It's Cliché

I looked at the missions hanging on the boards. Most of them were put here by the small forces, they mostly consisted of killing some beast or protecting someone or something.

There were not a lot of high-grade missions and they don't seem that interesting, there were some that spoke about some inheritance thing or going to a dangerous place to find precious herbs.

I'm only Bronze grade so I'm only authorized to take Bronze or Silver grade missions.

I saw a Silver grade escort mission for some low-level noble family that seemed interesting.

On the mission paper, you could find the name of the one who posted the mission, the details of the mission, and finally the reward. I can buy some more info about the one who posted the mission in the guild and everything about the mission.

I found the mission interesting because the reward was too good even though it is from a low-level noble family.

I went to the counter and gave the mission paper to the middle-aged woman.

"You already made your choice! This seems to be a new mission. But be aware that we can't prove the veracity of the mission so be careful." She reminded seeing the abnormally high reward for a Silver grade mission.

"I understand thank you for the reminder." I thanked her, took back the mission paper, and then left the guild.

I went directly to the area where the noble family lived. It took me some time walking because the family lived quite far from the guild. After two hours of walking, I finally arrived before a very big land, with one quite big mansion in the center and several other detached houses around it.

Two guards were guarding in front of the front door, the two were only at the Celestial Realm, I scanned the land and the strongest was at the fourth stage of the Limbo Realm showing the poor strength of the family.

In the Black Iron Country, and the other three, generally, the patriarch of a strong noble family will be at the Divine Sea Realm or at worst at the peak of the Limbo Realm, and each family has an ancestor/protector who's in seclusion and possess strength at least at the Late stage of the Divine Sea Realm.

I approached the door when the two guards stopped me.

"Stop! What business do you have with the Ruo Family?!" Questioned one of the guards.

"I am Wanderer, a Bronze Grade lone cultivator from the Guild. I came here because of the escort mission." I said showing cultivation at the late stage of the Virtual Realm and handing them the mission paper.

"The patriarch informed us of your arrival. Please come with me." Said the other guard politely as he opened the door.

I nodded and followed him. We passed through a corridor outside the mansion, I could see a magnificent garden with beautiful flowers and a pond with seemingly delicious fish.

It took us almost ten minutes of walking to arrive at the guest hall.

"Please wait inside. I will inform the patriarch of your arrival. If you need anything, there is made at your disposal." He said as we entered the hall.

I nodded and took a seat. He bowed before leaving hurriedly.

The hall was simple, there was a big table in the center and ten or so seats around, some paintings hang on the walls, and four servants were in the four corners of the hall waiting for orders.

I turned toward the closest servant and asked with a smile. "Can you bring a fresh and sweet drink please?"

"Immediately." She said professionally and bowed before leaving.

As I waited for my drink, I closed my eyes and scanned the land in detail. There was seemingly nothing wrong with the land, no weird aura or energy, everyone looked clean and normal, but you see this if you only scan the land with a Divine Sea Realm's level Divine Sense.

What I could feel was quite interesting, everyone was brainwashed using a powerful soul technique. They all looked like puppets, they only do the task they are ordered to do and nothing else, normally you would see the servant, guards… speaking or slacking off but here no, they all worked and no one spoke if it wasn't for work.

I could see a very faint green energy emanating from the main building. So, I went further and investigated the interior but I found nothing unusual. I then looked toward the basement and I saw the guard who guided me going down to the basement using a secret passage.

I followed him, he arrived in a dark room with almost no lights, and in the distance, I could see the same green energy that gave a green light and it seemed more concentrated.

The guard walked toward the green energy and I continued to follow him. He arrived in an enormous hall with tens of people kneeling before a portal and he also kneeled before the portal.

"Master I have a report!" Said the guard as he smashed his head on the floor.

"Speak." And an aged voice said from the portal as an enormous pressure descended on the hall

"Someone from the guild accepted the mission." Said the guard trembling from the pressure.

"His grade?" Asked the aged voice.

"Bronze." Answered the guard.

"Hmmph! Only bronze. I at least hope he has good cultivation." Said the aged voice as the pressure grew.

"H-he is a-a-at the V-virtual Di-disa-disaster Realm." Said the guard with some difficulty because of the pressure.

"Oh! It seems that luck is with me! Hahahaha!" Exclaimed the aged voice as he laughed.

Suddenly someone appeared from the portal. It was a very aged man, he looked like a skeleton, he has no fat on his body nor visible muscle, he looked more like a dead person and I looked at his realm and unexpectedly he was at the middle stage of the Divine Sea Realm.

His appearance suddenly changed and at his place was a handsome middle-aged man. He wore a brown noble dress.

"Bring me to him." Said the now middle-aged man who hid his cultivation and only showed cultivation at the fourth stage of the Limbo Realm, as the guard got up and they exited the hall.

I retracted my Divine Sense as the servant came back and gave me my drink, there was a weird thing in it that also gave a greenish aura, I inspected it, and seemed to be something that will damage the soul the more time passes without the victim being aware.

At first, I thought the green energy was the Power of Faith but after examining it I noticed that it was a very potent Yin energy in the form of a ghost-like demon that devoured or controlled the soul stealthily.

The Yin energy can't do anything to me so I drank normally without care and pondered on what to do.

Honestly, whatever scheme they have it'll not affect me in the slightest. I have nothing to do and chose this mission because it seemed fishy but interesting. So why not play their game and see what grand scheme they have?

The drink was very good, much better than those I could find in the restaurant of Cloud Temple City. It was very sweet but not too much and very cool, I felt relaxed. Another effect of the drink is to nourish the body and because I haven't cultivated my body more than my skin, I felt some little effect.

After another ten minutes of waiting the door of the hall suddenly opened. It was the guard and the 'patriarch', I got up from my chair and cupped my fist.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Patriarch Ruo." I said.

"The pleasure is mine, Wanderer." Said the patriarch as he strolled to the seat in front of me. "Please." He gestured for me to take a seat as he sat on his chair.

"Thank you." I thanked him politely and sat back in my seat.

"I will not beat around the bush. Tomorrow morning we have to send some goods to the Sky Wind kingdom but we are in lack strong warriors so we posted some missions in the guild and other forces in the city in hope that someone would help. And I never thought that someone at the middle stage of the Virtual Disaster Realm would be willing to help us." He thanked me 'emotionally".

I used a lie detector skill on him as he spoke and he mostly spoke the truth except for some points the mission seemed legit.

We continued to speak for some time before I left the mansion. And as I left I sensed someone following me, it was a very skilled late-stage Godland Realm who seemed very adept at spying, even a late-stage Virtual Disaster Realm will have some difficulty detecting her.

I did not pay attention to her and continued to stroll toward the nearest inn. It took me twenty minutes of walking to arrive at the inn, I entered and asked for the best room they had, I paid for a hundred high-grade genuine stones and entered my room.

The spy still haven't left and was waiting for an opportunity as she hid in the ceiling. She waited for when the demon will take effect and weaken me enough to kill me swiftly.

I just laid on the bed and continued to play Pokémon Soul Silver on my DS, I waited for her to make a move but it seems that she waited for the feedback from the demon I drank? ate? so I imitated the energy of the demon and sent her feedback meaning that I began to weaken considerably.

As I sent the feedback I pretended to feel bad and fall asleep. I put back my DS in my inventory, took out a healing pill, and swallowed then I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, a woman dressed in a tight black outfit with her face covered came out of the ceiling and carefully approached me. She had a rune in her hand that gave a similar aura to that of the demon I ate.

She put the rune on my forehead and said some chant that activated the rune. The rune suddenly lit up with a green aura, the same I saw at the mansion, and it went in my head toward my soul. I removed every protection I had and let the rune go toward my soul, I still wanted to see what they want to do so I isolated the rune to not be destroyed by my soul and simulated the proper functioning of the rune.

Seeing that everything worked perfectly she took out a communication rune.

"Master, it's done." She said as she received a reply a second after.

She nodded and then took out another rune and burned it. Suddenly a portal appeared in the room and 'Patriarch Ruo' exited it.

"Good job number 6. You can go back now." Said Patriarch Ruo as he waved his hand and the girl disappeared using her shadow, and he tried to access my mind using the rune in my head to control me.

I pretended to be controlled and followed the instruction he sent from the rune.

"Hahaha! A Late-Stage Virtual Disaster Realm who's less than 70 years old! I can raise you as commandant in my army! And then I'll conquer this Black Iron Kingdom that betrayed me!" He laughed maniacally as he opened a portal and I followed him like a puppet.

We reappeared in the hall in the basement where he took a seat on a sort of throne.

"Come here you." He said as he gestured for me to kneel in front of him.

I followed the instruction and kneeled in front of him. He then put his hand on my head and closed his eyes, I then felt some foreign soul power trying to invade my head so I made the same than with the rune, I simulated another soul and let him take control of it.

"Hahaha! Success! Your name is now number 9! You will form a team with number 6! Six come here and take your new comrade to his room!" He said as Six came out of a shadow and gestured for me to follow her.

"I want all of you to be prepared for tomorrow! We can't this mission understood?!" Exclaimed Patriarch Ruo.

"Yes!!!!" Screamed everyone in the hall as they got up and went on their way.

I flowed Six as we passed through some corridors that lead to the chambers. It took us almost five minutes to arrive at the rooms and we stopped In front of one room at the end of a hallway.

"This…is…our…room." Said Six who seemed to have some difficulty speaking.

'Our?!' I thought taken back.

I thought that everyone has his room or at least men together and women together, I certainly haven't expected to share my room with someone, much less a woman.

I nodded without showing emotion and we entered the room. There was a bed on each side of the room and nothing else, the room seemed to be made directly in the rock like a cave and had very bad insulation.

I put an illusion on Six that showed her that I went on my bed and meditated cross-legged. She went to her bed and also meditated cross-legged As for me I decided to look into her memories and see if anything was interesting. I made my body weightless, went behind her without being detected, and put my hand on her head, because I don't have weight she can sense my hand on her if I don't apply some pressure (BS).

I closed my eyes and concentrated as to not kill her or make her dumb by inadvertence, I entered her 'Soul Sea' where her soul is and began to scan her memories

"As expected…Cliché…"