Aaron left the Alchemists guild headquarters silently and without fuss. From the beginning he had made sure he would be able to escape. There were no defenses set up inside of the building that he could sense and so it was just as easy escaping it, than entering it. Once he had left the big government plaza behind him, he went back to observe Elder Lorraine’s villa. The gems she had hidden when they had entered her office were in his mind and if she was a scribe and could write on anything. Then what better medium than something small, precious and often used as currency?

  He instinctively felt that she had hidden those gems for a reason. So when he climbed on another roof and settled down to wait with a good view of the elders office in her villa, he started planning how to break in. The elder was at work at the moment and he was tempted to go in and get the gems right now, but he did not even know if they really were what he was looking for. He needed to see her handle them and that would require time. But Aaron had time in abundance. Patiently he settled down on the overhang of a rooftop and hid in the shadows. There he cultivated and checked the elders window every ten minutes or so. It was tedious to do, but necessary since he could not sense her inside of her home with his hearing or smell. Well unless she opened a window.

  In the end it was her smell from when she left the crafters guild to walk home, that alerted him and brought him out of his slow and boring cultivation session. It was good that he still cultivated like this, but it was so awfully slow compared to eating spirits. It had turned late afternoon during his observation and the sky was overcast making it seem later in the day than it really was. Aaron followed the elder with his senses until she vanished in her home. Then he waited for her to appear in one of the windows he could see. Half an hour later she finally entered the right room and went over to her desk. There she fished a key out from around her neck and opened the drawer. Even from this distance and through windows Aaron could see the small gemstones clearly. They were cut and pretty, but probably not as valuable in this world than in his last. They were also quite big. The woman then went over to one of the strange modern art looking statues and lit it up like a lamp. It had some mirrors built into it that shone a clear light right from the top of the statues hand and on top of the cut gems, sparkling in the light. Elder Lorraine proceeded to turn the gems slowly and then touched them gently and with precision. It was utterly fascinating to see her work. Aaron could see no difference in the gems themselves, but what did change was the light they reflected and refracted. This was most likely the writing method she used. The question was if she used a method of encryption while doing so, or if his universal translator would simply tell him what it said.

  But he would see that once he got his hands on those gems. Aaron continued to watch her until the woman placed the gems back in the drawer and locked it with the key around her neck. Then she extinguished the lights and went to bed, at least that was what it looked like, since she extinguished any light sources in the building he could spot from his vantage point. In Aaron’s meditative state of cultivation time seemed to pass very quickly and even though he had kept observing her it surprised him that it had turned night. It was time to break in and get those gems, or at least the information on the gems.

  Aaron slid down the roof, landing quietly and then sneaked around the perimeter of the villa. He had long scouted out the guards rotation and he simply jumped over the stone wall with metal spikes on top and landed in a part of the garden that was not patrolled at this time. Then he went over and found the guard that had brought him to the elder. Because he had a key to the building. It wasn’t that Aaron could not have gotten access in a different way, but he suspected there were some enchantments on this house and that breaking in might alert them. Better to do this slowly and meticulously.

  The guard sat in a small shack the guards used as a kitchen and rest room. The man was just sitting there and Aaron waited patiently in a bush. Eventually the man yawned and made himself a cup of tea over the stove. He turned away from the door to the shack while he was doing so and Aaron moved. He slipped into the building, his opening of the door masked by the kettle, his feet making no noise on the wooden floor at least to the guards ears as he sneaked closer and then swiped the man’s keyring from his belt. That done Aaron left without the man noticing. His pick pocketing training really paid of here. He was not sure if he would have been able to do this before his afternoon of training with his new body and new senses, acclimating his skill from his past life. With his keys in hand, Aaron quickly moved over to the door the man had opened for him during his visit and opened it. He had to try a few keys until he found the right one. He then copied the guard and locked the door behind him as soon as he was inside of the building.

  The sudden cut to the outside worlds sense impressions was as glaring as it had been the first time. Aaron made his way through dark corridors that to his enhanced eyes were lit up perfectly and up the staircase with the animal handrail. He found the office easily and slipped inside quietly. He went over to the desk and found it locked tightly. His mana sense told him it was not just locked physically, but magically and Aaron cursed to himself without making any noise of course.

  This complicated things. The only way to open this safely was probably with the elder’s key she had around her neck. It was a very secure way of making sure nobody had access to this desk, even in her patrolled, guarded and locked house. With a frown he thought about what to do, but he really did not see any alternative. He had to steal the key from the sleeping elder.

  This was by far the most dangerous and stupid thing he had done so far. But in the end he decided to still try it. If everything failed, he could knock her out and deal with the problem afterwards. Making her disappear would be problematic he was sure, but in the end that was his specialty, not theft or espionage.

  Aaron quietly moved through the dark and empty building until his sense of smell had led him to her bedroom door. He opened it as quietly as possible and peered inside of the room. The amber eyes of a cat welcomed him that sat in a pillow laden basket on the foot of the elder’s bed. The bed and the bedroom were kept in style, like the entire building. It was carved out of what looked like a singular piece of a giant tree and its sheets had intricate and beautiful patterns on it. Aaron moved quietly into the room, his feet barely making any sound even to his senses and was followed by the amber eyes. Aaron looked for the key he had seen the elder use before, but did not find it at first glance until he studied the elder herself. Aaron suppressed an agonized groan. She had not taken off the key. Great.

  Carefully and slowly he moved closer until he stood right next to her bed, he reached out and lifted the key out of the folds of her blankets. The woman was still asleep, her heart beating evenly, her breath calm and deep. Aaron studied the cord the key was on and knew he could not cut it. He had to make it look like an accident if he did not want to be discovered. So he grasped the cord with both hands and started to pull the cord apart slowly, gently. His superhuman strength made short work of it as he increased the pressure on the cord until it eventually snapped with a small snap that sounded like thunder in Aaron’s ears. His own breath was barely audible to himself as he kept still and waited for any reaction of the sleeping woman. When none came he slipped the key out from the now torn cord and slowly and carefully he made his way out of her bedroom. The cat stood up, stretched in the dark and then followed him.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Aaron frowned at the cat, well it was not really a house cat. It looked more like a smaller lion or mountain lion cub. Its Amber eyes were curious and when Aaron gently nudged it backwards with his foot, the cat let out a small noise between a growl and a meow. Mortified Aaron stopped and peered back into the bedroom. But the woman had not woken up. He let the door open while he walked down the corridor he had come from and went back to her office. The cat followed him curiously until Aaron quickly shut the door in its face. Which of course prompted the cat to start growling again and it even started to scratch at the door until Aaron relented and let the feline in. The cat gave him a look and growl and Aaron let out a mortified sigh, before he accepted his fate.

  The cat walked up to the desk and hopped on top of the seat and settled down there, while giving him a look that said basically. ‘This is my seat. What are you going to do about it human?’ Aaron decided to do nothing about it, instead he walked over to the statue the elder had used earlier and lit it up, even though he had to search a bit for the small lever unlocking a compartment with a candle inside. The elder had matchsticks funnily enough and Aaron was glad not to have to make sparks to light it. The lamp lit up the room, making Aaron blink as his eyes acclimated to the light. It was almost painfully bright. Quietly he stepped up to the drawer and unlocked it with the elders key. He sensed a similar, if much less complex spellform catch, almost entirely the same as the safe he had opened earlier. It felt like it had been made by the same enchanter, or at least the same company. If there were enchantment companies? It mattered not for now because the drawer opened without a noise.

  Aaron studied the gems in the drawer, standing at the desk, because the cat had of course not budged, just settled down to rest and stare at him. He pulled the lamp closer and pulled one of the gems out from the drawer. He held it up to the light and studied it as the light shone through it. At first it looked like just another normal cut gemstone until Aaron started to turn it under the light. Then suddenly neat letters appeared as refracted spots on the gemstone. It was beautiful and to Aaron’s relief it was written in the tower script and not encrypted in any way. He began to read from the top.

  The gems turned out to be confidential letters, each different gem containing a different letter to an elder in the Town, Ambition or Climber’s Rest. Elder Lorraine was trying to communicate and coordinate an effort that slowly but surely became apparent as Aaron kept reading. The elder wanted to strengthen the Crafter’s guild, but not only in a bid for a promotion, no she wanted to reabsorb and unify with the Alchemists guild. Her plans were cryptic in some ways, but it quickly became clear to Aaron that it was a bid to unify all the guilds, after the Alchemists guild the newly formed guild would be so powerful it would be able to absorb the Adventurers guild as well. Aaron was left feeling disappointed. In the end it was just politics and not really valuable to him. But probably very valuable to Mars. Now he had to decide what to do with this new information.

  Aaron quickly decided to leave the gems here to avoid discovery of his intrusion and just write down all of the names, contacts, dates and plans from each gem. He still had some parchment and writing utensils left in his money pouch and they really came in handy now. It took him all in all 20 minutes to get everything written down. Which was mostly due to the damn feather smearing and being a terrible writing instrument. But he got it done with superhuman patience and a very, very stable hand. That done, Aaron put the gems back how he had found them, put his notes and writing utensils away and then extinguished the lamp. He made sure to put it back at the exact spot he had taken it from. Aaron left the office and to his surprise found the cat had fallen asleep on the chair while he had worked. Well, that suited him fine. He sneaked back into the elders bedroom and placed the key quietly into the folds of her bed sheets, before leaving the room.

  Aaron made his way out of the building, ensuring he did not leave any trace behind, locking up behind him and then dropping the key ring of the guard outside of his hut, before he escaped the villa with a Wind Step empowered jump. Only once he had left the building behind did he breathe out a sigh of relief and allowed himself to revel in a job well done. He stopped, hanging from a slanted roof’s ridge with one hand and looking out over the quiet Town of Beginnings.

  He was free to do whatever now until he was meeting Iris on the clearing in the forest. His mind immediately went to Lesia, the pretty barmaid, but he stopped himself. Too much of a temptation. Instead he skipped over the rooftops until he reached the only place that was open this time of the night in the Town, the red light district. He leapt down into a side street and stepped out into the night market, still bustling with activity, food and people out and about having a good time.

  Aaron relaxed a bit after the tense infiltration missions he had absolved and went to spend way too many shards on food. He basically ate himself through the market once, stopped at where the brothels started and went back towards the other way at the intersection. The food was delicious, but clearly not made by a Vessel most of the times. It was just good, well made food, plentiful, filling and diverse. But it was not made by a Vessel cook, it was never perfect. Aaron was not sure if roasted meat over the fire without any seasonings would do anymore. But he vowed to himself to live on just that for a while. It was not good for his training to stay in the Town. He had missed so many of his training cycles that he itched to start his katas again. Also the longer he stayed in the Town with the manhunt still going on, the higher the chances to be discovered by someone by pure chance. But he tried to mollify himself. Soon he would be able to cook for himself with all the utensils, spices and condiments he planned to make Iris get him.

  He reached the other end of the night market feeling full for once and walked off into the night. Only once he was out of sight he leapt on a rooftop and paused there for a long moment. He had missed civilization more than he cared to admit. It was more than just the food. It was the comfort of not being alone, something he did not really understand, since he liked being alone. But it was a fact that he felt more comfortable in a city than the open country.

  Aaron looked down on the people in the red-light district and had the sudden thought that he would outlive all of them. Unless he died a violent death he would still be there looking like he was now when these people’s grandchildren had put them to rest. It was a sobering and strangely humbling thought. There was suddenly some distance between him and normal mortals. His perspective had to change from what he was used to because in the end he would be alone a lot in his life, simply because he would outlive everyone he knew.

  He turned away from the city, leaping out towards the poorer sector of the city close to the moat and passed it in a giant leap without anyone being any wiser. He landed in the mud and snow and before him was the forest. It was quiet, cold and strangely devoid of the plethora of smells that had been his constant companion in the Town. Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he leapt into the sky with wind steps. He soared above the trees, touching their tops and propelling himself forward into the quiet darkness of the wilderness. He felt free, unfettered and alone, a strange mixture of empowerment and a nostalgic feeling filled him. But he pushed those feelings aside and looked for his old camp. He found it easily, recovered his sleeping bag and backpack, covered under a thin layer of snow, checked on his supplies and then moved his camp to an empty spot somewhere in the wilderness only a few minutes from the clearing he had met Iris on.

  There in the quiet peaceful forest he did his evening routine, stretched, worked up a sweat doing his katas and then settled down to meditate. Tomorrow he would absorb the spirit clinging to him still and then he would search for spots to create permanent camps on this floor. Only when that was done and the manhunt was gone would he set his eyes on challenging the tower. In the darkness Aaron felt a mixture of anticipation and curiosity about what the Tower had in store for him. It was time to challenge himself again and grow. His next immediate goal was the Foundation Realm. With it he would step into an entirely new realm of power and opportunities. He could hardly wait.