Slime Evolution

Chapter 392 - Infiltration II

The Broken Suns guild’s lobby exuded a lot of luxury, clearly built to charm new recruits who hadn’t yet touched a single gold coin in Elysium.

Alice and Dylan walked side by side, putting on looks of admiration that perfectly disguised the tactical analysis both of them were running on every support column and every player moving through the space.

Marcus and Julian walked just ahead, having already made peace with the financial loss of paying the tavern bill, knowing that just by bringing this pair to the guild headquarters, their bonus was practically guaranteed.

Under the sleeve of Alice’s leather armor, Lohan’s main body stayed flattened against her skin, acting like a second protective biological layer. He kept his energy contraction at maximum, making sure the guild’s defenses wouldn’t pick up on his abnormal presence.

”This place is really impressive,” Alice remarked, using her Lily voice, the enthusiastic girl persona they’d planned as the perfect cover for this infiltration. ”I never imagined a guild could have such a grand headquarters right in the middle of the crafting district. Dan, just look at the shine on those stained glass windows!”

Dylan, keeping up his Dan persona, just let out a disinterested murmur, though his eyes were mapping and cataloguing every security detail the space displayed. ”It’s decent, Lily. But like I said, aesthetics don’t matter if this is just something set up to fool us. Marcus, you mentioned the rent here costs a thousand gold coins a month. How do you keep up such a high fixed cost without choking the members with abusive fees?”

Marcus let out a confident laugh, turning back as he guided them through a hallway decorated with high quality red carpets. ”That’s the difference between an elite guild and those small bands wandering aimlessly around Thalendor, Dan. We don’t rely only on loot from common monsters. Our real world sponsorship guarantees the financial infrastructure is always secured, letting members focus purely on their own growth. Julian, explain to them how our daily incentive plan works.”

Julian, eager to close the recruitment of the two and lock in his credits by the end of the week, stepped forward with a broad smile. ”Basically, we don’t charge absurd fees on individual loot. In fact, Broken Suns offers a stability no other guild in Thalendor can match. An active member, focused on hitting the weekly material collection quotas for our trade partners, easily earns 7 silver coins a week!”

”Seven silver coins a week?” Alice exclaimed, pretending her heart had stopped for a second at that revelation. ”Dan, did you hear that?! A whole silver every single day! That’s way more than we’d make selling boar hides and monster teeth on our own at the capital’s public square!”

”A silver a day is just the base rate for anyone doing ordinary work,” Marcus added, with a superior smile that didn’t go unnoticed by Lohan. ”Our vanguard members, the ones who take part in special operations with the leadership, earn bonuses that can triple that amount. That’s why everyone is trying to get into Broken Suns, since we offer real wealth both inside and outside of Elysium.”

As the conversation flowed through the main hallway, Lohan began working silently.

Taking advantage of a moment of distraction as the group passed by a busy reception area, full of new recruits filling out forms or being briefed on the guild’s rules, the Slime released a series of small clones from Alice’s sleeve. Using his parallel processing division, he sent three tiny thumb sized, nearly fully transparent blue drops onto the polished floor.

These fragments used his maximum level pigmentation mimicry technique, bending light around their small structures to become practically invisible to the naked eye of ordinary players.

They spread quickly along the corners of the walls, sliding through the shadows cast by the luxurious wooden furniture, taking advantage of the fact that the night lighting depended only on candles and magic light stones, which didn’t provide enough light to make out every detail in the place, so Lohan controlled each of his parts with almost zero latency, mapping out the mansion’s passageways and doors.

One of the clones climbed silently up the side of a velvet curtain, positioning itself on a ceiling beam, where a dozen Players were currently chatting about hunting spots.

Another clone slipped toward the back of the lobby, approaching the stairs leading up to the offices on the second and third floors, where the guild’s leadership was likely gathered to discuss strategy.

However, as the clone at the stairs tried to climb the first steps, Lohan felt a cold static touch his perception.

It felt like an invisible barrier of mana, subtle but highly effective, covering the passage to the upper floor. He realized the Broken Suns, or perhaps their noble partners, had installed spells or anti detection items in those critical areas.

If he tried to force his way through with his mystical strength, the magical alarm would trigger instantly, ruining the entire operation Alice and Dylan were running downstairs.

”They’re pretty paranoid...” Lohan remarked over the mental link with Lisa, who continued monitoring everything from outside the mansion. ”They’ve installed high level sensors on the secondary stairs. I’ll have to keep the clone hidden in the shadows at the base of the column and wait for an opening... Someone from the leadership will eventually have to go up or down, and I’ll hitch a ride on their mana signature.”

”Stay calm, Halon,” Lisa replied mentally, her voice conveying a reassurance that steadied his core. ”Alice and Dylan are doing their job perfectly downstairs. Use the time to map out as much of the first floor as you can.”

Lohan followed her advice, keeping the stairwell clone still, perfectly camouflaged as a small damp stain at the base of a fossilized stone pillar.

In the lobby, the act continued brilliantly. Alice asked deliberately naive questions about the guild’s rules, while Dylan kept his posture rigid, like a warrior who only valued practical combat results.

”All of this sounds very nice on paper, Julian,” Dylan remarked, crossing his arms and stopping in front of a tapestry displaying the Broken Suns’ golden sun emblem. ”But talking about gold and expensive headquarters is easy. What was your last major mission, the one that proves this place isn’t just a scheme to drain loot from novice players?”

Marcus and Julian exchanged a quick, satisfied glance, and the pride on their faces visibly swelled. That was the question they’d been waiting for, the trump card that would seal the recruitment once and for all.

Before Marcus could answer, firm footsteps and the metallic sound of excellent quality armor plates echoed behind them.

A man with short, dark hair, wearing an ornate golden breastplate that gleamed brightly under the hallway’s magic lights, approached with a broad smile that seemed trained to convey a superficial friendliness toward new recruits.