Although she had recently changed her thief class to Desert Warrior, it didn't mean she lost any of her skills. Layering
Earth Dragon Manor was one of the places that had used kidnapped Urthans for slave labor in the mines under the Earth Dragon Peak. Their extraction teams had already evacuated their people a while ago, leading to stronger security measures all around the sect.
However, cultivators of a certain level were not very perceptive to begin with. Only people who had learned certain techniques or had mastered the thing they called Divine Sense or Consciousness could hope to detect a system stealth class.
Despite losing their slave force without ever even seeing the perpetrators, Isabel encountered no one who could even hope to detect her. People of that level were simply above guard duty, she guessed. Even if she met someone like that, they would lose their head before they could alarm anyone.
Isabel passed through streets and alleys between huts and courtyards, reminding herself of the map of the place they had gotten during the briefing. Although it couldn't be loaded into the
Before the apocalypse, she used to work as a security consultant using her fair talent as a thief in a legal way. It also allowed her to survive the first year of the apocalypse, although less honorably. Things took a turn for the better when she managed to join Minas Mar and developed her talent to shine in dungeon raids.
Her
The only hurdle she now faced was the barrier protecting the inner sect of the main peak. The outer sect, although riddled with traps, didn't have this kind of invisible wall. She took a moment to stretch all her muscles before she unsheathed the Unhealing Scimitar.
She couldn't sneak past this thing; they already knew this from the intel. She had to break through, even if that alarmed the sect. Isabel didn't have the raw damage output to crush it in one strike; however, she had the unhealing Scimitar and incredible dexterity.
Activating the skill
Even Isbel herself was unable to count the number of strikes it took before she had finally torn a hole in the sturdy shell. At this point, alarms were ringing inside the Inner Sect. Her breach had obviously been noticed.
Reactivating her stealth skills, she hurried along. Dusk was still some ways off, so she pressed into the shadows and wandered along the blind spots of cultivators hurrying to the point where she had broken through.
At the center of the Earth Dragon Manors Main peak, inside the inner sec,t was a wide plaza with a podium. In this place, where disciples usually sat down to listen to their master's sermons and TED-talks about the Dao, was now a beehive of cultivators.
"We don't know who entered, but we can guess why! You will form three teams and go guard the treasury, the library, and the medicinal pavilion!" an older cultivator on the stage barked at the grim-looking fellas below.
Isabel suppressed a chuckle. All their guesses were wrong. They were actually standing right on top of her target. So, patiently like an ambush predator, the near imperceptible thief waited for her chance.
Efficiently, the crowd had quickly formed three groups and run off to protect what they deemed the most precious in their sect. All the while, Isabel intended to take away what was actually the most important to the sect.
After a while, only the older cultivator on the stage was left. The man seemed to take a moment to rethink their plan of action before he also jumped into the air, soaring away on a flying sword. Isabel watched him fly away with a hint of jealousy.
If there was one thing she really wanted to assimilate from this continent's power system, it was being able to ride on her blade through the air. She used to love surfing, and this method of flight looked really fun.
He shooed away the distracting thoughts. The last obstacle was gone, and the sky was showing the first signs of dusk. The high buildings surrounding the square already created a dim twilight, making her feel safe as she stepped out in the open.
The thief walked to the center and knelt on the ground. With some difficulty, she pried out one of the tiles that covered the square. While the tiles looked pretty, polished, and showed a pristine tone of cream color, they only hid the common gravel below.
With no one around, she dug a small hole in the gravel and placed the burl inside.
"I knew I felt something fishy! Someone exclaimed above her as she was in the middle of putting the tile back in its place. She had suspected the man had the divine sense, considering he stuck around for longer than expected, but she didn't think he would come back.
Her burglar senses tingled, and she made a quick roll forward, escaping the sword of the cultivator with a hair's breadth. Making a 180° turn, she faced her attacker, the scimitar drawn from her inventory. However, her stealth was dispelled by the attack.
"What were you doing here just now?" the cultivator interrogated her. He stood with a threatening stance, ready to launch forward at any time, yet he spoke quite relaxed. He seemed confident that Isabel was already captured.
"You were the one who breached the barrier, right? But now you have nowhere to run! Tell me what you were trying to do, and I may spare your life!" he kept babbling, not even giving her a chance to answer.
The thief cocked her head and couldn't help the smirk as she understood what was going on in the man's head. This guy had a serious main character issue and thought he had stopped her just in time.
"Too bad you are just a mob that arrived just in time to accentuate my success," she said smugly. Her timing was perfect. Before the cultivator could answer, his chest was pierced by a root that shot up from below the tile he had been standing beside confidently. Isabel chuckled.
"If you will excuse me, I have somewhere to be," the burglar excused herself and left the cultivator, struggling in the grasp of the budding tree sapling. While the tree would grow in the center and take hold of the spirit vein within the mountain, their party had to do damage control.
After all, the Earth Dragon Manor's power was decentralized, and they didn't intend to let some rats escape. At least not the big, nasty ones. It was a shame, but Isabel was not going to join the teams at the floating peaks.
Tonight, she was the ghost in the machine, the saboteur that would subtly make sure that all events turned the worst possible way for the Earth Dragon Manor. Looking at the toys Alison had prepared for her, she wasn't even mad.