The Invisible Thief
The Invisible Thief. Among the job advancement options, there had been one with the ability [Extinction]. Stealth potential was truly limitless when it could erase one's very existence... Trusting in my upgraded stealth, I decided to take a gamble. Whoa... if I mess this up and set off an alarm, I'm in deep trouble.
I brought my hand close to the red barrier line, imagining dozens of mages and barrier specialists combing through the building. Still, I boldly thrust my hand into the barrier. ...... ...Did it work?
Fortunately, my enhanced [Stealth] even fooled the detection barrier's gaze. Hell yeah—this is it! Confirming that ordinary detection barriers installed on artificial structures couldn't catch me, I cheered inwardly. I'd heard the tightest security was at the Association and a few major guilds, and I was curious whether I could slip through their barriers too.
Anyway, they said it was just a sales office, but do they really need this level of security? It's overkill just to buy time. It revealed how meticulous the person managing this place was.
When we reached the fifteenth floor, there were no more stairs to climb—only a sealed space on all sides greeted us. Hmm—over here and here. But my senses detected two levers on the ceiling, hidden by Cognitive Impairment.
Tap. Clinging to the ceiling, I carefully pulled one lever down, and a staircase descended without a sound. Pulling the second one brought down another staircase from a different direction. These bastards sure know how to waste money in creative ways.
As the passage opened, I scanned the space inside with my senses. I'll close this one. I pulled one lever back down to seal it, then stepped into the more suspicious passage. After climbing quite a ways up the stairs, a pure white corridor stretched out with nothing in it. This is the seventeenth floor. The sixteenth floor hadn't given off any particular energy, so I'd come this way.
Click. The moment I entered the corridor, the door shut automatically behind me. It was a spacious office building, so each floor should have had room for at least ten offices, but there was nothing like that—just a straight corridor leading to a massive space at the very end. Hmm...
First, I probed the space at the end with my senses from where I stood. Inside the enormous room were dozens of office-sized spaces divided into sections. Seven hunters in the first room alone... and it only gets more crowded the deeper you go. The real problem wasn't the number of hunters in the first room—it was their quality. Five A-rank hunters and two B-rank... The other rooms are packed with B-rank and C-rank too. Should I just bail right now?
The five in the first room were the strongest. It was easier to understand if I imagined five Chaos Residue monsters huddled together in that room. Of course, they weren't on the same level as that insane monster, but in terms of rank alone, it was comparable.
The room itself was nothing special. Aside from two people carefully pouring liquid into bottles, it looked like an ordinary office. Because the building was packed with detection barriers, none of the people inside seemed to carry items capable of detecting stealth. Of course, their inventories were probably stuffed with items.
Two mages. The other five look like alchemists. Where did they even find so many alchemists? I hesitated. Should I go for it or not? My mind was still weighing the risks, but my body was already moving toward the room. There was one thing I wanted to test—whether my stealth, which hadn't worked on Chaos Residue, would also fail against these guys. If I get caught this time too, I'll never use it against A-rank opponents again.
And if they did notice me, how they'd respond was important. Fighting them head-on was obviously suicide. Even if alchemists were non-combat types, the stats they gained from leveling up had to be split among three categories, so their basic physical abilities were at least on par with B-rank hunters. Taking on seven such hunters at once? Yeah, no thanks. Even a pure stat fight would be brutal. Plus, high-ranking alchemists kept all sorts of items in their inventories, making them hard to subdue. Steroid-type alchemists who could temporarily boost physical abilities could chew through even physical enhancement hunters.
If it comes down to it, should I just self-destruct? That feels excessive... I'd only just been resummoned—self-destructing again would be too cruel to Yeonhee. But after coming all this way, I didn't want to leave empty-handed. At the very least, I had to wipe out everything here and deal them a serious blow.
I swapped to the Rune of Levitation and slowly floated toward their room like I was swimming. Soon I was close enough to clearly hear their conversation. They even left the door wide open. Feeling confident, huh?
Slipping through the half-open door, I squeezed between the gap fixed to the floor and entered the room with a pounding heart, watching them. "Careful when you pour it. Create a mana channel and inject it straight into the inlet." "You've said that over a hundred times already, Deputy Manager." "I guess I don't trust you." "Keep those words to yourself." "Ah, sorry. Did you hear that?" "Haah... That kind of joke doesn't work on our generation..."
Five of the seven were diligently synthesizing something at their stations, while the two mages sat at a central table dividing liquid into small brown bottles. "Ah, seriously. How long do we have to do this grunt work? It's the modern age—let's automate this already." "You idiot, the liquid evaporates the moment it touches the air." "It's not all going to fly away!" "Do you know how hard this is to make?! And is there any other way to earn this kind of income without fighting in dungeons?" "Well, that's true, but..." "Then shut up and work." ...They didn't notice me?
They seemed quite close, bantering back and forth without any sign they'd realized I was inside. So that monster really was just insane. Raising my evaluation of Chaos Residue once again, I decided to be bolder. Whoosh— I slowly floated around the alchemists who were synthesizing, observing their work. Hmm......
Their task was simple. Ostrich-egg-sized stones with tubes inserted into small holes were filled with various liquids, and they repeatedly synthesized them into one. Each alchemist held one of these stones, injecting ingredients through the tubes. I still can't tell what it is just from watching. Maybe because they're in the middle of synthesizing—the energy feels weak. "Mr. Sangshik, the 'Mistveil' doesn't seem to be reacting much. Did you properly apply the attribute?" Mistveil... that's an herb. It was an herb that could be easily obtained from lower-rank dungeons.
"Deputy Manager! Mr. Kim here is doubting the attribute application." "The attribute application is perfect, so shut up and finish quickly! We need to complete the combination tests for the Rune of Giant by the end of this week!" "Yessir—" The mages are participating in attribute application for combination tests... This isn't just a sales office. Because they were also conducting research and development, the security was this tight. Runes, mana stones, children, plus herbs from dungeons and attribute application... This is complicated.
"Deputy Manager, a guest downstairs is asking if we have any Evolution Water that grants levitation ability." Levitation ability... So they can extract specific abilities. "Tell them no! Do I have to decide everything?" "They said it's the secretary of the Executive Director from Jaehan Group. It's a gift for his only daughter." "......It's for a non-awakened, right? Connect them to Branch 13." "Yes!" What... what does that mean? There was a version for non-awakened? Evolution Water? These crazy bastards... What the hell are they making?
I spent about thirty minutes inside the office and learned several things. 1. They were developing separate Evolution Waters for awakened and non-awakened. 2. Several non-awakened formulas were already complete. 3. Drinking that Evolution Water allowed one to wield specific powers like an awakened person, even if only for a short time. The most shocking part was that sales were already expanding into the open. The world has gone mad.
It was surprising that someone would give their daughter such an insane gift, but even more surprising was that the seven hunters here were working with a sense of mission. "Deputy Manager... We're doing the right thing, aren't we?" "Don't doubt the Chairman's words. We will surely become the foundation that prevents the world's destruction." "...We've never even seen the Chairman, so we don't know. We'll just trust you, Deputy Manager." "That's right! Just trust me!" "Well, since we're on the topic, how about a raise? We're A-rank and B-rank, after all, but our current salaries are embarrassing to even mention. No matter how united we are by loyalty..." "Agh! Money again? I clearly said—" The foundation that prevents the world's destruction...... Those words kept echoing in my mind.
"Deputy Manager?" "What now!" "Director Eom is coming in thirty minutes." "What? Why is that guy coming here? Ugh..." I'd been lost in thought, but the mention of someone higher up snapped me back to reality. The deputy manager neatly finished his current task, dusted off his hands, and stood up. "Everyone, stop for now and head downstairs." "Yes, understood."
I'd planned to slip out before the director arrived, but instead they cleared out first. Nearly a hundred hunters from the seventeenth floor all headed downstairs. These guys... There's something more going on. It wasn't just about money or power. If it weren't for that one line about "the foundation that prevents the world's destruction," I might not have thought too deeply about it. ...Still, using the kids like that is unforgivable. Even if my assumptions were correct, that part was still wrong.
Alright. Let's see what I can take. I quickly moved through the other rooms besides the first one, gathering items. I stuffed my inventory with over a hundred stones presumed to contain the children's sacrifices, along with over a thousand bottles of Evolution Water lined up on display shelves.