Mercenary Wars

Chapter 238 The Tracking Society

Daryls certainly has a "real secret".

But choosing which secrets to share is undoubtedly a skill.

Sharing a secret that is insignificant will certainly not be accepted by the Seekers; but if the secret shared is too fatal—such as revealing one's identity as a ghost—it is tantamount to planting a huge hidden danger for oneself.

Daryls fell silent for a moment.

Then the black-haired girl said, "Or you need to reconsider why you joined us. If you're just looking for novelty and excitement, the Tracking Society might not be right for you. You also don't have to share secrets; that won't benefit anyone."

A few seconds later, Daryls seemed to have made a decision.

She stepped into the circle of light, took a deep breath, and said, "I have clairvoyance."

She and Gao Jiano learned clairvoyance from the book "Ghost Taxonomy".

As a form of necromancy, the knowledge of clairvoyance is certainly a secret.

However, among all necromancy, clairvoyance is undoubtedly the least risky type. It does not involve a cruel casting process, nor does it harm anyone. The church's punishment for it is also relatively mild, and if you are lucky, it may only be a few months of voluntary labor.

“Spiritual vision.” The recruiters from the Tracking Society exchanged glances, and then the black-haired girl said, “This secret is interesting, but it’s not enough to gain our approval. You need to tell us a more important secret.”

Darlis's heart sank. She had thought that clairvoyance was enough, after all, it was strictly forbidden knowledge in the academy. But clearly, the Tracking Society's standards were much higher than she had imagined.

She couldn't help but feel conflicted. After all, secrets more important than clairvoyance were all dangerous, and if the church found out, she would at least have to spend a few years in prison.

But she also really wanted to join the Tracking Society.

After some hesitation, she had no choice but to say, "I hope you will swear to keep this a secret."

“Of course.” The black-haired girl took out a scroll. “Standard oath scroll, one hundred and fifty gold coins.”

Daryls turned to look at Gaucano and scratched her head sheepishly.

Gao Jiano didn't say anything, but directly took out 150 gold coins and handed them to the black-haired girl.

After accepting the gold coins, the recruiters swore an oath via scroll, promising not to reveal the secrets Dariss shared to anyone.

With the oath scroll as a guarantee, Dariss no longer hesitated and said in the halo, "I have presided over the necromancy ritual and successfully transformed a corpse into a necromancy."

This is actually a clever way of putting it.

She has transformed many spirits at the site of the fourth water cellar in Asur. To mention only one at this time not only reduces the "scale of the case" but also allows for a possible conceptual shift when necessary.

If anyone investigates afterward, she can simply say that the undead she transformed was a black bear.

She did indeed transform a black bear.

Compared to transforming humans, transforming animals is obviously much less serious.

Even so, this secret carried considerable weight. Daryls could see the surprise flash in the eyes of several recruiters; clearly, this was a satisfactory answer for them.

The recruiters nodded in agreement, and then the black-haired girl stood up and smiled, saying, "Welcome to the Tracking Society to study the deepest magic and mysteries with us. I am the vice president, Breanna."

As she spoke, she bent down and reached out her hand.

Darius shook hands with her: "My name is Darius, from the Avis School."

Breanna's hands were a little cold, but the handshake was just the right firmness—friendly yet maintaining a proper distance. Daryls noticed a strange ring on her finger, engraved with runes she couldn't decipher.

One of the recruiters suddenly laughed and said, "You might not believe it, but you share the same name as my grandmother."

“Really? What a coincidence.” Daryls smiled slightly awkwardly.

That being said, it may not actually be a coincidence. After all, every era has its own popular names, and "Dallis" was a popular name more than seventy years ago.

Breenna then crafted a member badge and handed it to Darius. Unlike other clubs, the Tracking Club's member badge was a black crystal without any personal information.

Darlis held the crystal up to the sunlight and immediately saw a black mage's hat inside.

"Is this the logo of the Tracking Society?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Why is it a mage's hat?"

Breanna didn't answer, but turned to Gaugano: "Do you want to join us?"

Gao Jiano: "I think I'll pass. I've already joined two clubs."

“The club doesn’t have any mandatory tasks, so if you don’t have time, you can simply not come to the activities,” Breenna said. “And you don’t have to share secrets.”

"I don't have to share secrets?" Gaucano was a little surprised. He had originally thought that if he wanted to join the Tracking Society, he would have to share his secrets like Dariss, but Breanna's words made him reconsider the risks and benefits of this choice.

Breenna continued, "Each member can vouch for and recommend one classmate to join the club. Darliss, I think you would be willing to recommend him, right?"

Darliss nodded, then looked at Gao Jiano: "Boss, are you coming?"

Gao Jiano considered it for a while.

He didn't really want to join the Tracking Society.

After all, even if you don't need to share secrets, joining the Tracking Society still carries certain risks. If the Academy or even the Church were to shut down the Tracking Society, every member would inevitably be implicated.

Daryls has already joined, so joining her now seems pointless except for the added risk.

Breenna clearly guessed what he was thinking: "Dallis seems willing to share all her secrets with you, which, frankly, is not what we expect. If you could join us, this certainly wouldn't be a problem."

“Furthermore, I believe there is a deep relationship or emotional connection between you, and your simultaneous joining of the Tracking Society will allow you to build maximum trust. After all, ‘secrets’ and ‘relationships’ are both important ways to establish trust,” she added.

After hearing these words, Gao Jiano pondered for a moment and quickly understood.

As a secret society that researches necromancy, the Tracking Society is highly vigilant not only towards outsiders but also towards its own members.

External vigilance manifests as disguise and secrecy, while internal vigilance manifests as the division of members—ordinary members and core members.

Darlis's shared secrets weren't enough to make her a core member. To become a core member, she needed to share even more significant secrets or bring in an important friend or family member to share the risks. Otherwise, even just to prevent Darlis from casually sharing the organization's secrets with Gaucano, the Tracking Society wouldn't allow Darlis too much contact with the core members.

After understanding this principle, Gao Jiano finally decided to join the Tracking Society as well.

“Alright, since you put it that way, I’ll join the Tracking Society too,” he said.

Breanna then made him a badge and answered Darius's question: "There is an opera called 'Bones' at the White Agate Opera House. The protagonist of the opera, the mage Serre, wears this black mage hat."

Daryls nodded in realization: "So the name 'Bones Society' is indeed a tribute to 'Bones'!"

Breonna smiled faintly: "You could say that."

Her smile held a certain mystery, making Daryls suspect that things might not be so simple. Perhaps the opera *Bones* meant far more to the Seekers than it appeared on the surface.

Breonna took out two booklets, "The Bones: The Academy Edition".

“This is a prequel written by the first president for the Bones story, a very boring story—though he thought it was brilliant. But anyway, you'd better read it carefully,” Breanna said.

Gaucano and Dallis took the booklet and glanced through it briefly.

They soon understood why Breonna said that Bones: The Academy was very boring, but still recommended watching it carefully.

The reason is simple: it's more like a member's handbook for the Seeking Society than a novel or a screenplay.

The story is entirely fictional, but the ideas it conveys are very real. Through the protagonist Serre's study experience at the "Royal Magic Academy of Saan" on a fictional continent called "Lolafa," it meticulously tells the story of the ideals and rules of a secret society.

The two chatted for a while longer, and finally Breanna said, "Whenever the badge flashes, it means we will be holding an event that evening. There are two main locations for the event: one is a small hill not far to the east—we call it 'Grosstedt's Back'—and the other is in the southern cemetery. You'll find out the exact locations when you get there."

Afterwards, Gao Jiano and Dalis left the Seekers' booth and went back to their dormitories.

On the way, Daryls kept playing with the black crystal badge in her hand, her face flashing with excitement, anticipation and worry. Becoming a member of the Tracking Society meant that she would have the opportunity to access all kinds of secret information, including information about her father's whereabouts. It also meant that she might be stepping into a more complex world from now on.

When Gao Jiano returned to the dormitory, he found his roommate Martin shirtless, enthusiastically waving his staff.

"What are you doing?" he couldn't help but ask.

Martin seemed to have been waving his staff for a long time. He turned around, wiped his sweat, and said, "I joined the Mage Melee Club and learned some melee techniques with the staff... What clubs have you joined? I also joined the Puppet Club."

“Exploration Society, Elemental Emergency Response Team,” Gao Jiano simply stated.

“I wanted to join the exploration club, but they didn’t want me!” Martin complained.

"Because of what?"

Martin: "They said you need to have adventure experience, but I wanted to join them because I don't have any adventure experience and I wanted to try it out!"

Gaucano smiled and said, "Exploration isn't really a great experience. Many explorers only go into those unknown places because they have no other choice. You have a viscount father, though."

“What’s a viscount? The fish in the St. Bode River are probably rarer than a viscount!” Martin continued waving his staff. “By the way, have you done the homework Professor Frederick assigned?”

"wrote."

"Let me take a look..."

Before I knew it, a month had passed.

In the past month, Gao Jiano has fully adapted to life at Ax Magic Academy, studying diligently every day and participating in two club activities in his spare time.

One instance was the "Special Magic Seminar" held by the Tracking Society at "Grosstedt's Back View".

The so-called "special magic" naturally refers to black magic. In order to avoid risks as much as possible, the Seekers Society went to great lengths in name only.

Moreover, to be frank, the black magic discussed at the seminar wasn't really that dark; it was mostly similar to clairvoyance, at most at the level of communicating with the dead.

It's obvious that the event held at "Grosstedt's Back" was rather superficial; a more in-depth exploration of "special magic" is likely to take place at the cemetery event.

Another time was an event organized by the Exploration Club.

Participated in the excavation of an ancient site.

The event was quite grand, with the Saint Poetry Society and the Ancient Books Society also serving as co-organizers, in addition to the Exploration Society.

There were even organizers and participants outside the academy—the Archaeological Society and Axel Theological Seminary.

The city of Ax has four academies: the Magic Academy, the War Academy, the Crafts Academy, and the Theological Academy.

Theological seminaries are often confused with monasteries, since they are located in the same geographical area and are connected to each other, and their personnel are closely related.

The reason for such a large-scale event is that the ancient site being excavated is a church, and a church that is two thousand years old.

It is currently the year 1459 of the Fangfulo calendar. 1459 years ago, King Fangfulo I established a new calendar and designated the year following its promulgation as the first year. Because it was an extremely turbulent era, there is a severe gap in the history before and after the first year of Fangfulo, and a large number of historical details have been lost in the gap.

Therefore, when judging whether a site or cultural relic has high value, "whether its history exceeds 1,459 years" is a very important reference standard.

A church with a two-thousand-year history is naturally very important.

Unfortunately, the site had already been looted by tomb raiders, leaving only scraps.

Fortunately, with the help of the panel, Gaogano still managed to make some discoveries among the few remaining artifacts, ultimately earning him an honorary badge from the Archaeological Association.

Besides studying and participating in club activities, the plan to increase borrowing volume is also progressing smoothly.

By "idling" for an average of several tens of minutes each day, Gao Jiano successfully borrowed 500 books within a month, unlocking professor-level borrowing privileges.

With professorial-level borrowing privileges, he had virtually no obstacles in accessing the Orsini Library.

Now, except for the "restricted area" that only chaired professors can enter, all other areas of the library are open to him.

It felt like suddenly obtaining the key to a treasure trove. Therefore, the moment he gained professorial borrowing privileges, Gaucano went to the "Alchemy Library," rummaged through several bookshelves, and soon his eyes lit up.

"The Complete Guide to Secondary Mixture Formulas!"

"General Treatise on Enlightening Compound Preparations!"

(End of this chapter)