Criminals

After studying my physical changes, took a shower and lay down on the bed.

"My mana control has improved massively, as well as a huge increase in mana reserves. The flame around my heart is burning more than ever. The scale and shape of objects I can conjure have increased significantly too. I can now probably summon large birds and large swords with ease. I've also 'unlocked' a new ability that exists passively now that I have used Master Lumen's will once. I can change the state of my body into white fire or light, but not instinctively. The objects I can form from fire have increased in variety too. 

Now for the random scroll I woke up next to. I pulled the scroll from my dimension ring and unravelled the red string, revealing a blank piece of parchment with neat black ink. "Hello, Solis. I've taken quite the interest in you, and I knew your master. He told me you would become a strong mage and from what my friend has told me, he seemed to have been correct. I run an academy for mages in Xyrus and would like for you to attend. If you want to join, burn this letter and I will send for an escort to take you to the academy. The normal age for first years is 12-13, but I don't mind making an exception for you, even if you are only 8.

I hope to hear from you soon,

-Cynthia Goodsky. "

"Who the hell is 'Cynthia Goodsky'? Is this some kind of scam?" I put the letter back into my dimension ring and forgot about it, drifting off to sleep.

...

I woke up roughly 7 hours later to the Sun's warm rays streaking through the window next to the bed. I put my hair in two knots so that it wasn't cascading down my back, brushed my teeth, and exited the room.

I sat down at a table and ordered a simple breakfast consisting of sausages, eggs and bacon. A large group in the far corner caught my attention. They seemed to be huddled around something. After finishing my breakfast, I walked over to the group and saw what they were gossiping about. A bulletin board with bounty posters was set up and the group was huddled around it. "What's going on?" I asked the young man next to me. He was dressed in leather boots, long black pants and a white t-shirt with thin chainmail chest armour. "The new bounties for the 'New Dawn!'," He responded gleefully. "The who?"

"You've never heard of them? They're the most famous criminal group in the whole Beast Glades! They're comprised of A to even S-ranked criminal powerhouses!"

I inspected the bounties. A man with a white beanie and a pissed-off expression on his face, a woman with hair so pink it was almost white and another man with short black hair, black square sunglasses, a small 'X' scar on his chin and a stubble beard with a cigar hanging from his lips. "Only three? What kind of criminal organisation has only three members?"

"Ah, those are just the ones whose faces have been recorded. Supposedly, there are at least 7 members. They all have their own ring on different fingers, meaning there are probably ten, but only 7 rings have been seen. They all wear large cloaks and wide straw hats with paper falling from them to hide their faces. They are incredibly hard to find - to the point where, until recently, people thought they were just a myth! The cloaks are all black with silvery-white fractured moons outlined in red. Their symbol, I'm guessing. 'Destroy the moon to bring an age of light' or something like that? As for their abilities, any information about it is scarce and always sells for a lot on the underground information black market. The only widely known abilities are these three. The black-haired guy is a brawler of unknown elemental affinity who runs a local racketeering 'business'. He's basically just a bigshot thug with a bounty of 12,000 gold. The other two are both half-Dwarves with metal affinities. The lady is famous for her ability to bend metal into just about anything from handcuffs to a net-like inescapable dome, with a bounty of 9,000 gold, and the scary-looking dude has such profound sensitivity to metal he can even control sand! He probably has some kind of sand creature's beast will. He has a bounty of 21,000 gold because people used to think he was the head of the Thieves Guild until he publicly executed the former Guild Leader. This left a huge power vacuum in the Thieves Guild which shook the whole Beast Glades." Holy Sun that's a lot of gold...

"Hmm. 'Destroy the moon to bring an age of light', huh? I could get behind that. Shame they're criminals." I spoke under my breath, thinking to myself. 

.....

Unbeknownst to the group, two individuals dressed in black robes walked into the inn and sat down at a small table furthest from the group. "So that's the kid she was talking about? Solis? He doesn't look like all that much." The younger and taller one spoke curiously. He stood roughly 170cm, his hat hiding his facial features.

"Looks can be deceiving. You don't look all that strong either, boy." The woman replied jokingly, clearly trying to rile up her friend. She brought her right hand up to her cheek showing a black-gemmed ring on her pinky finger and a pitch-black small snake climbing up her forearm. "Order me some tea. I'm thirsty."

"Fine, but you better pay me back." He called over a waitress and ordered them both some tea, a white gemmed ring on his left middle finger.

As they drank their hot tea, they observed a yellow-haired boy purchase a plain white face mask and some yellow and black paints. He drew black teardrop outlines descending from the left eye to the top of the cheek of the mask and coloured them in yellow. He brought the mask to his face, suctioning it with mana, and exited the inn. 

"Let's move." The boy with the white ring said to his companion. They exited the inn silently as if they had never entered the building in the first place. 

"Sound magic sure is useful. Not to mention the illusions." The woman complimented her friend. "Good work."

The two followed the boy away from the inn from a distance, ensuring they weren't caught.

.....

"Hah, my life is so boring. Go to dungeon; kill things in dungeon; sell cores from dungeon; earn gold for food and shelter; repeat. I really need to find something else to do... But what can I do? I have no way of making it to a big city, and even if I got there I've got nothing to do!" I complained while walking to my third dungeon, hoping something interesting - other than me getting seriously injured and awakening my beast will - would happen. "My awakening sure was cool, but I'd rather not almost die this time!" 

One of the people adventurers at the outpost told me about a market about a 1-hour walk behind the outpost. "Guess I'll make a stop there." I walked around the back of the outpost and began to climb the mountain to reach the market. I passed many carriages descending the mountain and was passed by many going up, none of them willing to give me a ride.

I eventually reached the top and saw a bustling market roughly 50 meters in front of me. Entering the market, I saw street shops of food, drink, armaments, jewellery and clothes.

...

Two individuals stood atop a tall stone building, their cloaks and strings of paper falling from their straw hats flailing in the wind. "Man, I hate tailing missions. This is so boring..." The boy on the right whined, looking for something else to do. "Ooh! I see some strong adventurers! Looks like a party. Can I go fight them?" 

"No. We will wait here and regroup with Ada, then we will keep following the boy." The woman standing next to him replied. "Ah! You're back. Come to Mama." She knelt down and let a small snake slither up her arm and to her shoulder, hissing in her ear.

"Freak."

"Watch it." She snapped and the snake hissed at him. "Ada is in a tea shop on the other side of the market. Time to go meet with her." They jumped off the tall stone building and landed deftly on the pavement without a sound. No one was around to see them.

They walked into a tea shop and sat down at a long table, a small figure already present before their arrival. "Took you long enough," the small figure dressed in a black robe with silver fractured moons spotted on her cloak. She brought a cup to her mouth, a ring embedded with a blue gem on her right index finger, and drank the steaming liquid inside. "I've been here for ages." She slammed her cup down onto the wooden table in frustration. "Have you found him yet? At least tell me you have done your part and haven't just wasted time talking to whatever snakes you could find outside the market."

"We found him at the outpost at the base of this mountain. He's actually here in the market right now. We've been tailing him since he left the outpost." The boy replied. "C'mon, let's find him again before he leaves."

The trio departed the tea shop and walked around the market in search of a young boy with bright yellow hair. "He shouldn't be hard to find, He'll stick out like a sore thumb with his hair." The boy spoke to the other two. The shorter girl replied, "To be fair, if it weren't for your illusions, we would stick out like a sore thumb too. What with our hair and Ilya's clothes - or almost lack thereof - she'd stick out like a juicy slice of meat to any horny adventurers both male and female." The boy lightly punched her shoulder and scolded, "Who taught you that word!?"

"You did asshat!"

"Ah, right. I did too." He chuckled. "Flavour is the spice of life." The woman, Ilya, responded. "Now let's hurry up. He may have even left by now." The trio jumped on top of a stall and hopped from stand to stand in search of the boy.

.....

"I didn't find anything interesting. Just food - which I don't need - cheap ass swords and low-quality garments. You'd think that a market primarily aimed at adventures would at least have some good armour, right? Now that I think about it, the guy from the outpost did mention a black market... I wonder if it's around here.

.....