CHAPTER 461: HELP ME OUT

Ping!

Lane’s phone vibrated in his pocket, sounding new notification. Lifting his gown, Lane pulled it out, glancing at the screen without much interest... When he noticed what it was, though, his eyes instantly brightened, and he swiftly unlocked his phone to read it.

It was a message from Ava. Lane had already tried contacting her the day before, but she hadn’t responded until now. And, while it wasn’t anything unusual - Ava was always busy with her research, so she typically took a while to respond. Sometimes days, or even weeks, if she was inside a dungeon, gathering samples or observing ’subjects’, that is monsters, in their natural habitat - this time, Lane was getting impatient with the wait.

He was now also a very busy person, after all.

Thankfully, Ava was available before he went into another dungeon.

[I have time now. I’m in my lab, you can stop by.]

Well, it was good that she could meet up, but...

"Tsk." Lane clicked his tongue. He had been planning to go try on some rings to figure out Damien’s size, but it seemed he would have to postpone it. Again. Somehow, he could never find the right time to get this done.

There was also tomorrow, but... Tomorrow, he had to stop by the Association for a guiding session, then get ready for the raid. And Damien was going to be back home early, or so he had said, so Lane didn’t really want to go out for too long either...

At the end of the day, though, while getting a ring for Damien was important, it wasn’t THAT urgent. So, Lane glanced at the reflection of his hairdresser in the mirror, asking,

"How much longer is it going to take?"

"We should be done in half an hour."

"Alright. Thanks," Lane nodded his head, and quickly typed,

[KK. Be there in an hour.]

In the end, it took a bit longer than that, but eventually, Lane parked his car in ManaTech’s parking lot, entering the building. He passed through all the checkpoints smoothly, walking almost as if he owned the place, heading straight for Ava’s personal lab.

The woman was already waiting for him there. Although, ’waiting’ probably wasn’t the best word - she was on her laptop, analyzing some research data. Even when she said she had time, she was still busy...

Then again, it was both her work and her hobby, so she probably didn’t feel anywhere as busy as Lane, or any regular person, would in her place.

"Congratulations," she said, lifting her eyes from the screen. "I’ve heard that the Association’s new elite team cleared an S-rank dungeon yesterday."

"Eh. It’s just, whatever." Lane shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, dropping on the chair next to her.

Of course, it wasn’t anything special for him, nothing that would warrant any congratulations. It wasn’t his first S-rank dungeon, nor was it the most difficult one. In fact, it barely met the ’S-rank’ qualifications after the discovery of the spider monsters. It had been fun, yes, but that was about it.

And the dungeon wasn’t even officially ’cleared’ yet, not with the lesser monsters still inhabiting it... They were probably being taken care of as they spoke, but still. It was too early for the Association to spread such news.

Ava, naturally, was aware of how insignificant a raid like that was to Lane. However,

"It might not have been new for you, but wasn’t it your boyfriend’s first? Isn’t he happy, having an S-rank dungeon under his belt?"

"Ah." Lane paused. That was true... Damien had far less raid experience than he did, incomparably so. Lane had almost forgotten about it, since Damien was so competent, but he probably hadn’t even cleared an A-rank dungeon before, since he had always worked for the Association, from the moment he had awakened. Still,

"He doesn’t care about things like that," he shrugged his shoulders again.

The Association might have been eager to get an S-rank dungeon on their records, but when it came to Damien, such honors didn’t mean much for him. It was just his job to do his best. At most, he could be happy that the elite team which he led brought honor for the Association...

But that was the angle that Lane didn’t even want to consider. Personally, he disliked the Association, thus he also hated the fact that Damien might feel happy about bringing it honor. That kind of attitude would be rather problematic, considering that Lane and his organization were the enemies of the Association, kind of...

"Never mind that, then," seeing the shift in Lane’s expression, Ava decided to change the topic. "I’ve been able to get in touch with Nyla."

"Oh? And?" Lane instantly grew more alert.

"Nothing much... I didn’t really get to talk to her much, but she seemed fine. And I warned her about the thing with Ethan."

"Is that so? Thanks," Lane exhaled with relief.

Although Ethan was out of the picture now, it didn’t change the fact that he had overheard Clara ask Lane about Nyla before, and suspected that the twins might be in touch... He could have very well reported that to the Allens. If not immediately, then after he had lost his arm. So, it was great that Lane had managed to warn her through Ava. This way, she knew that she had to be careful... Even more than usual.

That was at least one worry off Lane’s head.

As for his other problems...

"There’s one more thing that I need your help with."

"...What is it?" Ava instantly grew more alert. Not that she was against doing things for Lane, they were besties, and over the years, both of them had done more favors for each other than she could count...

But that was also why she instantly knew from Lane’s tone that his request this time was going to be at least a bit bothersome.

And sure enough, Lane gave her a coy smile, as he asked, "Can you check my email inbox for the next month or so? I need you to keep an eye on Blanc..."