After soaking inside the pool for long enough to scrape every single bit of dirt leftover after having my entire body smeared with this strange herbal substance, I could finally leave the water, only to have Monica lead me away from this enormous bathroom to a place that was supposed to serve as my temporary housing for as long as it would take me to reach the higher echelon of the goose sect, fulfiling my promise to my teacher.

"Just like I said before, you can have your rest here, now. Considering everything that you went through today, not to speak about all the events that lead you to your current position, you can just stay here and recover for as long as you would like. Don't feel pressured into doing anything, I will make someone come by to drop you some food. When you will recover enough, just tell one of the servants to ask for me."

Maybe because her memories about how I treated her bothered Monica, or maybe she didn't want to deal with me for now, but as soon as she showed me to my room and explained what she expected me to do, she left the place without even waiting for any response of mine, as if she was too scared I would come up with something bothersome. 

But I actually had no plan of trying to make myself even more visible in her eyes. With her suspicions raised after our earlier fun, attempting to do anything excessive now could only serve as the last push in forcing my disguise apart, so I simply nodded at her words, before going to the bed.

Obviously, I wasn't going to stay there for long.

As soon as I made sure that no surveillance was tracking my moves in the room, I immersed myself with the skills offered by the system. With a huge influx of points from clashing essences with her, I could easily afford not only some upgrades to the skills I already possessed, but also a set of brand new abilities that could turn handy later on!

*Thinking about my hiding spell… Is there a way to create a dummy copy of my body? Since I was told to stay and rest, I can't just leave like that, can I?*

After rummaging through the endless options unlocked with the latest upgrade of the system, I decided it would be simpler to just ask Bonger for help. If its personality was locked in the other part of my brain as compared to my own, then the lack of any action in the last few days would most likely prompt it to scan the possible new features itself, and if there was some deeper connection between Bonger's personal part and its system side, then looking through his own assets might not even be necessary in the first place!

"You can just upgrade your sneaking skill. From what I can see, doing so will unlock its bonus ability, perfect to do exactly what you are asking for."

Maybe thanks to how dire the situation was for me when it turned out to most likely concern Eve, or maybe because some other reasons that I couldn't even begin to guess, Bonger's response lacked its usual rudeness as if he decided to drop his quirky approach in order to go easy on me.

*Good, what will be the cost of it? Also, can you detect the location of the teleportation seed? I don't really want to run around the entire forest in search for it.*

Already set on returning to my stronghold as soon as possible, I was just doing some basic checks to make sure all my efforts in gaining the foothold in this city wouldn't go to waste with that trip of mine. If I could invest the points that I gained with so little effort into securing my interests, wouldn't that be kind of poetic?

"Upgrade will cost five hundred points. You spoke something about it being poetic? In a way, having your way with Monica gave you just enough points to cheat her into thinking you are resting."

As if the stars aligned on the skies for this stroke of strange luck, I couldn't help but just shrug it off and prompt Bonger to upgrade the ability. Considering how the additional part of the skill was just an added bonus on top of the improved power of this ability, both sneaking out and back inside the city would be far easier, but collecting the books and techniques from Monica's wouldn't need to wait!

Taking a few minutes of a break while lying on the bed, I made sure to use this time to circulate my energy along the pathways of my body, recalling the times where cultivation was the only source of power that I could think off. At my current stage of growth, it didn't really account for any real part of my strength, yet it still retained the ability to ward off all the exhaustion of my body with just driving my energy around. Quite strange, isn't it?

Pushing this yet another question to the back of my head, I jumped off the bed and activated my ability. Just like the last time I did so at the Overlord's mansion, my entire body instantly covered in a thick layer of energy, vibrating for a moment, before the insanely minuscule movement turned so small and frequent, that even with my insane senses I was unable to pick it up. 

Raising my hand, I could still feel it and even see a light mist of energy where my flesh should be thanks to my energy vision, yet as soon as my eyes lost their focus by some crack on the wall distracting me, I realised I was no longer able to locate my hand in the air in front of me, not unless steading my body and deducing its position from where it should normally be!

As soon as I was sure that my cloaking worked, the layer of the energy around my body started growing to the point where its thickness doubled, only to break off from its original form and move a bit to the front, turning from an invisible mass of vibrating energy, into a perfect picture of myself!

Staring at my handsome face for a moment, I shrugged the stupid idea that popped in my mind away from my head and moved my clone to the bed. Since this fake body of mine wasn't corporeal, it took me a few moments to prompt the blanket in a way that would make onlookers think it enveloped a real body. 

With that done, I could finally leave this damned place, and move back to my stronghold! But even though I had my hiding spell covering for all the possible mistakes I would normally do while sneaking around, it didn't change the fact that I had no idea about the layout of the mansion that I was staying at!

Unable to use the doors without altering anyone who might be standing or just walking past them, I had to work my way through the window, cutting the hole in its glass with a thin strand of entropy and placing it back on my bed, right in the middle of the illusory body of mine.

It was finally time to go back to my stronghold!