"You better give up on this one. Many tried before but failed. I don't know why the Guild doesn't raise the requirement for the contract to gold rank."

"Thank you worrying but I'm confident I can at least escape alive. Now about the information… You are with the Thief Guild, right?"

"It's no secret, but yes, I'm with the Thief's Guild. As for the information, I can give you the basics now or you can wait a bit for premium information."

"Premium information? How long would I have to wait and… what does premium information entail?" Bones asked. It was his first time hearing about basic and premium information.

"Premium entails everything we know about the target, at a premium price of course. It might take a few days to verify and update the intel on your inquiry. As soon as I have the file ready, I'll send a message…Where should I send the message?"

"The reception desk at the "The Passing Wagon inn." Bones wrote down the name of the inn he was staying at and passed it to the informant. "Money isn't an issue and I'd like the premium information. What other services are you offering?"

"Other services? I'm afraid we only deal with information here." The informant said while shaking his head and storing the piece of paper into the inside pocket of his jacket. "It is a small town, close to the border after all. If you need anything else, you should visit the town of Ascot at the…. "

"I've already been in Ascot. It's fine, the information is all I really need." Bones interrupted, downed his drink and stood up to leave. "Until the next time, then."

"Until next time! Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Jones." The informant said and watched Bones leave.

Bones left the guild and returned to his room. Tarnstead was a really small town without much to see. The mornings were crowded because of all the traffic going through and toward the border, but other than that, it was a boring place you'd stop to restock and move on. Such a place worked for Bones. He needed time to better process everything that happened.

There is a lot he didn't know about his current predicament but he tried to piece together what he knew and came to the conclusion that the reason Silva easily broke through the passive Soul Barrier skill was because of the weakened status. And that was also possibly the reason for his recent blackouts. Silva's intrusion changed something inside him, forced something onto him and Bones was sure his dream previously had something to do with that change. Deep down, he suspected the creature that fought Silva wasn't something alien, but was always there inside of him - an undead side awakened by Silva.

Bones sat on the bed, leaning against the bed frame and watching the two golems standing in front of him. Both had equipment covering their monster parts and anyone looking closely would notice something was off about them, especially when fighting. Was there an actual need to cover them? To keep them hidden? Bones always kind of thought there was but he was a boncemancer, a class like any other, that simply had the ability to make bone golems. The fact that he himself was an undead and had a need to hide his identity, he projected onto his golems.

There's no need to keep them hidden. I'll see if there's an armorsmith in town and if they're selling anything of decent quality. I think Murdok could make use of heavy plate armor and I need to get him a proper weapon - durable enough to handle his powerful swings. Skully is fine as is. The leather armor suits him, I just need to find him equipment of better quality.

Bones didn't leave the inn for the rest of the day, nor for the next few days. He stayed in his room trying to enter Eternal Rest, hoping to dream again. There were certain conditions required before entering Eternal Rest and Bones tried to think of a way to overload his core without risking any damage to himself or his surroundings. He tried to push his limits by levitating as many bone spikes as possible. And while he did make slight progress in Bone Manipulation, it wasn't enough to overload his core. After numerous failed attempts, Bones gave up and left the inn in search of an armor shop.

Tarnstead didn't have anything better to offer and Bones regretted not buying what he needed in Arbington. He ended up buying the Steel Plate Armor and a greataxe made of reinforced steel for Murdok, and a full set of leather armor and a new spear for Skully. Later that night, as if someone was playing a joke on him, Bones entered Eternal Rest.

The dream began like the last one, in the mansion. He was fighting off a group of guards and he was fast, precise and untouchable. He played around his targets, enjoying the sense of superiority when he suddenly came to a stop, wondering why he was fighting the guards in the first place.

That's not what happened! I didn't fight the guards, Skully did!

Bones realized that what he was experiencing were the events of that night from Skully's perspective. The moment he stopped playing the part, everything around him distorted. The next scene he saw was an out-of-body experience. He saw himself standing over kneeling Iam, with a hand on the man's forehead but something was different about this Bones. The air around him was heavy, tense and foul. The hand on the forehead started glowing and he was suddenly engulfed by green fire that quickly spread onto Iam. The man screamed with such intensity, Bones woke up. He looked through the window and saw it was still nighttime.

"Well, fuck."

Early morning the next day, a message was left at the reception desk addressed to his name by the Guild's informant. Bones left the inn for the first time in a week and returned within the hour, holding an envelope in his hand. He jumped on the bed, placed one leg over the other and ripped the envelope open. Inside there were two files, each a few pages long. He took out the files and threw the envelope on the floor to the side and started reading.

Jazymne was a beautiful but vicious woman with a twisted personality who liked playing games. And the reason for Daryll's black eye. The relationship between the two was that of a husband and a wife, like Bones guessed, and the duo's twisted nature complimented each other well. Jazmyne was the brain and Daryll a submissive plaything following after her like a puppy. In reality, she ran both bandit camps and is the reason they were able to operate close to each other without getting caught. She used her… "womanly charms" to win favors with the right kind of people and look the other way from time to time. She even captivated the hearts of adventurers coming after her bounty. She often used the captives to test the durability of her thorny whip while Daryll watched in fascination.

Together, they had quite a large number of men under their leadership. The intel mentioned between ninety and a hundred men, most of them ex-soldiers and adventurers with mediocre skills but used to killing and the bloodshed. The range of their crimes covered pretty much all the criminal activities one could think of. Bones wasn't confident he would be able to succeed in his contract this time but he wouldn't back down without trying. Even teaming up with someone crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed the idea. When he finished reading, he stored the papers and returned to training.

A week passed and then another, with Bones spending most of his time engraving and training bone manipulation. He also experimented with mana manipulation, something he entirely forgone since beginning. He hoped to think of a way to increase the penetrative power of his bone spikes but mostly Bone Lance. It was something he thought about after his fight with The One Eye Garrison and after witnessing his skills with bow and arrow. However, Bones was stuck - he didn't have wind affinity and he had a hard time finding a way to achieve the same using raw mana instead.

Two weeks had passed since he came to Tarnstead and by his estimation, it would take another week for his weakened status to disappear. Tonight he dreamt of the same mansion, the same setting but from a new perspective. Tonight, he was Iam - the victim - and his life was in danger. Someone came for him, asking for the core he stole but there was no way he would reveal he had the core safely stored with him. He had to get away - get far away from the person who was in front of him and was threatening him.

"Over my dead body!" He said and turned to run away. His feet felt heavy and his steps slow. He moved as if in slow motion. He could feel the spell being cast behind him. The same weird spell that made him kneel from pain the first time.

"No, no!" He knew he couldn't avoid the spell but even before the spell hit him, something stopped him from running further. He felt a sense of dread come over him as the caster gazed directly into his soul, paralyzing him. He couldn't give up, he had to find a way to break free! But the feeling of dread only increased and he then felt the burning sensation, eating him from the inside.

He helplessly fell to the ground, clutching his chest. The pain was excruciating and too much to bear. He muted his surroundings but he couldn't mute the heavy sound of footsteps coming closer. He looked behind just in time to see a hand reach out to him and grab his head. Terrified and paralyzed with fear, Iam watched the flames envelope the hand and then the fire, a mesmerizing green, devoured Iam wholly. He didn't think it was possible but he experienced an even greater pain than before. The flames consumed him until there was nothing recognizable left.

*thud*

From within his chest a translucent core appeared, then dropped on the floor with a thud and rolled over, hitting the caster's boot. Bones released the grip on Iam's head and picked up the core. He stood motionlessly, watching how the core in his hand as his surroundings burned. Iam died and he was back to being himself. He turned around and saw everything catching fire, guards and what little staff remained inside the mansion too. It was utter chaos and within the fire, Skully and Murdok chased and mercilessly - without hesitation - slayed everyone in their path. Bones took in the sight, mesmerized, when suddenly and out of his volition, his body moved and joined his two golems in piling up dead bodies. His dream shattered when by chance, he saw himself in the mirror. He didn't recognize the baleful green in his eyes and he woke up with a start.

What haunting dreams. All the bodies, dead bodies… I did that… and I feel indifferent about it. I didn't even gain much experience from it all. It was violence without reason, killing without purpose, simply because they were alive and I am not.

*fire crackling*

"Hm?"

The carpet around the bed, the rusty red curtains covering the windows, the wooden furniture - everything around Bones burned eerie green, the same ghostly green he saw in his dream.

"Shit!!"

Bones jumped out of bed and grabbed his stuff, then bolted out of the room. He shouted fire in the hallway then headed downstairs. The guests started leaving their rooms to see what the commotion was about and once the smoke started seeping through the gap beneath the closed doors, the word about fire spread fast. The staff had everyone evacuate the building and Bones used the opportunity while everyone was looking elsewhere, to steal the guest book, then leave as well.

The water mages quickly responded to the fire and started dowsing the fire even before everyone evacuated. Bones didn't stick around to watch. He quickly left the scene and after walking around town for a few minutes, he decided to leave town as well. He really didn't need someone asking him questions about the fire and thought about spending some time familiarizing himself with the bandit's encampment.

What Bones failed to realize before leaving was that the fire he caused wasn't ordinary, but an inextinguishable fire for an ordinary mage to extinguish. The fire lasted throughout the night and by morning, it disappeared on its own after devouring the whole inn. For a small town like Tarnstead, it was an unbelievable sight that would make headlines in the newspaper.