This job seems fishy. That was the first thing Van Dale thought as he read the mark’s profile. The contract was for a Mage Academy’s genius of common birth. The kid was a Fifth Order Mage at the age of fourteen, which was a shocking level of talent, but probably not unheard of.

If that was all, there wouldn’t have been any need to hire him. However, the client believed the kid had an Archmage guardian, who helped him out on several difficult missions.

The situation was absurd, and if not for the two hundred thousand gold coins price tag, Van Dale would’ve refused the job. However, with that kind of money he could equip a powerful mercenary company and make a play to become a Marquess, maybe even unseat the Duke.

When he got fifty thousand as a downpayment, the Sword-Sage was certain these provincial hicks were crazy. All that money just to kill a dumbass kid.

However, that was good news. If these people were really so incompetent and rich, that meant he might soon become the Duke and wallow in money. Hopefully, he could amass enough gold to buy precious resources which would allow him to become a true Sword-Saint.

As Van Dale fantasized about his bright future and all the money these provincial cash-cows had, he felt something. Someone was watching him.

Van Dale looked around, but saw nothing. Finally he looked straight up and noticed a faint outline of a floating eye.

Damn! A scrying sensor! he silently cursed. Well, at least the kid’s not a total retard, and knows he should scout his target.

Van Dale picked up a pebble and flicked it into the air with his thumb. The stone flew straight into the illusory eye, popping it with a barely audible sound similar to an egg cracking.

Son, you’re a hundred years too early if you think you can pull a fast one over me. Van Dale smirked and moved a bit to set up an ambush. His mark was polite enough to announce itself. It would be rude not to prepare a warm welcome.

***

Damn! This one is a professional. He immediately detected my scrying, Wolf thought as he looked at his distorted reflection in the rippling pool of water. Hmm… How should I deal with someone with sharp senses?

Find Creature is too vague. I could stealthily find him once I’m near. But what if he’s not alone, or worse still, expects this move and uses a decoy? Read Stars will give me a general direction without alerting him. I guess Deflect Arrows is a must in case he has archer friends like that Chris fellow…

Wolf spent quite a while coming up with the way to approach Van Dale, whom he believed was a Seventh Order Sword-Sage.

However, considering that Wolf was an Eighth Order Sword-Sage, he didn’t take him too seriously. Wolf thought Subtle Swiftness was more than enough to win this fight for him. As a precaution he prepared a pair of Subtle Finger of Death spells and quickly headed in the direction which Read Stars gave him.

Hmm… There’s a person behind me. Wolf ran into the first problem as soon as he cast Locate Creature.

Could he be a scout sent to spy on me? Or maybe he’s that Van Dane guy’s henchman? Should I kill him first? No, he could just be a random traveler. I’ll try to lose him first. If he keeps following, then I’ll kill him.

Wolf suddenly started moving around erratically, trying to see whether the person he sensed was following him.

However, the signal which had been maintaining Wolf’s pace simply continued where it was originally headed. As soon as he realized this, Wolf awkwardly laughed at his own paranoia.

It’s not like everything in this world revolves around me.

Wolf rushed the last couple of kilometers to Van Dale’s hideout, not detecting any manlings along the way.

After several minutes Wolf finally located a human at eleven o’clock. He stopped, cast a cocktail of defensive and detection spells to prevent accidents from happening, then wrapped it up with Fly and Walk Unseen. Even though he moved slowly while floating through the air, Wolf came to appreciate this combination when fighting the Band of the Fox.

Half a kilometer away, at the edge of Wolf’s detection spell, Van Dale patiently sat and waited for his target to come to him.

He hid atop a tree, on the cliff which overlooked the valley where his camp was. Since the Mage had already scried on him, that meant he had a general idea where to go, which in turn meant his movement would be predictable.

Van Dale was clad in a high grade camouflage cloak. On his right eye he wore a monocle which allowed him to see heat signatures in the distance and even nearby magical auras. He was an experienced hunter and knew that any manling at his level had access to a cloaking technique, if not some better way of hiding their presence.

After waiting for hours Van Dale finally noticed something. A small humanoid figure was flying towards him, roughly from the direction of Silver City.

Rookie, the man thought, but then frowned. The hell? His heat signature is all messed up. Did he experiment with some magic to hide from heat-vision? It fumbled spectacularly.

Van Dale could clearly see Wolf’s outline. His skeleton blazed, his entire body simply a container for all the heat trapped under his skin.

However, a professional wouldn’t let his curious nature get the better of him. As Van Dale’s mind wondered what exactly had gone wrong with Wolf, his hands moved on their own.

A bow and an arrow appeared and Van Dale slowly notched, aiming at the anomaly slowly floating towards him. His mind barely registered the fluid, well practiced motion.

He still hasn’t noticed me, Van Dale thought, seeing the burning mass made no attempt to evade. Since that was the case, he infused the missile with Internal Energy and shot the bow.

The projectile screamed through the air, incomparably faster than an arrow shot from a regular bow.

Wolf felt mortal threat, and a moment later he heard the tearing of air as an arrow flew towards him.

Wolf fully awakened his senses and time slowed down to a crawl. To his horror Wolf realized that even in this twisted flow of time the arrow rapidly approached him.

At a glance the youth knew it would strike the middle of his torso. Even if this didn’t kill him on the spot, it would be a crippling injury. Wolf instinctively wanted to dive down, aided by gravity, but the arrow would pierce his skull and kill him immediately.

Fly is too damn slow! he thought in panic. Going up or down won’t change a thing. Liver it is then.

Wolf flew to the side, hoping Deflect Arrows would slow down the missile and minimize the damage.

It didn’t.

The arrow pierced through the magical membrane as if it didn’t even exist. Then it tore through the layer of Internal Energy Wolf hastily condensed to shield his side. Finally, it pierced the so-called impervious skin, proving once more that the boastful claims from the Star Body Body Refining art’s manual were a hoax.

Wolf grit his teeth as the arrow stabbed into his liver, blasting a fist-sized hole through his side before flying on into the treetops below.

Van Dale watched as the arrow smashed into the burning body and how blazing blood fountained from the silhouette. He wanted to fire another, but Wolf was already flying down.

Huh? He’s tough for a Mage. Was that some variation of Body of Iron? Van Dale mused as he clicked his tongue.

That arrow should’ve exploded an average Archmage even with Deflect Arrows, since the spell didn’t work on Internal Energy infused arrows. After thinking for a moment Van Dale grinned.

He must have a decent defensive item. It must be my lucky day. Once I kill the runt, I’ll get the treasure as a freebie. I just hope I haven’t damaged it too much.

While Van Dale counted his chickens before they hatched, Wolf clutched the gaping hole in his torso. Blood gushed out at a terrifying rate and his head started spinning.

“Son of a whore!” Wolf hissed a curse, trying to fight the dizzy spell.

A Greater grade Healing potion appeared in his hand, but the damn thing was invisible.

“Fuck,” Wolf muttered, panicking, he couldn’t see the damn vial. He closed his eyes to focus, but he could see through his eyelids.

Dismiss, Wolf thought, dismissing Walk Unseen. He was so out of it, he took a moment to realize something as basic as canceling the spell effect. Then, he tried to open the vial, but his hands were too slick from blood.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he said, then clenched his hand, crushing the vial. Finally, he poured the healing elixir into the wound.

Steam rose from the ghastly injury, and Wolf felt the squirming sensation of his flesh rapidly growing back. Unfortunately there was nothing the potion could do about the blood loss.

The youth closed his eyes and sat down, fully awakening his senses. In the distance he heard the rustle of leaves as his enemy drew near.

Half a minute, Wolf thought, analyzing how much time he had. Idiot! Drink another potion. That should generate blood.

Listening to his own advice Wolf downed a Light grade Healing potion, immediately feeling his head clear up a bit. He then noticed he was sitting in a huge pool of blood.

How did he see me? Wolf wondered. I didn’t see him, and I couldn’t even see the vial in my hands. Twenty seconds.

Wolf got up and fled from the crash site, sprinkling Remove Trace behind his back. As Wolf circled through the forest he could tell from Find Creature that Van Dale really was heading towards the place where he’d landed.

That bastard’s going in for the kill! Can’t blame him, I’d do the same. Wolf thought while chugging healing potions, doing his best South impersonation ever.

He downed a dozen vials before the blood in his body normalized and the raw wound completely patched up. He poked his finger at his newly grown flesh, but it was still tender and weak.

Dammit. I guess it’ll take time for it to become as tough as the rest of my body. Wolf thought as he stopped moving and listened to the silent forest. He’s most likely trying to find my tracks, or to listen whether I’m fleeing in fear.

Wolf came up with several conclusions from this short exchange. Well, calling it an exchange might be giving Wolf too much credit. He simply took an arrow because he was stupid and overconfident.

The first thing he concluded was that flying straight at your target like an idiot without any cover is plain suicide when you’re up against someone who knows what they’re doing.

Second, Walk Unseen can be bypassed, and even when he’s invisible, Wolf should use natural cover whenever possible. Third, bows are excellent weapons. Even though it may make him appear like a coward and a sneaky son of a bitch, they had their place in his arsenal and were worth sinking time into. Four, martial maneuvers could be used with ranged weapons and packed quite a punch.

For a moment Wolf considered whether he should sneak up on Van Dale and kill him with a Subtle Finger of Death, but decided against it. There was no guarantee the spell would kill someone with enough willpower or burn all of their vitality.

Besides, if he could gain so much insight from this short “battle”, who knows how much he could benefit from a real fight. Wolf suddenly felt the kind of excitement he hadn’t felt in a long while.

Time for round two, the young man thought with a smile.