Lucas was surprised by the fact he found queue for teleportation already sizable, the difference being this time it was filled with carts and merchants ready to go and do their business in Camp Hearth. Wondering briefly how they managed the traffic, Lucas put the thoughts aside as the door for Bruce’s office appeared in his line of sight. He knocked on the door, the whole party stepped in. Once again, Bruce wasn’t alone, this time Goldilocks sitting with him, going through some stacks of paper. With a quick shudder thinking about doing that himself, followed with a wave of gratitude towards Bruce for taking care of it, Lucas sat down and focused his attention towards the duo.

“Good morning” Bruce greeted them “glad to see you alive and well after your escapades in the wilds” he finished after the party responded him back.

“And I see you made terrific process, at least according to your current gear. I guess that rather … interesting individual that sits on your shoulders was of note?” Goldilocks asked Ted, barely containing the laughter at the bizarre shoulder plates Ted now carried, the Rat King statues looking like a pair of silent watchers, listening and judging you. The party chuckled and Maggie, bless her, started recounting the events of Rat King’s dungeon, allowing Lucas to doze off, just listening her voice which had a very relaxing effect on him.

“Interesting. What are you thinking in terms of difficulty? God knows miss Leon would be over the moon to get another dungeon for the guild to exploit” Bruce asked nobody in particular, but Lucas forced himself to concentrate once again, knowing that everybody was expecting an answer from him.

“A lot of difficulty stems from the unknown. Assuming the dungeon doesn’t change its encounter every time somebody tries it, which is impossible, at least to my knowledge there is a good chance that you would be able to grind it successfully, even at higher thirties if you are competent” Lucas said, his analysis short and succinct, Bruce and Goldilocks listening to him intently. When he finished, Bruce simply said “Noted” and went with the next subject on the list.

“Our early warning system had officially started yesterday. Maya estimates she would finish it in two weeks, and that the range would give us two weeks at minimum, giving us some advantage when our blue – skinned acquaintances decide to come back” Bruce said.

“And that may be soon, my men are reporting a lot of sacked buildings and small communities in the north and we did recently had an influx of refugees driven from their homes by something that definitely sounds similar to what Lucas encountered on the beach that day” Goldilocks said, continuing from Bruce’s words.

“Wait, hold for a second. Who is Maya? What early warning?” Lucas asked, confused by words that his governor and head of spies were talking about.

“Maya is that girl you met yesterday. She recently got her Advanced class and became chief engineer, although she assures me she is more of an inventor. Remarkable young woman, taking in every word like a sponge. Some here should try and imitate her” Bruce said, prompting a chuckle from the party. Lucas, however, was not amused.

“We got and Advanced class and you didn’t tell me about it?” Lucas asked, trying to control his frustration.

“It’s not like you gave me time yesterday. By the way, you should be more polite to her, she has an immense respect for you” Bruce defended himself, frustrating Lucas further with the lecture thrown at the end.

“It wouldn’t be the first time for you to interrupt me to say something important. Instead, you decided yesterday to drone about politics” Lucas said, the words “politics” making his face contort in disgust.

“It was equally important. Besides, did you expect to be an owner who is utterly uninvolved in everything?” Bruce asked while becoming visibly more frustrated at Lucas.

“That was the deal, if I remember correctly” Lucas almost shouted, his frustration growing into anger.

“No, the deal was you are focused on the big picture” Bruce corrected him, his voice filled with frustration “and I’m helping you here. This whole morning we were swamped with reports from last night, so I can give you probable location of the General’s vault” he finished, his frustration faded and replaced with a heavy sigh.

“You have something?” Lucas asked, excitement replacing the anger in an instant.

“After we spoke yesterday, I went and visited my wayward colleague back in Camp Hearth. By now, he is willing to spill everything and even make up things just to avoid our friendly chat” Bruce explained, his disappointment from earlier confrontation hitting heavy on Lucas’s conscience.

“Which meant my men had a busy night, inspecting every lead Bruce here gave us. And after the latest batch of report, I think we have located the vault you asked about” Goldilocks continued, her voice and demeanor controlled, not betraying her feelings towards the conflict Bruce and Lucas just had.

The head of spies proceeded to explain the location, a small village that was formed after the Tutorials finished. Surprised by the fact the General was a local of sorts, Lucas listened intently, even taking a map Duck gave him last time, handing it over to Goldilocks to mark the spot.

“Be careful, Lucas. Our reports indicate a number of beasts are guarding it. We still have no idea what they are or how the General tamed them, but I would advise extreme caution. The General hadn’t strike me as the sort of man to leave his most valuable items unguarded” Bruce warned, ending the subject.

“And about the other thing?” Lucas asked, hoping to score another jackpot.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to find much about the potential person itself, which is hardly surprising, the System might have just invented it to give you a quest. But about the quest itself, there is a lot of information” Bruce said.

“So, what do I need to know?” Lucas asked, knowing it was a bit of a pointless question, but hoping to avoid more lectures and getting the concise version. Knowing Bruce, it was a long shot.

“Basically, the quest will complete itself if you wait long enough, the System awarding you piece by piece over a long period of time. Seeing that, a lot of races of the multiverse opt in for a gauntlet type challenge, where they just complete a shit ton of dungeons and nests until they get all the necessary pieces” Bruce started his explanation.

“Not to sound cataclysmic here, but I doubt we have time for that, with the invasion hanging over our head” Lucas said, a pang of regret hitting him when he realized he will not do the challenge that sounds like such fun.

“Exactly, even if you ignore the fact we have terrible lack of knowledge regarding the location of our dungeons and nests. The second option is to just learn of the individual you are emulating, or even to create your own imaginary person. Of course, this isn’t easy way of doing it and vast majority of people are simple not able to do it, but then again, you are not vast majority of people” Bruce said, leaving Lucas dumbstruck.

“And that would work? The System would let me just imagine someone and then just roll with it?” Lucas asked after a brief pause.

“No, you have to convince yourself and then be so convinced that is the truth that the System decides to acknowledge it. Like I said, for most it is impossible, but if I had to bet on someone managing to do it, I would certainly put my money on you” Bruce said, Lucas’s cheeks burning in response to the praise he just received. He muttered his thanks and changed the subject to reports about attack in the north, Goldilocks taking the show. She spitted fact after fact, detail after detail, Lucas forced to ask her to repeat herself once or twice when his head started hurting from all the information.

“And what about that Harald guy Pyra spoke about?” Lucas asked, his heart skipping a beat. The fight with Pyra was so invigorating and even though he tried to control himself and act responsibly, his instincts still screamed in delight thinking about every potentially exiting fight.

“I have no idea, to be honest. A lot is unknown about this bunch, so the way we can gather information is limited. I will keep you posted, however” Goldilocks said.

“Yeah, you do that. I will drop by the next time I’m in town to hear is there anything new” Lucas said absent – mindedly, ready to leave the office.

“No, I literally mean I will keep you posted daily” Goldilocks said, her smile playful as she took out a small stone from one of her many pockets.

“Your new engineer made this. I have to agree on Bruce on this one, the girl is absolute fire” Goldilocks said, handing the stone over to Lucas, who immediately activated “Sharpsight”.

Communication stone (Rare)

Designed by the skilled engineer with particular affinity for controlling mana, this stone is a smaller variation of the teleporting one. While the small size prevents anything heavier than the piece of paper passing, the small mass it has to transport means the range of this stone is almost unlimited.

Lucas was amazed, this technological leap this engineer just casually made was astronomical and probably improved his spy network immeasurably.

“Your stone is directly linked to Bruce’s and mine’s, so we are able to keep communication while you are away” Goldilocks said, Lucas just nodding and taking his. After a small deliberation with his team, they quickly studied the map and plotted course towards the General’s vaults, eager to find more upgrades to their gear.