Jake, of course, knew about Shroud of the Primordial. He used it all the time during this Challenge Dungeon to block so people couldn’t tell when he was lying while manipulating it, so it didn’t block whatever truth-telling ability was being used when he told the truth. He didn’t know how to make Shroud display his lies as true answers, only to block it from giving any response at all… but he did have a feeling this was something he could learn to make the skill do at some future time. But considering it took him many decades to learn how to manipulate the responses from Identify, this definitely wasn’t the time or place to try and self-teach himself that ability.
However, one part of the Shroud he had borderline forgotten was its ability to block anyone’s ability to detect karma-related stuff. One had to remember that Shroud’s primary function was to hide Jake so people couldn’t find him unless he allowed them to. It was a counter to divination first and foremost, but in the process of blocking that, many other things were also included. Karma included.
In many ways, it had to be, considering karmic magic was a huge part of most forms of divination. Plus, if someone could track Jake’s karmic threads, they would be able to track him simply by following them. While the phrase “karmic thread” was very much used as an analogy, many karmic mages actually saw literal threads of karma using their skills. It was simply the conceptual understanding they reached, likely even because of this common phrase and the way others taught the concept of karma. That being the case, it would be pretty easy to just follow a thread from someone related to Jake straight back to him, so of course, Shroud had to block that. It had to tangle these threads into a web that no one could make any sense of, and the karmic threads never truly led back to Jake.
All of this is to say that while Jake did form karmic connections with everyone he encountered, to any karmic mage trying to analyze these threads, nothing made sense. As these threads were very much conceptual in nature, and the way most karmic mages – the Guild Founder included – saw them was only by looking for something particular.
As everyone had endless karmic threads leading out from them, karmic mages pretty much had to look for a specific thread or connection in mind. If they didn’t, they would just see every single karmic thread a person had. In Jake’s case, that would include every single person he had ever met or influenced, both directly or indirectly… in other words, billions of people at the very least. The Founder was an S-grade and could search Jake for karmic connections to the limited scope of the room they were in, which was why he was so confused when he didn’t see what he had expected. He had likely assumed seeing Jake have a powerful karmic connection with one of the factions while having an antagonistic one with others… not simply having his skill say Jake had no positive or negative karmic connection with any of them at all.
The only way for this to be the case was if Jake truly didn’t have any strong connection with any of them, either good or bad, period. Well, that, or if Jake, a mere C-grade, was capable of blocking the skill of the Founder, an S-grade, and one of the strongest people in the entire world. One of these was definitely more believable than the other, and the Founder looked at Jake with genuine astonishment.
“You… are truly telling the truth. No, even so, how is this possible? Some karmic connections should have been formed no matter what, yet I can’t find anything,” the man said with a deep frown as he considered matters further. “What exactly are you? How did you accomplish this?”
“Beats me, I don’t know anything about karma magic,” Jake shrugged truthfully. He only knew what little he had read here or there about karma, which was enough to make him decide that it definitely wasn’t a school of magic for him. “Have you considered that I was telling the truth regarding my actions? That I heavily considered the implications behind everything I did?”
The Founder was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. “Now that I think about it… it’s true that your deceit would have been discovered a long time ago by one of the many other karma mages working for these factions if you did try to trick them. Due to their incredible abilities in the areas of counterespionage and scouting, the Path has flourished in the last many millennia, and every faction has plenty of A-grades who would have been able to see straight through the actions of a C-grade Courier no matter how smart he tried to be…”
Jake kept silent, same as the Founder, while he considered these words, while internally, he had a minor panic attack. Fucking hell, I got lucky with Shroud, or things could have ended very badly… While everything Jake had done seemed like it could work out on the surface, especially considering how dumb the natives of the Challenge Dungeon were, in reality, it should have never gone as far as it did. Under normal circumstances, Jake would probably have been discovered the very first time he became an infinite loop agent if not in the job right after.
Shroud was the only reason Jake was still alive and could continue as he did. It wasn’t just a matter of Shroud of the Primordial being a skill capable of hiding karma, either. Jake was sure many other factions also had abilities to hide karma-related stuff, especially those like the Court of Shadows… but their skills wouldn’t work for shit in this Challenge Dungeon. The skills could hide karma, yes, but if the one searching for it was an A-grade? Even if they walked around with mythic-rarity karma-hiding skills, it would be seen through simply due to the sheer difference in power.
The only reason Jake was fine was due to how Shroud worked. When someone tried to pierce Shroud, they didn’t merely try to pierce the hiding abilities of a C-grade. They competed directly with the Records and power of the Malefic Viper. That was why it could hide him even from any but the most powerful of gods in the multiverse and why a bunch of A- and even S-grades didn’t stand the shadow of a chance. Even if the Founder had been a Godking, he would have been unable to see anything.
Of course, this wasn’t anything the Founder would ever reasonably conclude. So he went with the most reasonable conclusion he could… that Jake had somehow managed to avoid any kind of strong karmic connection with any faction, meaning he hadn’t chosen to side with anyone but had managed to remain one-hundred percent neutral, even to the concept of karma.
A few seconds passed with the Founder just standing there before he finally smiled, lowered his head a bit, and nodded to himself. “I see… I see…”
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He then looked up at Jake, a bright smile on his lips, with the entire mood changed as he even went as far as to bow slightly. “I apologize for my offensive statements, and I hope you can forgive me. For me, as the Founder of the Guild, to offend one who truly walks the purest of Paths as a Courier… it’s truly shameful.”
Jake just stared at the man for a second before he mentally shrugged. Yeah, sure, I can roll with this.
“I simply did what had to be done and acted as I saw fit of a Courier,” Jake responded, trying to sound as genuine as he possibly could.
“And you have exceeded all expectations anyone could ever have of you,” the Founder said, looking a mix between relieved and happy. “However, things are still not as they should be. Do you know why I came here today?”
“How could I possibly read the thoughts of the Founder?” Jake responded. “But if I had to guess, it has something to do with me and the way the Guild has been used and abused by many of the factions present.”
“Your guess is correct for the most part,” the Founder nodded. “I originally wanted to expose them, using you as the showcase of what they had done wrong, and set an example of what happens to Couriers who willingly assist factions, along with punishing the factions who used you… but I now realize my wrongs. You truly never had any interest in politics but merely carried out the Courier Jobs that the Guild gave you. How can I possibly blame you for that?”
Jake felt a bit of cold sweat on his back as he couldn’t help but ask: “Say… when you say you would have punished the Courier who did what you thought they did, what do you mean by that?”
“I planned on stripping you of your title as a Courier, taking your Courier Medallion, and dependent on your actions, and if you refused to truly repent and see your wrongs, ended your life right then and there. With repentance, perhaps you would have even been allowed to become a Courier once more, but you would have naturally started from the beginning,” the Founder explained. It was definitely a potential scenario that Jake very much didn’t like the sound of.
One had to remember that the objective of this Challenge Dungeon was to complete Courier Jobs, so if Jake was stripped of his rank, he would no longer be able to progress. Starting from the beginning would also suck major ass, as based on what Jake guessed and what would just be logical, the higher-ranked Courier Jobs would give more Nevermore Points for a better final score and Grand Achievement.
“Heh,” Jake slightly laughed as he scratched the back of his head. “I guess it’s good I am not the kind of person who would get involved politically with different factions, and definitely not the type to have my own plots and plans.”
Yep, Jake would never do any of that. How could he? He was the best and most genuine Courier ever!
“It is indeed fortunate,” the Founder nodded. “And perhaps this outcome is even better. I was the one who made the Guild invite you today for my original plan to ensure you would go. However, with what I know now, I am even happier you are here. So, let me ask you, Courier… would you be willing to assist me in exposing this corruption and punish those who abused the Courier system and Guild?”
“Before I answer, could you elaborate a bit more on what exactly these factions did wrong in your mind?” Jake questioned as one thing had been bothering him a bit. “Every Special Courier Job I was given by them went through the Guild. Isn’t the Guild also to blame for all this happening? The Guild accepted all these jobs and gave them to me, making everything appear official. If what the factions did was truly against the rules, wouldn’t the Guild have rejected the jobs?”
The Founder sighed loudly at Jake’s question as he looked down. “They should have if everything was working as it is supposed to. It is normal to vet every job, but that simply hasn’t been done in any of these cases. The nobles used the Guild as an arm of their own factions and threatened the employees into accepting any job they wished to assign them. To make matters even worse, I even have records of them manipulating the documentation behind the jobs and falsifying reports regarding completed jobs. Let me just confirm… have you had promises made to you that they would “ensure” you wouldn’t suffer reputational damages even if you failed a job, as long as your failure benefitted them?”
Jake recalled quite a few instances as he nodded. “More than once.”
“As I expected,” the Founder nodded. “Perhaps it is all my fault. I have been hands-off for too long, and their respect for the Guild and what we stand for has deteriorated with the generations that have passed. Few remember who I am, and even the executives of the Guild have fallen into corruption. I plan on doing a heavy clean-up, but to start properly, we need to remind everyone what the Guild truly stands for and why we used to be so respected.”
“Alright, I’m in,” Jake agreed. He wasn’t sure if this was the best quest path, but it seemed like a good idea to ally with one of only a few S-grades Jake had ever heard of in this world. Plus, the guy didn’t seem all that horrible compared to the others he had met. His biggest crime Jake knew of so far was inaction and laziness in regard to addressing the problems the Guild faced, and who was Jake to blame someone for not watching their own faction properly? He sure as hell was guilty of the same crime.
While it wasn’t necessarily a flaw, the Founder was also a bit of a softie, considering how he said he wouldn’t even have killed Jake if he had been a willing pawn of one of the factions and willingly repented.
“Thank you,” the Founder said with a pleased nod.
“So, what’s the plan?” Jake questioned.
“I believe there have been enough plans and plots already. Rather than continue down this track, we shall be direct and forthcoming with our objective,” the Founder said as he and Jake remained looking down on the mass of people in the hall, mulling about.
Despite them standing on the balcony and talking for so long, no one had approached them. Everyone just kept socializing below, almost as if they were waiting for Jake and the Founder to be done with their conversation before doing anything. Jake saw all of the big players already there, and he counted more than fifty total A-grades present in the room. It was an overwhelming force, and Jake doubted many regular C-grades could ever feel comfortable in a situation like this, but he felt pretty calm.
The strongest person present was the peak A-grade Lord Protector. At least, that is what people believed. The old man was swarmed with nobles, nearly as many as the king and queen, who had taken seats on two slightly elevated chairs that looked a bit like thrones.
Jake looked over and saw the Duke of Flames stand confidently off to the side, chatting with some lesser nobles. He saw the Duke’s daughter talking with others, including the A-grade who led PETE. The two other Dukes were naturally also there, along with nobles from a bunch of other countries there as diplomats. Based on what Jake had heard, this was the biggest political conference in decades, so it was definitely a good spot to reveal nefarious actions taken by others to a significant and influential audience.
Of course, that is exactly what several factions in the room wanted to do… none of them knew they were the ones having their actions revealed that day.
“Come… it’s time,” the Founder said as he stood up straight, Jake doing the same. “Let us remind them what the Guild is and what it stands for.”
As he said this, Jake had a system window appear in front of him.
All Special Courier Side Jobs Failed.
Special Courier Job 10 Updated.
Special Courier Job 10: Attend the Royal Conference in the Capital of the Human Kingdom. While there, assist the Guild Founder in revealing the corruption of the noble factions and their abuse of the Guild and the Courier System.
He had failed all the quests to assist the factions and was left with only one objective remaining… and he couldn’t wait to see the chaos that was about to unfold.