It has been two weeks since my battle with the possessed demon.
I am almost fully healed, but my wounds (especially the one on my chest) are still stinging. Well, if it were painful, it would have been better, honestly. Right now, the sting is more itchy than painful, and I am struggling to stop myself from scratching. Every time that I do end up scratching, it leads to more stinging, which devolves into more itching. It is becoming a pretty vicious cycle now.
If I could just make use of my sword, this wouldn't even be an issue. It would be pretty stupid to do that now, though. The vampires can clearly detect blood mana. It would show my presence to them. Well, my little run through the fort has ended up attracting the attention of our enemy. Right now, the Bloodfire gang is ripping through the city looking for me, and. they are doing a very bad job of it.
Well, the fact that they are doing such a bad job is the problem, it seems. The organization knows how to hide itself from its enemies. If the enemy were trying to attack only them, things would be pretty easy. A few bases would be abandoned, but their core wouldn't be hurt.
Right now, the Bloodfire gang is like a berserk bull. They are attacking and destroying everything that comes into their sight. For every organization hideout they destroy, ten legitimate merchants are attacked without reason. Alliances built for decades are crumbling under such a blind assault.
Well, this is not a good thing for obvious reasons. Even I can see that the organization is struggling to protect its interests. Quite a few of their outposts above the ground have already been raided and destroyed.
Old allies are betraying these outposts to save their hides. They have yet to shift their attention down here into the sewers, but it is going to be a matter of time.
Trevor has suffered the most due to this. He has been in the city for the last couple of weeks doing some kind of extra work for the organization. This is payment for my protection the organisation gave after the chaos I caused in the city. He has been careful not to mention too much of what this job is. Well, that is the reaction he has for everything related to the organization, to be honest.
I have not seen him for a while now. He has been busy with his work for the last couple of weeks. This is to the point that I don't think that I have even seen him sleeping. Well, I guess that I could have missed the man as well. I haven't exactly been wasting time as well. I have been working on deepening the link between my sword and my second slab.
I have a bunch of projects that I am working on right now. Entering into meditation has never been this hard. Still, I find myself forcing myself to meditate. It is not like I can just enter into meditation that easily. It requires a focus that is hard for me to achieve. This is especially the case now, when every few seconds my brain goes to the next thing I can be working on.
I have also been building the next foundation slab in my mana core. I haven't made much progress since it has only been a week.
More importantly, I have managed to achieve the minor bond with my second foundation slab. How do I describe to you what the minor bond feels like? It brings a sense of durability to the link between my sword and my mana core. Before. The bond between my sword and me was like a string, which would have snapped if enough force had been put on it. Now it feels like a rubber band, which can be stretched for quite a while.
The foundation slab also now acts as the tether for the connection between the sword and me. This allows me a much deeper control over my sword. (This is beyond what my master expected.)
With the major bond, the rejection that I have felt with blood mana is decreasing. For how much I use it, blood mana is still an external mana. Before, a part of my vital mana was converted into blood mana. While it was still my vital mana, it was also something foreign. Now, a part of my mana core has become able to store blood mana. This is purely blood mana, which I can control as freely as my vital mana. I could even use it to cast blood magic, I am sure.
The only problem with this mana is that it is minuscule. Also, I don't know any blood magic spells to cast. The vampires tend to be very protective of the magics that they practice. Vampires can pull off some pretty amazing things with this mana of theirs. If I can pull half of the things that they can, then all of this work would have been worth it.
All of the passive benefits that I have with blood mana are also growing. I am becoming stronger and faster, and my senses are getting more sensitive with each passing day. The problem is that it increases my dependence on my sword.
With the minor bond, I have to admit that the cost has also increased. If I could use the sword once every few months, now I have to use it once every month.
My dependence on the cycle has also increased, though that also means that I can make use of more blood mana, as well.
(After half a day.)
The first thing that I think while looking at Trevor is that the man looks exhausted. If anything, the man looks like he could do with a massage. Well, I won't be the one to say that to him. That is going to end up in a lecture lasting at least an hour about the softness of the youth of this generation.
"Well, you look at me like I am about to drop dead in the next few minutes, kid.", he says. As he speaks, he completely breaks my train of thought. "I am not that fragile, but I need you to focus. I need your help."
"Well, as long as it is not fighting, I should be able to manage it.", I reply. "I just need a couple of days to recover from the damage that I have taken in my fight with the demon. After that, I can fight. Fighting now would risk opening my wounds."
"Weren't you supposed to have advanced regeneration?" Trevor asks.
"All of that requires me to make use of blood mana. Now that it is confirmed that there are vampires of the court here, that is a risk I cannot take.", I reply. "If I were to fully activate my sword, they would know my location within ten minutes."
"Well, that simplifies things then. We can make use of that.", he speaks, a bit cryptically, "you say that you will be able to fight them? I don't even think you need to fight them. If you could just buy me a couple of hours ."
"Well, I can pull off something like that, I think. I need a week at the very least to heal. As long as the other side does not have too many vampires stationed.", I reply. "For all the benefits that my sword gives me, fighting against vampires of a higher rank is going to be very hard. Especially one that is from the court. Also, I am not exactly in the state to fight anybody."
"Well, that is fine. I like to avoid fighting where possible." he says. "If what you say is true, then push comes to shove, you will do good work."
"Fine, what am I supposed to do?" I ask, somehow shivering while looking at the glint in his eyes.
"Well, you don't need to look so panicked. I don't plan to actually send you to fight anybody. Well, I just need you to sneak into a place, kid.", he says, looking at my confusion. "And before you ask, the Bloodfire gang is making use of the inn as a temporary prison. It holds all the people who are imprisoned. They are mainly merchants and guards of this town. It has particularly become full after they started looking for you."
As he speaks, the man sits down on a chair, getting comfortable. This is going to take a while, it looks like.
"Well, let me tell you the task I have been given by the organisation. We are to engineer a mass jailbreak from the inn.", he continues. "That would give the Bloodfire gang something to keep them busy. It would finally stop all the attacks on them."
"Well, why are they involving us? Isn't this something that they would like to do themselves?" I ask. "A show of force, if you will."
"Well, that is true with most groups. The organization is pretty different. You can say that they are more profit-driven. Right now is a business season for them. It would be more economical for us to do this, so they will make us do it. It also allows them to make the most use out of us in the present situation.", he speaks. "They are already sending most of their people into the task of smuggling people out. Anyway, where was I? We have been tasked to save them and let as many prisoners out as possible."
"What is the plan? You are not the kind to be without one.", I ask the man.
"Well, I have already scouted the location for you. I already tried to save them once, but the bastards caught me at the last moment.", he continues. His voice is now receding into agitated mumbles. "I had reached the second floor as well. That bastard of a guard detected me at the last moment."
"So that must mean that they are going to be alert for another attempt.", I reply. "Well, since you have come to me, you must have a plan for me."
"Well, not exactly a plan, but it is not like the place I want you to sneak into is a jail. It is just an inn tuned into a prison.", he replies. "The main worry is that we need to get a point of entry for you. Well, how confident are you with the disguise of a porter? I have heard that you already used it."
"Well, I can't be anything that obvious. The porters are going to be the first people that they will search through at this inn. The damn bastards have my posters stuck everywhere.", I reply. "And regardless of how carefully I try to hide my mana. The other side will only need to look at me with a bit of focus, and they will be able to detect my blood mana. They will be looking at any porter they see with that much scrutiny at least."
"Well, then we just need to make sure that the other side does not give you another glance. So a porter is out of the question", he says. "I just need to get you into a couple of rags, and I can make you a half-decent beggar. The only problem is that you have such smooth hands. You have let go of combat practice, haven't you?"
"Well, beggars are going to be even more searched than the porters.", I reply. "I have seen it happen so many times in the legion."
"While you legioners are adept at the art of disguise, we at the guard corps are true masters of it." He replies. "You don't need to worry about that. A beggar would look at you and think of you as a fellow beggar."
"Well, we are hunted in every city that we go to.", I reply, a bit irritated. "If our disguises are not perfect, then we will be swamped with enemies."
"Well, for you, disguises are a matter of convenience. It is meant to stop you from having to fight in every city that you visit. There is no real cost to getting caught other than one more fight", he says. "For us at the guard corps, if our disguises are caught, then it will be our death. We are not as strong as you guys tend to be."
"Fine," I reply, with a bit more heat than I expected. I don't know how to argue against that.
"Now to speak about the plan.", the man speaks. "It would be better if you stopped recording now."