The discussion had left Ajax with a lot to think about. Up until now he had always seen the fear most common people had for nobles but had only gotten a view of the sense of superiority some nobles had. This was the first time he heard of first hand accounts of nobles actually acting in such a way.

Following his discussion about the assassin Ajax also asked some more questions about it, most notably how they knew it was a hit. The answer he got is what left him with so much to think about. They had gotten the information from the assassin himself.

It turns out that the noble had put the contract on them through the Assassin’s Guild. Having known nothing about the guilds existence led to an interrogation that saw him educated on a topic he might have to deal with in the future if his rise in power was even remotely close to the gains he has made in this single delve.

The Assassin’s Guild was very similar to the Adventurer’s and Crafter’s but it was also different in many aspects. Very much like the Adventurer and Crafter Guilds the Assassin's Guild was present in all nine major powers. Also like the others it was split into nine different branches that acted like a council of sorts with the guild master of each nation instilling his own demeanor into the attitude and rules of the organization.

Unlike the other two big guilds the Assassin’s guild was one that was not sanctioned by the ruling powers. This was for obvious reasons, but they also weren’t targeted for elimination. When he asked why that was, the answer was shocking if unsurprising. A few monarchs in the past had tried to target the guild only to find themselves targeted and their allies removed in favor of a monarch without such inclinations. The end result being a guild that operated in the shadows with no protection from the ruling class but also no targeted removal.

Moreover he had learnt some very important details about how some targeted assassinations work. Most surprising was the guilds view on their targets. Any job they undertook from an outside source came with a request for the amount of power and method of elimination. This in and of itself was not surprising, what was surprising was their view on failed jobs.

A job could go one of four ways. The first being a success, this would be a straight forward collection of payment. The next would be a failure that saw the guild members escape, what happened in this case wasn’t but often resulted in a stronger team being sent to finish the job. The third case was where the guild members failed and died in the attempt, this went much like the previous case but the increase in strength of the follow up team being much larger. And that left the final case.

Where the members of the guild not only failed but also got themselves captured. By far the hardest outcome for the target to achieve but the most rewarding. The guild actively incentivised the live capture and release of its members. It did this by having any target willing to do this have the contract on their head removed and be given a period of time when no more contracts for them could be accepted.

Not only that but the jobs the guild took also came with an insurance option. Since the level of strength requested was at the discretion of the employer the guild protected themselves by having captured members also offer any and all information they had on the contract upon having been released unless an upfront premium was paid. This premium only covered silence on the matter.

This was how the Collectors knew they were targeted. The noble in question had been too cheap to pay for the silence and the assassin had spilled all he knew after being released. This practice was more for the safety of its members as most employers would find it was cheaper to hire someone stronger than necessary for the contract to ensure it goes well that to get the bare minimum with a silence insurance.

As Ajax pondered on the different powers present in this world he and his team continued to explore the dungeon. They quickly found out that the arch they entered from was actually quite close to the edge of the floor and had they started off in a different direction they might have found it within the hour.

The following two days saw the team efficiently move through the floor and dispatching anything they came across. They hadn’t been lucky enough to encounter a second water elemental despite them being on the lookout for another jackpot at every oasis they found. They did chance upon two more groups of oasis crocs but sadly of the twenty they found only one was a boss and the other nineteen didn’t have a core.

While not all of the battles were easy, none of their encounters were dangerous enough to even threaten a member with a serious injury let alone death. While this safety was one of the main reasons Ajax had chosen to join this team it’s downside was also clear in that he had barely managed to level despite the previous couple of days getting him more than half the level in experience.

With his skill levels catching up to the power of the monsters he was facing, their advance was slowing down and the danger he faced turned from mild to minimal. This in turn lowered the experience he was gaining further.

“I think we got most of them.” the scout said as the team gathered around the fire for dinner on the fourth night they spent on the second floor.

“Does that mean that we’re heading for the obelisk?” Asked Ajax.

“No.” Jones denied.

Ajax was surprised, it must also have been obvious enough from the look on his face because Nelly chose to expand on the answer.

“The floor has roaming camouflaging monsters,”She started. “ This is one of the few circumstances where despite a team being strong enough to fully clear the floor even the guild advocates for exiting without triggering the obelisk.”

“We don’t have a skilled enough tracker to make sure we won’t be inviting a half dozen bosses and their packs on us by activating the obelisk.” Bobby said before looking at the scout and Ajax and adding “No offense.”

“It’s fine,” the scout said. “I might be good enough to see through their magical hiding if they are within a few feet of me but I can’t track them at all.”

Ajax was different in this aspect. Thanks to his [Residue Recognition] he could track the snakes. The problem was that all he could do was track where a group had been previously. His skill wasn’t strong enough yet for him to differentiate between individuals of the same species so trying to use that to track would most likely lead to a few weeks of running around the floor, most of the time following tracks to a group they had killed already.

Ajax didn’t like it, it felt incomplete to just exit without finishing off the floor. He would much rather activate the obelisk or move on to the next floor. During these days he had seen a lot more arches that led to the third floor. Interestingly enough, all the ones he used his [Mana Syphon] on had a different mana signature.

Almost all of the arches had some mixture of different mana types. They ranged widely from wind and water to earth and fire. Most were sticking to the rare aspects he had but on two occasions he encountered ice and metal mana. He didn’t know why they were so rare but he wanted to find out.

On one occasion he happened upon an arch that held only one type of mana. The only mana he could feel from the arch was light mana. As such he felt an increased sense of curiosity to enter and explore that floor as light mana should be the least dangerous of them all. The moment he even started to turn his feet in the direction of the arch however he felt a soft pulse from [Danger Sense] letting him know it was a bad idea.

Having reached their entry arch the following morning he placed his hand on it and triggered [Mana Syphon] again. The mana inside the arch was the same as it had been a few days ago. Interestingly enough however was that the only mana he had found on the entire floor that didn’t feel from this arch had been from other arches. Everything else from the water elemental to the snakes, crocs and even the fire and earth mana in the air and sand could be subtly felt in the mana of the arch.

“Alright everyone, be ready to form a defensive formation.” Jones’s voice ordered as everyone held their weapons at the ready. “Since we didn’t trigger the obelisk we will have to do a bit of cleanup once we exit. Focus on the snakes, don’t give them a chance to stealth once they exit the gate.”

Ajax was suddenly overjoyed at the last statement. He was hoping that the snakes would actually try camouflage themselves so he would finally get a look at how that magic worked.