Back in Bri's office, the room stays still as we take in the news about dungeons being found in the forest region where the Green Ridge Lookout used to be.
My eyes open wide, and so do Bri's; we turn to meet each other's gazes. I'm the first to whisper under my breath.
"No way..."
Silence looms in the room for another few seconds before Bri responds to her assistant.
"Thank you very much, Bernard. This is valuable info, and I appreciate the good job in closing up the shop today too. You're dismissed for the night."
He bows and replies before walking down the stairs.
"Thank you, Ms. Briana, have a good night. I'll see you when we open tomorrow."
As he leaves, I put up my Hush barrier again, and Bri speaks in a curious tone.
"That cursed item you set off seems to do a bit more than just collapse dungeons and blow up mountains."
She raises an eyebrow and continues.
"I'm sure the Association is all over the blast site by now if our D-Grade informant has already sent in the news. Elites must be on the scene; I'd love to check it out, but there's no way I'm getting by without being seen or sensed now."
I think about what has happened in my mind's eye, picturing all of the concentrated energy from within the dungeon erupting from the wind stone just a few hours ago.
Usually, when a dungeon collapses, it just disappears into thin air or slowly lets out its energy in the form of overleveled monsters. The uniqueness of this collapse was the fact that all the energy from within the dungeon left in an instant, and in a stable form.
When it was inevitably released and dispersed in the blast, it must have naturally settled back together in dense points to form new dungeons.
However, I've never heard of anyone forming a dungeon with just dense pockets of mana. If it was that easy, then I'm sure bigger organizations and countries would be making new dungeons left and right. There must be a unique factor about the way I collapsed this dungeon that created new ones.
Deep in thought, unconsciously covering my temples with my index and middle fingers to think deeper into the issue, I finally perk back up and respond to Bri.
"You're right. You'll probably be spotted if you go and check things out, but I need to know what happened out there... Depending on what results I may find will conclude whether or not I decide to do this test again."
A grin creeps across my face as Bri responds hastily.
"Not around here you won't! We were lucky that first blast wasn't bigger or faster than it already was. Even by a magnitude of 2 times larger, and we could have been in serious trouble. That was a one-time thing; don't go blowing up the city for your own amusement."
"Yeah I know. If I ever do it again I'll go out in the open desert of the Dark Continent or something similar, don't worry."
She lets out a sigh and sits back in her chair while I lay back down on the couch in the middle of the room.
Then, speak up after about 2 seconds of silence.
"I am going to go check it out though."
She responds while standing up from her desk.
"Oh I know, just be careful out there. Promise me you won't get into any extra trouble before we even start our business together."
"I'm just taking a quick look. I'll be completely concealed, I won't let anyone even know I was there."
I get up from the couch at this, and we walk down the stairs of her shop, and she unlocks and relocks the front doors as we walk out into the street ans say our goodbyes.
"See you soon."
"See ya."
We walk our separate ways as I activate my stealth skill underneath a veil of Qi, making myself invisible to mana users even hundreds of levels above me.
I airstep through the sky above the low-income area of the city and spread my enemy detection skill far and wide to find no one anywhere near Elite level nearby.
That is, until I finally make it to the edge of the forest.
The once dark and unused dirt pathway through the thick trees is now covered in a smooth raised stone walkway that is connected to the main road on the outer edge of the city. Every 20 meters or so, a long pillar of stone holds a bright mana imbued light orb on top of it, illuminating the walkways just enough to make it to the next one without falling into darkness.
I soar high above the path, totally invisible to the eye or anyone's mana senses, and follow the winding pathway through the forest with a fast-beating heart and eyes full of curiosity.
Once I'm about a kilometer in, the pathway ends abruptly, but I see a level 398 hunter with an advanced earth summoning combat magic skill sitting down on a nearby fallen tree, drinking an MP potion, and wiping sweat from his forehead. Nearby, there's a level 114 special grade craftsman combining mana crystals and large glass spheres he keeps taking out of an item box.
I nod, spotting their Association Badges on their shirt collars and thinking to myself how interesting it is that they've managed to set all of this up so quickly.
A dim light source glows out in the distance where I remember the blast going off hours ago, and I soar higher in the air off in that direction to soon find another team of earth magic and craftsmen forming the same style of trail coming to meet the team approaching.
At the pace they're moving, it shouldn't take more than another hour or so to meet in the middle.
I continue to fly further in until the trees thin out so much I can finally see the enormous crater in the ground where the mountain and Green Ridge Lookout dungeon used to be. I come to a halt and drift downward to stand on the edge of the blast zone with my stealth skill activated and Qi barrier on its highest possible density.
The immense size of the hole in the ground is hard to fathom; it doesn't even look real. The landscape is changed so drastically, it seems as if there were never any trees or wildlife here in the first place.
My widened eyes spot 14 mana dense silver boxes covering the crater in random points, and stone walkways connecting each of them to the main path that's being connected to the city.
The boxes are clearly mana shielding barriers put up in case of more breaks, but they don't seem very intense. The dungeons themselves don't seem strong either. There's nothing here over a D-Class dungeon at best.
This confirms my theory before that all of the energy from the original high-grade C dungeon was dispersed and condensed, used to create these dungeons. Meaning, none of them have a chance of ever being as strong as the original; they're just the remnants from the blast.
Considering this, relieved that I'm not missing out on any new high-grade dungeons, I begin to turn back, but then the door of one of the mana shielding barriers around a dungeon in the center of the crater opens up.
Out of the small stone archway, dimly lit by a pillar of light, a tall armored man and a thin blonde-haired woman with a clipboard walk out.
With my heightened senses, and increased perception of sight and sound, it's as clear as day who walks out from that portal.
The Vice Region's Director.
The man that screwed my whole team over for a reason still completely unknown to me. It could have been for a quick buck, or standard procedure for when teams come in contact with Demonic Energy, or just an order from the higher ups. What ever that reason may be, it doesn't make me hate him any less right now.
I can hear his nonchalant voice speaking to his assistant from over a kilometer away with the use of my enemy detection skill and boosted perception.
"Another D-Class Dungeon tracked and surveyed. Wonderful. That just leaves 3 more to go, where to next?"
His assistant points to another mana shielded box and outlines the detailed information that the Association workers gave while farming earlier. They just need to go inside to verify.
Meanwhile, my vision tunnels in on the level 745 man walking slowly up a newly made stone pathway.
I do a full scan of his status and inventory, seeing that he's gained 14 levels since the last time we met. Then, as my eyes look at the array of new protection gear maxing out all of his item slots with +150% and higher defense stats and magic resistance items, my gaze falls on a blank slot that shows an item reading that sends a shiver down my spine.
[??? Access Denied]
My gaze tightens, and I even shift my vision straight at the item itself that seems to be a ring.
It glows gold, and wisps of energy trail from it as he walks away from my general direction at a slow pace.
My mana senses pick up a reading so dense it's hard to calibrate how strong the ring is or what it does, and my Qi senses pick up large amounts of energy trapped deep within it as well. It gives off an evil presence, like it has a wandering mind of its own.
No Qi seems to be present in the Director's body at all, so my only guess is that it is a soul energy imbued ring. This may be a very rare opportunity to get the Director out in the open all alone. However, I promised Bri I wouldn't cause any trouble for her, and it's not in my best interest to challenge an unknown power like this without preparation.
Despite being almost the same level as me, I've seen this Director order around people like Bri's brother Rodrigo even though he's high above level 1000. If it has anything to do with that ring, I don't want to find out how it works the hard way.
As much as I hate this man for selling out my team to a Dark Continent Sector Leader, attacking him blindly just because I feel like it is not a good idea.
Reluctantly, I reach into my item storage to take out a transport crystal that leads back to the Galeheart Tower.
With my eyes locked on the Director and grip tightening around the fragile gem, I bite my bottom lip and make my final decision.
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Author's Note:
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Thanks for reading:)
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