I look up at the man and shake my head a few times in response.

He looks down at me but doesn't say a word.

We stand in silence for a moment, and I notice the grunt to my left has shaking hands. In the moment of pause, I can hear the papers flutter together. The red armored Boss notices this too, turning his head to him for a moment, then back to me, then shrugs, flipping through my papers quickly and eventually nodding just like the last 5 men.

I activate my [Bind] skill with very little mana control seeping through my Qi barrier to manifest a weak purple hand, bringing it to my forehead to salute the Boss while walking away up the stairs.

To everyone else, it looks as if I just walked off, but to the man under the suit, his response tells me he's capable of sensing this skill.

"There it is," he mutters to himself.

As I walk up the stairs, another grunt in line has his paper processed, and the moment I step onto the cold metal steps, a scream comes out from the shaking man's mouth as he hands over his papers.

I sense an ominous aura coming out from the Red Suit of armor and watch the two men using the legendary perk of my enemy detection skill from a distance as I carry on up the stairs at an even rate not to draw suspicion.

A thick cloud of red mist comes out from the Boss' armor cracks and enters the grunt's eyes, mouth, nose, and ears like it has a mind of its own.

As he screams out in pain, his body is lifted above the ground and blood begins to ooze out of every point that the mysterious mist entered.

However, none of the blood hits the floor. It all consolidates into a crimson orb between them both.

My mind races as I detect an absurd amount of mana flowing through the blood orb; it gives off an interesting aura. One that I have never felt before exactly but seems oddly familiar...

The armored man lets the blood seep in through the small crack in his helmet, then my reading of the mana gets covered by the analysis-blocking enchantment. In the same instance, the floating grunt falls to the floor, breathing heavily, drained of mana almost entirely, but is still alive.

The Boss speaks while he moves onto the next in line.

"That's a reminder for all of you. If your warehouses aren't producing any higher-grade items, move onto the next one. Don't waste your time sifting through trash. We need to get out of here before any Sector Leaders show up."

The grunt coughs and dry heaves on the ground but eventually brings himself to his feet and walks up the stairs to follow as the next grunt hands in his paperwork.

The following interactions go smoothly, and the last man in line even gets a gold coin just like Raze for finding something valuable.

The door at the back of the main bunker opens up again and the Boss walks through. He yells out for all of us to hear before disappearing behind the thick mana shielding.

"See you all in 3 hours for the mid-day reports! Get back to work!"

As his door clicks shut, the mechanical sound starts up above us and the fountain opens to show us the sunlight of the outside world.

We all step out into the square, and many of the Crimson Dagger men scurry off in opposite directions back to their posts. Even the man that was attacked with that odd blood magic skill limps off back to his station pretty quickly.

Raze waves me down from the other side of the fountain and speaks up as he turns to leave down the alleyway I first saw him pop out from.

"I knew the Boss would like what I found. I managed to dig up a whole new crate of those Elixirs he likes, jackpot."

He laughs to himself then speaks up again.

"Well, see you for dinner tonight. Another two long shifts ahead of us. Good luck with your new guy."

I give him a wave but don't speak, and the entire square is cleared out in under a minute...

I look around curiously, then start to walk back toward the workers I left in that barn. Maybe with the clean food and water, that woman has come back to her senses.

However, the moment I begin walking back is the same instance I detect every single one of the Green Mist's members on the other side of the small city start to break their usual formation.

I stop in my tracks and expand my perception's range a lot more to see every last one of them start moving toward the center of town in the exact same manner the Crimson Dagger men did less than half an hour ago.

I slip into a side alley within visual range of the center square and activate my stealth skill, curious to see what happens next.

Less than 10 minutes later, 13 men in shiny new gear all between level 250 and 350 make a circle around the fountain. They wear green flags on their waists just like the workers I saw when I first entered the village. Moments later, the fountain erupts in a display of white mana, and the members enter one by one down the steps.

I watch with a curious gaze for a few seconds but decide to check things out for myself and follow the grunts with my maxed-out legendary-grade stealth skill activated.

My footsteps are silent, and my aura is completely concealed as I watch all 13 men line up against the back wall of the bunker, waiting for their boss to show up. The exit to the surface closes, and I make my way down onto the ground level as well, standing next to the stairs on the far right side of the room.

Once the back door opens, a nearly identical suit of armor walks out, only this time it's bright green with a black diamond on the chest plate.

My baseline appraisal and inspect skills activate, but not much shows up other than the towering figure's raw level.

________

[Lv. 606]

Active Items:

[??? Access Denied]

Active Skills:

[??? Access Denied]

Buffs:

[??? Access Denied]

______________

I stand unseen as each of the Green Mist members hands in their papers and gets nods to leave up the stairs. Some receive gold coins, but it isn't until the second to last grunt until anger starts to flare up in the Armored man's tone.

"How many times do I have to tell you men? If a warehouse has nothing of value in it, move to the next!"

He pauses, turning his head to the staircase and yelling.

"I hope you all hear this. I want results, and I want them fast. No more lazing about!"

He glows green, and a mist similar to the other boss pours out from his armor.

The last man that has nothing to do with this mess backs away and covers his nose and mouth.

In the same moment, I see dozens of green needles form around the armored Boss, and they all fly forward into the grunt, and he yells out in agony.

I watch his skin change color from light tan to dark green in a matter of seconds until he shrivels up on the floor, and the yelling stops.

There's a moment of silence before the Boss walks over to the last man and takes his papers, nods, and speaks up in a calm tone pointing back at the shriveled-up man on the floor.

"It looks like we've had an accident here. Dispose of the body and take over his work team. We don't want to fall behind before we leave in a few days."

The grunt nods quickly and picks up the body without hesitating but still holds his breath while hurrying up the stairs.

The Boss walks to the back of the room, and the rectangular door opens up while he yells for all to hear.

"I'll see you all in 3 hours for the mid-day check-in. Do not come until you get my call. Get back to work!"

He disappears behind the door, and it shuts, then the mechanical doors back up to the outside world opens too.

A few thoughts go through my mind as I decide whether or not I should leave with the Green Mist Grunts or stay inside and try to figure out what's going on here further. The Green Armored Boss' voice sounds very similar to the man in the red armor. But there's a hint of extra experience in his tone, and their levels are different, plus the fact that they have very different skills debunks my initial suspicions that they were the same person.

I nod to myself as I make my decision.

About a minute later, the fountain door shuts, and I'm left alone in the mana shield room.

I'm about to do a deeper scan of the underground fortress with my All-Seeing Eye, but another mechanical noise makes me stop and listen closer.

The entire back wall begins to slide down into the floor, revealing another full portion of the bunker that doubles its size, making this space more of a square rather than a long rectangle.

However, it's the sight that I see on the other side that leaves my eyes open wide.

Crates of High C and B grade gear line the back walls of the hidden room, and in the center of it is a large handcrafted table and chairs. There is a large expensive looking bottle of champagne on its center.

The clinking of two glasses hits my ears, and I see two helmets beside the large bottle. One is red, and the other is green.