Chapter 155: Aetherial association

“Welcome back, Boss!”

“It’s nice to see you’re settling well.” I responded gruffly to my employees’ enthusiastic greeting.

In reality, the New Dawn organisation wasn’t really an information gathering organisation. I mean, what would someone of my stature need information gathering for? I was a transmigrator, I knew more than most could ever hope to know, be it about the past, the present, or the future.

Granted what I knew was only things that had been highlighted in the novel, and miscellaneous things were beyond me, but still, I had no such need to know that. And it wasn’t like I was interested in business. With enough strength, money wasn’t a problem, plus I was going to milk the castle a little before I left.

Anyway, New Dawn was more like my very own personal special black ops team that I gathered for specific ’operations’ that shouldn’t trace back to me.

The first I had recruited was Bran, a tall broad dude, currently at the Theta ranked, I remembered him from the novel as a high tempered brute, and a subordinate of Alistair’s.

You see, Bran had a daughter that had been sick and bedridden since birth, and he had spent his entire fortune and wealth all in a bid to find a cure but to no avail. He had met many healers, used so many high ranked potions, but nothing seemed to work. So when I conveniently appeared claiming to know about a cure, it was like I had reignited the remaining wick of hope in him.

From the novel, I knew where the so called cure was, after all, it was golden boy that stumbled into it. It wasn’t even a cure per say, it was just an ultra rare herb with unknown medicinal properties called Welshire Apple that grew in the wilds, and took a hundred years to mature. Then Alistair coincidentally met Bran who was in desperate need of a cure for his daughter.

Anyway, from my fore knowledge, I informed Bran on where to find the herb. After that, Bran went to find the herb and came back within four days with the herb in hand. I stood there as he fed the herb to his daughter, and watched her pale complexion gain colour. Sweet old Brian wept with joy at that, and I got a capable loyal subordinate. Oh, and did I forget to say, dude was a Zeta- ranked aetherial who had already gained his second ability.

So while I might have felt somewhat conflicted at using the illness of a sweet innocent little girl in my schemes, gaining the loyalty of her Zeta- ranked father gave me more than enough jou to chase those conflictions away.

The second and third were Bob and pixie. These ones were twins, a boy and a girl with light pink hair and similar features. These two, I rescued/ bought them from an underground gladiator arena in the Drakara continent.

So when I set them ’free’ after I left, they didn’t want to go, instead they were insistent on serving yours truly, and wanted to repay me and whatnot, which I magnanimously accepted. In the novel, it was Alistair that bought and freed them, after which they vowed to follow him.

They both were at the Theta rank, and were quite strong for said rank, and had quite solid abilities too. Bob had an ability that allowed him to offset/ disorient senses of anyone he chose in a certain range, while pixie had the uncanny ability to give people the urge to become playful.

I had seen it first hand during one of her fights I watched at the gladiators arena. Imagine an enemy charging her, but the moment her ability came into effect, the enemy would suddenly start circling around her like they were playing a game of tag.

The enemy’s punch would turn into a light shove, or a joking feint. Sometimes, the opponent would simply begin laughing mid- combat, even if they’re still trying to murder her. Though, it also had it’s limits. A stronger individual could shrug it off, or the ability might outright lose its effect if the enemy gets seriously hurt.

The fourth was a young woman called Vera, a Theta+ aetherial on the run from some organization was trying to unalive because of her ability. In the novel, it wasn’t until a year from now that Alistair would find her and offer her protection and a place to belong. But I beat him to it, though this one was somewhat a double edged sword. Vera, like her name suggested , had an ability that could verify if someone was lying.

Thankfully, I knew from the novel that it was an active ability, and that her eyes glowed when she used it. If the ability was passive, and had no indication when she was using it, even I wouldn’t touch this bag of snakes.

The last two, Alan and Hugo’s case however, was very much like Khloe’s. The two were mercenaries, who were sleeping on a huge debts to be paid to the aetherial association, which I happily paid on their behalf. This were the only two out of the six that I had to coerce into following me in exchange for absolving their debts. Alan and Hugo were Theta+ and Theta ranked respectively.

Alan had the ability of a predictive danger sense that could guide him towards favourable conditions, and away from unfavourable conditions, while Hugo had the ability to send his spirit out of his body to scout out ahead, but his body would be vulnerable during the ability’s duration.

All in all, these were the people I had recruited. In fact it was somewhat funny when I thought about it. I had managed to recruit a Zeta- ranked, two Theta+ ranked’s, and three Theta ranked’s, all 2hile being only an Eta-+ ranked. Hehe!

Such was the power of mystery. I never showed a face to anyone of them. All they could see was my mask, and the dark cloak drapes over my body that concealed my aura, so they couldn’t even tell my rank. In essence, the only one here who had seen a face of mine was Khloe, and even then, that wasn’t my real face, so nothing was going to get linked back to me.

Anyway, after the pleasantries, I turned back to Khloe. “Have you looked into what I asked?”

The woman beamed.

“I’ve gotten word that there are unusual events happening at the Spire chain of mountains.” She reported.

“I see.” I muttered. You see, I was going to use these two weeks I had, to take another one of Alistair’s chest, and this one just so happens to be in the spire chain of mountains. However, there was just one problem, the Spire chain of mountains was a chain of mountains owned by the aetherial association, so we’d need their approval to set foot on their territory.

The Aetherial association was an organization that had a history almost comparable to that of the four empires of the human domain, and that of the astral mystic Institute, and it was the top business organization in the whole of Nahaar.

Though it fell short compared to the four empires, it was a powerhouse of it’s own, some even called it the sixth empire, aptly named the ’Business Empire’.

It’s operations were spearheaded by it’s chairwoman, Alexa Hargreaves, a terrifying Alpha- ranked aetherial, and currently the only female human to be at that rank. She had been it’s head for around five decades now.

The Aetherial association didn’t exactly have a single HQ. The chairwoman was whimsical in such that she could be at anyone of the branches at anytime. But it’s largest branch was at Sterling city, right next to the spire chain of mountains. And that was where we needed to go.

“Get ready then.” I said to them all. “We’re going to Sterling city, be on guard though, there is about ninety percent chance of conflict when carrying out this operation.”

“Wait… Boss, just like that?” Khloe asked baffled. “No, I was talking about them, not you, you are exempted.” I said. How do I put this? Khloe was…. weak, and was simply not fit for combat.

“Gods, that is a relief.” she sighed. “I’ll help as much as I can from here.”

“What type of operation is it, Boss?” Bran asked.

I turned to him.

“We are…” I paused for effect. “…going to be taking something from the Spire chain of mountains… right under the noses of the aetherial association.”

Audible gulps filled the room the moment I finished speaking. The cheat I was going to take, was something that had been cultivated by the Aetherial association for decades, so there were bound to be unbearable troubles. But what type of boss would I be if I couldn’t even calm down my followers?

“Don’t think too much into it.” I said.

“Boss, what do you mean to not think too much into it? Right now there is nothing I can think of but that.” Bob commented with a wry smile.

“What difference do you think there is between a robber and a thief?” I asked, turning to him. “The difference is that the former announces himself, and tries to take by force, while the latter does everything under everyone’s noses and disappears.” I explained.

“In this operation, we would be doing the latter, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

*************

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