Listen, if you need infiltration, sabotage, assassination, theft, or all-around subterfuge, there’s only one guy I can really recommend. He went by a bunch of different monikers and names during his time, jumping around the circles. Let’s just say he has, uh, purchasable loyalties, but there’s no one better than him when it comes to infiltrations.

  Call him, uh, William Yu. If that’s his real name, I don’t know, but that’s the name you can reach him through the chat. He’ll answer. If you’ve got something interesting, he’ll answer—but you send your message in first. You pitch it to him. You give him a challenge, and then you place your bid, because this guy, he don’t work for cheap.

  But when he does work, your problems go away, and sometimes permanently. Anyway, just, uh, don’t expect to be friends with this guy, and, uh, always remember to burn your traces after, because tomorrow—well, tomorrow he might not be your solution, but an active problem trying to slit your throat.

  -Excerpt from The Trespasser’s Compendium

  II-69

  Expertise

  “Damnation!” Agnesia screamed. Her voice echoed down from the very heights of the Tower of Possibility. William Yu looked up briefly—one of his eyebrows raised as he folded his arms. Another failed attempt, but far closer this time, apparently.

  “So how long has she been at that?” William asked.

  “About, I don’t know, the past hour or so,” Vendrian grinned. The larger man loomed over Wei’s father, spending the last few moments taking him in as a wolf would a wandering doe. William, to his credit, barely noted the larger man’s stare, choosing instead to scan his surroundings and understand where he was.

  William knew what the Tower of Possibility was. Wei heard him scoff and say: “Here again,” after all. Yet, he was seemingly more interested in Agnesia’s performance. And that was understandable—she was going to be part of this infiltration, after all.

  “An hour,” Wei answered. William nodded. “And she stuck on Magma Alchemist,” Wei continued, careful not to give away too much information. He still didn’t trust his father over mucyh.

  William’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah, those ones. They’re pretty good at fighting—got some real hand-to-hand skills. Not surprised they’re giving her trouble. They were created to eliminate highly capable adversaries. Hell, in some worlds, they’re used as cultivator hunters.” He and Wei briefly made eye contact. “Cultivators, as in from other realms, not ours. As you might be able to guess, Evernest doesn’t have anyone capable of facing even a single Magma Alchemist.”

  Wei tried not to let his disgust show. Who was his father to cast such judgment on their people? It was not their fault for suffering weakness—their world literally left them constrained, bound to a ceiling, a limit. And now, with Wei capable of breaking through, they would all see; they would all know what a son of Evernest was capable of. It didn’t matter.

  A pulse of essence washed through the chamber as a portal brightened. Agnesia made another attempt—once more, she merged into the valley, and Wei could see how versed she was at running this gauntlet. She wasted no time. Immediately, she materialized her Draconic Avatar and poured her flames alongside the sheer cliffs. Black and gold fire carved deep grooves into the mountainsides as crystals sparked and burst apart. Just as her blaze tumbled forward, swallowing all in its path, the Alchemist suddenly rose, sensing the oncoming attack.

  William cocked his head. “Well, it’s a good thought. See how she plays it. Alchemist isn’t going to stay still.” True to his words, the alchemist suddenly dipped down, sinking into a widening fissure of magma as it made for Agnesia again, preparing to engage her up close.

  The girl, for her part, proved her experience—she rose into the air, sprouting wings of flame as she began to bombard the area, strafing everything. Instead of focusing on the alchemist, she targeted both cliffs, both mountains, and slowly made her way towards the volcano.

  William winced. “All right, she’s been through this a few times. But that place? That’s not where she wants to fight it.”

  “I beg to differ,” Vendrian said in a low rumble. “She needs to target the volcano itself to use her power, her dominion over destruction, to seize this territory from the Magma Alchemist’s grasp.”

  William considered Vendrian’s words, and Rafael added, “She’s gotten closer than the last few times.” The lich hummed with interest, “The only reason why she was eliminated prematurely was because, well, she got a little bit of over-enthusiastic shooting fire and got a little too low.”

  “Got clipped by one of those crystals, huh?” The corner of William’s lip curled into a slight smile. “Yeah, that’s one of the lessons you learn pretty quickly. Some materials or skills—well, they’ll last a little bit longer under harm than others.”

  “Took her right in the throat,” Rafael said, punctuating his comment with a loud, gagging, choking noise that sounded horrifically and impressively like how Agnesia sounded.

  Wei regarded Rafael for a moment longer, and the lich noted his stare. “I apologize.”

  “No, don’t. That was disturbing, but well done. You have quite the talent for ventriloquism,”

  Rafael coughed. “I try. It might be useful for what is to come.”

  Four people and one sentient sword had their tensions affixed to the golden screen. Agnesia channeled more flame than ever before, using it as a large beam to carve deep into the volcano. It was a testament to her birthright that her fire sheared clean through the matter. For meters it continued to travel, like a scalpel gliding deeper into flesh. As the entire volcano was hewn through, the magma alchemist burst out from the very epicenter, gathering what crystals and lava he could.

  “…Your strategy is working,” Way said, remembering how Vendrian had destroyed all the crystals previously.

  “I told you,” Vendrian grunted. There was a faint hint of pride on his face, but Wei decided not to reward him with any further compliments. “…All right, she’s forcing him into a fight. Looks good so far.”

  “That’s a good sign,,” William twitched his nose. “You’d be surprised about how many people can’t follow basic instructions or ever learn from past mistakes.”

  “Like you,” Wei said without looking at his father.

  A pause followed. “…Yeah, I guess, like me. But not in this line of work. In this line of work, I’m gonna need you to listen. I’m gonna need you to adapt to what I do.” Wei first response was to pull his father back into the Inventory for talking back. However, a better part of him—a growing part of him—knew that he needed every advantage to succeed right now. He must be more than a boy. As much as his father made his blood boil and the anger in him shiver and writhe, he had a greater duty now to Agnesiia, to his sect, and to the ones he was sworn to save.

  “‘There you are!’” the princess cried. Her voice echoed loudly, as if projected by a beast three times her size. As it washed over the land, even the debris and dust scattered before her. Just then, however, a dart of volcanic glass shot through the air, cleaving right where she was. A second shard flew, barely missing her. A third went just a bit ahead, preparing to intercept her along her path. Agnesia dismissed her wings, tucking herself close as she dove, while wind and ash twisted around her descent.

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

  “‘Oh no,’” Wei said, frowning. “Get away from him you fool girl.”

  William’s eyes narrowed. “Wei. Are you nervous?”

  The young master went still. “No.”

  His father continued staring, then the ghost of a smirk crossed his features.

  “Do not smile at me.”

  “Oh, I’m smiling at you. Just realized something funny.”

  Wei gritted his teeth. Bastard. “‘He’s drawing close now, preparing to fight.’” The Magma Alchemist flared bright, traveling upon a rising platform of obsidian.

  “How good is she up close?” William asked.

  “Not,” Wei replied simply.

  “Yeah, pretty fucking shit at it,” Vendrian agreed. “But still, she’s got a lot of strength, and I dunno, maybe princess has something special cooked up in that devious little mind of hers.”

  And, as it turned out, Agnesa did. She made it halfway when the glowing form of the Alchemist drew close, preparing to intercept her before she could strike the basin of the volcano.

  Wei winced as he remembered how she had died against this creature the first time. It had struck her, knocked her airborne, and brutalized her with superior skill and domination of grappling.

  However, as it opened its arms to seize her, Agnesialaughed, and she flared her wings once more. Her Draconic Avatar burst forth, and she accelerated. A gust of flame shot out as she slammed head-first into the Magma Alchemist’s chest. She speared it through the platform it rode on, and even as the Alchemist grappled and struck, Wei realized something crucial—it was in the air, away from the ground, and just as she had done when facing her previous adversary, she endured the pain.

  Even as it struck her liver and broke her ribs, she endured, pulling it close and drawing in every last bit of heat around her. Her body flashed bright gold, then dark, then absolute white.

  The alchemist prepared to slam two knuckles into her temple, but she slammed her head right against its chest again. For most, this would have left them severely burned, maimed, and crippled. Agnesia, however, was born of the flame, blessed by the flame, and empowered by it.

  Wei thought she was planning to explode, but this time he sensed what she was truly doing—channeling her essence directly into its body, weaving and wielding it. The alchemist was a master of lava, of striding through flame, but Agnesia’s conceptual power was superior. With hands pressed against its body and power overwhelming, she pulled and pulled hard. Suddenly, every ember, every last volcanic vein that had gleamed or once glowed, went out as if snuffing out a candle.

  The alchemist shivered. Something essential to its essence was torn free from its body, and Agnesia inhaled deeply as her flames drew in everything around her. As her adversary twitched, she used her Avatar to reach around its limbs, seizing all six arms of the alchemist’s limbs as she hovered in place, holding her foe aloft. “Let’s see you hit me now you—”

  It kicked her in the face, curved claws slashing against the burning, manifested scales of her avatar.

  “Wretch!” Agnesia snarled. The Magma Alchemist lifted its head, facing her in silence, in defiance. Way offered it a respectful bow—whatever he could say about the adversary, it was a warrior to the end. But Agnesia didn’t believe in such pretenses. With a pull reminiscent of an angry child tugging a cheap doll, deprived of its power and stripped of its geographic advantage, the princess peeled the creature in half. Its bifurcation was as if that of a wet burlap sack, and as it came asunder, a blast of fire swept through the world—a blast that swelled into a sphere of all-consuming lava.

  Yet, where such force would have been fatal for so many, Agnesia endured. More than endured, she ignored it altogether—for what flame can touch the scales of a dragon awakened?

  “Challenge complete. Select Specialization Evolutino?” The words of the Tower went unanswered as essence and light coalesced around Agnesia. Wei wondered if she should settle now. The Magma Alchemist was a hard adversary to beat, and this was an honorable stop. But this was only the Epic category, and there was still Legendary that awaited ahead.

  “She shouldn’t pick this,” Wei looked at his father, surprised at the man’s assertion.

  “She shouldn’t pick this,” William repeated. “It’s not gonna be good for her. She’s not good with zones. High mobility, heavy damage, get in, get out. That’ll be good for her. You said she was untrained, right?”

  Wei nodded slightly. “Not at all. She was a princess most of her life. A young mistress.”

  “No, not even a young mistress,” his father snorted. “A noblewoman. One that was meant to be married off or something, like in one of those Arthurian Fictionals. Except this girl isn’t the one that’s going to be traded to a dragon, but one that has the blood of a dragon flowing through her veins, and a dragon god at that. Still, I’m not complaining. We’re gonna get a lot of use out of that.”

  William looked Vendrian up and down. “And your wife? Is she any good at fighting?”

  Vendrian grimaced. “She is a healer. She could handle a knife and a drink and has a decent right hook—but she is not a warrior. And nor would I ever see her be one.”

  William nodded. “But she can handle danger.”

  “She has been part of three separate sieges,” Mourning declared. “If you are questioning her bravery—”

  “I’m not. I’m just trying to get a gauge on her capabilities.”

  “All right. So we have—” William pointed to Agnesia, still encompassed by the light. “Clearly she hasn’t decided if she wants to evolve yet. So. Amateur. We have one hostage—wait, scratch that, two. You said she was pregnant.”

  “Yes,” Vendrian said. “And if they are not freed, if they are not somehow severed from my influence, then yeah—if you die, they die. Because they’re the next closest link to you. I’m gonna need to figure out how that link works. Like, why doesn’t it just kill the Collectress in your stead?”

  “Doesn’t work that way,” William answered. “It pulled Wei and the others in earlier because my bonds were close to them. In that moment, severed from the rest of space, they were the quickest things to replace my fated death as an offering to my father.”

  “All right. But because the Collectress isn’t as close to you, or however that works—”

  “Yes,” Vendrian said, “because my love for my wife, for my child, is far weaker than my hate for my slaver.” At this, William looked down. “That’s something, at least. I can see if I can get her out. No promises, though—hostage extraction is always a mess. And since we’re operating on a tight time frame with amateurs, no less.” He let out a breath. “Yeah, this is gonna be hard. Good news, though—I ran up against the Collectress before. She’s clever, but her problem is she’s not as clever as you think she is. And this time we have a system in our corner.” He looked away. “You said that you’re going to use the source anchor to help me enter. That’s one way in. Keep that with Agnesia. The other—well, the other bishop I already talked to you about. But aside from that, I want another way. Another angle of approach.”

  “Why do we need so many points of access?” Wei asked.

  “Because invariably, Wei, things go tits up. And when they do—when everything’s getting fucked—you want options. Options, the lack of which will kill you. Well, kill me in this situation and implicate you. And trust me, you don’t want to be implicated. If there’s one thing that’s worse than facing a superior enemy in a fight, it’s getting sued by them. And though your little lawyer’s been getting quite a bit of work, I would advise you against getting sued by a long-established and well-connected Countess of Lust.”

  “I’d agree with him, boss,” Wei’s gold-tongued little devil chimed in. “I’m not looking forward to fighting litigation against a Collectress. She’s got some pretty nasty wins under her record.” Wei had never heard his lawyer express apprehension before—and if there was a bad omen, such was the sign.

  “I don’t have time to train you all on tradecraft. I don’t have time to help Agnesia learn spycraft, so you’ll all play spoiler. I’ll do the actual op. I’m going to stay connect to you, Wei. Just you. Minimize connections to the others. Don’t want the Essence streams to get detected. But I need you to understand something: if you want this to work, you need to do what I say, when I say it. There won’t be time for questions sometimes. I know you don’t trust me. But I need you to work with me. Got it.”

  Wei stared at him for a long moment and saw…

  “Why…” Wei said, clutching his father, coughing blood as the Shapeless blade twisted inside him.

  Resisting trauma with Aspect of (Ambition)

  ->Resisted

  “Wei?” William repeated.

  “Fine,” the young master growled. “Fine. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.” He took a step closer to his father. “But this is not a loosening of your leash. This is merely an acceptance of what is needed. And nor does this absolve you.”

  William gave a bitter chuckle. “Yeah. I’m too far gone for that.”

  Wei went quiet, and nodded. “Fine, then. So. The team is to your acceptance?”

  “No. The team’s probably not prepared for this at all, but I’ve pulled off more desperate ops under less time.”

  “You have?” Wei said, surprised.

  “Yeah,” William scoffed. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”