Chapter 209 Changes In Cairosa
Landing a short distance away from Cairosa, Shiro looked at the seaside city with a small smile.
'I wonder if I'm able to sneak another dip in the mana springs now that I'm higher level?' She thought to herself.
The strongest adventurer that she had seen in the Ospar house was Gilbert, the level 65 Mystic Knight Apprentice.
Aside from him, the rest of the guards were pushover's that she could take care of herself. Of course, she wasn't foolish to think that the house only had Gilbert as the highest level. During the last fight against the slums, she could remember seeing a few elders that were above level 70.
As the strongest family in Cairosa, there was no way that they won't have a powerhouse.
Thinking of this point, Shiro wondered how she was going to sneak into the mana springs or hide her presence for that matter.
Once she was in the springs, she would be in a meditative state for 3 hours. During that time, she'll be completely exposed. Literally.
'Hmm… the main task is still to clear the raid. I'll visit the springs if I have the chance.'
Shaking her head, she prepared some disguises for the duo.
Making them some robes that covered their body along with two full face masks, she also made sure that they changed their name and class.
Yin changed her's to Inya while Lisandra changed her's to Lisa. As for their classes, Yin was Dark Star Mage and Lisandra was changed to Arch Light Swordswoman.
"Any reason as to why you two chose these names?" Shiro asked curiously.
"Well Inya is just my name with an additional letter." Yin shrugged her shoulders since her initial idea was Iny but decided to add an A.
"As for me, it's because mum always calls me Lisa so I'm going with this." Lisandra followed up.
"Heh~ Well alright. I should also give the Fae Illusions a try. It'll help if the situation where we need to reveal our faces arise." Shiro said as she activated her skill. A faint light flickered in her eyes as she created an illusion where Yin and Lisandra look plain rather than beautiful.
"Oh my… If I didn't cast this skill then I would think you two look this to begin with." She muttered in surprise. Rather than the 'hollow' illusions, as long as it's cast on something that had a physical form, an example being their face, it would trick your mind into 'feeling' the illusion.
Tracing her hand across Yin's face, it truly felt like her facial structure had changed.
"Stop it~ It tickles." Yin frowned as she moved Shiro's hand away.
"Ah sorry about that. But this will be good." Shiro smiled before glancing over at her MP. The cost to sustain this skill was quite high but it was almost undetectable. Since the two were going to wear masks, Shiro could just cast the skill when they're about to remove it.
"Hmm… since this is the case, I might as well give myself a hooded robe too." She muttered before creating the robe for herself.
Pulling down the hood, she made an ice mirror and examined herself.
"Damn… I look shady as f*ck." She laughed.
"I mean… people in New York think you're crazy as f*ck when they see you in person." Yin grinned as she remembered Shiro's reputation.
"I won't deny that." Shiro smiled. She was proud of the title and didn't think any less of it.
Thawing the ice, she made sure that everyone was ready before setting off for the city gates. They were entering potential enemy territory after all.
However, before they could enter the city, they were stopped by a few guards.
"State your name and background." They demanded.
"Eh? When was this a thing?" Shiro asked.
"A while ago. We've had several people sabotage the raid so we need to be careful with who's getting in the city." The guard replied seriously.
"Therefore, I'll be troubling you three to show your ID."
"Hmm.. a little troublesome but here." Shiro smiled and handed him three ID cards that she had forged. Once he puts them in the tablet, a virus will spread through the system and 'validate' them as authentic personal even though the names and appearance are fake.
Putting the ID cards in the tablet, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the three.
"I'd need to see your faces as well."
Nodding her head, Shiro activated her Fae Illusions and pulled down her hood. Yin and Lisandra did the same as all three of them had pretty plain faces.
"Mn, thank you and sorry about that ladies. You may enter." The guard nodded.
Walking through the gates, Shiro smiled lightly before whispering to the duo.
"Did you feel that?"
"Yeah." They both nodded as their guard was up.
They noticed that the gate guard was much stronger than what his level had suggested he was. Despite the fact that his level appeared as level 50, he felt more dangerous than a level 60.
'So the people that had been cutting off the communication has infiltrated the gate guards. Their goal is probably to dispose of anyone that left the city so that they can keep this place on lockdown." Shiro thought with a smile.
This was also the reason as to why she showed her ID as independent adventurers rather than faction disciples.
If she showed up as faction disciples, it might make them warier and send people to keep an eye on them. Not that she cared, but she couldn't just kill them either. It'll make her team look more suspicious.
Taking a small stroll through the city, she wanted to see the condition of everyone before attempting the raid.
From what she could tell, most of the shops and stalls that sold daily necessities were replayed by item and equipment vendors.
Just looking at the wares that they sold gave Shiro an idea of the biggest problems they ran into.
'Hmm… seems like they're mostly stuck on dealing with the environment rather than the actual bosses.' She thought in surprise. There were few cases where people would be stuck dealing with the raid environment. But when the situation arises, one must be mentally prepared since this meant the physical and mental challenges that the dungeon would pose on the adventurers were higher than average. Compared to fighting against a boss for around an hour, having to deal with harsh environments for days was definitely going to have a bigger impact on the adventurers.
"Let's go buy a few supplies." Shiro suggested since she knew that at this rate, they'll need to party up with quite a large group of people. She might as well prepare some supplies since her nanobots can't solve everything.
Plus, she needs to keep it a secret after all.
Walking inside the store, Shiro didn't go straight to buying but instead walked to the counter in order to get some intel.
"Excuse me, I'm new in this city and I was just wondering about what's happening."
"Ah so you're new. Well the raid still hasn't been cleared and it's been quite a while now. If no one clears it anytime soon, we'll have to evacuate." The man replied with a shake of his head.
"Is the situation that serious?"
"Yeah. I don't know the full story but apparently one of the better raid groups was sabotaged. Quite a few of our best adventurers were injured but they managed to escape with their lives. While a few of them died, they managed to capture the assailant in return. They're detaining him in the Ospar mansion while we speak, hoping to get some information from them."
"Hmm… why don't the elder's make a move then? Surely they'll be able to handle the raid if they joined in."
"That's what everyone thought at first." The man sighed.
"However, when the elders tried to enter the raid, they were instantly rebounded and suffered a serious backlash. It turns out that after they tried to enter, they were given the warning that no one over level 60 could enter the dungeon." He shrugged and shook his head.
"A level restriction huh? That's quite problematic isn't it?"
"Yeah. While we do have a bunch of geniuses that could potentially form the strongest party under level 60, the families don't want to waste their talents in a raid that people couldn't clear despite being level 60. After all, while they are geniuses, some had only reached C class so they're not even level 55 yet never mind level 60."
"What has the Ospar family done about this?"
"Nothing much. They're as helpless as everyone else. Most of their best members are all above level 60 and as or those under level 60, they don't want to risk their lives without a sufficient party."
"Hmm… I suppose they don't want to use their best equipment and items since they are potentially priceless." Shiro shrugged.
"Bingo." The man nodded.
"Now I would call them petty but I'm pretty much the same. At worse, they can just move cities." Shiro shrugged her shoulders.
"Indeed. Really makes us commoners wonder about what we should do."
"Anyways, thanks for your help."
"No worries, of course, you can repay me by buying some items." He chuckled.
"Very well then, here's what I want…"
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After buying the things that she needed, Shiro decided to visit the raid site so that she could see the situation herself.