Chapter 82: Adjusting Plans
After the pope left, Zaos had no reason to remain in his current location so he silently retreated. He teleported away from the deserted hill next to a large city and returned to his most secure hideout.
Once back at the underground chamber, Zaos began to ponder.
[The situation now has changed, the rate at which I absorb mana from the surroundings is too slow to meet my requirements anymore …] Thinking of this, a cold light flashed through Zaos' eyes. Other than absorbing mana from the surroundings, he could also devour elves, elemental weaves, mana gems, and savage beasts to gain similar results.
Elemental weaves were formed from the union of mana and the power of an edict rune. They required mana to maintain their structure. This made them an excellent option for Zaos as he could devour them directly to gain a large amount of mana instead of slowly drawing in mana with the help of his devour properties.
The next best option was creatures with a high affinity for mana like elves and mystic humans. These creatures' bodies come into contact with mana frequently, so mana slowly builds up inside them and alters their physique. This phenomenon was more obvious for elves and mystics that have undergone evolutions as they are cleaned and restructured by mana during the process.
However, elves and mystics are unable to purposely store mana in their bodies as this will lead to severe consequences. Zaos was only able to partially achieve this through his devouring elemental weaves.
The last two options to gain a quick increase in his cultivation speed were to either devour savage beasts or mana gems. Yet, these two options were troublesome as the latter cost too much while the former would require too much time to achieve since the mana in savage beasts was rather chaotic.
Quickly weighing his options, Zaos decided to go with the first two options. They were the most convenient and were interlinked with each other.
[I'll have to find some flame elves, earth elves, and wind elves to execute this plan. Water elves rarely leave their continent so I can only continue to slowly absorb water mana from the surroundings as water mana gems are also rare…
[If I'm going down this route then I need to find large numbers of regular elves or a few high-ranking ones. They will have to have weak backgrounds also…] Zaos grimaced when he recalled his encounter with Haild's mom. He didn't want to repeat that mistake once more, so he pondered deeply for a few minutes.
Eventually, Zaos settled on a potential group of candidates; bandits!
Bandit groups were filled with rogues, they were thorns to society and most people hoped for their demise. They were the perfect targets for Zaos' plan.
[But, some bandit groups might have connections with larger organizations so I'll have to choose wisely,]
Although this was an uncommon occurrence, it wasn't too rare. Bandits served as the best pawns to carry out acts that most organizations would not want to be associated with.
Zaos was well aware of this as he had experienced such situations when he ruled his mafia group on Earth. And because of this awareness, Zaos decided to tread carefully. He would gather as much information on the target as possible before striking. Thus, he disguised himself and went to an information broker.
He opted against dealing with the Whisperer in this disguise as information brokers were masters at reading people, he didn't want to expose any traits that might make the former link him to his alternate identity; Volron.
The broker he approached was a well-known individual in the circle of bounty hunters and mercenaries, the information broker was known as the Night Owl. She was most famous for being able to find concrete information on the majority of her targets.
Night Owl's residence was located in a settlement far from most of civilization so it took Zaos a whole to arrive at the location.
By the time he finally had an audience with the famous information broker, a day had already passed.
"What do you want to know?" Night Owl asked the disguised Zaos as they sat in her living room.
"I want information on the white pearl union, the nimble hands, the land pirates, and any small bandit group you can easily find information on," Zaos listed a few bandit groups he had chosen as his targets. His reason for picking them was simple: these groups were popular but not too influential, hence, they had a lower chance of being backed by powerful individuals.
Night Owl raised her brows, this moderately attractive female dark elf felt Zaos' request was odd. Unable to hold her curiosity, she asked, "What's so special about these bandit groups?"
Her question seemed to overstep the boundary between customers and sellers, but this was rather normal for information brokers. Their main source of income came from selling information of others, so of course they would try to probe for information from their customers. However, it was usually done subtly, unlike the Night Owl's blunt approach.
Zaos shook his head, replying tersely, "It's for a mission,"
Seeing that Zaos didn't wish to share too much, Night Owl stopped asking and instead stated a price, "fifteen good quality mana gems upfront. Depending on the difficulty of the task, the total might be around twenty-five good-quality mana gems," She said.
Zaos inwardly sighed at the price while maintaining a stoic expression. During the past month, he had been wantonly purchasing different items to rapidly enhance his strength and because of that, his finances were suffering at the moment.
[I still have a bit left from my original fortune, but it won't last long at this rate,] Zaos sighed once more as he handed the short-haired female dark elf the required amount.
He then asked, "When should I expect the results?" Zaos' tone was calm despite the grievance he felt inwardly for having to spend his precious mana gems.
"In a week," Night Owl replied plainly, there was a hint of unconcealed confidence in her voice.
Zaos was shocked. Normal information brokers usually took months to complete such a task, even his go-to information broker; Whisperer, would take a minimum of two weeks to complete it.
[Her fame is not for nothing,] Zaos sighed deeply, choosing to trust the expert.
"Alright then, I will return in a week," Saying so, he took his leave.
Night Owl nodded as she stood up to send him off.
After exiting the information broker's residence, Zaos began to ponder as he made his way out of the settlement.
[Hopefully, one out of the three groups turns out to be a suitable target. If she can also find some unaffiliated bandit groups, they will be ideal…
[By the end of this month, I should have completely assimilated fire mana, earth mana, and wind mana so I can focus all my attention on water mana,] Zaos planned with a burning gaze.