Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

"Boss! There is some trouble!" One of the mercenaries rushed through the doors and reported. 

"What\'s going on?" Markus raised his head from the pile of documents he was reading, looking at the man with curiosity brimming in his eyes. 

\'Just what kind of thing had to happen for them to be unable to solve it on their own?\' He thought, puzzled by the situation. \'Weren\'t they amongst the best mercenaries in the entire camp?\' he recalled the high praises the owner of the mercenary guild sang about those people. 

"Sir, it seems that someone used the illusion techniques to stir the crowd up!" the mercenary reported properly, yet he refused to look Markus in his eyes.

"And? If it\'s just an illusion, either calm the people down or strike down the one creating it," Markus replied and shrugged his shoulders. He then moved his eyes back on the piece of paper he was holding. 

"Sir!" the mercenary protested, clearly unhappy with the solution Markus proposed. 

"What? Something else happened?" Markus raised his eyes from the document once again, clearly annoyed by the man\'s persistence. 

"Sir, for someone to use the illusion techniques, one has to be a three-star cultivator at the very least!" The mercenary explained before shaking his head and finally gathering the courage to look at Markus\' face. "While we are confident in our ability, there is no way for us to fight this kind of powerhouse!" 

\'Right, there is still the problem of the cultivation,\' Markus thought, realizing what seemed to be the source of the problem. \'Since we don\'t really know much about it yet, this guy might turn out to not be all that weak even if he refuses to do his job right now.\' The former saint analyzed the situation. 

Then, he threw one last look at the document at his desk before shaking his head and decisively standing up from his chair. "Okay then, lead the way," he ordered before releasing a deep sigh. \'If those kinds of situations will keep happening, I will hear no end of it from Yelna once she comes back,\' he thought, already worried about that moment. 

Ever since they split their ways, Markus was subjected to constant bullying. 

First came the administration of the camp itself. After two days wasted on investigation aimed at finding out whether they had anything to do with the disappearance of the former prefect of the place, Markus hoped that he would finally be able to do his task properly. 

But as it turned out, those two days were just the beginning of the worst kind of bullying he could encounter. One that didn\'t harm him in any real way, but due to his bureaucratic nature, continued to stall his plans for recruiting locals for the job at the desert. 

First came the military officials. Once they were satisfied, not an hour passed by before the civilian officials came by to say hello and waste another two days\' worth of Markus\' time for the exact same reason as their military counterpart. Yet, even once they were done, it wasn\'t the end of it. 

Ultimately, Markus had to waste an entire damned week before he was finally given the right to post a job offering in the mercenary guild. And three days later, right when the resumes finally started to appear, another troublemaker came his way. 

\'What a damned job,\' the former saint thought, walking down the stairs only to see a small crowd of confused people sitting around a middle-aged lady. 

"Don\'t bother with what\'s going outside. Now that you are here, make sure to get a hold of this chance!" she agitated the people listening to her. In fact, the girl was so immersed in her job that she even failed to notice the appearance of her employer. 

\'Out of everything that happened here... Out of everything and everyone I encountered here, only she is capable of improving my mood a bit.\' Markus thought before moving his eyes on the entry to the Inn where he set his headquarters to be. 

He then approached it and opened the doors up without even a shred of hesitation. \'Whoever is stirring up the trouble is bound to be watching me now,\' he thought while making sure no thought of his would make its appearance on his face. 

For a moment, Markus just stood in the doors, watching the hectic scenes happening only a few meters away. 

\'Should I lower my defenses for a bit?\' he thought before acting on the impulse. 

As soon as a thin layer of magic surrounding both his physical body and his magical insides went down, Markus\'s vision changed. The calm and prosperous border camp turned into a sea of fire. 

Everything was covered in the endless blaze. From the buildings, through the streets all the way to the people themselves. \'It actually produces heat?\' Markus thought, awed by how detailed the illusion was. \'In a sense, it\'s not really an illusion, but a mask placed on a specific area?\' he recalled one of the many lectures Layn gave him while they were touring the world and fighting the monsters as a single party. 

\'Yeah, that makes sense,\' he thought before gently exploding a tiny part of his energy away, repelling the sticky magic that attempted to keep hold of his senses. "Well, that will be enough," he said in a calm voice before raising his hand. 

In a second, he condensed a small chunk of his energy to a size smaller than a pea. But rather than releasing it just like that, Markus continued to squeeze it further and further, as if he wanted to reach some kind of undecided limit of how far magic could be condensed. 

Then, a single second later, Markus simply released the hold over his magic, allowing it to disperse into the area. 

In an instant, the entire illusion broke apart when the condensed magic surged forth to dissipate into the air. Just like compressed air would surge outwards once released into the area of smaller pressure, the magic did exactly the same. 

Once the background in which the illusion spell was locked in was destabilized, the spell itself couldn\'t hold its integrity either. Once a small part of it lost its footing in the now unstable matrix of the energy, the entire thing collapsed on itself before dispersing into the air. 

"Whoever did that, come out," Markus said in a loud voice while making sure he didn\'t appear to be screaming. 

The people below the stairs leading to the entry to the Inn were all confused by the sudden disappearance of the flame. Only a few were quick-witted enough to connect the dots between what was happening and Markus\' words. 

But no volunteer came out to claim responsibility for this mess. Rather than that, Markus spotted a small unit of guards already rushing to the scene, clearly set on causing even more trouble for him. 

"Come out while I\'m asking, or I will pick you up on my own," Markus said while closing his eyes. But what others could take in an attempt to calm down or maybe give the person responsible a chance to escape actually was his method of focusing. 

Without the natural vision hindering his senses, Markus focused on the disturbed flow of magic in the area. While he couldn\'t really absorb it like he could in the far-off future, inspecting it was a pretty easy task. 

\'There you are,\' he thought once the tracks he was inspecting quickly led him to the place where the spell was cast. And unsurprisingly, a person was standing there calmly, not perturbed by the recent illusion at all. 

But rather than acting upon his words, Markus simply stared directly into the man\'s eyes, with one of his eyebrows twitching in annoyance. 

\'How did he find me out?\' Jacob thought, genuinely surprised by means of the man. \'While breaking the illusion is quite simple given how precise technique it is, he also did it faster than I expected... Not to say how I didn\'t notice him channeling any energy at all!\' His thoughts revealed all the small details. Details others could easily miss, but someone like him could form into a deep picture of the situation. 

\'Well, it doesn\'t matter now,\' Jacob smiled before turning around and leaving the scene. \'I wonder if he will chase after me...\' he thought, ready to circulate his energy through his cores at the first moment he would sense any form of killing intent. 

\'I guess I will let him go for now,\' Markus thought before shaking his head. \'There is no point trying to stir up a scene when the guards are here,\' he added in his thoughts while glancing towards the approaching patrol.

"Guys, calm down. That fucker already left," Markus said out loud before pointing his hands directly at the man who he believed to be responsible for the entire mess.. "I don\'t have time to deal with such a small fry, so do whatever you want with him. Just keep in mind," Markus smiled deviously while watching the back of the leaving man, "bringing me his head will give you some bonus points during the recrutation!"