The Chained Watcher

Off on a Treasure Hunt

~~~

Today is magic-world exploration day.

The Hermits are quite excited to see what a magical world has to offer, getting hyped up after purchasing large quantities of sugary treats from the tourist trap.

Double checking his supplies, Grian makes sure he has plenty of health potions along with a handful of invis for emergencies. It's a bit of a gamble whether the effect will still apply to him if he has to release his transformation, but he should be able to avoid minor troubles even if it can't stick to him.

If it really comes down to it, he does have spells that heal, but he would rather not have to do that if at all possible.

It's a bit of a relief to have Tango in on the secret now, even if he was getting pretty close to panicking before Scar intervened. Tango probably saw him using magic to show Scar his version of a shield spell, which is a bit embarrassing when compared to how careful he normally is. Honestly, failing to notice someone watching him? There's no good excuse for that, even taking into account his suppressed senses.

But enough of that, today they're heading over to the magic continent to see what's there to be seen. There's always some interesting landmarks around in places like this, even if enterprising adventurers and kingdoms tend to loot the public ones dry. A cave that a cultivator lived in, an abandoned wizard's tower, a mountain cleaved down the middle... Plenty of stuff to see!

The biggest upside of exploring in the magic continent has to be the presence of other hybrids, though. No more stuffy coats and funny glasses required!

He'll still have to be careful with using large amounts of magic though. There's no way the Listeners wouldn't make sure this continent is free of the influence of Watchers, not when it's so badly displaced. Chances are they've already set up some kind of field base to work from, since there wasn't a public one set up already.

One of the things he's started worrying about is whether there's really no Listener base on the magic continent. There are more traces of Watchers there than you'd usually see in a place the Listeners aren't present, which concerns him. This is the type of thing you'd see in worlds where Watchers have started impersonating a pantheon, with no Listeners and lots of Watchers, but that doesn't quite sit right with him.

For one, the pride of Watchers would demand that they have statues of themselves built, and he hadn't seen any Watcher statues in the few churches he'd poked his head in. That's a good thing though. Dealing with the type of Watchers that usually take part in a false pantheon wouldn't be too hard, but if he's not careful then the one that gathered them all could get away and alert other Watchers to his presence.

But then the most likely option is that, at some point in the past, the Listeners that were here had their base raided. Normally they're the ones raiding bases, but if there are enough Watchers and the Listeners' base isn't well hidden, then there is a fair chance that the Watchers will raid the base. After an event like that, the chances of a public Listener base popping up anytime in the next millenia are slim.

Instead, the Listeners focus on stealth, trying to assassinate Watchers wherever possible and trading for supplies using the black market. If the number of Watchers goes down enough then they'll start being a public presence again, but until then they work from the shadows.

Glancing over at where the rest of the Hermits who wanted to come are checking their own supplies, he stuck an extra stack of golden carrots in his inventory before calling it good. Even if the golden carrots aren't as tasty as sweets, they're still pretty good for munching while on the road. Or flying, take your pick.