While Aiboke and Balund were certainly involved in preventing the discovery of those traitors before, such incidents will only become less frequent in the future because...
"If the Great Labyrinth City were to gain control over a larger area, this kind of thing could be prevented to some extent."
Balund and Aiboke nodded, but after a moment's thought, they said:
"The current production capacity of the Graycast Corridor is insufficient to connect the various satellite cities with the Great Labyrinth City."
Ed's one eye darted around and he said again:
"Then how about increasing the mechanical components of each satellite city, allowing them to generate Machine Spirit as well, and then letting the Great Labyrinth City govern those Machine Spirit?"
Upon hearing this new suggestion, the two of them, along with one of the Machine Spirit, all fell silent.
After a long pause, Balund pondered for a moment before saying:
"After resolving this matter, we can conduct small-scale experiments first, but it still depends on the Great Labyrinth City's own decision, since it is currently the Grand Foundry Master."
Countless mechanical structures were operating at high speed, as if they were deducing something:
"That's a reasonable suggestion; I'll give it a try later."
The Machine Spirit's voice came through, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, beginning to plan their next tactics.
The Great Labyrinth City, somewhere in the outer city.
"Dude, did you see that? Someone replied to our post!"
[ Shit Appraisal Master ] shouted from upstairs, while [ Good Times Don't Last ] responded from downstairs, then quickly clicked into the forum to find the comment section of his own post.
A familiar ID caught my eye -- [ Clear Soup Master ]:
"Although they are very small, I've seen similar crystals before. They are fragments that fell off from the skeletons in the south. Did you also go to the Skeleton Alliance?"
Upon arriving on the second floor, [ Good Times Don't Last ] paused for a moment after reading this reply, then quickly sent a reply to [ Clear Soup Master ]:
"It's not the Skeleton Alliance; this was discovered in the Great Labyrinth City."
The unexpected answer piqued [ Clear Soup Master's ] interest, and the two quickly began chatting back and forth:
"That's strange. How could something like this exist in the Great Labyrinth City?"
" The Graycast Corridor seems to be connected to the Skeleton Alliance, doesn't it?"
"No, the ocean currents and monsoons have been off lately, so Gray hasn't been pushing for any navigation."
"Is that so?"
The [ Clear Soup Master ], who was thousands of miles away, thought for a moment and said:
"That might be a big problem. Why don't you report it to the boss?"
[ The Good Times Don't Last ] Just as I was about to say something, I saw my taskbar start flashing red dots.
As someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he immediately clicked on it, then his eyes widened and he stared intently at the latest pop-up content.
After reading for about half a minute, he finally looked at [ Shit Appraisal Master ]:
"Did you see the new mission? Disguise yourself Corridor Guard and secretly arrest a spy planted by the Skeleton Alliance during a fierce battle in the banquet hall. And it turns out they're a Middle Tier enemy! How exciting!"
"It's been accepted."
"Me too. The mission description said that all you need to do is register your address and the guards will deliver your uniform to your door."
"Already logged in."
"Let's call a few more people, form a team, and try to take one down in one go."
"It's already been called."
After saying this, the [ Shit Appraisal Master ] showed a hint of regret:
"It's a pity, though, that many of the experts I know have gone to spar with the Empire and the Alliance in the south."
[ The Good Times Don't Last ] Hearing this, he was stunned for a moment before saying:
"I do know a few people..."
"Um?"
"I think we could hire some people from the Mortgage Tavern; after all, those guys who like brewing are pretty good too."
"That makes a lot of sense, and there's more there..."
"That's right, [ Aluode ] is at the tavern, and I can't wait to see him pull off some amazing things!"
As the map that has been opened up grows larger, Ed did not issue this mission to all players.
After all, it's not ideal to have players who have already gone to the Empire or the Alliance come back and compete for quests with players who are closer in distance. So this time, Ed adjusted the scope of quest postings to include players currently in the Graycast Corridor and Wilderness of Chaos.
As for the number of people, too few may allow Middle Tier enemies to escape, affecting the mission completion rate.
If there are too many, it might alert the enemy by having too many new faces flood in at once.
After much deliberation, Ed ultimately decided to gather 500 players and set a level requirement of 15.
Although the Graycast Corridor has been corrupted by the Skeleton Alliance, the extent is not as severe as the Stained Ones has been to the Theocracy. Therefore, on average, each Middle Tier spy can still be assigned sixty or seventy opponents, which should be sufficient.
And so, both sides began to secretly advance their plans.
Suolaer and the others, having received the latest inhibitor, were in peak condition, while Ed was also making preparations in earnest.
Time flies, and two days later, in the evening, near the Rotating Library.
The newly renovated banquet hall officially welcomed its first dinner. A small group of players mingled among the guards, carefully observing the building that they were responsible for protecting.
Because of the extensive use of metal as building materials, the Graycast Corridor has a very unique architectural style, giving it a somewhat otherworldly, wasteland feel.
Even so, the banquet hall in front of us has been replicated as closely as possible to the style of the kingdom era, except that metal has been used in places that should have been built with high-quality stone, making it look somewhat incongruous.
Upon seeing someone pass through security and enter the banquet hall, a player standing to the side immediately sent a message in the chat group:
"' Nether Melt ' Feinikese has arrived."
Another player also sent a message:
"' Iron Hunt ' Sailan has arrived."
The players silently kept records of the visitors; this was one of their tasks.
However, some people still looked towards the very center of the hall, at the large stone brick engraved with the Graycast Corridor symbol—an impossible figure.
That was the place the enemy had planned for Gray's demise.
As stated in the mission instructions, once Gray steps on that stone brick, a surprise attack will be launched immediately, which will be the signal for the mission to begin.
A few minutes later, when most people had arrived, the new Grand Foundry Master Gray Griss, finally made his belated appearance.
He was wearing a gray suit, which, while not as extravagant as the royal suits of the past, was still quite exquisite. The custom-made suit perfectly accentuated his physique, which had been honed by the Wilderness of Chaos for years.
What people didn't know was that Gray was wearing a layer of soft armor personally crafted by Aiboke beneath his tuxedo.
Although everyone was confident in the plan, it was still necessary to take precautions. After all, Gray was not High Tier, and it was possible that he could be attacked by someone who was desperate.
Upon seeing the Grand Foundry Master appear from the second floor, the guests knew that he had arrived early in the morning, perhaps having been secretly observing them from a room on the second floor.
But this is perfectly understandable, and people with guilty consciences wouldn't be foolish enough to whisper among themselves here, so everything remained as usual.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Gray composed himself, flashed his signature smile, and raised his glass:
Good evening, everyone.