The mine in Astoria trailed downwards from the top side of the mountain, tunneling to a 15 km radius. This was an extremely hard feat to accomplish, especially for a small group like the thieves guild, but Yankai swore on his life that it was this deep.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case as Enzo moved through the mine, blending in with shadows, appearing in and out of sight.

This place was a much bigger operation than he thought.

'This is extremely annoying,' Enzo muttered under his breath as he appeared from within a shadowy corner, dodging a patrol group. The mine wasn't just large and expansive, the security here was tight.

This city was notoriously hard to get in, and yet this place still had such high security standards. It would bug someone who didn't know why this was the case.

"That's batch no. 2571, please be careful with it," a voice echoed somewhere deep within a mine tunnel as a trolley filled to the brim with barrels was pushed over.

Star essence.

It was a very complicated, precious resource.

At its pure phase it was just star essence, mined from either the core of a star or a vine connected to one. At this base state it was useless, but upon refinement it becomes star essence light, allowing for weaving and body making depending on its grade. This was not just useful for weavers, however…

It was also very essential for star weavers, as it was the means by which they advanced.

Yes, for a star weaver to move from stage one to stage two they needed to consume a large volume of star essence light. Though most could easily get this from their star cores by training and meditation, others preferred the brute-force method. It was no wonder Vegar became exalted in such a short period of time.

"Deeper," Enzo muttered under his breath after catching his breath, then faded into a shadow, descending deeper and deeper into the mine.

Before nightfall, Enzo reached several gates impeding his path leading downwards, the type that he couldn't easily pass through.

"Void, what's up with that gate?" In a dark corner, Enzo asked, looking at the massive steel gate before him.

At this point he had brought out the void coffin and made it stand beside him in the dark.

[Barrier-infused steel, it's made to stop prying eyes from viewing secrets. Coincidentally, it is able to stop the beginner movements of the shadow clan's shadow step skill. You will need to upgrade its words of power with relevant information to allow movement through this.]

The void coffin explained.

The shadow clan from which Victoria gave Enzo the shadow step skill was a high-level race of infiltrators and shadow users. This was nothing to them, but Victoria only had one part of their skill scroll. If not, this wouldn't be holding Enzo back.

"What can I do?" Enzo asked, feeling a bit strange.

A part of their plan involved getting the federation to take action at the same time they were going after Vegar. Their involvement would squash the thousands of thieves in the city to an extent, at least enough for Enzo and the rest to successfully assassinate Vegar.

But first they needed hard evidence. The star essence barrels were enough to put them on a watch list, but the vine from which it came would prompt immediate action, and Enzo had a feeling that vine was behind that door.

[Quite easy, just walk through when it opens. It doesn't seem to have any verification mechanisms on the door.]

The coffin spoke straightforwardly. Enzo had a badge; with the sheer number of thieves in the city it was hard to tell one person apart from another. As long as his documentation was good, he could probably walk in.

"Right…" Enzo nodded. He knew this but also wanted to be sure there were no traps around the door or something he needed to know.

Standing up finally, Enzo walked out of the shadow and joined a group of miners, sweat-covered, with his badge stamped right on his clothes.

"Hm?" Someone noticed him join the group abruptly and frowned, but upon seeing the badge that read 'elite,' he quickly faced his front and focused.

It seemed like they were being shadowed by an elite member, maybe for their performance. He had to be serious now.

The gate soon opened up, allowing for all of them to enter the tunnel down below.

'Hmm, this place is massive, the vine has to be here.'

Enzo muttered under his breath before using his loose cloth to mask his face from the nose down to his chin.

They were currently now inside a massive underground cave that spanned a good distance horizontally. Around the various ports, heavy-duty machinery plunged into the earth, drilling out a strange liquid that shone with a bright light.

'That's it,' Enzo took out a small camera and took pictures detailing the operations. At this point his HUD had been removed from behind his ear, like so many others.

This was so he could blend in. This little camera was the only way.

"Keep moving and get to work," Enzo casually muttered, his eyes dancing through the area as he shadowed the group of miners.

He had what he needed, but leaving so suddenly was not possible. He had to go through the process.

"You guys need to speed up the extractions. The Festival of Lights is in two days, and we still need to fill our quota. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the next person on the execution block," a fairly young man barked at the supervisors, his hands moving frantically.

He had been given this duty not too long ago, and he would like to say that he loved it. After all, the perks and respect that came with it were mouth-watering.

However, how could he actually say this? He had watched his predecessor get captured over something he didn't do and imprisoned. What did that say about his circumstances? Wouldn't he sooner receive the exact same punishment? It was frustrating.

'Maybe I'll run away during the festival, stay in another settlement, or just leave the planet entirely.'

He thought to himself.

This kind of life was not really worth living. If they were caught by the federation, they might just have their ten generations wiped out.

"Uh? Hey, you elite guard, come over here." Suddenly one of the men around him called forth an elite guard from the supervisors, drawing him to himself.

"Is something wrong, Master Jos?" The young man couldn't help but ask with a currying smile.

Even though he was the highest authority in the level of the mine, it was only limited to production. These guys were in charge of security and secrecy.

They were Vegar's true right-hand men.

"Nothing serious, just a routine check." The person that replied to him was a slightly older man with a red balding head and a fake smile on his face.

"What are you doing here? This isn't your shift, right?" He asked the person in front of him with a calm yet authoritative tone.

"My replacement is running late. I have to be here for a few more minutes, that's why I came back," the person in front of him replied casually, shrugging his shoulders with a bitter smile.

"Hmm, tell your replacement to see me when he gets here. Time is money; I hate it when people try to cheat me," he responded with a sneer.

Actually, he didn't like or respect anyone here, including Vegar. That twat was too unprofessional. If not that he was considered a talent, he would have taught him a lesson long ago.

"Yes, sir." The elite guard saluted and slowly walked away, heading over to a duty post with a bead of sweat rolling down his face, a shocked expression hidden in his eyes.

He was shocked to be called out just then, as he had just entered. The old man didn't know him, as his face was covered, but he could sense that his badge had been here before or something and should have rotated.

That meant that the owner of the badge had just left here, placing him in an awkward situation.

He was being watched.

Enzo quickly made a corner through a bunch of crates and leaned on one, his back to the man and his face firmly pressed on the metallic doors.

One of two things could happen now: the actual person supposed to be here could come in the next moment, or a group of workers. However, there was no way he could escape without being called out.

All that was problematic, but there was something in particular that made this situation especially distressing.

The man who had just called him just now smelled of a particular aura he had felt before, be it from his curse or just the instinctual hostility he felt…

He just knew

That this man was a member of Weavetech.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.