"Oppa! What do you an by going to Olympia's East Border? That's hundreds of kiloters from here!
"And it's late night right now, and I don't know if I should be grateful or not that people aren't recognizing us."
In this Post-Ergence World, missing people weren't uncommon to the point that people beca numb to it as long as it was not related to their loved ones or comrades.
"It's our way out to make a great excuse. Just trust on this one.
"By the way, Alie, have you been to Olympia's East Border before?"
Russell inquired to Alie while they were sitting on the couch inside the cheapest hotel room in the Obelisk City the five of them rented for the night which Alie paid, not using the Obelisk Personal Account, but rather another bank.
They weren't wearing their student uniforms because they went to the Nether Realm almost late at night after their dinner.
Alie nodded in agreent, seemingly guessing what Russell was asking.
"Alright, let's use your Spade Warp to go there.
"So adventurers might be still flocking here."
Russell said casually as he shared the details of the news regarding the Mana Energy Flow in the East Border, it was a sign that a Strayed Dungeon was there, if not a Dungeon Tower, but the thing about the news was that, although the Mana Energy Flow were surrounding the area, no dungeon has yet been found.
"What are we going to do to that undetected dungeon?"
Alie asked curiously, then Freya interjected.
"Oppa, I trust you, alright, you know that, but can you explain first what's happening and why we need to go there?"
Ary, sitting on the far end of the couch while Estelle, who was resummoned after they enter the rented hotel, sat on her lap as if she found a similarly quiet companion, looked at Russell with anticipation as she thought that whenever this man do sothing, it's sothing very abnormal atop the known abnormalities in this world.
Russell sighed before telling them the plan to make an excuse for their disappearance. The expressions of the won aside from Estelle who Russell didn't know if she was seeing the surroundings with her blindfold turned into confusion or awe.
Alie's eyes glistened, turning into imaginary stars with what they would encounter.
Freya didn't understand anything about what she just heard. She pricked up her ears as if she heard wrong because she thought that it was similarly bizarre compared to the Nether Realm.
Ary's eyes felt like a knife, piercing Russell's soul before she spoke what she was thinking.
"The Constellations' influence is getting stronger, thus for such dungeon's existence?"
Russell nodded at Ary who barely speaks, Estelle, sitting on her lap, glanced behind to look up at Ary.
"Anyway, just follow and don't act like you're totally lost so we won't garner suspicions through others' eyes just by walking around, then after we arrived there, I'll be the only one to go to get it, you four will stay in another hotel.
"But first, let's order so food first to feed ourselves, we are not in a hurry."
They all nodded, including Estelle who seed to have beco more enthusiastic with the word 'Food'.
Although she needed to eat evil spirits every day if she walked the Earth, in Nether Realm, they had the normal category of food just like what on Earth, but the only difference was that it was tainted with Death's aura that kept them alive.
Russell looked at them, feeling sohow relieved as they found a temporary solution, but with his next move, it was the condition for them to make an excuse without a loophole.
He tapped on his smartwatch and started to call soone.
...
Azalea – who was wearing her sleepwear — was walking inside her dorm room as if she were circling the place, her thoughts were a ss.
Then, a ring was heard in her smartwatch and she suddenly stopped pacing around her room. She quickly answered it the mont she saw the na of the caller.
"Russell!? What happened!?"
She asked, sowhat worried, not because of any sort of romantic feelings, but rather to at least relieve her anxiety as this case was assigned down to her as the President of the Disciplinary Committee.
"It's nothing for you to worry about."
Russell said casually on the other line, but Azalea's vein bulged slightly as the words entered her ears.
"Hey, do you f*cking have any idea how worried your parents are?
"Don't concern yourself with other family issues. By the way, I need help, and I know you'd grant it because you already found one of what you were looking for."
Azalea's eyes constricted, but Russell's right. She really couldn't care less if the case was assigned to her, but the reason she was eager to talk to Russell was that the written note he left to her when he intruded on her dorm room was right on the mark.
Azalea looked at the dining table as she's pacing aimlessly around her room, there was a branch-like shape on top of it. It's an artifact called the Branch of Symbiosis.
This artifact helps her detect if there's a Four Seed of Direction in the area, and she personally went to Alastor's Museum of Neo-Botany a few days ago. Although students from Obelisk Academy couldn't go outside of the premises, there's an exception when it cos to the authority of mbers of the Disciplinary Committee and the Student Council, especially when it cos to the President of each respective departnt.
"Sigh... I can't understand you.
"What do you need, by the way?"
Azalea heaved a sigh of resignation with the man's sowhat composed deanor despite what happened.
After a few seconds, the other end of the call sounded in Azalea's ears.
"I need an artifact that can let a group of people escape or bypass the security caras of the academy."
Azalea's mind turned blank as if sothing that was written was just erased. As the mysterious owner of the Thorn of Rose, the Black Market that operates in the whole of Orion Continent, she definitely has such an artifact, but its cost was hundreds of millions of O.
"Do you know how much that costs? At least 650 million O."
Azalea said as she felt like the help was sothing she didn't expect.
'Why'd he need an artifact that can bypass the security caras here?
'Ha! Too weird!'
Just as she thought of that, a chuckle entered her ears as the next words of Russell caused her to flinch slightly before she finally took a sit on the couch after pacing back and forth.
"Its information value might be equal, if not higher than a Legendary-Grade Artifact which cost a billion and a half."
Russell said as if he were reciting a story of the past. It was the exact sa words that Azalea said when she jokingly asked Russell to provide her the information regarding the location of the Four Seeds of Direction and a Branch of Yggdrasil.
"Alright, alright! Stop repeating what I said! How can you even morize that exactly!?
"Anyway, give your location, I'll also send the Ela's Needle.
"That would be at least, 1.150 billion O, and you didn't provide the location of a branch of Yggdrasil. I'll deduct 300 million O, so you'll only have 50 million O. Give your Obelisk bank account number."
Azalea calculated the costs, basically, the information regarding the location of the Four Seeds of Direction and a Branch of Yggdrasil costs 1.5 billion O, 300 million O for each location.
"Okay, thank you. Send it asap, I'll send the location right away.
"Anyway, just sit back there and don't do anything like report it to my parents, we'll take care of it."
Russell said firmly, he didn't wait for Azalea's reply as he quickly ended the call.
"Bastard..."
Azalea mumbled as she looked at her smartwatch for a few seconds as the call suddenly ended. Then after an unknown period of ti, she tapped her smartwatch to call soone to issue the command of delivering the following items as soon as possible to the location.
Due to the nature of the Thorn of Rose, any ordered items in the Black Market would arrive almost instantly at the given address after it was paid.
"But how did he know about it..."
Azalea wondered because the man, Russell, knew about her identity with certainty and the locations of what she needed to find for her sake. Although she wasn't sure at first, after confirming the location of one of the Four Seeds of Direction, she seed certain that the other seeds' locations were on point, referring to the written note that Russell gave her.
"Who really are you..."
She mumbled with an expression of wonder, sitting on a couch, as she looked at the ceiling of her dorm.
...
"Oppa... what's that?"
Freya asked curiously as a box sealed with special thods arrived at the hotel they were in. Artifacts couldn't just be placed in normal seals because they wouldn't be able to contain the artifacts.
"It's the final piece we needed to make an excuse."
Russell took out two items from the box; One was a needle with a feature similar to an ordinary needle, but it doesn't have a sharp, pointed endpoint. It was like a small rod with white thread circling it as Mana continue to emanate from it, and the second item was a long, black blanket that could envelop at least 8 people if stretched out to its end.
A chuckle escaped from Russell's mouth, although he didn't know the specific artifact, he felt like he knew how to use it.
He appraised the item as he beca the owner of it.
Status Appraisal Skills were entirely different from an Artificer's Appraisal Skills because one must own the item for ordinary people for them to appraise it. Simply put, if a Player wasn't in an artificer-related profession, he wouldn't be able to appraise a weapon, armor, artifact, skillbooks, or treasure herbs if the said individual doesn't own them. Ownership of things was granted by the System especially if the items were put inside the Dinsional Inventory.
...
[Junain's Blanket]
A blanket of concealnt made from the Monster Core of the Boss Monster called Junain from the High Dungeon Tower: Concealnt of Wishes.
Rank: Unique
Classification: Artifact
Effects:
- If wrapped around one's body, the players enclosed by it will be able to bypass the highest grade security caras known to humanity, and detection skills up to A rank.
- One's footsteps will be like the wind, and their aura will be completely concealed.
...
"Perfect!"
Russell exclaid as he put Ela's Needle and Junain's Blanket in his Dinsional Inventory.
He then looked at his companions who were just done organizing themselves before they left the cheapest hotel room, as Estelle went inside the Treasure Box with a Living Eye again, to go back to the secluded alley where they arrived from.
After a few minutes of walking, Alie asked if everyone was ready, and they nodded, then waited for what cos next.
Alie imagined the place of the East Border that she saw when she was still a part of a certain group while having a deep connection with Thorn of Rose. Then after a few seconds, she activated one of the skills that she received by becoming the Lady of Shaded Spade's contractee.
[Activating Skill: Spade Warp]
Soon, a dark spade-shaped warp appeared in front of them, it has an atmosphere of being majestic from the aura it was exuding, but thanks to their Nihility trait, it was completely concealed even in the prying eyes of the Constellations.
"Let's go."
All of them slowly walked through it.
...
Olympia's East Border, the boundary between Olympia and Nereia.
Woong-!
The endpoint of the Spade Warp was ford in a forested area. It's the place that Alie went to before and imagined.
"This is so secretive place, too..."
Freya said while she looked at Alie with curious eyes because of the location where they arrived just now.
Alie scratched her head before she said with a casual, but trusting tone.
"This is where I was sent to assassinate soone before."
Freya and Ary's ears pricked up as if they heard wrong, but Russell sowhat didn't seem surprised because he knew how Dark Tears work, it's not just a drug, but an instant poison if consud in large doses at once.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but let's find a hotel again first to stay for the night, and I'll do what's needed to be done. Alright."
The trio of won nodded their heads as they traverse the forested area with a lonely atmosphere, and after at least 5 minutes of walking, they quickly arrived at the rural area which doesn't seem like one because of its liveliness, and found a cheaper hotel than the one in the Obelisk City.
...
"Alright, just stay here, I'll co back quickly."
Russell said as he took out the Mask of Night in his Dinsional Inventory and wear it, then his vanished beca one with the shadows.
...
After at least 20 minutes, Russell ca back with a smile on his lips which could only an success.
"Russell... did you get it?"
Alie asked with anticipation to which Russell nodded in response as he put out sothing from his pocket. It's a normal-looking gray rock that's at least slightly bigger than Russell's hand.
He then said as he glanced around at his sitting younger sister and Ary as he weakly throw and catch vertically the gray rock in midair.
"Who says that a Dungeon cannot be this small?"
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