayal and how I handled her, she came around to my view of the situation. If we could turn our former obstacle into a willing ally or at least make him step out of the road, then we would have achieved the same result as originally intended. As I had ensured that the Hand would believe that Shieldmaiden were behind the assassinations, it would be difficult for him to trust them in the future.

To prepare for the eventual assault on their headquarters, I have withdrawn from the rebel encampment. The Hand would be liable to place agents in the rebellion, now that we are attempting to court him as a potential ally. Our rouse does not have to last long, but it needs to last until the enemy has been broken. The rule of the planet one Shieldmaiden has been throned is neither my concern nor Vleses concern. Therefore, we can let the Hand know about the true assassin once me and the crew have left the planet.

Since I am not in the camp there is no evidence of my involvement and as such I can focus solely on preparing for my own survival in the battle to come. If there is one thing I have learned from my failed assassination attempt, then it is that I am far from invincible. I have always been extraordinarily humble, so reaching the conclusion that I need more training has not been a hard one.

More enchantments at this stage would be largely pointless as it is an incredibly resource intensive process. Even with this "mystification" skill which allows me to supplement for this world's lack of magical resources. Therefore, I have spent and am spending all my sleeping hours in the VR-Dreamscape to train, as well as spending my waking hours doing one thing and one thing only: Suspending incantations.

I have managed to layer 14 suspended spells that I can activate with various memorized triggers and or conditions, which will give me far more options in combat. Back in my homeworld doing this would have been extraordinarily risky, as all suspended incantatations must be anchored. Either to an object or to the subject's aura, layering one's aura with dozens or even hundreds of spells is a great way to be made into a target. As you carry in your aura all the accumulated mana that has been poured into casting the spells, since one of the first spells that most magical practitioners learn is Occult Eye or some equivalent of it. Having this many spells would make shine like the very heart of the Sun in their eyes.

Any halfway competent Wizard would be able to reach into my aura and have my suspended spells self detonate around me. Warlocks are obviously the greatest magical practitioners but if there is one area where our arts is, lacking compared to others. Then, it would be in the domain of Aura control. Arcane and Faith based casters have far greater mastery of their Auras than us Eldritch magicians. As Eldritch magic relies on an active link to an entity serving as our "donor", our Auras have to be pliable to accomodate the constant stream of energy. We are good at hiding our Auras, but not much else.

Faith and Arcane magic users can do far more with this field than what we are capable of. Therefore, it would be tantamount to suicide to wander around with the amount of spells I now have layered throughout my Aura. But in this world I am the only master of magic, and that means I can do this without fear. These inferior beings are even incapable of my sensing magic let alone something as complex as Auras.

There are of course other drawbacks to having so many anchored spells in one's aura, my mana regeneration is slowed dramatically for one, and it is incredibly easy for lesser minds to forget the triggers of their anchored spells. Which has led to more than one Wizard killing his nephew when the little babe pulled their finger, and it activated a long forgotten fireball spell. In my mind this is yet another proof that Wizards are in fact idiots, regardless of their claims to "superior knowledge of Arcane mechanics".

These thoughts aside, my time in self imposed exile have also lead to other forms of advancement not just my layering of spells. I have managed to advance my VR-Dreamscape skill to 3 and increase my Control Attribute to 3. It was with the increase of the former that I understood just how intricate I could make my suspended incantation triggers. It has lead to me layering these last few mana shield spells in such a way that they will become far more useful to me, than what I had originally planned.

It is while I am sitting in my newest clearing and pausing after my 4th casting of suspended incantation of the day, that a message notification finally appear in my view. With my far greater control over the interface along with my new skills, I now do not have to ardously navigate the menue until I find this new message. I just immediately focus on it and the message appears before me.

From Vles To Glyphnax Subject It's Time Message The agents have left, your allies have been contacted...we will begin tomorrow.

I smile at the message and casually dismiss it from my vision with a stray thought. It will take me time to wander to jungle back to camp, and I cannot afford to spend any more mana this day. As it will take me a significant amount of time to finally recuperate all my mana in time of the attack. Had I suspended one more incantation it would most likely be impossible to properly recover in time. With all of this in time I rise up and begin to walk away from my temporary clearing. One way or another...this sordid drama with the Goblins will be over soon enough, and I can focus my attention on more important matters.