13. The Shadow Seeker's Guild

The journal’s Power Compass page had changed after the meeting with Penelope. Five new hollow circles sat where his conjunction and confluence abilities would go. He couldn’t tell if the journal was learning with him or had instructions to only reveal such information when he discovered it.

Lukas slowly got into the habit of inspecting everything he found. It served as a decent substitute for his lack of magic detection abilities.

Runeblade’s Shortsword
The sword was made with magicked materials, using magic to wield magic by the first runesmiths of the Gray. It will hold arcane imbuements longer than ordinary swords without suffering damage. The stone at its heart also has the ability to attract and store magic for spell casting and empowering the blade.
Hold the sword a blade's width from your lips and speak the following words to activate the respective enchantments.

Bryna: Sharpen

Frar: Haste

Skina: Shine

I need to get in the habit of inspecting things.

Lukas kicked himself for not inspecting the short sword earlier. It was a good thing he hadn’t sold it. Kat either didn’t know its true value or had counted on his ignorance to make a neat profit. 

The journal also had much to say about the scabbard.

Magestalker Scabbard
The scabbard is made from Magestalker Leather. Little is known about the elusive humanoid creatures besides their hide being able to conceal their magical signatures. They specifically hunt channellers of magic and grow stronger by consuming them.
The scabbard is alchemically treated for hardening and weatherproofing. It will conceal the arcane signatures of the weapon and all else it contains.

These are too valuable to hand to a clone, let alone sell. 

Initially, Lukas had believed that the extra-long scabbard was a mistake by the weapon's creator or previous owner. Now, as he concealed the cracked shard, he believed it was intentional. The sword fit over it with room to spare.

Mislead opponents about its length and also hide magical tools to catch them off guard. This is perfect.

Lukas also inspected the coat he had found in the manor. It was mundane, and the journal had nothing to say about it besides the high-quality fabric and weather-resistant treatment. The satchel’s contents still remained unanalyzed. He had sent it away with a clone for safekeeping. The other inn was far safer and in a well-policed area. The chances of burglary were significantly lower. 

The inn serving as his temporary hideout sat close to the market street and was still far enough from the eastern wall to not be too big a concern. He spent a couple of days watching the street from his room’s window. Neither thug made an appearance. He didn’t see the shopkeeper either. The shops and nearby alleyways appeared shady, but it was still noon, so Lukas didn’t consider heading out too risky. Even if his former pursuers found or identified him, there wasn’t much they could do in crowded areas. The city guard would get involved, keeping things from getting violent violent.

It didn’t take him long to find a leatherworker with quality products. Lukas ate into his meager liquid savings for a belt treated for durability and flexibility. It had a loop for his scabbard and fit snugly enough, so a simple yank wouldn’t be enough to steal the weapon or for disarming. It also came with a buttoned strap to secure the sword, and Lukas kept it fastened. 

I just need to remember to undo it if there is the slightest chance of me needing a sword.

The transmigration had robbed Lukas of all the lessons and experience he had gained in the Realm of Great Beings. However, he remembered the many fights and skirmishes he and the clones had experienced. They were like dreams threatening to slip away. The old Lukas had a preference for curved swords and stabbing daggers or knives. His new tool sat somewhere in between, resembling a Roman gladius at just under a couple of feet long.

The blade started broad at the hilt, curved marginally inwards before widening again closer to the triangular tip. A fuller ran along its spine and contained a good deal of the weapon's enchanting runes. Lukas needed to practice with the straighter sword but hoped, in the meantime, the enchantments and raw instinct would help him overcome his shortcomings. Overall, he felt more comfortable with it hanging from his belt.

Approximately two weeks had passed since his arrival in Iskander, but he was already looking and feeling healthier. The hearty meals had helped him put on weight. ‘Elvis’s’ activities in Kat’s forge and the courier jobs ensured he got plenty of exercise. Lukas was still far too skinny but no longer looked sickly and malnourished. His complexion and the quality of his dark brown, almost black, hair had also improved.  

Finally, he entered the Shadow Seeker guildhouse and marched straight to the reception. The walls were old, stained, and moldy around the corners. The floor didn’t seem to have met a brush in weeks, if not more. Courier services had taken Lukas and his clones to almost all the guilds for drop off and collection, except for the Shadow Seeker’s offices. None were as rundown as it. The building felt more like a den of thieves than an organization of warriors.

The woman behind it looked bored as she worked on her right hand’s fingernails with a slender file. It took Lukas clearing his throat three times and knocking on the counter before she paid him any attention. 

“Yes?” She asked, tone heavy with annoyance.

“I’m here to enquire about the signup procedure,” Lukas replied.  Penelope claimed that he and ‘Elvis’ could access the undercity without any additional paperwork as long as they were with her. However, he didn’t want to rely on her alone. More importantly, the only way to get martial training without pledging oneself to a mercenary troupe or Iskander’s security forces was through a guild.  

“Are you able to pay the five-shell signup fee?” The woman didn’t sound any more friendly than before. 

“There is a signup fee?”

“It’s meant to discourage timewasters. Testing nor the examiner’s time is free.” Her attention returned to her nails, as if she had already decided that Lukas was a time waster. “Powering and examining the scryer takes magic. A Senior guild member also needs a reason to tear themselves away from training, downtime, or whatever they’d rather do for the physical test. Why don’t you—”

Lukas placed a large gold coin on the table, pulling it on the table. “Can you break a crown?”

The woman eyed the coin greedily for a moment before nodding and handing Lukas a form and pen. She retrieved a wooden box from under the counter. The crown went in, and she counted out five silver coins. “It’ll take a moment to prepare everything,” she said when he returned the completed form. “Why don’t you take a seat? Someone—”

“Is there somewhere I can warm up and work off breakfast?” Lukas interrupted, keeping his tone friendly despite the contempt the woman radiated.

“Down the hall,” she replied, rising from her chair and pointing to the right. “Take a left and out the back. Don’t disturb any members. Don’t get in their way. Don’t talk to them unless they talk to you first.”

“Anything else I need to keep in mind?”

Lukas walked off when the woman only replied with a death stare. The guild’s training ground proved bigger, cleaner, and better maintained than expected—it was almost as if they kept the entrance purposely shoddy. Training dummies lined one wall. A targeting range stood opposite it. The center was a large open patch of sand. A trio practiced unarmed fighting forms under a middle-aged woman. Two pairs sparred near the far wall, moving so fast he struggled to follow their technique. None of them spared Lukas a glance.

After taking a moment to stretch, Lukas drew his short sword. He brought the blade to his lips and whispered, “Frar.”

Over the past sixty years, Lukas and his clones had trialed all the intoxicating substances the Realm of Greater Beings had to offer. Addiction was never a concern because as soon as the piece of Lukas consuming the substance died or was dispelled, all dependency and draw went with it. None of it was taboo. No laws limited consumption, alchemists pedalled all kinds of wares, and Lukas was constantly on the lookout for whatever made him most effective. Sometimes, things went great. More often than not, the clone died or dispelled himself.

Colors grew more vivid. The smell of sweat, sand, and the sea gained intensity. Lukas’s skin itched, growing more sensitive to all of his garments. He hopped on the balls of his feet, feeling lighter and his joints looser. The enchantment ran deep, triggering a physiological change. It wasn’t just his body that was faster but all of him. The world seemed to slow by the minutest of fractions, and the sparring pairs’ movements became somewhat easier to follow. Every step carried Lukas further as he moved. It almost felt like he was walking on air. Then, he ran, expecting to stumble and fall, instead, he felt as surefooted as ever.

Holy complex enchantments!

There was no telling how long the enchantment would last, but Lukas made the most of it, running laps and getting his heart rate up. He glimpsed the martial arts teacher and her students out of the corner of his eye, awareness heightened. They watched him as he broke into a sprint, running from one corner of the training ground to the other. Lukas didn’t recall feeling as fast when he first gained the Arcane Clone from Lady Silverspine. In fact, the ability hadn’t changed his physiology like the shard. His body had remained perfectly ordinary until he acquired food and potions that enhanced his physiology and then learned Body Reinforcement magic.

As Lukas moved with the blade, it felt like a part of him. Its energy, along with whatever formed the clone’s shell, had linked. He could feel the weapon drawing on him, taking a trickle with every passing heartbeat. Then, the connection faded along with the sword’s enchantment. In the moments before the bond ended, Lukas got a sense of the weapon’s magical stores. Three-fourths of it remained. 

Two minutes? That’s a long time in a fight.

“You’re fast.” One of the sparring pairs wandered over while Lukas caught his breath and massaged the stitch in his side. “Is it a spell or shard ability?”

“Shard,” Lukas answered, panting, He had picked up enough about shards in the past couple of weeks. Thanks to the sword, he had a better lie. “I’m more agile and surefooted when wielding a sword. Now, I just need to get good with one.”

“Are you a new member or here to get assessed?” The other of the pair asked.

“Assessed.”

“If you’re approved, be sure to join,” the woman continued. “Shadow Seekers has some of the best light weapons trainers around. And if you join, we’re always around to spar.”

“Sparring is the best way to get better,” her friend added. He looked like he was in his late teens. “The other guilds think it's only good for facing other human opponents, but they’re talking out of their hairy butts.”

“I—”

“We’re fast,” the teenager interrupted, refusing to let Lukas get a word in. “They’re slow. By the time they get into formation, we’ve already finished the fight.”

“Shadow Seekers unite!” The young woman chanted, joining. Now that Lukas got a closer look, she didn’t look much older than his new body. “We kick—”

“How many times do I have to tell you two not to talk to potential newbies?” The sudden interruption made all three of them almost jump out of her skin. While Lukas looked around them for the voice’s owner, the pair looked up. A much too skinny and tall man stood on the wall above, perpendicular to the surface below his feet. His proportions and brown, ratty clothing made him look more like a stick insect than a man. “If you weird out another recruit and make him run away, I’ll ensure you only get rat contracts for a month.”

“We were just trying to be friendly,” the teenager protested.

“Sorry, Snake,” the woman said, flashing the ban an apologetic smile. “We were just having a laugh. I promise it won’t happen again. Please, no rats.”

“I apologize on their behalf.” The man dropped to the ground as the pair walked away, waving at Lukas. “They mean well but can be a bit much.” He shook Lukas’s hand. “I’m Davros, the Iskander chapter of Shadow Seeker’s vice leader.”

“Why do they call you Snake?” Lukas asked.

The man’s hand shot towards Lukas, weaving around an attempted block like the arm had no bones. Lukas yelped, trying to retreat but was too slow. The hand and its owner closed in before he could react further and stopped a hair short of the throat. Davros’s arm held the S-shape for a moment before it retreated, returning to normal.

“It's an old fighting pit name. Move like a snake. Use venoms. Be fast and sneaky. People will call you Snake. It's an inevitability.” Davros smiled. He pulled out a triangular crystal filled with silver motes of light. The man poked Lukas’s arm with it without asking. A sharp jolt followed, and the motes spread, filling the prism. “Soul Pillar. Mid-tier-one. So, you’re not completely green.”

“What was that?” Lukas frowned, rubbing his arm as the electric jolt passed. 

“Our scryer is off in the undercity on guild business,” Davros answered, holding up the crystal device. A power compass and unrecognizable pictograms filled it. Most floated around the Western point, which usually represented the Soul Pillar. “This gives us a rough idea of an individual’s capabilities. You move well and seem decent enough. I’m happy to proceed with the testing, but first, I have a question. Why Shadow Seekers? What do you know about us?”

“Nothing,” Lukas answered. “To be honest, one of the biggest draws was that you accept just about anybody. I’m weak, lost most of who I am, and was to a Wyrmkin raid, and am just trying to make something of myself. Someplace to start afresh, make connections, and learn to fight is just what I need.” He paused, watching Davros’s expression. “I barely escaped. And I am only alive because I’m great at sneaking around and running away. Even then, there were far too many close calls. I’d be dead if my brother hadn’t found a portal spell scroll and dragged me to the vet near Draper’s Street. I’m done feeling helpless and weak. I want to know how to fight back and protect myself.”

“Excellent pitch,” Davros nodded. “But are you aware that most other guilds consider us thieves, assassins, and spies? And that we’re holding onto our status as an adventurer’s guild only by a thread.”

“I hadn’t heard, but it doesn’t really make a difference. If you can teach me to sneak better and strike from the shadows without getting hurt, that’s a bonus, too. People can talk all they want. Results are the only thing that matters.”

Davros studied Lukas, eyes narrowed. “Has anyone ever told you that you don’t talk the age you look?”

“Far too many times.” Lukas chuckled. “My brother makes up for it. He acts half his age and never takes anything seriously. I’m mostly here to train and for an undercity access license. My employer wishes to take me down using hers, but I’d like to explore alone, too.”

“Just be careful going down without proper training or preparation,” Davros said. “I mostly asked because we’ve had a wave of people your age getting licenses and taking their friends down using it. Most of them die or return crippled. I wouldn’t want you to take your brother down unprepared and face the same fate. It's bad for our already struggling reputation.”

“He’s a better fighter and more competent than me,” Lukas said, surprised to learn that only one member of a team needed a license. “But thank you for your concern. If you’ll have me, I’d still like that provisionary membership.”

Davros stood silent for a moment. His pupil appeared to turn into a slit for a brief moment. Lukas blinked, and it was back to an ordinary circular whole. “Fine. You seem decent enough, and the scryer doesn’t lie. Let’s see you move again.

“Curious if it was just luck that helped me survive the Wyrmkin?”

“Indeed.” Davros waved at the teenager from earlier. “Can we make young Lukas Zaun a sparring partner?”

“Got it, boss!” The young man called. He dropped to his knees and pressed his palms to the floor. Gold and crimson flooded his eyes. They glowed so bright looking directly at his face proved challenging.

Holy crap! Big Mouth is a magic user?