"Phew…" Rui exhaled deeply with relief when he entered the depths of the Shionel Dungeon. It was quite a strange reaction since most Martial Squires had the exact opposite reaction. Yet Rui felt quite secure in the dungeon, oddly enough.
Because he knew that every other creature in the dungeon was extremely insecure about their safety. He was the predator in the dungeon.
He considered the discussion that he'd just had with Guildmaster Bradt.
('A good outcome, for sure,') Rui nodded. Thankfully, it more or less went as he predicted, though he felt as though he had perhaps underestimated how much Guildmaster Bradt would look into his identity.
This was rough, he shouldn't have walked legitimately into the dungeon when he first cleared the second floor.
('Tsk, made a bit of a mistake,') Rui tutted. Still, it was far from a blunder, just a sub-optimal decision that reduced the solidity of his plan from as high as he'd ideally have wanted it to be.
He would need to take more precautions when it came to entering the dungeon, for one, he could not enter the dungeon normally on the same day that he planned on performing an extreme feat like clearing the dungeon. That would simply further narrow him down as a suspect. He needed to frequently raid the dungeon normally, and he could not do anything extreme on those days.
He also needed to make use of his regular accounts in the Adventurer Guild, and basically act the way the average Martial Squire did. He did not want to go too crazy.
He would save that for when he covertly entered the Shionel Dungeon with the help of Kane's Void Step. Thus no one would be able to tie him clearing floors to his true identity.
Furthermore, he could get rid of any attempt of trying to track him via who enters the dungeon and when this way, thereby clearing removing any potential issues of him for coincidentally entering the dungeon when he first cleared it.
Of course, new Martial Squires were pouring in every day, so it was frankly a meaningless coincidence and did not increase the probability that he would be found by any meaningful degree.
Still, he did not want to take any chances.
However, ultimately, he was quite satisfied with how this meeting turned out to be.
"You're finally here, Kane," He said abruptly said to seemingly no one.
"Look," Kane appeared out of thin air. "I understand you can sense me, and I understand you can sense in the dungeon. But how do you do both simultaneously? Shouldn't the difficulty of sensing me in the dungeon be astronomically higher? How do you still have no problem."
Rui chuckled at the outburst. "It's because I'm not directly sensing you. I'm sensing something inanimate that is reacting to you."
"Huh?"
Rui considered his words for a moment. "It would be like if you were walking on a very marshy plain, leaving behind footprints while using Void Step. A normal person could not possibly sense you, but they can still pay attention to the marsh and the mud, and notice your footprints. Thus, they can track your location even if they cannot directly sense you. I'm basically doing the same thing but with space itself, rather than a marsh."
"I have a technique with which I can walk without leaving footprints behind, though,"
Rui furrowed his eyebrows as he gave Kane a pointed look.
"Alright fine, that does make sense," Kane sighed. "So, how did your little meeting go?"
"A success," Rui replied calmly, getting up to his feet. "We'll get the affirmation before the weekends."
"Good to hear, but what's taking so long?"
"Well, he can't just take me at my word regarding the map," Rui replied. "He'll verify it, then we'll get the message."
"What message?"
"A new amendment to the existing rules and regulations of the Adventurer Guild," Rui smirked.
"That's one hell of a message,"
"Indeed,"
The two of them walked out of the Shionel Dungeon freely with Void Step in effect. Rui did his part by suppressing his power to that of a normal human with the help of his Mind Mask.
Later that week, his prediction came to be. He joined the large crowd at the center of the town where a giant equivalent of a press hearing was being held by Guildmaster Bradt on behalf of the Shionel Merchant Guild announcing the revisions and amendments to existing policy surrounding the necessity of identity verification and registration to start companies and financial guild accounts.
A huge uproar rippled across the nation at the seemingly abrupt change in policy as the Shionel merchant Guild surprisingly laxed its registration protocols, despite having set those in the first place, for seemingly no reason.
A lot of speculation emerged around this as many theorized that the Shionel Merchant Guild was unable to withstand the pressure from foreign companies regarding the high level of requirements needed to operate comfortably in the Shionel Confederation in regard to any venture of the Shionel Dungeon. After all, this certainly benefited foreign Martial Squires more than any other group.
Many speculated that this was an initiative to allow for an even greater influx from those Martial Artists whose identities were quite tricky. After all, the Shionel Merchant Guild has signed extensive extradition treaties with all foreign nations in the geographic vicinity, it was the bare minimum that was required, and they were required by law to hand over any criminals who were fugitives from other nations.
This new amendment made it a lot easier for people with less than clean backgrounds and histories to enter the nation and partake in the raid and plunder of the Shionel Dungeon and even operate in the markets legally thanks to the new anonymous registration policies.
However, there was no genuine official reason barring meaningless diplomatic blubber, and there were only two people in the world who understand the reason for the significant and important event.
"'I accept your deal'," Rui voiced out loud as he read the message that Guildmaster Bradt was conveying to him, and nobody else.
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