NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14: Inspections
To get from the Headquarters to the Gates they were scheduled to inspect, they've got two of the Association's minibuses, with Damien and Hallie as drivers. Usually, they would just split the team in half, so that everyone would have some space…
This time, however, most of the teammates wanted to go with Hallie, even if that meant squeezing in tightly. Aside from Lane, only Tina and Scott were willing to go with Damien - and even they opted for the last row, preferring to sit as far away as possible.
Lane watched this scene with amusement. Were they all seriously afraid of Damien?
Naturally, he didn't share the sentiment. Ignoring all the empty seats, he jumped onto the front seat, right next to his Team Leader. With a slight smile, he unwrapped a strawberry lollipop, and placed it in his mouth.
As he was thinking about his plans for the day, he suddenly felt someone's gaze on himself.
Damien was staring right at him with an unreadable look in his eyes.
Unconcerned, Lane raised his brows. "Is there something wrong, Team Leader?"
Damien stared at him for a few seconds more in silence, before lightly shaking his head. "…Fasten your seatbelt."
Ah. Of course. It was about the rules again.
"Sure, sure." Lane shrugged his shoulders. "I was going to do it once we were ready to go anyway…"
He might have held all the rules in complete disregard, but he wasn't bent on breaking those that were not in his way. Fastening the seatbelt didn't inconvenience him in any way, so he habitually had them on whenever driving or riding in the car.
He was no longer a kid who would rebel against everything he could 'just because.'
With everyone all seated and ready, they went on their way, with Damien driving first, and Hallie following closely after. They had a busy day ahead of them - they were scheduled to inspect five dungeons owned by the Association, scattered around the capital. Four of them were small low-ranking ones, only F and E-ranks, but with Damien Lennox leading the team, they were still treated with utmost concern.
Of course, from a regular person's point of view, any dungeon could be seen as scary. Even an F-ranking one could result in a lot of deaths in case of a dungeon break. That's why the Association made sure to inspect every Gate regularly, to ensure that no accident would occur.
For Lane, though, such Gates were about just as exciting as going to the local convenience store to buy some milk or bread.
Still, it was supposed to be his first time entering a dungeon, so he had to force himself to feign interest. When Damien unlocked the padlock on the solid metal fence surrounding the entrance to an F-rank dungeon, Lane stood right by his side, staring at the irregular crack in space that was the Gate with shining eyes, fiddling nervously with his hands.
"Focus. You're not here to have fun. Every dungeon is a dangerous place," Damien scolded him, giving him a long, serious look.
"Yes, Team Leader! I will do my best!" Lane nodded obediently, suppressing his desire to roll his eyes.
A dangerous place? Putting aside the fact that it was only an F-rank, the Gate they were about to enter was an inactive one. That meant that the dungeon had already been cleared. There were no more monsters inside, all the Mana stones were mined, and even any of the dangerous plants were all cleared. It was pretty much a dead world, with absolutely no activity inside. The inspection they were about to conduct was just a routine check, scanning the place for any signs of Mana, to ensure that there were no changes to the environment.
Which, in close to fourteen years since the Gates first appeared, had never happened before. Once a dungeon was cleared, it remained an empty place.
Until the recent unexpected dungeon break from an inactive A-rank Gate, that is, the reasons behind which were still a mystery…
Of course, the fact that something like that did happen, for an unknown case at that, made the inspections even more important and Damien's serious attitude justified, but… Why would Lane care about any of that? Completely unconcerned, he entered the dungeon after Damien, looking around with curiosity.
How long could he feign interest, however, when all that surrounded him were pale sandy dunes? It was all just sand, sand everywhere, with occasional shrubs, all shrouded in a thin veil of mist. It resembled a normal coastal desert, even the air was humid with a salty breeze - only that there was no sea anywhere in sight. Soon enough, Lane got bored of the monotonous scenery, and moved to bother Damien instead.
"Team Leader, Team Leader," he shuffled closer, calling out to Damien with barely held back excitement. "So, this is what we use to measure Mana fluctuations?" he asked, pointing out at the device in Damien's hands.
Damien glanced at Lane and nodded his head. "Yes," he answered shortly.
"So, we just walk around and measure it everywhere?"
"For the most part, yes. There are specific places we need to pay extra attention to, however. If you look at the map, you can see them marked with red dots. This is where we have to take several measurements, and record the results," Damien calmly explained. "This is where the monsters' nests used to be, as well as their other areas of frequent activity."
"Is that so… So, how do we measure it?"
"It's rather simple. You pull out this antenna, and then hold the button. You have to make sure that no one around you is using any abilities, as it can affect the reading. Then, after waiting for at least ten seconds, you release the button, and the result is displayed on the screen." Damien paused for a moment, until a number appeared. "See? The current reading is 0.000005%."
"That's good, right?"
"Yes. As long as it's below 0.005%, it is considered as no Mana fluctuation." Damien paused again, glancing at Lane. "Would you like to give it a try?"
"Ah…" Lane smiled awkwardly, scratching his head. "I… Um, thank you, but I think I'd rather just watch…"
Damien stared at him for a moment longer, before letting it go. "If that's what you prefer."
Lane let out a quiet sigh of relief. He almost accidentally made himself get roped into doing the work… But he had absolutely no intention to help. He might have been bored, but not THAT much.
Not to mention, he had his own reasons for wanting to enter the inactive Gates. It might have been irrelevant in the low-ranking ones - they were too insignificant to waste resources on - but it would be troublesome if he had to take the measurements once they entered a higher-ranking Gate. Especially if he were to do it under Damien's supervision.
Wanting to avoid such a situation, he slowed down his pace, falling more to the back of the group, and putting distance between Team Leader and himself.