Stealth Operation

Once Haalfrin has guaranteed access to the outside, he has a chat with his Wills. "Captain Kaalhyme. I need you to lead our next expedition outside… except this time, we need to make sure that we're not seen at all."

Since Kaalhyme's Will had lost most of his arcane knowledge, the man didn't know how to tell what the security enchantments were doing; he only knew that the enemy was somehow able to tell the black hands were there.

"Hmm…," Haalfrin consults with Kaalhyme. "If the security enchantments are similar on the upper floors, then there are spirit detecting spells on some of the surveillance mirrors. Plus, they must've had several spirit mages to spot you."

"What do we do about it, commander?" Kaalhyme asks.

"…Instead of spreading out in a lot of black branches, we need to be able to collect a lot of Death Aura in a way we won't be seen at all."

"…Obviously," Kaalhyme says sarcastically. "I was asking HOW we do that. We can only collect Aura for you when the Aura is touching someone shortly after or during their death. The problem is that the enemy can apparently 'see' the Aura."

Kaalhyme then continues to list their problems. "We also can't just take out their spirit mages or sabotage their spirit detectors. If we do that, the enemy commander will know we're up to something. All of this is pointless if they discover there's a breech in the Spirit Stone Wall."

"…What if I extend a tendril out to the upper floors, where there are actually people at, then disperse it out in a very thin aura?" If they did this, then the Death Aura would take a dandelion shape; it would have a narrow stem to preserve Aura, so that they can reach higher up. Then, it would balloon out at the top.

"… If the Aura is thin enough," Haalfrin finishes, "do you think the Spirit detectors will be able to sense us?"

"Hmm…," Kaalhyme mutters, "I don't know. I'll talk to Kalastros about it. There's some intact detectors up there, though they aren't powered. I can have him decrypt those things and find out how they work. We can work out a plan then."

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The "Master mage" (as Kaalhyme likes to call Kalastros) takes a strand of Aura all the way up and around the empty floors, and he slowly spends a few days examining the leftover security enchantments on the floor.

Most of the enchanted tiles, plates, and mirrors were broken apart during the chaos earlier, so Kalastros has to take his "research team" to gather as many samples as possible. He then meticulously tries to piece together the broken pieces and use the thousands of samples to determine what the whole product looked like.

After all this is done, the master mage gets at least a rough estimate of how much spiritual aura these detectors can see.

When Kalastros goes back to Haalfrin and the other prisoners to report, he explains, "There's a subtle, ambient spiritual aura that's always in the air. It fluctuates brighter and softer all the time quite randomly. If conventional spirit magic could see this natural spirit Aura, then it would be impossible to see anything at all. This is why, even with the technology to see this Aura, these detectors will be designed to not see anything as weak as this at most."

"So," Haalfrin mutters, "I just need to be sure to keep the Aura as thin as that… How thin is the natural spirit Aura?"

"…Come practice with me, Haalfrin," Kalastros says. "I'll show you."

It takes several sleep cycles for Haalfrin to get a feel for how thinly he needs to spread his Death Aura, but he eventually gets it.

After his preparations are complete, he commences on the plan.

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Haalfrin is sure to have his Wills report to him every time they return. He needs to be sure that the guards up top aren't behaving unnaturally.

The thing about natural spirit aura is that it's so thin that people can't feel it normally. Under that same logic, the humans up top don't even feel nervous or afraid at all with the thin death Aura mixed in around them.

Because contorting his Aura so heavily and spreading it out so thin requires a lot of effort, Haalfrin has to take a lot more rest breaks.

During this downtime, he keeps buried in his soul realm, studying his Name Runes and attempting to brute force his way towards advancing more Names.

This will be a lone, slow process, but it's time well spent.

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Many more years pass by, and Haalfrin gets frustrated every now and then with how slowly his Aura is growing. Most of the deaths come from prisoners aging and dying…

Long ago, his fellow prisoners had calculated how many people are living within reach. There are about 50,000 people in Floors B10 and below. About 20,000 of these people are mages.

The question is… how often are deaths going to happen? … The answer is depressing. Haalfrin only gets about 1 death a day, if he's lucky. Otherwise, he could go multiple days without getting any more Aura.

Part of the reason why so few people are dying within his Aura's reach is presumably because the Warden moved all the execution grounds to the surface.

'At this rate,' Haalfrin thinks unhappily, 'we could be here for a few hundred years… Mind as well make use of this time.'

Since he only needs 1 Will at time to lead an Aura strand up to Floor B15, the rest are free to rest in his Soul and continue training with his Aura.

In case they get discovered, Haalfrin needs to be sure his forces are up and ready to win the next battle.

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Up on the surface, tales of the "Demon in the Pit" circulate around the empire and its subordinate kingdoms. Eventually, these tales turn into myths elder brothers use to scare their little siblings with.

After the story is retold over and over again through the generations, a lot of the commoners even forget that this "demon" was actually a human. In their minds, it must be some sort of misshapen monster that eats souls.

As for the longer-lived mages, they still remember that the Pit Demon is a human, though a dangerous human, nonetheless. Most of the mages scattered throughout the empire only knows that the mysterious monster is buried deeper underground than any person can live.

Those in the noble circles especially know that Haalfrin was buried deep below without even any food or water.

Because of this, rumors eventually spread among the upper class that the demon is dead. Some think there's nothing more to worry about, but others think his vengeful ghost is still haunting the deepest parts of the Pit.

With the Pit's location itself being a closely guarded secret that only the imperial and the Vanteri Family know, Haalfrin's existence becomes even more of a mystery in the empire. Even the Pit employees don't know where their workplace is, since they're brought there through teleportation circles.

As for the Pit guards? Hundreds of years pass by seemingly without incident, and the generation of guards traumatized by the demon has long since retired. A 1st gate mage (the average strength of a guard mage) can live to about 300-400 years at most, and most of their tenures only last as long as 100 years.

Thus, when 500 years peacefully pass by, several generations of guards have come and gone from the Pit. None of them know much about the demon; all they know is that when they're being trained for the job, there's a special segment in their training dedicated to "being aware of spiritual entities."

Because of the Death Reapers, ghosts have traditionally not been a problem people thought about. However… all that changed because of the demon from below.

To most of the guards, however, these measures taken against a threat they never see is annoying at best, and ignored at worst. Most of them treat it as another pointless safety regulation that the higher-ups force upon them.

…One of the only people who never truly forgets is Warden Prella. Being a 4th gate mage now, her lifespan is around 2000-2500 years. By now, she merely looks a decade or two older compared to Haalfrin's last breakout attempt.

After all this time, even she is wondering whether or not Haalfrin is still alive. Even still, she knows she can't risk growing complacent.

The Warden looks out from her tower and stares at the courtyard below her, which is full of guards diligently training with their magic.

She tightens her grip on the railing – unable to get rid of the queasy feeling in her spirit. 'What are you doing, Haalfrin? There's no way you just died quietly in a hole, right?'