Chapter 95: Unveiling Deception (Bonus)
"The knives you carry behind the attire you’re all putting on have blood on them. They have to be from the wild animals you killed on your way here," Aiden replied, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Now Aiden heard more of those skipping heartbeats from the rest of the supposed warriors with his enhanced hearing.
The warriors then looked at themselves in astonishment at how this mage knew of their knives.
The leader of the group then replied convincingly, "Oh yes, good hunt."
"Heh," Aiden smiled. Right now there were suspicions in his head.
So he had his eyes transform again into that of a dragon’s and then he looked further into the pass, with his vision penetrating the walls and stony structures.
That was when he saw them - four dead men hidden and laid behind walls and rocks. They were all half naked, stripped of their attire.
Which meant that out of the 5 warriors standing around Aiden, four of them had worn the black attire of the four dead men.
Then he turned to confirm this with his Dragon’s Sight, and as suspected, four of the men who had been lifting the blue ores out of the cart were already clothed appropriately beneath the cover of the black attire that they had stripped from the dead men.
The only person whose attire was originally worn over his body instead of another outfit was the man acting as their leader who still sat and looked at Aiden. He was uncomfortable about those eyes, but they were mages, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary.
He then asked again, "Yes? Is there a problem?"
Aiden looked at him and smiled again, then said, "In fact, I think there is."
As soon as he said this, the other four men who had been moving the blue ores into their own cart stopped momentarily.
That was when Aiden began his careful analysis of the situation.
"This mission was assigned to our guild yesterday, and we were to complete it in 3 days. Which means prior to when this mission was assigned, or at least on the day it was, the receivers from Zakha were to be here at Shinjin’s Pass already waiting.
If it were animals whose blood were stained on those knives, it would mean that you warriors killed them on your way here, within the pass, giving you men ample time to clean your blades and wipe your boots appropriately."
The warriors checked their boots to see if they were stained as Aiden suggested, and the one who actually had his boots stained immediately tried to wipe his foot against the back of his other leg.
"You see, right before we left, a messenger in the form of a pigeon was sent to alert the warriors of Zakha waiting at Shinjin’s Pass of our arrival. And given how fresh those blood stains still look and smell, I’m assuming you lot killed off the actual ones that were sent to receive these materials not long before we arrived."
Everyone’s eyes there widened with shock at the detailed analysis by Aiden.
"Now I can understand why this mission was placed at A-rank difficulty. One of the reasons would be due to banditry at this level," Aiden concluded with a smile on his face.
"Go! Now!" the man acting as their leader called out to the others as he immediately turned his horse in the opposite direction and yelled, "Hya!" to get the horse galloping away.
The system instantly sent Aiden a screen at that very moment:
[New Side Quest Assigned]
[Side Quest: Stop The Impostors]
[Reward: ??]
[Bonus Reward: ??]
"With pleasure," Aiden whispered to himself. However, just as he was about to chase, tree vines immediately grew underneath the legs of some of the horses of the bandits who were running away on their horses.
These vines were from Laela, who cast her magic to quickly impede the movement of those horses. The horses fell down and the riders along with them.
For the bandit who rode the horse carrying the cart of some of the already stolen blue ore, Arianna stretched her hand and called out, "Expand!"
This made the cart expand significantly to a weight and size where it could not be pulled by the horses. The sudden size increase of the cart had also made the horse alongside its rider fall over.
The last person was their leader, whom Aiden decided to chase himself.
He took flight using the levitation spell, and in less than a few seconds, he was already floating above the bandit leader.
Aiden then used the Force spell to telekinetically pull the leader of the gang from the horse and then fling him away into a structure of rocks.
The forceful impact his body made with the rocks caused them to crumble and bury him under the debris.
Aiden landed on the ground in front of the debris as he watched to see if the gang leader would survive.
However, the impact his body made with the rocks was too great for his body to handle, and when Aiden listened for heartbeats with his enhanced hearing, he got none.
One by one, they ended up rounding up the rest of the impostors.
"I didn’t even get to do anything," Oliver said to himself as he watched their team’s coordinated use of magic in amazement.
These mages didn’t even feel like initiates to him, but he was glad being here.
[Side Quest: Stop The Impostors → Complete]
[+10 Available Stats Points]
[You have gained +60,000xp]
[Bonus Reward +40,000xp granted]
The men they held captive got questioned, and it turned out the man who led them was part of the original party from Zakha that was supposed to come for the blue ore.
However, he had other plans and made arrangements with these bandits. And as Aiden analyzed, they did in fact kill the original warriors meant to get those blue ores.
...
Soon after, they all returned back to Xathia while having the impostors tied up and placed on the same cart that carried the blue ores.
The captives were handed over to the appropriate authorities, and the members of Ravens Grave returned back to the guild.
They went straight to the captain’s chambers to report the mission’s situation and the Captain commended them tremendously after hearing all of it.
"Aiden you never cease to surprise me" she said with a smile on her face. "Keep up the good work"
Aiden nodded in acknowledgment and replied, "Yes Captain"
Then she goes into another room within her chambers and after a while she returned with pouches of gold.
This was the reward for the mission. It was a reward of 300 gold coins to each person in the party. She however left an extra 100 gold coins for Aiden.
However, Oliver said, "i’m sorry captain, but i don’t deserve this much. I didn’t get to do anything at all." He had a somber face as well while speaking.
The Captain simply smiled and patted his back, "You deserve every bit for having the courage to embark on the mission with them. Keep up the good work"
Oliver looked up with his eyes nearly teary and then nodded in acknowledgment.
When they were done with the captain, Aiden immediately headed to his room because he wanted to put his recently earned experience points to good use.
...
Alone in the room, he began his conversation with the system. "Show me those experience point requirements."
[Exp Requirements]:
- 204,800 xp required to go up to Level 2 Scaleborn
- 5,500xp required for Dragon’s Sight Lv.5
- 4,500xp required for Dragon Transformation Lv.4
- 3500xp required for Dragon’s Fear Lv.3
- 12000 XP required to raise Host Magic to Ex-Rank
- 15000 XP required to raise Destruction Authority to Ex-Rank
- 15000 XP required to raise Replication Authority to Ex-Rank
- 15000 XP required to raise Space Authority to Ex-Rank
[Exp Balance: 440,250]
"Level up," Aiden said, and the system in response replied:
[You have leveled up]
[+2 to all stats]
"Nice, it isn’t +1 anymore. Good."
Aiden scanned through the requirements one more time and then said, "Take all authority skills to the next level."
[All Authorities have been ranked up to EX]
[The System commends your progress]
[You have gained a new Replication Authority Skill: Martial Arts Copy]
[You have gained a new Space Authority Skill: Crush Point]
[You have gained a new Destruction Authority Skill: Oblivion Beam]
[You have also received a 100,000xp Bonus]
"Let me see what they do," Aiden said, asking the system to show their descriptions.
[Replication Authority Skill: Martial Arts Copy → Host is able to copy Martial Arts Techniques]
[Space Authority Skill: Crush Point → Host is able to create folds in space to generate spatial pressure, which can crush a target with tremendous force. This is a space shattering technique. Due to Host’s current level, maximum range is 200 meters]
[Destruction Authority Skill: Oblivion Beam → Host is able to create a concentrated destructive beam]
"These are perfect," Aiden said to himself whilst nodding approvingly to the new set skills the system had just given him.