CHAPTER 417: INITIATIVE

"Alright," Section Leader White finally said with a quiet sigh. He didn’t want to push Damien too much, especially when no matter what either of them thought about this arrangement, they had to follow the board’s instructions. "We will proceed with this plan then. I will let you know once we have the confirmation from the scouts regarding the Gates’ condition and can move along with their acquisition. You should inform your team about the situation in the meantime, and prepare for the change of the schedule."

"Yes, Sir," Damien nodded his head in agreement.

"Any questions?"

Damien thought for a moment. He naturally had many questions regarding the dungeons the A-rank team was going to raid, about their environments, the monsters inhabiting them, and so on... But he would receive the files detailing all the information they had once the missions were confirmed anyway. There was no need to bother Section Leader White, who was surely busy enough as it was, with any of it. So, he answered, "No, Sir."

"Alright, that’s good. You can go now."

"Yes, Sir..." Damien was about to stand up to leave, when all of a sudden, he paused.

Should he bring it up or not? It had been weighing on his mind the past few days, but...

"Is there something else?" Section Leader White noticed that Damien wasn’t moving, and lifted his eyes from the documents on his desk.

"Yes, well..." Damien knitted his brows, hesitating.

Ever since joining the Association, he had never stepped forward with any initiative. That wasn’t necessarily because he didn’t have any ideas about how things could be improved, but rather because...

He was just a man in his late twenties, who happened to awaken with a powerful ability. Other than that, there wasn’t anything particularly special about him. As a late bloomer, he still didn’t have much experience in the field... And on top of that all, he hadn’t even finished high school.

If he could think of a solution, then surely his superiors would have already thought of it as well, no? They had probably thought of it, and found faults in it, that’s why it hadn’t been implemented. Or perhaps the idea was currently in development, and would be introduced once perfected. Either way, Damien felt that his speaking up would only end up wasting everyone’s time... The board members were undoubtedly far more competent than he was. With more experience and higher education...

That’s why he stayed in line, and focused on following the protocols, trying to fulfill his role to the best of his ability. Becoming a Team Leader was already more than he deserved, so he shouldn’t get ahead of himself...

"You can speak openly to me." Noticing Damien’s hesitation, Section Leader White tried to encourage him. "I am always willing to listen."

He was already aware of Damien’s lack of confidence, as the man often contacted him to ask for advice back when Anthony was still a Team Leader. Even though, in Section Leader White’s opinion, Damien had long outgrown the need. His training and raid plans were better than many of the Association leaders with far more experience could write...

Damien remained silent for a bit longer. However, he knew that he couldn’t stay that way. He had to either speak up or leave, as right now, he was just wasting the Section Leader’s time... So, although he was still unsure, he finally said,

"It’s about the inspections... I’ve been thinking about it recently, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the way they are currently conducted is not the most efficient..."

"Oh?" Section Leader White lifted his brows. "Could you please elaborate?"

"Yes, of course." Damien took a deep breath, and started explaining. He went over the changes in the Mana fluctuations that they had observed inside the dungeons shortly before the reactivation. How they had all been within the norm, only suddenly starting to rise right before the Wall moved, expanding the dungeon... And finally pointing out that perhaps the system that they were currently using could be optimized, taking this information into consideration...

"You’re right." After listening to Damien’s explanations, Section Leader White nodded his head solemnly. "Considering what you’ve just said, sending our Field Teams on extensive inspections appears to be a waste of time and resources."

Damien didn’t say anything, only lowered his eyes. Although he agreed with the Section Leader’s statement... It felt inappropriate to say it out loud. He was just a Team Leader, after all, it was hardly his place to criticize the system established by his superiors...

Section Leader White wanted to hear more from him, though. "So, do you have any ideas as to how we could improve it? If you do, I would like to hear them, no matter how insignificant they could be."

How could Damien refuse to share his thoughts, when the Section Leader asked him directly, while staring at him so intently? He still felt a bit embarrassed, though, sharing his less-than-perfect ideas, thus he only said, "I do have an idea... But it’s underdeveloped..."

"It doesn’t matter. Go on," Section Leader White insisted.

"Well... It’s rather simple. I was thinking that rather than go on extensive inspections, measuring the Mana fluctuations in multiple spots, we could limit it to taking the measurements only at each dungeon’s entrance. If the Mana levels are abnormal anywhere in the dungeon, it is also reflected in higher readings in any other spot, even a significant distance away. Limiting it to a single measurement point would allow us to greatly shorten the inspection time, and in turn, we could increase the inspection frequency... This would then allow us to discover any reactivated dungeons much quicker."

"If we were to proceed with this solution, though, we would also need to change the Gate assignments," Damien continued after a short pause. Once he got into it, he forgot about his unease and started explaining all of his thoughts properly... It helped that the Section Leader was listening attentively, only nodding his head without even a single interruption. "Since this method of inspection would greatly shorten the time needed for each Gate, limiting it to less than ten minutes, regardless of the rank of the dungeon, each Field Team would be able to complete multiple inspections daily. The problem is, traveling between Gates located further away on the same day would then become significantly more inefficient when compared to the inspection time. Thus, the right solution would be to divide all the Gates by location, and assign each Field Team to a specific sector... Perhaps only leaving the Gates ranking B or higher for the high-ranking teams, as to reduce the risk of low-ranking teams encountering powerful monsters in case of a dungeon activation..."

"I believe that would help improve our reaction speed to any Gate reactivations that might occur in the future," he finished.

Only then did he realize that he got a bit carried away... Pretty much presenting the whole solution that he had thought of, going on about it as if it were something worth listening to. He was about to speak up again to backtrack a little and dismiss his words...

But before he could do so, Section Leader White said, "It is indeed a great idea."

"It... is?" Damien furrowed his brows, slightly confused. Of course, he hadn’t been able to find any significant flaws in this solution yet, or else he wouldn’t have presented it, but... To hear his superior say it, with so much confidence and praise in his voice, it was unexpected. Damien had been sure that Section Leader White would have been able to debunk it on the spot, completely rejecting it.

But no. Section Leader White liked Damien’s idea very much.

"I believe the sooner we bring up this issue, the better," he said. "It will likely take a while before it can be fully implemented, especially since it’s a big change... Thus, it’s crucial that we start the process soon, as it should greatly improve the system, possibly reducing the Field Teams workload and allowing us to allocate more resources elsewhere. I will bring it up on the next board meeting... Or would you like to present it yourself? I am sure that we can arrange for you to participate."

Team Leaders weren’t normally authorized to participate in any of the board meetings. After all, while they might have technically held a ’leadership’ position, they were still pretty low in the Association’s hierarchy... Even the leaders of top teams like Damien. However, since Damien was special to the Association due to his rank, it would be easy to make an exception for him...

Damien only shook his head, though. "Thank you, Sir, but I wouldn’t want to cause you any inconvenience."

He wasn’t the kind of person eager to skip the hierarchy, especially when the main reason why it would have been possible for him was his rank, not his efforts.

"It wouldn’t be an inconvenience at all," Section Leader White reassured, but he didn’t insist. If Damien didn’t want to participate in the meeting, then so be it, there was no need to pressure him. He would make sure that he received the credit for the idea anyway. As for everything else... Everyone had to grow into their roles at their own pace. As long as there was progress, he was satisfied.

"I won’t hold you here any longer. I’m sure you have other work to do. I will send you details regarding the confiscated Gates as soon as they are confirmed, so make sure you familiarize yourself with it. You are dismissed," he added.

"Thank you, Sir." Damien bowed his head, and finally left the office, breathing with relief as soon as he stepped out. It had been rather nerve-wrecking, although not in the way he had initially expected...