Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

277 Camping

Kaizen walked cautiously through the forest, stepping carefully on the roots and branches that crossed his path.

All the trees around him were tall and leafy, forming a green canopy that filtered the sunlight and cast dark shadows on the ground. The air in the forest was hot and humid, making him sweat even without walking very fast.

Kaizen had no experience in walking through tropical forests, and it showed in his movements. He often strayed from the path he had traced in his mind, curious about the sounds and movements of the forest.

Sometimes he would stop to watch an animal or plant for a few seconds, amazed at the exuberance of nature around him.

As he walked, he noticed that the forest was dense and seemed to have no end, even though it seemed alive. It was hard to believe that this place was really just another level of the Mage Tower. How powerful must these mages have been to create something like this?

Somehow, the grandeur of this place made Kaizen feel vulnerable, and knowing that there were people who knew these lands like the back of their hand was not very comforting.

After walking for a few minutes, Kaizen heard voices and footsteps approaching to his left. He immediately hid behind a tree and peered through the foliage.

A group of thieves, armed with swords, knives, and grimoires, passed him on a narrow path. They were all thin and wearing dirty robes, but Kaizen could not underestimate them, for they were all potential mages.

Fortunately, none of them seemed to have noticed his presence and they continued their conversation naturally.

"And what the hell did Jeffrey do with his bread?"

"I don't know, little boss, but he says he lost it running through the forest from a troll."

"Tell him it is not my problem. No one said he should be so weak that he has to run from a troll to stay alive. He won't get another loaf of bread until next Thursday."

"Right, right! I'll tell him that!"

There were three thieves in all, and just by listening to the dialog between two of them, Kaizen already knew that there was a certain hierarchy between them. The thief with the cape was the leader, and he didn't seem to be weak, either muscularly or statistically. On the other hand, the other two thieves who accompanied this more muscular thief were as weak as a goblin.

Kaizen decided to follow this group to find out where the other thieves were to get more information about this place, and he followed them carefully for a few minutes. Hiding behind the trees, Kaizen listened as the thieves talked about the forest, other members of the group, and other gangs of thieves along the way. Apparently, they were planning to attack a group of nomadic thieves passing through the area.

These guys are good sources of information, but how long are they going to walk?" thought Kaizen, annoyed at the delay in reaching their destination.

As he followed the group of thieves, Kaizen noticed that the forest was getting denser and darker. The branches of the trees intertwined to form a tangle of leaves, and the sunlight was barely penetrating. He noticed that the path the thieves were following was also becoming narrower and more twisted, making it harder for them to move in silence.

Eventually, Kaizen noticed that they had surprisingly reached a small clearing where there was a circle of ancient rocks that seemed to be part of the thieves' large camp.

This camp consisted of several tents of different sizes and colors, set up in the middle of the clearing and propped up on the rocks. Some of the tents were made of thick, dark fabric, while others were made of tanned leather and decorated with strange symbols and inscriptions that Kaizen could not understand until he got closer.

In the center of the camp was a large, noisy campfire surrounded by stones. Several thieves sat around the fire, talking in low voices and drinking from rusty metal cups. Some of them were laughing, while others looked tense and watched their surroundings carefully.

Facing the campfire was a wooden and stone warehouse where the thieves kept their loot. The warehouse doors were locked tight, but Kaizen could hear the sound of things being dragged around inside.

On the other side of the campfire was a large leather tent that appeared to be the thieves' center of operations. A group of them stood in front of the tent, talking loudly as the leader, the thief in the cloak, approached.

When the other thieves in the group realized that their leader was approaching, they began to get into position to greet him properly.

"Hey, boss! Welcome back!"

"How was the patrol?"

"You didn't hear any trolls, apparently. Phew, that's a relief!"

"Did you find out where that bang came from?" One of them asked.

The thief leader immediately shook his head in the negative. "No, but it was probably a tree that fell or something. I'm sure of it. There's nothing for you to worry about."

At this point, Kaizen knew that the thieves could either hear the sound of the Guardian's blow, or himself hitting the trees as he flew backwards. Of the two alternatives, the former was more likely, considering how noisy this forest was and how far they were from the library area.

After a few minutes, the leader joined other thieves in their main tent, and Kaizen decided to move a little closer to the thieves' camp to hear what they were talking about. He followed the guardian's advice to avoid making a ruckus so as not to attract attention, but he still needed to get some information.

He used his not-so-perfect stealth to sneak in, then walked until he could get between some wooden crates behind one of the tents.

He was well aware that the thieves were dangerous and would not hesitate to attack him if they discovered his presence. Therefore, he had to be extremely careful and silent.

Kaizen moved cautiously through the thieves' camp, staying in the shadows to avoid detection. He knew that he had to find out what had happened in the Magi Library, and he believed that the thieves had something to do with it or knew something about it.

As he finally managed to sneak further into the center of the camp, he began to overhear a conversation between two thieves who were as strong as the thieves' leader, but who were not in the operations tent.

"Hey, did you hear that the magic library was finally attacked last night?"

"Yes, Luna told me. They say it was a group of desperate adventurers after an ancient book, but we know who it was. Frankly, I don't understand why Jeff sold this region to the guys upstairs. We could have scoured the place ourselves and sold them whatever we found. Instead, we let them come up here, take what could have been ours, and go back to their damp, cozy homes up there."

"I don't know. It sounds like they were after something in particular. I only heard a little of the conversation between Jeff and them that afternoon, so I don't know. And Jeff won't say."

"Do you think they got what they were looking for?"

"I don't know, but I wish I had a chance to get into that library, too. They say there might be books with amazing magic in them. But even now that they're gone, I won't risk going anywhere near it. Jeff seemed stressed this morning, apparently the library was not unoccupied."

"Someone was in there? What do you mean?"

"I don't know either. All I know is that the guys upstairs met resistance."

"Someone was able to resist those guys? Then that person must be very powerful."

"I'm sure he is."

As the conversation continued, Kaizen was surprised to discover that they didn't have much to do with the looting in the Library of the Magi. In fact, as the Keeper of the Forest had said, they were probably the ones who had found the library and sold the information about its location to the mages in the Cities of Tears or the Citadel of Mages.

Finding out was not useless at all, as Kaizen now knew that the leader of these thieves was in contact with the mages who attacked the library, so he just needed to find a way to get this guy to talk. And since he was already tired of sneaking around and only knew one way to be convincing, he already had an idea of what he was going to do.

[NPC: Jeff, Leader of the Rock Thieves Group.

Level: 68 | Race: Human | Sex: Male

Profession: Thief.

HP: 1000 | MP: 500

Attack: 110 | Defense: 77 | Agility: 70

Strength: 99 | Wisdom: 78 | Stamina: 81.

Skills:

- Magic Specialist.

- Persuasive Aura.

- Phantom Hand.

- Water Sphere.

- Water Cannon.