The Insider System

Chapter 25: Targeted Extraction

After Leaving Lake realized how useful Mana Vision would be while hunting. If he could increase his Perception, the increased range would allow him to go after creatures with better cores. Right now Lake was pretty sure the range was close to 50ft but in a thick forest that was pretty good.

Stopping Lake saw a core that seemed to be strong enough for him to pay attention to. Sneaking closer Lake saw what he was looking for a goblin, but instead of killing it he marked it.

There were still a few more hours before the sun went down but Lake bet this goblin would head home when it did. Lake was going to leave it be for now and come back tonight if he had time. Goblins weren't worth a lot of Exp but if he found a lot it would be worth it.

Lake continued to do this for a few hours until he was satisfied. He had marked 7 goblins spread out through a large portion of the forest. This would give him something to do if he wasn't able to follow that person home.

Thinking about that hunter, Lake saw the mark he had placed on them was still deep in the forest. "It's possible they plan to stay in the forest overnight like me." If that was true Lake would come and fight some goblins.

Lake felt a stirring in his chest, he stopped because it felt similar to irritation and made him wonder why he was doing all this planning around other people. It had only been 2 days since he got here and he was already tied down by the relationships he had formed.

He was getting bored of running around a forest and hunting. It was cool and all but he was starting to feel he was wasting time. What was stopping him from going to town now? His mindset had lagged behind because of his explosive growth.

He should be spending the days in town looking for things to steal, and nights in the forest killing strong monsters. He knew where Feldon was; it wouldn't take him much time to get there either, Lake was getting to the point where he might be able to win in a race against Stan's horse.

He had been acting too much like he did in his last life and he was being too nice. What the hell did someone need their jewelry for anyway? At least for him it was Exp. Lake was a kleptomaniac in his last life, and his parents had made him go to therapy for it.

He now realized he was still in that mindset. The real Lake would've already stolen everything he could get his hands on; well without getting caught. That had been his problem in his last life, he had been caught, and after that he had been watched to closely to do anything.

Leaving the forest Lake felt the feeling die down. Seeing the road to town he started running down it. Before too long he saw Feldon, It didn't have a wall around it because it was inside the capital wall. The big wall they passed through every morning to come hunting, so he was able to just walk inside.

Before he started stealing, Lake wanted to finish the mission The Insider had given him, the only problem was he needed a Level 10 job. Lake smacked his forehead; he got caught up in the moment and hadn't thought things through.

Walking up to a man in fancy clothes, Lake said. "Hello, are there any guilds that you don't have to be level 10 to join?" Lake could see the disgust on this man's face. Lake was about to mark him and ask someone else. "Some of the guilds that are looking for rarer jobs are more lax on the rules, and will give you a guild card."

The only job Lake had that seemed rare was Alchemist, so he asked. "Is the Alchemist guild like that?" After he asked this, Lake could tell this man did not believe he had the Alchemist job but he still answered, "Yes they accept anyone with the job, they send them to a training program to level them up if their job is not level 10."

Lake had a question that he hadn't been comfortable asking and this seemed like a good opportunity since this man just thought he was a homeless person, or something like that. "Is ten the level cap of every job?"

The way this man reacted made Lake grateful he hadn't asked anyone this yet; he was looking at him like he was an idiot. "It depends on the person." Lake thought the man was going to follow this statement with more information but he never did.

Lake and the man stood there staring into each others eyes for a while, "Ok, I have somewhere to do." Lake felt a strange feeling as the man lied to him. Lake saw sweat form on the mans face as he realized he had messed up his lie, but he still walked away.

If lake ever learned how to use the golden writing skill? He was going to write a beginners guide, getting people to answer what they considered dumb questions was almost impossible.

With his current knowledge Lake could probably learn something in a preschool. If they even had schools here, what Lake really needed was mind reading, then he wouldn't need to ask anything.

Walking up to a new person who lake guessed was an adventure he asked " Do you know where the Alchemist guild is?" The man pointed at an alley between two buildings and said. "Go to the main street, all the guild buildings are there."

The man turned and went back to talking to the person he had been before Lake had asked him anything. Lake wasn't done asking questions so this was slightly rude. When the man turned Lake saw a backpack on his back. Lake marked it, and started walking to the main street.

Arriving Lake was surprised at how many people were here and most of them were wearing armor and had weapons. The majority of them were standing in front of three buildings. Reading the signs Lake saw they were guild buildings for Adventures, Alchemists, and Fighters.

Lake wasn't sure what the difference between Adventures and Fighters was, but Lake saw plenty of people leave one and enter the other so they didn't seem to be in competition with one another.

Looking around some more, Lake saw another building with a lot of people around it on the other side of the street, but it didn't have a sign so he wasn't able to tell what it was. Most of the people going inside had monk robes on, so Lake guessed it was some kind of church.

Walking up to the Alchemist guild Lake saw there was a bit of a line, so Lake asked the closest person. "If we're here to join the Alchemist guild do we need to wait in line?" The person turned around and Lake could tell his appearance startled her.

Lake understood he was extremely gross. He was still in the clothes Wallace had given him on his first day and they weren't in good shape. Without warning the Woman raised her hand and said "Clean." And in an instant Lake was clean.

The woman looked proud as she said, "I have the healer job, Clean is a spell for disinfecting wounds but I used it on your whole body." Lake guessed this was an impressive feat because this woman's nose was pointing towards the sky now.

"Cool, did you hear my question?" Lake could tell the woman was mad at his unimpressed attitude. "You can skip the Line." Lake felt he had been too rude so he said, "Thanks for washing my clothes." As he walked away.

Walking inside Lake saw three counters, only one not having a line. Walking up to the counter the lady behind it said, "For members only." Lake was convinced everyone in this city was going to be slightly rude to him at this point.

He didn't take it to heart though because he knew it was just because of the way he looked. He was more comfortable in this sort of environment anyway, this was how the city he grew up in had been.

He remembered how the people treated the homeless on earth, he had seen them get chased out of important buildings plenty of times. "I'm here to join the guild!"

Lake guessed he said this too loud because everyone turned to look at him. Maybe he was more mad than he thought. He had never been good at dealing with customer service, they really rubbed him the wrong way.

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"You have the Alchemist job?" Lake shook his head yes. The lady didn't look convinced but said, "Head through that door and talk to the person in the orange robe. His name is Glen and he'll be in charge of your test."

This felt more like she was passing the problem to Glen then taking him seriously, but he would take it. Before he left he marked the watch on her wrist. Lake bet she had multiple, and from now on whenever he saw her he would check if she had it on. If she ever didn't have it on he would follow the mark to her house and straight to her jewelry. Lake chuckled; he loved being petty.

Going through the door, Lake saw what resembled a lab. There were bottles everywhere and he saw a few people brewing liquids of various colors. He also saw an old man in an orange robe, he was sitting at a desk reading a book.

"Hello, are you Glen?" The man looked up from his book and said, "Yes. Do you need something?" "I was told to speak to you about a test to join the guild." Glen stood up and said, "Ok follow me, the test chamber is on the second floor."

Walking up the stairs Lake was not fully willing, he was scared this test would show he was a criminal, and his getaway was getting more complicated. Hopefully this testing room had a window.

"It's in here." Stepping inside Lake saw something that resembled a mirror hanging on the wall but It had a milky surface and didn't reflect anything. Lake switched his job to Alchemist and waited for Glen to tell him what to do.

"Have you ever taken a test to join a guild before?" "No, this is my first time." Glen walked up to the Milk screen and said, "This is a job reader. It's similar to a job changer but it just tells you details about your current job. Have you already changed your job to alchemist or do we need to postpone the test while you go and change it real quick?"

"No I already did." After Lake said that Glen stuck his hand into the milky substance Lake watched as it flashed green then gray and finally blue. Glen took his hand out and said, "The first flash tells us if you have the Alchemist job that's the green flash if it doesn't flash green that means you failed. Then the rest tell us the rarity of the skills you've unlocked after leveling the job up. If you haven't reached level ten you'll have two skills like me, but if you are still level 0 the test will stop after the first flash." Glen said this very fast But Lake felt like he got everything. "Ok, go ahead."

Lake walked up and put his hand into the screen. He found it felt like his hand was in warm jelly; he couldn't help but think of another use for this screen which made him laugh. Looking over his shoulder he saw there was indeed a lock on the door.

This grossed him out and he was about to pull his hand out when he saw a green flash. "Congratulations, that means you passed. Now let's see your skills." The screen flashed gray. "That's distill, everyone gets that skill at level one." Then the screen flashed yellow. "Legendary!"

Glen stood there for a few seconds then said, "I must get my master. I'll be right back." Glen ran out of the room . Lake took his hand out of the screen and wondered if he should run for it. This situation was getting out of hand. But he decided to stay because Glen's reaction had seemed positive. When was Legendary a bad thing?

A minute later Glen returned with an even older man who was wearing a red robe. "Young man, would you mind taking the test again? I need to confirm Glen's claim that you have a legendary skill."

Lake Didn't really want to put his hand back into the jelly, but did so anyway his mission was more important. Once the screen flashed yellow Lake pulled his hand out. Turning around he saw the old man was dancing.

Lake watched as Glen grabbed the old man, and shook. "Master Donovin, pull yourself together." The old man stopped dancing and said, "Sorry young man. You're the first Alchemist to have a legendary skill in over 5 years, you're also the first I've had the pleasure of initiating." Lake hadn't been offended because his dancing was pretty good so he said, "It's ok. What happens next? How do I become a member?"

Donovin was panting still as he said, "Usually we would put you into a training program to get you to level 10 to unlock your next two skills, then you would be placed based on your usefulness, But since you have a Legendary skill you already qualify for the guild in the capital. Let's get the basic paperwork done and get you on a cart to the capital."

Lake was startled, this was moving too fast for him, he didn't feel ready to go to the capital yet. "I would need to speak to the people I live with before I leave. They will think I died if I just vanished."

"We will send someone to do that for you." This was troublesome. Lake could tell this old man wasn't willing to let him leave. "No, I would much rather do it myself." Lake tried to walk out of the room only for Donovan to block his path.

"The Guild would have me killed if I let you leave. It is no longer safe for you out there. We need to send you to the capital before word of you spreads. You see there are plenty of bad people that will kidnap you and make you work for them for the rest of your life. You will only be safe in the capital."

Lake gave up on convincing Donovan and just decided to run for it. He didn't believe for a second that these two could stop him. Dashing towards the door, Lake was surprised to find neither Glen or Donovin tried to stop him.

Opening the door, Lake saw a massive man in full plate armor. Trying to switch directions to head towards the window. Lake found the man's hand was already clamped around his arm. This shocked Lake. He hadn't even seen him move.

Pulling his arm, Lake found this man's grip was crazy. Lake felt short of ripping the skin of his own arm there was no way to get away. Lake gave up. It wasn't like they were carting him off to jail. It would be crazy to start a fight over a promotion.

He also knew if he showed off too much it would just raise this man's guard towards him, which would make it harder for him to slip away later. "This is Joy, my personal guard but they will be going with you to the capitol to keep you safe. Alright, Joy take his weapons and bring him to my office. We'll do the paperwork there."

Lake let Joy drag him into Donovin's office. This had gone very bad and not in the way Lake was expecting, he was expecting to be chased from town after someone found out he was a thief. In a way he might have preferred it that, at least he would have retained his freedom.

Lake felt as Joy put him in a chair, and held his shoulders so he couldn't get up. Then he watched as Donovin circled around the back of the desk and sat down and proceeded to pull a scroll and a pen out of the drawer. " Ok hold this scroll." Donovin placed the scroll on the desk in front of Lake. "What does it do?"

Lake wanted to know before he grabbed it, even though he knew there was no way not to do what Donovin said. "It's your guild scroll. After you hold it your name will appear on it then you and I will sign it. From now on it will be how you identify yourself as a member of the guild you will also receive a badge like this once you get to the guild in the capital."

Donovin pointed at the gold badge on his chest. "This tells people your rank and what branch and guild office you belong to. So my badge says 3 or Master which is my rank in the guild then 73 that's the number of the office we're in right now Than D for distribution that's the branch I work for in the guild. So 3 73 D. Yours will probably say something like 0 1 R. The 0 is your rank initiate, the 1 is the capital office, then the R stands for Research. Most people with Legendary skills are assigned to the Research branch. Once your job reaches level 10 you'll be promoted to 1 1 R the first 1 will be your new rank apprentice."

Wanting Donovin to shut up, Lake grabbed the scroll, he watched as his name appeared on the scroll. "Alright hand it to me, I have to sign it first." Lake did as he was told and saw Donovin sign his name. "Now you sign it."

Lake once again did what he was told, printing his name Lake heard a ding he hadn't heard since he said he didn't like it.[Quest complete: Reward Skill: Insider Information] Lake finally completed the mission that had caused all this wanting to see what it did lake pulled up his skill screen.

Insider information (U) Lv.1

Able to see the stats of people and items that belong to groups you're a part of.

Lake was a little disappointed, how great it would have been if his reward helped him escape. He could see how this could help him find stuff to steal though. He was now a member of the Alchemist guild so this ability should work on the people in this room. Looking at Donovin Lake used his skill.

Name: Donovin Dance

Race: Human

Job: Alchemist

Stats

Health 40

Stamina 40

Mana 40

Strength 11

Endurance 5

Agility 8

Dexterity 27

Perception 14

Intelligence 53

Charisma 8

Free stat points: 0

Lake saw Donovin's Stats appear on a screen in front of him. After a while Lake figured out that he wasn't able to pull his skills up for some reason, but this allowed him to estimate peoples combat strength. Looking over his shoulder Lake used his skill on Joy.

Name: Joy Borf

Race: Human

Job: Magic Knight

Stats

Health 70

Stamina 70

Mana 70

Strength 45

Endurance 58

Agility 76

Dexterity 34

Perception 25

Intelligence 31

Charisma 26

Free stat points: 0

Lake had been a fool to think it was safe to come to town; he thought he would be able to run if he was in danger. Lake would never guess Joy was an agility focused fighter Like him; not only that he made lake look like a baby who pooped his pants.

Lake added up Joy's stats and was pretty sure they were much higher than a rank 7 human should have. After thinking for a while he remembered the Alchemist guild probably gave him potions to buff his stats.

Lake had walked into the hidden lion's den. He thought they would be a bunch of nerds but even Donovin had more strength than him. Lake would smack his own face if he actually wanted to.

"Master the cart is ready." Glen walked into the room Lake hadn't noticed he wasn't here till just now. "Thank you Glen, we're almost done. Listen Lake I'm sorry about the forcefulness we've shown you. Once you arrive at the capital you will see it was all for you and the guild. I hope you remember that once you become my boss."

Lake was a little confused by this statement, and it showed on his face because Donovin said, "With your skill you'll quickly surpass me in the guild, and if you're lucky with your next two skills I wouldn't be surprised if you one day became the guild leader."

This sounded nice to Lake. Being in charge was usually the best thing to be. "Alright, is there anyone you want me to get in touch with for you. You'll be able to do so yourself once you reach the capital but for now I will send one of my men to tell them not to worry."

The only person Lake knew that had anything to do with the Alchemist guild was Kyle, him and Mary were pickers for the guild. "My friend Kyle and his wife Mary, you might know them, they trade plants to the guild."

Donovin looked at Glen, who said, "Yes sir I know them, they are the ones who buy the high grade healing potion every week. They work for us for a discount." Donovin smiled and said, "From now on it's free, with this I hope you'll forgive us for being so rude to you."

This really didn't help Lake in any way but he could see how hard Donovin was trying to please him so Lake said, "Thank you, I'll go with peace." Lake could tell how happy this made Donovin as he said, "I'm Happy to hear this. Alright we must get you on the cart, every second your here your life is in danger. Joy make sure he arrives safely."

Lake felt as Joy lifted him then put an orange robe on him and pulled the hood over his head. "Lake for your own safety we're going to pretend you're Glen until you're in the cart." Hearing Joy's voice Lake was surprised, he had just assumed she was a man earlier because of how tall she was, but he found the name made more sense now. Except for the Borf part that was the worst name he had ever heard.

Lake watched as the badge on Glen's chest was put on his. 1 73 D. This was starting to feel like prison again, strong guards, orange clothing, and his new name was a number. Sighing lake followed Joy through the building he didn't try to run even though she let go of him. Seeing her stats had broken his will to fight.

Getting into the cart Lake felt it start moving almost as soon as the door closed. This cart was much nicer than Stan's; the seats were cushioned and Lake felt he could probably sleep on the bench if he wanted to. Looking across at Joy Lake asked, "How long is the trip to the capital?"

"That really depends on the cart." Nice sarcasm, this trip might end up being hell, and after the high expectations he had for it this was a real let down. "Ha ha ha ha, I'm just messing with you, If we're able to go full speed we'll be there in less than a day."

This girly laugh coming from Joy made Lake uncomfortable. It didn't fit with the brutish armor that was covering her whole body. He was happy to see she was willing to talk though, Lake had thought she was the strong silent type when he first met her.

"Why do you work for the Alchemist guild?" He had been wondering why someone so strong wasn't an adventurer or fighter. "They have the best benefits. The guild pays very well to keep strong fighters at every guild office."

"Why do they need to do that?" He could guess why, but he saw no reason not to ask. He might get some information on the people she was there to fight.

"Alchemist Guilds even the small ones have a fortune inside so they're constantly targeted by the thieves guild. Even if they were only able to grab a few items from the vault the amount of money would be enough for them to retire. Lots of older thieves see it as the last big job of their career."

Finally one of his questions bore fruit; the thieves guild this was exactly what he wanted information on. "What's the thieves guild? Is it an actual guild that people can join or is it just a bunch of criminals calling themselves a guild?" Lake tried to control himself so he wouldn't come off as to eager.

"It's not an official guild but it has as much power as one. They have more guild offices than we do; you can find a representative in almost every town." This hadn't really answered his question on how to join.

"If that's true, why have I never heard of it before?" Once again Joy started to giggle. "Why are you laughing?"

"You just reminded me of something my master said when I asked him a similar question. He said the best way to find the thieves guild is to follow people wearing leather armor." From now on Lake guessed this would be how he had to do it. Its not like he had a better option.

"If it's so easy to find them, why don't you wipe them out." Joy stopped laughing after he asked this. "The thieves guild always reciprocates, if someone orders the destruction of one of their guild halls, that person is usually found dead the next day. They have so much money they can pay any sum to the assassins guild. If they wanted they could probably have the king killed, so no one dares to do anything to them. At the end of the day it's more like a tax everyone just assumes some of their profits will go to the thieves guild."

Lake was about to ask some more questions when he heard a thunk above him. Looking up he saw a black tipped arrow sticking through the cart where he assumed the driver was sitting. Hearing the driver start to scream and the cart start to jerk around confirmed his guess.

"We were too slow, the Dark guild alliance found out about you." Too slow, Lake was pretty sure it had been less than an hour since he walked into the guild to join. After Joy said this, Lake heard the horse that had been pulling the cart scream and felt the cart go over a large bump.

He felt the cart start to flip and Joy grab onto him at the same time. A few seconds of bouncing around the cabin Later the cart had come to a stop, Joy released him and to his surprise they were both completely fine. They had easily been going over 100 mph when they flipped and Lake had felt a few big bumps, but Joy had taken all the force head on and she seemed completely unfazed.

Lake watched as she kicked a hole into the roof of the cart. After the crash they had landed on the side with the door so this was the only way out. Lake watched as Joy forced her way through what was left of the roof. If Lake didn't feel like he might die soon this sight would have made him laugh; she left a doorway in her shape for him to walk through.

"You! Why would you do this to the guild?" Lake heard a soap opera going on outside. Curious, he left the cart to see what was going on. "Hey Glen. What are you doing here?"

Lake already knew what was happening; he was just messing around, the way Glen was dressed left nothing to the imagination. He looked completely evil. Lake knew Glen had sold them out, and from the looks of it to himself.

"Joy, just hand him over, it's not like we're going to kill him or anything. All that will change is he'll be forced to work for us instead of you all." This was a compelling argument considering in the last few seconds 9 people dressed like Glen had walked out of the surrounding shade.

The new situation was 10 against 1 and while Joy's strength had impressed Lake he wouldn't put his money on her; if he had any that was. Lake used his skill to pull up Glen's stats, he wanted to see if maybe Glen was weak enough for Joy to get revenge before she died.

Name: Nelg Johnson

Race: Human

Job: Dark Mage

Stats

Health 60

Stamina 60

Mana 140

Strength 20

Endurance 47

Agility 21

Dexterity 38

Perception 24

Intelligence 71

Charisma 17

Free stat points: 0

Nope if you went by total Glen, or Nelg could probably take Joy on his own. This was also the first time he saw someone have their Health, Stamina, and Mana be different. Trying to pull up the other peoples stats Lake found he couldn't.

That confirmed these people didn't come from the alchemist guild at least. Lake decided to give up; he would just surrender; there was no point in fighting. "Alright I surrender."

"No Lake, you can't! You'll be a slave for the rest of your life." That did sound like it was going to suck but it wasn't up to him. "You can't sacrifice yourself to save me. It's my job to protect you." That wasn't what Lake was doing, it was just a side effect, and he felt they would still kill her to keep Glen's secret.

Lake started to walk over to Nelg but Joy stopped him. "I'll buy you time, run for it." That sounded like the worst plan he had ever heard. He would probably only step a few feet before someone shot him in the leg with an arrow.

He whispered, "No, it's okay I have a plan." He didn't have a plan; this was just so Joy would let him surrender peacefully. "Oh, and what plan is that?" Said one of the four people holding bows . Crap he forgot, these people all had really high perception.

There was no way he could whisper and they wouldn't hear it. Wanting to smack himself but not doing it because it would hurt, Lake watched as all 10 of them raised their weapons. Lake wondered if they would believe he was lying to make it easier to kidnap him, well it was worth a shot. "I was lying to make it easier to kidnap me." All of them started laughing, and Nelg said, "Who would believe that." Damn.