Chương 205: Time To Play!

Lately, I've been hearing an awful lot of owls hooting at night–Being that I hadn't been subjected to a grave brain injury as a child, I knew immediately that this meant the tower was under tight surveillance by Lunovis, and perhaps even other Boorizars… Leou hadn't said anything about it despite clearly noticing, but since I was heavily doubtful that they would actually camp outside all night for several nights like this…

It could only mean that the Boorizars had a whole bunch of pet owls that they could use as eyes. Not too surprising, all things considered, but why let them hoot so damn much? Everyone knows they are owls, for surveillance agents, they weren't very stealthy, so it could only mean that this was an open intimidation attempt. Unfortunately, Leou wasn't allowing me to go out and catch these owls.

She was trying to play it cool–To play by the rules, which was important for her since her entire schtick was about being a public person who was well-respected. Engaging in violent tactics didn't suit her persona in the least. She simply acted like normal. It wasn't like she often got down to suspicious activities. Her contacts with the organisation–Which I had yet to hear a proper name for–Were uncommon and very stealthy. If anything, my presence was the most suspicious thing for Lunovis to take notice of.

Since we were under surveillance, I obviously couldn't be sent on any assassination mission without risking giving something incriminating to the owlfolk, so I was instead doing other things–Such as receiving the visit of mechanists whose talent in the domain was… Dubious, to say the least. They definitely knew a few things, but they were profoundly unskilled, untalented, and inexperienced.

They were lured over because Leou was speaking of a rare automaton which had been left behind by an unknown mechanist with odd instructions. The snow leopard had basically crafted a little narrative to lure mechanists over. She didn't say it directly, but overall, she strongly implied that this was a sort of test or trial set by a great mechanist to recruit a potential talent.

Naturally, with her good reputation and the alluring reward promised in case of success, the mechanists who did hear about it were coming over en masse. Well, en masse for a small group of people. Mechanistry was still very much niche since only Leton was truly good at it. Everyone else was pretty much chasing his shadow… Nonetheless, due to its niche status and the low skill level overall, the people with an interest in the discipline were easily baited over, and I was able to get catches relatively quickly.

As odd as it may be for mechanists to show up at the tower, it wasn't anything truly suspicious. In any case, Mari would observe whatever was happening as they did their best to fulfil whatever they were asked–Which right now was all about upgrading my 'Faraday Box' once more so that I could unlock the 'Overvoltage' upgrade, and thus, unlock a shiny new form for myself. Unfortunately, they weren't proving as efficient as Vilador had been.

Seems like the late elven mage had been way more talented than these buffoons, despite the fact that 'Overvoltage' was definitely easier than 'Overcharge' to implement. Everything was already here. It should only be a matter of understanding a little about the 'Faraday Box' and tweaking a few things beyond the recommended levels. Perhaps I should have tricked Vilador into doing a few more upgrades for me as well… On the bright side, Mari seemed to be picking things up rather quickly.

This madwoman was learning day and night. I even caught her muttering to herself about how she was going to impress me. I swear this girl had a few screws loose in her head–But since it was to my advantage, it was fine. Meanwhile, I was going through all of the upgrades I knew existed, but had not picked. Trying to make a priority list based not only on the ones I found best out of the bunch, but also based on how likely they are to be achievable using the current method I was using.

As far as I could guess, the various eye-related upgrades about making light shine in various different manners should be easy enough to implement, and could definitely be useful as a disorientation tool. The resilience and resistance upgrades were probably not acquirable in this manner…

I suppose I could quite easily get the 'More Options' upgrade for the 'Music Box', after all, most mechanists worked with entertainment automatons more than anything else, so music boxes were probably one of the few things they could be considered good with. … And I guess a few maw-related upgrades could quite easily be obtained as well… Mmh… If only I had constant access to my mechanical genius, I would be drowning in new upgrades already!

I could do so much inside the Dreamscape, I might even be able to unlock several new forms with the sheer quantity of upgrades I would be able to acquire… I might even manage to figure out upgrades I hadn't even seen in the options before! Alas, the gifts had been split between Leton and me. Each of us had seemingly gotten something while the other was left without it–For example, I was the strong and healthy one, while Leton was frail and sickly. Useless to worry about this right now…

Either one of those mechanists will end up having a good head on their shoulders, or Mari proves herself useful by learning how to do it–Wait a minute. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Right now, I was inside my room in the middle of the night, ruminating about all sorts of things since I basically had nothing much to do right now after getting done with my usual activities inside the Mindscape, but as I was thinking, I suddenly felt a string of negative emotions attach itself to me. I was mostly unknown these days, so it was rare for me to actually harvest any new negative emotions lately.

In fact, it should be nearly impossible since I was keeping to myself and acting as a bodyguard for a very well-liked person. By extension, people shouldn't resent me. Yet… This was clearly anger, resentment, and a whole plethora of related emotions that were being flung my way right now…

Typically, I could harvest negative emotions from quite a distance, as long as something was directed at me, even if not entirely directly or knowingly, I should be able to get it, but whoever this was had only begun funnelling it in my direction after getting rather close. Right now, this individual was standing near the bottom of the tower, probably not realising that whatever great concealing means they were using had been blown due to their proximity to me.

To deny me negative emotion, this one was either equipped with some stealth item or ability of a high calibre, or they were in such great control of their emotions that they had been able to prevent them from leaking far until they made the mistake of stepping close. Regardless, I had gotten better at sensing negative energy and negative emotions, so I focused intently in an attempt to tell a bit more, and was able to notice that these emotions weren't only directed at me, but also at Leou.

Someone affiliated with the owl bastard, heh? What do they want? This person stayed in place for a while before walking away, but the string of negative emotions did not break. Now that it had been established, severing it would take a lot of effort–Efforts that wouldn't happen as evidently, they weren't aware that it even existed. Outside, the night was nearly moonless. Nothing could be made out apart from perhaps the few shadowy shapes of various homes and architectures.

Regardless, I was able to track the position of this person not only thanks to the string of emotions that now linked us together, but also thanks to Nara. My little sister had a perfect visualisation of the entire city as she had seen it from high above when I had ridden upon giant winged beasts, and with her assistance, I could know exactly where that person was at all times now. Mara, it looks like they are headed toward the Purge Station Huh… The Purge Station was a business owned by Leou.

It was basically a beefed-up sewer on the scale of the entire city. Although sewers weren't as rare as they once were, even in poorer parts of cities, they were typically of a different level of efficiency depending on whether you were in a rich or poor part of a city. Leou, being the philanthropist and businesswoman that she was, had created a company and built the same kind of sewer across the entirety of Randlac.

Connecting one's home to this underground system was fractured, but more importantly, she had convinced the city itself to throw money at it–Which was easy considering that Leou had the backing of basically everyone on this one… Of course, if the city paid for it, then it really meant that the taxes paid for it, so really, she was making everyone pay for the sewers… But most people weren't smart enough to put two and two together on this front.

In any case, the Purge Station was a large building where the various enchanted items in charge of purifying all that filth were located. It was rather important infrastructure since the sewer was completely integrated into the city now. I see, I see… Someone is very mad and wants to perform some sabotage…

"Xlown""Yes, Mommy?"

"We're go–going out" Going to the Purge Station might seem like a viable way to hurt Leou's reputation, but it was probably the worst place to go to right now… It was the only building I could reach without stepping outside the building at all. Down in the basement, there was a passage leading into the sewers that I had already taken notice of, meaning that the owls would have no chance of seeing a thing. What if it is Lunovis or a Boorizar in general, though?

Heh, I doubt they would be confident enough to do something like this themselves. Lunovis might be personally convinced that Leou had something to do with Hulil's death, but he doesn't have any tangible evidence. Otherwise, he would have brought it up to the king already. No. He probably sent a wretch, someone who obeys him, but who never saw the light of day and is not officially affiliated with his family.

Someone who could be caught without risk, probably a lunatic who wouldn't say a damn thing even if you started removing their freaking bones. Such individuals could still be quite powerful… Don't worry, Nara. I'll observe and see if it is worth it first. This sounds like a lie, but alright Anyway, I have two more allies than usual now, and unlike my little cuties, they have some serious murder capabilities. Really, only Elowen can actually kill someone amongst my darlings.

I jumped down into the sewers first and caught Xlown in my arms. This place was a little filthy, and I felt compelled to make sure that she wouldn't actually walk down there herself, so I carried her the whole way as I ran while using 'Forward Shine' to light the way. I didn't know the exact way, and Nara had never been exposed to a map of the sewers, but she could still tell me which direction the Purge Station was, and with the string of emotions, I knew where my prey currently was.

The fool was walking, so I was definitely going to get there before they did… Hopefully, the filthy saboteur likes surprises, because he was going to get the biggest one of his life once he reached the Purge Station. It was time to see what my beautiful daughter and loyal coyote were capable of.