Asher leaned against the wall separating the third and fourth ring as he double checked his position against the city-wide map of Whikoga that Draken had lent him to Incorporate. Sure enough, according to the map, once he passed through the wall, he'd be just a short jaunt away from the Frent estate.

Thankful for the fact that it was a new moon, meaning anyone without some form of night vision was relying entirely on glowing gemstones to see into the dark night, Asher slipped into the astral and stepped forward.

And ran into his first hurdle as he bounced headfirst off the wall.

Damn it, he hissed as he returned to the material realm, surprised to find that the wall was thicker than it looked. Five to six feet was about the maximum amount of solid material he was capable of phasing through in the astral realm, and it would appear the wall keeping the nobles safe from everyone else was just a bit beyond that. He'd hoped to find it partially hollow, like how the city's outer wall had been constructed to allow defenders to move around on the inside and shoot through murder holes if necessary, but it seemed whoever had designed this one had gone with the far more solid approach.

Rolling his eyes at the fact that he was already encountering problems this early on in the plan, Asher quickly came up with an alternative solution.

While the wall separating the third and fourth ring was thick and undoubtedly sturdy, it wasn't all that tall.

Reaching up through a tunnel of compressed space, Asher grabbed the top of the wall about fifteen feet above his head and pulled himself up, quickly rolling over and on top. Now that he was above it, he quickly confirmed his suspicions that the wall was wide enough for two patrolling guards to comfortably walk side by side as they checked the perimeter.

Just like the two who were walking directly at him were currently doing.

Instantly, Asher slipped into the astral, and not a moment too soon as the light from one of their gemstone lanterns swept over where he'd been crouched moments ago. Keeping his breathing steady, Asher allowed the two washed-out guards to walk straight through him, chatting quietly with one another as they continued their watch none the wiser.

Dear lord, this is supposed to be the easy part.

Shaking his head, Asher cancelled his skill and grabbed the far lip of the wall, using Distortion to quietly lower himself to the ground. While a fifteen-foot fall shouldn't be enough to gravely wound him, he really didn't feel the need to sit there waiting for himself to heal a sprained ankle.

I'm in the fourth ring… Step one complete.

Asher looked around, eyeing up the different estates he could make out from his current position. Each estate was marked with yet another wall symbolized with a family crest every few feet, a grouping of at least a dozen or more large buildings, and some well-maintained grounds that reminded him of private parks. There were also a handful of guards standing by the gate leading into each one, and just from his Identify, Asher could tell that these weren't any ordinary guards.

[Swordsman] - 3/3 Elements

[Brawler] - 3/3 Elements

[Defender] - 3/3 Elements

Yeah… Let's go in through the back.

But as much as Asher wanted to rush over, slip his way into the Frent estate, and get to hunting, he knew his best bet was to wait for the next phase of the plan. If these were just the few guards he could visibly see standing watch by the gate, there was no telling how many people were wandering around within the grounds themselves.

He could only hope Crush and Thunder came through for him.

It seemed the two of them were encountering a bit of trouble accessing the fourth ring through the proper channels, as Asher ended up having to wait patiently in the shadows for nearly half an hour before he heard the commotion by the front gate of the Frent estate.

But man, oh man, was it worth the wait.

"You bastard!" Thunder howled, slapping Crush across the face none too gently as fake tears streamed down her face. Despite knowing that Crush's defenses were top-notch, Asher couldn't help but wince at the thunder-crack that rang out from the impact. In fact, the slap was so loud that he realized Thunder must have enhanced the sound with her element in order to draw in the largest number of people possible. "How could you do this to me?! And with my sister no less?!"

For his part, Crush looked horribly uncomfortable with the entire performance they were putting on, which ended up working out perfectly, as that just made him look like he regretted his actions and wanted to be anywhere else but dealing with his distraught lover in view of so many people.

"Could we not? …Dear?"

"Don't you dear me!" Thunder screeched, barely managing to contain her grin as she slapped him across the face a second time, the impact ringing out artificially loud enough to draw a small crowd from the nearby estates to see what was going on. Her voice echoed like she was a professional speaker, and Asher realized if she ever grew tired of working for Draken, she probably had a pretty solid chance of making it big in theatre, if this world had that sort of thing.

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"I didn't know she was your sister!" Crush grumbled, struggling to match even a fraction of the volume Thunder was hitting. "I thought…" he paused, closing his eyes for a moment as if wondering how the hell he'd ended up in this situation. "…I thought she was your mother."

The fact that Crush was talking so much quieter ended up working even better than if he'd screamed, as only those close enough were capable of hearing him, and a small wave of gasps and shocked looks erupted at this sudden twist of drama. Hearing this, everyone hanging further back forgot about what they were doing and quickly pressed closer, lest they miss the next juicy bit of the fight.

Like Thunder had suspected, it turned out the noblemen and women loved nothing more than witnessing a spicy bit of drama taking place directly on their front lawn.

Hang in there Crush, Asher grinned, not quite catching Thunder's next line as he slipped into the astral and finally entered the Frent estate.

He was rather glad of that, as it sounded like she was now threatening to chop off a rather vital part of Crush's lower body if he couldn't control himself and become the man her father thought he could be.

The Frent estate was a large, sprawling ground filled with well-lit pathways and ancient trees that looked like they predated the city itself by at least a few centuries. Asher was immensely grateful for the distraction, because even at this hour and with so many people pulled over to the gate, there were still a handful of people he could see milling about or relaxing on the grounds.

Just act like you belong, he thought, steeling himself and returning to the material realm. Immediately, he shoved his dark cloak into his Personal Rift, before straightening his nobleman attire and leisurely walking down one of the empty paths as if he did this every night. Draken had provided him with, according to the fallen noble, what was the latest in nobleman fashion in order to help him blend in. So it was Asher found himself strolling down a well-lit path wearing a strange combination of light leather clothing with what felt like chainmail connecting the different pieces at the joints. He wasn't a big fan of how it added weight to the entire outfit and made the different pieces of clothing drag against him, but sure enough, the handful of other nobles he spotted here and there were wearing much the same attire, their bare knees and elbows showing through the chain mesh.

I will never understand fashion…

The plan was still for him to avoid basically everyone of course, and Asher did that to the best of his abilities, but Draken explained that it would be far easier to move around if he looked and acted like he belonged rather than tried to skulk his way through the shadows. There was no telling the number of people he'd encounter with skills or resistances that would allow them to spot him, but few would find anything strange with just another young noble wandering the premises. According to Draken, the different noble families were large enough that there were always unknown cousins people had never met before, or members of other families brought over as guests. So long as he got lucky, nobody would think twice about stopping him.

"Hey you!"

Asher resisted the urge to slip into the astral the moment he heard someone call out to him. Doing his best to keep a lazy and unbothered expression on his face, he turned to spot a similarly dressed nobleman about his own age jogging down the path toward him. Other than the stupid choice of attire, the man had a thin rapier hanging by his waist, and messy brown hair that looked like it had been blown back in a wind tunnel.

[Pegasus Rider] - 3/3 Elements

The pegasus rider had an airy aura that was free of color and swept around him like a breath of fresh air. Asher could tell just from a glance that the man cared for little more than flying through the sky and being free, and he had none of the death clinging to him that Asher had grown so used to seeing in those that he associated with these days.

"I don't believe we've met," the noble said, stopping a few feet away and shooting Asher a curious grin. "I'm Theorn Frent. I think I would have remembered meeting someone my own age who'd already managed to earn the awakened beast hunter class."

"Asher," he said, giving the man a polite nod. "And you'd be right, I'm from a family outside the city. Stopping by for a quick stop in between hunts. My last beast was an awakened panther with the Ice element, and it gave me a true run for my shards!"

During their planning, Draken had stressed that one of the hardest things Asher was going to have to do was come up with a way to explain why he didn't have a class that sounded like it fit in with the nobility. Apparently, just about all nobles had unusual, ridiculous classes one wouldn't find anywhere else, and Draken was still under the impression Asher had the librarian class. The fact that he could switch his class at will was something he'd decided to keep close to his chest.

Naturally, Asher thought the simplest solution would be to try and one-up even the absurd nobles.

"Wow, an actual awakened panther," Theorn said, grinning even wider at the thought. "That's amazing! If you'd like, I'd be happy to help fly you to your next hunt. I've an uncle who's also an awakened beast hunter, but he refuses to let me tag along with him for any of his hunts. Always says it's 'too dangerous' for those who haven't spent half their lives training for combat."

Despite the fact that he needed to start trying to hunt for Eight and their workshop, Asher couldn't help but grow curious. He'd never spoken to anyone else with such a unique class, and he still remembered the awe he felt the first time he witnessed the pegasus' flying overhead on his way into the city.

"That might be nice," he nodded, tilting his head in what he hoped was the manner of a snooty noble. "Tell me, how is flying? I've never ridden directly on a pegasus myself."

"It's a far cry from sitting within one of the flying wagons, I'll tell you that," Theorn chuckled. "Actually having the wind on your face and the powerful beast at your command… There's nothing quite like it."

"I can believe it," Asher agreed, continuing to watch his words carefully. Yet another warning of Draken's was that above all else, he had to make sure he didn't accidently utter a lie. Enchanted items capable of discerning truth from lies weren't common, but naturally, if anyone would own them, it would be the nobles. While Asher had an evolved resistance to truth, that didn't necessarily mean he could fool lie-detecting magic, just that the truth couldn't be dragged out of him quite so easily.

"Actually, Theorn, by chance would you know of any alchemical workshops here on the estate?" he asked, realizing he might have stumbled upon a perfect opportunity. If he could get someone to guide him, that would not only make his search that much simpler, but he could use the other noble as living cover. Chatting with him as they walked would look far more convincing than wandering around lost through the grounds.

"Ah, gathered a few rare reagents from your hunts, have you?" Theorn surmised all on his own, a twinkle in his eye. Asher didn't confirm or deny the noble's assumptions, merely choosing to shrug in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. "I'll admit, alchemy isn't the most popular profession among the family. Though Aunt Leighann has been known to dabble from time to time. If you offered up a portion of your haul, I bet she'd be more than willing to let you use her equipment."

"That sounds more than fair," Asher smiled, his fingers twitching slightly as he imagined driving his daggers straight into this Aunt Leighann's heart. Just the fact that she had a lab filled with alchemy equipment within the Frent estate didn't necessarily mean she was Eight, but it certainly wasn't a point in her favor. "Would you mind showing me the way? I'd be happy to regale you with some details from my latest hunt if so."

"Only if you let me get an actual look at the body of that awakened beast," Theorn laughed, shocking Asher with his proximity as he threw an arm around his shoulders and began leading him in a different direction than he'd originally been heading. "Now tell me, how well do you think a trained pegasus would hold up against that panther you just fought?"

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