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PftA Book 4 - Interlude 2 - The Specter
🕑 Added 2024-12-03 04:22:52 +0000 UTCA/N: I hope the shift isn't too abrupt. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I look forward to sharing Emie's newest challenge with you all...
Cin’Specter was technically a Lord, just like every other Tier Ten in the Alliance, but he’d never claimed the title. Doing so was likely to draw attention, and that was anathema for an Assassin.
Regardless, it wasn’t like many people knew his tier since he spent most of his time in disguise.
Rules only applied to those who got caught, after all, and the Assassin known as ‘the Specter’ never got caught.
Cin was also growing tired of idling away on the mid-tier world where his newest assignment had taken him.
It wasn’t a traditional assignment – not that he really got those anymore at his level in the organization. This was more of a favor to repay a debt. He’d honestly expected to ascend long before the favor was called due, but the Councilor he owed had surprised him.
Councilor Arona had disappeared shortly after sending his instructions. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought she’d ascended.
But people like Arona didn’t ascend before they’d exhausted every bit of time they were allotted in this realm, so he doubted that was it. She’d probably just blocked communications and disappeared from the public for a while.
He didn’t blame her after seeing who his target was.
Thankfully, he had a way to fulfill these kinds of assignments without crossing the line and getting himself labeled as an offender.
Now, he just needed to locate the damnable human so he could finish the assignment and get back to his fourth wife! Being forced to take an assignment during the middle of their annual retreat had caused a bit of conflict, but if he could return quickly enough, he could probably make it up to her.
As if drawn by his annoyance, the target’s family finally reappeared. Cin didn’t have to see them to know they’d returned. He had placed several small sound-transmitting devices within each of their residences.
They were all so well concealed that even someone trained in finding such items would likely overlook them.
After listening for several minutes, the target of his interest disappeared and reappeared in her own bugged residence. The Assassin allowed himself a self-satisfied smile as the target started moving within the fancy penthouse apartment.
Sects often thought their wards were enough to keep people like him out, but there was little someone could do to thwart a truly dedicated Assassin. With his skill, all but the best wards were little more than a minor inconvenience.
“…No, I told my cousin I’d get the dungeon primer done soon. Lisa finished compiling everything, but I need to do a manual review before I send it out. It shouldn’t take very long with the dilation formations this place has.”
Cin had noticed the [Time Dilation] enchantments built into the residence when he’d planted the listening devices. He preferred enchantments that allowed visuals as well, but those were far more likely to be noticed than their simpler counterparts.
If the young human activated the dilation enchantments, it would take him a few moments to regain access to the audio feed. For another Assassin, such an action would render surveillance efforts nearly impossible without expensive manatech.
But for a Time Mage of his caliber, it was child’s play to sync dilation rates.
He doubted the young human realized that dilation enchantments could be used to thwart surveillance ways since she’d spent most of her short life in the dungeon. However, even if she didn’t realize the value, Cin knew the designers and planners behind the posh accommodations recognized their value.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have included such an item in the penthouse suite.
The ignorant human probably thought the feature had been added to save her the effort of casting the spell herself or something.
“…meet for lunch tomorrow? I was going to go by the Enchanters’ Academy in Garnet City since that’s where my contact is. They probably have more advanced runes and techniques available there than here on Hadier anyway.”
The Assassin known as the Specter grinned at the information. Space Mages were notoriously difficult to tie down with how easy it was for them to escape. Even for someone as skilled as him, he needed a wide-area effect or physical contact.
He preferred physical contact since it kept his presence largely hidden and bypassed most defensive artifacts. Time magic often did some degree of that anyway, especially when it was deemed ‘protective’ in nature. But he’d always found it better to over-plan than to fall short.
“Where?... Oslam’s? I’m not familiar with that restaurant. Can you send me the address?” the human asked her acquaintance.
Cin had his Interface Assistance search for likely locations in Garnet City as he continued to listen in. He’d already surmised that the human was likely talking to her companion from the dungeon – the half-breed dwarf from Hephaistos Sect.
That information made finding the location for their scheduled meeting easy enough. There was only one Oslam’s restaurant on Aegeas.
A quick check of the floorplan and a couple of simulations made him realize the restaurant might not be the best location to abduct the young Tri-Affinity Mage. He could pull it off, he was certain, but the Enchanters’ Guild would suit his needs far better.
He wasn’t sure what level of techniques she was looking for, but unless she was trying to gain access to Master runes, he’d have an easy enough time completing the first part of his assignment there.
He’d still go to Oslam’s, just in case the perfect opportunity presented itself. He’d captured more than one high-visibility target in unexpected locations, after all.
When the conversation eventually ended, the target activated the embedded [Time Dilation] formation as expected. Also as expected, it took him less than two minutes to sync to the specific dilation being used.
The extra minute was only because the human wasn’t making any particular noise. By all accounts, it seemed as if the target was truly using the [Time Dilation] enchantment like a normal household convenience.
How odd.
= = =
Cin’Specter had never been fond of dwarven food. Naturally, elven palates were far more refined.
He didn’t buy into the whole ‘elven supremacy’ thing that the Councilor and her sect espoused, but there were some obvious, undisputable facts (like elves’ vastly superior palate and longer base lifespan) that gave credence to such arguments.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to fake the enthusiasm required to pose as a dwarf (and no elf would willingly eat at a dwarven alehouse when better options were available), Cin had decided to disguise himself as a human.
He arrived early enough to get a good seat with a view of the entire restaurant – a necessity in his line of work.
He picked at his food and slowly nursed his drink while he waited. Eventually, the target and her friend arrived. Had it not been for the human’s half-dwarven companion, Cin likely wouldn’t have realized the target had even arrived.
‘It seems I’m not the only one wearing a disguise today,’ Cin thought to himself. ‘She even has a false identification displayed, though she didn’t go so far as changing her displayed tier. Too bad it won’t be enough. Maybe I should grab her before she leaves instead of waiting. Who’s to say she won’t change her appearance again?’
It was a good thing he was so thorough. If he’d gone straight to the Enchanters’ Guild, he really might have overlooked the target altogether.
Cin ordered another small dish of fried tubers when the waitress began giving him a look. He was too far away to hear what the target and her friend were saying, even with his enhanced perception, but it wasn’t hard to anticipate the pair’s departure.
What was far more challenging was timing the abduction so that nobody would realize what had happened. The human had presented herself as a Space Mage, so making her suddenly disappear wouldn’t draw any attention at all.
The Assassin primed two spells as he headed toward the exit, one to cast externally and one internal.
He waited for the pair to say goodbye and the friend to turn away before activating Haste at the highest possible rate. He was already close enough to reach out and touch the target, so that’s exactly what he did.
The moment his hand touched hers, he targeted her with Stasis. Such a spell would bypass almost every magical resistance known since it was universally a protective spell. For those few resistances or defensive artifacts that it didn’t bypass… Well, that’s what the non-aggressive physical contact was for.
At Tier Ten, a measly Tier Eight had no chance of resisting his spell.
Moving quickly to prevent being noticed, Cin removed a spatial device specifically crafted to store living – but time-locked – entities, including humans. It was one of the best investments he’d made during his time as an Assassin.
Between freezing and storing the target, less than a quarter of a second had passed. It was straining his mana to keep this pace, but it was unavoidable if the Assassin wanted to prevent being noticed.
After returning to his previous position, Cin canceled Haste and casually made his way out of the restaurant. He traveled several blocks before eventually calling for a private, self-driving taxi.
Once inside, the Assassin triggered a special [Recall] talisman and teleported to a location on Sira that less than a dozen people in the realm knew how to find – the Assassin’s rift.
It was mostly used as a capstone exercise for those hoping to become Master Assassins. The quest was given separately by the Assassins’ Guild, but the rift itself was the testing grounds.
What was important in this case was that since the rift was only a single tier higher than his target, throwing her inside wouldn’t count as murder, even if he stripped her of all her tools and resources beforehand.
It didn’t matter to the system that the human was only Low-Tier Eight, and the rift was Peak-Tier Nine. As far as the Accords went, the girl had enough of a chance of survival that it wasn’t an automatic death sentence.
Of course, reality had proven this rift to be more deadly than most, but that was mostly due to the fact that it was impossible to leave without completing the objectives. Once you entered, you finished the challenge, or you died.
Cin checked the regulator beneath the swirling portal. Because the rift was used so infrequently, the Assassins’ Guild had taken measures to constantly siphon some of the excess mana to keep the rift from breaking and exposing their secret.
While challenge rifts and puzzle rifts that limited a delver’s exit weren’t prohibited, they were usually dispersed or reset due to the higher-than-average fatality rates. Those that weren’t generally had well-documented maps and were directly monitored by the Adventurers’ Guild.
And since the Assassins’ Guild naturally wouldn’t grant the Adventurers’ Guild such oversight, keeping the capstone rift a secret was a given.
After checking to ensure the rift was in good condition, Cin removed the storage item from his pocket and withdrew the time-locked human. He’d hit her with the strongest Stasis he could manage, so she wouldn’t even start the challenge for close to a thousand years.
Of course, that equaled less than thirty Alliance Standard Years with the compounded Time dilation effects (5 times for being on Sira and another 7.25 times for a PT9 rift), but that didn’t really matter since she’d never escape.
He almost felt pity for the human Tri-Affinity Mage as he pulled out another artifact.
Before he’d acquired this item, he’d had to remove items from his targets the hard way, often ruining any value they might have. But a not-so-simple [Item Phaser] had solved that problem readily enough.
It even had a built-in enchantment neutralizer to keep any defensive enchantments from activating, not that the items should be registering as currently equipped since the human was completely inert. As far as her equipment was concerned, she might as well be a mannequin.
The robes came off first – not because he wanted to see the human naked, but because clothing often concealed other valuable items. He’d never been all that attracted to humans anyway, even if they did look almost identical to elves.
Simply knowing they were human was usually enough of a deterrent. There were a few times when he’d indulged himself in spirits… but Cin didn’t talk about those.
Ignoring the human’s curves and pale skin, the elven Assassin removed each of her talismans and jewelry pieces. He dispassionately searched the girl’s body to ensure nothing was hidden, though his efforts were limited to what was readily visible since Stasis prevented any manipulation of the target.
After checking the items he’d retrieved, Cin felt a moment of uncertainty. It was a small thing, but the lack of weapons or finished items in the target’s storage ring made him suspect she had another storage device hidden somewhere.
The ring was large, far larger than most Tier Eight storage accessories he’d seen, in fact. But it was mostly filled with raw materials and a few finished items. It was a far cry from the contents of storage items he’d acquired from others of comparable status.
She might have hidden another storage item somewhere on her body. Most Assassins had one or two implanted somewhere to prevent this kind of thing from happening to them.
It would certainly explain the discrepancies.
Cin shook his head. It didn’t really matter.
Even if she had a few weapons stored away, they wouldn’t be of much use. Cin knew enough about how the Realm Dungeon worked to know the target wouldn’t have had access to Tier Nine items there since she was only Low-Tier Eight.
Additionally, everything she wore was Tier Eight, with the exception of a single protective amulet.
While her Patriarch might have armed her with more powerful weapons, Cin didn’t see it as very likely. Tier Ten weapons were prohibitively expensive, even for those at Tier Ten, simply because there weren’t enough crafters capable of working with such high-tier materials.
And if, by some miracle, the young human managed to survive the rift, it wouldn’t matter to Cin anyway. Nothing connected him to the human except the Councilor, and she couldn’t talk without incriminating herself.
With a mirthless smile, the elven Assassin pushed Emie’s time-locked body into the rift. With that action, his debt was cleared.
After sparing one last glance around the hidden locale to ensure nothing was out of place, the Assassin known as the Specter disappeared.
Comments
Mike
My head has been spinning 😵💫 for 15+ hours on all the possible implications of and questions about this chapter. What are the Assassin Dungeon trials and rewards? When Emie exits, will the Assassin Dungeon be revealed to the full Alliance? I can’t wait to see where all of this goes. If Emie hits Tier 9 in the Assassin Dungeon then she should still be able to go back to the Realm Dungeon floor 8 but will immediately start the 100 hour clock to go to Floor 9. What will she do with 100 hours? Hot Springs time? Final Floor 8 challenge? Does Specter not know that Emie was in the Realm Dungeon or just not know that all Realm Dungeon participants get an Advanced Inventory Potion (PftA2 ch 42)? I am assuming that Emie somehow escapes Specter’s Stasis fairly quick; but how? Emie’s Time abilities? Kairos’ Growth potion kick in?
Hibou Ronchon
Keep in mind that it's assuming everything goes as the assassin's plan. It might very well not be the case.
Daniel Sifrit
30 years with dilation multipliers.
Ferco
So... time skip for... what did it say? 5000 years due to the stasis plus all the time dilations? So no return to the dungeon, everyone will be dead, master something will already have ascended... I'm not a big fan of such hard resets in stories. I understand there must be unfulfilled things left behind, otherwise as readers we wouldn't feel invested, but it's not fun at all.
Simon Hoerder
And the growth materials! I shouldn’t forget about those either.
Simon Hoerder
I don’t think the stasis will hold her that long. Just long enough to get her into the dungeon. She’ll find a dramatic way to free herself before something bad happens, I’m sure. She’s got an extremely high affinity, after all. Maybe she even gets an affinity boost for freeing herself? 🤔 I wonder has she trained freeing herself from a stasis effect? That should be part of a time sect training and Kairos’ inheritance me thinks.
Jim Smith
Still if the stasis holds for 30 years before she starts she loses that much more contact and time with family, not to mention needing to level enough to beat a peak tier 9 dungeon from low tier 8, while missing equipment and intel. Not rapid at all.
Simon Hoerder
Oh man, that had a long build-up! Now I understand why you’ve been making such a big deal about the inventory.
Simon Hoerder
No, I think this is a clear case of loopholes and “there’s always a skill to counter something”. Dungeons have been introduced as extremely powerful, difficult to circumvent. The rules around killing lower tiers have been explained and quite lax in the details. Time magic has been described as ridiculously overpowered and a domain where non-elves are rare. Tier Tens have also been described as insanely powerful so the abduction is reasonable. Emie is going to power-level in that Dungeon and I’d be surprised if she couldn’t collect a few tasty bonuses. When she’ll get out the assassins will lose the secret of their Dungeon (if they don’t lose it before then).
Adurna
I am mostly annoyed that she is losing out on the tier eight hot springs if this is real. I would however not be too surprised if she is prepared to rewind herself out somehow. Or if her dear master might do a rewind and just find the issue before she is taken.
Jim Smith
If it stays as it appears, kidnapping by a tier ten, despite being forewarned and forearmed, with no other response, and losing a number of items, it seems like a scaling issue. There may be narrative payoff later, but on the front end it feels as though why bother with so much coverage on attempts to thwart the potential assassin. We know the guilty party escaped through a cheap trick. If there was no onsite monitoring by the alliance, or a time reversal spell it appears terribly incompetent. For the reader in a serialized version it is unsatisfying. Admittedly, for the novel, it is a few minutes of irritation, but in a serial format it is weeks or months of delayed pay off, and frustration. It makes one question what was the point of alerting the council, Kairos, or Emile, if they can’t even address one assassin, at least from a narrative perspective. Then it’s more dungeon, but alone, with no personal interaction, or communication with family or anyone else.
Hibou Ronchon
This chapter is going to catch so much flak... Probably best to release it with the next one straight away on RR...
Tiffany Miller
The assassin should never have been able to touch her such bullshit. I despise overly powered villians so much.
Tiffany Miller
I hate this chapter ths
