They left Greyhaven before dawn, the town enveloped in a thick, chilly fog that hid Kaelen's signature Black Obsidian cloak and Elara's borrowed peasant attire. Kaelen, having secretly utilized the Sunstone Shard during the night to stabilize his Aether flow, was a silent engine of efficiency. He moved with controlled power, easily navigating the uneven ground.
The Ironwood Gap was a desolate, mountainous passage—a shortcut rarely used due to its unstable terrain and high chance of banditry. For Elara, who was purely civilian, the trek was agonizing. She focused on the map, the characters, and the plot points, forcing her mind away from the dull ache in her legs.
"Captain Borin's convoy consists of one heavy transport carriage, two smaller supply wagons, and twelve armed guards," Elara recited, trying to sound as professional as possible. "The heavy carriage holds the Thunder Ore, disguised as common grain sacks. Borin himself rides at the head, mounted."
Kaelen didn't look back. "Thunder Ore is an illegal elemental metal. It disrupts low-level magic and attracts high-level Arcanists. Stealing it is impossible without causing a massive spiritual ripple that would alert the capital."
"Exactly," Elara agreed, clutching the iron medallion that radiated Kaelen's faint illusionary Green Level signature. "We can't fight them head-on, and we can't just steal it. The original plot mentioned Valerius used the lack of the ore to justify seizing a mining concession from a smaller house. The ore itself is secondary to the political leverage it creates."
They paused at a treacherous mountain pass. Below them, a dizzying drop led to a river of glacial melt. Kaelen pulled a thin, high-tensile rope from his pack without asking, securing one end to a boulder and throwing the other across the chasm with effortless strength.
"The goal is not to steal the ore, but to prevent it from reaching Valerius's hands in a usable form," Kaelen murmured, his voice echoing slightly in the pass. "And to ensure Valerius believes it was another faction that intercepted it, diverting suspicion from us. We need a perfect, unlootable diversion."
Elara watched him secure the line, realizing the reborn Kaelen Varr saw problems not as obstacles, but as equations to be solved with the maximum level of cold strategy.
"In the book, Borin is obsessed with displaying his wealth," Elara explained. "He's a collector of ancient military relics and always carries a small, locked chest that he believes contains a priceless 'Crown Jewel Fragment.' It's a cheap fake, but he truly believes it."
Kaelen tilted his head, intrigued. "A vanity fixation. Useful."
"Borin's detour goes through the Fortress of the Broken Guard. It's a ruined barracks from the Iron Age, known for its deep, inaccessible dry well and its history of hidden treasures. He takes the detour specifically to lure local smugglers, show them the false gem chest, and feel powerful before moving on."
Kaelen smiled—a brief, terrifying flash of teeth devoid of any warmth.
"He intends to tempt thieves, but not be robbed. We will use his own greed against him," Kaelen decided.
He retrieved three fist-sized, jagged stones from the ground. He placed them on a flat rock and began to channel Aether into them, his hands glowing with a steady, intense Blue Rank light. The light was focused and controlled, thanks to the newly integrated Sunstone Shard.
"I will use Transfiguration Magic," he explained, not looking away from his work. "The goal of Blue Rank is the manipulation of physical matter. I will transfigure these common stones into three identical chests of 'Thunder Ore'—identical in weight, size, and appearance to the stolen shipment. But the contents will be solid, impenetrable granite."
The stones shimmered, the air around them twisting and distorting. They began to rapidly darken, the texture changing from rough stone to rough-sawn metal, etched with false imperial seals. He worked quickly, pouring massive amounts of Aether into the transformation. When he finished, three heavy, iron-bound crates sat on the rock, identical to the ones in the convoy.
"This is the bait," Kaelen said. "We place these where Borin stages his convoy, near the dry well. The real Thunder Ore is safely hidden. When Borin realizes the real ore is missing, he will assume the thieves, driven by greed, simply left it for a greater prize—and dumped the fake. He will be convinced the culprits are still chasing the false Crown Jewel, not the Thunder Ore."
Elara stared at the perfect replicas. "But what about the real ore?"
"You said the real ore is disguised as common grain sacks in the heavy carriage. I will use the final stage of the Transfiguration—a simple, undetectable change," Kaelen's eyes gleamed with cold calculation. "I will make the Thunder Ore in the sacks appear to be the grain, and, more importantly, I will reverse the chemical compound of the Thunder Ore itself, reducing its elemental potency to that of inert sand. It will still look like ore, but it will be useless dross."
"You're not just stealing it—you're destroying its value and providing a perfect, untraceable cover story," Elara murmured, immensely impressed and terrified.
"Precisely. Valerius gets a shipment of worthless metal, reports it as stolen, and is left scrambling to secure his Council votes before the treaty deadline. We buy ourselves time. Now, cross the gap, Elara. We cannot be late for Captain Borin's vanity detour."