"Phew, looks like I''m close to bing a 5th Circle Mage." Ardent could not stop the smile from blooming.


    When he be a 5th Circle Mage, he will be the stronger human in the region, able to trample over 4th Circle Mage with ease.


    "Time for the regr patrol then."


    Ardent''s schedule is busy, with the first few hours from waking up being patrolling few kilometers from the vige. Then, he trained in the dungeon, before,pleting another round around the vige. The next day, rinse and repeat.


    Of course, break and meal were included, with most of them spent with his family, or with Catlin. Thetter were moremon as Catlin acted like a housewife, taking lesson from her and his mothers.


    ''I''m notining though. It''s nice to eat my future wife cooking, especially when she is good at it.''


    His little daydream abruptly stopped when he sensed something in the distance. Lowering his altitude, Ardent Shadow Dive into the intertwined shadow of the trees, moving through the darkness and straight to what he sensed.


    It took him a few minutes, not due to him being slow, but to the great distance from his previous location and his target. In fact, he moved faster than he ever did when he used Shadow Dive and Shadow Traversing before, the result of his training with one attribute for an entire day.


    When he get close, he applied Dark Mantle as extra precaution, even if he did harbor the believe they did not sense him. Better be safe than sorry as they say.


    In a reasonable distance from the camp, enough to not be at point-ck distance, while being able to hear the neers talking to one another, Ardent listened.


    "To think, Master Grulnar asked us toe to the middle of nowhere." one of them said.


    Ardent put to note of the name. If he had to hazard a guess, it''s the person who send the bandits, and now, the new group.


    "The Red Stone Bandit did not answer any reply. They might take a liking of the ce and go rouge." another one said. If he has any doubt of them being rted to the previous bandit group, said doubt was put to rest now.


    "Oh, or maybe, the vigers put up a fight and kill the entire Red Stone Bandit!" one of them yelled in mock shock, before trembling, his chest heaving before he burst intoughter.@@novelbin@@


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    Others followed,ughing loudly as they shake like a loon. Ardent would have been pissed if not for them being urate. Without him being more powerful than expected, Slurom Vige will cease to exist. Reced by a new vige, under Master Grulnar.


    ''I can probably kill them now, but, performing a little more spying should be alright.'' to make sure it will be fine though, Ardent inspected the border of the newly formed camp, to ensure there will be no raiders from the new group.


    Once he was certain, Ardent began spying the new group.


    ''I''m so excited! It''s like ying a real game of spy, but with the benefit of not being caught a few seconds after running around!'' Ardent thought with some excitement, this one being borne of his love of spy movies during his adulthood.


    -x-


    The first ce Ardent inspected is the camp of the grunts. It may seem like a foolish decision, as the grunts will not have many useful information he can dig through. However, what he was after is simple; the number of the group.


    While counting one person at a time will take a long time, plus the possibility of identally counting the same person over and over again, counting the tents, and multiplying the average people inside is an easier endeavor.


    After a lot of counting, helped by the fact it is close to night, so the foot traffic of the camp had slowed down, Ardent counted about 300 to 400 mercenaries, which he learned by listening to their talk.


    As for their average strength, that''s where it get worrisome. After all, when there are no Zero Circle Mage or regr, non Aura using mercenaries, which is because everyone is either a 1st Circle Mage or stronger, or 3rd Rank Aura User!


    "The vige will be overwhelmed." Ardent muttered. The Red Stone Bandit is bad enough with arge number of 1st Circle Magepared to the vige, but this new group, they could walk into the vige and not noticed a single thing.


    "And that''s not counting the 2nd Circle Mage and above." and Ardent did not think he did not spot them because they arecking in suchbatants.


    He looked at therger tents, with personal that is not abatant. Which were the only poption of regr people in the camp.


    "They should be servants and ves. Taking care of the need of the higher-ups of the group." Ardent whispered to himself.


    The rows of tents should be the residence of 2nd Circle Mage and above, plus 2nd Rank Aura User and their ilks.


    "I should count them as well. I will kill them quickly, but maybe I can get them to fight with the other Mages for practice as well." the possibility of giving the Mages and Aura User of Slurom Vige some much needed real lifebat experience against stronger foes is good, but it can lead to horrible losses.


    In the end, Ardent decided to not do so as the vige could not afford another round of losses in theirbatants.


    "I should also get my strength to the next Circle, so I can let them go through the 2nd floor. Catlin should be a 3rd Circle Ice Mage in a week or so if shepleted an entire run through the 2nd floor." The possibility is there, but Ardent will see if his fiance can handle the entire 2nd floor by herself.


    "For now, I should count the number of 3rd Circle Mage, and see if there are any 4th Circle Mage." if thest one can be found in the group, only an ambush can took such powerhouse down.