Thirty minutes had passed. No marker activations, no signs of active tracking. The situation remained stable.
Albert opened his eyes and spoke briefly:
— We move.
The three left the observation point and descended in formation. Leon took the lead, Kaelya flanked to the right, and Albert moved behind them, controlling the pace.
The approach to the valley led through a rocky corridor—wide enough for fast movement, but narrow enough to become a risk in case of ambush. There was no full cover.
Midway through the path, Albert raised his hand. The group stopped immediately.
— Five presences ahead. No active magic. Stationary. Not moving.
Leon shifted his hand to his weapon grip but didn't draw.
— Are they blocking?
Albert scanned again. No large gestures—just focused analysis.
— No. Not a block. Not in a containment formation. They're standing exposed with no fallback cover. That rules out direct hostile intent.
Kaelya moved forward a few steps and checked the visual angle:
— They're lined up. No visible armor. No insignia.
Albert advanced to the edge of the pass and confirmed:
— Visual confirmed. Five individuals. No attack preparation. No active comm channels between them.
Leon glanced around:
— Why are they here?
Albert:
— To observe. Not engage.
The five individuals wore no markings. Three had neutral cloaks, the other two simple gear. No insignia. No visible magical tools. One of them stepped forward.
— Four days of monitoring. This was the only point we were sure you'd pass through. We didn't hide our presence.
Albert made no movement. He answered directly:
— Neither did we.
— We're unaffiliated. No guild, no academy. Autonomous observation unit.
Kaelya asked:
— What's your purpose?
— Information. We want to know why you're here.
Albert stepped forward. He raised his hand and activated a basic external transmission-blocking field. A standard protection layer.
— We don't give declarations. If you want answers, follow our actions. Not our conversations.
Forty meters away, a sixth person observed through a handheld device. They transmitted:
— Confirmation: limited verbal contact. No intent to cooperate. No offensive magic used. Monitoring protocol continues.
After the transmission-blocking field was activated, the five individuals didn't move. The tension in the air was visible but controlled. It wasn't a fight—yet—but it was real.
Albert looked directly at the one who had spoken earlier.
— If you don't represent an official authority, then you're either volunteers or you're testing a new protocol.
The man in the gray cloak stepped sideways, slowly.
— We're not testing anything. We observe. For entities that don't want to intervene, but still need to know what's emerging outside regulated networks.
From the flank, Leon quietly activated a localized defense circle. The ground beneath their feet stabilized—an anti-trigger magic layer, preventing explosions or remote spells.
— I understand what you're doing, Leon said. But we're too far out from any jurisdiction to accept unlimited passive surveillance.
Kaelya stepped forward and pulled down her hood.
— You're the first. Who comes after?
At that moment, Albert closed his eyes again. He activated a different scan—this time for hidden presence. A rotating symbol lit faintly on his right wrist: a circular pulse designed to detect dormant magical fields.
When he opened his eyes, he spoke clearly:
— There's someone else. Three hundred meters to the north. Hidden under a spiritual camouflage. Power level is mid-tier. Not a direct threat, but they're recording.
The lead man hesitated for a second, then said:
— Confirmed. They're part of our team. They're not authorized for contact.
Albert took one step forward.
— Tell them to step out. If you're observing us, do it openly. Or not at all.
One of the five touched his shoulder with two fingers and activated a local link stone. Seconds later, a sixth person emerged from a rocky outcrop to the side—wearing a cloak designed to block spiritual detection, but carrying no visible weapons. They stopped at a distance and didn't speak.
Albert said nothing more. He simply opened his hand and released a translucent orb toward the person. It didn't explode, but it pulsed, deactivating the cloak's effect.
— Now we can proceed, he said. No hidden monitoring. No parallel teams.
Leon shifted to his side, stabilizing his stance. Kaelya had one hand resting near her back hilt, but didn't draw.
— One last question, Albert said. Then we're done: who are you reporting to?
The front man didn't hesitate:
— A temporary council. Not public. Not hostile. You're not the only ones we're watching.
Albert gave a short nod.
— Then tell them this: the contact was tolerated. Not accepted.
He took the first step beyond the pass.
Albert, Kaelya, and Leon left the encounter zone without looking back. The six left behind didn't follow or signal anything visible. The terrain ahead opened up with scattered rocks and a slight downward slope.
About two hundred meters later, Leon broke the silence.
— They were prepared. Discreet gear, but fully functional. They weren't sent randomly.
— They weren't, Albert replied. They were sent to provoke a reaction. They didn't get one. It'll be logged as non-cooperation, not an incident.
Kaelya kept pace, analyzing as they moved:
— What if another group shows up?
— If they're like the last, we ignore them. If they engage without warning, we respond accordingly.
Leon paused for a moment, pulled out a trajectory stone, and activated a short pulse eastward.
— Coded signal sent. Reset our group signature. If we're being tracked from a distance, they'll need to reconfigure their reference points.
Albert nodded.
— Good. It slows down any tracking attempts. We won't lose all of them, but it weakens their coordination window.
The terrain opened into a flatter area with old ruins of stone and rusted metal. A small structure, possibly a former watchtower, stood to the right.
Albert stopped and looked toward it.
— We're going in. Ten minutes. I want to activate a high-level scan.
Kaelya nodded. Leon checked the surroundings:
— No recent tracks. But the building still has inactive defense layers. Not fully abandoned. Likely used occasionally by patrols.
Once inside, Albert sat directly on the floor, closed his eyes, and activated extended scan magic. Above the structure, an invisible sphere began to form—undetectable to the normal eye—and pulsed with energy.
Leon watched the entrance. Kaelya stood by the window.
After almost a minute, Albert opened his eyes.
— Three nodes in this area don't appear on official networks. Likely temporary command points. They're not active, but they're interconnected. Observer communication is decentralized. No single control center.
Leon made a short gesture.
— They don't need one if each node has operational autonomy.
Albert shut down the scan field.
— That's exactly why we'll need to move unpredictably for the next forty-eight hours. Don't give them time to build a stable structure around us.
Kaelya turned from the window.
— Then we should leave now. Before the next group arrives.
Albert stood up.
— We're moving.
Leaving the abandoned structure behind, the three moved toward a region where the terrain visibly changed. It wasn't fully desolate anymore. In the distance, the outline of a small settlement became clear—low stone walls, wooden watchtowers.
— That's not a fortress, Leon said. It's a small border town.
Albert confirmed:
— Correct. It's called Kardinal. It has a local guild—not directly tied to the central networks. We can enter without formal declaration.
Kaelya observed the surroundings:
— Light traffic. Four people at the gate, two equipped. They're checking entries, but nothing serious.
Albert drew a subtle sign across the sleeve of his cloak. The fabric darkened to a neutral gray. Kaelya and Leon's clothes followed suit. Their outer identities were altered under a standard disguise enchantment.
— New names: Alen, Karis, Vell. We don't change them until we leave the city.
Leon nodded:
— What exactly do we need here?
— Guild registration. Under cover. We need to be able to take local missions to justify our presence. And...
Albert looked toward the left-side tower near the gate:
— ...this place uses automated magic level scanners. If we show up, they'll ask us to verify our rank.
Kaelya looked at him.
— You'll mask your output?
Albert shook his head:
— No. I'll let the device break. It's the most effective way to show them they can't assess me without drawing suspicion.
Leon:
— And if it makes them curious?
Albert:
— Better curiosity than suspicion.
On the way, they passed near ruins that looked like a former magical observation site. Albert paused and touched the ground. Residual vibrations. Distorted magic.
— We'll return here later. This is a dimensional instability zone. It's a place where you can test things no one fully understands.
Two more kilometers, and the road descended toward Kardinal's gates. The guards didn't ask for documents, just a reason.
— We're looking for work. And frontier protection, Leon said.
— Head to the guild, one of the guards replied. End of the main street. They'll handle everything.
Albert nodded.
— Exactly what we need.
Kardinal was more active than it looked from a distance. The main roads were packed dirt, worn by heavy boots, lined with workshops, makeshift stalls under cloth canopies, and the familiar smells of hot iron, dried herbs, and sealing wax.
Albert, Kaelya, and Leon moved through unnoticed. The disguise spell was working. No one seemed to recognize them or analyze their aura.
The guild operated out of a solid red-stone building, marked by a banner depicting an inverted sword beneath three vertical lines—the symbol of the "Kardinal Intermediary Guild." It wasn't a major branch, but it functioned well.
Inside, the atmosphere was busy but orderly. Two reception desks, five people in line, and a large board of missions mounted on the wall.
A clerk spotted them and waved them over.
— New registration?
Leon:
— Yes. Three members.
— Please fill out the forms and proceed to the level-testing room. We use automatic scans for C and D-rank access. If your results exceed that, a direct recommendation will be issued.
Albert filled out his form first. Name: Alen. No rank declared.
A few minutes later, the three were escorted to a side room where a circular metal platform sat in the center of a chamber lined with rune-etched stone walls.
An evaluator waited with a recording tablet.
— The test is simple: step onto the platform and release a controlled burst of mana—clear and stable. The system will read your output level. If it fluctuates, we'll scan manually. No attacking or tampering with the system.
Albert stepped on without hesitation.
— When you're ready, Mister Alen.
Albert closed his eyes and released a measured pulse—not full power, but steady. The platform began to hum, and the side display flickered.
— Unstable read... recalibrating... overload...
The evaluator stood quickly.
— Sir, reduce your output. The platform can't—
He didn't finish. The display shorted out quietly, small blue sparks jumping across its surface. The platform itself remained intact, but the measurement system was destroyed.
Albert stepped down calmly.
— My apologies. I underestimated the device's tolerance.
The evaluator was already taking rapid notes.
— We'll forward this to the regional headquarters. In the meantime… we're registering you as provisional S-rank until verification. You'll have full access to the mission board.
Kaelya watched silently. Leon seemed to barely contain a smirk.
— Well, we've made an entrance, he muttered.
Albert didn't reply.
But behind the guild building, a man in a gray cloak activated a communication stone.
— Confirmed: cover identity. Undetectable level. Dispatching a team.