As William and the other two conversed about their plans, the wise, beautiful, and one-of-a-kind Lian got to work!
She joyfully hopped down the stairs and began asking people for help.
"I have clearance from the big boss! Can ya help me out!"
Using her swindler's charm and some loose promises of wealth, she managed to gather many helpers from around the watchtower.
She then told them to construct a nice shop area on the second floor of the watchtower, this way she was still protected and inside the fortified walls of the tower.
'First step complete! Now I just need to get this going. I wonder if I can annoy the boss into giving me more funding...Eh, he seems stingy. I'm not gonna risk it!'
The workers eagerly helped build a basic frame for the shop, setting up a counter and a couple of chairs made by them. Also, renovating the rest of the floor to blend in seamlessly with the store.
She then started using her core ability to its fullest, sitting down in front of the counter to begin her gacha pulls.
The reason her ability didn't have any combat capabilities on its own was because of its immense versatility, after all, meaning her ability could summon items of any kind, depending on luck.
This could range from healing, offense, defense, to utility. Suffice to say, she possessed a truly unique gift.
Of course, this ability also possessed the drawback of high Ingenuity consumption, allowing for around twenty pulls per day with Lian's current Ingenuity stat of ten.
Ten rotating balls of light would appear in front of her. They alternated from grey, to green, to blue, to purple, to gold, to crimson, and back to grey. Symbolizing the different rarities.
She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. As metaphorical dollar signs appeared in her eyes.
'Let's see what we got!'
-Common
-Common
-Uncommon
-Rare
-Common
-Common
-Uncommon
-Common
-Common
-Uncommon
She stared blankly at the results of her gacha.
She then angrily opened up the Library system and stared at her attributes before lampooning internally.
'What's this lucky attribute even good for! I got straight garbage! I've been scammed!'
She slammed her fist down on the counter in a fit of rage, accidentally breaking it in the process due to her enhanced physique as a reader.
'Oh no! The boss is gonna deduct this from my paycheck if he finds out!'
Lian then decided to check out what she had gotten from her gacha, to see if there was anything that could help her.
'Let's see...six common sticks, three uncommon pieces of tree sap, and a...sword? It probably doesn't have really good effects, though.'
Taking the tree sap into her hands, she'd smear it on the broken parts of the counter and glue them back together, using any parts of the sticks to mend the gaps.
'There, all good!'
She'd then look at the Library.
'I guess...I am lucky!'
She'd pull once more, praying for anything above a rare.
-Common
'God...damn it.'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Li Jiaojie, there is something I thought of earlier, that may be of use in the upcoming siege."
William then began explaining his idea.
Li Jiaojie and Fei Kangzhen were both very intrigued with the idea he proposed.
"That's something...I never thought to use my ability that way...Ingenious...With that our options suddenly become plentiful."
"I-I think we can d-definitely add them into the pl-lan..."
"I think so too,
Before he had arrived at the meeting point today, he had conducted extra research on the coordinates The Company had sent him. The location of the base was...
The base of the Laws of Order we're raiding is suspiciously close to a safe area, one of the areas closest to us actually. I suspect that one of their top members also occupies that safe area. So that base is probably one of their hideouts to surprise anyone that isn't affiliated with them that tries to get too close."
Li Jiaojie nodded, not bothering to ask where he had gotten this information, after all, their objectives were aligned, and he had grown more trusting of this man over the past few days.
Of course, absolute trust was likely impossible. The Boss was a man of many secrets, ones that he didn't want to disclose, trusting someone immediately after meeting them was a fool's move.
Fei Kangzhen also thought similarly, after all, that's why all those days ago...
'Shut up. As long as they don't hate me with their guts, that's enough for me.'
---------------------------------------------------------------
After a long session of strategizing, they started to carry out the plans.
In the early night, William and Xiao Wei used Moonlight Wielder to mask their presence under the moon. Turning effectively invisible.
They crept slowly around the area close to the Laws of Order base.
"Boss, you should be close, just dead ahead."
While Li Jiaojie and Fei Kangzhen observed safely from afar, speaking to William via video call and prepared to jump into battle in case he was caught.
As he lurked closer, William spotted an inconspicuous-looking warehouse right at the coordinates.
'It's not hidden at all, it's out in the open! Too open...'
William formed a finger gun using his middle and index to form the barrel, signaling for Xiao Wei to move in.
A small shadow disguised as a small ant dashed in the direction of the warehouse.
'Ordinarily, I can't see what Xiao Wei does. Buuuut, I think I know a way to exploit this boon bestowed upon me.'
William simply shut his eyes and curled up into a ball.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Xiao Wei had arrived around the periphery of the warehouse. She was also using moonlight to disguise herself, so she blended in seamlessly with the environment.
Once she got close, she'd melt into the wall and appear on the other side with moonlight deactivated, blending into the shadows instead. She knew the importance of stealth, unlike her master until a couple days ago.
She carefully observed the inside of the warehouse, it was dark, damp, and utterly miserable. Definitely unfit for life and lived up to the abandoned theme.
However, this meant that there was likely something more nefarious at play here, so Xiao Wei strolled along in her slime form, trying to find places in the floor that she could melt into.
She'd find such an area in the bottom-left corner of the warehouse. A small hatch that was sealed shut seemingly via supernatural means, whether a core ability, skill, item, or vestige.
To which, Xiao Wei would simply use her transformation skill to phase through it. Thankfully there wasn't a barrier skill, just a hyper reinforced wall, but those were easy for her!
After sinking into the ground, she scoured the new area she had found.
It was a medieval-themed courtroom of sorts, just doubled, or maybe even tripled in volume. With many torches along the walls, illuminating the underground chamber.
In the center of the courtroom was several masked and cloaked individuals, identical to those that had tried to assassinate William. They were huddled around, seemingly talking about something.
Wanting to find out more information, Xiao Wei would turn into a tiny ball, smaller than an ant, and rolled closer to them to hear what they were talking about.
Utilizing her unique status as a spirit, she spread her Ingenuity particles out, preventing her from being sensed.
"Lysha, I swear I'm going to murder you..."
"Oh? Is someone a sore loser~~~Hmmm? That's a mighty grumpy face Evan! Hehe."
"Will you two stop flirting! I'm trying to concentrate over here! Alright I'll place my tile over he-
Suddenly a gust of fierce wind would blow over and toss their go board into the air, as a aura like a gale would descend in the courtroom.
"Ahhh....You didn't have to do that captain..."
Xiao Wei, sensing danger, would immediately depart from the premises as fast as possible.
-------------------------------------------------------
William stared blankly at the vision he had just gotten.
'Board games? Seriously? I guess they're human after all...'
Sympathy, the enemy of progress. Will you proceed with your plans despite seeing that they are just like everyone else?
'I mean they did try to kill me, I think I'm allowed my vengeance this one time. But I will say, they don't seem the type to kidnap an elementary school, perhaps that's someone from a different branch.'
William sighed, compassion was not helping at a time like this, he needed a breather.
Once Xiao Wei had come back, he'd return to the meeting point with Li Jiaojie and Fei Kangzhen, before deciding to head back to the watchtower to develop their plans with the information obtained.
----------------------------------------------------------
At the top of the watchtower.
As Fei Kangzhen munched on some chips, and Li Jiaojie ate some delicious skewers, William explained the information he had seen from the Narrator.
After around twenty minutes of explaining, when he was almost done, Lian suddenly burst into the room, wearing some fluffy pajamas.
"Hey! Dude, they have terrible showers down there! Can I use the ones up here? I bet they're way better!"
William, slightly annoyed, would wave her off and allow her to take a shower in the more luxurious facilities.
'What a brat.'
"Boss, who was that?", Li Jiaojie would ask.
Sighing slightly, William replied tiredly.
"Even I don't really know her. For now, just think of her as my l-little s-sister...She has a bright future ahead of her, I'm sure of it, a valuable asset for sure."
'The cringe is gonna kill me...'
[Progress: 7.23%]
"Well if you say so...", Li Jiaojie would reply skeptically.
By this time, Fei Kangzhen had finished his bag of chips with gusto.
"R-right so I think for the plan, we should i-ideally find out what time of day they leave their base, finding their schedule would be beneficial. W-what was that quote...something about knowing your enemy and yourself, and you'll never lose? S-somethin like that..."
William and Li Jiaojie agreed.
"Yes, that'd be good, we should probably prioritize information gathering for the next few days, these will likely be our strongest foes yet after all."
Then, they chatted for another half an hour about some random topics, some about life, some about random stories they had heard, overall having a rather nice night.
Lian would come out of the shower, hair wet and in some baggy clothes.
"Xiao Wei, form a curtain, would you please."
Xiao Wei would willingly oblige and block off their view.
"Do follow her and make sure shes safe on the way to her bed, I hear it's on the second floor, should be in the back of the store."
Lian, upon hearing this, would perk up. Touched by her boss's protection both physically and mentally, it was a small gesture, but it meant alot to her nevertheless.
'Kitty!'
After she had reached the stairs, Xiao Wei returned to her cat form and jumped into Lian's arms happily, she'd grin, eyes wide with pure joy.
She'd then hop jubilantly down to the second floor, ready to go to bed, to which Xiao Wei would accompany her.
At this time, the three on the sofa would yawn simultaneously, they had been up for a good couple of days.
"We should hit the sack.", said William.
"Yup.", Fei Kangzhen replied wearily.
"See you guys tomorrow.", Li Jiaojie replied.
They'd all split up and head to their rooms on the top floor, before heading to bed as well.
------------------------------------------------------------
Late at night, William stood at the balcony, far enough away from it so that noone could see him from below, in case of an assassination attempt.
He gazed upon the full moon today. It was rather beautiful.
He felt the calling of the midnight sky, it had been quite some time since he had felt this kind of genuine emotion before, no matter how faint it was.
"As the Moonlight gazes upon a lonely man, his joyous shadow basks in the light of the Morning Sun."
It was an iridescent sight. A lonely sight. And a hopeful sight.