Chapter 292 Ardvine
After settling everything with the merchant, Shiro walked up to the guards.
"Hi, I'm Shiro, a level 65 Cryomancer. I primarily use ice but I'm not limited to ice. I can use other elements but they're lacking a little. I'll be travelling with you till we arrive in Ardvine so I hope we get along." She introduced herself with a smile.
Surprised at her introduction, they half expected her to just ignore them and go off on her on business.
"Ah my apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Adam and I am the leader of this group. I'm a Level 50 Pyr Warlock. I primarily use fire as my element." Adam introduced himself with a slight bow.
"Here are the rest of my teammates…"
Introducing Shiro to the rest of the guards, they talked for a short moment while waiting for the merchants to finish packing up.
"So you have 3 warrior types, 2 mages and a support tanker. What about healer?" Shiro asked curiously.
"Healers are quite hard to get since they're mostly being taken by larger teams. We mostly use items to make up for this." Adam smiled bitterly.
"I see. Troubled times I suppose." Shiro chuckled.
"We've finished packing! We'll be setting off in 5 minutes." The merchants called out, cutting their conversation short.
"Got it!" Adam replied while standing up.
"Well it's time to get to work." He smiled.
While the guards stood around the carriage, Shiro sat on the roof with her legs hanging off the side.
"Are you comfortable there?" The merchant asked.
"Yup. It's good." Shiro nodded.
"Then let's go."
Leaving the city, the carriage travelled without any breaks unless it was at night or for food. Those that are tired would sit at the side of the carriages or on the roof with Shiro.
While they were doing this, Shiro spent most of her time trying to bring the concept of volume 1 of nanobot research into real life.
The problems of trying to compress the components of the nanobots in order to reduce its size was that it became unbalanced and easily shattered due to the stress build up.
For her to succeed in bringing out the concept, she'll have to first overcome the hurdle of structural integrity.
While there was little to no success, Shiro wasn't too bothered due to the fact that she had the time to burn.
She didn't need to make a move for the monsters since they were easily handled by the guards.
However, the further away they got from the city, the higher level the monsters became.
From the initial level 20 fodder that was easily dispatched, they started to see level 50 monsters that might cause them to take quite some damage.
Of course, Shiro didn't just watch and do nothing.
Whenever a level 50 monster appeared, she would just flick her wrist and send out a wave of ice mist.
A single attack was all that she needed to reduce the monster to frozen dust which scattered away into the wind.
Despite the fact that she one shot the monster; it was still within expectations for the guards since they knew that the class disparity was quite big. It was only natural for a C class adventurer to kill a D rank monster easily.
/p>
However, they started to get worried when a level 60 serpent had appeared before them.
"How is a monster this high level on this route? Shouldn't it be safe?" The merchant panicked.
Despite the fact that Shiro said she was level 65; most would need a team of C classed adventurers to face off against a serpent like this.
"Miss Shiro, we should start to retreat." The merchant suggested.
"Nah it's fine just watch." Shiro smiled as she stood up for the first time on this trip.
Cracking her neck, she narrowed her eyes at the serpent.
"Fuu….." Breathing out some cold mist, her killing intent enveloped the serpent.
The cold mist started to wrap around the serpent, forcing him to inhale some of it.
"No hard feelings." She muttered and snapped her fingers.
*KRRR!!!
Ice spikes erupted out of the serpent's body as the moment the cold mist had entered its body, it was doomed.
Collapsing on the ground and shattering to large chunks of frozen flesh, the serpent died without even being able to hiss.
Looking at the fearsome serpent that had died with a single attack, they realised how powerful Shiro was.
No matter how much INT she has as a level 65, it shouldn't be possible for her to defeat the level 60 serpent this easily.
"What level are you really Miss Shiro? I don't think I've ever heard of a level 65 being able to kill a level 60 monster as casually as you have. If anything, that's something a level 80 would do." Adam asked as his smile twitched slightly.
"I am honestly a level 65 haha. It's just that my title makes my INT a 'little' higher than average." She smiled. Naturally, she was referring to her monster title which made it so that her points were worth twice as much as they should.
"Sure…" Adam rolled his eyes.
As they continued their journey, there were no more appearances of C classed monsters.
It was always peak D class or lower. If the monster was level 45 or above, it was dealt with by Shiro. Anything under that was handed over to the guards since they needed to work for their pay after all.
During this, Shiro kept herself up to date with all the data that was being gathered by the drones.
So far, they had managed to discover 92 labs but not one of them was the main lab, much to Shiro's disappointment.
On the 5th day of travel, they were finally closing in on Ardvine.
Looking at the city in the distance, Shiro couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Since she had never seen the hero's hometown nor cared about it in her previous life, she was rather curious as to what it looked like.
However, now that she was face to face with the city, Shiro had to admit that it looked impressive.
Instead of your average city, it was better described as a floating island that had several roads connecting it to the ground.
Waterfalls poured out the sides of the island while the surface was covered by tall white buildings and golden arcs.
Within the centre of the island, a giant cathedral or sorts could be seen with the church's flag fluttering above it.
{That's quite the impressive city isn't it my queen?} Nimue remarked.
'Indeed.'
Looking at the whole aesthetic of the island, while impressed, Shiro couldn't help but have the urge to vomit whatever she had eaten earlier. The island practically screamed the message of 'We worship the light goddess'.
Arriving at the front gates, they presented their crystals and were given access to the city.
Upon taking a single step into the city, Shiro paused and widened her eyes.
Much like how she had installed a sensor on the drone to keep an eye out for the labs, she had kept one on her for good measure. She didn't expect to feel such a huge reaction from the city as it was equivalent to tens of labs combined into one.
Even though the sensor could only detect it once it was within range, the sheer density of nanobots made it much easier to detect.
'Tch, with the amount of nanobots I'm picking up with the sensor, I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me this entire city was the lab.' Shiro thought to herself while trying to pinpoint the location of the labs.
However, it was also due to its density that made it harder to be found.
"Troublesome…" She muttered with a frown.
"What's troublesome?" Adam asked curiously.
"Nothing. Sorry, this is where we part. I got some things to deal with." Shiro waved her hand lightly before flickering away.
Jumping from roof to roof, she flexed her fingers and created a more accurate sensor so that she could see where the most amount of nanobots were being gathered.
'The cathedral? Strange…' She furrowed her brows.
If anything, the people in the church hated the Nanomancer class since it was deemed as heresy to use an artificial 'thing' to corrupt the sacred system of which the light goddess created.
Little did they know, she was most likely under the effects of the system.
{Maybe it's because this is a trial?} Nimue suggested.
'Maybe. Either way, this is perfect. Both of my targets are in the same place.' She smiled while making her way towards the centre of the city.