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."

Lake hoped these scouts knew not to waste time with every little detail because he didn't want to hear everything they had done since they left. "The towns were told to evacuate by the Temple, but we weren't able to verify the reason. The rest of the scouts are still looking for more information."

Lake looked at Lucas to see if this was enough information for him to start the evacuation. He could tell Lucas was weighing the options in his head and after a few seconds Lucas grabbed his mirror and said. "Send the first group." Lake guessed he wasn't part of the first group, and he wondered if they were more or less important than him.

After Lucas said this he turned and left the room. Lake followed after him and said. "Does this mean I'm going to be evacuated? If so, I would like to know when." Lake wanted to know if he had time to go and get all the stuff he had left in his room ever since he had learned he could ask for pretty much anything he had been abusing this privilege.

He had almost every kind of weapon in his room and while he doubted he could carry them all he still wanted his bow. Archer was one of his Unique jobs and he needed a bow to level it up. "You're in the third group, so you won't be evacuated until the scouts confirm the war." This hadn't told Lake how much time he had so he asked. "Can I go get my bow and armor?"

"I'll just tell your servants to bring them." Lucas used his mirror to do just that, and continued towards the carts. Once they arrived at all the carts Lake saw almost every person he knew in the guild was here including master Donna. This made Lake feel like he was going to be with master Donna when he left.

Looking around using the mark he had placed on Joy Lake saw one of the guards loading carts was her. Walking over to her, Lake said. "Joy, Lucas said you can go with me, do you want to?" Joy set the box she had been carrying down. "Why?"

Lake had asked a yes or no question, so he thought the fact she had follow ups meant she was leaning towards no. If she did want to go she would have said yes right away. "I thought you would be less likely to die if you came with me." The fear of death could usually get someone to do almost anything, but Joy didn't seem to react.

"I have to get back to work." This was one of those times when Lake thought the curse affected Joy more than she thought. He wondered if they were able to increase the strength in times like these when the guild was in danger.

Seeing her get back to work, Lake walked back over to Lucas and said. "That guard over there is Joy." Lake leaned in to say the rest. "Is there something wrong with her?" Lucas seemed to understand what he was asking because he said. "I'll take care of it, for now just let her do her job."

Lake nodded this was a confirmation to his suspicions that the curse was being used to control people, and the victims weren't really aware of it. He couldn't really blame the guild for doing this because if they didn't someone else would. Lake bet almost every group used curses like this to get things done when it really mattered.

...

"Guild Leader Lucas, the rest of the scouts just returned." Lake saw Lucas leave the room but didn't follow him. He didn't need to be in the room to know what they said. If Lucas gave the order to send the next group he would know the war was on. Lake looked around to find Millie, Lake had seen her earlier, but his mind had been too preoccupied to read into her expression.

Seeing her and Nia weren't in the same place told him everything he needed to know. He guessed Nia had told her last night and it had freaked Millie out. Lake felt a little sorry for Nia, he liked her more than Solomon, so he had been hoping she would beat the odds. Lake actually saw it as a best case scenario because Nia and Millie would be happy and Solomon wouldn't care because he had never liked Millie to begin with.

If Millie had ended up asking Solomon out Nia would have been upset, so it was actually the worst of the two options. Thinking this would be the last time he would see Millie or her food, Lake walked over to say his goodbyes, and wish her luck in opening her restaurants during the war.

That would be his only way to eat her food once he left, so he really did hope they could pull it off. Millie didn't react even after a few seconds of him standing next to her so he said. "Millie." He wanted to make sure she was paying attention before he started talking. Lake didn't like repeating himself. "What."

Lake guessed this was the best he was going to get from her right now. He understood she was probably also nervous about the war, and it wasn't just the thing with Nia on her mind. "I just wanted to say bye, and ask if you still plan on opening the restaurants if you're evacuated?" It took Millie a second before she said. "It's up to the guild."

Lake guessed it was and so it would probably happen. It would probably affect the rollout, but there was no reason to completely cancel something bound to be successful. "I'm surprised you aren't talking to Nia. This might be the last time you'll see her for a while." Lake was pretending he didn't know what was going on to make Millie feel bad, so she would go talk to Nia.

It was a dirty trick, but he liked to mess with people like this to waste time. If he got them to talk before the order to evacuate he might see something heartwarming. Nia and Millie had been friends for years, so he bet Millie would give her a hug, and Nia would spend the whole time they were separated reading into it, debating what it meant.

Done talking to Millie, Lake walked over to Nia. He could tell she didn't want to talk to him but she didn't walk away and that was all Lake needed. "Nia, I only said that to make you tell Millie. I don't actually think Millie hates you now." Lake could tell Nia was just confused now and she didn't even have anything to say to him so he said. "Good luck." And walked away.

That should be enough to get something to happen if it was going to. If he did any more the two of them would involve him in any problems they had in the future, so he needed to stay a bystander for the rest. Done with that, Lake looked around for Solomon. He had to be around here somewhere.

Not seeing him, Lake wondered if Solomon had been in the first group and he had missed him. "Sir, I brought your things." Lake looked behind him to see Jason was holding his bow and had his armor in a bag. "Thank you Jason. Oh, and sorry for that time I made you carry me up the stairs. I didn't realize you couldn't say no at the time."

Lake didn't need some old man tracking him down in the future over some dumb grudge and he knew this was the best way to keep that from happening. Lake knew his servants would probably be freed from the effects of the Loyalty curse after he was gone, so it was possible Jason was actually mad at him, and the curse was keeping him from showing it.

Grabbing all his stuff from Jason, Lake waved bye to him. Lake found a place to wait and started looking at Millie and Nia. This was the only form of entertainment he had right now so he wanted to make sure he didn't miss it. "Second wave depart." Lake looked to the man who had yelled this and could tell Lucas had just used his mirror to tell him to say that.

This confirmed the war was on. Lake took a deep breath, the rest of this day would probably be really hectic and he needed to be ready for that. It seemed he wasn't the only person who was affected by this news. Lake saw Millie walk over to Nia and start to talk to her. Lake could actually hear them but what they were saying was just small talk so it wasn't worth perceiving.

After a while of them talking, Lake could tell the awkward air around them lessened. This was the effect of them knowing each other for so long. The longer people knew each other the more likely it was they would continue being friends even when problems popped up. Lake had to take his eyes off them because Lucas had just come back.

Lucas wasn't really doing anything, so Lake looked back in time to see Millie hug Nia right before Nia got on a cart with one of the masters that was standing around. A few seconds later it was driving away, and Lake could tell Millie was upset. He really couldn't do anything about this though, so he started to walk over to Lucas.

Lake wanted to know when the third wave was being sent and maybe figure out if he was actually going to be going with Master Donna, but before Lake could say anything Lucas said. "Do you plan to stay with the guild, or are you going to defect to the light temple?" Lake was taken aback because Lucas wasn't asking so he could keep him here. Lake was pretty sure he was offering to let him leave.

"I don't really know enough yet to make up my mind." Lake was honest because he didn't plan to choose either option but a third one. "Ok, Most of the carts we're sending aren't making it to their destinations not because of attacks, but because there are a lot of members that are using this as an opportunity to join the side they've been a part of this whole time."

Lake could see why Lucas was asking him now. Lucas didn't want anyone who wasn't loyal around for this war so he was letting anyone who wanted to leave now before the fighting started. This kind of made it seem like Lake could just tell Lucas what he wanted to do, and Lucas would ok it.

"Lucas I would be ok with staying with the guild for now if you let me leave the building whenever I wanted." Lucas had just given him two options, one was stay with the guild and hide it out, the second was leave the guild and possibly die, but Lake had asked for a third, stay with the guild and possibly die, so it was slightly better for Lucas than if he left.

"Do you want to stay here or at one of the branch offices?" This sounded like a yes to Lake so he said. "Here's fine, but I'm going into the city for a few days, will the guards still stop me, or am I good?" Lucas took a ring off his finger and handed it to Lake, then he touched Lake's badge and the R switched to a F.

"You're a field agent now you'll be able to come and go as you like, but when you get back we will have to check you for curses and such. This ring is one of my spares. It works like the amulet, just less effective. It should keep you from getting cursed or anything, so make sure it's fully charged."

Lake looked at the ring in his hand, and inspected it with his various skills.

Ward Ring

Blocks Magic from everything but the user when triggered.

Triggered by killing intent, or dangerous magic entering a 2 foot radius from the wearer.

Can hold 120 mana when fully charged.

Drains 1 mana every 5 seconds when activated.

Drains mana to regenerate the ward any time it takes damage.

Less effective against water magic.

These were all the important facts Lake was able to pull up but he thought it was enough. He did have one question though. "How do I charge it?" One of the facts about the item told him it was currently uncharged so he needed to know.

"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.