Ajax had already made preparations for his departure but the appearance of twelve very young nobles and their caretakers was not something he expected. He did greet all of them and ensured they had accommodations, there were plenty spare now that the nobles here for the elves departed.
“How do they expect this to just work?” Ajax huffed in annoyance as he ate dinner with his family. “We can’t just add students in the classes, they’ve already been learning for months now, they wouldn’t have the same foundation to learn from.”
“This is the main reason why you only see the Academy as the only big learning institution in the capital.” Luna said with a laugh as she sliced a piece of steak. “All the nobles there can afford the tutors so they all get them at the perfect moment for their children, it's why the shared social events they do have are limited in number to those around the same point in their development.”
“We’ll start them at the start of the next quarter.” Tom said. “You made sure that all the subjects had their lesson plans split so they all finished major sections around at the same point four times a year, they’ll just join the classes in a month.”
“We’ll also make sure to spread them out, that way there isn’t a class filled with nobles.” Silvia nodded in support.
While House Hearthbound was having dinner and working out how to deal with the nobles who appeared, Patrick and the rest of his squad were making their own preparations.
n
“How did he just sneak up on us like that?” Quinn was still a little shaken following her short talk with Ajax. The embarrassment she felt at the moment Ajax interrupted them made it easy to overlook in the moment how he had all but gotten within touching distance of them but now that she had regained her composure it wasn’t as easy to put it aside.
“I wasn’t there.” Frank said, it was his job as the scout to keep track of their surroundings but he had been given another job.
“His use of Shadow Mana isn’t well documented.” Patrick said, he was disappointed in himself for letting his guard drop that far. Even if they were in friendly territory they were here because of an assassination attempt. “Mostly he uses it with his arrows, he mixes in Shadow arrows with his other Mana types. Evidently he can use it for more than just that.”
“Chances are he’s stronger than half of us.” Roger said. “I went and took a look at the ambush site, thought I might be able to pick up something they missed in regards to the identity of the assassins but no luck. What I did see was how far he got with three assassins getting the jump on him.”
“He was also doing something with his [Mana Skin].” Quinn said as she thought back to their earlier encounter. “He wasn’t using Shadow Mana for that, it seemed like he was trying to change something about it while keeping himself covered in a layer of Shadow Mana.”
“We’re not here to pick through his combat capabilities.” Patrick cut off the topic, as curious as he might have been about Ajax’s abilities that wasn’t why they were there and it could cause some issues if they were somehow overheard discussing this. “What do we know about the people he is bringing with him?”
“Some of their oldest retainers.” Frank said, his investigations yesterday also extended to the people who would join them for the return trip to the capital. “Used to be called the Collectors, they are originally from Lessis and they delved with Ajax for half a year before they all came to the capital.”
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“How are good are they?” Quinn asked.
“Acording to their records with the Adventurer’s Guild they are a solid group. They made slow but steady progress before joining House Hearthbound.” Frank said as he produces the notes he had taken on them. “Above average when looking at adventurer groups but nothing too out of the ordinary. One thing that stood out a little was that they have a fully trained and dedicated healer.”
“And they weren’t taken in by a noble family before?” Quinn was a healer herself and she knew just how much nobles would go out of their way to recruit healers, demand had lowered since the Healing Union was created and more healers were being trained but even that was less than a century old.
“Healer is a new addition.” Frank turned over his notes to double check his memory since he had focused on this point during his information gathering. “ Lower level than everyone else, joined right after finishing his studies with the Healing Union. Also related to one of the adventurers.”
“Why are we bringing them with us?” Roger asked.
“Ajax will be running them through the dungeon in the capital to get them a boon.” Patrick answered and he could see a glint of jealousy flash in the eyes of his squad members for just a moment.
Patrick couldn’t blame them, he was also jealous of the Collectors for getting a boon, it was simply something they all needed to accept. It wasn’t the first time they had run into such a situation and it won’t be the last. Patrick was actually more worried about how the nobility would react once the news spread about the boons, most of them would miss out on the opportunity to get them as Ajax continued to level. If his speed was anything to go by in a decade he would already be too high level for the kingdom to risk him fighting a floor boss twice his level.
“Alright, everyone get some sleep.” Patrick instructed his squad. “This is the last good night’s rest we’ll get before we’re back in the capital.”
The following morning Ajax, the Collectors as well as the royal representative and the squad were all ready to leave by the time the sun came up.
“I won’t be gone all that long.” Ajax reassured his nephew who insisted that he see him off before going to school. “I’ll be back in about a month and a half or so.” Left unsaid was that he wouldn’t be staying long after he came back before he left for the Wild Lands.
“This brings back memories.” Jones, the leader of the Collectors said as they all departed from Lessis. “It wasn’t all too long ago that we left Lessis looking to boost you through your first dungeons. How the tables have turned.”
All of the Collectors chuckled as they all remembered how Ajax was back when he first set off for his first delve. “Are you doing okay?” Quinn asked as she dropped back to be level with Ajax. “Do you need me to heal you?”
“I’m fine.” Ajax was surprised at her question.
“Your Mana movements are odd.” Quinn explained her reasoning. “I can feel Mana pulsing through your [Mana Skin]. It’s… odd.”
“Just something I am trying out.” Ajax said, he had no reason to hide what he was doing, in fact there was a good chance that the squad might even be able to help him with what he was trying to achieve. “One of the assassins had a very high level [Camouflage] Skill. I am trying to see if I can get my [Mana Skin] to mimic what his Skill could do where he blends in with the surroundings.”
“You could easily do that with your Light Mana.” Quinn pointed out.
“But Light Mana would be easy to sense.” Ajax said with a nod understanding her point of view. “[Mana Skin] is different in that despite not using Shadow Mana directly it can be covered with Shadow Mana to mask my presence. If I can get [Mana Skin] to also hide me from sight it would work that much better.”
“You’re trying to do too much all at once.” Frank said as he joined the conversation. “Start with something a lot simpler like changing your Skill to one solid color. It might actually work best if you also try to gain the [Camouflage] Skill as well, even if you don’t get it up to the point where you can blend in perfectly. Having the Skill might help you unlock a higher tiered Skill that does what you want.”
Frank was experienced with such integrations, despite being able to use Mana he hadn’t gone down the path of the Mage or even the hybrid combatant. He was a scout through and through. That meant high mobility and Perception, he did however learn certain spells. He routinely used Shadow spells to cover his enchanted items from [Sense Mana] so he knew how easy it was for the veil to break.
Ajax found himself happy that his trip to the capital would be taking two weeks. After a few days of not doing any training he was more than ready to start once again and he now had someone to help him with the first few steps on his newest stealth ability.