Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 201: Sentry Duty

As per Diane’s request, I led her to the most challenging entrance to find. This particular one was covered with a large boulder, and the only way in without moving it was a small crack along one side that a halfling could only barely fit through. When I pointed the entrance out to her, she slipped inside and entered the dungeon, leaving me to explore the rest of the area myself.

The area covered by the fog wasn’t especially large, covering a radius of maybe a kilometer.  Still, that was a fair bit of legwork to do under normal circumstances to explore everything when one’s senses were obscured.

For me, I parked myself at the center of the territory, atop the hill which contained the hidden dungeon. With a combination of Hawkeye-X and True Sight, I could observe the entire field without moving. Admittedly, I still had to control my senses to project them in various areas, but it was still more convenient than manually walking through the entire zone.

In fact… why don’t I try to take this a step further? I thought to myself, a small smile appearing on my face. It had been a little while since I tried creating a new skill, and this seemed like the perfect chance.

Recalling the hidden sensor in the Fallcry palace just before the war, I focused, channeling four skills together. First, I created a small eye with Martial King, concealing it with Beyond the Veil and also allowing it to pass through solid objects. Next, I channeled my True Sight through this eye, giving it the ability to see through this fog and other forms of concealment.

Finally, I used Hawkeye-X to link the vision of this floating eye with a projected screen, also created through Martial King. In this way, I would have a floating sensor that could be controlled remotely. Well, once I got it to work, at least.

Unsurprisingly when combining so many different skills, the enchantment process was quite complex. Each time, I spent more than ten minutes focusing on the image that I wanted, only for that image to be shattered when it came time to implement.

However, I was not pressed for time. The man who greeted us when we arrived said that it could take hours for an experienced assassin to complete a single run of the trials, and that they would only end early if they failed. I trusted that few people would be able to out-assassin Diane. Even if she were to complete the trials quickly, it would take her a while to do so.

Thus, I maintained my focus, repeating the process of creating my sentries with minor adjustments each time. Perhaps, once I created this skill and it had reached a suitable level, I would be able to combine it with my turret enchantments. Then, I would have truly created a suitable guard tower skill.

After seven or eight attempts, something finally clicked into place. The invisible eye stabilized, and the screen appeared in front of me, showing an image of my own face. Delighted, I prepared to repeat the process again until I had acquired the skill I wanted. However, to my surprise, that proved to be unnecessary. Whether I had achieved a ‘critical success’ with this attempt, or the combination had been just right, I didn’t know. Regardless, I was rewarded with the skill ‘Spirit Sentry’.

Looking at the skill’s description, I was only able to use it to create a single sentry, though this sentry would be able to perform according to a set of complex instructions, including patrol routes and conditional alarms. If I want more, I will probably need to retrain the skill from the ground up.

That said, I had absolutely no issues with the idea of resetting the skill to manually evolve it. If anything, having a skill like this properly evolved could save me a great deal of trouble in the future. In addition, I could choose to either have the screen displayed to just me through the system, or ‘share’ it by projecting it as I was doing now.

Without hesitation, I pulled out a pair of skill demotion books, leaving me with only three left, and demoted this skill down to its novice level. This downgraded skill was Fixed Sentry, which allowed me to place an unmoving observation point at a location that I touch. I was still only able to create one, but that wasn’t a problem.

I teleported to the cave entrance where Diane had entered, placing my sentry point to watch over that boulder. Thankfully, the sentry was still hidden, otherwise it would serve little use as a secret observer. Though, the quality of the senses being shared was rather low, but that would surely improve as it leveled. In addition, it was not perfectly invisible at this level, given that I could see it easily with my True Sight.

Afterwards, I returned to the top of the hill, entering my dragon king form and waiting. A small part of my attention was focused on watching the sentry to wait for Diane, while the rest of my attention was on the original plan of projecting my senses with Hawkeye-X and True Sight.

I was pretty sure after my first instance of scouting that there weren’t any other entrances, but there was no harm in checking since this was a request from Diane. Besides, it’s not exactly like I had anything better to do with my time, since I was already training the new skill as well as my Dragon Shifter at the same time.

As I was waiting, I spotted an unfamiliar figure approaching my location, clad in the distinct black robes of these assassin players. Given that he held his daggers at the ready, creeping towards me, I let out a soft snort. “I’m not a monster, and I would strongly advise against trying to attack me,” I warned, surprising the hidden assassin.

Seeing that their target could see through their stealth, and was apparently not what they first thought, the figure sheepishly backed away. I didn’t really want to deal with the drama of fighting against the local assassin players, since it seemed like my dragon form wasn’t as commonly known in this area. Did these players spend too much time on their pursuit of this dungeon that they didn’t watch the sponsored clips? Or, like Diane, did they avoid those clips to maintain their own immersion?

Regardless, it was about three hours after applying my sentry node near the boulder that I detected movement from it. Seeing Diane slipping out of the boulder, I ended my transformation and prepared to make my way over. As I was moving, it seemed that Diane noticed my sentry point, staring at it with narrowed eyes.

“It’s me,” I called out to her, quickly teleporting over. Just as she was about to speak up, I shook my head. “New skill I’m training. Anyways, how did it go?”

Given how long Diane spent in the dungeon, I could guess that she made quite a bit of progress. She nodded her head in satisfaction, turning to start leading me back to the house. “I made it to the seventh level of each trial. With a few more attempts, it should be doable to finish the dungeon.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, walking alongside her. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if you told me that you had cleared it on the first attempt.”

Diane gave a wry smile at that. “Unfortunately, no. Since skills are deactivated, it makes things a lot harder. Depending on the route you take for the infiltration, there is a lot of parkour involved. Since I don’t have a good build that matches any of the target’s guards, my only option is to take routes that completely prevent me from being seen. Maybe if I were a human, I’d be able to stealthily kill a guard and take their outfit, but that option doesn’t work for me.”

“So, you need time to master the route to get in? Do all of the trials have things like that?” I asked, but Diane hesitated.

“Not really. In the killing trial, I failed because the seventh level required me to create my own poison without the assistance of any skills. I need to create a poison that spreads through the air, but it has to be invisible or else the target panics. I’m not sure how long that would take to pass, since I can imagine myself ending up on multiple government watchlists if I were to search how to make a poison like that while offline…”

My brow twitched as I listened to this. “Well, dungeons like this usually have something like a study guide, right? I’m sure it won’t take you too long to find the right answer. And, if you need someone to test poisons on, I’m always looking for an excuse to raise my poison resistance.”

Diane simply rolled her eyes at that, and we soon made our way back to the main camp. I spotted three people waiting out in front of my house, including the assassin that had wanted to attack me earlier. Seeing them, Diane let out a sigh and walked over. “Can I help you all with something?”

One of the assassins turned towards us at the sound of her voice, clearing his throat. “I was wondering if you would be open to a trade?” he asked, and Diane’s lip twitched beneath her mask.

“Before that, there is something that needs to be said. Can you gather everyone here that’s willing to come? I have an important announcement to make about this dungeon.”

The assassin blinked slightly, but obediently left to gather the others. Another player, this one female from the sound of her voice, stepped forward. “If you want to buy information like a strategy guide, I’d advise against it. The dungeon layout is always different each time we go in, so any detailed information is worthless for future explorations.”

Diane’s eyes widened slightly when she heard that, clearly annoyed that her plan to map out and practice her route would be foiled so easily. Still, she shook her head. “No, that’s not what I want to announce.”

A few minutes later, several players started to arrive. Once sixteen had come, the player that had left shook his head, indicating that this was all who were willing to listen. I noticed that the player I spotted using one of the other entrances wasn’t among this group.

Diane smiled, not bothered by the lack of attendance. “I know that some of you are tempted to offer trades for temporary luxuries, having been waiting at this dungeon for weeks, maybe even months. However, before considering any of that, there is something that we’ve discovered that you should all know.”

The players looked at one another, their curious gazes focusing on Diane as she continued. “My friend, Drake, possesses a powerful detection skill. With it, he has confirmed that there are, in fact, multiple entrances to the dungeon. To verify this, I personally entered one of the alternate entrances, and spent the last several hours on my first attempt. Before I entered, he had identified seven alternate entrances, each concealed within this foggy terrain.” After saying that, Diane sent me a questioning look.

“Still seven. There weren’t any more when I was scouting earlier,” I answered, and the familiar assassin widened his eyes.

“You were that dragon on the hill?” he questioned, to which I nodded. “Then, where are the entrances?”

Diane smiled beneath her mask. “We won’t be sharing that information. You all are here to practice the art of assassination. It’s only right that you be able to find hidden routes. From what Drake has told me, at least one player camping at this dungeon has already identified one of the alternate entrances, and has kept it a secret.”

“All that we will reveal is that the other entrances have varying levels of concealment, and that they are placed within this foggy territory. With your skills, knowing this much should be more than enough to let you find the entrances. You can choose to work alone or together, but the more entrances you find, the shorter the queue will be for each one. As for whether you decide to share this information with those that chose not to come here today, that is your decision.”

As soon as Diane finished, the crowd quickly departed. Even those that had been planning to ask for a proper meal had their attention entirely diverted to finding these dungeon gates. Meanwhile, Diane looked at me with a satisfied smile. “Let’s have a quick dinner. I should have enough time for one more attempt today. They shouldn’t be able to find the one you took me to before we’re done eating.”