Chương 74: Sneaky Spying

Melia watched as the stunned guild surveyors, one confused adventurer, and one paranoid jerk all disappeared around a corner. Deciding she didn't want to think about it, she turned and went the opposite direction. Jessica hustled behind her to keep up, but Melia could move surprisingly quickly when she wanted to. She didn't give time for Jessica to collect herself, and thus ask any pointed questions, until they were far enough away that the [Planters] were out of sight.

The [Hunter] doubled over momentarily, caught her breath, and straightened out.

"Holy crap, Melia, what was that all about?! Do you know who that was?!"

"Yes," Melia nodded decisively.

"A stain underneath my foot. He's beneath us, that includes all of you, too." If anything, Jessica paled further.

"Please tell me you don't mean that seriously."

"No," Melia eventually said, deflating.

"But I won't let him bully you. Or anybody else. I don't like him. And I don't have any proof, but I think he might have been involved in that one time you guys got poisoned. If he tries anything funny, I'll…I'll…." Truthfully, Melia didn't know what she'd do. She also hoped she never had to find out.

"Don't eat him," Jessica said seriously.

"He won't be very filling, and it would be a nightmare to try to cover up."

"I won't eat him," Melia gasped, affronted.

"He probably tastes like old shoes. No thank you."

"But," Jessica said, clearly relieved, "Speaking of eating…?"

"Yes," Melia sighed, "It's time for me to feed. Don't…make it weird."

"I wasn't going to make it weird until you told me not to make it weird," Jessica grinned.

"Now I'm gonna make it weird on principle."

"Do you wanna fly with me or not?" Melia pouted. Fortunately, Jessica very much wanted to fly, so she let the matter drop.

"But, Melia, if you transform anywhere around here, people will see. Is that really what you want to do?"

"Frankly, I'm losing the battle to care," Melia shrugged.

"But I suppose you're right. Let's go before I do."

Eventually, Melia called for Midna with a shrill, piercing whistle she herself didn't know she could do. Jessica slapped her hands over her ears and stared at Melia in shock, but within 30 seconds, Midna came slinking out of [Stealth], becoming visible from about 50 feet away. Melia cooed at the giant cat who licked the top of her head, and Jessica flinched slightly as Melia nearly disappeared in the Nightsaber's mouth.

They rode back through the forest to the base of the mountain, where the trail began leading up to the Mansion. Though they didn't plan to go all the way up on foot, there was enough space between the rocky walls and the growing forest that Melia could transform. It was a tight fit, but if she crouched low, Melia didn't rise much above the treeline, and she needed to lower her head for Jessica to climb on top of anyway.

Jessica did so, and both girls were surprised to find Midna staring at Melia's snout, crouched, as if ready to pounce.

"Wait, you're a mount," Jessica complained, watching the Nightsaber shimmy her rear.

"Melia rides you, not the other way…okay, fine. Ignore me." Midna leaped with all the grace of a cat, slipped and skittered slightly on Melia's slick scales, but quickly controlled herself. She then slunk up to the top, nudged Jessica over with her giant face, turned around twice, and sat down.

"Is this going to work?" Melia heard Jessica mutter.

"Don't blame me if you fall off, cat." Melia chuckled, beat her wings, and took off. Once again, she could hear Jessica screaming, but this time it was harmonized with Midna's mewls. Melia ignored them splendidly. She decided that [Thunder Lizard] was on the menu. Those seemed to be a local specialty, and after flying over the Frostrim ranges, she set down on a large outcropping like a particularly broody vulture and loomed over a herd of monsters.

Jessica and Midna both slid off, grateful to be on solid ground, but Melia knew both of them would be back on top of her head in a heartbeat as soon as she took off. Lunch was tasty and filling, and Melia played around with an idea she had regarding potential ways to powerlevel Brandy, using Jessica as a test subject. Melia stomped over to a [Lizard], which pointedly looked everywhere except at the giant dragon plonking around… and swiftly pressed it down into the ground.

She didn't squash it, but it was certainly in no position for voluntary movement, and it was too busy screeching that it couldn't attack. Still, she wanted to be safe about this, so she had Jessica constantly attack it from a distance. Results were mixed at best. When Jessica was in the party, she got no experience. When she left the party, she received a very decent chunk, but it wasn't worth the effort for what little it gave.

In Jessica's own terms, it was equivalent to killing three [Gorblins] all on her own, but it took nearly 5 times the effort, and who knows how much longer. Instead of using one or two skills and maybe 3 arrows, she had to cycle through most of her skills multiple times, continuing to shoot normal arrows in between cooldowns, and she emptied her entire quiver. Fortunately, she had more arrows in her inventory, but the point remained. For the effort, not worth.

Finally, when Jessica was out of the party, but Melia assisted with damaging the monster in any way, she also received no experience. The one bonus to killing such high-level monsters, besides watching Jessica's growing apathy at shooting monsters several ranks above her, was that her skill in [Looting] increased. All that time spent rummaging through corpses paid off, and even if in the grand scheme of things [Looting Rank 2] was barely better than rank 1, it was an improvement.

Between all the monsters they killed, Jessica retrieved several [Thunder Claws], which were all white vendor items, and a single [Thunder Fang], which was a green drop. It claimed to be infused with lightning and was suitable for recipes requiring that affinity.

Melia stuffed the cat and [Hunter] back on her head and flew back to the abbey, where Midna slunk back into the shadows to go take a nap. Jessica was still marveling over the [Fang], which was nearly the size of her whole arm, and set about finding Alastair so she could brag. Melia didn't know what Jessica would end up doing with it, but she could appreciate the enthusiasm. Alone once again, Melia decided she needed to do some reconnaissance.

She slid into [Stealth] and crept her way back to Abbyton proper, where the rest of the guild surveyors were staying. And they weren't the only ones. Sable and Clark might have been the chosen representatives from their guilds, but they weren't the only members present, nor were all the adventurers who were gathered part of those two guilds only. Melia found a surprisingly robust camp of tents set up on the fringe of town, with strange banners and heraldry sectioning it into groups.

Melia could smell Sable's arrogance from where she was, so she knew the tents flying a blue banner with a white comet belonged to [Starfire], though she couldn't guess which one was [Paradigm]. While Melia was on friendly terms with Clark, she wasn't overly familiar with him, and unlike Sable, he didn't have the unfortunate circumstance of getting on her bad side. Making sure her [Stealth] held, Melia crept through camp. This was no small operation.

Hearing a guild surveyor talk about expansion was one thing; seeing it grind into motion in real time was another. Melia cast [Inspect] on nearly everybody she passed, and there had to be at least 200 adventurers gathered. Not all of them were rank 7 or 8, like the two she was familiar with, but none were below rank 5. If Melia understood things correctly, this was a sizable force to be reckoned with, equivalent to a small army.

Perhaps, maybe only a company in said army, but the point stood; the adventurers brought firepower. Melia couldn't help but smile, though. Perhaps they'd heard the dungeon recommended level 500, and maybe they thought that would be enough. Wait until they finally made it to her avatar! Melia almost wished she could be there when it happened so she could see their faces. … actually, why couldn't she?

Chaos said she wasn't likely to appear again, even if Melia showed up, and there was no law saying she couldn't go into the dungeon. She'd likely go as a [Warrior] and sync her level to the dungeon when [Sunrise] finally decided they were high enough to challenge it. The more Melia thought about it, the more excited she became. She really wanted to try challenging a dungeon with her team, and just the thought of running instances with Brandy again almost made Melia bust into a happy jig.

Melia calmed herself; now was not the time. She needed to lay the framework first. Back to those adventurers in the tents. Those 200 people weren't the only ones present; they were only the adventurers. Melia counted off an additional 300 people as support staff. Some were servants, likely dragged along by adventurers ranked high enough that they didn't feel the need to take care of trifling daily needs. Many more were crafter classes, clearly eager to discover what the dungeon had in store.

Melia paused to consider. Were dungeons really that big of a deal? 500 people effectively uprooted their lives for an unknown cause, or at least an unknown reward. Yes, many of those people would likely travel back and forth to their homes in Horizon (or wherever they lived) with the convenience of Melia's Aetherstone. Some already had; Melia watched a curious case where a coach pulled up to the abbey, an entire party of people stumbled out, staggered to the [Aetherstone], attuned themselves, and quickly vanished.

Even with the best planning, these people had no idea how long it would take to conquer a new dungeon, and no matter how confident they felt about running other dungeons, they were no match for hers. Not even the [Incinerated Spire]. Speaking of which… Melia spied a group of tents flying a white flag with a red envelope. The sigil of the Post Office.

She had half a mind to creep over there and find out exactly what was going on, but two shirtless dudes exited a tent and made their way to a small, roped-off ring, looking like they were about to wrestle. Melia shuddered, her curiosity doused.

Her concerns about whether the newcomers were disrupting Abbyton somewhat assuaged, Melia returned to the abbey. She saw several children trundling along with a sack of supplies, pulling a small wagon, and she diverted her course. They walked past the [Moai] (which turned to watch them go), walked past the [Greenhouse] (with only the slightest hesitation to sneak inside), and wandered toward the forest. Melia was concerned; these children were wandering away from the abbey without any supervision.

She decided to follow them just in case, but thankfully, they knew their business, because nothing bad happened. And suddenly, Melia understood what they were doing once they reached her clearing. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. There, a tired-looking brother observed as a group of maybe 10 kids erected some sort of crude effigy. No, that wasn't fair.

It was a sign, made to look imposing and edgy, but the kids were kids, and their talents in art reflected that fact. They made a barrier of sticks, kind of like the cheapest, worst-brand barbed wire, about 50 feet long. It must have taken them a very long time to gather all those sticks, bless them, and Melia wasn't sure what good the barrier would do, because it technically wasn't blocking anything.

She could easily walk around it, if need be, or heaven forbid anybody taller than her came by, because they might be able to step over it. Regardless, the barrier was assembled, and in the middle, the children struggled to raise a sign. The brother tried to help them once or twice, but clearly, this was a passion project for the children, because they wouldn't let him interfere. Finally, after much struggling and the sole admission that they weren't tall enough, the kids hung the sign.

What Melia saw nearly made her squeal with glee as she wriggled about.

[Draggin Slayer] [Drag On Layer] [Dragon's Lair] Is what it read in messy, childish handwriting painted in thick black brush strokes. And below it was…a giant black lump, with a pink outline and white fangs. Then, in smaller, neater writing, it said: [Nap in Progress, Do Not Disturb] Melia shimmied away before she lost to the urge to transform and hoard them all.

There wasn't much else Melia could do about the gathering adventurers. Not that she wanted to, and technically, she supposed she could do whatever she wanted, because it wasn't like anybody could stop her. Melia spent some time observing a [Blacksmith] set up a temporary forge and had to resist the urge to join him. Soon, just as Layalee had said, she would be taking visitors at the mansion. Part of her wondered if she should be there when they eventually found their way up the mountain to greet them.

Or maybe [Sunrise] would join in the initial climb? She'd wait and see. Melia wandered into the [Greenhouse]. A whole crew of brothers was busy toiling in the soil; some were spacing rows, some were digging holes for the eventual saplings, and others were going around adding nutrients to the soil. The last were transporting the saplings from the architect's pavilion and staging them in their designated zones. Melia slowly revealed herself, coming out of [Stealth] in such a way that wouldn't cause a commotion.

Perhaps she had been too effective, because even though a few people saw her loitering around, nobody seemed to care. Melia thought about asking if they needed any help… but she thought it might be amusing to see how long it would take them to say anything if she just jumped right in. The sapling transport option was quickly ruled out because it would require interacting with the overseer handling the bag. That seemed like an obvious place where people might ask questions. That left moving soil and digging holes.

Melia was good at digging holes. Despite never really having handled a shovel in her last life, Melia had fond memories of playing at the beach and creating small tunnels for tennis balls in the sand pit at the park. She stood to the side and observed their methods for a few minutes before jumping in. It was, understandably, dirty work. Melia couldn't use any of the many tools the brothers left scattered around, but that was fine by her because she had her own, superior tools sized just for her.

The process was fairly simple: each sapling only needed a relatively small hole, about one cubic foot. After the hole was dug, the soil was piled into a mound leading to the next hole, creating a small ridge connecting the entire line of trees. One or two brothers worked each hole, spending a couple of minutes at best before leapfrogging to the next designated spot. All things considered, they were moving pretty fast, but when looked at as a whole, the project probably felt daunting.

They needed thousands and thousands of holes. Melia pulled a [Shovel] of her own out of her inventory. Frankly, if anybody [Inspected] it, they'd think it was ludicrous. Who needed an epic, 5-star, level 1000 shovel? Technically, nobody. But Melia had one, so she was going to use it. It cut through the greenhouse dirt like sliding through water, and with two simple scoops, she had her hole. She tossed the remaining dirt up into the mound and moved to the next one.

Melia lost track of how long she had been digging holes, but eventually she realized the brothers had stopped digging with her and had mostly shifted to sapling placement. She was just that much quicker than people with peasant shovels. They'd abandoned their efforts to keep up with the increased hole production and, even then, were struggling to match her pace. Melia finished the row she was digging and finally checked in with everybody else.

The brothers pulled her aside, thanked her profusely for her help, and inquired why she decided to spend part of her afternoon digging ditches in a greenhouse. One of them even suggested that she must have some serious [Gardening] skills and (half) jokingly asked if she wanted to take employment with the abbey. New positions were opening up daily, thanks to somebody building these magnificent buildings! Melia laughed, amused that most people didn't seem to know she was the one responsible for it.

She politely declined and made her way back to the exit. A thought struck her just as she was about to leave, so she paused. This [Greenhouse] came with options. Melia knew this, but it didn't seem like anybody else did. She was initially going to let them figure things out on their own, but after thinking it through, Melia realized they might never discover the [Greenhouse] interface, let alone what it could do. She placed her hand on the paneling next to the doorframe and willed her system to life.

[Greenhouse XXL] Zoning: Disabled Climate Control: Disabled Automatic Watering: Disabled Central Station: Not Set There were a few other options, but most everything Melia looked at was set to the default, basic level. Zoning would help differentiate between the orchards, and Climate Control would allow them to grow things from different regions in zones next to each other that would otherwise be incompatible or even hostile.

The Automatic Watering would be very beneficial, but when Melia focused on it to get more information, she frowned.

Unlike the first two, which were disabled because the Central Station hadn't been designated, the watering wouldn't work even if it had been. The [Greenhouse] naturally pulled from nearby water sources, which would have been fine if Melia had built it right next to the river, but she didn't. Instead, it relied heavily on the well, which was enough to mysteriously activate a small tap nearby, but it wouldn't be nearly enough for an entire forest. Melia finally made up her mind.

She'd relied on the abbey's kindness and their rural amenities long enough; they were due for an upgrade. She was tired of taking baths in a soup pot, and her team would appreciate better facilities to wash their clothes. It was time to improve the well. … or at least, Melia would give the poor people of the abbey a little time to recover from the [Greenhouse] before springing this one on them. She had to stop herself from rubbing her hands together; she had an amazing plan. What was better than a well?

Besides a fully functioning and maintained aqueduct and sewer system? A Moon well! That also gave her the added benefit of purifying cloth into [Mooncloth] if she so desired, which would be beneficial in many ways. Speaking of cloth… she needed to check her auctions. They should have expired by now, and she might have earned some pocket change. Maybe she'd give the team some allowance.

Melia grinned and whistled a happy little tune as she focused on the Control Station part of the [Greenhouse] interface and set it to be accessible on the lectern under the pavilion. The canopy, the pavement stones beneath it, and the stand itself all shimmered subtly, causing the woman staring at the plans and the guards protecting the sack to blink and rub their eyes.

An ethereal set of gears popped up above the lectern, making them cry out, but as they waved their hands through the incorporeal illusion, they realized it was a system interface and quickly went still as they rapidly tried to figure out what was going on. Melia chuckled, allowed the woman and her guards certain access privileges, and made her way outside.

Melia eventually ran into the rest of her team inside the abbey library. They were standing around a table, staring at a large parchment being held down in the corners by a candlestick, several heavy books, and a bust of [Cardinal Benedictus]. Melia didn't know the man, but judging from the scowl frozen in the stone, he either pissed off the artist sculpting it or had a very unfortunate case of bushy eyebrows. Melia hopped onto the table, only to find the parchment was a map of the kingdom.

"Ah, there you are," Brandy smiled down at her. Melia couldn't help smiling back. Just seeing her best friend's smile filled her with joy.

"We're trying to decide what our next outing will be."

"Are you already done with Lakeridge?" Melia asked, surprised. Alastair made it clear that they were likely going to be in the Sienna Mountains zone for the foreseeable future. The [Paladin] shrugged and shook his head.

"We've been progressing much faster than I ever thought possible. We've only gone out four or five times, and I'm pretty sure we leveled more than we would have in months. We were also thinking about trying our hands at another dungeon. Now that we have a dedicated healer, I don't feel quite as worried about keeping everybody safe."

"Brandy is an amazing healer," Melia bragged, puffing out her chest. She could hear Brandy groan from above her.

"Mel…."

"Am I wrong?" Melia giggled.

"You were there for practically everything." Brandy's old guild was one of the top ten progression guilds on the server. Even if the guild hadn't taken part in every single server-first boss kill, everything Melia had seen in this world so far suggested most people believed they had. Perhaps, in this world, they had. The rest of the team obviously felt that way, staring at Brandy with stars in their eyes.

"Honestly," Jessica spoke up, "We want to try our hands at the [Obsidian Mansion]. But we can't right now, even if we wanted to. Now that the cat's out of the bag, everybody's going to be raiding it. It's the hottest thing to happen to the guild…probably ever."

"And how did it happen to the guild?" Melia asked. From what Layalee told her, the guild summoned her team to the capital, and she could connect the dots, but she was still curious. Her team all fidgeted and cast guilty glances at each other.

"Look," Melia sighed.

"If you're worried about what I think, don't be. I heard you got summoned by the guildmaster himself. How did that happen?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Alastair sighed.

"Something to do with finding out from the Royal Spy network, I think. But it doesn't really matter, because they would have found out eventually anyway. Entering the [Mansion] is on our record, and the next time we updated it at the guild, they would have seen it. We figured it was in our best interest to cooperate…I'm sorry if we overstepped our bounds."

"Don't be!" Melia laughed.

"My friend wrote this play, and I'm excited the world finally gets to see it. If that means people invading my mansion to run a dungeon…well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Besides, I was thinking it would be fun for all of us to experience the Acts together. I only completed Act One, and I think the final boss might surprise you!" The others blinked at her in surprise before eventually smiling. Only Ellesea continued looking at her in disbelief.

"You were friends with Cromwell?"

"Of course!" Melia tilted her head.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because he was a [Bard]?" Jessica muttered, making Melia grin.

"They say all of his plays were written from firsthand accounts," Ellesea sighed.

"And I still think that's a myth, but…him knowing you makes sense. At least in regards to all the comedic tragedies he wrote."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be insulted or not."

"Regardless!" Alastair hastily cut in.

"Now that the guild is here, I'm sure we won't get the opportunity to try it out anytime soon, even if we hit the required level."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure the guild will close down access until after the scouts have a chance to bring back initial reports, but even after they clear it for entry, they'll only let the top guilds in."

"They'll frame it as 'too risky' for less experienced teams," Jessica spat, "But really, there's a hierarchy that demands a monopoly. Once they nail things down to their liking, then they'll open it up to the rest of us."

"But that could take years," Melia complained.

"I guarantee they aren't beating this in one go. And with lockouts, they only have so much access to bosses and what loot they drop…no. I'll make sure [Sunrise] keeps access."

"How are you going to do that?" Y'cennia asked. Melia simply smirked.

"It's my mansion, remember? They can't keep me out. I'd like to see them try. And if they do…I'm a master craftsman. I can wall them off- literally -and there's nothing they could do to get inside. Don't worry, we'll all be there." Once again, the group seemed stunned, though maybe they shouldn't have, considering who Melia was.

"That's great," Alastair eventually said.

"But won't do us any good until we're higher level. Y'cennia is rank 4 and we're getting closer, but it's still going to take a while, even with how much help Eluna has given us."

"And so, back to the dungeons," Melia nodded in understanding.

"[Astoria] isn't going to cut it. So what's next? Let's see…oh, I know the perfect thing. How do you feel about traveling to the Wailing Woods?"