Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Thief's Field
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Agas's system was no different from a living being.
It thought for itself, learned continuously, and steadily evolved.
A so-called self-aware artificial intelligence.
That was why developer Yong Ho-seop had said this when announcing it to the world:
"This self-aware AI is a child who dreams forever. We will continue to provide the optimal environment for that child to keep dreaming."
And so Agas was born.
Even now, the self-aware AI was faithfully fulfilling its role as the central core of the servers.
The hidden scenario in Parten that had shaken up Operations Team 1 this time was no exception.
The predefined prerequisite quest conditions and story sequences.
The self-aware AI had skipped all of that process entirely and reacted in response to Luke's actions of securing evidence first.
[Secrets Surrounding Parten]
📍 Grade: ?
📍 Description: You've discovered that secret experiments are taking place in Small City Parten. The townsfolk disguising themselves as a merchant guild to supply test subjects. And the lord's mansion suspected as the experiment site. You can't just stand by anymore. But your power is feeble. All you can do is report this to the royal family. They might become your strength. Or maybe not.
📍 Conditions: Visit the kingdom's capital 0/1, Report the facts about Parten to the royal family 0/1
The quest sequence had changed like this.
"Report?"
This was originally a hidden scenario that required joining the royal family's secret organization first.
But now, it had naturally shifted to start by reporting to the royal family first.
Proceeding in complete reverse, in fact.
And that was why.
Luke showed a moment of hesitation at the unexpected quest.
"The quest grade is a question mark."
It was definitely no ordinary quest.
However, the requirement to visit the kingdom's capital and report it was quite bothersome.
Royal family intervention.
As a thief, it was utterly unwelcome.
"No, why should I report it? I could just sneak in alone, swipe all their items, and slip out."
The process wouldn't be smooth, but it was still better than passing up this chance to raid their pockets solo.
"Obviously reject."
So he refused the quest.
Well, more precisely, he put it on hold.
"Yes."
There wasn't a second of hesitation.
Luke immediately selected YES.
"Well, if I end up in the capital later, I can just report it then and snag the reward."
With that judgment, he looked down at the guild members moving the crates.
"If it's just the lord, fine, but if he's got dark wizards with him, that's a different story."
Why?
Anyone involved with magic always reeked of big loot, no matter the element.
"The quest popping up means it's no small scale."
His expectations for items naturally skyrocketed.
Plus, now he had infinite lockpicks and Unlock.
Infiltrating the lord's mansion wasn't impossible anymore.
"But still..."
Luke's eyes darted around.
As checked before, the security was insanely tight.
Breaking through those guards would be tough.
"And I don't know the interior layout."
Even if he somehow snuck past the guards, what came after was the problem.
"Ugh, dark wizards must have tons of good stuff."
Magic scrolls.
Magic materials.
Magic artifacts.
And then the lord's and wizards' personal items.
Just thinking about it made his mouth water.
"Isn't there some good way?"
He wasn't planning to fight his way in anyway.
The quest demanding a report to the royal family alone showed the dark wizards were pretty high-level.
"Ah, if I just don't get caught..."
His Infamy was hidden.
And those guys probably didn't want things blowing up either.
They had plenty of secrets to hide, just like him.
"Hmmmmm!"
As he pondered deeply.
He belatedly noticed the walls surrounding the mansion.
Parkour paths marked, just like other terrain features.
"Maybe check closer."
If lucky, he could scale the wall elsewhere, avoiding the entrance guards.
"No one around, perfect."
Do it now.
Thud, patter!
Luke scaled the wall like a flying squirrel.
Confirming no guards opposite, he carefully landed near the tree-planted courtyard.
A red alert suddenly popped up.
"Thief-Exclusive Field?"
His eyes went wide.
A suspicion gauge he'd never seen before in his life.
A single line below indicating his current status.
And even a small map that looked like a minimap.
Following Identification and Scouting, new thief-exclusive systems floated before his eyes.
"Feels like a stealth action game."
The interface gave off that vibe.
"It popped up suddenly because..."
Luke examined the messages.
Named NPC.
That seemed to be why the job trait activated.
"But even for a lord, not a Named NPC... so probably the dark wizards?"
High likelihood.
Luke made that guess and turned back to the new systems.
Thief-Exclusive Field.
And the functions that came with it.
He needed to grasp these first.
"Suspicion is exactly what it says—how much suspicion I'm under..."
Current status was similar.
Only the minimap left.
Luke checked the minimap showing surrounding structures and terrain in miniature, then spotted something odd.
"What are these dots?"
Red dots.
And blue ones too.
Two colors of round dots marked on the minimap.
"This blue one's probably me."
Position matched perfectly.
"Then these red ones..."
Luke turned his head from the blue dot toward the red ones.
Guards came into view immediately.
"As expected."
Red dots indicated nearby enemies, just as thought.
"This is pretty useful."
Spot enemy positions via minimap in advance.
That alone made it plenty useful.
"Only active during job trait is the downside."
But still, better than nothing.
Luke counted the courtyard guards while staying cautious not to be spotted.
"About twenty guarding the entrance and courtyard. No, mansion interior unknown, so maybe more."
Those guards steadily patrolled, taking turns, following fixed patrol routes.
"Front and back gates have tighter security..."
Then.
"Huh?"
What was that?
Fan-shaped forms.
They kept appearing along the guards' gazes.
"Indicating range?"
The thought flashed through his mind.
"...!"
Luke's eyes trembled.
Fan-shaped ranges.
No need to think deeply what they were.
Vision ranges.
Marking the areas the guards' gazes covered.
"Holy shit."
Was this the true Thief-Exclusive Field?
Goosebumps prickled all over.
"This isn't just useful."
It was straight-up cheat-level.
Gulp!
It might be possible.
The lord's mansion.
With Thief-Exclusive Field, infiltrating wasn't outright impossible.
"If I can figure out the interior layout..."
The lord.
And the dark wizards.
He could loot everything they had.
"Whew, calm down."
Information gathering first.
No harm in scouting the mansion interior now that he was in the courtyard.
So Luke suppressed his excitement and slowly approached the mansion windows.
But soon.
New messages appeared before him.
"Update?"
Luke blankly peered at the minimap.
Blue dot.
Surrounding terrain marked relative to himself.
It had changed from before.
"Ah, minimap auto-updated moving from wall to here."
That explained it.
Now the courtyard and the grand mansion were on the minimap.
"Nice, real-time!"
Like a navigation app.
Proof: part of the mansion interior was visible.
"Gotta live with a map. Yeah!"
As he admired it.
"Huh?"
Realizing something off, Luke checked the minimap again.
The interior.
Though only part of the grand mansion, the layout was shown in miniature.
"..."
Confirming that, Luke silently turned around.
Avoiding guard gazes, he circled the mansion once.
There it was.
Even interior presences.
Marked as red dots on the minimap.
Stunned, Luke touched the mansion wall.
Smooth!
Five-story grand mansion.
Just touching showed how smooth the walls were.
But it didn't matter.
Parkour paths were already marked all over the walls.
All that remained was to climb following those marks.
Thump thump!
Glancing around, Luke launched himself.
Grip!
Wall in hand.
He swiftly climbed.
Reaching the second-floor window.
Luke could see it.
The window's lock level.
"...It works."
He could open it.
With his lockpicks and Unlock, those windows could be opened.
No, not just opening.
Infiltrating the mansion interior was fully possible too.
Confirming that far, Luke descended back to the courtyard.
Too many red dots inside now.
With the sun high at midday, infiltration was nearly impossible.
But that didn't make it bad at all.
Why?
He'd gained one certainty.
"I can loot it!"
The conviction that he could clean out the lord's mansion.