After their eardrums had been healed by ash corps healers, the trio returned to the school to rest while waiting for the conclusions of the ash corps' investigation.
"That was one hell of a mission. Never knew that the cursed artifact would be that dangerous." Blake said as he dropped on his bed.
Apart from the escort mission where they got tangled in the matters of Demigods and that of the Azkelwart's base, this was the most dangerous. If Blake hadn't mustered enough willpower to dash towards the intruder, it wouldn't have taken long for them to have passed out and from there, anything could happen.
[That was only the tip of the iceberg. How cursed artifacts like that worked was that gave continued to exchange blood and Mana for power until the human turned to some kind of monster which would later die.] The system explained. [In this case, the intruder was already showing signs of dying before the transformation meaning the artifact is not something someone in the champion realm can handle.]
"Then what is an artifact of such strength doing in the hands of a merchant who isn't even at the peak of the champion realm?" Castiel couldn't help but ask.
"Maybe that was why he stored it in a different room instead of keeping it on his person?" Brian pointed out.
"That makes a lot of sense, but how did he get his hands on it?" Blake said in a pondering tone.
"This isn't giving us any extra gold coins so I don't think we should be wasting mental power on it. Besides I am too hungry to be thinking." Castiel said.
"Me too, let's go grab something to eat." Brian stood up and began heading out with Castiel.
"Hey! You guys aren't going to ask me if I was hungry?!" Blake shouted as he got on his feet.
[You are always hungry, so what is the need of asking when they know.] The system chuckled.
…
After they were done eating and had returned to Blake's room, they received a call from Susan.
"The Ash corps had concluded with their part of the investigation. The intruder confessed that a hooded man had hired him and the payment was that he would keep anything he was able to steal.
He said that the hooded man had given him recordings and tools needed to break through all the security devices in the house." Susan reported.
"As for the hooded man, the ash corps had invited Merchant Richard who Mr. Kadri suspected. After using an artifact to extract information from him, they found out that he was the hooded man." This caused the trio to look at each other in surprise. They had thought that it was just that Kadri had suspected Richard because they were rivals, but they never thought it would be true.
'Why do I have a suspicion that this Richard knew about the cursed artifact and had taught the intruder how to steal it so that the reputation of Kadri would be dragged to the mud and the artifact would end up killing the intruder?' Blake said to the system.
[If that is true then everything would have gone fine if not for you guys. If the intruder had successfully sold the artifact then I don't think that the ash corps would have gone to the extent of using an artifact to extract information, because it wouldn't have been a big deal.] The system stated.
"Also, the cursed artifact had been confiscated by the ash corps, the reason being that it was too dangerous for Kadri to control and it had put the lives of citizens and adventurers in danger." When Susan was done she moved over to the payment section.
"The agreed payment for the mission was 40k gold coins, but with the involvement of such a dangerous artifact the association has requested the hirer to compensate your party with 15k gold coins." Susan reported.
Unlike the last time when she informed Kadri about the payment and compensation for the inaccurate info he had given to Blake's team, Kadri had argued about it, but this time he had given it without a single complaint.
She had no idea that he was very happy even though his cursed artifact was confiscated. Not only had Blake's party brought back all the stolen crates of magical devices, but they had also led to removing his rival from the picture.
Also, he was very impressed with how efficient Blake's team was. They had apprehended the intruder in a few hours, so there was no reason for him not to pay extra.
"Lastly, more commissions are being sent to your party, would you like me to inform the hirers that your party wouldn't be available for the moment?" Knowing their identity as students, Susan was trying to help them arrange their schedules.
"Yes, please. Thanks for the help." Blake thanked her before cutting the communication link.
Unknown to the trio, some minutes after the call the warehouse investigation mission was updated.
The Order of Chaos adventurer party had discovered the hideout of the Creed gang leading to the raid that left Slade fatally injured and on the run.
This garnered them a lot of attention. For a C rank party to be able to succeed where higher ranks failed was outstanding, but they also attracted bad attention.
The Creed gang wasn't just any gang. For something like this to happen to them meant it could also happen to their rivals. This made every gang and evil group to put the Order of Chaos adventurer party under their watch list.
…
In 2 weeks a lot of things had changed in and out of the school.
Outside the walls of the school. The ash corps alongside miners and adventurers who were protecting the major trade routes had returned to the city. A few beasts had begun attacking the city, but they weren't even seen as a threat.
At this point, ash corps were being sent to various positions on the walls of the city alongside adventurers who were hired by the city.
Also, 2 walls the same size as the city wall rose from the ground. The first covered the entire central region, while the second encompassed the entire middle region which included the school a the west side of the city and the slums on the East side of the city.
This created a large space outer layer of the city where magical artilleries and ash corps were stationed.
In the walls of the school.
The progress of students in all courses had increased by a whole lot. More than 60% of the students in the elite class had awakened Mana vision, making them just enough for Professor Gibson to begin teaching them Mana fusion.
In the forgemastery classes, Professor was Tacitus was finally back to the school. He had explained to the students why the reason he was away for so long.
Classes on integration methods had continued but even though Blake had been practicing a lot and was ahead of the class he was still at the array chaining phase.
As for the body enhancement classes, after weeks of constantly expending and absorbing Mana stored by his cells, Blake was the first in the entire class to master how to consciously enhance his cells.
The only problem was that he could only do so twice a day, before having to circulate Mana around body parts to unconsciously absorb the Mana.
…
Currently, the entire 1st year were all seated in the hall as they waited to know what Principal Lovren had called for the meeting. It wasn't as if they didn't know that it was concerning the tension caused by the beast tide, it was just that many didn't want to accept the obvious.
Fear and tension were clearly written all over the faces of the students as they awaited the confirmation, but they couldn't be blamed.
After experiencing death after death during tests and exams it was very natural for them to shiver since they were to be sent to the walls to protect the city.
"What do you think we will be tasked to do on the wall?" Castiel asked.
When it came to students who had already accepted reality, Blake's group was the top in the entire 1st year.. Unlike the rest, they were already thinking about the possibilities of what could happen on the wall, and how to solve them.