Chronicles of the True Wizard

Chapter 241 - Book 14

While the next couple of days were as normal as almost every other day Felix had spent in Azura, they felt different.

He went to work at Cumulo Tech, his keepers died often and he had dinner with Aela, Varex and Kether.

At the same time, he was tuned in and aware of everything happening with his Residents from the Wanderer's Lab. They didn't need him to do anything, in fact it was better if he didn't for many reasons. Not only were they better than him at everything they were doing, infiltrating the factions, scouting the vaults, planning the heists and remaining unseen while doing so, but it was also better if Felix stayed far away from their targets.

So long as he remained visible and had a solid alibi, it would make it far less likely that anyone suspected him as one of the thieves. It was already suspect that he was relatively new in the city and relatively well known and successful as a Damned. Especially when the Water Branch vault seemed to be protected almost entirely by Soul wards and Concepts that teetered the right on the edge of becoming Curses.

The threat wasn't that he would be arrested, the real issue was that if they suspected him, he would simply be hunted down and killed, even if there wasn't any proof.

The families didn't care about being fair or just, it mattered far more that there was a scorched earth policy in place so that, future thieves deemed it not worth it to try and steal from them.

It made it even more crucial that they pinned the blame on another family so that they didn't even start looking for individuals. The Residents had a whole plan on how they were going to do that where it seemed like the Earth Branch was retaliating but they also planted clues that there was a larger plot at play by the Fire Branch which were being puppeteered by The Gera Family in the background.

More than likely, no one would ever track those clues and follow them all the way through but they were there in case someone did.

As for the heist itself, the Residents had planned it to coincide with a large gala that had been scheduled for years. It was one of the reasons they had chosen the Earth Branch in the first place. The Water Branch was a good target but by hitting the Earth Branch first, it became more likely to be a part of their feud and much less likely the actions of a third party.

On the night of the heist, Felix walked arm in arm with Rel, Kether and Aela just behind them, into the massive palace that housed the core of the Water Branch of the Ano family.

The palace itself was mostly made of marble and the entire thing looked like a large fountain, with various spouts, falls and flows covered the outside and forming a mosaic of constantly flowing water. On the inside, there were falls on some of the walls and water beneath glass panels in the floor.

The lobby of the palace was large enough that nearly a thousand people stood around and there were still large and clear open areas between them, making it feel anything but cramped.

Everyone wore what amounted to high fashion at the gala. In Azura, that meant rather simple clothing that accentuated Soul Projected accessories in every way imaginable. For most, that meant Anima jewelry and buttons for those with less Soul strength, Wings and Capes for those with more and for the true elites, entire wardrobes with various colors through Concepts.

At least, that was what Felix had been told.

He, Rel, Kether and Aela sported simple Anima accessories of necklaces and earrings for the women and simple bracers for the men.

They were unassuming and fit in perfectly with everyone else there, exactly as they had wanted to. Anything more or less would have been noticeable and for the heist to work, they needed Felix to walk into their vault which meant they needed him to be able to slip out unnoticed.

Inside, they split up slightly but both pairs still ended up in the same general area, off to the side of the main lobby as they waited for the elites to make an appearance.

"That robe really suits you…" Rel almost whispered.

Felix looked down at the sleeveless robe Aela had picked out for him that accentuated the Anima bracers adorning his forearms. It was red and white and he thought it made him looks like he was bleeding or like the robe was blood stained. He much preferred his own robes.

"Thanks. Your dress is quite flattering as well." Felix returned the compliment to be polite and keep up appearances.

She blushed and swayed her hips a little in joy.

Felix looked away from her and picked up a small plate of some hors d'oeuvre that was being brought around and slowly ate it, completely ignoring the food itself and his surroundings in general. Instead, he was tapped into the senses of a few of his Residents, one of which was with Varex and in the process of stealthily setting things up around the building.

His brain was more than capable of paying attention to all of them and his own senses but he had no interest in the party so he mostly blocked his own senses out.

He didn't have to wait long for the elites to finally show up though and when they did, his focus was immediately pulled back to the party.

There were no stairs for the elites to descend, instead they floated down from the upper floors in a pretentious and grandiose way. Where everyone else had jewelry or wings, Felix's focus was immediately drawn to the Matriarch of the Ano Family who wore a dress adorned with interlocking golden plates making her entire outfit quite close to plate armor.

The dress appeared to be actual physical cloth but it was completely infused with Anima, in a completely different way from Felix's robes. Felix's robes were affinized to him, they allowed his Anima to flow through them more easily and they listened to his commands more readily.

Her's felt more like they were not quite made of Anima, but nearly. The cloth itself-or rather the threads-were like physical threads and Anima twisted or braided together and made solid. It was an impressive piece of clothing that had Felix's mind, along with a number of like minded Residents, whirring with curiosity.

The dress, while fascinating to Felix, wasn't part of her Soul projection though, her Soul projection made up the plates that looked nearly real. They were barely translucent, almost like opaque glass and not quite solid as they shifted and moved slightly, as if made of a liquid. They were however, the closest to a real physical solid Felix had ever seen Anima get. Even more impressive than the plates existing though, was the detail work adorning them.

It wasn't just the intricacy which wasn't as hard as it seemed. Theoretically, with enough Anima and a strong enough will power and enough focus, anyone could shape Anima into anything they imagined. Having that much Anima, a strong enough will and enough focus wasn't as rare in Azura as it was in the system-verse.

The impressive part, was that the intricate detail was crafted from various Concepts and Convictions. Each one was woven together to form a tapestry on each plate and even though Felix was likely the only one who had Anima transcoded into visual stimuli, the Concepts almost begged the viewer to see them as colors.

All in all, the outfit and presentation, with all the Concepts and Convictions she displayed, formed a picture of who she was, or rather, how she wanted everyone else to see her.

Following her, there were 4 men, each one the head of a different branch of the family, then a number of younger and less impressively adorned individuals. The direct descendants and family of the Branch heads.

There was no big speech as they descended, as if their arrival was more than enough.

As soon as they landed, they were approached by various people and groups in the crowd and Felix watched for just a bit longer, taking in each and every one of them but more importantly, what they were wearing and how they projected.

Aela and Kether are approaching now. Varex is in position.

Alright, guess it's my turn then.

Turning away from the centers of attention at the gala, Felix turned towards the door and stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Rel nudged him in the side and stared in concern.

Felix was completely transfixed.

Walking straight from the front door towards the Matriarch of the Ano family, was a man with slightly pointed ears, messy black hair, an unshaven face and violet eyes. He wore a dark purple robe and looked to be completely average in proportions and build. He didn't even have a projection of any kind.

That lack of Soul projection caused quite a few to immediately dismiss him but they took a second look when others, who apparently recognized him, began whispering, pointing and in some cases, greeting him.

It wasn't who they were that fixated Felix though, it was something else entirely.

Despite having no Soul projection or Aura of any kind, Felix could still feel his Soul from across the room easily, as he could anyone else. What he found though, was nothing like anyone else in the room. His Soul, was completely void of Convictions at all. He didn't even have Concepts like Rel did that formed her attunement to Fire and Explosions.

He had nothing Felix thought was necessary to progress his Soul and yet his Soul was by far the strongest in the room. It was like Felix's own Soul. Not as insular and hard as Felix's, but his felt just as dense and vastly more aligned, along with being quite a bit larger.

Even without any Convictions whatsoever, his entire Soul seemed to be one unified whole. All the Anima was aligned and purposeful in a way nothing else Felix had ever encountered was, except for literal Curses. Not only that, but it stood out amongst the Ambient Anima in a way no other Soul Felix had ever seen did. It was like his Soul had transcended reality and looking at it, it was no longer a bundle of Anima containing experiences and forming a Soul, it was something completely new. It was it's own thing entirely.

"…Felix." Rel jabbed him in the side.

Who is that? Felix asked Mark as he would know exactly who to direct the question to.

Your senses caught his name a few seconds ago. Kerix Ryko.

"Felix, we have to go now." Rel insisted.

She is relatively correct. The plan has been adjusted but you will nee-

"Sorry. Let's go."

Mark, have Wanderer's Lab or whoever else is in Azura find out as much as they can about Kerix Ryko.

Just as he was about to pull his gaze away from the man, he turned, made eye contact with Felix for a moment and tilted his head just slightly, as if acknowledging his presence with a nod then, he turned back to the Matriarch as if nothing had happened. Luckily, he was looking around and nodding to quite a few people so his looking over at Felix didn't cause him to stand out.

Felix stared for just a second longer then finally left with Rel, heading towards the door to leave. Instead of leaving though, they exited the palace and turned off to the left. They didn't turn too abruptly though and made it seem like they were just leaving in that direction where, the Residents had already planned a logical route they could use as an excuse if needed.

As they walked through the garden which, was nothing like a garden at all considering the lack of soil on the cloud they stood upon, Felix began coalescing and attuning the Mana he needed. It was a little earlier than necessary, but he was more than capable of just holding it as they made their way through the cloud maze and sculptures.

They stopped at a specific spot behind a cloud sculpture of a roaring beast where Felix opened an Aether Tunnel and stepped through, followed shortly afterwards by Rel.

On the other side, Felix floated down the opulent hall at the back of the palace as he charged another Aether Tunnel, opening it as soon as it was ready. Rel, who was right behind him, quickly looked through before he closed it, immediately hearing and feeling a massive explosion just a few rooms down from where they were.

Then, he turned off to the left suddenly and walked right at what appeared to be a blank wall, just to the right of some artwork and a small table that held a plant.

The wall felt physical but as Felix pushed on it, both physically and spiritually, it began to give until it felt almost like a liquid and he pushed himself through.

Man, I feel useless. Felix heard Kether in his mind.

I do feel a little… disregarded… not something I feel often and definitely not something I enjoy… Aela added.

How's it going on your end Varex? Kether asked.

Shut up. Don't distract us. Why are you useless?

We were supposed to distract some of the branch heads but even the guy I know is ignoring me so he can look pretty in front of this guy. Kether answered with an annoyed tone.

I've never met this man before but he does seem rather… captivating. Aela added.

That's a good thing for us but not something we needed to know right now. Please only use Felix's communication network in emergencies. Varex cut them off.

Fine. Kether mentally sighed to indicate his annoyance.

Yes, sir. Aela added in an uncomfortably sultry tone.

Felix ignored the chatter and continued on, into a room of mirrors. He ignored the pull from the various mirrors and shattered them all at once with his Tendrils before floating through one of the frames in particular. As he did so, Rel stayed behind, only entering the room after Felix had shattered the mirrors, and waited patiently there.

Continuing on into a long hall with various rooms on either side, Felix stretched out his Tendrils, that had recently grown longer through his consumption of vast fortunes of ros.

Each one punched through some kind of defense in the form of an Anima film, a Concept or a trap that tried to worm its way inside of him. He ignored all of them and brushed the end of the tendril against the contents of each cell, pulling them into his Soul Space.

There were almost half a thousand cells in total which meant it took Felix just a few minutes to soar down the hall and empty everything. Once he was done, he began charging up and attuning Mana as he rejoined Rel in the room with the mirrors.

He found Rel in the room, along with the shattered mirrors, that were now partially melted and scorched all over. Felix used his Soul tendrils to smash and shatter them even further then placed the device Wanderer's Lab had created in the middle of the room and opened an Aether Tunnel for him and Rel to leave through.

With the device activated, he closed the Aether Tunnel then walked with Rel back towards the entrance to the palace where they were supposed to meet up with Kether and Aela.

They arrived there before Kether and Aela had left, even though they didn't have anything to do and so they walked towards the manicured path that led up to the palace to wait. They stood off to the side of the path so they weren't in the way as they watched the entrance of the palace and waited for their companions they had arrived with.

Before Kether or Aela arrived though, someone else exited the palace, Kerix Ryko.

Felix had been too transfixed before to do anything, and slightly worried he might alert someone but outside, he decided to risk an identification.

[Titan] Kerix Ryko

Wait… What?

Before Felix could even consider what that meant, Kerix turned and noticed him, made eye contact, then began walking towards him.

"You Felix?"

Felix was slightly taken aback by the overly casual tone but nodded nonetheless, "I am."

He gestured off to his right, "Mist's been talking about you a lot. Renson too."

Looking over in the direction he gestured, Felix noticed Mist standing next to him for what felt like the first time that night.

Yes. She has been with him the entire time. Mark answered the question before Felix could even ask it.

Mist looked almost embarrassed as she smiled and bowed deeply towards Felix, a stark contrast to the typical shallow bows she offered him.

"You're her father?"

He scoffed, "No."

Mist looked even more embarrassed as she moved her mouth and jaw as if she wanted to say something but didn't know what.

"I'm her…" He looked over at her for help but she didn't even notice Kerix looking over at her, "Ancient ancestor?" He shrugged and turned back to Felix.

"Oh, apologies." Felix bowed slightly.

"Kerix is the progenitor of the Ryko family…" Mist spoke softly, finally finding something to say.

Kerix, the evidently very old man, nodded, "Anyways. Nice to meet you. Good luck with your…" His eyes darted upwards in a very human expression of thought, "Adventures? Both tonight's and in the future." Making it very obvious he knew what Felix was doing at the gala that night.

Mist looked at him with a slightly confused glance but didn't move anything more than her eyes, making it seem like this was both normal for him and she didn't want to judge him given who he was.

Kerix raised his hand and lazily waved as he began walking away, "See you soon, challenger."

Felix wanted to ask what that meant but didn't stop the man.

After watching him walk down the path and away, Felix heard footsteps hurriedly walk over to them from the palace. He already knew who it was though so he turned to look at Rel who had been completely silent and she was as he expected, nearly catatonic.

"What did he say to you?" Kether asked.

"Who is he?" Aela added before he even had a chance to answer.

"He… said hello, I guess." Felix shrugged.

Aela stared at him then poked Rel a moment later when he didn't answer her question satisfactorily.

Rel didn't seem to have returned to reality just yet but she managed to answer anyways, "Progenitor… Ryko…"

"He's what?" Kether stepped forwards and loudly whispered.

"You can't be serious." Aela added.

She finally managed to shake herself free of her stupor and looked at them innocently, "It's what he said."

"Technically Mist said that." Felix added.

"That's the chick you play every dekad, right?" Kether asked.

"Yeah." Felix nodded.

Move. Now. Varex cut in.

All of them returned to reality from their tangent and began walking down the path, away from the palace and back to their designated meeting spot in an abandoned building in Azura that Mortalbane had recently acquired.

They didn't head back to Wanderer's Lab in case they were followed and knew about the building through one of Felix's Residents in Mortalbane. It was close by and nothing had been done with it yet, making it the perfect place to regroup.

The four of them arrived just slightly after Varex and the Residents with him did, according to Mark. Despite that, Varex immediately approached them seeming almost angry, "What happened? Why are you late?"

Aela sighed and looked at Kether who just shrugged. Varex, seemingly in disbelief he had to do so, looked at Rel who slightly jumped where she was standing, "Kerix said hi to us…"

"Who is Kerix?"

"Apparently,-" Kether shrugged, still in disbelief, "-he's the Ryko progenitor."

Varex frowned deeply and looked at Aela to see if he was serious. She just shrugged and nodded.

"Given the life spans of everyone in Azura, that can't really be that surprising that he's still around… right?" Felix looked around for an explanation.

"That he's alive, no. Not at all." Kether shook his head.

"That he's still here on the other hand…" Aela added with a sigh.

"We thought all the progenitors had left…" Rel added, "I think… everyone thought that."

"What's the big deal if he hasn't?"

"It's not a big deal really it's just…" Kether shrugged, "No one really knows anything about anyone from that long ago. It's all so ancient that…"

"I thought they had all left, met the Acharaya long ago." Aela sat down at one of the chairs that had been left behind by the building's original owners.

"Why do you think he's still here?" Rel asked.

"Who knows." Kether shrugged, "Like I said, we know nothing about that time so…"

"You guys ever heard the term 'Titan' anywhere?" Felix asked.

Kether and Aela both shook their heads and shrugged.

"No, why?" Varex answered.

"No reason." Felix shook his head, "Anyways, job went pretty much how we hoped."

"Better." Aela added, "We were never going to be much of a distraction but that Kerix guy…"

Kether chuckled, "Did you see Matriarch Rheka's face when she heard the first distraction explosion?"

Aela smiled, "But she wasn't willing to turn away from Kerix?" She nodded quickly, "Did you notice the way her eye started to twitch?"

"And her Spirit Armor stared to shiver?" Kether added excitedly.

"What about the planted evidence?" Felix asked one of the Residents in the room, a short woman wearing a tight black outfit with a hood covering most of her face, who had been with Varex.

She nodded, "All in place. No issues."

They have just discovered their vault was emptied. Mark added.

Perfect. Reaction?

The Matriarch is trying to calm her children. They are fighting with each-other. Everything is as expected.

"Perfect." Felix nodded, "I'll split everything up through Wanderer's Lab. Make sure you head there at some point in the next few dekads to see if there's anything you want."

"You sure about trying to compete with Rokrunor?" Aela seemed slightly nervous.

"If you want to withdraw and open an account elsewhere, you're more than welcome to." Felix answered, "For the time being, this is easier though."

Kether shook his head, "Works for me. Less suspicious this way too than if we suddenly deposited massive amounts of ros."

Aela sighed, "Yeah, I guess. How can I be sure it'll be safe though? Rokrunor's had eons to build a reputation…"

"Safe from what, thieves?" Kether teased.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"First of all, your ros is stored in a sub space." Felix answered, "It's not even in this… universe. How many people in this realm do you think know how to access it?"

She opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out. Kether smirked and nudged her with his elbow, "Kid's the entire reason we have this much ros anyways. What would you even do with it anyways?"

Aela shook her head and shrugged, "Nothing. It's fine."

Varex nodded, "Alright. Let's get out of here."

Felix nodded and opened an Aether Tunnel for him, Rel, Kether and Aela, and his Residents and himself.

Each one of them went somewhere different, Rel's off into the back of Azura, Varex's to the center, Kether and Aela's back to The House of Promises and Felix and his Residents to Wanderer's Lab.

Felix was the last to step through as he closed the Aether Tunnels behind everyone then left with his Residents to sort through and store the contents of their haul. Mark would keep track of how much each person had in their accounts which made them much closer to a real bank, from back on earth, with computerized systems to track everything.

They had other big plans in that department too but for the time being, they just stored and sorted through the items.

None of them were particularly interesting, though some did go to the Lab in Wanderer's Lab to be dissected and re

Felix on the other hand, split his Mana into 16, trusting his will power would overcome River's quantity.

They met right at the middle of the arena where River began splitting merging and smashing his Mana up against Felix's in one of the most aggressive matches he had ever played. He didn't try to sneak by or loop around or really form any complex strategy, he just smashed his Mana against Felix's repeatedly.

Having split his Mana into 16, Felix created barriers with a quarter of his total Mana and used the rest to race towards River's side where the goals were.

Once Felix was just a quarter of the arena away from winning, River immediately switched tactics and grouped all his Mana together then launched it forwards with more speed than he had shown so far. In fact, his Mana Control was faster than Felix's at that speed.

Seeing where he was going, Felix wasn't sure if he was trying to fake Felix out or something because he was heading straight for a pillar.

Mist's father didn't deviate from his path at all though and just kept pushing it until it smashed into the pillar and astonishingly to Felix, through it. On the other side Felix mounted a defense with a barrier and slowed it down but the Mana River was controlling wasn't just Mana anymore, he had infused it with something between a Concept and a Conviction of pure power.

It kept accelerating, due to the Concept of Speed he had imbued into the back side of his Mana creation and Felix retaliated by grouping as much Mana as he could together and pushing plain, raw Anima into it. He didn't have the control or practice to imbue a Concept or Conviction as quickly as he would need to so, he didn't.

Felix didn't just control his Mana, he braced the barrier against nearby pillars with Mana creating something that looked like a trampoline or a cloth held on with a spider web.

He continued staring into River's eyes as his Mana creation raced towards Felix's, the both of them desperate to see what would happen when they hit.

Right as they were about to though, the light above Felix's side of the arena flashed green and River released his control on his Mana, letting it splash harmlessly against Felix's barrier.

He clenched his jaw at the loss and bowed, "You are as capable as my daughter claims."

Felix returned the bow, "Thank you. I was very much looking forward to this match. You did not disappoint."

Despite looking like he was angry, he nodded quickly, "Again?"

Felix returned the nod and his Mana to his side as the arena reconfigured itself slightly though, it just relocated and replaced the pillars, it didn't fundamentally change the layout.

This time, River doubled the amount of Mana he had in the arena and Felix matched it.

They played similarly to their first match except this time, when River's Mana began smashing itself against Felix's at the center of the arena, Felix felt a weird pull on his Mana right before a red light flashed above River's side of the arena.

River immediately released his Mana, "Stupid arena-", and turned on his daughter angrily, "When did you increase the sensitivity on this thing?"

She seemed unable to form words as she held up her hands innocently. Felix wasn't entirely sure what was happening but Renson's giggling from off to the side of the room drew his attention.

Renson noticed him looking, "River is a dirty cheater."

River glared at the man.

Renson held his hands up in defense, "He's very good at Mana War. He's also a cheat that will try to get away with anything."

River scoffed and turned back to the arena, "What's the point. Why do we call it war if you aren't willing to do anything to win."

"I'm okay with turning off the cheat detection if you want." Felix offered.

River's eyes widened and he offered the first smile since Felix had met the man, though it was just a slight smile, "You continue to impress."

Mist sighed and walked over to the side of the arena where she configured something then stood back up to watch.

What followed were hours of Felix and River trying desperately to out cheat each-other. River was far more experienced with cheating at Mana War though and he managed to win quite a few matches. The first was when he slipped a small piece of his own Soul into the Mana he started with. That Anima poured into Felix's Mana and hindered his control over it.

Felix managed to win by pulling Mana into the arena from directly within one of River's goals, the furthest one, which seemed to impress the man given the range.

They both seemed to have some kind of unspoken agreement though where they didn't reuse the same method of cheating that either one of them had used so they had to continually come up with more creative methods every match.

Despite his initially sour expression and demeanor, by the end of the day River was yelling and screaming obscenities in every match, which Renson found hilarious and Mist embarrassing. It didn't bother Felix in the slightest especially since none of it seemed to be directed at him and River kept insisting that they play again.

Finally though, hours beyond when Mist and Felix usually stopped playing, Renson had to cut them off, "Felix. We appreciate your time."

Felix nodded and stepped away from the arena, "I appreciate the matches. I had a lot of fun."

River grumbled before collecting himself and nodding to Felix, "We will have to play again soon."

"I would like that."

As Renson led him out of the building, Mist offered Felix a look that seemed to be apologetic and grateful at the same time.

There was little time left before he had to head back to the Storm Vault facility so Felix headed straight there and simply waited in the lobby. As he did, he began to practice replicating what River had done with Concepts of Speed and Power imbued into his Mana to move it faster. It wasn't a completely novel concept to Felix but it wasn't something he had practiced much as he had been more focused on weaving the Concept into the output of the Spell rather than the Spell itself.

With a Fireball, he tried to imbue the Concept of Fire into the bead that launched out of the Spell. What River was doing was more akin to imbuing the Concept into the channels, patterns and nodes.

Felix wasn't sure it would have much practical use in Spell work but he practiced anyways, if only to play and beat River the next time.

Everyday he slowly progressed his reputation within the Storm Sect Vaults and worked with Wanderer's Lab to experiment with his Spells as they worked to prepare the next heist. For the time being though, they were mostly letting things play out between the Earth Branch and Water Branch of the Ano family.

They also needed to be ready for the next heist.

No matter who they hit, even if they hit the Water or Earth Branches again, everyone would know there was a thief or group of thieves at play. That meant they needed to be completely ready to hit everyone they needed to hit, despite the new defenses they were going to be putting into place.

On top of that, if there wasn't someone to blame or a thorough trail of clues to follow, they would be caught immediately since everyone would be looking for them.

That meant they were all lying low for the time being.

The next dekad came and went with Felix going from work to the Lab until he had another scheduled match with Mist.

Arriving at the residence, he was disappointed when Renson led him to the original room with Mist instead of the larger room, which mean River wasn't there. He hid his disappointment well, he assumed, since Mist didn't seem to notice or mention it and her Aura Control was rather unimpressive.

After a few matches in near silence, Mist finally started a conversation, "We did not have a chance to discuss the gala last dekad when my father was here."

Felix looked up at her and nodded, "What about it?" Unsure what she meant.

"You encountering me with…" She seemed reluctant to use his name, "Kerix."

He looked at her for a moment with confusion, unsure what she was trying to get at.

"It's just… I am not normally… I do not often spend time with Kerix. Not even not often, that was the first time in fact I…"

Felix nodded, "Okay."

She sighed, "He was simply curious about my interest in Mana War and…"

"I think I'm missing something."

"You…" She looked at him curiously, "… are a challenger. I understand. Apologies. Please disregard what I was saying."

She seemed almost relieved but now Felix was more curious than anything, "What were you trying to say."

She looked up at him then sighed, "It's just… Kerix's presence here is not very well known at least, not as the progenitor but… those that know of him… he has a reputation as a… man of many women."

"Ah." Felix nodded, "Understood. He's the progenitor of your family right? Doesn't that just mean he keeps the family growing?"

She shook her head, "He hasn't sired a child in eons, ever since he started the Ano family."

Felix snorted mostly in surprise, "That's why he was visiting the matriarch at the gala. Catching up?"

Mist shrugged, "I do not presume the progenitor's intentions."

He nodded.

"Largely because they are unpredictable and always nonsensical." She added under her breath causing Felix to chuckle.

She smiled and they continued playing for the rest of the day as she probed him with small talk.

It took just over 3 dekads from the gala for the Residents to have everything for the next heist prepared. Over that time, the Water and Earth branches of the Ano family began publicly messing with each-other in the most petty ways possible because anything more serious would anger Matriarch Rheka.

So, they began essentially playing pranks on each-other. Spraying each-other with water in public, stealing small things from each-other, poisoning food, salting drinks and starting rumors.

At the same time, Felix's Residents were setting up an elaborate plot throughout the city.

The next heist was against Mortalbane, the hunter's company.

Their head quarters encompassed one of the smaller clouds in the city which, was still massive, it was just relatively smaller than the others. On it, there was a headquarter building along with a number of branch offices which, according to the Residents that had infiltrated them, were closer to lounges and guild halls than offices.

The complexity of the heist, was that they needed to hit multiple vaults at once. Each branch office had its own vault in addition to a central vault in the main office.

There was no chance they could hit them each one by one so, they had to hit them all at once.

In order to hit all the vaults at once, there was a fair bit of preparation to be done. Mainly, Felix needed to both open and maintain 74 simultaneous Aether Tunnels. As much as Felix had grown over the course of his time in the Realms, he had neither the focus nor the Mana to do that, or even the Mana Control to manipulate that much Mana at once.

What they could do however, was create a machine that would do it for him. Then, all he had to do, was Tunnel the machine into the correct location and reach through it with his Soul Tendrils.

On the day of the heist, Felix had already prepared himself by lengthening and multiplying his Tendrils until he had many more. The machine was finished by his Residents and everyone was where they needed to be.

In some ways, it was the most complicated heist so far with all the moving pieces and Residents behind the scenes. In other ways, it was the simplest. All Felix had to do was open an Aether Tunnel then stand perfectly still.

Stepping through to the other side, Felix's Residents moved the machine through and set it up while Felix began preparing another Aether Tunnel of his own. They set the machine up in the middle of the Mortalbane district of the city to minimize the length of the Aether Tunnels which made them more stable.

Normally, that wasn't a problem because Felix was the one opening it. This time though, it was a machine and the Mana they were using, was less than stable.

As he waited, Felix's attention was drawn in a seemingly random direction. He couldn't tell how far they were as they were well beyond the range of his senses but, Felix could feel Kerix's attention on him.

What's going on? You aren't moving. Varex asked through the communication network facilitated by Mark.

It's Kerix. He's watching us.

What? What do you mean 'he's watching'? Kether asked.

I don't know where he is but he's paying attention to us right now.

Shit. Alright, how long to take the Machine apart? Varex asked without letting any of his anger leak into his question.

No. We can keep going. I don't think he cares. He's just… curious. Felix understood the oddity of what he was saying.

You sure? Kether asked.

Yeah. He knew about the gala too.

Wait- Kether started.

We don't have time for this. Later. Varex cut him off.

The Residents managed to set everything up in a matter of minutes, which was faster than they had hoped. Then, Felix got into the machine which looked like a large sphere made of rings and opened the Aether Tunnel he had been preparing. The Tunnel opened up to a location on the farthest end of the realm and through it, Felix began pulling a massive stream of Mana.

It was where the Residents had finally managed to open a mostly stable hole into the Aether, similar to the one they had tried to use on The Dragon.

All Felix had to do, was stabilize the Mana and pump it into the machine which was something he had more than enough focus and control for.

It took a few minutes for the machine to charge up, which meant collecting enough Mana to open 74 Aether Tunnels at once. For stability reasons though, it didn't open 74 at once, instead it staggered the openings slightly to reduce the transient load on the entire system.

So, Aether Tunnels began to open one by one around Felix and each time one did, he reached through with a tendril, smashed through whatever Spiritual defenses there were in the vaults, and sucked up everything he could find. Then he closed the tunnel manually as soon as he was finished.

The process made it so they weren't actually hitting them all simultaneously but, it was still the safest option. Sending in 74 individual thieves was too complicated and error prone given all the potential points of failure and moving parts. Plus, Felix thought using a machine to Aether Tunnel into 74 vaults was far more interesting.

As much as it was safer though, it still had a lot of moving parts and so, it was likely something would fail.

Felix was just happy it wasn't the machine they had created to maintain the Tunnels. Instead, it was something much easier to solve.

One by one, the various Tunnels closed. Once there was only one left, Felix manually detached the Spell from the machine and adopted it himself. Then, he opened an Aether Tunnel back to the empty building they had designated and his Residents began to dismantle and move the machine.

As they did so, he used his Devourer's Rings to morph into Arthur then, he hopped through the last Tunnel, the one that had given him problems.

Just a few moments later, he closed both the remaining Tunnels as his Residents had fully moved the machine.

Then, he used his connection to Nova to target her and summon her from an Aether Tunnel. She was more than excited to help and even more excited, when he communicated to her that he needed her to get through the vault door.

Initially, the plan had been for the Aether Tunnel to simply open inside the vault. When it hadn't done that, Felix fully intended on reopening it himself but before he did, he felt something else at play. The Aether Tunnel hadn't missed, it was blocked.

The vault wasn't the main branch vault but rather a vault in one of the various offices of Mortalbane.

Either an item inside it, or the vault itself, was somehow warded against them getting in. Since Felix and his Residents were nearly certain no one in Azura could do anything related to Spatial magic, he knew it had to be an item they had stored inside. There was no chance Felix was letting an item like that get away from him so, he and Nova began burrowing through the thick vault door.

Nova focused on the physical door while Felix overwhelmed and dismantled wards and protections one by one.

They spent minutes breaking through the door and given they had already hit every other vault, Felix knew Mortalbane was aware of him which was why, he was using his Persona as a disguise.

Just as they were left with less than an inch left, Felix felt a number of presences quickly approaching. He smashed through the last of the Spiritual defenses of the vault then turned around and rushed to meet them.

Flying down the stairs were 6 individuals, 2 men, 3 women and a beast of some kind.

While Felix was much stronger than he had been, he wasn't even sure how he'd hold up in a fight against one citizen of Azura, let alone 6 at once.

So, he didn't fight them.

The beast reached him first and Felix grabbed it with his Soul Tendrils and smacked it into the wall, which only worked because the beast was a Soul Projected Avatar.

Then, he dropped a quick Force Spell to push everyone away, including himself, and ran back towards the vault that Nova had finally gotten through.

Reaching in with his Soul Tendrils, Felix scooped up the contents that were left behind along with Nova, now that she had grabbed whatever had been blocking him before, and stuck everything in his Soul Space.

Turning back to the entrance to the room, Felix just waved at the guards as they charged him.

Before any of them could reach him, Felix vanished from the room, using one of the first Spatial Translocations he had used in a long time.

As soon as he reappeared, Felix pulled Nova back out of his Soul Space and had her spit up everything she had managed to grab, just in case.

For the most part, the items were what Felix had expected. There were less mundane items because more of it was from dungeon loot and the company was a hunting company. Overall though, the items weren't much more interesting than those from the Water or Earth Branch Vaults except, for the item that had blocking Felix from Tunneling into the vault directly.

He immediately picked the ring out of the pile and inspected it.

[?] ?

[Ring]

???

Lovely.

While the ring had a similar identification as Grim had had, the ring felt different to Felix. It felt less like some alien object from another universe but rather, it felt more like the System couldn't identify the ring. At least, that was his assumption based on what he could and couldn't do with the ring.

Being the Damned he was, Felix dutifully placed the ring on his finger to see what it did.

As soon as it was on his finger, Felix almost panicked.

He could still hear, see, smell and feel the air around him. At the same time, it didn't feel like he was still where he was a moment ago. The Aether and Ambient Anima all around him was completely different.

To get a better sense of it's purpose, Felix stuck the ring on Nova's paw, after having her shrink down a bit. As soon as it was on, he couldn't feel her anymore. Their connection was still there and he could feel her through that but no longer could he feel her presence in front of him.

So the ring is… messing with the Ambient Anima and Aether to hide the wearer's presence completely? Felix smirked, Peace is going to be shocked when I return and instead of having the loudest presence in the room, my presence no longer exists. Anyways, not the most useful thing but, better than nothing.

If it had blocked all Spatial effects, it would have far more useful but once he had a better idea of how it worked, Felix knew that instead, it was just messing with the Aether directly around it which made Aether Tunneling specifically impossible. Wearing the ring, he could still Spatially Translocate himself, just not Aether Tunnel.

What the ring did do however, was get Felix's hopes up for what he was going to find in the other vaults.