“You should know the tier determines lifespan. We have second tier classes, so we can only live up to fifty years, unless we get to 3rd tier. Then, a person can live up to seventy five years. A 4th tier human can live up to one hundred years. A 5th tier human can live up to one hundred and fifty years.”

“Right.” Jack nodded. He had read about it in the library.

“There are some means to prolong life without evolving. One of them is secured inside a cave my family owns. We call it the mine.”

Jack frowned. It was a first time he heard about something like that. “How?”

“There is a corpse of an 8th tier monster. The innate spell inside the corpse is still partially working.”

Jack was scared. “Working? That would mean the monster is still alive.”

“No, no.” Aleena quickly denied. “Most of the monster’s innate spell has been destroyed. The monster is dead, and its body is half rotten. Only preservation spells keep its body from crumbling apart, and only a fragment of the beast’s innate spell is still working.”

Jack sighed in relief.

“The remaining part is the reason there is a mine. For some reason, a fragment of the original innate spell is trying to produce its copies around itself. We have created pill factory there. The effect is very weak, so we are placing condensing liquid near the corpse. It condensates in a pill with a spell inside. Taking such a pill can prolong 3rd tier human life for twenty years, or 4th tier human for ten years. Each next pill has a halved effect, though, and the effect on 5th tier humans is minimal.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Jack protested. “Have you researched the spell?”

“Yes, but we failed. It’s more of luckily coincidence. A normal innate spell should never create its half copies outside. This one is damaged and possibly somehow mutated. It’s also possible that there are shapes in bones or flesh that take part in the spell.”

Every being with levels had an innate spell inside their body. It was the reason for the boost in stats. Innate spells were created with pure essence. They were insanely effective with essence usage, and nobody ever managed to recreate such a spell. It seemed it wasn’t enough to create a shape of a rune with essence, even though it worked with everything else. Innate spells inside living beings were also always very complicated, so it was very hard to replicate the effect with traditional spell casting.

Jack shook his head. “How would that even work? I mean, live extending. It doesn’t make sense. A person’s lifespan should depend on a body, not on an innate spell. What about side effects?”

Aleena nodded. “There are side effects. Boosts to stats are more than halved. Professions also often do not work. It disappears after a next evolution. ”

“Why you haven’t tried to replicate the spell?”

Aleena sighed. “Do you think we are stupid? I asked the same questions when I learned about the mine. That doesn’t even concern you, but fine. We have researched the spell and it doesn’t make sense. We think the life extending effect is a result of merging of the spell from a pill with an innate spell in a body. You can’t create an innate spell manually, so you can’t replicate the effect.”

“I see. Wasn’t what you told me a secret?” Jack asked.

“An open one. Everyone among nobility knows about our mine. We are selling pills after all.”

Jack smiled bitterly. “Those pills must be worth a fortune.”

Aleena smiled a bit. “Not really. Barons would sell everything for some more years, but they aren’t that wealthy. The most expensive things are 8th tier body parts and exotic materials.”

“What about the corpse of 8th tier in the mine?”

She nodded. “It’s worth a lot.”

“Ok. So, why is your family there?” Jack asked.

“We are trying to sell the mine. You see, there needs to be a certain concentration of essence in the cave with the corpse. We have created a magical formation to draw essence from the surroundings, and it was fine until two years ago. The innate spell seems to deteriorate over time and there is a need for an even greater concentration of essence in the cave. We needed to kill monsters there. The mine is no longer beneficial to us.”

“Really? You just need to drag some monster and kill it. I suppose the monsters don’t need to be high tier ones.”

“Yes, but there is also a matter of logistics. The mine is forty kilometers deep into the exterior. Ten years ago, it was only thirty kilometers. Ninety years ago the mine was in human controlled lands. It’s getting harder go there and back. A year ago, my aunt died travelling there. We want to just sell the corpse now.”

“Why not then?”

“Politics and economy. Some noble houses think they can get more money from the mine, and they offered a prize that convinced my grandfather. My family members are negotiating in the mine with another noble family. It’s a good location as they can appraise goods. Meanwhile, one more family made a bid. I want you to deliver this package to my family to inform them.”

“Why package then? I mean, it’s a small package, it won’t be a problem, but why not a letter?”

“Messenger needs an item to validate authenticity of the letter. Did it satisfy your curiosity?”

“Yes.” Jack nodded. The offer was nice. There was some danger, but Jack thought he could do that. He would be very cautious and use detection spell all the time. He needed better gear. Jack wanted to just agree, but he hesitated.

“Can I think some more? How much time do I have?”

Aleena shrugged. “I suppose I can wait until tomorrow. I would find someone else to deliver the message then.”

Jack went to Stanley for advice. The boy wasn’t able to help much, though. It was a decision about calculated risk. Was the reward enough to risk solo journey?

Jack decided to go to headquarters administration. He was a hunter and he was in the military. Jack wanted to know the higher ups stance on such requests from nobility. Jack didn’t want to have problems in the future in that regard.

Jack asked a clerk in there, but she didn’t know. She told him he will be led to higher ups. Jack thought it was a bit too much. He just had a one question, but he followed. Jack knocked, and entered a room. A middle aged man was sitting there and working out. Jack thought an adjutant would do a paperwork, but he understood it was stupid. High tier warriors had to fight, not write. Anybody can write and make reports. It’s obviously a bad people management to make high tiers do paperwork.

Jack knew similar situation was in the imperial court. While the king was formally the head of humanity, most of decisions were being made by imperial officials, who were scribes and administrators, mostly in the 3rd tier, or even in the 2nd tier. Those people weren’t warriors.

“Excuse me. I have a question.”

“Oh. It’s unusual for someone to come to colonel to ask questions.” The man said with a smile.

“Colonel?” Jack asked half frightened.

“That’s right. I’m colonel Christopher Forrest.” He was still smiling.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask a trivial question. I didn’t know she was going to lead me here. I’m sorry for interrupting.” Jack wanted to leave, but colonel stopped him.

“It’s okay. I’m not occupied at the moment. How can I help?” The man never stopped working out.

Jack hesitated for a bit, but he decided he would ask, since he was already here.

“Someone asked me to do a task for noble house. I want to know whether I’m allowed or not.” Jack said hastily.

“Second tier hunters have great autonomy. As long as you do not break the imperial court law and you are following orders you can do whatever you want. I must warn you about nobles, though. Depending on a which house you want to work for, it’s may be a good decision or a bad to have a relationship with them.”

Jack decided to tell some more. Aleena said it wasn’t a secret.

“It’s for the Greene house.”

“Greene.” The colonel said with a thoughtful face. “Not bad, but they also aren’t known for being a very honorable family. Count Greene is old though, they may lose their status soon, though.”

“I see.” Jack didn’t know if the information had any meaning, but he was thankful for the answer. It was a colonel, a 5th tier human. Whatever he said, it was important. “Thank you. I will leave now.” Colonel nodded.

Jack was excited about this meeting. He met important figure.

Jack went to the crafters. A few days passed and he thought they should have finished his fur armor.

“Hello.”

“Jack. Nice to see you. We have finished your armor some time ago, take a look.”

There was an armor and armored trousers. Both parts were gray, the same color as wolf’s fur. Jack took off his current clothes and tried the fur on.

“We made sleeves softer, so they won’t restrict your movements, though it has its own drawbacks. For the torso part, we enchanted it on top of chemical reinforcement. The armor should be enough to stop casual attacks of 4th tier monsters, though not against blunt hits or crushing.”

“Nice. What about mana intrusion?” Jack asked.

“The original skin had innate spells inside to protect against all typical mana types, excluding shadow and light mana types.”

“Why not shadow and light?” Jack asked.

The crafter shrugged. “Why would I know? I heard it’s about the dangers. Monsters evolve depending on what endangers them the most, I suppose, shadow magic is not popular. Light the same.”

“Really?” Jack was a bit doubtful.

“I heard once about a family that wanted all their members to be fire mages. They claimed a hunting ground. After half a year, all 3rd tier and even some 2nd tier monsters had resistance against fire mana. It’s just like that.” Another crafter explained.

“Right! We enchanted the fur a bit. The armor has a switch here,” the crafter showed the switch, “which lets you turn on the spell producing earth mana. You can additionally reinforce armor with earth energy that way.”

It wasn’t very useful for Jack, but it wasn’t bad either.” Thank you.”

“Hello. I thought it over and I agree to your request.” Jack said, while entering the room.

“Great.” She replied with a smile. “You are my team member, it’s better for me too, that you will get the reward.”

Jack nodded. Her family could do whatever they wanted, so Jack just took it as a goodwill.

“Can I ask you a favor? I mean, nothing serious.” Aleena said.

“Asking is free.” Jack replied with a bit bitter smile.

“I want you to greet Landon Hillman, the leader of Hillman house we are negotiating with. I know him personally, it’s just my personal request. I want you to tell him ‘The one who always win in the end greets you’.”

That sounded… ominous, and very arrogant. Didn’t Aleena lose her game with the team? ‘The team is nearly no more, but it still counts. Maybe this is some kind of a threat for me.’

“Don’t tell him it’s me, he will know.” She added with a mischievous smile.

“Fine.” Jack shrugged. He was greedy for the reward and this was a simple thing.

Jack had been prepared beforehand, so he immediately departed. It was easy to cross first ten kilometers, as it was a snowy plain currently, everything was visible from the distance. When Jack went into the forest, he created a rune on the ground to create fire mana. He used the mana to cast fire detection spell. Jack found nothing interesting in two hundred meters radius. All of this took him over three minutes. Jack advanced one hundred meters and repeated.

Jack was advancing every hundred meters in about five minutes, a kilometer in fifty minutes. ‘I’m too slow. At this pace I will get there in twenty five hours, assuming I would be able to go without stops. Unfortunately, at this pace, my clarity will deplete in six hours.’

Jack had to risk it. He created a telescope spell above him, so he could look from above the trees. He also used a light detection spell to create an eye at the end of the telescope to look through it. The strongest monsters were usually big. Jack hoped he would be able to find such a monster, before it would find him. Normally, leaves would make it impossible to see anything on the ground from above, but it was winter.

Jack travelled without an incident for six hours. He found a few second tier monsters, but he didn’t engage and even tried to avoid them. He didn’t want to get tired. Some more intelligent monsters spotted him, but they were also intelligent enough to know attacking Jack wasn’t a good idea. Jack spotted one 3rd tier, but he also managed to avoid the monster. He was lucky. He also encountered a 3rd tier lynx. It spotted it from over two hundred meters waiting in ambush. The monster attacked openly, when it discovered Jack was physically weaker. Jack was fast enough to erect some defenses with earth magic, and kill the monster.

Ding… You have killed lv. 39 Big Lynx

Ding… LEVEL UP! You have reached lv. 24

The mine should be nearby. Naturally, Greene family camouflaged the entrance. A random monster could make a lot of damage inside. Aleena had told him how to find the entrance and he managed to do so after dozen of minutes.

After the entrance, there was a short tunnel. He crossed it and was able to see the cave. The first thing he saw were two groups of people. Both groups had about 5-6 people. The most noticeable difference between them was age. One group had young members, while the second had mostly middle aged members. Appearance wasn’t a clear indicator of age, though, as forty years old 5th tier could appear young, while forty years old 2nd tier would appear as an old man.

Both groups were in the middle of discussion with each other, and Jack interrupted them. They all looked at him. Jack didn’t know which group was from the Greene house, so he just addressed both groups.

“Hello. I’m a messenger from the Greene house. Apparently, there was a change in the situation.”

A man from a younger group frowned. “Give me the message, then.” The second group didn’t try to oppose that. Jack thought it would not be funny if both groups try to pretend to be the recipient.

Jack walked to the man who seemed like a leader of Greene group and handed him the package. Jack took the moment to look over the cave. There wasn’t much to see. There was a big corpse in the middle, but it was half rotten and it wasn’t even possible to determine species at first glance. There were boxes around the corpse, probably with the live extending pills.

A few packs were lying on the ground here and there, signalizing both groups intended to stay here for some time. In a corner lay a pile of animal corpses, most of them burned. The cave was smelling a bit of burned flesh. The most interesting part of the cave for Jack were walls, which had engraved runes on them. Jack could spot a few runes he knew, but he wasn’t able to recognize most of them.

Jack thought about what would happen now. Theoretically, his task was done and he should just return to headquarters for his reward. ‘Right, I should also greet Hillman guy. Ugh. It’s so embarrassing.’ Jack managed to think about it as a job. He had been working in his family’s fields, even when he didn’t like it.

“Hello. Are you Landon Hillman?” Jack addressed the leader of the second group.

“Yes. Have you heard about me?” The man asked curiously.

“You can say so.’ Jack said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Someone told me to greet you. It was something like that: The one who always win in the end greets you. She told me you would know.” Jack said so with a bothered voice, like a child forced to say sorry.

Landon’s face showed confusion, though. Jack didn’t care.

“It seems there is another competitor for this mine.” The leader of the Greene house said with a smile directed at the opposite group leader.

“I see. Are they offering better terms?” Landon asked calmly without any expression. Jack decided to leave. Nobody asked anything of him, which he feared, and he was free to go. Jack didn’t want to be entangled in politics, or at least, not yet.

Greeene group gave each other a small ornate ball, which Jack thought as the prove that the message was genuine. Jack was walking to the exit, when he heard a loud bang. He looked around. Two Greeene family members lay in their own blood with entrails openly displayed. The brain matter was scattered around them. The rest had mostly minor injuries.

“Assassin!” The leader of Greene group shouted and pointed at Jack. “Catch him!” Jack was too stunned to even react. The Hillman group was faster. A one guy knocked Jack down and grabbed his hands. Jack felt terrible pain in them and cast life detection spell out of a habit. His hands were melted together, probably by life magic. Panic gripped his mind, but he quickly calmed down. An evolution would be able to heal everything, even if the damage wasn’t repairable by ordinary magic.

Jack was still in shock, though. He kind of killed two people. ‘It wasn’t me, but it was because of me,’ he thought. Jack didn’t understand what exactly happened. ‘Why the ball exploded? It was supposed to be the proof. Could someone have misplaced it?’

Someone from the Greene family crouched before corpses. “They are dead. Too much damage. I can’t bring them back. Maybe 6th tier or 7th tier spell…” Everyone in Greene family lowered their heads. They didn’t have such a spell as their disposal. “What about the assassin?” Someone asked.

“Killed in action.” Leader of Greene group said, while looking at Jack with hatred.