Chapter 185 Trail

Carian walked around the town, looking for something specific. Entering a darker alleyway he found a derelict house, a pawn shop that seemed to have gone out of business. 

Entering it without hesitation he was greeted by a heavy musky scent. It was as if he entered a different biome, the air heavy, moist and thick, comparable to the rainforests found in the world above.

There were a bunch of weird purplish potted plants on the walls and on the floor, besides the plants there was only a counter with a strangely perfectly intact silver bell. The floor had cracks with weeds growing through them. The pots themselves were covered in a mix of dirt and dust. 

There were no windows, making the room darker than it should. The counter had seen better days, with clear decay visible on some of the wood. The only light in the room came from a small candle next to the bell. The light was insignificantly small compared to the size of the room. 

The atmosphere was bad enough to alarm most people to get out as soon as possible, but Carian wasn't worried. Besides the fact that he was strong enough to handle most issues, he knew what this place was. Ringing the bell on the counter a clear sound reverberated through the building. 

Behind the counter a loose piece of cloth was hung up. The sound of wood knocking on wood appeared and slowly came closer. Pushing the tarp aside, a short figure came out. Covered in cloth, Carian could barely tell it was an old woman. Her back was as decrepit as the building, making her constantly hold it with one hand as the other held a walking cane. 

The wooden cane made a distinct sound as it tapped the wooden floors. It sounded hollow and ready to fall apart, yet kept the woman somewhat from falling down. She didn't look up or said a single word, she simply stood behind the counter that was almost too big for her. 

"I need information about this symbol and I need intel about the movements of the barbarians and the whereabouts of Scholar Galen.", Carian put a piece of parchment on the counter and pushed it a bit forward. He was somewhat worried about Galen's safety, but he was still a Tier 2 and a healer, his value was too great to simply kidnap and kill. 

The old woman didn't reply but reached out to take the piece of parchment. The veins in her hand were extremely visible, her fingers had barely any fat on them. Covered in smaller darker spots, it was almost as if she was sick.

Her trembling hand grabbed the piece of parchment before handing it to a man who stood beside her. His appearance came from nowhere, Carian had kept a close eye on his surroundings yet never noticed the man who had been standing there the entire time.

The man was fully covered in a strange type of black cloth. Only a slit for his eyes was present, but his skin was painted black, making him invisible in the dark room. Right as Carian noticed his presence, he was gone again like he wasn't there in the first place.

'The Hidden Order!'

Carian thought he entered a black market in order to buy some intel, but the fact that someone of the Hidden Order was present that meant the Emperor has something to do with this place. The Hidden Order was an assassination group that was loyal to the Emperor, nobody ever saw them. Even Carian, an experienced and powerful scholar, only saw them once. 

Ironically, those movements and the power to hide their presence is what made them so recognizable. He could only think of all the dirty deeds they had to perform, they weren't a group to be messing with.

'Why are they here? It doesn't make any sense.', as far as Carian knew, they were on a secret mission in barbarian territory, yet here they were. 

'Was he left behind? No, that group is too professional for such a thing. Was their mission in the south finished and are they here for something else?'

With the Emperor gone, Carian wondered who the Hidden Order was loyal to now. If it was the next Emperor, then perhaps he had a shot of convincing them to protect Thurin, but nothing was set in stone yet. The risk could be too great as well. 

If they were loyal to some high ranking aristocrat like Alexander or a scholar, then he would be in danger. Asking the questions he did, he might just get captured like Galen or even worse. He had to get out of here, the risk wasn't worth it.

He might be a Tier 2, but he's nothing in comparison to a trained Tier 2 assassin. Looking around the room casually, he started to inspect the potted plants. Not that he paid them any attention, he just wanted to move away from the counter and get out of there as soon as possible. 

Going from one to the other slowly, he managed to get closer to the exit. With him only being a few steps away, the woman rang the small bell on the counter. The clear sound brought Carian to a standstill. He turned around to see the woman still standing behind the counter, but her hands weren't near the bell. 

She opened her mouth slowly and spoke in a light, hushed tone, brittle and as harsh as the parchment that was upon the counter. "This symbol, a large tribe down south. Where they defend their homes and bolster their strength." 

It wasn't much, but her words contained the answers he was looking for. Nothing was said about Galen, but at least he knew what was happening in the world. According to the old woman they are retreating and putting up a defensive line not far from the battlefield, or that's how Carian interpreted it. 

Walking back to the woman he placed a pouch of gold on the counter before concluding it was time to leave this place. Turning around, the mysterious man was right in front of him. Carian's heart skipped a beat seeing how close he got to him without making any noise.

His presence was so light, and not a single sound was heard. For the man, killing Carian would be the easiest task imaginable. Carian swallowed some spit that had accumulated in his mouth and stared at the sharp eyes of the man. 

The man spoke in a deep gravely voice. 

"Galen's not dead, he's being held hostage not far from here."

Knowing that Galen was safe and would probably be used for a trade, he was glad. "Thank you.", with that said, he walked around him and went for the exit. Right as he was at the door before he heard the voice again. 

"Carian, stay away from the black market and try to avoid our presence as best as you can. Not everyone still follows the Emperor. Get out of this town, there's another group coming."

Hearing that, he quickly turned around to only find the woman behind the counter, the man had disappeared again. His identity was known, and he was clearly on his side, yet did not involve himself any further. 

'Dammit! Not everyone still follows the Emperor? The Hidden Order knows that the Emperor is dead, especially if Alexander knows about it. So does he believe that Thurin is next in line?'

He was hopeful and afraid at the same time, the cold sweat on his back felt terrible the moment he exited the building. The bigger question Carian was stuck with was, who are the other members of the Hidden Order loyal to now? Depending on that answer, there was a terrible future awaiting him.

Reaching the capital was the most important right now, the moment they reached that place, they would be safe. Leaving the alley, he quickly returned to the inn and ordered everyone to pack up and leave. It was time to move on. If the man wasn't lying, that meant that another group was coming after them right now. 

Sending a soldier to fetch Thurin and Lucas he waited for their arrival. He didn't dispatch any soldiers to protect Thurin since Lucas was with him, but now that the Hidden Order could get involved, Carian thought it was better to put some guardians next to him to serve as meat shields if necessary.

It didn't take long before Lucas and Thurin returned, Thurin had a slight smile as he talked with Lucas about some kind of training. Carian didn't care all that much about what they were talking about, seeing Thurin smile again made him happy. 

"All right everyone, let's get going, we have a long journey ahead of us."

They left and travelled at a rapid pace, letting their horses test their limits. Everyone had some assumptions as to why they were in a hurry, but only Carian knew the exact reasons. On the way to the next town, he explained what he learned to Lucas. 

"So we're dealing with a group of barbarians that have somehow breached the front and knew our location while the other barbarians are retreating? That doesn't seem to make much sense."

"Well, what's more worrying to me is the loyalty of the Hidden Order. They're extremely capable assassins."

Thurin was behind them and listened closely, after the last time, Carian decided to put Thurin as close to him as possible. If there were any issues or at worst they came across a member of the Hidden Order, then a normal soldier would be useless. Even he would be kind of worthless, but his reflexes would at least be faster.

After hearing that a powerful group was supportive of him, he didn't understand why. He wasn't anyone special or important. He did have some ties to the Emperor, but that was about it. Seeing the serious faces of his two friends, he stayed quiet for now. 

Carian started to feel stressed until he looked up at the Stars. Heaving a big sigh, he calmed himself down, there was no point in stressing about it now, it wouldn't change anything. Instead, he tried to shift the topic to something lighter. 

"So, Lucas, are you ready to take the trial in the next town? It's not your only chance of course, there are a bunch of places where the first trial can be taken. I don't know if you've trained enough to satisfy your goals?" 

"I do believe that the final test shouldn't be that much of an issue, but I do have some questions about the other parts, especially the wisdom tests.", Lucas knew that if he gave control to his other side any kind of instinct could be turned off, which either meant that his other side had more control over his emotions, or had no clue about them at all. 

Thurin found it strange that Lucas was worried about the wisdom test. "Why? The questions weren't that hard though, I was only studying for a while and could answer all of them without any issue.", there was a question he didn't know the answer to at all, but was too embarrassed to talk about it. As someone who studied a ton under the best scholars, it would be humiliating to say he failed a question.

Carian shook his head to Thurin's answer, "The trial always asks different questions depending on the intelligence level of the challenger, an older scholar tried it once to fix some kind of physical problem and his questions were extremely difficult. A peasant we picked up from the farm tried it as well and all he got were a few math questions."

Thurin was surprised that the trial was so adaptive, but Lucas as well. How could one figure out how smart someone was from only their appearance? He wanted to know the inner workings, but knew it would be way out of his reach. 

"So it poses questions that you should be capable of answering?"

"Yes, somewhat, the only questions that's out of reach for every single challenger was the last one. 'You're not meant to get that one correct since it shows the challenger that there is still much to learn about oneself and the world'.", Carian said as he lightly lifted his chin and spoke in a much more dignified tone, clearly mocking the other scholars. 

"Another theory to explain something we don't understand?"

"Exactly.", Carian smiled as he was happy that he could be so blunt with someone. If he tried to do so with some of the scholars he would never hear the end of it. 

"Oh, so that's why I couldn't answer it.", Thurin was enlightened hearing that until something clicked. "Wait, so you knew all along that I didn't answer all my questions correctly?"

"Hahaha, of course I knew, I just didn't want to burst your bubble, you were so happy back then."

Thurin's embarrassment was clearly visible, yet they all laughed in the end. Seeing Thurin get out of his shell a bit more, Carian was confident that his strange behavior would stop in a few more days. 

It took some time before they reached the next town. There were no hours or days, so it was actually quite difficult to tell, but according to Lucas's internal clock it should've been around a day of travelling. They spent most of the time talking and enjoying each other's presence.

Entering the town this time was a bit different due to the guards that were set up. They looked tired and weren't paying close attention to everything, especially after they saw Carian, then they didn't bother checking anyone out. Even if there was a Starborn with him, they wouldn't have the authority to stop them in the first place. 

Starborn were a group of people that didn't have to follow the general laws that were created since they rarely followed them anyway.

Carian instructed the group to rest and take care of the horses while bringing Lucas and Thurin to the local temple. They only believed in the Stars and there weren't any other kind of religion, so the competition was nonexistent, perhaps the barbarians believed in something else, but that culture never got this far.

Being the dominant religion made sure that the temple gained enough support to always look close to perfect. Besides that, the preachers here were also scholars, and having that group as your backing makes all your problems easily solved.

Entering the temple Carian greeted a few scholars and gave a sign to Thurin to take Lucas further in. The temple itself was pretty basic, a bunch of benches in front of an altar. There were pillars holding up the ceiling which was painted to reflect the Stars outside. 

"C'mon, the entrance is up ahead."

Moving deeper into the temple, behind the main altar there was a simple wooden door that led to a larger open room. In the middle was an elevated platform that was covered in a strange magic circle. It was larger than the one he saw when entering the Underground, and a lot more complex as well. 

As someone who only understood the mere basics, he was kind of sad that he didn't study that when he was in the academy. Asta was a genius, so perhaps he could've learned a lot from him. Either way, he couldn't change his past, so he could only focus on the future. 

Looking at the array, his head started to hurt, there was no point in trying to understand it. For now, he simply copied it in his mind and kept it for later. 

"So, what do I do now?", since Lucas knew that the people here barely had any kind of control over their elemental magic, he wondered how they activated the array.

"That's simple, but before I answer that, can I ask something of you?"

"Sure, what is it?", Lucas didn't mind helping Thurin even if it didn't provide him with anything right off the bat. His contract was already shackling him to Thurin, might as well make their relationship good. 

"When we were at the lake you showed me lights and flames that came out of your hand. I want to do that as well.", his eyes contained a certain emotion that Lucas was very familiar with. He didn't know what Thurin felt a desire for power, but agreed anyway. 

"I can try, but I can't promise any results. After all, we might not be of the same species."

"Well, if you're telling the truth, the humans above look the exact same right?"

"Well, besides the skin color and the Mind Sphere, I haven't seen any difference.", what Lucas and Thurin were talking about would sound like a bunch of crazy talk, yet Thurin was actually kind of happy knowing that the world was a lot bigger than he imagined. 

"What the hell is a Mind Sphere?", Thurin asked as his brows furrowed, he had never heard such a thing in his life. 

"Hahaha, I'll tell you if you let me take the trial.", Lucas smiled a little exaggerated, but that tipped Thurin off. They started to laugh and Thurin felt glad to know Lucas was someone he could trust. He might have his weird side, but was a friend in the end.

"You just need to flick this stone right here with your fingers.", Thurin pointed towards a larger Mana Crystal that sat on a pedestal next to the array. The little platform that the crystal was placed on had a bunch of lines carved into it. The lines stretched down the ground and reached the array. 

Lucas had some crystals in the ring he stole from the young noble. They were pretty big, but this one was even larger. The energy contained within it was something that Lucas couldn't estimate. 

"Hmm, do these trials sometimes stop working?", Lucas theorized that if the crystal provided the energy, wouldn't it run out eventually?

"No, the only temples we lost were due to the war. Otherwise, everything always worked fine."

"Huh, interesting.", Lucas approached the crystal and gently flicked it. Energy gathered at the bottom before the lines on the pedestal started to glow. The lines of the array started to slowly glow up as Thurin made sure he wasn't on the platform. 

"Well, see you in a bit.", Thurin waved Lucas off as a wall of light suddenly appeared before him. Looking around him there was nothing but light, trying to use his willpower only resulted in a headache. 

Surrounded in light he felt it was similar to when he was in the abyss when he came in contact with his core. He just stood there waiting for something to happen until his head suddenly felt like bursting. 

He felt like something was poking his brain trying to dislodge its secrets. Screaming out his pain, Lucas could only endure. He had headaches quite often, but this wasn't comparable. Seeing no relief, he put his left hand in his mouth and a bit on it. 

The pain from his hand strangely gave him some relief and biting down distracted him a tiny bit. He couldn't stand anymore as he fell down. He was still conscious, but if it lasted any longer, he would be out. 

Right as the pain appeared, it vanished instantly. The only pain he felt now was coming from his hand. Looking at it, he had bitten through his own flesh. Healing it up, Lucas stood back up again. 

'What the hell was that?'

'I don't know, but whoever built this sure doesn't want anyone to enter it.', the pain was so immense, he thought that any normal peasant would simply die if they tried it. Yet according to Carian plenty of people did. 

'Do the people here have a stronger mental capacity?'

'Bullshit.'

'Then how do you explain this?'

'I don't know, perhaps it's because of our dome, thought of that?'

'...'

'What? Speak up.'

'You actually made a great point right there.'

'...I did?'

It didn't take long before the environment of light changed to a room made out of solid gray bricks. It felt cold and dead inside, yet the air here was suspiciously clean and purified. 

Then he heard it. 

[Would you like to start the first trial?]