Ch. 4: Escape

[Conceal]! [Examine]! [Conceal]! [Examine]! [Conceal]! [Examine]!

My MP was still only in the single digits, but I made sure to repeatedly Examine it anyways while I waited in that bush, desperately [Concealing] my presence as best I could. In fact, I pored over my entire status, word by word in order to train [Focus], [Examine], and [Information Processing] while I was still hiding.

It genuinely surprised me to see that My [Focus] and [Examine] were already at level 2 with [Conceal], while my [Information Processing] had jumped all the way to 3, but that still pretty much meant that I was a complete novice at them.

It felt like hours that I hid behind that bush, terrified of being caught, before I heard voices.

"Come on, oaf. This is the last place in the wing that we haven't searched. If we don't find him here, then we'll be killed. I'm not gonna die for your stupid mistake." I heard the clatter of armor behind me as the guards finally got around to checking the garden that I was hiding in.

[Examine]! [Examine]! [Conceal]! I checked my MP and [Conceal] levels before refocusing on using the skill. My MP was at about 75, while [Conceal] had managed to hit level 3.

"But this is the King's private garden. If we're found here, our fate…"

"Would you rather check this place really quickly, or be killed for failing our duties?"

"Fine… Let's just be quick about it." The reluctant guy was convinced, as was I.

If I could just hide from these guys until they left, then nobody else would come around for at least the half hour or so that I needed to refill the rest of my MP.

But what if they find me? I have 75 MP…

[Confirmed. Unique Skill invoked.] [Basic Skill: Stealth will be created for 30 MP.]

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Basic Skill: Obfuscate Presence will be created for 40 MP.]

Why was something so similar to [Stealth] so expensive? That pretty much set me back to square one, didn't it? Except, at least I'm now notably harder to detect.

Each of my hiding skills did something different, from what I noticed. When I used [Conceal], it made me harder to detect, but only if I didn't really move at all. Otherwise, it mostly worked on sound and footprints.

If someone knew where I was, [Conceal] was pretty much worthless, which was probably why it had been so cheap. [Stealth], on the other hand, was pretty expensive because it made me harder to detect on the whole.

The way I breathed changed the moment that I made the skill, but the best investment was [Obfuscate Presence]. I was pretty sure that it took MP, but I could modify the amount that it took to change the outcome of the skill, but based on the amount of MP I used, it literally deadened my presence.

Since I was trying to regenerate as much MP as possible, I turned the effect of [Obfuscate Presence] down until it was almost no help at all, but I could see myself relying on it quite a bit in the future, once my stubborn [MP Regeneration] got higher.

One low level [Conceal] skill wasn't going to be much help in hiding from anyone, but three skills geared toward stealth?

Since those soldiers didn't seem to have any high-level tracking or detection skills, they scoured the entire garden and didn't find me. They left, cursing up a storm.

The moment I was alone again, I turned off [Obfuscate Presence] in order to help my [MP Regeneration] along. I didn't turn off [Stealth] or [Conceal], though, nor did I move a muscle.

Luckily, I wasn't interrupted for the next two hours that it took to regenerate my MP fully. I could probably thank the king's claim over this garden for that, but I knew it wouldn't last. There were definitely people with the skills to track me to this garden, and the longer I stayed here, the more chance that I'd get caught in a trap. The moment that my MP hit 99, I leapt up and turned [Obfuscate Presence] up to where it'd take about 1 MP every 5 minutes or so.

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Basic Skill: Increased MP Capacity will be created for 50 MP.]

Making that skill pushed my [MP Regeneration] up, by only a tiny amount, but hopefully enough that I'd be able to keep [Obfuscate Presence] at its current level of usefulness for notably longer.

With it activated, along with my [Impulse] and [Evasive Arts], I had the skills of a pretty good assassin. If I focused solely on escape, I was certain that I could get out of here alive.

"HE'S ALIVE!?" Ava screeched angrily at her guard captain. The most highly skilled soldiers in the country and they couldn't catch some kid who probably had no real combat experience at all?!

"My apologies, My lady. He was far more skilled than we expected. He caught us off guard, then used some sort of stealth skill to disappear somewhere into the depths of the castle."

"Track him. Kill him by whatever means necessary. Now." She seethed, incredibly shaken.

"Understood. We are bringing people in with tracking skills, but it will be a couple hours before they get here. In the meantime, we are scouring every inch of the castle grounds. We will find him."

"And the other two noncombatants?" She asked.

"Dead."

"Good. Now go look for him. If he gets away, you die." If he gets away, he'll come back one day, and we'll all die. She thought in her mind as her guard captain left the room.

I was looking out a window. It was a three story drop.

[Examine]

MP 53 out of 120

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Basic Skill: Modify Weight will be created for 40 MP]

Magic using skills cost a little more than normal skills, huh? I grabbed a tapestry off of the wall and trickled a lot more MP into [Obfuscate Presence], and whatever I felt I could spare went into [Modify Weight], though I didn't feel much lighter with it.

This is crazy. Is anyone watching? Nope.

The exits from the castle were under incredibly heavy guard, but a window this high up? Nobody would even think that I'd be able to escape from it without being easily spotted.

Even with [Obfuscate Presence], I was pretty sure that there was a good chance I'd be seen when I jumped, but I did it anyway.

"Hey!" Yeah, anyone would notice a dude literally hang gliding out of an open window, but my tapestry was faster than their feet. The moment I landed, I used [Conceal] and [Stealth] to disappear from their view as I ran into the forest as quickly as I could.

"HE'S GONE!?" Ava felt like she'd had a similar moment only a few hours prior.

"My lady, please focus on the good part. We know where he exited the castle, as well as the time he exited. We should be able to create a search perimeter to catch him." The captain said frantically, recalling her last threat.

"Don't bother. Use the grand spell. Gather the remaining court mages. Now!"

"The grand spell? But that will destroy the entire forest, as well as every living thing within. There will probably be human casualties besides the boy."

"I don't care! Gather the mages. Use the spell. Kill that man. Use any means necessary. Any. Means. Necessary. Do you understand?" She used [Coercion] on him.

"I understand, Ma'am!"

"Oh, finally." I lost the men chasing me. No wonder, it would take a rather skilled tracker to chase me, now that my [Stealth] and [Conceal] had both hit level 4, and whatever parts of my MP that were regenerating had been going straight into [Obfuscate Presence].

At least, I was finally free from the immediate danger of death. I dropped my [Obfuscate Presence], so that my MP would regenerate. I'd need it for whatever was ahead.

I didn't drop [Stealth] or [Conceal], though.

[Conceal] in particular was made for an environment like this forest. I knew where to step and touch in order to avoid leaving a trail, though I was sure that the skill had its flaws at such a low level.

Alright, where do I go now? Should I sleep in a tree? It was starting to get dark.

Apparently, I'd spent more than a few hours hiding behind that bush, and I needed to find somewhere to hide for the night, now.

I didn't like the idea of sleeping in a tree, it was better than nothing, but I was on the run from a whole country, and they were going to be searching into the night. I climbed the tallest tree I could find, looking for something, I don't really know what.

Is there a cave over there? Without [Focus], I would have skipped right over it, but it was nestled at the very bottom of a cliff about a mile away from me.

It was kinda out in the open, but I wasn't going to be very safe no matter where I went, so at least I'd be more comfortable in there than in a tree. Choosing the cave over the tree ended up being the right decision.