After listening, Freya nodded thoughtfully. “But aren't you only Rank Two right now? How can you already make extraordinary items like this?”
After all, this Invisibility Cloak could even block her Heart Perception, which was incredibly impressive on its own.
“Uh...” Euphemia wore a slightly embarrassed expression. “Well, don't worry about the minor details. Anyway, let's go, let's go! Let's check out that warehouse first!”
The two of them stepped out of the alley. The Invisibility Cloak had originally been designed for a single person. The only reason it could cover both of them now was because both Freya and Euphemia had rather petite figures.
Soon, they returned to the entrance of the dilapidated blue warehouse. However, another problem arose: the warehouse doors were tightly shut. Even if they were currently invisible, the act of opening the doors would still be noticed, wouldn't it? Besides, neither of them had a key.
But Euphemia didn't stop at the entrance. Instead, she pulled Freya along to the side of the warehouse. It stood close against an adjacent warehouse, leaving only a narrow gap between them. An ordinary person would never squeeze through here, and even Euphemia and Freya had to turn sideways to shimmy inside.
After shuffling halfway in, Euphemia asked, “Help me check if there's anyone on the other side of this wall.”
“The other side?” Although slightly puzzled, Freya still took a 'look.' “No one.”
“Perfect.” As she spoke, Euphemia slipped off a silver bracelet from her right wrist and pressed it against the wall.
Euphemia took a deep breath and channeled a thread of spirituality into it. The next second, the silver bracelet rapidly expanded until it became a circle about a meter in diameter. The section of the wall within the circle seemed to vanish into thin air. Euphemia lifted her leg, bent over, and stepped straight through into the warehouse.
Freya, utterly dazed, was pulled inside by Euphemia. Once they both crossed over, the bracelet rapidly shrank back to its original size. Euphemia picked it up and slipped it back onto her wrist. “If we can't use the front door, we just don't use the front door! There's always a way!”
The warehouse was rather quiet. In fact, it looked exactly like a normal, dilapidated warehouse should. Euphemia looked around as she walked. The first things that caught her eye were large, opened wooden crates piled in a corner, surrounded by scattered pieces of broken foam.
Freya whispered, “They unloaded a shipment here last night. Those large crates were filled with all kinds of bizarre items, likely potion ingredients.”
Euphemia couldn't help but comment, “The way you say that makes it sound like you were standing right here watching the whole thing last night.”
Freya said, “Well, in a way, that's not wrong.”
Euphemia was astonished. “Weren't you just an ordinary person before this morning? How did you have the guts? And you actually escaped without being caught?!”
Freya didn't know how to answer. After all, she had been discovered, and Captain Nolan had even died while covering her escape.
Fortunately, Euphemia didn't press further. She suddenly spotted a figure standing motionless like a statue in a corner of the warehouse, staring straight ahead as if on guard duty.
The two girls, draped in the Invisibility Cloak, casually strolled right past him. Euphemia couldn't help but scoff, “Tsk, tsk. The War Pathway... nothing but a bunch of muscle-brained idiots. They're only good for direct combat, but they fall short in absolutely every other aspect.”
“Let alone these grunts—even if that Rank Five General were standing here himself, he wouldn't be able to spot us.”
Guided by her Heart Perception, Freya quickly located where the potion ingredients were stored. They walked straight over, and a separate small room appeared before them.
Such valuable items naturally had to be kept separate. There were even two 'soldiers' guarding the door to this small room. However, this still posed no challenge. Using the exact same method they used to enter the warehouse, they slipped around to the side of the room.
Euphemia took off her bracelet, opened a hole in the wall, and the two of them quickly slipped inside.
Unlike the clutter in the rest of the warehouse, the items in this room were neatly arranged. Freya opened her eyes and was greeted by a fully stocked shelf. On it lay the strange items she had seen unpacked from the crates in her previous simulations.
There were jars filled with murky liquids, twisted goat horns, bones of some unknown creature, and small pouches containing mysterious contents.
Euphemia stepped forward as well. She wore a thoughtful expression, staring at the items for a moment before saying, “This is Moses Sea black octopus, Lightning Goat horns, and... human forearm bones?”
“Brewing a potion usually requires one 'main ingredient,' two 'supplementary ingredients,' and some 'additives,'” Euphemia said. “From the looks of it, the main ingredient should be this black octopus. But I'm not sure which part of the octopus it is—surely they don't just throw the entire thing into the pot?”
“The supplementary ingredients are likely the goat horns and human bones. My guess is they're ground into powder. As for the additives...”
As she spoke, Euphemia opened the last small pouch, which contained translucent shards that resembled crystals. She explained, “These are spirituality crystals. They can be used as additives for almost any potion; the only difference is the concentration and quantity.”
“High-concentration spirituality crystals are rare and valuable, but these... to be honest, their quality is extremely mediocre, if not outright poor. Potions brewed with these will probably be of very low quality.”
Freya remarked, “After all, they're just mass-producing Devil Pathway potions to hand out to cannon fodder. As long as they work, they probably don't care about the quality.”
Euphemia placed the pouch back. “It seems so. We can take a jar of the black octopus as evidence to prove they are secretly manufacturing potions here. But that alone won't be enough for the Special Service to call in a Mobile Squad. We still need to uncover the mastermind's true identity.”
“A Rank Five extraordinary cannot remain nameless. If we can find out who he is, that information itself will serve as solid proof.”
Suddenly, Freya thought of something and closed her eyes to search further. In her third simulation—the one where she drank the War Pathway potion—the owner of the Broken Axe Tavern had told her she could come to this warehouse to seek advancement after killing a hundred people.
Could there be a Rank Two War Pathway potion hidden in this warehouse?
However, even after 'looking' for a long time, Freya couldn't find any trace of finished potions or any hidden compartments in the room.
“Nothing...” She opened her eyes, looking a bit disappointed.
It seemed that even if she had completed the task of killing a hundred people in the third simulation and come to this warehouse, the Obsidian boss would have likely ordered one of his 'soldiers' to fetch a Rank Two potion from another location.
Why not continue the transaction at the Broken Axe Tavern then? Why did he insist on having her come to this warehouse? The answer wasn't hard to guess. Perhaps he appreciated her crazy potential, or maybe there was another reason. Ultimately, he wanted to recruit her, and recruiting her naturally required showing off some of his operations.
Freya said, “The boss behind this must have more than just this one stronghold. There are definitely others.”
It was just that this particular stronghold was the 'least important' one, which was why it was chosen to receive newcomers.
Euphemia agreed, “A sly rabbit has three burrows. As a Rank Five extraordinary, he couldn't have made it this far if he were stupid. Having multiple strongholds is perfectly normal.”
After confirming there was nothing else of value in the room, they retraced their steps, and Euphemia led Freya around the warehouse a bit more.
Freya asked, “What's next?”
“Let me think...” As she spoke, Euphemia reached into her satchel again and pulled out a small pouch.
Seeing this, Freya asked curiously, “Is it another extraordinary item?”
Euphemia shook her head. “No, these are spirituality crystals I brought myself. Their quality is leaps and bounds ahead of those we just saw.”
Then, Euphemia looked around to find a spot with a good view. Pulling Freya along, she quickly walked over. She pinched a small spirituality crystal between her index and middle fingers and pressed it against the wall.
The spirituality crystal seemed to melt, turning into a puddle of colorless fluid. Euphemia dipped her two fingers into the fluid and began to draw.
After about three or four minutes, a slightly eerie pattern formed under Euphemia's fingertips: a circle enclosing a triangle, and at the center of the triangle was an eye-like oval. These three shapes were interspersed with strange symbols that resembled ancient script.
Just as Euphemia finished drawing, Freya clearly saw the eye-like oval in the very center twitch slightly. Then, the entire pattern gradually turned invisible, vanishing from sight.
Of course, if Freya used her Heart Perception, she could still clearly sense a distinct 'spiritual fluctuation' here.
Euphemia said, “The Eye of Surveillance is complete! I've linked its field of vision to my monocle. If that Rank Five General comes to this warehouse, I'll see him immediately.”
Freya couldn't help but ask, “So what exactly is this?”
“An occult array,” Euphemia explained. “Using spirituality as a foundation and combining it with certain materials, you can achieve powerful effects. There are arrays for scouting, attacking, defending, teleporting, summoning—you name it. Though I don't know many right now.”
At Rank One, the Scholar Pathway allowed one to quickly master skills that already existed in reality, such as Euphemia's micro-expression observation. But at Rank Two, Scholars could learn occult knowledge, enabling them to draw various arrays.
Euphemia continued, “I'll rent a place nearby and stay here. Once a suspicious person appears, I can head out immediately to tail him and see if I can uncover his other strongholds and true identity.”
The two of them then left the warehouse the same way they came, heading straight back to the alley where they had first put on the Invisibility Cloak. After taking off the cloak, perhaps because they had been huddled so closely together the entire time, their clothes looked a bit disheveled.
Freya adjusted her clothes as she walked out of the alley. Euphemia was a step behind because she had to pack away the Invisibility Cloak. Looking at Freya's back, a sudden realization hit her, and her face flushed red.
In other words, if someone had been watching them, they would have seen two girls walking down the street, suddenly ducking into a secluded, empty alley, and then emerging twenty minutes later with their clothes all messy?
Well... it was hard not to get the wrong idea!
While Euphemia was having a mental meltdown, Freya noticed her friend wasn't following. She turned around to look. “Is something wrong?”
Euphemia quickly coughed, muttered, “It's nothing,” and walked out.
Next was renting a place. As long as they paid enough, it was no trouble at all. Euphemia quickly found a suitable apartment nearby. She had initially wanted to rent it for just a month, but the landlord refused, citing that the duration was too short. In response... Euphemia simply rented it for half a year.
After all, both Euphemia's attire and her collection of handy gadgets proved she was no ordinary person—or at least, someone who didn't lack money.
Freya walked around the new apartment. While it wasn't particularly luxurious, it was at least very clean, and it happened to have two bedrooms. She pointed to the guest room and asked, “So, I'll sleep here from now on?”
Euphemia was taken aback. “Ah? You're staying too?”
Freya immediately put on a pitiful expression, blinking her cute emerald eyes as she deliberately acted adorable. “Is... is that not allowed?”
In truth, her primary goal for this simulation was to try and get the Church of the Earth to help. But that goal had already been achieved; she had already become the Saintess of the Church of the Earth. Now, she only needed to hint at the impending disaster, and the church's people would surely come to her aid.
With the Special Service, she would still have to explain the source of her information. But at the church... there was absolutely no need for that.
Since her main goal was accomplished, and she had happened to run into the "Great Detective" Euphemia, Freya thought she might as well push her luck. It would be wonderful if she could also uncover the true identity of the Obsidian boss during this simulation.
......
Rate on N.U.
