After Kaden properly inspected his work he told the Formation stage hunters return to their usual routine.

"You", Kaden told to his newest slave. "Come with me."

The man obediently followed. He didn't even try to say anything. Kaden wondered whether he was trying to resist. At the very least any such attempts were futile.

Anyway, even if Kaden doubted there was danger, he prefered to remain within relative safety his concealed base.

There was some surprise on the man's face as he followed Kaden inside the formations.

"Name", Kaden demanded as he lied down inside the cave.

"Nervin", Nervin answered.

"I'm aware you are basically a bottom feeder as far as those at Condensation stage go", Kaden started. "You are lucky to be as strong as you are. No one also will really care about you. You are an acceptable servant, Nervin."

"What is this", Nervin was able to ask.

"You aren't that dumb, but I will make it clear to you", Kaden replied. "You are now my slave. Unlike those weaklings, you can actually be useful to me." Kaden let the words sink in for a moment. "Now, that merchant you worked with. Should you disapear, will he do something?"

"He will report to Shadow Pact that I reneged on my orders", Nervin said. "As for whether anything will happen, I can't say. He works for them and he handles materials people really shouldn't. The hunter town is far enough that he also is a middle man for other illegal goods from nearby areas. In the current chaotic times, he needs protection and that is me."

Kaden wondered the situation for a moment. A criminal organization might come looking for Nervin, but they were also potentially useful. Would it be better to arrange Nervin to return to them?

"No, it seems they have plenty other people at Condensation stage", Kaden decided. "Enough that they can just put Nervin here to protect one of their clear side business. They won't be useful to me."

Kaden was also pretty sure with such potential number of people at Condensation stage, it was entirely possible the entire criminal alliance, Shadow Pact, was, in fact, pet project for some bored True Magus. This was not a problem. A True Magus wouldn't give a crap what happened unless the entire thing was close to crashing down in flames. Possibly not even then. Kaden wasn't going to go that far.

Nervin waited quietly for Kaden to decide.

"Kill the merchant", Kaden finally told Nervin. "Loot all his things, bring everything to me. Do it quietly and cleanly. Hide any signs of what happened. Try not to be seen."

Indeed, Kaden might as well collect all the things the merchant had and use them himself. It was likely there wouldn't be too many useful things. Afterwards he would send Nervin to Corand. If someone did get concerned about the merchant, it would take some time if he seemed to just disapear with no signs of what happened.

"It may take some time, but I will need to build another place much closer to No Man's Land and likely inside Saint Empire. For that I need detailed information to prepare a quiet place that is safe, but that has to be a long term goal. At worst, I will have to arrange myself safe path through with everything I need."

Kaden watched Nervin leave to do his job. Since things were now moving forward, Kaden started to build a stronger relay formations that would connect him to Nervin even once he was at Corand.

It was still night when Nervin got back to the hunter town. There he quietly went into the store that the merchant used to sleep inside too. The merchant was much weaker than Nervin so he perished before he even had time to notice anything.

Kaden observed for a moment how Nervin was going to make the merchants body disapear. He wasn't surprised as Nervin seemed to be very familiar with getting rid of evidence such as bodies. Not a drop of blood had been shed and without closer examination it even might seem like the merchant was sleeping, or potentially drunk, and Nervin was merely carrying him somewhere to sleep.

Not that the man let anyone see him move the body.

"This Nervin is indeed good choice for covert moves", Kaden muttered to himself. "Maybe a bit crass, but thats not a problem. I can always tell him to behave otherwise, if needed."

Being at Condensation stage, Nervin was able to move quickly. He was able to drop and hide the merchant relatively deep in the forest before sun came up.

Kaden considered for a moment whether he should tell Nervin to bring the merchant back to the base so he could have a snack and make the body disapear while at it, but decided not to. The merchant wasn't strong enough to even taste particularly good. While he would be equivalent of the weak beasts Kaden captured for his meals, there was no reason to create problems for it.

Nervin still was going to loot the store and disapear before anyone really would start paying attention. Extra trips were unnecessary due to his speed.

While Nervin was finishing his work, Kaden set up orders for some of the Formation stage hunters to keep eye in the hunter town. Since Kaden knew he had poked at a criminal organization, he wanted to see how fast, or if they would react at all, when one of their operations suddenly went silent.

Now that he was using one of their stronger assets, he might eventually draw their attention and someone would come asking questions at the very least. That could cause disruptions.

Speaking of disruptions.

Kaden watched Nervin come back with the loot. Then suddenly he noticed something that shouldn't be there. Unusual mist.

"Shit", Kaden cursed.

He knew that mist. Ciner was around and if she was spreading that mist, she had likely noticed Nervin. The question now was what she would do.

"Nervin", Kaden communicated to the man after he calmed himself. "There is a problem near you. If you are attacked, do your best to avoid the mist that is around you. Do not fight and instead escape. Come to me and together we are likely able to kill the pest."

This time Kaden planned to get rid of Ciner, if she decided to come. Now he had servants to aid him. He was certain he would be able to put an end to the annoyance. Ciner was also rather powerful and had an unusual evolution. Her corpse could offer good cultivation materials. Kaden had no plans to attempt to enslave her.

Kaden observed the mist grow thicker and, as expected, suddenly tentacles made out of thick mist shot out towards Nervin. Whether or not Nervin could have avoided them had he not been warned, the chances did indeed grow.

As Nervin continued running, Ciner suddenly burst out of the shadows personally.

"Oooh! Could this one be my hubby's toys?" Ciner babbled as she ran after Nervin.

Kaden wasn't surprised that Ciner could guess there was something odd about Nervin. She had been there to produce large portion of Kaden's test subjects and see the enslavement spell be built with trial and error.

"This is not a problem", Kaden told himself. "It is likely since he is acting in unusual way. Simply ignoring an attacker."

Normally someone like Nervin would likely at least try fighting. Not only that, he had somehow been alerted by the mist that wasn't exactly impossible to appear normally. Someone paying attention might have noticed the mist be strange, but for many it would have been an ambush.

Ciner knowing what she knew and likely could guess Kaden be around somewhere near, it wasn't hard to start guessing Nervin's status. It was merely Kaden's interference, orders making Nervin act in unusual way and what Ciner knew that could reveal the presence of the enslavement formation.

Kaden still noted that he should give orders in such a way that the slaves would act as normally as possible. He wasn't certain if this was always possible, but he knew it to be at least a good routine.

Eventually Nervin and Ciner approached the borderline of Kaden's concealment formations and he prepared to move out. Kaden planned to use strongest attacks he had and suddenly strike from within the concealment. Such actions would temporarily disrupt the formation, but it did not matter.

"I'll have Nervin turn around and attack", Kaden went over his plans. "This will force Ciner show a weaker spot for me. I'll attack her neck with a Fire Bomb."

It should cause at the very least near fatal damage. Kaden also knew Ciner generated the mist she used somehow. Mana generated the mist and controlled it, but it did come out of Ciner rather than just condense outside of her. Kaden expected a wounded neck would also hinder this process since the mist spewed out from Ciner's tusks. Neck was also a critical point.

With his plans in order, Kaden commanded Nervin to attack. He wouldn't immediately go for the planned attack, because Kaden expected Ciner to potentially be able to tell something was wrong.

Nervin was clearly weaker than Ciner, but he was good at avoiding being taken out instantly.

Kaden released his core and began to gather the most powerful shot he could. Ciner did not notice anything. The concealment formation was very high quality and was able to hide such an immense gathering of mana.

Yet, Ciner did notice something.

"Hey! Can you help me a bit while I play with this toy?" Ciner suddenly shouted in the forest.

Kaden paused just as he was about to strike. He quickly looked at his sensory formations and it showed nothing. Was someone hiding with Ciner? Who could it be? Before Kaden could pose even more questions, he it was confirmed that there was indeed someone.

"What is it Ciner?" A female voice that Kaden was indeed able to place after thinking for a moment. The accursed robot! TRU-MC.

"There is something weird here", Ciner said. "I think my hubby has hidden something here, but I can't find it."

Kaden cursed. Ciner was far too familiar with his methods. There was a clear need to get rid of her or get away from her. The robot also likely could do something. Kaden wasn't certain of its capabilities, but it was able to generate extremely realistic illusions that fooled even him. The thing wasn't even a living being - it was a machine. Kaden could not sense its presence with his life sense that he relied on perhaps far too much.

Ciner continued her fight with Nervin. At this point Kaden was feeling Ciner was only playing around. Being nearly certain the man was Kaden's slave, she wouldn't kill him.

The robot suddenly walked out in the open, ignoring the fight completely. The robot was, as usual, wearing ridiculous clothing. Last time Kaden had seen it, it had been wearing a voluptous dress, but he was pretty certain it had been able to somehow made it even more ... voluminous. It also was using the powerful illusion to make it appear it was a human.

"Why did it not appear in my sensors", Kaden cursed as he put back all the mana he had gather for an attack. The robot was friends with Ciner for some unknown reason and would likely assist, if he had continued the attack. "It should be detected even if its not living. Mana signature should be enough."

Kaden eventually decided the robot had likely improved its own concealments. It even felt like it had yet again grown in power. In fact, it was nearing the limits of whatever was its Condensation stage. It was growing very quickly.

"It has to hide its true nature as an ancient machine even as it grows in power", Kaden determined. "It is likely whatever its doing is able to hide it from detection."

Things were not going well. The robot had indeed stopped around where the border of Kaden's formation was. This was not the time to fight.

"Nervin, see if you can stop the fight", Kaden ordered.

The somewhat wounded Nervin quickly started to just avoid and attempted to calm down the situation.

There was a sudden burst of complex mana from TRU-MC. The machine was likely able to calculate things faster than living things around its level. Kaden watched as the mana spread across a small area upon the concealment with quite high precision and it was able to disrupt it it. Kaden had to admit it was impressive. The disruption would stay there for a while and was more than enough to reveal things Kaden's formation was hiding.

"There you are hubby!" Ciner shouted in joy, ignoring Nervin completely.

"Fool!" Kaden shouted at her. "Do not mix me with your lunacy. You are making a mess!"

"I can help you", Ciner told Kaden.

Before Kaden was able to reply, TRU-MC also took part in the 'discussion'.

"Pretty!" TRU-MC said. "I tried to create imitations of your appearance when I joined the magic school, but I could not quite produce the effect even when I was able to access the schools library. Can you give me some of your feathers?"

"Why must you two pester me!" Kaden roared in rage. "You, pig, you are an unhinged lunatic. You, malfunctioning machine, you are a menace! If I gave you my feather, I would sign my death sentence!"

"But dear...", Ciner started.

"SILENCE!" Kaden screeched in even greater rage. "I detest you. I reject you! Do you understand. No matter what madness you have created in your mind, I don't care. I will kill you, if you ever give me the chance. I don't want to have anything to do with you. I have used you for my personal gain. Nothing more. You are a useful tool at best!"

As it turns out, Ciner ran off, seemingly crying. Kaden didn't care the slightest bit. Best result would be if she stayed away from now on.

TRU-MC looked for a moment where Ciner had ran off to, but then turned around as if nothing had happened.

"So... that feather. I'm fine with just one", TRU-MC said.

"No", Kaden said. "I want to have even less to do with you than Ciner. As far as I care, you are an ancient construct that became enough self aware and was able to walk out of its remnant where it became what it is. Also, are you not able to store image of me in your memory. You are a machine and even ordinary humans at your level have near perfect memory recall. Your capablity should be higher."

"Such memories lack specific ... feel", the robot replied. "How about a trade?"

"What part do you not understand that I will die, if anyone ever sees that feather?" Kaden questioned the robot.

"I require the wondrous feel for my next showcase of dresses in my fashion show!" TRU-MC complained. "How about I will aid you in your endeavors and you let me stay near you to observe. That way I can examine all of your feathers instead of one, yes?"

Kaden stopped for a moment. He already knew the robot had influence inside the human territory. Already the last time he met it, it had described its lurid adventures in great enough detail. Just how far would it help him, if he simply let it examine himself for its... dresses?

"Am I really considering trading a pest for another?" Kaden questioned himself mentally. Unlike Ciner, the robot and its goals were quite different. Yet, in comparison, the robot was far more powerful than Ciner. It was growing and at the rate it was growing, it would soon reach to the next stage and become equivalent of a True Magus or True Cari.

It was unusual and annoying, but it had survived and grown. In terms of survival and cultivating, it was no fool even if it otherwise appeared as such.

"We must speak in detail", Kaden finally agreed. The robot had ability to solve some of his problems. Letting it have a look at him to make some gaudy clothing could be an acceptable price as long as certain rules were to be followed.