World Keeper

Chapter 522: Established Connections

The guild leader had a smile on his face as he entertained his guests, a pair of human nobles from a neighboring territory. Using the information that he had obtained from the previous owner of his body, he was able to keep up with their conversation without much issue. However, though he was smiling, he was definitely not pleased with the situation.

The noble couple had come here to try and get on his good side, hoping that he would set aside something for them and their family when he finally kicked the bucket. Although they didn’t come out and say it that way, it was quite clear from the fake smiles on their face that this was their goal.

If only they knew the Marquis has already been dead for nearly a month. He was pleased with himself as he thought of that. While he did not consider himself a cruel man, he was also not one of infinite patience. When he killed, it was not out of pleasure but necessity.

Of course, in his eyes, this was simply another dungeon that he and his people needed to conquer. There would be no guilt for him even if he slew the two nobles before him. Instead, it would just be an inconvenience as it would mean that he had to change his plans.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me.” The guild leader spoke with that same rehearsed smile as he stood up. “I just remembered that I had a trade agreement that needs my attention. I’ll have Senna see you out.”

The faces of his guests seemed to stiffen at that, but he was already walking away, moving towards his office at a brisk pace. The smile on his face had become more genuine, both at kicking the nobles out and the new addition to their guild store.

By the time he had reached his office, he had already approved of the spell tree. However, unlike normal skills, there was an entirely different cost to mastering magic. A cost he wanted to confirm as soon as he could.

In his office, he pulled up his menu, navigating to the store. He had long ago maxed out the first tier of this magic, but quickly learned that it was simply not enough to battle with in this world. “One skill coin per level?” He nodded his head, retrieving a pile of said coins from his inventory. It was always important to stock up on these items before going into a dungeon like this.

Without hesitation, he spent ten skill coins to unlock ‘beginner mastery’ of the spell tree. With every coin spent, he was given access to a selection of spell components, as well as descriptions for each of them. Now came the important part.

“Oh?” He blinked in surprise as he looked at the cost of designing individual spells. Back home, it would take ten ‘spell coins’ in order to create a single spell with the system’s assistance. Sure, they could create it on their own if they put in the effort. But, buying it through the system ensured that the spell would never be forgotten and could be cast at a moment’s notice.

However, the second tier of magic in this world only cost two coins to design a spell. From the guild leader’s knowledge, second tier magic was the lowest standard for proper battle. Meanwhile, the third tier was reserved for advanced mages.

This led to a debate within the man’s mind. His mana was at the standard for a normal battle mage, but his focus was by no means in magic. It would be somewhat a waste to have him spend too many of his coins on this skill tree.

Unfortunately for him, his class did not exist in this dungeon. While there were classes that utilized divine energy, those were simply bards and knights, neither of which applied to him. Of the two, the closest would undoubtedly be the knight class. But an Overlord cannot be a knight. His class required him to stand at the highest point, or else he would lose his class abilities.

“Battlefield display.” He muttered, leaning back in his chair. Three streams of golden light shot out of his body, forming into three large spheres that hovered over his desk. These were the three planets that his people had infiltrated to this point. “Mark allies.”

Within the three spheres, nearly a thousand red dots lit up, with the majority resting on the central planet. “Condense view, Earth.” As he said that, the other two spheres vanished. “Condense view, Rokindrol.”

The holographic display of Earth zoomed in on a small, obscure island. Within the island were only three red dots, displaying that three of his guild members were staying there. And hovering over the island was a giant floating fortress. This was the keep of their target.

As the leader watched the flying castle, he felt something amiss. “Close display!” He shouted in an urgent tone standing up and retreating a step back from his desk. For a brief moment, he felt something else from his display, as if he were the one being watched.

With his experience, he knew that was not a risk he should take. Already, in the back of his mind he was planning to abandon this identity. If he was exposed, there were numerous ways that the enemy could use him to locate the rest of his guild.

However, as he walked out of his office with a worried expression, he failed to notice the standing mirror in the corner of the room. His reflection had not left the office when he did, and was instead looking out at him, a small smile spreading over its face.

Found you. I muttered to myself, looking into a mirror I had summoned in front of me. There were far too few detection abilities that could penetrate the Sky Citadel’s barrier. Thus, when I felt that I was being watched, I immediately conjured a mirror to trace the sensation back.

What I found was a nobleman sitting in front of a projection that showed my citadel. There was a trace of divine energy in this image, and I was able to use that to quickly recognize that he was not one of my people. Especially when he seemed to panic, closing the display with a verbal command.

The mirror in front of me shifted, the viewpoint changing to show him walking through the halls. I had his location now, but that was not enough. His appearance let me know that this group had an ability which let them impersonate the people from my world. No doubt this was how they had eluded detection for so long.

Every time he stepped in front of a mirror, I focused my domain on building a thin connection with him. Nothing overt, nothing that would let me influence him. In a way, I was tagging him, ensuring that my mirror would always watch over him.

“Is this a person of interest, my Keeper?” Tsubaki asked, noticing my actions.

I offered a small nod in answer. “If I’m right, this should be one of the invaders. Now that I’ve found him, I won’t lose sight of him again.”

There was no way to know what method they used to escape my detection on the first day of the invasion. However, whatever it was did not seem to prevent my domain from locking onto him this time.

With a wave of my hand, the mirror floated off to the side, hanging itself on the wall of the throne room. This would be my window to watch him in the future, even if he teleported away and changed his identity with various tricks.

“May the blessings of Udona follow you.” A female priest spoke, her black tail swaying behind her as she healed an injured kitsune hunter. Judging by his wound, he had suffered an attack from a large canine beast. However, this type of injury wasn’t a problem for her once she used her Lesser Divine Heal skill.

She offered a warm smile to the hunter, who responded in kind. “Thank you, Sister Flare.”

‘Sister Flare’ bowed slightly towards the hunter. “You can thank me by being more careful next time.” She spoke in a gentle tone, causing the man to chuckle awkwardly.

As he left, the priestess could feel a mental ping alerting her of a private message. Hello?

It’s Grayson. The guild leader’s voice spoke back to her, and she could tell from his tone that he was troubled.

Were you compromised? The priestess couldn’t help but voice her question, knowing that there were few things that could upset him, and fewer still that would require him to call her.

I have to assume so. Add counter-detection to the list of suspected abilities for this Keeper. In the meantime, I need your help moving. There’s the chance that I’m still being watched.

The priestess simply smiled, looking out at the crowd. “I’m afraid that’s all that I can do for now. I must rest and recover my energy. If anyone requires emergency treatment, please seek the aid of another brother or sister until I get back.”

There was clear disappointment on the faces of many men in the group. Although there were a number of healers in the church, Sister Flare was a favorite due to her gentle demeanor and excellent looks. Still, there was not much that they could do if she had truly run out of steam.

When she walked back to her room to ‘rest’, she made sure to activate the anti-detection wards. Only then did her gentle demeanor drop. Are you in position? She asked in a serious tone.

Once he confirmed, she held her hands out in front of her, activating her unique class abilities. “Planar link, establish. Divine interference, set. Spatial warp, target random.”

In her mind, as soon as the first ability activated she was able to see the guild leader, still dressed in his noble attire. She had to admit she found him handsome like this, and thought it a shame he had to change identity again. With the second ability, the background appeared to darken, and she could feel something being cut off. And finally, the third ability caused him to entirely vanish.

Do I need to cast again? There was a decent chance that he had just teleported to the middle of the ocean, so she was prepared to perform another warp if need be. Sometimes, it would take as many as ten tries to get a ‘suitable’ target location.

No, this is fine. I can see buildings from here, so I’ll– His voice was suddenly cut off, and the priestess’s eyes went wide in alarm. “Planar link, establish!”

What she saw once her vision shifted startled her. The guild leader lay dead on the ground, his body split down the middle. In the distance, she could see what appeared to be old ruins, likely the buildings that he spoke of. Meanwhile, much closer she saw an insect, tall and green with scythe-like blades extending from its arms.

“Force recall!” She shouted, summoning the dead body of her guild leader to her room. His split corpse landed heavily on the floor, blood beginning to pool beneath him. “Restoration, Full Divine Heal, Death Reversal.”

In a panic, she used one ability after another, her energy plummeting with each advanced spell. First, the two halves of his body shifted back together, the cuts fading. The blood then seemed to soak back into him, before finally his eyes opened wide and he gasped for breath.

“What… the fuck… was that.” He muttered hoarsely, still recovering from his brief stint with death.

“You were probably sent to the world called Lorek.” The priestess assumed, patting her chest as her tension faded. “Everyone I’ve sent there died almost right away.”

Grayson nodded his head, slowly sitting up. The cost of resurrection was by no means light, his level having dropped. At the same time, he looked through his skills and items to see if there was anything missing. “My Frostfury Lance dropped, and it looks like I lost some skill levels…” Thankfully, skill levels were easy to get back, but his weapon was another matter.

“Just be glad I was already watching, or you would have lost a lot more.” The priestess chided, lightly knocking him on the back of the head.