9/14 5:41 (Summer, Day)
Sabel showed Luna around the city, both of them ignoring that the Guild Master still had questions for her, leaving the other two behind, in that case almost exclusively Hale, to answer as many questions as they could.
Meanwhile the two girls stopped at a sweet shop were the black haired one paid for her sweets for the exploration.
Someone may wonder how she was able to eat so much without worries or using Vital Mana in her case, but the reason was extremely simple.
The process of eating in her case was considered as a process of Conversion, Conversion that was brough to such efficiency that it simply tranformed all that mass into energy then into Black Blood that was absorbed within her shadow.
It was a similar process that rendered the previous her completely tireless thanks to the combination with Skills that Converted Satiety, Health, Stamina and Mana into each other with perfect efficiency thanks to "Singularity".
Especially considering how at C-Rank the effect of her Unique Skill changes the floor for Status Resistence to Nullification, negating the conseguence of such even without using "Authority: Black Blood" to evade the conseguence of said actions.
Sabel moved to follow as Luna simply wandered off once satisfied as she explored the town.
Meanwhile in the Guild Master's office, place where the Guild Master and the rest of the Party were speaking about both the Dungeon in more details and about Luna.
"Which gate did the four of you enter from? And who was the guard that let you in?" The Guild Master asked the rest of the Party.
"The Nord Gate and the guard was Buld."
"Buld, eh? In that case…" He activated a button on his desk, sending a message to his secretary, his desk being a Magical Item given to all Guild Masters from the Guild. "Call Buld as soon as possible, I have some questions for him."
"Yes, Guild Master."
Once his order was sent, he turned back to them, continuing the questions about the Dungeon as a map of the surrounding area appeared on the floor.
Said map was only an approximation of the area based on the Guild Master's memories and various maps he saw, an essential instrument for the Guild, both in general to have as precise a map of the world as possible and in specific to control that no Guild Master would abuse their power by copying their memories once a month.
The two reasons why he could give a mission that was officially higher in difficulty than the "Outrejects" were simple.
In the first place, while their memories were recorded once a month as part of their position and the Contract they signed to be a Guild Master, this Contract also guarantees these Records are kept private with the only way to access them being for the Guild Grandmaster and at least 7 Guild Masters to decide to access them in response of a grave enough accusation with serious proves or if the Guild Master in question explicitly wants to review or share them.
Additionally nothing he did was illegal or particularly frowned upon as he was well aware that all three of the Adventurers were equivalent in ability each to a D-Class one, more than enough to examine a part of the area and then retreat.
The map enlarged, most of its precision being immediately around the city and the Guild Hall especially with progressively less precise details.
Finally Jay found the place where they found Luna and the Dungeon.
Conseguently a marker appeared there, a marker titled "Anomalous Undead Dungeon Ranked D+?" that once opened would lead to the temporary map of the first floor he saw, an incredibly important function of the Magical Item to integrate any map the user saw.
In this case, the map of the first floor of the Dungeon was linked with the marker.
He nodded to himself, a ripple centered upon the Guild Hall manifested upon the map before it stabilized, the now seven Dungeons around the city shone slightly, the higher amount in the nation even if the highest Ranked one was only C-Rank.
"She said that this Dungeon is artificial or at least heavily modified by a Person, right?"
"Yes."
"If this is true, we need to analyze every single one of the remaining Dungeons in the area and the area themselves to see if there are any other new Dungeons. And with a Party made entirely out of C-Class Adventurers at least while stopping any entry in known Dungeons for security."
He tapped his desk a couple of times with a finger before watching the nearest Dungeon to the city that was originaly a Dungeon City, just a couple of kilometers away.
"What are the chances this Luna is the one that modified the Dungeon?" The Guild Master asked Jay.
"I would say not likely. She doesn't seem like the type to bother to be this indirect and half-assed if she wanted to harm this city or nation. It could be marginally more likely if she did it to train or to try out a new ability, but I personally doubt it. She would have no particular interest in such an ability and the Monsters didn't seem to view her as anything in particular."
"I see. Then -"
A knock sounded on the door and after his "Enter", his segretary and Buld entered the room before he turned back to his segretary.
"I need you to bring me the list of casualties of the last five years separated by periods. And also the Adventurers dead or missing this year until now."
"Yes, Guild Master."
He sighed before turning to Buld, someone that wasn't weird for him to know about considering how he himself tried to recruit him to either work directly for the Guild or at least as an Adventurer because of his Unique Skill and his power being equivalent to a D-Class Adventurer while being a Guard mostly stationed to Gate duty, job that doesn't see much combat with People or Monsters.
His Awakening of the Unique Skill, however, made it so he needs to make sure the city, and especially the orphanage he grew up in, would be safe and so he enlisted as a Guard, job that is not renumerative relatively to his capabilities.
"Good day, Buld. I need information about someone that entered the city today, a certain Dhampir named Luna."
"Yes, Guild Master. When it comes to overall level of power, she register a little lower than you as a threat." The Guild Master hummed in response.
He was after all a former B-Class Adventurer when he was still active and from his measure he was now equivalent to an high C-Class one because of his years of rust and the lack of any threatening Dungeon in the area for him to grow, especially considering how he carefully studied all of the ones previously known, maxing out his rewards from them, but not being able to surpass his wall, differently from that bastard in the Capital.
"About her willingness to kill, I would absolutely not allow her within the city if not for the fact that the "Outrejects" interfered. I would suggest she leaves this city as soon as possible."
"Do you think she is here to harm someone?"
"No. However, she will kill someone without any hesitation the moment they bother her enough."
"I see… Well, that is worrying, but on the other hand I doubt she will stay long in this city and she did give us valuable information if it's true. I will need to send a message to the Guild Headquarters about this information. You can go, Buld, and if you ever want to be an Adventurer, our door is always open. Until then, continue to do a good job."
"Before I go, Guild Master, what information was that important?"
"I would not normally tell anyone outside the Guild or immediately relevant to the situation, but you can be trusted to keep it to yourself. It seems like either someone created a new Dungeon or a prevously unknown one was modified."
"Is that… Is that even possible?"
"An Unique Skill at a very high Rank is probably not enough on his own. Not without extensive training if this one is not the training in the first place."
"Training? You mean that-" Hale asked, his eyes wide.
"Yes, this is probably a test to see how much they can change in a specific direction. It's why we need to carefully examine nearby Dungeons for any changes in them."
"I see. Thanks for the information." Buld calmy nodded before standing up. "I will need to return to the Gate and my job." Once he understood that this matter would not be a direct threat to the city and, especially, the orphanage he exited under the gazes of the other three.
"Well, ignoring that. What do we need to do?"
"Once she leave the city, I would like to ask you three to continue to search the area. Naturally your Mission is considered already completed and this one is considered a new one. Do not enter any Dungeon and don't interact with any Person you don't know, especially if near a Dungeon entrance. We don't know if the culprit already knows your faces or even cares at all. Consider today a free day to rest and recuperate. All the same, good job."
"Yes, Guild Master." Hale saluted before the two of them left the room as his secretary returned from the Archive with the files in question, bringing with her bad news.
9/14 7:13 (Summer, Day)
Meanwhile Luna and Sabel were exploring the city, stopping at a weapon's shop looking at various armors.
Or at least, Sabel was as Luna had no major interest in such.
After all, she had her "Unique Arma" that would eventually become a full armor to protect her and her [Mana-Clad Warrior] Sorcery, her "High-Speed Regeneration" and two different Autorities that helped her to keep herself safe differently while Lunarians in general are made to survive, her need for armor was pratically inexistent especially considering her own Rank and the Rank of the armors.
As such she was interested somewhat in the weapons to model her own Shapes after.
She however didn't find any unique weapon type as the bladesmith making this weapons didn't seem to be particularly revolutionary, or for that matter high in Rank as a Bladesmith.
However she nodded to herself before turning to the one at the counter while Sabel was analyzing various armors and weapons and confronting them with her owns and their prizes.
"Hey, do you have any guide on Blacksmith, Bladesmith or Crafting in general?"
"I-I'm not s-sure if-"
"Don't worry, I am not competition for this store. I leave this city tomorrow morning. Additionally, I'm not asking you to give them to me free of charge. I will naturally pay for them."
"Are y-you sure you want a book on that?"
"Yes. It would be more useful to me in the long run that anything else."
"O-okay. I will ask my Master the price then." Said assistant quickly ran in the back towards the forge, his face crimson because of her while Sabel sent him a brief hostile glance.
Luna turned back to the weapons, a satisfied smirk on her face at seeing her reaction.
Around 15 minutes later, the assistant came back, three small books in his hands before he went back to the counter, waiting for her.
"They cost around 10 Dirrar Silvers Coins each or-"
Before he could continue, the books in his hands vanished and 20 Dirrar Silvers and 1000 Dirrar Copper, the equivalent of 10 Dirrar Silvers, appeared on the desk while Luna started reading the Crafting one, the most immediately important one in her situation, all the while Sabel watched this with a small smile on her face.
This was because of the difference in favor the two of them enjoyed from the "Dhampir" in the store.
The reason why she was interested in the books was simple, really.
The three Skills related to the books would without a doubt help her out in her Shapes.
More specifically while her "Mana Shaping" Skill is not considered a Crafting Skill, her making a True Shape is because of the definition of Crafting employed by the Sistem requiring a material component before and after construction.
This however would be even more important and relevant for her than just affecting her True Shapes and her "Mana Forging" Skill as "Crafting" would influence a lot more of her Skills than just those if her theory about the limitations and absences of such from said Skill.
A theory that she can't wait to prove correct once she obtains said Skill.
Meanwhile "Bladesmithing" would help her to make more effective Shapes for weapons and "Blacksmithing" would help her with her next project, the combination of [Mana-Clad Warrior] with her True Shapes to make a new Spell capable of holding her Familiars, thing that would vastly increase her options in combat offensively and defensively.
Thing that was only a positive for her.
She was able to read half the book before Sabel was done, thanks to a combination of "High-Speed Processing", "Parallel Processing" and her ability to retain all of her memories derived from being a "Lunarian" combined with her experience with "Mana Forging", a Crafting Skill in the first place.
Reading would however only help so much, the real prize would be obtained once she would really and actively practice.
All the same Sabel couldn't afford any substantial upgrade to her gears with the money in hand while she certaintly would not ask Luna for a loan and so the two left the shop going back to explore the city.
One may wonder how could she read so much in such a short time considering how she was bored out of her mind by the process of making her "Unique Arma" or for that matter how she could handle staying hidden for more than a week in a single room on a boat, but the reason was simple.
She simply loved the process of becoming stronger indipendently from any other situations and so she could stomach things like reading books or meditations while the indirect method of the creation of her "Unique Arma" bored her.
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Thanks for reading, comment if you have any thought about this Chapter.
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