The Insider System

This chapter is updated by 𝓯𝙧𝒆𝒆𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝓸𝓿𝒆𝓵.𝙘𝓸𝓶

After about a minute of running, Lake met Lucas on the road out of the city and said. "We should find a place to make our plan." They still hadn't picked a path through the Metal Domain that would get all the journals and high-level items in the most time-efficient way. "We also need to talk about what happened while I was in the Temple, so just find us a good place to have a private conversation."

There were a lot of people on the road because of the rebuilding that was going on in the city, so they couldn't really talk here and be confident someone wouldn't overhear what they were saying.

A few minutes off of the road, they found a perfect place to speak, and Lucas started their conversation with a question. "Why haven't you asked where Nia is?" After thinking about it, Lake decided to tell the truth even though it was a bit corny. "I trust that you wouldn't leave her in an unsafe place."

Lucas had shown on multiple occasions that he cared about what was good for the guild, and having someone like Nia, who had a Legendary skill, fit that description. "I was wondering if you knew where she was currently though. I had people looking for her for days, and you found her within a few hours of entering the city, so I can only assume you have a skill that tells you where people are."

"I do, it's the same skill we've been using to find the journals. All I need is a name, and I can find almost anything, including people." Lake knew Lucas would slowly put together everything he could do on his own just by around him, so hiding things wasn't feasible unless he was willing to stay away from Lucas at all times.

"You ever have any problems? Tracking people is usually a lot harder." Lake had problems when it came to Divine beings like demigods, so he told Lucas exactly that. "My skill doesn't work as well when there's a Divine being involved. I've also struggled to track a demon in the past."

The situation where he saved Tiff from a demon had been why he'd come up with using an intermediary like an arrow when using Detector, to begin with. "I'm guessing that was something the Temple had you do?" Lake nodded without giving any further details on the matter because he still felt weird about giving Temple business away.

"All right, well, let's talk about What happened inside the metal Temple, and then we can plan our path." Nodding again, Lake said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you; I honestly didn't even mean to save Nia. I just found her and realized she was in a bad place and thought it was the best thing to do."

"No, I'm not mad. I just want to make it clear that you should be more low-key in the future. Our Guild building is already rebuilt; you could have brought her there instead." Lake didn't have a good excuse for why he hadn't thought of that, especially since he had run past the area the Guild building was in.

"Sorry, I was in a rush because I was afraid that demon worshipers might notice what I did and chase after me. Getting to the temple where you were was the safest place I could think of." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝓫𝓷𝓸𝒗𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝓶

"Like I said, I'm not criticizing you. I know when you're in the moment you make mistakes, and it doesn't really matter who you are because that will continue to happen until you're killed." Lake was happy Lucas was being so understanding, but like always, he thought he might have missed the point Lucas was trying to make, so he asked. "Was there a point you were trying to make other than for me to be more low-key?"

"No, I just want you to realize how big of a target you could be if they realize you exist before it happens. I'm sure you remember when the Assassin's Guild tried to enslave you, that was only for a single Legendary skill." Lake couldn't imagine having to stop leaving the guild because he was afraid of his identity as someone with abnormal skills being revealed.

It only took a few hours for him to get bored after doing nothing, and he remembered what it was like when Lucas made it seem like he wouldn't be allowed out of the guild for years when he first got there. To him, it had almost been like a death sentence; of course, a lot of that had been because he was new to this world and still wanted to explore, but it was still true that he didn't want to waste his time out of fear.

"Do you have any recommendations on how I could be more careful that don't involve not leaving the Guild building?" Lake already had quite a few skills that helped to keep him hidden, but he was still interested in more things that could help protect him. "Well, first, I would recommend you get a ward of some kind. I'm not sure what you did with the one I gave you originally, but it's irresponsible to not use one at all. Secondly, you should be wearing your new armor. It wouldn't hide your identity, but a lot of people would see such high-quality armor and assume they shouldn't mess with you."

Lake still wasn't wearing it because he wanted to put it on after they left the city, but it seemed Lucas thought he should have had it on the entire time. "I thought it was bad because it would draw a lot of attention to me."

"It will, but it's a good type of attention. You probably only thought that way because you targeted the last people who owned the items." Lucas was probably right, so Lake said. "Alright, let me change then."

Going behind a rock, Lake quickly changed his outfit into the Dark Lord Chain, Limb Guards, Field Helmet, and Heelios. He had already adjusted everything to fit him correctly, but it still didn't make the four items look good together. Stepping out from behind the rock, Lake could tell by the way Lucas was looking at him that the older man also thought he looked bad in his new set of armor.

"Are you sure you just didn't want people in the city to look at you for wearing such a messy set of armor?" Lake couldn't completely deny this, but it hadn't swayed his decision because if he really wanted, he could have just got a robe to cover everything up. The helmet and the boots looked fine together, and a robe would have covered everything else.

"Each item is subject to change as I find better things. There's really no point in trying to make it look nice when I plan to keep anyone from seeing me in it anyway." Lake knew Lucas was currently looking at him, so this reasoning didn't make perfect sense, but he was sure it got his point across.

"Still, hopefully, we find something to cover you up a bit before we head back to the guild." Lake could tell this was Lucas joking in an extremely dry manner, so he just laughed it off and said. "Here's the map. You can plan our path again this time since I don't think either of us wants to split up to cover more ground."

It was much more efficient if they both went their own way, but the current situation in the Metal Domain made him feel a bit worried about traveling on his own. The odds he would run into someone who could kill them or low, but having Lucas around should stop them from even trying.

Lake wasn't sure how, but he was starting to think almost everyone in the world knew who Lucas was, and it was a massive deterrent they could use to make each stop easier for them. The last trip was a perfect example of this, with all the journals just being handed to them.

"All right, what do you think about this, see we'll hit all these spots here, and then we'll move over here and get these."

"Oh, I should have probably told you that these dots are for level 60 items before we drew the lines."Lake knew that if they gathered the level 60 items together, Lucas would probably want some, but it would still make his mission much easier, so it was worth passing on one or two of the items.

"Are you sure there are level 60 items at these locations?" Lake gave a nod. " You know, I've been told there're less than 50 items with such high levels in the entire world. It could be a rumor, but it almost makes them more appealing than the journals. We won't be going anywhere near them, though."

"Why?"

"Who do you think owns such things? I can guarantee that even if we get lucky enough to get one, the second item will be held by someone who kills us." Lake couldn't help but feel Lucas was being over dramatic, but it wasn't worth arguing as he could just come back on his own some other time.