This night, Lewis was not planning on going to sleep.
Black Lotus was a magical organisation composed of many acolytes. Wandering acolytes, mainly, who settled down in Westport Harbor for the opportunities it provided. Bear Island was isolated from the rest of the continent, and there was no Light Path magical authority to investigate any of their wrongdoings.
Knights, oblivious to occult knowledge and magic in general, were often mistaking ceremonies and experiments as misfortune, rather than evil acolyte presence.
As much freedom Black Lotus provided, there were also several asks to its members. Secrecy was one of them. Obedience was another.
Its members were all branded with a lethal runic formation. Betraying the organisation, or breaking secrecy, would unconditionally result in death. A price Lewis was ready to pay in exchange for magical knowledge, opportunities to grow and wealth.
That being said, missions were rare. Even Lewis, who was part of a solid beginner rank acolyte party, would only be summoned for a mandatory mission once every three months. Sometimes, they would even ask for more mission to the headquarters when they were low on funds.
A year ago, however, the intensity increased, from once every three months to once every month. The frequency increase could be explained by deaths, and increased magical activity on the island. Magical beasts mainly, with some intellect, who were growing bolder. The Steelguard family, with only knights and soldiers, were inefficient at hunting them.
"You are late, again", Baerys spoke
[Name: Baerys Rutherford | Beginner Rank Acolyte, Knight
Strength: 3.8, Agility: 3.6, Vitality: 3.8, Spiritual force: 3.8
Rank 0 Spells: Petrification Eyes (20)
Skills: Swordsmanship (80)]
Baerys Rutherford. Esteemed Knight Captain of the City Guard Order during the day, she was a cruel body refinement acolyte in secret, part of the Black Lotus. Her elegance, however, hid a vile heart. One of her goal was to create a "cursed" sword by killing human beings. Criminals, merchants, citizens who were wandering too deep in black alleys...hundreds had been murdered to awaken her sword.
Needless to say, her attempts had yet to be successful. If it was this easy to make a cursed sword, streets would be filled with maniacs murdering each others.
Over the years, she had never once given up. Her attributes, nearing 3.8 on average, made her an exceptionally strong knight. Her spiritual force, however, was much lower than Lewis, despite being six years older.
She was compensating her lower grade 1 magical talent with body refinement, a common but hard choice among acolytes. Talent grades were ranked from grade 1 (lowest) to grade 5 (highest). As such, relying on elemental affinities were bound to ceil her strength to beginner rank if she followed this path.
Body refinement, on the other hand, could make her wield strong power and increase her arcane power by force. After all, arcane force and body potential were linked in some ways. However, the body refinement path entailed many sacrifices. Suffering, constant intake of toxins and risk of disabilities were part of the path.
[Name: Willem Titus | Beginner Rank Acolyte
Strength: 0.8, Agility: 1.0, Vitality: 0.8, Spiritual force: 7.8
Rank 0 Spells: Fireball (40), Fire Arrow (18)
Skills: Leadership (12)]
Next to her, a middle-aged man stood silent. It was Willem Titus. Originally his mentor and voucher, Willem was a fire elemental mage. He had no obvious moral flaws, or rather, he lacked any moral boundary. He was not overly cruel, but he did not adhere to any rules either. His seniority made him the captain of the team, and he always distributed rewards based on contributions.
Besides his Black Lotus activities, he was a humble innkeeper. Sometimes, when he needed an experimental subject, one of the visitors would vanish.
He was the closest to the intermediate acolyte rank. Despite his grade 2 talent, he had never managed to break through, despite two attempts already. The first time, he had been cheated by a witch who sold him a cheap low-quality breakthrough regent, which hurt his magical core. The second time, he had been interrupted by his own family and burned them by mistake, causing him great mental harm.
Now, he was just a lone man who lost his family, and desperately tried to achieve his dream of becoming one of the Black Lotus organisation's elders. However, the "Intermediate Acolyte Rank" requirement was a hard barrier.
Lewis, the "young Steelguard bastard", held tremendous reputation in the organisation. There were sometimes gatherings meant to exchange information and discuss magical theories, and he was known to be a reliable source of knowledge. The truth was that his magical artefact, the Myrthia Ring, allowed him to process information and magical thoughts better and faster than the human mind could.
A glimpse on someone's research would forever be stored as memory. And that, over the years, earned him recognition for his understanding of magic, rivalling that of intermediate rank acolytes.
He had grade 2 talent too, but his growth was faster than some grade 3 talent thanks to his magical understanding and optimisation of arcane meditation technique efficiency.
"I believe I came right the agreed time", Lewis spoke with restraint
Years ago, Lewis would have been kicked out of the group if he dared to answer like this. However, Lewis proved times and times again that he was talented, incredibly so. His mastery of four spells, when even someone with as much experience as Willem only managed to learn two, was a strong credential.
"Anyway, let's go. I used my network to locate the beasts, but the guards disappeared in multiple locations", she muttered, "we will go through them one by one, hoping they attack us"
As expected, Willem kept his silence, and Baerys swallowed her discontent, focusing on the mission.
Willem had vouched for him in the past, and he was somehow decent for an acolyte in a rural town. Even in the organisation, Willem could be considered an elite beginner acolyte and one of the strongest fire elemental acolytes. For this, Lewis was grateful.
Baerys, however, was replaceable. The previous frontline, a certain Aldric, had been injured in one of the commissions three years ago. Baerys replaced him, and she was stronger. Even after Aldric recovered, they never took him back in the team because of the swordsmanship skill difference. Also, Baerys was a knight of the city guard, which meant access to her network.
However, if she died, there were dozens of beginner rank acolytes who were seeking a reputed group like theirs.
As the least talented member of the trio, Baerys always had to work extra to prove her worth. That struggle was something both Willem and Lewis were indifferent to. In this world, there was no such thing as kindness, only equivalent exchange principles that held true, even in Dark Path magus organisations.