The Insider System

Chapter 69: Beautiful Morning

Stepping into Lucas's office, Lake saw that Lucas had clearly been waiting on him. Lake hadn't come straight down after he had woken up, instead he had had some breakfast first. There was a chance this could take long enough that he would miss lunch, and with the fact that all he ate yesterday was a piece of fruit, Lake felt he would be pushing it to skip breakfast, even with Refreshed.

Lake had stayed up late last night to level Rogue to eight and so he wouldn't get up too early and have to wait on Lucas. Lake preferred it to be the other way around and with the fact he only slept like three hours a day, he and joy had stayed in the dungeon almost all night.

Lake gave Lucas a thumbs up to show he was ready to go and they both walked into the elevator. "I sent some guards out last night to see if the roads were safe for our trip today, and they told me there was increased traffic last night." Lake wasn't sure why Lucas had said this, was it some kind of important event that a lot of people came to the capital last night.

Before Lake could say any of this out loud Lucas continued. "I have people out investigating what happened, but they haven't sent word yet, so I think we should cancel the trip until they do." If they weren't going to get a journal where were they headed. Lucas had waited to tell him until after they were already on the elevator, so it could be anything.

"Are we going somewhere else?" Lucas looked at Lake and said. "There's a chance the Light temple might be evacuating small towns, and if that's the case we need to start hiding important people in various safe houses, so if we get attacked they won't wipe us out." Lake didn't react the way most people would to news that a war between gods might be about to start.

"Why wouldn't the Light temple just tell you if that was what's happening?" Lake could guess it was because the Alchemist guild was neutral in the war, so the Temple hadn't bothered telling them but he just wanted to make sure. "The Temple doesn't speak with any of the guilds, and we're not exactly on good terms with them anyway considering Light mages were part of the Mage guild until recently."

Lake knew half the old Mage guild members were on one side and the other half were on the other, so they both probably disliked the Alchemist guild for not choosing. "If we're neutral, who's going to attack us?" It defeated the whole point of being neutral if they were going to be attacked by both sides on the first day.

"They won't be attacking us to kill us just to take the guild building, it's the strongest defensive position on the continent, so whichever side takes it will probably win the ground battle." Why hadn't they chosen a side if this was what the situation was going to be. "Are you planning to just hand the building over?"

Lucas didn't answer, just smirked like he was happy they were about to be killed. Seeing Lucas didn't plan to answer, Lake moved on. "Am I being sent somewhere as well?" Lucas shook his head. "Not right away, there's no point in doing anything except preparing the carts until we're sure."

Lake had a feeling like it was definitely going to be what Lucas suspected, because while he had been at the Temple he had been told the God of Light was on his way back, and the fighting was going to start again soon. "If it is what you think, where am I going?"

"I'll be sending you to live in one of the hidden guild branches, so I won't be telling you the exact location." This was all Lake needed to hear to realize this was his chance to escape. Lucas wasn't going with him so all he needed to do was out run his guards. Lake had full confidence in being able to do that without even using Burst.

Lake opened his stats to see what they were exactly, he needed to know if he was going to compare them to his guards later.

Race: Human Lv.7

Job: Rouge Lv.8 ( 24/1280 )

Special: The Insider Lv.0 ( 3/5 )

Stats

Health 70

Stamina 70

Mana 70

Strength 15

Endurance 15

Agility 47

Dexterity 47

Perception 83

Intelligence 114

Charisma 11

Free stat points: 17

There was no way a normal guard could catch him if he used Burst. When he used it his Agility would effectively be 94 and if he held a dagger he would move 7% faster so he would be moving as if he had 100. Since that was the human limit even if for some reason one of his guards had max Agility they could only keep pace.

Lake also had the last resort of his free points which would let him move as though he had broken the human limit. "Is Joy being sent with me if I have to evacuate?" Lake actually was hoping Lucas said no because it would make her look bad for no reason. He was fine if she helped him escape and she got into trouble but that wasn't the situation she would be in this time.

He was just going to run and there was no way she wouldn't be blamed even though she didn't have anything to do with his escape. They would probably say she had let him run on purpose. He doubted she would be killed, probably just fired and depending on how the loyalty thing worked she might be just fine.

It was possible they would know she had nothing to do with it because of the curse, but Joy hadn't said it controlled her actions in any way, just made her follow orders which he could give her, maybe he could just give her an order that made her stand down, then it would be the curses fault not hers.

He could probably get her to come with him by making it seem like the other guards had betrayed them, and them killing the guards before running was their best option. This was probably partially true anyway, considering the Demon Lord liked to corrupt peoples minds, and then leave them for when he needed them.

Lake had been planning to leave because of this fact alone, so in his eyes anyone who tried to stop him might as well be working for the Demon Lord. He also only had to kill the ones who could catch him so it was unlikely it would happen at all unless Joy was involved and he needed to run while dragging her with him.

He was just going to wait and see to flesh out his plan. "No, all the guards are staying here to do their jobs, you'll be with one of the masters." Looked like Lake got ahead of himself but now he was worried about Joy for a different reason. There was a chance she would be killed if she stayed here to fight whatever battle Lucas seemed content to fight.

"Would you mind letting her come with me? One less guard doesn't really matter all that much." Lucas looked at him like he was being annoying again, and said. "I'll send orders." Lake didn't think that would be necessary. He was pretty sure she would be waiting for them once they got to the carts because of his order he had given her yesterday to come with them.

Once the elevator stopped Lake saw there were quite a few people that had been waiting for it. He guessed with this being a potential emergency there were a bunch of people that needed to get around the Guild as fast as possible. Once they stepped off all the people that had been waiting stepped on except for a few.

"Guild Leader, some of the scouts have returned." When Lake heard Scout it made him think of one of the jobs he was going to level for Agility, but that wasn't important so he focused. "Bring me to them." Lake wasn't sure if he was supposed to come as well, but he did. He was curious and as long as Lucas didn't tell him to go away he was going to listen.

Lake followed them into a small room near where the carts were stored when they weren't being used. He saw there were three people with different suits of armor than the guards wore but he could still tell they worked for the guild because they wore the same colors. "Report your findings."

"Just put it on. I had to keep it uncharged because having multiple wards activated at once can actually have the opposite effect, unless they were made to overlap." Lucas continued to talk as Lake slid the ring on his finger, and he could tell right away why Lucas hadn't explained in more detail after the initial instruction.

Lake could feel the ring clearly wanted mana and he just had to open the tap to let it take it. There was one problem, Lake only had 70 mana so trying to refill this ring might take all of his and leave him in a depleted state. Lake had never used his mana for anything really, so he wasn't sure what this would do to him.

He was able to guess what running out of Health and Stamina would do to him, but Mana wasn't really something he even understood. It would probably make him feel weak but in a manner different to running out of Stamina. Being able to cast really big spells made you feel really powerful, so once you ran out of mana, and could no longer do so you would feel weak.

Lake let his Mana start to fill the ring and noticed his mana was almost like a new appendage he had never used before. This was not something he expected, because he wasn't really able to feel anything from the mana he gathered from the environment. This meant his mana was different and in a very strange way.

Lake could feel it twisting through the ring into some strange shape Lake guessed was the shape of the enchantment or whatever gave the ring the ability to make a ward. Getting caught up in the feeling Lake didn't stop the flow before he was fully drained but it didn't really make him feel any different.

The fact he could still feel the mana in his ring made him wonder if maybe he hadn't really spent it yet it had just left his body for a different container, and he would only feel something once he used it. Lake turned to listen to Lucas who was still talking about the ring, because what had just happened with the ring interested him.

"Items that can serve as mana vessels are effectively part of the body once you start to charge them with your mana, and will function similarly to a skill granted from a job or stat." This line made Lake think back to the fight with Nelg and how when he inspected him he had seen Nelg had more mana than health and stamina.

At the time Lake had thought it was the effect of a skill, and maybe it was but it was also possible Nelg had some item that let him store extra mana. Lake knew a way he could check he pulled up his stat page to see if it had affected how much mana he had.

Race: Human Lv.7

Job: Rouge Lv.8 ( 24/1280 )

Special: The Insider Lv.0 ( 3/5 )

Stats

Health 70

Stamina 70

Mana (70 /190)

Strength 15

Endurance 15

Agility 47

Dexterity 47

Perception 83

Intelligence 114

Charisma 11

Free stat points: 17

Seeing he could have a total of 190 mana Lake was pretty sure an item like this was why Nelg had more mana than he was supposed to. Now all Lake needed to do was figure out how long it was going to take to regen all his mana naturally. The rate probably had something to do with your stats in some way so Lake guessed it was based on his Intelligence.

That was the stat that seemed to control how good you were at magic so it made the most sense to Lake. Less than 30 seconds later Lake saw his mana increase to 71 so he just rounded to 2.5 a minute than asked Lucas. "Is there a place where I can get supplies for the field?"

"Go ask Joy to bring you. I'm about to send the third wave and don't have time." Lake did just that. "Joy, will you bring me to the supply room for field agents?" Lake wasn't sure if there was more than one supply room but he felt this would get him to where he needed to go. "Follow me sir."

On the way to the supply room Lake thought about how everything had worked out in the end. He hadn't needed to go through with his impossible escape and it was for the best because he really hadn't had very much confidence. His best shot would have been to get married to the king's daughter, but that would have been a lot of work.

He had a lot of plans in motion, and he was just going to take the first chance he could get but now none of that was necessary. This was a good thing because it allowed him to keep his access to resources that his position in the guild gave him.

He wasn't sure how good it actually was because it had only happened because of a war between gods, but that was going to happen anyway, so he guessed it was nice he actually got something from it. "This is the storage room most people get their supplies from."

Lake saw each of the eight shelves had multiple of one item on it and he guessed people just grabbed one of each and they were ready to go. He didn't plan to do that, he wanted to see what each thing was, then he would take what he wanted.

Unsurprisingly the first three shelves had potions that restored 40 of health, stamina, and mana. Lake grabbed a mana potion and started to drink it. He thought it would be an efficient use of his time if he drank potions while looking at the next five shelves.

Lake needed to put in more effort for the next shelf. It held a potion with less obvious effects, it seemed to weaken poisons but not completely heal them for whatever reason. Lake guessed there was more than one type of poison, and there was no way to know what you would be hit by, so this potion would give you time to return to the guild for actual treatment.

This was definitely more practical than lugging around every type of antidote especially when you weren't trained in how to use them. Lake didn't take one because there was no need he couldn't die from poison, and there was no way people would know how to take advantage of his skill unless they knew what it was.

The next shelf had what seemed to be those sleep potions that all the guards had. They had dust on them, so Lake guessed they weren't very popular. It was probably actually that there had been no big battles recently, so the guards had no reason to need to sleep in combat situations, which was what Lake thought they were for.

Lake moved on to the next thing He wasn't sure what it was. It was just a little flat thing that seemed to have a core in it. Picking it up, Lake inspected it to find it was just a really weak version of the ring Lucas had given him, and it seemed to be a one time use item.

Lake guessed it was an expense thing, it was probably much cheaper to get a new guard than to give them all expensive items. Lake didn't bother with this either, he had the ring so he doubted it would be useful enough to justify taking.

The next thing was actually kind of useful. It was a medicated bandage that helped close wounds, they were very light so Lake grabbed three. He was yet to be injured during a fight but it was definitely possible, especially since he planned to track down both the Thieves guild and the Assassins guild once he was out in the city.

Well eventually he did. He doubted that he would do that until he was done unlocking every job he could. Lake wanted to find at least a few more Unique jobs before he lifted the ban on leveling up and he would still only get them to level one to unlock his first two skills, it was much more efficient to do it this way.

The last thing was nothing worth taking. They were rations and by the looks of it no one used them because they were caked in dust. This was also backed up by the fact he had asked for food from Joy twice, and she didn't have one of these either time.

Lake thought this might be something to tell Lucas he doubted he knew the rations were not being used and if it was a problem with taste Lake knew someone who could fix this problem with very little effort. All Millie would need to do is train an apprentice to make rations and the guards would eat them for every meal.

"Hey Joy, will you take me to the front door?" Lake didn't know the way out because the guild had taken the whole cart he had arrived in to the elevator room that seemed to be the lobby but Lake knew they were actually in the center of a massive complex that had multiple buildings. He was sure he would have a terrible time finding the way out on his own.

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