Meeting in Secret

At night, Linsey quietly slipped out of his room.

There were servants working at night in the castle as well.

But with Stealth activated, he moved through shadows unnoticed by ordinary people. Naturally, no normal person could detect him.

As for the craftsmen and guards in the castle—

The former worked in the dark, while the latter followed designated patrol routes. These Awakened, at most around the Fifth Stage, likewise could not notice Linsey when he deliberately avoided them.

Thus, Linsey made his way to a Sloping Corridor on the right side of the castle garden.

Beside the neatly laid stone steps, a patch of interlocking stone bricks extended all the way to the Inner Cloister.

Linsey opened his map.

The Thief's Trap Installation Guide had already marked out the information.

"Remove the second floor tile from the left. There's a handle underneath. Turn it clockwise to open the passage."

Following the map, Linsey found the corresponding floor tile.

But after pulling it out, he did not turn the mechanism's handle.

There was naturally nothing wrong with the method of opening the tunnel.

But Linsey was extremely cautious.

It was late at night and all was quiet. Sneaking around was one thing, but the noise of opening the tunnel would inevitably draw the attention of other Awakened.

"No. I need to keep the noise down."

"..."

Linsey pondered for several seconds.

Then he directly abandoned the normal tunnel entrance. Following the route of the underground passage, he went to a dark corner nearby that was concealed by a wall and never passed by guards.

Clang, clang, clang—

Linsey took blocks from his inventory and built a completely sealed earthen enclosure in the corner.

Only after the inside and outside spaces had been completely isolated, obstructing the spread of sound—

Did