Chapter 85: Preparation, Etherjack Rune Array, Advanced Inscription
I could kill him right now.
But that would come later, after I had found his gold vault.
’There is an easy way to find his gold vault.’
I began looking for the mansion’s control room.
I had seen CCTVs in the hallways already, and there must be a control room somewhere hidden.
Most hidden clans didn’t like cameras, but Asterios was paranoid. He wouldn’t pass up surveillance if he could help it.
It took me almost two hours of silent scouting to find it.
A section of the ground floor had a fake hallway. There was a dead end where the layout didn’t match from outside.
I remained near the dead end, and I was able to sense shadows behind the wall.
’If there is a shadow inside the wall, then that means....’
I phased through.
Hidden behind the wall was the control room.
Two guards sat in front of a wall of monitors, watching the estate through hundreds of feeds.
Most of the interior of the mansion was covered by the cameras, including the common areas, outer halls, and guard posts.
Interestingly, the elders’ and Asterios’ bedrooms had no cameras. Either by design or request.
’I need to hack into the system. If I can get access to all the CCTVs, I’ll be able to monitor Asterios directly. When he accesses the vault, I can trace the route.’
It was almost certain that the vault was connected to this mansion.
Whether there was a hidden tunnel, a false wall, or some teleportation circle, I didn’t know yet.
But if I could track him closely, I would find out.
I just needed the right moment.
I didn’t act immediately.
I stayed hidden in the shadows along the upper corner of the room, watching the guards from above.
They were chatting casually, eating sunflower seeds, sometimes pointing out something weird on the screen like one of the guards falling asleep on his shift, or a cat sneaking through the perimeter fences.
Putting them both to sleep at once would’ve been convenient, but also suspicious.
So I waited.
Patience was one of the most valuable skills an assassin could have.
I remained motionless, focusing on every moment of the guards. During that time, I made sure the control room did not have a CCTV camera.
Eventually, the moment came.
The guard on the right—a short, bored-looking guy with thinning hair—stood up and stretched his arms.
"Bathroom break," he mumbled, scratching his stomach.
He walked toward a part of the wall that looked completely solid, tapped it with his thumb, and stepped through the temporary doorway that opened.
The other guy, now alone, leaned back in his chair.
He didn’t look particularly alert.
His posture was relaxed, and his hand resting lazily on a half-open packet of chips.
I was holding the weaker Dreamroot Mist pill.
I flicked it out of the shadows.
It came out of the shadow beneath the guard’s boot, and cracked open when he tapped the ground.
The mist released was invisible, colorless, and odorless.
It was designed specifically to avoid detection. I had improved it after the fiasco with Seris.
The mist spread slowly, curling around the chair legs and creeping up toward the seated guard.
At first, there was no reaction.
He blinked a few times, rubbed at his nose absently, then yawned.
And another yawn.
Then his head started to dip.
Within the next two minutes, he was asleep.
I slipped out of the shadows and moved carefully, keeping my steps completely silent as I crossed the room.
I stood behind the guard and double-checked his state.
He was out cold.
’I need to hack into the system, and I need to do it quickly.’
I stretched my fingers before I began to draw runes on the ground.
The task took only a few seconds with my superhuman speed.
I was building a rune array capable of computational ability like a CPU.
’Well, not CPU, it’s really just a rune-based memory vault.’
The rune array was created from six runes in total, each joined with [Linked Glyph] perk.
[Runic Copy] – duplicated all digital information from the control system
[Memory Sigil] – stored the copied data
[Mana Pull] – absorbed mana from the air to power the array
[Veil Script] – suppresses mana signature
[Blind Ink] – cloaked the array from physical and magical sight
[Failsafe Burn] – automatically erases the entire array after four days
These weren’t the usual Basic runes I had been working with until recently.
They were Intermediate Runes I created with the perk [Intermediate Inscription].
I finished the entire array.
Within seconds, the whole thing shimmered and vanished.
’I’ll get the data later. For now, let it copy quietly. Two days should be enough.’
There was a lot to copy.
It had to be done without alerting or damaging the control room’s system, so it had to be done slowly.
’The system’s firewalls will get copied too, but I’ll deal with that later. It should be possible as long as my Runesmith Class goes up a grade.’
With the array in place, I returned to the shadows just as the first guard walked back in.
"I’m back," he muttered, stretching and yawning.
The panel in the wall closed behind him.
The second guard blinked sleepily, rubbed his eyes, and said nothing. He had no idea he’d just been knocked out.
I remained still, watching their expressions through the shadows.
I stayed for ten more minutes just to be sure neither of them had noticed anything strange.
Only after confirming that everything seemed normal did I melt back into the hallway shadows and left the room entirely.
From there, I moved through the estate, sticking to the ceilings and corners.
My goal was observation. I needed to map guard positions, behavior, rotations, and weak spots.
I also needed more Shadow Essences.
As I moved, I used [Shadow Eater] to eat the Shadow Essences.
The guards here were Rank 1. Compared to the Rank 0 trainees back at my estate, they gave far better stats.
...
Shadow Summon
Stats:
Strength: 168 → 174
Dexterity: 63 → 71
Endurance: 139 → 145
Spirit: 0
...
I had to return home before I got all the guards since the morning was coming.
The next day, I went back to Dusk Hand mansion.
I repeated the same process of Shadow Essence gathering.
By the end of the second day, the gains were stacking nicely.
...
Shadow Summon
Stats:
Strength: 174 → 184
Dexterity: 71 → 79
Endurance: 145 → 163
Spirit: 0
...
The skill levels were improving too:
[Shadow Eater]: Level 3 → Level 4
[Shadow Gaze]: Level 2 → Level 3
[Shadow Assimilation]: Level 2 → Level 3
With [Shadow Eater] reaching Level 4, I could now share 40% of my summon’s stats instead of just 30%.
That gave me a solid boost in all physical areas.
[Shadow Gaze] level up improved the range of skill.
As for [Shadow Assimilation], it was now far more flexible.
I could stay inside the state longer, and I could now jump between shadows up to 30 meters apart, instead of the previous 20-meter limit.
I sat down that night and checked my actual stats.
...
Name: !@$!@!$
Stats:
Strength: 43 (+56) → 43 (+73.6)
Dexterity: 63 (+21) → 63 (+31.6)
Endurance: 43 (+46.3) → 43 (+65.2)
...
"Not bad at all," I muttered to myself.
Today was the day I planned to retrieve the data stored in the rune array.
I stayed in my room and pulled out a small vial of fairy dust. It shimmered faintly under the artificial light of the desk lamp.
I began drawing a complex rune on my forearm.
This was a type of connector rune, but far more intricate than ones I had used before.
The process took nearly an hour.
By the time I was done, sweat was dripping down my back, and my arm was stiff.
...
Class: Runesmith
Rank: Rank 1
Grade: Combat Runesmith → Artisan Runesmith
Perk Upgraded: [Intermediate Inscription] → [Advanced Inscription]
Effect: You can now permanently inscribe Advanced Runes on objects.
...
A faint grin spread across my face as I stared at the black lines that began to fade slowly from my hand.
This was a [Etherjack] rune array.
It let me access any digital system I touched, bypassing interfaces and directly connecting my thoughts to the software inside.
Computers, security cameras, electric gates, anything digital could be connected.
I couldn’t outright hack firewalls with it yet, but I could gain raw access.
The best part was the fact this rune array would let me connect with any digital system without needing to type or plug anything in.
I made a [Runic Copy] Rune along with an Etherjack rune array and connected them with [Linked Glyphs].
’With this, I will be able to access the rune array I created in Dusk Hand mansion, and take the copied data with me.’
Lastly, I created a Dreamroot Mist Pill of weak dosage with [Quickmix Technique] perk.
After I finished preparing, I activated [Shadow Assimilation] skill.
The moment my shadow merged with me, it felt like something had clicked into place inside my body.
My vision sharpened, muscles strengthened, and reflexes surged.
With this skill, I could tap into 100% of my shadow summon’s stats.
I used a Warp Point and arrived in Drama, Greece, and moved toward the Dusk Hand mansion in the forest.
I slipped through the outer defenses, and entered the control room.
The guards this time weren’t the ones from last time.
One of them looked half asleep already.
The other was fidgeting with a thermos, tapping his foot against the desk.
I settled into a shadowed corner and waited.
Patience was something you either learned early or paid the price for later.
Two hours passed before one of the guards stood up and stretched.
"I need to make a call," he muttered and walked toward the back wall.
A seamless section of the surface slid open at his touch, revealing a hidden corridor.
Perfect.
As soon as the door shut behind him, I rolled the weak Dreamroot pill from my shadow.
The small sphere slid under the control system’s panel.
Within a minute, the mist had spread.