The Soldier Mage 22 Chapter 22

"I can't have everyone spying on me like this. I need to know who's watching. I'm going to have to put on hold the experiment and instead work on this drone so I can catch the spies or at least know where they are at all times."

The tricky part would be using the drone while going about his every day stuff. Going out back again into the small alley, Wilfred launched the drone. He could make it fly without too much effort, one thing to consider though was the maximum fly time for the drone with the Mana that he had to charge it with. After fiddling around with it, he was able to calculate the maximum flight time of the drone to 4 hours. When he had charged the drone in the morning, since it's battery had depleted partially because of last time, he had to put close to 1800 mana into. Therefore it was safe to a.s.sume the drone needed close to 4000 mana for a full charge.

Four hours isn't that long Wilfred reflected. It would last considerably longer if he could recharge it on the fly but that could be complicated. People would soon be asking questions about what that object is. The other problem that he had to solve was the vision part. If he could see what the drone was seeing without blocking out his own vision that would be ideal.

"Why am I overthinking this. I should use magic to fix this problem. I've been thinking too much like someone from this world and not from mine. I suppose it's normal since I've been living here for quite some years now but I need to change this. The solution to this is having a screen that can show me what the drone sees in real time. I'll have to use [Construct Artifact] to try and make it."

Focusing his mind on the object he needed and knowing that it already existed, allowed Wilfred to create a small portable screen. All he had to do now was to link both together. Powering up the screen, he tried to find a setting that would allow Bluetooth or some similar technology but then it occurred to him that there was no such thing.

"What about some kind of magic link?"

He fed magic into the screen and then tried to draw part of it out from the screen and into the nearby drone. Slowly, a small line of continuous Mana formed between the two object. Invisible to the naked eye but a mage would be able to spot it.

Satisfied with his work, he tried once again. The drone launched and flew upwards, following commands from Wilfred's mind and using the link he was able to activate the camera onto the screen.

"Excellent! I just need to disguise this screen now. I could get some book and hollow out the inside, that would work well I think. Everything takes so much Mana though. It's nice that I have a large amount, I don't know what I'd do without it but I need even more."

The link did not take much Mana, a mere 2 per second but coupled with the fact that he also had to charge up the drone it was becoming annoying. Deciding to go put his plan into motion, he decided he'd go eat lunch at the adventurer's guild, he'd heard the food was pretty good there. Hopefully the spies would be following him and he could tag them to future reference.

He launched the drone from the alley and exited through the front door, making sure to get good alt.i.tude so at most it looked like a black spot in the sky and would be mistaken for a bird. The camera was very good and having a zoom function, even though quality suffered, was adequate enough to get a picture from that height.

Walking slowly and watching the screen with live feed, Wilfred made his way towards the market district where the adventurer guild headquarters were located. Looking at the overhead view, he made out a few figures that were walking the same path as he was. Turning right he saw only 5 turned along with him. He walked for a bit more before turning right again, this time there were 2 that followed him still. Having gone in the opposite direction, he turned right another time and noticed the two were still following him.

Ah ha, gotcha. Zooming in with the camera, Wilfred took a closer look at them. One of them appeared to be a woman from her figure but it was hard to tell. The other was much wider and bulky, likely indicating a man. They were on different sides of the street and it was hard to know if they were working in tandem or separately. When he turned around in their direction, they merged into the crowd and he could not get a good look at their faces.

Well, at least I have a good idea what they look like. I'll be on the watch for them when I leave the house. Wilfred sent the drone back to his house before it's Mana supply would become low, he had left the window to his room open for that purpose.

Resuming the trajectory to the adventurer's guild, Wilfred tried to ignore the two following him. He could have hidden in an alley and used the drone to know their location and come out to surprise them but there was no telling what their reaction would be. He could have gotten attacked and he did not yet know enough about his potential enemies to act that way. If they were content in simply watching it he would tolerate it for now.

Arriving at the adventurer's guild, Wilfred headed inside and went left, where there was a small section with tables. The main counter was to the right and Wilfred could see Lyona wave enthusiastically at him. Meekly, he waved back, after last time he did not want to see the guild leader.

A dozen round tables with chairs lay scattered on this side of the building. On the wall behind them was where the jobs were posted. Interested parties could pick up a request and bring it to the front where the receptionist would verify their clearance for that particular quest. On the other wall was a small bar, different bottles of alcohol were arranged on a shelf overlooking a large mirror. A woman with an eye-patch stood washing gla.s.ses and mugs with a cloth. As Wilfred approached the counter, she put down the mug and glanced down at him.

"Yo kid, this is a place for adults."

"I heard you served really good food here though."

Wilfred put a silver coin on the counter.

The woman s.n.a.t.c.hed up the coin and glared at him.

'Alright but I won't serve you alcohol, you're no older than my son. What do you want to eat?"

"Fair enough, I would have liked something like Rum but I'll wait for another time. I'll leave it up to you for the food, your specialty perhaps? Something not too spicy please."

The woman nodded and headed in the back through a small door.

Wilfred sat down at one of the empty tables that was cleaned, there was only one other table occupied by three adventurers. They were talking rather loudly and Wilfred couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Look, I know it pays great but I don't think we can do it safely."

"Phaw, have you lost your b.a.l.l.s? Are we not adventurers?!"

The insulted man got up, banging his fists on the table which prompted the other to do the same. It seemed a fight would be next.

"Alright calm down both of you, don't cause a commotion.We just need backup, that's all. There's a lot of bandits yes but they're all weaker than us."

"I just don't feel this one you know. Rumors have it that their leader is a level 24 cultivator."

The man that had insulted the first one burst out laughing.

"Haaa...If you believe that you're more naive than I thought. You think they'd be bandits with that power? They'd surely join a Kingdom."

"I know it'd be less reward but I'd feel safer if we had backup."

"You see anyone around here? There's just that kid over there."

After hearing their conversation, Wilfred was a bit curious and waved at them when he was mentioned. Seeing how his food had yet to arrive, he got up and walked over to their table.

"You seem like you have a problem, any way I can help?"

The rude adventurer slammed his hand on the table laughing.

"Ahaha! See, even this kid has got more guts than you Fig!"

Fig replied.

"Nah, thanks kid. There's nothing you can do. You know what we need guys is a mage."

"That'd be useful yes but we can't afford one and don't get me started on getting a higher level cultivator to help us out. Might cost us more than the reward."

Wilfred sensed an opportunity and interrupted them.

"Actually, I'm a mage at the academy. First year but I could maybe help out and it wouldn't cost too much."

All three turned their heads in bewilderment at Wilfred.

"You!? A mage, ahaha. Don't make me laugh kid! You can't be older than 11 or 12."

Frustrated, Wilfred decided to perform a little show for them.

"[a.n.a.lyze]!"

Fig Darwyn [Lv. 14]

HP: 130/130

Str: 22

Con: 23

Agi: 32

Dex: 28

Int: 13

Wil: 7

Wis: 15

Lck: 8

Skills & Spells: [Bow Mastery Lv.3], [Trap Detection Lv.1], [Alchemy Lv.2]

Alcot Clifford [Lv. 15]

HP: 165/165

Str: 34

Con: 30

Agi: 15

Dex: 19

Int: 6

Wil: 11

Wis: 8

Lck: 13

Skills & Spells: [Hammer Mastery Lv.4], [Iron Skin], [War Cry Lv.1]

Halam Shades[Lv. 18]

HP: 140/140

Str: 28

Con: 25

Agi: 28

Dex: 24

Int: 12

Wil: 11

Wis: 14

Lck: 18

Skills & Spells: [Tactics Lv.3], [Sword Mastery Lv.4], [Leadership], [Evasive Strike Lv.1]

"Huh, interesting. I wonder what Leadership does. Oh Alchemy! I need to make those potions I bought ingredients for, do you have any advice for me?"

All three stood with their mouths agape. This young and he could use magic! It went against every preconceived notion they had. Everyone knew mages developed later and that the ones who had an earlier start usually amounted to great mages.

Alcot came back to his senses and scoffed.

"You can use a little parlor trick, so what? Doesn't make you a mage in my books!"

Halam raised a hand for silence.

"You underestimate the value of [a.n.a.lyze]. How often would it have been helpful to know what level our opponent was or what ability they had before hand? Cultivators get no such luck and must instead judge based on the opponent's speed, strength or aura. Tell me kid, are you truly interested?"

Wilfred nodded.

"I'd like to see how it is out there you know. This would also be a good test of my abilities, see how far I've come. The money wouldn't hurt either."

Halam replied.

"And how much would you want?"

"I believe we should split 4 ways."

Alcot quickly interrupted.

"Hold on now! We don't even know how well he could do in combat! I'm not trusting this kid with my life."

Fig agreed with Alcot which was a rare occurrence indeed.

"I'm sorry but we don't know anything about you."

"That's alright. How about we do a little spar then? So you can see what I'm capable of."

Alcot smiled ear to ear.

"Splendid idea! The guild has a room available for that."

As the four headed towards the room, which Wilfred was told was in the back of the guild, his food arrived at the table. Wilfred looked back at the bountiful plate filled with food and licked his lips, he shouted to the woman as he walked.

"Keep it warm! I'll be back soon!"

Determination lit up Wilfred's eyes, well that and a hungry stomach.