My hands shake from the adrenaline rush. That was a close one; I only had barely enough time to escape before the assassin was at my room's door. If she had known which room was mine, she'd have caught me jumping out of the window.
I had thought my laser warning system foolproof, having set it up like the spy movies from my past life, except I didn't allow for ‘spy acrobatics’ to sneak past them. I would have noticed the mana being blocked even if I couldn't see the person, but that did not happen. Instead, the mana was sort of passing through her; I only noticed her because my [Sense Mana] was so high I noticed the very slight disturbance in the mana beams, an almost imperceivable shimmering as if it was light passing through hot air.
There could be more assassins out there; I need to be very careful. I keep watch over the entire village, looking for any disturbance in the mana. I send a clone each to the two elders' homes; they will be targets too. I stay up all night hiding and waiting for anyone to come to look for the assassin or to assassinate the elders, but my fears of more assassins prove to be unfounded. I kept a sleep spell around the assassin and heal her wounds enough that she won't die.
When morning comes, I return home, checking every inch of the house for assassins before undoing my invisibility. I wake mom and dad while my clones wake the elders, and then I tell them all what happened.
After waiting for several Kheshamo fighters, the assassin is detained. We take no chances and strip her of everything except her mundane clothes. That is when we discover how she managed to escape our sensing skills: an old ring, presumably found in the ruins.
Ring of Anti-Clairvoyance
(Major) (Archaic)
This ring, passed down from the members of the Hidden Dagger, serves to hide the wearer from all sensing skills.
I had never thought something like this was possible, but I know there is a possibility that other beings can have items, or maybe even skills, that can hide even from me. I can see the ring when it's not being worn, but the moment I put it on I vanish from my own sight. I take the ring off and pop back into view. It will be challenging to move around when invisible to myself, so I am not keen on using it. It'd be like walking around with my eyes closed and arms outstretched to feel for objects.
The assassin also wore enchanted items, every one of them pertaining to stealth, from sound nullification to invisibility.
After removing the assassin's magical and enchanted items, I return home to let my real body sleep; I've been up all night. Then, with a clone, I wake her up. I'm not taking any risks, no poison in teeth, no suicide bombing, nothing. There is no way I am letting my real body be anywhere near her.
"What...? Where?" The assassin seems confused, looking around. She is tied to a chair with two warriors standing next to her, weapons drawn and at the ready.
"You tried to murder a child," Tusile says, glaring down at the woman.
"She's the only one who can make spell crystals for the airships. Without her, this war is over; without her, we can bring Myrou back to the people!" The assassin speaks very fast, as if trying to say everything at once.
"Excuses!" Guklaro spits out. "All of you are murderers and criminals!"
"How many died in the dungeon?! How many more would have died?" The assassin shouts, interrupting Guklaro. However, before she can get another word in, Tusile slaps her, rage on her face, a vein threatening to burst on her forehead.
"How many people did you murder?! And for what?! Just so your 'Grand Priestess' can have more power? How many more people are you planning to kill? All the heretics? You call everyone not on your side heretics! That's thousands. Thousands!"
Silence swiftly sweeps through the room, dominating the atmosphere. I've never even heard of Tusile shouting like that. Even Guklaro is looking at her, shocked.
"And yet you prattle on about how 'good' you are, 'Myrou' this, 'Myrou' that, it's sickening because you don't even know what you are saying!" Tusile says through gritted teeth. "How meaningful is your life now? Are you fulfilled? Are you happy now that things are this way? Yes, people died in the dungeon. Do you know how many people die building houses every year? Hundreds! I would know; I was once a priestess myself! Every day we would get up and attend funerals, at least one but more often four or five." Tusile takes a moment to breathe before continuing.
"Death happens! Some jobs are more dangerous than others. Children playing in the orchard farms can and do occasionally have bamboo fall on them. Loggers are obviously the most at risk of this, and yes, they do die if they’re unlucky. Would you abolish these professions because too many people die?! The dungeon is a place we have yet to figure out; we have yet to find an optimal way to navigate it and slay monsters, but as we get better, fewer people will die. Eventually, it'll be just as dangerous as any other dangerous job, but we have too much to gain from it to ignore it!" Tusile sighs and collects her thoughts.
"I left the priesthood because most of them see ‘serving’ Myrou as their only duty. They wouldn't make dedications, they neglected their arts, they rarely crafted anything and just lived on our donations. They are hypocrites! Ask Papuyo when was the last time she made a dedication, then ask yourself how her answer makes her more devout than anyone else!" Tusile turns around and leaves, still grinding her teeth in anger.
Silence is left in her wake. It is a long time before anyone speaks.
"I... I didn't know..." The assassin mutters.
"Even if you didn't, the fact that you committed the crimes you did means your morality is lacking," Guklaro says, not a hint of sympathy in her voice. "But you can do something to start redeeming yourself. You can tell us if there are any more of these rings; you can tell us the state the Temple Island is in and how ready they are for an attack."
The assassin looks down in shame, but, after a few minutes of contemplation, she starts talking. There are two more rings that they found and they are setting up their infrastructure, getting a village built, building houses and workshops and everything that is necessary. They rely on sabotaging our airships because if they don't, they will lose the war. They may have the support needed to fight a war but don't have the means to fight our technology.
With the confessions of the assassin, the elders organize a meeting. I am brought along to help discuss ways to catch the saboteurs.
"Before we can make the warships, we need to catch all the saboteurs," Tusile says.
"There's something else I've been worried about too,” Guklaro says, looking at me. “It's been getting colder, and the days are shortening. The abundance of fire mana is quickly draining, and dark mana is growing in higher amounts."
"It's not anything bad,” I reply. “We've been collecting the liquid mana that the Mana Arc produces; we need a lot of dark mana, but that means switching the liquid mana production from fire to dark. It's been months now, so the reservoir of fire mana is probably running dry and being replaced with dark mana."
"I see, so in order to return things to normal, we need to take back the Temple," Guklaro says. "Then that gives us all the more reason to win this war."
We begin our long discussion on how to catch the saboteurs, but the best we can come up with is to use the ring we got to hide and catch them in the act.
Back home, I am being smothered by Mom, the incident with the assassin not making her worries any better.
"That's why I put up all of those mana crystals," I try to explain between a whole set of new rules. Always be in a place with at least three other people, always be invisible and use a clone to interact with others, always stay in the village, and don't leave for any reason.
Even Yafe and Yafel are getting caught up in some of the new rules.
I can't blame Mom; of course, she will be overprotective if someone is trying to kill her child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Where is Yae? She should have been back hours ago!" Papuyo paces back and forth.
"Maybe she got caught?" Gutaly suggests.
"Caught?! And how do you think that is possible? As long as she doesn't trip over half the village, getting detected is impossible! Invisible, inaudible, and immune to sensing skills!" Papuyo huffs and slumps down into a chair.
"Then she might have run away, betrayed us?" Gutaly shrugs her shoulders. clearly not taking this seriously.
"That's the only possible explanation... Which means we'll need to send someone else to kill Alysara."
"Hmmm, I've been wondering about that..." Gutaly doesn't seem to agree. she is using overly exaggerated movements, almost in a mocking way.
"What do you mean?" Papuyo says, annoyed.
"Well... that girl is blessed by Myrou, so why do you want to kill her?" Gutaly puts a finger on her lips in contemplation, with overly dramatic movements.
"Blessed? What the hell are you talking about?! That girl is a heretic!"
"There are records in this temple that Alysara was set before Myrou's Likeness and was blessed, even being allowed to have a Kyhosa made from a nexus gem, which would normally be reserved for dedications.”
"Lies!” Papuyo slams her fist down on the table in front of her. “That girl wants to reopen the dungeon that was sealed by Shara; she is a heretic!"
"Papuyo... you have to see reason. We aren't going to win this war. My spies have already confirmed that Yae has been captured, and now they know about the rings." Gutaly says grimly, ending her act.
Papuyo grinds her teeth. "You knew?! And yet you held this information from me?!" Papuyo stands up in anger.
"Yeah... I mean, ever since the ruins, we've been questioning your sanity. Well, I at least was questioning your sanity before that. Killing the elders was possibly the biggest setback you could possibly have caused us; not only will you have to die, but most of the warriors who participated will have to too. It is the only way to survive." Gutaly says with a dark smile.
Papuyo is shaking in fury. Gutaly is talking about betrayal!
"But... at least we can give you a chance, a chance in the briny waters outside of the Nexus." Gutaly returns to her mocking tone. She knows that being exiled means death, there is no survival on the ocean, not with the leviathans.
"You think you can betray me?! I have dozens of warriors on my side, there is no way you can fight me!" Papuyo clenches her shaking fist.
"And why do you think you haven't been able to get more?” Gutaly grins. “Over half of the warriors on our enemy's side are sympathetic to us. Over a hundred never returned to the dungeon and many more refused to ever go in from the start. I'll tell you why; it's because they've joined under my leadership, not yours."
"GUTALY!!!" Papyu screams and summons forth her Bond, but pain erupts over the back of her head, and she is sent sprawling to the floor. Papuyo turns around only to see Thyka! She is completely invisible to her [Sense Mana]!
"Your tale ends here, Mad Priestess. You have done enough damage to our cause already," Thyka says with a disappointed look.
Betrayal! BETRAYAL! These fools dare to betray her!
However, what Thyka does next shocks Papuyo. Thyka grabs her hair and drags her out of the Temple. Papuyo kicks and screams, but no one comes to her rescue. Being dragged into the main hall, Papuyo can see unfamiliar faces, all staring at her, judgingly.
Papuyo is dragged outside, where she sees all of her followers bound, with dozens of warriors surrounding them, weapons and spells at the ready.
"Boats have been prepared. Do not come back; we won't hesitate to kill you, Mad Priestess," Thyka says. Then she is tossed in front of the bound group where three warriors pounce, and before Papuyo knows it, she is bound and gagged as well.
Rage seethes inside her, a fury she has never felt before, as she gazes upon the traitors.
"You are all judged as murderers and are hereby banished from the Nexus!" Gutaly calls. "But worry not, for your dreams will not die today; we will keep living on as a sovereign state! We will keep Myrou’s faith true and untainted by heretics... and by Mad Priestesses. Today is the dawn of Lynakhery Village, the new centerpiece of our faith!"
So the priestess who's unhinged from reality is replaced by one who.. pretty much says the same thing, but won't go so far as to openly kill elders. Notice how she didn't condemn trying to kill a kid. So second verse, same as the first? Fanatics gonna fanatic.
Meanwhile Alysara is divorcing herself even further from direct contact with other people. This is healthy and will not have any repercussions.
Alysara’s social life gets even worse…
@Hattmanhendrix what are you saying, her social life is doing great, she's always hanging out with her little group of friends... It's so adorable how they all imitate her, it's like they're her twins or something.
@kaithar
Imagine crying your self to sleep each night for two years strait bad.
@Hattmanhendrix pft, she might be more Noire friend count than NepNep friend count, but she's not doing that badly right now.
@kaithar
You will see…
@Hattmanhendrix no spoilers
Lol
@kaithar
So you know that Jesus guy, the son of god. Well at the end of the Bible he is betrayed by Judas and killed by the Romans.
@Hattmanhendrix
wow, didn't see that coming, took me a moment to understand it...
Bet that Judas guy didn't have many friends either...
@kaithar
Darth Vader is Luke Skywalke’s dad.
@Hattmanhendrix
Noooooooooooooooooooo
@kaithar
Yeah... so that happened. But still I wish we knew the average power someone or something held in that world. We know that they are weak since the dungeons are very hard. And if they are weak what is strong? The huge tree was said to be weak too, yet they got slaughtered. Like if they already have a ring that make them completely invisivble. Then imagine what a stronger civilization would have. It's just so weird seeing how Alysara is kinda strong here yet she's weak
@Peekon
That's a big unknown. We have no comparison of Alysara to the average person outside their sanctuary. Average citizen? Guard? Elite fighter? Paragons?
Personally I'd put her above common soldier and below elite for the outside world, but that's just a hunch.
@Comfycat I'd rate her higher on a situational basis. Her CQC is about there but she goes out the window () when her clones and mana manip are used.
Most enemies are at a disadvantage fighting her clone bodies and fairy summons, her ability to resummon makes beating her by attrition harder and parallel mind makes her able to do combination strategies solo, I'd say that raises her a tier or two unless the opponent has a hard counter like the void slime. Human wave tactics, except she's a single foxgirl.
Depending on how mana starved the area is, her offensive magic just isn't being used to potential. She can create nexus cores, mana bombs and liquid mana, that's not something to take lightly. If she managed to stockpile them beforehand via a spacial item she'd have enough AoE to raze a city or wreck a small army. Even if they didn't die from the "ammo", the mana toxicity should incapacitate some enemies. Single target... Let's just say I'd want to know the limits on the range of mana ownership in the air... How close to an enemy can she modify the ambient mana?
Her senses are also of note, having such high 360 situation awareness, including out of sight areas, should kick her up a bit, you can't ambush or blind spot against her without a hard counter like that ring. Worse, she can see magic, so normal mages should be at a disadvantage.
So yeah, I'd have to put her at elite at least, depending on the skills in general use by human cities
@kaithar
She can create nexus cores, mana bombs and liquid mana, that's not something to take lightly
I completely agree, but I've also thought of the area she's in now. Some of her tricks might take a lot longer, or simply might not be possible in 'average' areas of the outside world. That is, average mana density. Mana Toxicity might be a very rare thing in most places.
I'm imagining their area was magical Chernobyl that got cleaned up by their ancestor to be habitable. Safer, but still levels of radiation most people can't tolerate. And so some magic tricks are OP while there.
@Comfycat true, but I accounted for that. If she can construct a suitable spatial storage item then she can take her time producing them. At the very least we know she can safely store and retrieve solidified mana and her core generates a lot even without mana manip spitting out extra.
The lower the mana density outside the less likely enemies are to have a toxicity resistance, due to their lack of exposure. That being the case, the less mana she has to work with, the more effective some stockpiled mana would be. At that point, it becomes a case of using her generation rate to build over time like a charge-discharge cycle.
It's not ideal, but it should help when fighting in someone else's home level
@Peekon
This is a bit questionable. Seeing as how the rest of the world is an unknown we don't actually know much. But we can infer. The author seems to place societal tendencies as her basis for world building. Sounds like a 'duh' thing to say but hear me out.
She has made mention that if too much of a population gets a general skill then it becomes a race skill. What does this mean? Well, for one, it means for certain, that mana is not as dense outside as it is in the nexus where the Runalymo live. This combined with the knowledge that mana manipulation is a class skill, signifies that outside the nexus, anyone who is capable of making magic items are rare. Adding that magic items deteriorate as they interact with higher concentrated mana environments, without the knowledge that the Runalymo developed while living in the nexus, magic items outside the nexus have a higher shelf life but the knowledge to create them is going to be rare.
It was mentioned in previous chapters that when the Runalymo first appeared in the nexus, all their magic items deteriorated quickly and that the nexus is a natural fortress as it can cause mana toxicity in any invading forces. The Runalymo developed a race trait to be able to live there. You might think I got distracted, but this gives a bit of information. I think the artifacts they have now is from the prime life of the Runalymo. Their artifacts are indeed powerful but that does not essentially mean the rest of the world is as well. I believe the Runalymo grew strong enough to topple all their enemies from before they came to the nexus but were satisfied to stay where they were. Or rather, they became so powerful because their power depended on the nexus...that isn't clearly defined either. What is clear is that even after arriving they really never truly sought to return.....but my biggest question is.....why has no one tried talking with Kayafe before Alysara? Her skills rising quickly for her allowed her to converse with Kayafe, but she can't have been the only one in their history to have heard, known, or wanted to study the thing Kayafe resides in. Now I was side tracked.
Conclusion. Runalymo powerful magic items is because of Nexus. Nexus causes mana toxicity in non adapted life. Runalymo adapted. Runalymo eventually became powerful enough to create said powerful magic items. Cause was Nexus. Nexus is extremely dense magic energy. Almost uninhabitable. Therefore, outside of Nexus can be concluded to have sparse to no mana.
No conclusive evidence for this, but the occurrence of mana storms. Remembering the king's fight, outside world doesn't seem to understand the relationship of the ebb and flow of mana leading to the thought that Sense Mana and Mana Manipulation skills are extremely rare. Mana manipulation would be needed to create the Runalymo powerful magic items. Which leads to my thought that actually powerful magic artifacts are a legend outside the nexus....no this isn't right, mana manipulation is needed for spellcasters...class skill and all....then mana manipulation isn't being used in crafting....back up. Kayafe's sense mana wasnt even in the 300s. She was a forerunner of her time. This leads to the thought that mana is known and studied but....to what degree? How can sense mana be so undervalued but mana manipulation be so common that it's breakthroughs are common....at least from Kayafe's conversation. So, even among the Runalymo spellcasters there were enough that didn't have sense mana. Then is sense mana just world over just undervalued by the people not in the know? But then, to create powerful magic items you'd need sense mana pretty high level to understand and create powerful magic items......right? But outside of mana dense areas it would be hard to level... actually getting it would be difficult as well....hmm, too much thinking.
Lack of knowledge of the outside world leads to mistakes in most of my conclusions, I'm sure.
@IllOmened
but my biggest question is.....why has no one tried talking with Kayafe before Alysara? Her skills rising quickly for her allowed her to converse with Kayafe, but she can't have been the only one in their history to have heard, known, or wanted to study the thing Kayafe resides in.
To that, I think we can speculate from what she had to go through to get it that her level of toxicity resistance is well beyond what a lower race would normally have. Even in 10,000 years I doubt many have reached her levels in the skills needed to get in contact with Kayafe, but the number that can survive touching the Arc is probably counted on one hand.
@kaithar
I don't know....seems kinda sus.
@IllOmened
The Runalymo came to the Nexus to escape slavery. Kayafe was already really strong because she traveled the world and she is the reason why the nexus is habitable by funneling most of the mana that come through the nexus into a dungeon. The storms are caused because all mana in the world flows to one of several nexus' and a large sudden influx creates a mana storm.
Enchanted items are the ones that deteriorate due to the abundance of mana but magic items are different and don't deteriorate at all.
The outside world is more powerful on average for several reasons but for one they had to contend with powerful monsters and have developed sophisticated ways to deal with them and have a long history of war and bloodshed which will give them a leg up in experience.
No one has talked with Kayafe before because the mana around the mana arc is just too high and no one knew Kayafe was in there other than the guardian and even she thought communication was impossible.
@Comiak
Alright, straight from the author's mouth. Can't believe I didn't remember enchantments and got that wrong. Never questioned the level of power on the outside. Just their level of knowledge and capability to craft magic weapons....ahhh, when I said that it'd be difficult to level outside of mana rich areas, I meant leveling sense mana specifically. Sorry ’bout that.
Also, question if you're willing to answer? Is your world building mainly focused around societal tendencies? I mean, there's different world building forms, like; merchant, currency, war, politics, trade, religion, etc.
Sorry, the better question here is in which form are you directing your world building? Only if you are willing to answer.
@IllOmened
I'm discovery writing this so there's no planned method of world building, but the closest is probably societal tendencies.
No, there's a big difference. The first priestess might be dumb, but she actually believes what she's saying. She's a genuine fanatic, aka, crazy person. The second one is not crazy and doesn't really care about the cause, she's simply realized this as an opportunity to grab power. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts sending her warriors into the dungeon to gain levels now, because she doesn't care about whether it's evil or not, all she cares about is fulfilling her ambitions
@FaustVoncleave alas, no... the ones taking over actually do have the same beliefs, just not the same reasons... the ones left behind are mostly ones that either see the changes as a change from their culture and ones that think the dungeon is a mistake and they should stay weak and peaceful. Yes the ones that idolised the lich cow or have stupid ideas of literally digging up the past are now gone, but the ones that are left still aggressively reject the changes and they're the ones that can think.
Remember, a lot of the ex-fighters joined the cause because of trauma of losing people in the dungeon, example from chapter 69:
"I don't know how to move on... The constant looking over my shoulder, thinking that a monster will get me just like Julio, I just don't know what to do anymore. How can I participate in the tournaments? I've wasted so much time, and restarting my class is..." the Kheshamo fighter trails off, the look in her eyes like that of a frightened child.
@Kaithar No, no. I'm not saying the followers don't have real faith, they definitely do. I mean the new girl on top, Gutaly. She's using their faith to seize power. I'm not even strictly saying Gutaly has no faith, she probably believes in there Goddess still, just She's never believed the things the first priestess was saying, but went along with it because she saw the potential gain in it. At least that's my reading of it, but I could be reading too much into the scenes with Gutaly.
@FaustVoncleave what we see of Gutaly suggests she's pretty devout, her difference seem to be more method than reason and intent. *shrug*