11 Raid the mine !
The next morning Thomas woke up revitalized, using his ring repeatedly had made his body under quite the pressure. Rouge was already awake playing with Tom.
« Good morning both of you, how long have you been awake ? »
« Ghosts don't sleep, we have to stay bored all night long and Rouge woke up a hour ago. »
That's when Thomas realized something weird was happening in this room...
« Hey Tom ! Can all the beasts see you ? »
Tom looked surprised
« I didn't think about it but you are right, usually nobody and no beast can see me. What's wrong with Rouge ? »
« Why can I see you ? We might be able to find the reason by thinking this way. »
« I'm not sure, I think it's because my body and my soul aren't completely dissociated yet, your body I mean... There must be still something linking them. »
This sentence was followed by minutes of silences, both were deeply thinking about it and trying to figure it out.
« Tell me what happened when you used the book. »
« I first got all the ingredients written on the book, most of them were very common except a grade 7 beast's blood... then it was written to... »
« Se... SEVEN ?! How strong is that ? How did you find it ? »
Thomas couldn't believe his ears, he had not been here for long but he was starting to get used to the strength of beasts and magicians, he guessed that a grade 7 beast was at least as strong as a 5 ringed magician.
« I obviously wasn't strong enough to take on a grade seven beasts in a fight, be realistic I already told you that I didn't even awaken one ring when I was alive. I got it from a friend that is pretty rich, let me continue... it was then written to find a place with a huge amount of mana. You remember when you were transported here you were in the middle of both forests right ? That's because that place had even more mana than the tree in which you trained. »
« Why didn't I train there when I got my first ring then ? Isn't it : the more mana the best for training ? »
« You're right, except that the tree had holy mana which repulse magical beasts but that place's mana is neutral which is why it attract beasts, on a bad luck's day you might even might grade 6 or 7 beasts there. »
« I see... after arriving there what did you do ? »
« I drank the blood of the grade 7 beast mixed with the rest of the ingredients and meditated while it was burning the link between my soul and my body... I can't remember much after that except seeing you move. »
« Hmmm... I guess Rouge was there when it happened, so did he stay near us the whole time we spent in the forest ? »
« That shouldn't be possible, no magical beast can get near that tree... »
« What if Rouge was a normal animal ? A weird one but not a magical beast. »
« Thats also impossible, if he was a normal animal there is no way he could see me even if he was there which means that Rouge is indeed a magical beast and a very special one on top of that. »
« Thinking about it won't help us, let's go eat breakfast. »
While they were talking Rouge was sitting on the floor and looking at both of them with his innocent eyes, it didn't seem to understand anything they were saying but it was definitely looking at both of them.
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After eating his share and bringing some to Rouge, Thomas said to Polo to feed Rouge around midday and left, he didn't want to let Rouge die of hunger while waiting for him like yesterday.
Then he headed toward the guild where he would be meeting with Hull, he first wanted to meet in front of the hunting ground but Hull insisted on meeting in the guild « to not miss any news ».
Hull was already waiting inside sitting on a table and sipping on a drink. Thomas headed there and sat in front of him, they tried to not show it but everyone's attention was still on Thomas after yesterday, even people that didn't see the scene live were told about it by their friends that were present, as the mercenaries all worked like a big family the news travelled very fast and everybody already knew, especially in a small town like this.
« What are the news we can't miss ? »
Asked Thomas, in his opinion it was better not to waste any time here and just meet directly in front of the forest, time is money after all.
« It started a month ago, some teams started to disappear. It isn't unusual so for the first 2 teams nobody though much about it and forgot about it after mourning awhile. This kept going and the weird thing is that all these teams accepted the same mission : get rid of a nest of rats in a mountain cave. »
« Does it concern us ? We don't take missions and just sell our loot... »
« It does, this mission was made into a raid by the boss. All the teams that are willing to join in are allowed to join, the loot is promised to be unseen ! »
« What do you mean unseen ? »
« A ranger team specialized in information gathering came back after checking, they lost 2 members out of 5 but the trip was worth it, that place only have rats at the entrance. They are guarding a deeper cave than we thought and it is thought to be a mana stones mine ! »
« I see... then we are participating. »
Of course Thomas had never heard about mana stones, before he even had the time to think about it Tom had screamed
« Mana stones ?! And a full mine on top of that ?! We are rich Thomas !!!! HAHAHAH we can do whatever we want now ! »
He didn't need to ask more, he got the main information from Tom : as long as it could be sold for a good price he would go for it.
« Wait I'm not done yet... »
Hull kept going
« Of course if it is a mana stones mine it wouldn't belong to mere rats, of course a stronger beast would take that territory... now these are all rumors but it is said that a level 4 Waterwalking Tiger own the cave, he would just be too lazy to chase away the rats. »
« How are we getting past it ? »
'Level 4 beast... I don't think I can beat that, beating the great silver wolf was only because that thing was stupid, now even if the tiger is stupid it is still much stronger than the wolf...'
« This is why we are here, the boss thought of a strategy and he called us here to tell us about it. »
After another while of talking and waiting someone appeared on the first floor, suddenly the hall went quiet, if someone threw a pin on the ground you could hear it.
"Hey guys !"
A handsome guy dressed in a shiny silver and gold armor said, he smiled and suddenly became even more handsome. Thomas was also handsome but this guy seemed to have that "thing", when you were kids there would always be a leader of the group right ? The alpha male type, he was that kind of guy and had that atmosphere around him, behind him were a good looking young woman also dressed in a silver and gold armor and 2 guys, one dressed lightly with a bow around his torso and another dressed in a robe and holding a staff.
'That guy in the back have mana around him, he must be a magician... way stronger than that other guy I saw here, 2 rings ? What's weird is why is there mana around the leader's and the girl's swords ?'
He looked at Tom and remember him speaking about "enhanced equipment" or something similar.
"You must have all heard about the raid, right ? If you haven't you can ask your friends as we don't have much time to lose, we are going now ! People from Snowdown town are already on their way and we can't arrive after them ! »
Saying that he went out of the hall first with his team and was followed by everyone inside.
« Let's go too, Hull wouldn't it be better for you to stay with your team ? This isn't a normal hunt so I prefer going alone. »
« Yeah it was my intention from the start, since you are new I felt like letting you now. Let's hunt together again after this trip. »
Thomas felt like Hull was a really nice guy, he would take better care of him.
« See you after the hunt ! »
