Godfather's System 102

After revealing the attack of the Greens, I disappeared to the background, leaving the protection of the dungeon to the ducal guards. They might not be as competent as I would have preferred for my forces, but they were still competent enough to be trusted for the protection of the dungeon once they were alerted to the possibility. 

That didn’t mean I stopped observing the situation. Except for a fleeting moment where I visited the casino to make sure everything was in order — it was, with Mahruss calm and collected enough to handle the mess as the gang warfare around the place started to pick up — I stayed near the dungeon, ready to intervene in case of a more subtle sabotage. 

Only when a stone in my pocket heated, giving me a signal from Zolast, I went back to the guild headquarters. 

The first thing I noticed was Karak, exhausted, yet his eyes shining with unshed tears, showing just how deeply he had been affected by what had just happened. I didn’t need to ask what had happened. 

But Terma still informed me. “Karak got his promotion, incredible,” Terma laughed as he jumped repeatedly, too excited to slow down despite his obvious exhaustion. Jertann and Silas shared his happiness, but not his hyperactivity, as they were leaning against each other as they sat on the floor. I deliberately didn’t mention their fingers, intertwined. 

I was not one to discourage young love. 

I just nodded at Karak, who appreciated my silence about his happiness. I turned to Zolast. “I’m guessing everything went well,” I said. 

“The secret gate is stable, and the dungeon is strong enough. We’ll probably reduce the strength we can access temporarily once the general access is allowed, but otherwise, we’re in operation.” 

“We’re finally a proper guild!” Terma interjected. “I can’t believe just how easy leveling in the dungeon is. I gained five levels. It’s amazing.” 

“Only because Zolast was there to protect and heal us,” Jertann interjected, giving him a dose of reality. “Without him, we wouldn’t last fifteen minutes down there. Don’t get arrogant.”  

“Why does it matter? He’ll be with us always, right?” he asked. 

“We will see,” Zolast answered noncommittally, aware that it wouldn’t be that simple to accompany them every single time. His disappearance was not a simple affair, and unless we wanted to get caught, he couldn’t repeat it too many times. 

Jertann nodded solemnly, his mind already busy, clearly understanding that leading them in the dungeon would soon be his responsibility, and already thinking tactics. His expression was transparent. 

Terma just smiled, missing the implication. He was still too excited. “I still can’t believe our new weapons. They are amazing,” he chuckled as he played with his magical weapon. “Too bad we can’t use them outside.” 

With that, they left, leaving me with Zolast. “So, how was it?” I asked. 

“Not bad. The dungeon is stable enough, and they are good kids. And, without anyone else using the dungeon, we had a nice haul,” he said as he flipped open the first box, revealing stat and skill stones. “We are lucky enough to get a nice haul,” he said. “Five stat stones, though only Vitality for now, and a bunch of skills, unfortunately, none of them Advanced.” 

“Is it surprising?” I asked, not really aware of the possibilities. 

“Not really. It would have been a nice surprise to receive them, but we’re barely scratching the surface of the breach, and that’s as well as we could hope for,” he said. “We need to get deeper into the breach for stronger rewards, and it’s not feasible for a secret entrance.” 

“That’s fine,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not going to say that stats wouldn’t have been useful, but considering the time required to properly absorb them, we can’t afford to use them anyway. We can always search for a better solution if we need them.” Zolast nodded. “Now, how about the mana stones?” 

“That’s better,” he said as he flipped open another box, and an intense blue glow covered the room, far more intense than any other mana source I had seen, which was enough to confirm the value of the stones. 

Not that I needed to measure the color and brightness to measure that, as three lines of writing in front of me confirmed it. 

[Energy Source Detected - Promotion Available

Trigger Promotion

Accept / Decline]

“Excellent,” I said as I looked at the mana stones. “They are just enough for my purposes. You don’t need any of them, right?” I said, ignoring the desire to grab them and disappear. 

“Nothing that couldn’t wait until the second dungeon rush,” Zolast said. “Especially if you can get rid of these somewhere else.” As he said that, he pointed at another box, though he didn’t open them. I was confident that they held a bunch of red crystals. “If you can’t, I need to keep most of the mana stones to create a proper cache.”   

“Don’t worry about them, I’ll handle it,” I said, not willing to delay it anymore. The prospect of promotion was too important to delay as the danger around us continued to intensify. The opportunity to finally level up again was too important to delay. 

I rather handle it before I needed to deal with an emergency. The place was getting harder to predict, and I had no doubt that it was just a start. 

Even without the mysteriously lost hero to find — and wasn’t that a fun idea for me — with all the dungeons, the place was essentially going through a gold rush … and as soon as the infrastructure was in place to show the profits, the real ruling powers would make a showing. 

I needed to be ready for their appearance. 

“Good,” Zolast said. “We’ll go down for another dungeon run six hours later, and that should be enough to establish a cache to store the red crystals properly. Thought you would still need to dispose of them.” I frowned. “What happened?” he asked, catching my expression. 

“Don’t go for another dungeon run before I return,” I said. He looked at me questioningly, and I delivered a detailed explanation about what had been going on in the town in his absence, including the ploys of the Greens, though I had severely underrated my contributions to fuel the gang warfare. 

Not because I had trouble revealing my role, but it would require revealing my abilities for that purpose, and for the moment, I preferred not to do that. 

“A complicated outlook,” Zolast said. “When will you return?” 

“Ideally, half a day, but not entirely sure,” I answered, not willing to commit to a number. I grabbed the two silver-studded boxes that held the mana stones, their size making it slightly difficult to wield, but not too much. “But in case I delay, make sure to avoid the dungeon before the young duke returns. I’ll be more confident about the risk of sabotage with the old knight here to watch the dungeon.” 

Zolast nodded. 

That was all we talked about before I left the headquarters, and soon the town, behind, though not neglecting to stop by the casino to leave Mahruss with some instructions, including some instructions to call Zolast in case of a true emergency rather than trying to handle alone. 

“Now, where to go,” I murmured as I found myself in the town. 

Essentially, I had three good options among all the variables. I could go to the seaside and use the open waters, I could go back to the wall, and or I could go parallel to the town and find a deserted area. 

The first option was tempting. The sea would allow me to go around and disappear, and my speed should allow me a great movement range in case of a military operation. Unfortunately, that also meant that I would reveal myself to some unknown dangers.

The sea was filled with strong monsters according to the gossip I had collected, and while the truly dangerous beasts were supposed to stick to the depths rather than drift to the surface according to the same gossip, I had no idea their habits would work the same while I went through a promotion. 

In comparison, picking a parallel direction to get away before the Promotion was certainly safer. There wouldn’t be any way to track me back, and I should be able to retreat safely. 

Especially if I put some more points to Speed to enhance my ability to retreat. 

Yet, there was one thing that kept me back. My lack of knowledge about their ability to track my promotion. I had no idea whether it created some kind of energy, and if it did, how accurate it was… But, in case it did, the closer I was to the wall, the easier it would be to convince people — and gods — that I was still on the other side of the wall like they assumed. 

A difficult tradeoff, but after some consideration, I started to move toward the wall. Not directly, rather preferring to pick an angle and a complicated path that would make the others track me, once again using the river to conceal most of my tracks as well. 

I stopped only when I was two miles away from the wall, and searched for a convenient cave. As much as I wanted to get even closer, that was the best time. 

Then, I started waiting, watching the intensity of the siege and the constant attacks toward the wall, waiting for a particularly intense moment to go back to the cave and open both boxes. 

[Energy Source Detected - Promotion Available

Trigger Promotion

Accept / Decline]

“Accept,” I said, the moment important enough to vocalize the order. 

My surroundings dissolved, and once again, I found myself floating in darkness.