章 172: The Question

Snow flipped through the extensive amount of notes that Rodney had handed her. She stared at the chicken scratch of a handwriting, which she was having a bit of difficult time deciphering.

For a while, she stared and ingested the notes that were collected. She was impressed at Rodney's information gathered as there was both relevant and irrelevant information written on the paper. Though half of it was trivial information. She had to scan through the data to find out what she needed.

There were three things that made her stressed. The first one was that there was a herd of giant monsters that reminded them of a long-necked dinosaur passing by not too far away. It didn't specify if they were dangerous creatures, but from their observations, they assumed these monsters weren't. They were all herbivores, strolling through the field as if they were going on a picnic.

The second piece of information was that the large footprints that they had found were found again, about five miles away from their location, heading north. Right now, there was a team tracking it down, following its every movement. The reports stated that they had a fifty percent chance that the monster they were tracking could be the dungeon boss with the dungeon crystal.

Such a report brought relief to Snow; the constant searching of playing hide-and-go-seek was annoying as their fights inside the dungeon were slowly increasing. It wasn't just one or two monsters that would raid their camp, but a group of raptors would come thrashing into their base to wipe them out every chance they got. It was annoying.

They often overwhelmed the raptors without much difficulty with no casualties, but there were a few times when they weren't so lucky. Stress was accumulating as the day passed, and the raids continued sporadically throughout the week. Eventually, they set up a rotational shift, allowing them to have time to recuperate.

Not only that, one worrying word caught her eyes.

Flipping over the paper, she frowned deeply. Her eyes glinted dangerously, and she hissed unconsciously with discontent.

In large written words, circled a couple of times, was the name, Jack.

She wished that this man would just disappear. She couldn't help but expose her dislike of this man who brought more trouble than worth.

From the looks of it, the amount of people and weapons that they had gathered was astronomical. She didn't understand how they could have such firepower that could mow down another army if they were pitted against each other.

Snow's gut instinct was telling her that this man had something more up his sleeves. His luck in surviving was one of them. She didn't know what he was up to, but she couldn't put her guard down. Mainly because Jack and his crew were heading straight towards their camp in the next few days.

"Is this all true?" Snow asked Rodney, who was going through his notes, scribbling something down.

"Yes." Rodney didn't even turn to answer her.

"It says that Jack will be coming in the next couple of days."

"They will be here either tomorrow night or the next."

Snow swore. She clicked her teeth, sighing at the trouble that he would bring. "Is there any reason that he is coming this way?"

Rodney turned around, shrugging his shoulders. "I have barely met this guy, but it seems that you don't enjoy his presence."

"I don't," Snow said. "He's a pain in the ass."

Rodney chuckled, smiling. "It's been a while since I heard you swear."

Snow looked at him funny. "What are you talking about? I curse regularly."

"Not often enough. Not as bad as some people I know. Either way, it seems entangling with this Jack person will bring unnecessary trouble. I'll get my guild ready for any possible collision with him."

Snow nodded, glad to know that Rodney had her back. "If you see Mike and Dairen, could you inform them as well?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Rodney rolled up the paper in his hand. He silently watched Snow pacing back and forth inside the meeting room tent that they have been using for the past week.

Snow's mind was racing with plans to counter Jack when he arrived. There weren't many people Snow disliked so heavily, and Jack was on top of the list on par with Lily. His arrogant demeanor and belittling words rubbed her the wrong way, making her want to punch the man.

"I heard you have been sparring with Dairen lately," Mike cut in, breaking her thoughts.

Snow stopped, turning towards him. She tilted her head before she answered. "Yes. It was good sparring practice," she unconsciously replied.

"How are his improvements? I mostly see him summoning up undead creatures and shooting off his bows, but rarely see him in close combat."

Snow thought it over for a moment. There were a few peculiarities that Dairen had that gave her the edge. The way he would rub his fingers to draw back the bow, or the way he would lick his lips a few times when he was frustrated.

"His shooting abilities are superb. Even in close combat, I didn't expect him to draw it so quickly. Not only that, his magic control isn't so bad." Snow couldn't help but feel a bit threatened by such a speed and perfection of his draw. If he was a bit faster, she was bound to get injured from his attacks. Luckily for her, her armor had a unique feature that would keep most of the weaker magical arrows from harming her.

"I assumed as much on that aspect. Dairen was already good with the bow, but he has gotten even better the past year," Rodney agreed, nodding his head.

"The amount of undead that he has in his arsenals has grown exponentially. I counted at least a hundred of them."

Rodney did not respond at once. His chin sank to his chest while his fingers tapped the side of his leg. "From my understanding, he should be able to summon up another hundred more."

"What?!" Snow's voice went up an octave. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, it is what Mike said."

"Then why didn't he bring most of them out when he sparred?" Snow was a bit taken aback by his words. She couldn't help but feel that he didn't take the sparring as seriously. Maybe she had observed him incorrectly, and he was just saving the rest of his power for later; she didn't know.

"I heard its for special circumstances only, and the ones he normally brings out are his strongest."

"I see," Snow said in deep thought, soaking in his words.

"Either way, what about Mike or Angie?"

"Well…" Snow said slowly. She raised her eyebrow before continuing. "Mike is a natural learner. If Dairen is a genius, Mike is a genius amongst geniuses."

Rodney snorted at her statement, " You're not wrong about that. He has a knack for learning things very quickly. Sometimes inhumanely fast."

"While Angie, well, I give her credit for her perseverance and commitment. I haven't seen such a girl who doesn't say no."

"I did notice that as well. I am a bit worried that Angie might get lulled by people and get used to it."

Snow agreed, understanding how easily Angie would go around helping people out of her own free will. It wasn't a bad thing at all; it was just a significant concern as Angie was easily swayed.

"She said it's for practice," Rodney said with frustration. "That girl doesn't understand that overworking herself could make her ill."

Surprised by Rodney's sudden outburst, she couldn't help but wonder if something was going on between the two. Lately, she had been seeing both of them together, taking walks and partying up.

"Are you guys going out?" Snow asked curiously. Her eyes wrinkled with a hint of amusement. She had a nagging feeling that there was more going on between the two.

"What?!" Snow's sudden question flustered Rodney. He stepped back unconsciously, almost tripping over onto a chair. He sat down, unable to get up from shock.

"I take that as a yes." A coy smile appeared on Snow's lips. "Don't worry; I'm not going to spread it around. Though I wouldn't know about the other people."

"Saintess…" Rodney started to speak but was silenced by Snow.

"I just want you to take good care of her for me. Alright?"

Rodney adamantly replied, "Of course, I will watch over her. She is a good girl; I don't want her to be used by anyone just because she is your apprentice."

"Thank you." A warm tingle bloomed in her chest; her impression of him has changed considerably. Especially since the very first time she had met him. Even though Angie got a bit annoying at times, she was someone who had tried to protect her and even helped her numerous times. Someone she could trust to cover her back when she was in trouble.

"Anyways, I'll see you in the morning. We got a few things to get ready before Jack and his coons arrive."

"Yes, we do."

Rodney had given her too much to think about, and it was getting late. She left the tent, leaving him behind as he went back to work.