As she stalked her charges from the shadows, Leila mused about how much her life had truly changed these past few days. Not only had she been taken off the roster for anything but the most urgent tasks, but she had also been given babysitting duty over a group of rookies.
Now, an elite high ranker in the middle of her ascent like her would be perfectly justified in feeling sidelined and even unfairly treated. And to be honest, that was how Leila had felt at the beginning.
Her last mission might have ended up in much more collateral damage than strictly necessary, but the higher-ups knew very well why that had been the case, especially after she had warned them repeatedly that being forced to work with a guild as obnoxiously thuggish as the Golden Sun would have consequences.
Still, she had acquiesced to playing school out of respect for her old teacher, if not because at least this way she could do something while her leave ran its course.
What she had ended up finding, however, was a very interesting group of people. While James Summers was the one who started the whole thing and whose clearing of the squirrel dungeon had intrigued her enough to accept, he wasn’t the only standout.
No, the AA had pulled all the stops in this latest scheme. The Dawn Initiative was something she could have only dreamed about, and she had no idea how the Chief Director had managed to pull off getting so many funds, but if it worked, it would breathe new life into the agency.
Leila nodded in satisfaction, seeing that Team 0 was taking all the necessary precautions before lowering themselves into the dungeon.
She had already scouted the whole thing herself, of course, as she couldn’t allow the time investment she had put into these rookies to go up in flames if they got done in because something that shouldn’t have been there mauled them.
Luckily for them, nothing seemed amiss beyond a surprising number of low-level rats. The Boss was a creature attuned to shadows, but its level was so low that it couldn’t possibly hope to feel her presence if she didn’t want it to.
So it’s swarms and stealth-based elites. If it had been any other team of rookies, this would be quite the challenge, but these guys should make it through easily. I’ll be shocked if it takes them more than one day.
Considering what kind of ridiculous sensory ability James Summers had, the rats didn’t have any hopes of actually sneaking on them.
Indeed, her prediction was quickly proved right. Team 0 easily dispatched the monsters they encountered, and though there was a little hiccup that saw Maria Olegova be injured - and wasn’t it trippy, noticing how she had almost broken cover to go help the girl - they arrived at the Boss room with little trouble.
Thankful beyond words that she was immune to the stench as long as she stayed within the shadows, Leila watched as the rookies successfully managed to deal with the [Shadow Assassin Rat] and its minions, thus completely clearing the dungeon.
Though she would have liked to reveal herself now that they were done, to congratulate them on their first run, she stopped, knowing the importance of building confidence.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
If I show them that they were in a controlled environment all along, they’ll start expecting me to pull them out of sticky situations whenever they go inside a dungeon. That’s a very good way of dying young.
Leila did one last sweep through the dungeon, just to be absolutely sure nothing else was about to come out, and left, satisfied with her kids’ performance.
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Once an Awakener got to a certain level, training only helped so much. It was still helpful to become more acquainted with one’s skills or to try out different combinations, but there came a point where it simply wasn’t cost-effective anymore.
That was why it was so uncommon for high-rankers to make use of their organization’s facilities, no matter how high-tech they might be. Dungeons were much better, as the danger of losing one’s life sharpened skills more efficiently than any detailed review a team of analysts might develop.
Those were still useful, and getting them was why she usually wore a micro camera on her uniform when she went on official missions, but there were times when Leila just wanted to fight without any of the crap her role forced on her.
That was why she was currently shifting between shadows in the countryside, at the edges of the Bear Mountain State Park. A C-rank dungeon had been found there, and since no one had come to clear it, even after the Golden Sun Guild had acquired the rights to it, she felt it would hurt no one if she let out some steam without worrying about any collateral damage.
To say that she was surprised to find a base camp at the dungeon's entrance would be an understatement, as no report of planned activity had been filed with the AA. And Guilds, even powerful ones like the Golden Sun, usually still complied with that kind of regulation, as it was one of the few ways the AA had to keep a leash on them.
Heavy fines could be expected if they were found to have entered and used a dungeon without communicating it, and in the worst cases, their privileges would be revoked. Guilds were very careful when those were involved.
I guess it’s still possible that they literally just decided to go in and communicated it soon after I checked a couple of hours ago.
Leila’s instincts, however, were blaring at her. And she had long since learned to listen to them.
That was why, instead of announcing herself like she usually would, she stayed in the shadows, observing the comings and goings for a while.
Nothing outwardly illegal seemed to be happening, allaying her worst fears, but one thing stood out. This was a C-rank dungeon, and a certain level of equipment was expected to clear it. What the members of the Golden Sun were using would have been better suited in a B-rank one, which was surprising.
Considering how expensive D-rank equipment was and all the strings she had to pull to get it in time to Team 0, the fact that a generally resource-efficient guild would use such expensive equipment without a reason was weird. What she had observed them use alone would have been enough to outfit the rookie team a hundred times over.
Snooping around more, Leila found that the Guild members had brought expensive elixirs, which furthered her suspicions.
All evidence pointed to this being a power-leveling training camp, something which was known to be hideously costly and that only the wealthiest guilds could maintain, and even then only for a few select members.
More than a dozen people were participating, enough that it should have bankrupted Golden Sun within a couple of weeks. Considering that they had been holding the rights to this specific dungeon for almost a month - the time limit to clear it before it would revert back to the AA - things weren’t adding up.
More spying revealed nothing, and unfortunately, none of the members seemed inclined to speak about the specifics of their dealings, only caring about efficiently dispatching the [Direbears] and [Fungi Thralls] to get more levels.
Still, Leila made a note of everyone present, her high MIND easily allowing her to remember all their features, even years away. She would check in the following days if a notice of use of the dungeon came in, but she strongly suspected nothing of the sort would arrive.
Not alerting the AA would allow the Golden Sun to sell the mana stones and materials on the black market, thus making a tidy sum without paying taxes, and could explain some of the wealth she had seen on display.
But not everything. It was just too much. Either they are doing this same thing on an absurd scale - but I refuse to think they could have gotten away with it, even after paying off their patsies in the AA - or it’s just one piece of a much wider web of illegal activities.
Considering how much distaste she felt for the Golden Sun Guild, especially after the accident that forced her on leave, Leila was very well disposed to thinking they were down to their elbows in shady business.
She’d have to shift a few things around and likely keep her mouth shut while she accumulated evidence - if it truly turned out to be what she thought it was - but if no one interfered, she might have found a way of eliminating one of the worst cancers on New York City.