I Tricked a God

Morning in the military camp began as usual.

While one part of the troops left the camp, setting out on their next assignments, another was already going about its daily work, patrolling the fortifications or heading to the training zones, where the clash of weapons and surges of mana had been resounding since dawn.

However, in one of the freestanding buildings near the very center of the camp, guarded around the clock by several Soulbound Mages, something entirely different was unfolding.

Three Captains were currently seated behind massive wooden tables covered with maps, reports, and scrolls.

They were Morkroft, Astrid, and a slender old woman with long gray hair and red eyes that still retained an extraordinary clarity.

Despite her deep wrinkles, her face was still beautiful, retaining noble and remarkably regular features, while her straight posture and calm gaze gave the impression that age had never managed to rob her of her charm.

Before the three Captains stood Kael, his back straight, calmly reporting everything he had managed to overhear during his shift in the dungeon.

After finishing his account of the prisoners’ conversation, he fell silent for a moment.

The old woman frowned thoughtfully and, interlacing her fingers before her, quietly asked, “They’re in a hurry because of some grand event?”

Raising her red eyes to Kael, she immediately followed up, “Were you able to understand exactly what kind of event it is, child?”

Astrid nodded slightly in agreement. “I have the same question as Lilith.”

Kael looked down thoughtfully and began to answer cautiously, “As I said earlier, my knowledge of their language is far from perfect, so I mostly grasped the general context...”

But before he could finish, Morkroft merely raised a hand, interrupting him.

“Get to the point, Kael,” Morkroft ordered.

Kael faltered slightly and replied with a crooked smile, “This is going to sound wild... But I think this event will take place somewhere beyond the Human Dimension. Possibly not even in the Beastfolk Dimension.”

For several seconds, silence hung in the room.

And Kael, shifting his gaze from one Captain to another, calmly finished, “Judging by the prisoners’ conversation, their Patriarchs are extremely concerned with ensuring that the Beast God Horde arrives there at the height of its strength and prestige. That, as I understood it, is what explains their desire to crush the Empire as quickly as possible.”

Astrid grew noticeably more thoughtful and, tapping her fingers against the table, murmured quietly, “We need to report all of this to General Salazar immediately. Perhaps he’ll understand what Kael is talking about...”

But Lilith merely shook her head slowly.

“Most likely, the Emperor himself should handle this,” she calmly objected. “Perhaps the archives of my Imperial Branch contain records of something similar.”

For several seconds, silence once again hung in the room.

Morkroft, still looking at Kael, unexpectedly addressed the two women. “While the Empire decides what to do about the eastern part of the continent and the beastfolk’s impending attack, we’ll have plenty of work of our own.”

Kael nodded in agreement, cautiously backing up his Captain. “Considering that the beastfolk themselves mentioned a planned attack on our military camp... You’re absolutely right, Captain.”

Morkroft fell silent for a moment, his gaze thoughtfully roaming over the map of the front spread across the table.

“Then the first thing we need to do is find out which camp they’ll launch their offensive from,” he finally said. “And at the same time, think about how best to prepare for the coming battle.”

Lilith also looked at the map, her gaze lingering on several markings before she calmly said, “I think the answer is obvious. Blueblood Camp will serve as the staging ground for the attack.”

Looking away from the map for a moment, she turned her gaze toward Morkroft.

“Will you handle the reconnaissance?”

Morkroft merely nodded approvingly and replied, “I was about to suggest it myself.”

Running a finger along the front line marked on the map, he cast a brief glance at Kael and added matter-of-factly, “You’ll come with me, just in case.”

At those words, Astrid immediately frowned.

“Are you out of your mind?” she demanded, clearly displeased. “Why take such a valuable mage on such a dangerous assignment?”

Morkroft slowly raised his gaze from the map and looked at the woman.

“I’ll decide for myself how to handle my subordinates,” he said with slight irritation.

Astrid folded her arms across her chest in displeasure and, turning her gaze toward Kael, said far more calmly, “You did an excellent job, Kael. Astonishingly effective, I would even say.”

She fell silent for several seconds before nevertheless adding, “Think about my offer. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.”

And the moment those words were spoken, a heavy wave of pressure seemed to sweep through the room.

An aura flared around Morkroft, and he slowly turned his head toward Astrid. Glaring into her eyes, he said coldly, “Aren’t you overstepping a little, darling?”

But before Astrid could open her mouth, Lilith merely shook her head wearily.

“Enough,” she said calmly, looking from one Captain to the other. “We have a series of difficult battles ahead of us. Now is not the time for infighting.”

Morkroft slowly exhaled, and the heavy pressure filling the room vanished just as quickly.

“A fair point,” he said calmly, rising from the table.

Walking around the table, Morkroft headed toward the exit and, without even turning around, called over his shoulder, “Lilith, report everything to the General. In the meantime, I’ll make preparations for the reconnaissance mission.”

At those words, he gave Kael a brief nod.

Kael immediately understood the hint, inclined his head slightly, and said respectfully, “I’ll be going as well. Thank you for your trust, seniors.”

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Without waiting for an answer, Kael turned and followed Morkroft, and within a few seconds, both of them calmly left the room, leaving Astrid and Lilith to discuss their next steps…

✦ ✦ ✦

As soon as the door closed behind them, Morkroft smirked and gave Kael an approving slap on the back. “You’ve surprised me again, Kael. As soon as I file my report, expect another bonus.”

Kael merely grinned in satisfaction.

“Excellent... I was just thinking of visiting the Horde’s Bone Tower again.”

Continuing down the corridor at an unhurried pace, Morkroft glanced sidelong at him.

“You’d better rest today. Tomorrow you’ll have a free day, so you can devote it entirely to training.”

“And the day after tomorrow?” Kael immediately asked.

“You’ll come with me on reconnaissance,” Morkroft replied without the slightest hesitation.

Kael looked slightly surprised and, making no attempt to hide his doubts, asked, “So you were serious about that? Won’t I just get in your way?”

Morkroft gave a quiet snort, continuing his unhurried pace down the corridor, and calmly replied, “Don’t worry about things you don’t need to. If I say I need you on the mission, then I do.”

Seeing the puzzlement on Kael’s face, he went on to explain, “I want you to take a close look at Blueblood Camp’s barrier. If your powers of observation allow you to notice patterns in the flow of mana within it, we’ll pass that information on to the specialized squads.”

At those words, Kael became noticeably more interested.

“What exactly do you have in mind, Captain?”

At that moment, they emerged from the building. Several guards standing by the entrance immediately snapped to attention, while Morkroft merely gave them a brief nod and continued calmly forward.

“The best defense is a good offense,” he said casually.

Stepping around several soldiers hurrying toward them, Morkroft continued, “If we decide to attack the enemy first, the barrier-breaking squad will need time to breach the camp’s defenses. And the more time the enemy has, the more resources they’ll be able to mobilize.”

He thought for several seconds, then calmly added, “The problem is that to assess the barrier, an entire specialized squad has to get almost right up to it. Right now, that’s impossible.”

Kael grasped his train of thought almost immediately and, thoughtfully rubbing his chin, said, “I see... If I, as part of the reconnaissance squad, can make even rough sketches of the main mana flows, that will be a great help during the future assault.”

Morkroft grinned in satisfaction and replied, “Exactly.”

It seemed Morkroft was growing more and more fond of Kael. Especially of the fact that he didn’t need obvious things explained to him.

“With me, you’ll be able to get much closer to the camp than the others,” he continued. “And if you manage to see anything at all, the barrier-breaking team will be very grateful to you.”

For a moment, he raised his gaze toward the southern part of the camp, where the battlefield stretched beyond the fortifications, and finished a little more quietly, “And if that helps shorten the time needed to destroy the enemy barrier, our entire camp will be grateful.”

Kael merely nodded and replied confidently, “I’ll do everything I can.”

Morkroft smiled, a satisfied gleam flashing in his eyes, and murmured, “It seems the God of Blood and War himself sent you to us.”

Passing another squad of soldiers, the Captain habitually nodded in response to their greeting, then slapped Kael on the back again.

“Alright, get some rest. I have a sleepless night ahead of me.”

“Good luck, Captain.”

Morkroft merely gave a brief wave over his shoulder without even turning around and strode confidently onward, already pulling a stack of documents from his spatial artifact as he walked. It seemed his thoughts had returned to work before their conversation had even ended.

Kael couldn’t help but smirk, thinking, “Training is rest for me...”

With that thought, he too changed direction and, joining the stream of mages hurrying through the camp, headed toward the Horde’s Bone Tower, already visible nearby.

But Kael had taken only a few steps when the smile on his face slowly began to fade.

The troubling thoughts stirred by the beastfolk’s conversation once again began creeping insistently into his mind.

“The Empire has to protect Lasthold...” Kael thought, continuing toward the Horde’s Bone Tower. “And we have to stop the Beast God Horde’s impending offensive.”

His brows furrowed slightly of their own accord.

“But what if we fail?” For the first time in a long while, the thought came with unsettling clarity. “Will I have to desert to rush to my parents’ aid?”

Kael immediately shook his head, as though trying to drive such thoughts away.

“No... It won’t come to that. The Empire still has time to prepare.”

Taking a deep breath, he finally cast aside his anxiety, assuring himself, “Everything will be fine.”

✦ ✦ ✦

And at that very moment, as always, it was noisy around the Horde’s Bone Tower.

It seemed that noticeably more people than usual had gathered today. And many of those present wore the emblems of the Crystal Needles Squad on their chests.

Almost at the very center of the crowd stood two young mages, neither taking his eyes off the other.

The first was a short, bald young man with dark skin almost entirely covered in white tattoos.

Opposite him towered a broad-shouldered giant with slightly greenish skin and short light-brown hair.

Several dozen mages had already gathered around them, watching the budding argument with curiosity.

The tattooed young man merely snorted contemptuously and, folding his arms across his chest, said, “Get ready to lose your entire month’s earnings, Bonat.”

The giant merely laughed loudly. “Have you lost your mind, Alzir? Today I’m making it to the fiftieth floor.”

The tattooed man replied arrogantly, “What a coincidence. I was just planning to clear the fiftieth floor too. Let’s see who does it first!”

Their exchange only riled up the gathered crowd even more.

New bets immediately poured in from every direction, and the noise around the two mages grew even louder.

Off to the side of the commotion, Barbaros stroked his thick red beard in satisfaction, taking money with one hand while quickly jotting down names and amounts in his enormous notebook with the other.

After taking another bet, he briefly raised his gaze toward the enormous stone board, where the names of mages who had already entered the Horde’s Bone Tower glowed one after another.

A satisfied grin crept across his face.

“Quite the excitement today...” Barbaros noted inwardly. “So many local celebrities decided to visit the Tower.”

Amid the crowd’s cheers, Bonat and Alzir stepped into the Horde’s Bone Tower almost simultaneously.

Neither of them even tried to let his rival go first.

Shoulder to shoulder, they crossed the threshold of the training zone, as though unwilling to yield even a single step to each other.

Barbaros merely grinned in satisfaction as he watched the spectacle.

But the very next moment, his peripheral vision caught a familiar figure approaching the entrance to the training zone at an unhurried pace.

The old man quickly turned his head and immediately recognized Kael, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

“Gone for three days... And finally he shows up,” he muttered inwardly. “I was already starting to think something had happened to the kid.”

Recalling Kael’s insane training pace over the past month, Barbaros merely snorted.

“Though there’s nothing unusual about it... With his schedule, it’s no surprise he decided to give himself a few days’ rest. Anyone else would’ve forgotten about training altogether for an entire month after that.”

But the next moment, Barbaros noticed something strange.

Kael did not even glance toward the usual training zones.

Instead, he headed confidently straight for the Horde’s Bone Tower.

The old man’s eyebrows slowly rose, and a familiar excitement almost immediately lit up his eyes—the kind seen in a merchant who had just caught the scent of an extremely profitable deal.

“During his second visit, he didn’t try to break his own record...” Barbaros noted thoughtfully, absently stroking his thick red beard.

A smile slowly spread across his face.

“Looks like this day is getting more and more interesting...”

Continuing to watch the approaching Kael closely, he added inwardly, “Considering his insane training pace, the kid should have strengthened his bond with his contracted spirit over the past month. He’s definitely gotten stronger... The only question is—how much?”